Betaworks

Rethinking the personal computing experience

Camera IQ Inc. is a technology company based in Santa Monica, California, that specializes in augmented reality (AR) solutions for digital marketing. Founded in 2013, Camera IQ offers a camera experience management platform that integrates various operating system platforms, AR toolkits, and native applications. This platform enables marketers to create, manage, and measure large-scale AR campaigns that engage audiences across social media and streaming platforms. By providing intuitive drag-and-drop tools, Camera IQ allows brands to design captivating marketing experiences optimized for smartphone cameras, fostering deeper connections with customers and enhancing brand engagement.

Camera IQ Inc. is a technology company based in Santa Monica, California, that specializes in augmented reality (AR) solutions for digital marketing. Founded in 2013, Camera IQ offers a camera experience management platform that integrates various operating system platforms, AR toolkits, and native applications. This platform enables marketers to create, manage, and measure large-scale AR campaigns that engage audiences across social media and streaming platforms. By providing intuitive drag-and-drop tools, Camera IQ allows brands to design captivating marketing experiences optimized for smartphone cameras, fostering deeper connections with customers and enhancing brand engagement.

Viro Media, Inc. is a Seattle-based company founded in 2015 that specializes in developing a software application for creating and publishing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. The company provides a digital platform that allows mobile developers to efficiently build immersive VR experiences using advanced tools and a react-native framework. This platform supports the creation of applications compatible with various mobile VR head-mounted displays and offers features such as assistance for 360-degree photos and videos, 3D assets, and sample applications, along with comprehensive developer documentation. Viro Media's solutions enable developers to streamline the process of designing and deploying VR content, making it accessible to a broader audience.

Breaker Inc., established in 2016 with headquarters in San Francisco and an office in New York, develops a podcast listening application available on the App Store. The company's core business is facilitating podcast discovery and consumption, with a focus on creating value for both listeners and creators. Breaker offers 'Breaker Upstream,' a marketplace enabling podcasters to sell premium content directly to their audience. The platform aims to attract a large listener base by providing an exceptional user experience, community engagement features, and analytics tools for podcasters. With a notable 67% retention rate among beta users after one month, Breaker seeks to differentiate itself by offering exclusive deals for high-quality podcasts and charging users a monthly subscription fee of $6.

Beep is a fully loaded chat app for the younger generation that allows you to add creativity and fun to your voice messages.

Tapslash is a mobile keyboard application designed for iPhone and iPad that enhances communication by allowing users to share various types of content, including videos, links, news articles, music, and maps, directly from their keyboard without the need to switch between applications. The innovative keyboard connects seamlessly with popular platforms such as Giphy, Spotify, and YouTube, facilitating the sharing of rich media and contextual information. By integrating with services like Contacts and Weather, Tapslash enables users to access a broader range of information while chatting. The company's goal is not only to improve the speed of communication but to increase the effectiveness of idea sharing, allowing users to transition quickly from concept to action.

Sochat is an iOS and Android mobile messaging application and connection platform. It allows its users to publish groups nearby with a PIN to quickly gather up and share GIFs, photos, videos, disappearing messages, and drawings among its users. It also allows sending songs and YouTube videos, play rock paper scissors game, and poll friends and groups. Sochat is a U.S.-based company that was founded in 2014 by Lukens Orthwein.

Founded in 2011, VSCO is a global platform empowering photographers with tools for creative expression across mobile and desktop devices. It fosters a community-driven environment where creatives can connect and grow professionally.

Dots is a mobile game studio based in New York City, known for creating engaging games such as Dots and Two Dots. The company develops mobile games that provide a cross-platform gaming experience, allowing users to play on both Android and iOS devices. With a focus on minimalist artwork and thoughtful design, Dots aims to deliver beautiful gameplay that invites players to explore visually stunning landscapes. The studio's philosophy emphasizes connectivity, encouraging users to experience a unique journey through its games.

Makr is a design app for next-generation makers: the creative entrepreneur, the DIYer, the next-level home entertainer. Headquartered in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we’re inspired every day by our local maker community. We developed Makr specifically for iPad to bring DIY to the 21st century, using digital tech to enrich the handmade movement and our shared love of old-fashioned craft. Makr provides sophisticated design tools – exclusive to professional studio use until now – to the local maker’s workshop and DIYer’s home.

Memoir transforms your photos, the places you go, and your social media into memories that can be relived when they’re most interesting to you. As soon as you request them, the photos your friends choose to share with you become part of your Memoir seamlessly. You can find memories and photos by people, places, dates, context, and more - no tagging or organization required. Memoir discovers photos and memories wherever they were created - iPhone cameras, DSLR's, Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare - even on your computer. With Memoir, all of your photos and memories are backed up securely to the cloud.

Socratic, Inc. is an education technology company that specializes in developing a homework assistance application for students. Founded in 2013 and based in New York, the company utilizes artificial intelligence to provide users with answers, detailed explanations, and curated educational content across a variety of subjects, including math, science, history, English, and economics. The app allows students to take photos of their homework questions, making it accessible and user-friendly. It features graphs, explainers, and links to instructional videos from platforms such as Khan Academy, enhancing the learning experience. Socratic is available for free on both iPhone and Android devices, focusing primarily on high school curriculum support. The company, formerly known as Vespr, Inc., rebranded to Socratic, Inc. in May 2015.

Apportable Inc. is a software development company based in San Francisco, California, founded in 2010. The company specializes in technology that enables iOS developers to automatically port their games to Android without the need for extensive modifications to the original Objective-C or C++ code. Apportable's platform allows for seamless conversion, which has successfully helped numerous apps reach the top of various app charts, delighting millions of users across multiple distribution channels, including the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore. Additionally, Apportable offers SpriteBuilder, an environment designed for creating native cross-platform 2D games using Objective-C or Swift, further enhancing its commitment to simplifying the app development process for cross-platform compatibility.

Instapaper is a web application that enables users to save and read online content at their convenience. The platform allows individuals to bookmark articles, videos, and other web materials for future reference, making it particularly useful for those who wish to consume long-form content without distractions. Users can access saved content across various devices, including iPhones, iPads, Android devices, computers, and Kindle. Additionally, Instapaper offers features that allow users to create notes and highlight text, enhancing the reading experience and facilitating easier information retrieval. This functionality positions Instapaper as a valuable tool for anyone looking to manage and enjoy their online reading efficiently.

Pickie is a personalized shopping application designed specifically for the iPad, which innovatively blends the features of a magazine and a catalog. The platform curates content based on users' personal styles, favorite brands, and trending products from various retailers and social media feeds. By offering a tailored catalog shopping experience, Pickie empowers users to discover products that resonate with their preferences while ensuring that the content remains actionable. The app has garnered recognition, being listed among the top 25 applications and selected as one of the '10 Essential Apps' in the catalogs category of the app store.

Just.me, Inc., established in 2011 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, operates a mobile and social network. It offers a free, unified mobile messaging platform that combines features from various apps, such as texting, email, voice messages, and multimedia sharing, into a single application. Users can save, share, or publish memories, messages, or posts with unlimited photos, videos, voice, and text. The app, currently in beta for iPhone and under development for Android, also has a web version with reduced publishing features. Just.me stands out by giving users control over their information and messages, as it sits on the smartphone address book, allowing users to decide who sees each shared message.

Punch radically reduces the time, expense, and risk of creating mobile native Apps with its premiere App Content Management System (ACMS). Punch can update App content in real time, providing a publishing environment that’s as timely as the Web, with the fit and finish people have come to expect from tablet-native Apps. Without the need for programmers. Founded in spring 2011 by a team of seasoned technology and media entrepreneurs with experience in digital marketing, iOS development, consumer media, and business strategy. Punch is based in New York City. Punch delivers content, known as “mini Apps,” through three components. An App Content Management System (ACMS), accessible through any web browser, provides the authoring environment where tablet native experiences are assembled. These are crafted by first selecting from a range of technical modules, and then uploading into these modules the assets, such as text, images, video, and the instructions, such as animation parameters, that make the content dynamic and interactive. The end result is a series of items that, taken together, become your App. The content management system is accessible through any web browser connected to the Internet. Upon completion of each individual item, the content manager sends the instructions that constitute that item to the Punch server. The server exists on the Internet and stores all the items (assets plus instructions on how they interrelate). Think of each item as a “mini App.” On individual tablets, users download the client App. The client App is a vessel that communicates with the Punch server and receives the assets and instructions for assembling the individual mini Apps that ultimately constitute the end-user experience. Mini Apps can be updated in real time, and the client Apps then download the updated content. This allows for a highly dynamic and responsive publishing environment. Each client App Appears in the App Store under the publisher’s brand. No two client Apps look the same. Punch can update App content in real time, providing a publishing environment that’s as timely as the web, with the fit and finish people have come to expect from tablet-native Apps.

Bloom Studio Inc., established in 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco, develops a visual discovery application platform. The company creates applications for iOS, Android, and web platforms that simplify exploration of social media and streaming datasets from sources like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Focusing on audio and video services, Bloom's apps combine data visualization with casual gameplay to offer users engaging ways to discover interesting content within their social networks, media libraries, and locations. Users can authenticate via popular web APIs such as Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Dropbox, and Google Reader, then choose from a growing collection of 'instruments' to interact with data in novel, playful ways.

OMGPOP is a prominent developer of social games that caters to various platforms, including Facebook, iPhone, and the open web. The company is recognized for its ability to create engaging real-time game experiences and operates its own destination site, allowing users to enjoy a variety of games. Beyond gaming, OMGPOP offers an online platform where members can interact through chat, share photos, and meet new friends. Additionally, the company retails a range of virtual items, including accessories and game-related merchandise, enhancing user engagement and providing a comprehensive social experience within its gaming ecosystem.

Open Places is a company that develops an open network of high-quality information about various locations, curated by writers and photographers globally. This platform promotes neighborhoods, towns, and regions, fostering a connection between travelers and locals. Open Places creates social content platforms for iOS and Android, which engage users by leveraging mobile actions linked to social media, while also building email and push notification lists for targeted communications. The company offers the Trazzler application, allowing users to discover nearby places and collaborate with editors on editorial content. Open Places provides opportunities for writers and photographers to receive assignments, collaborate with professionals, win awards, and enhance their portfolios. The company serves a diverse range of clients, including nonprofits, public radio stations, parks, schools, tourism bureaus, and various approved organizations. Incorporated in 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Open Places was previously known as Trazzler, Inc.

TweetDeck is a Twitter client designed for desktop, web, and mobile devices, originally developed as an Adobe AIR application. It features a unique columned user interface that allows users to monitor multiple Twitter feeds in a concise and organized manner. This functionality enables users to categorize their main feed into specific topics or groups, providing a broader overview of tweets. In 2011, TweetDeck was acquired by Twitter, which subsequently rebuilt the application using HTML5 technology. The platform integrates various services, enhancing the user experience by allowing real-time monitoring of information from multiple sources.

TweetDeck is a Twitter client designed for desktop, web, and mobile devices, originally developed as an Adobe AIR application. It features a unique columned user interface that allows users to monitor multiple Twitter feeds in a concise and organized manner. This functionality enables users to categorize their main feed into specific topics or groups, providing a broader overview of tweets. In 2011, TweetDeck was acquired by Twitter, which subsequently rebuilt the application using HTML5 technology. The platform integrates various services, enhancing the user experience by allowing real-time monitoring of information from multiple sources.

OMGPOP is a prominent developer of social games that caters to various platforms, including Facebook, iPhone, and the open web. The company is recognized for its ability to create engaging real-time game experiences and operates its own destination site, allowing users to enjoy a variety of games. Beyond gaming, OMGPOP offers an online platform where members can interact through chat, share photos, and meet new friends. Additionally, the company retails a range of virtual items, including accessories and game-related merchandise, enhancing user engagement and providing a comprehensive social experience within its gaming ecosystem.

Mob.ly, originally known as Goodrec, is a mobile and online recommendation service that specializes in delivering concise recommendations from friends and trusted sources. Launched at TechCrunch50 in 2008, Mob.ly enables users to easily create, discover, and remember actionable recommendations across various platforms, including its iPhone application and mobile browsers. The company focuses on enhancing mobile experiences by providing a comprehensive range of services, such as mobile strategy development, product management, design, development, and testing. This integrated approach allows clients to manage their mobile initiatives efficiently without the need to coordinate with multiple vendors. In May 2010, Mob.ly was acquired by Groupon, further expanding its reach and capabilities in the mobile recommendations space.