#@techmeme

  OnSwipe, the tablet advertising company, has raised $1 million from investment firms including Boston-based Spark Capital, Betaworks and ENIAC Ventures. Angel investors Dharmesh Shah, Jennifer Lum, Roy Rodenstein and Wayne Chang also contributed to the funding round.

 OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

   Press release distribution, EDGAR filing, XBRL, regulatory filings | Business Wire

www.businesswire.com

Business Wire is the leading source for full-text breaking news and press releases, multimedia and regulatory filings for companies and groups throughout the world.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/12/onswipe/

http://blog.onswipe.com/news/the-road-ahead

     PadPressed, the WordPress plugin that makes your blog look like a native app is branching out, with a new one million seed round of funding...........

  Baptiste has big plans and his mission fits in with the mission of lead investor Spark Capital. Lead investor Alex Finkelstein, general partner at Spark, explains “Publishing is no longer about reaching just the desktop or laptop website user; publishers now need to think about connecting with users of all touch-enabled devices.”

    "To help us along the way we’ve found great partners in Spark Capital, Betaworks, TechStars NYC, and a handful of angels that have been involved with companies like Quattro Wireless and AdMob since the beginning. It’s going to be a fun ride and one that we hope benefits everyone involved- publishers, advertisers, and readers."

  Jason L.Baptiste January, 2011

        Official Press Release

Jason L. Baptiste and Andres Barreto

Forget apps, OnSwipe is the future of publishing.

Sporting sneakers and chugging sugar-free Red Bulls, OnSwipe founders Jason L. Baptiste and Andres Barreto may look like typical overworked kids right out of college. But get them talking about the future of publishing, the tablet market, why native apps are outdated and how Microsoft should be run and you’ll quickly realize, these gentlemen are not your average college graduates.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad last January, it kickstarted a year of rapid experimentation as news publishers hunted for ways to capitalize on tablet computing. The “iPad effect” was a tsunami through the publishing industry.

The two entrepreneurs, Baptiste, age 25 and Barreto, age 23, were poised for the age of the tablet. Both men are passionate writers who wanted to make their content look beautiful on the iPad. Armed with skills in coding and software development, Baptiste and Barreto are now entrenched in their efforts to make the publishing experience more enjoyable for the reader from both the editorial experience and the advertising side.

“We’re a media company with a heart and soul of awesome software and design,” says Baptiste.

The men arrived in New York City just two weeks ago for the inaugural NY TechStars class by way of Boston via Miami (Baptiste) and Miami via Argentina, Chile and Colombia (Barreto). Averaging about 5 Red Bulls a day (provided by the TechStars program), the two spoke very highly of their experience thus far under the wings of TechStars founder and director, David Cohen and David Tisch, respectively. Aside from a rough adjustment to NYC’s winter weather, they’re very excited to be in the city that never sleeps, and very stoked that there is a 24-hour Best Buy just steps from their office.

So what is OnSwipe? OnSwipe is a platform that makes it easy for any publisher from a blogger using Posterous to the New York Times to make their content and advertising an immersive, aesthetic experience on iPads via a Web browser. It runs off of WordPress for now but will work with Movable Type in the near future. Mind you, OnSwipe IS NOT AN APP. It delivers an app like experience on the web that looks beautiful on an iPad.

“Apps are insufficient for content,” says Baptiste who refers to native apps as “PDF readers” and equates them to a Ponzi scheme for publishers. “It’s all about delivering an app-like experience on the web. With OnSwipe, publishers can have their cake and eat it too.”

     "There is not a positive long-term relationship between happiness and income; in fact the relationship is nil,” explained (well known) Easterlin, USC Professor of Economics.

Studies show that while overall satisfaction of life is strongly tied to income, meaning richer nations and individuals have more overall bliss, how much one enjoys life (laughing and smiling) depends more on social and psychological needs being met.  These include having social support and using one's abilities, as opposed to sitting at a mind-numbing job.

The United States, which had the highest gross domestic product per capita, came in at No. 16 for overall well-being and No. 26 for enjoyment, referred to as positive feelings. The No. 1 spot for overall well-being went to Denmark, and New Zealand landed the No. 1 slot for positive feelings.

Though money in itself cannot buy happiness, it sure does allow for security, peace of mind, and helps when situations, such as illness, occur in life. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/thoughts-on-the-daily-and-my-challenge-to-rupert-murdoch-2011-2

    It’s against the real time nature of the web

Even delivering an “update” daily is just too slow for the way the web works. Setting any sort of defined delivery period is just silly. The web isn’t on a set time schedule, but an always-on network of flowing information. That’s the real special sauce of what’s happening in the media industry.

The flow of information is no longer constrained by time, it is instantaneous and transcends time itself. By fighting against that, we’re taking a step backward.  Many people claim that the initial wait to download is too long and I agree, but the biggest problem is the day long wait for an update of any size.  It’s the time period, not just the size that is bothersome.

In the past—before the ease of the written word—folklore was the product of someone’s vivid imagination. Perhaps because it is rooted in Folklore, the magic of story-telling, by an individual author, is epitomized with Fantasy and Science Fiction. Good fantasy is, of course, fanciful but also needs to have well-developed characters, an engaging plot, and an identifiable theme—presented through a well-crafted style.

If all fantasy is great in its own way because real insight and artistic originality must be unique to its author, and there are many books out there that qualify; i.e., The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass, etc. series by Phillip Pullman, to name a few; why do you think the overwhelming success of the Harry Potter series? What sets this collection apart from the rest? I did a little research, and, while I have to claim never having read the books, myself (though it is on my to-do list once I graduate), I do have my own personal opinion. Perhaps you will read further to find out.

Born in 1965, Joanne Rowlings—better known as J. K. Rowlings—is a relatively (everything is relative:) young author.  Like the appeal and mind-set of President Obama, she is wired to connect with the minds of the New Millennium child, but has experienced enough of life for depth of character. Today this author is a very wealthy woman. It was not always this way. 

J.K. went to Exeter University, worked as a secretary and as a teacher, but then fell on hard times. She and her husband divorced after the birth of their daughter, and J.K. Rowling ended up unemployed and living in a tiny flat in Edinburgh with her only child. The idea for the book came to J.K. Rowling while on a train ride. She said that she really liked the idea of creating a place where a child could have power, like Hogswarts (School of Witchcraft and Wizardry).  She would take her baby to the local café and write for hours each day, while Jessica was napping.

There were 21 rejections and three agents. I am a very determined person, but it is hard to imagine that many professionals telling me, “No,” and still continuing to pursue success. Somehow she felt this particular story about Harry Potter (named after her childhood friend, Ian Potter) had to be published and shared.  J. K. Rowling, in five years, went from an assistance program, for her and her daughter to survive, to multi-million dollar status (today billionaire)! There was something magical in her determination. I believe her determination  (born of pain), extreme passion, generously sprinkled with magic dust, is reflected in her work that transcends other excellent authors and sets Harry Potter apart from the rest.

There is a movie to be made about this Rags to Riches woman.   Magic Dust to defy all odds?  My imaginative, fairy tale side says, “Yes!”

http://www.archive.org/details/tobacco_leo23e00

Note:  Written for Literature Class

Historical fiction is realistic—the events could have occurred, and the people portrayed could have lived (and sometimes really did)—but it differs from contemporary realistic fiction in that the stories are set in the past rather than the present. 

Some books (and people) that we now classify as historical fiction began as contemporary realism. Laughing, but I guess this pretty much defines who I am—began as contemporary and now classified as historical!

Historical fiction can be linked to other genres: poetry, folklore, fantasy, “biography,” and nonfiction can be combined with historical fiction in the study of a particular time and place.  A good deal of my life story, if (and when) written, would be classified as “Historical” fiction!  Talk about feeling like a dinosaur! OK, not quite that bad.  However, one of the periods of history’s popular settings in historical fiction today is centered around the 1950s, 1960’s, and the “you-had-to-be-there-to-fully-comprehend,” wild and wacky 1970s. 

After the end of World War II, peace was not long lasting; soon the world was disturbed by the Cold War and the Korean, Vietnam, and Cambodian conflicts…..In the United States, the civil rights movement forever altered the status quo, and the role of women in society also changed dramatically. Therefore, I entered adulthood with one foot in each world's mindset—a cross between Happy Days, Bra Burning, and,  Virginia Slims’, You've Come A Long Way Baby, new woman!

As a young child, during the cold war era, there were daily drills at school to prepare students in the event of a Russian (Communist) bombing. The siren would blare and everyone had to crouch under their desk until the all-clear siren was heard. In retrospect, please don’t ask exactly how this would protect us, for I do not know. I do know, though, that I had weekly nightmares, always in fear of an invasion.  Over the years, the fear had faded.  Then, in the blink of an eye, it all came flashing back.  

(Fast Forward to the beginning of the 21st century). Our country's vulnerability is something that the next two generations had never experienced in America—until the awful day of September 11, 2001. It was the end of the age of innocence. The world, as we knew it, would never be the same again. 

Without having this post turn into an epistle, please visit the below link. I hope you will find this historical fiction, from my own personal perspective and experience—written for Journalism class, last semester—quite interesting and informative. 

http://www.soflasun.com/911-remembering-new-york/