Even with blogging a tad light the last few months, we’ve managed to find enough TvB-worthy finalists for our semi-occasional roster of favorite apps. Thankfully,TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, though smaller and less crunchy than previous years, brought some great apps to our attention and made our usually contentious selection process bearable. Our main criteria as always is software that can make work life a little easier for the self-employed, and small-and-medium sized bizzness.
And the winners are:
Webydo–An Israeli startup with offices in the Garden State has received a lot of attention in the mainstream press over the last year. And this attention is well deserved. Tech-inclined small biz owners will immediately grok Webydo and then be able to create web designs that won’t look like they were punched out from a template. Or they can work with a web designer to produce artisanal HTML. Starter package at $9.90/month.
mention–We couldn’t imagine keeping up with news, tech and otherwise, without mention. It’s a real-time keyword monitoring app we discovered at TC Disrupt, and we were sold on it as soon as our trial period started. No surprises in configuring this software: set up boolean expressions for keywords using their wizard, and mention will trawl web sites, blogs, social media, forums, and videos for matching content. We don’t start a day without checking our mention feed first thing after gulping our coffee.
AppsBuilder Another mobile app builder? Yes, but Milan-based AppsBuilder, lets you create very slick and useful apps than can include–if you’re willing to pay extra–push notifications and geo-mapping functions. Unlike some of the other vanilla builders, this one gives you more control over layout and design. Their basic package, for 9 Euros/month, will let you get started, and then you can move to your own domain for 19 Euros/month.
webkite–This Pittsburgh-based startup impressed us with the purity of their vision for tables as the basis of the entire universe. Well, maybe just the web portion of reality, but who knows … For $79/month, their software will turn a table into a hierarchy of web pages. This is a great app for retailers who need to quickly convert their inventory into searchable HTML.
Piktochart–One of our favoritest apps of 2013. Infographics have become basic part of storytelling on the web. Pitkochart is bringing info-rich visuals within reach of the graphically challenged–writers, researchers, and analysts. You can see a sample of the we did here within just a few hours of being introduced to Pikto. While infographics has always had strong roots in journalism, Piktochart is now bringing these capabilities to non-media companies for their own communications.