France’s Jooce Enters WebOS Space

New Paris startup Jooce says they are targeting the “cybercafe generation” with their new Flash-based web operating system and sharing platform.

Jooce is most like Goowy, another Flash based web OS/desktop. But Jooce is different enough to merit a closer look. They says 500 million people a day log on to the Internet from a cybercafe, and they are the target of the Jooce product. They want access to core customized applications like instant messaging, storage, media player, email and widgets. Jooce offers all of that, and is also a private sharing network among friends.

Every user has their own private desktop for IM, email, storage, etc. But they also have another desktop that friends can access and grab shared files, or drop off a file that they want to share.

The company has raised an initial seed round of financing from Mangrove Capital Partners, one of the original investors in Skype. It is currently a closed platform, but they will be releasing an API in the near future.

Jooce enters a crowded space but is targeting a clear audience. Being backed by Mangrove doesn’t hurt either.

Israel-based G.ho.st, another web OS startup that recently launched, is taking a different approach from Jooce. They’ve built some basic applications to show off the platform but are counting on third parties to do most of the heavy lifting via their API.

TimeBridge: Now Synching Your Meetings Through The Web

TimeBridge is a San Francisco-based startup that wants to do one thing very well: help with scheduling meetings.

They originally started out as a deeply integrated Outlook plug-in launched at the end of last year. While initially distinguishing them from other scheduling competitors, I have a feeling that the plug-in requirement added unnecessary friction to using the system.

Now TimeBridge is back with a full web only interface that integrates with your Google and Outlook calendars, with support for other calendars soon. The new version pushes them in the direction of their Montreal-based competitor Tungle, which integrates with more calendars. Tungle also differs by using a P2P system that runs between you and your contacts systems, not on a central server like TimeBrigde.

TimeBridge’s original Outlook plug-in brought their full functionality to your desktop. All of this functionality is now available with the web application, using the plug-ins to pull and push calendaring data between your computer and the web. Updates made on one calendar are reflected on the others and a master calendar is accessible anywhere on the web.

To make a meeting, you log in to their site, and fill out an email-like form consisting of the email addresses for attendees, meeting topic, and possible meeting times. You don’t have to download anything to use TimeBridge, but it helps if you install the plug-ins. If your attendees don’t have a TimeBridge, you can just suggest times based on your personal schedule. If they have TimeBridge integrated with their calendars, though, you can view what blocks of their scheduled time in a sidebar as you choose times.

After you send out the meeting request, each participant gets a full meeting request form in their email. The form lists the possible meeting times, which participants can select as no good, good, or best. Accepting the meeting request places time placeholders on calendars for people with TimeBridge.

The system then picks the best meeting time by points based on attendee responses with ties going to earlier times. If a an upcoming meeting time hasn’t been settled, you can either pick a meeting time or send reminders to the people that didn’t respond. Attendees with TimeBridge will then see the confirmed meeting slot pop up on their calendars.

The video below outlines the process in greater detail. TimeBridge is a funded through a total of $8.5 million by Mayfield and Norwest Ventures.

• Sphere It
• 
• 

Posted in Company & Product Profiles |