The Flash Platform is fueling innovation

Posted by Serge Jespers on Jun 2, 2010 in Flash Platform, startups | 7 comments

Flash has been fueling innovation since the day it was first released. When Flash first arrived on the web it opened up a whole new world for web designers. It literally lit up the web by adding the ability to create rich and engaging experiences on the web. Flash has evolved (and continues to evolve) with every new release. Every new release adds new capabilities and features to the web.

Some people say that Flash is a dying technology but I beg to differ. Flash is just in its teens, far from dead and is still fueling innovation today. I’ve said this a few many times before but I’ll say it again: The “skip intro”-era is already far behind us and Flash is now being used as a platform for full blown applications that run in every browser and multiple devices.

But don’t just take my word for it. Check out these hot new startups and what they are doing with the Flash Platform!

UJam was founded by musicians Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams together with music software pioneers Peter Gorges and Axel Hensen. They wanted to build a new and easy way to make music even for people that don’t know anything about music.

Pharrell Williams: “If you have a tune in your head no longer do you have to hope and pray that you have to find a team to help to put it together. Now you can do it yourself.” Hans Zimmer: “UJam makes it possible to turn a tune that’s stuck in your head in to music.”

UJam was recently demoed at TechCrunch Disrupt and actually came in second in the Disrupt startup competition. It is truly an amazing piece of software. You basically sing or hum a tune in to your microphone and the application turns it in to music. You have to see it to believe it. At TC Disrupt, the UJAM folks pointed out that their site wouldn’t be technically feasible without Flash… I can’t wait to play around with this but it’s still in early stages and not available to the outside world. Imagine if UJam and Audiotool came together…

VideoGenie was also launched at TechCrunch Disrupt. “VideoGenie automatically creates compilation videos that allow companies to solicit customer sentiment in the most impactful way possible. Marketers can easily use VideoGenie for testimonials, reviews, suggestions, and corporate communication. VideoGenie’s disruptive technology provides marketers with a cost efficient, effective way to create, collect, manage, and distribute compelling video content without the expense, training, and software traditionally required.”

VideoGenie uses the Flash Platform and its ability to record video from the user’s webcam with just a few clicks.

Have you ever been in a situation that reminded you of something you once saw in a movie? Or just thought of a quote that you heard in a movie once but you can’t remember which movie it was? You probably go and search on YouTube or try to find it on Google so you can share it with your friends. Your chances of finding it there are pretty slim mainly because of licensing. Movieclips.com have partnerships with 6 Hollywood studios to provide clips for their site. Their Mashup engine allows you to quickly search for a specific actor, movie, quote, action and/or situation and will provide you with a list of matching movies. Once you pick your favorite one, you can trim the clip to that specific moment you had in your mind and then share it with your friends.

“Navigaya is One Ultra-Hot Content Platform”, was the headline on TechCrunch.com a few weeks ago. TechCrunch’s Roi Carthy wrote: “What single adjective best describes Navigaya? Gorgeous? Stylish? Addictive? Having spent a few weeks playing with it, I’d have to concede, all of the above. There really is just no way around it, Navigaya is one of the most mesmerizing content products I’ve seen in a while.“.

Navigaya (completely built with Flash) is all about content. It allows you to browse content from all over the web in a new and very exciting way. It’s really hard to explain so check out the video to get a better idea of what it does.

The idea behind WeTransfer is nothing new. The way they do it is. WeTransfer allows you to send big files (up to 2GB) to your colleagues and friends. You just add the file(s) and the email address of each friend you want to receive it, optionally add a message and click “Transfer”. That’s it. No need to install anything. No need to register. While the files transfer WeTransfer shows you adverts (with gorgeous images) in the background. Easy, simple, beautiful and built with Flash.

Scribblar.com is an easy to use online meeting place where multiple users can collaborate on images, use shared whiteboards, have a live audio or text chat and more. Because Scribblar is built with Flash the user does not need to install anything new. Just send your customer the link to your online meetingroom and within minutes you are revising the artwork he commissioned, engaging in a creative brainstorm, or leading an online training session.

The social web has dramatically changed the way people do business and the way people communicate with and about brands. Radian6 helps brands understand who is talking about them and what people are discussing by monitoring different social networking sources. With an easy to use and clear interface the Radian6 suite also allows brand managers to easily engage with their customers wherever they hang out on the social web. It also gives you in depth statistics and reports to easily measure your impact on social networks. Radian6 built the entire interface using the Flex framework and the AIR runtime.

Even hardware startups are relying on Flash. The litl is a very good example.

From the litl blog: “The litl webbook is an “Internet computer”, a new type of computer built on and for the web. It can go online in a conventional laptop-like mode, rendering websites with its modern browser and built-in support for Flash. Used like this, it’s ideal for traditional “lean forward” web activities like searching, reading, typing, and clicking. However, the computer can also stand upright like an easel when its screen and keyboard are flipped around its hinge. In this new mode, the litl webbook and its exposed 12-inch screen transform into a platform for “lean back” or passive web activities — watching video, enjoying photos, listening to music, and scanning headlines, for example.“. In this “lean back” mode you’re actually using full screen Flash based applications that developers can build using the litl SDK and the Flash knowledge they already have.

BoosterMedia built their entire business around building Flash based games. – VIAAS is a video monitoring system that relies on Flex and Flash. – Crystal Mapping does mind mapping in a Flash based UI. – Jilster allows multiple users to collaborate on creating a magazine. The UI uses Flash and the magazine is delivered on paper. – Lumacentral used Flex to built an online creation/ordering/management system for marketers. – ScrapHD is an online scrapbook application. – Pearltrees enables you to organize, discover and share stuff you find on the web. – Shufflr.tv is a social video browser built on top of the AIR runtime.

The list goes on and on… And I bet that while writing this post at least a few more saw the light of day. The Flash Platform is a popular choice for startups and that is probably not going to change any time soon.

Flash on!

PS: If you’re working for a cool startup that uses the Flash Platform, feel free to leave a comment or get in touch!