Here is the Press Release of the new venture we are launching today at Mobile Sunday for the Mobile World Congres:

Zcapes will Defeat Internet Search Engines for Situational Content

Zcapes is a mini blog platform for the mobile phone. What you can’t find in a main search engine you will find with Zcapes. Zcapes taps into the live web by providing smart filters and situational content for any situation. Anyone can make a Zcape for any object or event. Zcapes makes sure you won’t miss a thing.

Barcelona, February 15th 2009. Today is the launch of Zcapes, which aims to be a better information service for the mobile phone then an Internet search engine. With more and more people using the mobile web, Zcapes will make sure they won’t miss a thing. With Zcapes people have the ability to explore what is going on right now for their specific situation. Zcapes pages are easy to find and use with mobile phones at m.zcapes.com. Zcapes are free and can be made by anyone and everyone with the Zcapes Builder at www.zcapes.com.

Founder Raimo van der Klein:

“There is no mobile search engine where you are able to find good results for ‘Shopping in Amsterdam right now’, let alone a service that has any inclination of my context. Zcapes fills this gap of context relevant and situational content. Zcapes will contain this information by helping people create it and provide it to others.”

The service on a mobile phone
The mobile address for Zcapes is m.zcapes.com. Relevant Zcapes can be found by searching by keyword, category or location. A Zcapes page contains an image, text box for basic information, and message boxes for communication between users. RSS, Flickr and Twitter feeds on relevant keywords to filter the live web are also available. A poll feature can be added as well as an RSVP service when there is a specific event to which people can be invited. Zcapes are conveniently formatted so they’re easily viewable on a mobile phone.

Registration is required to publish messages and link to the location service Fire Eagle. Knowing where you are helps Zcapes to provide more accurate location based information.

The Zcapes Builder
Using a desktop or laptop, Zcapes pages can be built at www.zcapes.com. Registration is required to perform this function. The Zcape name and address is determined here as well as the tags and the category. The specific feeds and features can be selected by an intuitive and drop and drag interface. When the Zcape is completed, it can be published and announced to friends via the Twitter announce service or an email invitation.

About Zcapes
Zcapes is founded by Raimo van der Klein, Claire Boonstra and Maarten Lens-FitzGerald. Together they run the strategic creative consultancy SPRXmobile. At SPRXmobile they architect mobile services for companies ready to take the step into mobile. Their specialization is developing services around the personal context of people and adding value to specific situations.
All three are experienced mobile service architects. Raimo started over 8 years ago at Nokia and founded Mobile Monday Amsterdam together with Maarten. Claire was one of the original team members for the iMode launch in the Netherlands.

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Contact details
For Further information contact:
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald
maarten [at sign] zcapes.com
+31 646333308

Explore Zcapes at m.zcapes.com on your mobile phone
Build Zcapes at www.zcapes.com on your PC

Screen Shots (click for source)

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A good e-mail interview was published at the Dutchcowboys weblog on Febuary 6 2009 by Henk de Hooge. This is the translation.

SPRX, Zcapes and the passion for mobile

Everybody knows them by now, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, Raimo van der Klein and Claire Boonstra. They are the founders of MoMo Amsterdam, one of the most successful Mobile Mondays worldwide. And set up their company SPRXmobile in the streamline and recently initiated a new start-up Zcapes.

Enough reasons to ask some questions to one of the most passionate people I know, one of the first bloggers at Dutchcowboys, @dutchcowboy on Twitter and a lot more. But also someone who saw the other side of life when last year was diagnosed with cancer. An e-mail interview with Maarten Lens-FitzGerald.

What made you start MoMo?

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Our friend Jim Stolze was at TED this year in Long Beach. Not only to attend but also to present the results of his Virtual Happiness Research. Here is the presentation and transcript of his 6 minute talk (yes, short and quick!). And 5 tips to make you happier.

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Thats what Timo Arnall says in this presentation about persuasive computing. Go thru the presentation and read the notes. It makes you think.

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Robert Rice says that this year AR is going mainstream. The exposure of AR that is. During the Super Bowl two commercials aired with Augmented Reality in it:

Coca Cola

GE

And since where showing these… why not this old one too (from HP). It fits.

The point Rice is making in his post is that all this exposure will make people expect to much because its fake and the real state of AR is this:

At SPRX we don’t know too much about holding back. Yet too much exposure and over expectancy is not a good thing. So how to remedy that? By sharing the actual state of AR more regularly. Simple as that. Its about managing expectations AND sharing a dream. That’s what we’ll do. We sold our first AR project and are ready for the next one.

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And we made them do it.

In Dutch its called the ING Wegwijzer. With the app you can find ATMs in the Netherlands. The coolest view is the camera view. You hold the phone in front of you. The Camera ’sees’ what direction you are looking at and on the view screen this image is enhanced with ATM’s that are there. It works in any direction.

With the App all ATM’s are findable. The ING ones have their own logo. Also there is a Map and Satellite view:

..

Its done with the software from Mobilizy in Austria. They started it all with Wikitude.

It was great getting this off the ground and working with Mobilizy and with ING Bank. I wonder what’s next…

[UPDATE]
ING sent out a press release with video (in Dutch):

Some more press:

• SpringWise: ING application for G1 phone uses camera & compass to point out nearest ATM
• Bright: Android-app toont pinautomaten
• Marketingfacts: ING introduceert ATM Locator met Augmented Reality
• Gvenk Daily: Aflevering 168
• DutchCowboys: ING als eerste merk op de Google telefoon met unieke app
• Nu Zakelijk: G1 telefoon vindt dichtstbijzijnde geldautomaat

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