What in the world is a "Geo-Social Search Engine?" Well, for those of you who have never heard of this term....should we go to Google or Wikipedia to find out? Drum roll.....okay, let's go to Wikipedia!

Wikipedia says:

"A Geo-social network is a geographically aware social network in which members share geographic information in support of a common interest. The term geo-social stems from the web-based concept of online social networks (e.g., MySpace) which self-assemble around an area of interest for information exchange and relationship building.

A geo-social network allows members to interact relative to location and time. This requires the use of mapping tools to express the spatial component of important concepts or events. For example, a geo-social network interested in Jazz music could use free mapping tools (e.g., Google Maps, Microsoft Live) to communicate locations of the best jazz clubs or concert events. A geo-social network focused on natural disasters could use more advanced geospatial mapping tools to communicate detailed over all situational awareness based on an assembly of individual perspectives. This type of geo-social networking is known as collaborative mapping."

Now, that you officially know what a geo-social engine is all about, you can talk to your spouse or significant other about "geo-social" stuff over a dinner conversation. Okay, maybe there's more exciting conversations that you can have over dinner like Barack vs Pastor Wright or the Celtics losing 2 straight games to the Hawks!

Well, for the Zoodango lovers out there...we will be releasing our geo-social search engine very, very soon. We are working days and nights to offer this ASAP. Trust me, it's important to us as well. In fact, our press release isn't going out until we release the first version of this engine. As the CEO, it's tough playing the waiting game. I want to move forward with our marketing/PR initiatives to increase traffic, but I must wait patiently just like the rest of you.

So what will you be able to do with this engine? To put it simply, you'll be able to search for places based on spatial mapping, your social graph, and your personal preferences. So go on the site, find venues, and click "I like it" so the Zoodango system will understand your personal tastes and location preferences.

On another note, I know we don't have every venue in our system...this is a pretty difficult problem to solve. I just spoke with my contacts that worked on the Google Map team, and he also gave me some advice on how to solve it, but he admitted that this is a big problem...local data that's 100% updated and accurate. So, we're not the only ones battling this problem. Google is actually allowing users to edit venue listings...trust the user, right? Well, it's worked for Wikipedia. Okay, so we'll do the same. We'll provide you with tools to edit and add your favorite venues too.

Don't be stranger, and please continue to give us your feedback. Thanks.

Washington Technology Industry Association Announces 2008 Investment Forum Winners

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - April 24, 2008) - The Washington Technology Industry Association -- the largest statewide association of technology companies, IT departments and individual technology professionals in North America, today announced the winning companies from its 15th annual Investment Forum.

Nearly 350 industry influencers attended the Investment Forum April 24 at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, where 26 companies in the wireless, digital media, Web services, clean tech, software industries and online community were selected to present their business models to panels of top venture capitalists and regional business leaders.

Panelists scored each company on its business model, management team, market analysis, products and/or services and presentation, ultimately selecting one winner from each category. Among the winning presenters, N2uitive Corporation took home two awards for its recorded statement management solution, one for Best and Brightest, the other in the software category.

"The annual Investment Forum truly demonstrates the Washington Technology Industry Association's commitment to the growth of the Pacific Northwest's emerging technology industry," said Ken Myer, president and chief executive officer of the Washington Technology Industry Association. "With the highest number of attendees to date, the visibility for Washington state's most talented technology companies was unprecedented."

The winning companies included:

-- Digital Media:
-- Wetpaint

-- Clean Tech:
-- HaloSource, Inc.

-- Online Communities:
-- Zoodango.com

-- Web Services:
-- Track I Winner: Yapta, Inc.
-- Track II Winner: Limeade

-- Software:
-- Track I Winner: Physware, Inc.
-- Track II Winner: N2uitive Corporation

-- Wireless:
-- Medio Systems, Inc.

-- Best and Brightest:
-- N2uitive Corporation

Additionally, at the 2008 Investment Forum, the Washington Technology Industry Association partnered with the Alliance of Angels to bring both an early-stage and growth track to the forum's program.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. There's no doubt that we are still in a "work in progress" kind of mode. We have many additional features that we are working on right now. It's been an interesting process to hear everyone's feedback during this soft launch.

Try the "Smart Invite" and the "Smart Recommendation Engine" and let us know what you think. I think one of the best features about the "Smart Invite" is the ability to collaborate and get real-time feedback from your friends on where and when to meet up. I used our service recently, and my friends thought it was so cool that I considered their votes before deciding on where to meet up.

When sending out online invitations, most people are used to simply broadcasting a single location and date/time to their friends. Well, we are definitely moving everyone into the web 2.0 world. Collaboration produces better results than a single person making a decision. Web 2.0 is all about read/write, shared information, and collaborative decision making.

You will also enjoy our "Smart Recommendation Engine" which answers questions like "where should we go for dinner tonight?" or "where should we go have drinks?" whether you are in your hometown or visiting a new city. It is perfect for getting together with a few friends, to quickly find venues that are good for everybody. The application provides a list of venues with scores that are 100% customized to the members in a group. The score is not a generic score, but rather, a dynamically generated personalized score of how good the location is specific to the people in your group.

Our ultimate goal is to provide you with a smart and personalized way to find venues and to meet with friends.

First, I would like to thank all the Zoodango users for your patience as we transition to this new release. The feedback has been coming in, and we appreciate your eagerness to try out the new applications and services on Zoodango. We had some initial issues arise with the complexity of this deployment. Some of you may have noticed that your smart invite links sent out to your invitees were throwing initial errors. We've corrected this issue and apologize for any inconvenience. Those links should now be in working order. We also corrected an issue with the selection of a single option for invites.

As before, please let us know if you have any further issues or questions going forward. We will continue to post updates now that the new release is live.

Thank you all!