Just a Few Months Old, Kynetx Developer Program Spawning a New Generation of Context-Aware Apps

LEHI, Utah, January 22, 2010–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kynetx is leading the client-side revolution with its unparalleled development platform and program. At the heart of the platform is a rules-based language that allows developers to build entirely new web experiences that are cross-site, cross-platform and respond to context in the user’s environment. By leveraging this unique platform, the Kynetx developer program has already garnered more than 300 developers resulting in over 800 applications.

“Unlike any other platform, Kynetx offers developers the technology to easily resolve data mismatches coming from fractured sources of information. This capability results in a new breed of apps that act as powerful context-aware mash-ups,” says Stephen Fulling, Kynetx co-founder and CEO. “Information is only powerful if it touches you when and where you need it…in context. Kynetx gives developers the tools they need for connecting the dots.”

Richard Miller, a lead developer at FamilyLink.com, used the Kynetx Development platform to create a prototype application with the power to extend FamilyLink’s functionality to sites across the web, including Facebook, Gmail, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In just a few days, he crafted the prototype application that extends the experience of FamilyLink users when looking for relatives, adding relatives or communicating with them beyond the FamilyLink site.

“This is exactly the kind of viral growth and entrepreneurial innovation we were hoping would come out of our Developer Program,” Fulling continued. “Richard read a blog post about us, signed up, and was writing a ground-breaking app in minutes. The Kynetx Developer Program offers unparalleled tools and infrastructure to help unleash developers’ imaginations. Clearly, that’s what Richard Miller has done.”

Kynetx recently increased its “mash-up” capabilities with new Twitter API support. The Kynetx Rules Language now integrates with the Twitter API, using Twitter’s OAuth scheme, giving developers the ability to create Kynetx applications that can easily access Twitter data.

“The Twitter upgrade opens a myriad of possibilities for our Developer Program,” says Dr. Phillip Windley, Kynetx CTO. “Using Kynetx, you can create and deploy an app in minutes that understands and responds to Twitter data on any website or web-enabled device.”

Kynetx also offers semi-annual conferences designed for developers to explore ideas and learn from the experts, face to face. The next Kynetx Impact conference is scheduled for April 27th-28th in Salt Lake City. More information and registration can be found at www.kynetx.com.

To sign up for the Kynetx Developer program go to www.kynetx.com.

Demonstration of the Family Link app can be found at http://richardkmiller.com/860.

About FamilyLink

FamilyLink provides the platform for the family social experience. Family members can create family-generated content, preserve interactions, add historical content and communicate across Facebook, e-mail, chat and the Web. FamilyLink is a top 100 Web site and has more than 60 million users, 20 million monthly active users and more than 1 million daily active users. FamilyLink has been the top family application on Facebook since 2007. FamilyLink also leverages its content relationships to provide valuable historical family content. Families can search more than 1.2 billion names to find, tag and integrate ancestors. To learn more about FamilyLink go to www.familylink.com.

About Kynetx

Founded in 2007, Kynetx is a private company that has developed a proprietary rules-based development platform that is the first infrastructure to support the “purpose-centric” web metaphor that is driving the next era of software services and Internet applications. Kynetx offers a developer program that gives programmers access to technology that helps them create cross-platform, context and user-aware apps that stretch across the web.

Contacts:

For Kynetx
Snapp Conner PR
Cheryl Snapp Conner, 801-994-9625
cheryl@snappconner.com

or

FamilyLink
Stephanie Rogers, Steph@familylink.com

Customer Experience Matrix
by David Raab
Thursday, January 21, 2010

Summary: Kynetx lets marketers enhance and coordinate user experience across multiple Web sites. It’s so different from site-based Web personalization that the possibilities can be hard to grasp. But I think they’re substantial.

The classic view of online anonymity is the 1993 New Yorker cartoon, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Today, we realize that our online identities are not as private as they then seemed. But from a marketer’s viewpoint, it’s still maddeningly difficult to recognize online visitors and interact with them as individuals.

The challenge is usually focused on the marketer’s own Web site: when people visit, how can I identify them? But, ideally, marketers would track their customers across all Web sites and interject themselves when appropriate. Ad networks already do this to some extent, using third party cookies to coordinate the messages shown to each individual on different sites. But this doesn’t help marketers who want an active role in managing the user’s experience.

Kynetx offers a more powerful alternative. It installs a browser extension that can send data to an externally-hosted rules engine which returns JavaScript snippets that enhance the current Web page. The data describes the rules to execute and the current context, such as the Web page being viewed. It could potentially include personal information the user has chosen to share, although current Kynetx applications do not.

A concrete example would surely help. One Kynetx application is downloaded by members of the AAA automobile club. When users do a search on Google or other major sites, the application calls the Kynetx rules engine which checks a list of vendors who offer AAA discounts and flags them within the search results. No personal data is shared, yet AAA’s marketers deliver a customized experience that reminds members of their benefits and supports AAA’s partners.

Kynetx applications can also move data from one Web site to another, for example by capturing data and using it fill in a form or execute an API call.

The underlying technology for most Kynetx applications includes “Information Cards”, an open standard for digital identity management supported by Microsoft, Oracle, Google, PayPal and others. The general idea is that people can have different “cards” with different information for different purposes, allowing them to control (and, presumably, minimize) the amount of information they provide in each context. See the Information Card Foundation Web site for details.

In the case of Kynetx, Information Cards also minimize user effort, since the Kynetx browser extension must be installed only once, and then new applications can be added simply by loading a new Information Card. All the heavy lifting is done by the Kynetx rules engine, which resides on a central server accessed over the Internet. In addition to reducing the burden on the user’s computer, this makes updates easy since any changes are made on the server and go into effect without being deployed to user systems.

Development effort is further reduced because each Kynetx application runs on major browsers and operating systems without customization. Rules are written in a Kynetx-developed language with special features for context management. I was particularly pleased to see support for A/B tests, including facilities to randomly select different actions, capture success or failure, and report on results. Applications can run on personal computers, smartphones, or any other Web-enabled device.

Marketers who don’t want to use Information Cards can distribute applications through other “endpoints” including browser toolbars, cookies, wireless proxy servers (for example, in a coffee shop), or bookmarklets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmarklet . All that’s required is something that can identify a user, capture permissions, and call the Kynetx server.

Kynetx was founded in 2007 and currently is used in more than 700 applications from about 250 developers. Although the company does some application development, its primary business is selling execution on its platform, at rates from $.24 to $1.60 per thousand ruleset evaluations.

I’m frankly intrigued by the possibilities of Kynetx, which seems to open a direct channel onto users’ desktops, bypassing traditional Web advertising. It does require a preexisting relationship with the user, but gaining user permission is fast becoming a condition for most online interactions. Kynetx makes it easier to gain this permission by offering something of value in return. Even more important, it should help marketers to strengthen existing relationships by repeatedly demonstrating value after an application is installed.

Posted by David Raab at 10:48 AM

by Robert Scoble on January 1, 2010
Scobilizer.com

UPDATE: Part II of this post, which includes the rest of my favorite 25 startups to watch this year, is now up.

I’m watching hundreds of startups, have at least one list of them over on Twitter (500 startups are on that one) and will be starting other lists in 2010 but I’ve been watching the trends on Twitter of what people are talking about and here are 25 startups to watch.

Why?

Because they are the best of breed examples of trends that are bigger than them. Is this list complete? No way, but it gives you a good starting point on some companies who you should be trying out and watching.

I have 15 other companies that I’ll be posting over the weekend, please let me know if you have any companies you are watching and we can watch them together.

#8. Kynetx. Crunchbase entry. Twitter account. Video with founders explaining why Kynetx is an interesting real-time development system. Why is it important? Because it lets developers augment websites and search engines for their customers. AAA can add new data to Google.com for its members, for instance.

Read entire article.

-Optini launches new customer-centered solutions based on the Kynetx platform as first offering in exclusive agreement to market Kynetx technology to companies in the Direct Selling Industry-

Lehi, Utah, January 4, 2010—One of network marketing’s most successful experts and leaders, Craig Bryson has joined executives John Wright (President) and Joseph Watson (CTO) to create a new company Optini which is focused on user centric solutions which utilizes Kynetx (www.kynetx.com) technology. Optini’s Vu Platform makes direct selling easier and more efficient with permission-based web modules that let marketers tailor the web experience for downline distributors and customers. Integrating data from multiple sources, the Optini Vu Platform gives members a personal, relevant and anticipated experience that increases the satisfaction and efficiency of commerce in the multilevel marketing (MLM) industry.

Direct selling is a $26.9B industry in the U.S. according to the Direct Selling Association (DSA). In the U.S. alone there are more than 15.1M distributors/members—yet the greatest deterrent to new participants is the need to sell face-to-face, often by pitching to a finite group of family and friends (known as a “warm market”). Optini’s products and services allow network marketers to use an automated system that helps them quickly create a larger warm market by facilitating selling across any web site or web-enabled device. By leveraging the places people spend time online anyway (e.g. social networking sites, search engines, etc.), Optini’s Vu Platform reduces the need to sell face-to-face and diminishes the number one reason people say “no” to joining an MLM.

“The Vu platform has the potential to revolutionize the MLM industry by opening the door for the thousands of people who have never considered direct selling before,” Bryson said.

The Kynetx rules-based development platform is gaining traction as a catalyst to the new “Purpose-Based Web” that lets users shape the web to their desired experience in a private and secure way. The new applications can span multiple URLs appearing where users already spend time (like on search engines and social network sites). The ability for Kynetx apps to stretch across the web, (and onto web-enabled devices), gives users a more efficient, enjoyable way to navigate the web (and to conduct business online).

“We are extremely excited about the new horizons Kynetx has opened for user-driven selected apps that create more efficient buying and selling relationships on the web,” said John Wright, Optini co-founder and President. “Kynetx is allowing us to drive online commerce in entirely new ways. We are thrilled to be the exclusive provider of this new technology for the growing network marketing world. Marrying the MLM know-how of Optini with the new breed of Kynetx technology will create selling tools that have never existed before.”

“The Optini Vu Platform is a great example of the new client-side applications that are emerging since our launch of the Kynetx platform at our Impact Conference last October,” said Stephen Fulling, Kynetx co-founder and CEO. “We congratulate Optini for their game-changing application of Kynetx technology in the direct selling space. We look forward to seeing the ways Optini uses our technology to change the face of Network Marketing.”

About Optini
Optini, www.optini.com, is changing the face of network marketing through permission based online marketing tools based on Kynetx technology. Optini’s flagship product is the new Optini Vu Platform to increase the satisfaction and efficiency of conducting multilevel commerce online. Optini’s involvement in the Direct Selling/MLM industry is complimentary to their broader focus on other industries including membership services, ILM (Interactive Local Media, ISP (Internet Service Providers), Publishing, etc.

About Kynetx
Founded in 2007, Kynetx is a private company that has developed a proprietary rules-based development platform that is the first infrastructure to support the “purpose-centric” web metaphor that is driving the next era of software services and Internet applications.

###

PR Contact Information for Kynetx:

Cheryl Snapp Conner or Josh Berndt
Snapp Conner PR
801 994-9625
cheryl@snappconner.com or josh@snappconner.com

PR Contact Information for Optini:

David Politis
Politis Communications
801-523-3730
dpolitis@politis.com

See Business Wire posting here.

by Robert Scoble on December 22, 2009 – Scobilizer.com

I think this is such an interesting new development platform that I’m reprinting this video and post from building43.com:

+++++

A new platform from Kynetx has tools that let developers use customer preferences to add features to Web sites, regardless of the browser.

Phillip Windley, CTO, and Stephen Fulling, CEO of the Utah-based startup, came to Robert Scoble’s home to explain how the platform works and to show us the application in action in this building43 video.

“Our elevator speech is that we provide a development system for building applications that respond to context in the user environment,” Fulling explains in the video.

What does that mean?

It means that customers can get something extra when they come to a Web site. For example, if a AAA subscriber has her or his membership card information installed on PC or mobile device, an extra box with “AAA discounts” will be listed next to companies whose names turn up in a Google search for keywords such as rental cars or hotels.

Another application, through the Minutemen Library Network, alerts members that “this book is available in your local library,” after scanning book titles on a Web site. That application leverages the Jon Udell Library Lookup Project.

“As a developer, you can create the client-side experience” using rules-based platform and Javascript, says Windley.

Kynetx (pronounced Kuh-neh-ticks) is less than two years old. According to the founders, it was bootstrapped for the first year with the money Windley and Fulling got when they sold the small plane they jointly owned.

The Kynetx Developer Conference in November drew 150 people, and the company plans another one in the spring of 2010.

At the developer conference, Doc Searls, senior editor of the Linux Journal and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, said platforms such as Kynetx show the balance of power is shifting.

“As customers gain more power to express their actual intentions, we will move from an economy that places a premium on guesswork – especially advertising, an ‘attention economy’ — to one that places a premium on knowledge that can only come from customers: the customers’ actual intentions. For example, their shopping lists. The result will be an ‘intention economy’ that is a vast improvement on the attention economy,” Searls said.

CrunchBase, the technology company profile Web site, lists AdaptiveBlue and Greasemonkey as compettitors.

Links relevant to this video include:

Kynetx Web site — http://www.kynetx.com

Kynetx developer blog — http://code.kynetx.com/

Kynetx AppBuilder — http://appbuilder.kynetx.com/

Kynetx Developer Conference – http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091119006051&newsLang=en&usg=AFQjCNEFHmA004Lfl3dLpVPX3V1ibZ4tWA

CrunchBase company profile — http://www.crunchbase.com/company/kynetx

by Jesse Stay — published on December 20th, 2009

Editor’s note: Kynetx is something you have to use to fully understand! If nothing in this article makes sense, please skip down to the bottom and at least try out the extensions these guys have built in their app directory and you can see the power of what this platform can do! This is very powerful technology – I really believe this is the future of the web!

Friday afternoon Kynetx launched support in their developer platform to build extensions for the Google Chrome Browser. The company, which provides a standardized, open framework for building web browser extensions (among other supported technologies such as Action Cards), became the first extension-building platform that supports all 3 of the top browsers on the web. The move is unprecedented, as now with Kynetx in comparison to GreaseMonkey, possibly their closest comparison in this instance, you can write code once, and immediately have extensions and plugins that work in Firefox, Chrome, and even IE with the click of a button. Kynetx makes customization of the user experience in the browser a cinch with their platform.

I visited Kynetx on Friday for their weekly Kynetx developers lunch (which they invite the public to, just asking that you let them know in advance), and they were hard at work getting the final quirks worked out of the Chrome extension. Developers like myself are now rejoicing, as Chrome is very quickly, with the backing of Google, proving to be one of the most responsive, most extensive browsers on the internet. It also has an integrated development environment so extensions such as Firebug for Firefox don’t even need to be installed. They all come with the browser, providing a much smoother and faster experience for the developer.

Kynetx is positioning themselves to become the ubiquitous controller for user experience and context on the web. With their technology, users have the potential to fully control what they allow and don’t allow to be displayed on the web. At the same time businesses are each given the opportunity, with the user’s permission, to change the experience for that user on the web.

Kynetx recently launched a tool with the Better Business Bureau enabling, with installation of a simple extension (in any of your favorite browsers now!), display of BBB accredited business seals in Google Local search results. When a business has been approved by the Better Business Bureau a little seal appears next to their name in search results, enabling a more educated experience for users in the browser. All of this is done without any need to form a special relationship with Google to customize those results. Because of the ease of development and broad install base for extensions like the new Chrome extension launched Friday, any business has the potential to customize the experience for the user in a similar manner.

The new Chrome extension works across all versions of Chrome that support extensions. While the official Chrome for Mac does not yet support this yet, the PC version does, as do developer builds of Chromium for Mac. It is rumored that Chrome for Mac will be supporting extensions very soon. The other advantage Chrome brings to the Kynetx environment is the availability of Jails for each extension. With Chrome, developers can enable extensions to not be able to talk with each other or affect each other. This introduces some interesting and secure identity and authentication/authorization implications which I’m sure we’ll be seeing from the Kynetx team in the future.

If you’re a developer with some knowledge of the DOM and Javascript, you should really check out the power of what the Kynetx platform can bring to your company and business. This goes way beyond the browser, and makes context-aware applications a user-controlled standard that goes with that user anywhere. Be sure to check out a little glimpse of what this stuff will enable in my previous article. You can get started developing for this platform immediately on their AppBuilder site.

Just a user? Be sure to check out their App Directory here, download the extensions and try them out in your favorite browser!

Written by Frederic Lardinois / December 21, 2009 10:59 AM

Kynetx offers developers a single platform for building extensions for multiple browsers. Developers write their code in Kynetx’s own rule-based language and the service builds the actual extensions. Originally, Kynetx only supported Firefox and Internet Explorer, but a few days ago, the company also announced support for Google Chrome. Thanks to this, developers can now use Kynetx’s AppBuilder tool to build and deploy custom extensions for the three top browsers that offer a built-in plugin architecture.

For now, of course, only the Windows version of Chrome supports extensions, but extension support for the OSX and Linux version is scheduled to arrive soon.

Kynetx is a universal browser extension that has a few similarities to Greasemonkey. The programming language for the extension is the Kynetx Rule Laguage (KRL) and the company offers an online editor for writing apps on top of Kynetx.

We should note that Kynetx doesn’t allow users to build every type of extension. The system is best suited for building plugins that add additional information to a website. Kynetx’s extensions use Action Cards to augment these sites with additional information. One example for such a plugin is this app that reminds users when a company offers a discount through AAA.

For some more details about the company, have a look at this video interview Robert Scoble did with the company’s founder and CTO. The company also offers a good tutorial and documentation here.

See original article here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Tool Takes Better Business Bureau Seal Online with Technology from Azigo and Kynetx

-As reported on NPR, New Azigo Tool (based on Kynetx platform) makes the Web More Powerful-

Lehi, Utah, December 17, 2009–Overall holiday spending may be down, but online spending is expected to grow, due in part to tools that make shopping on the Internet more convenient and effective than ever before.

For example, a report on NPR Radio today features a new plug-in for Web browsers from the Better Business Bureau (BBB)to make it easier to see at a glance, from any browser environment, which businesses have earned the BBB seal. The tool was developed by Azigo and uses the Kynetx (www.kynetx.com) rules-based platform to create applications that can span multiple URLs, giving users a more efficient way to navigate the web (as well as conduct highly satisfying and more efficient ecommerce). Kynetx is changing the future of Web Identity and privacy, by moving the power and control of new web applications directly to the consumer, via their desktops, mobile phones, or other client-based technology. Azigo has used Kynetx to create a similar tool for AAA as well.

The evolution (or even the “revolution”) to the kind of client-side applications BBB has just implemented is resulting in a new class of web applications and will help both established and new companies produce new revenue streams, according to web identity pundits Doc Searls, Kim Cameron.
“Consumers have more information than ever at their fingertips, but it can still be tough to figure out which businesses to trust,” NPR says. The BBB has existed for nearly 100 years, registering consumer complaints and policing business practices on behalf of prospective shoppers.

“It used to be [that] you would have to call up your Better Business Bureau to ask about a company, and ask whether it had a satisfactory or unsatisfactory record,” says BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick in the NPR report.

The tool acts as an overlay on top of a web browser and checks the BBB’s database against the results the search engine pulls up, showing the BBB seal next to every BBB-accredited business. It makes shopping more efficient, gives online shoppers a greater level of assurance, and it’s giving more credence to the BBB standard as well.
About 3.5 million people visit the BBB website each month according to BBB data, and the site’s traffic has been steadily growing. Compared to 27.5 million monthly visits to new sites like Yelp, which let users comment and rate their experiences with local businesses, BBB’s traffic is still small. However, thanks to “client-side” applications from developers like Azigo, which can overlay BBB status results on any browser, this traditional company is adding value within the new “purpose-based” web and BBB’s status is gaining new strength.

Download the BBB App here.

About Kynetx

Founded in 2007, Kynetx is a private company that has developed a proprietary rules-based development platform that is the first infrastructure to support the “purpose-centric” web metaphor that is driving the next era of software services and Internet applications.
###

PR Contact Information:
Cheryl Snapp Conner or Josh Berndt
Snapp Conner PR
801 994-9625
cheryl@snappconner.com or josh@snappconner.com

by Tamara Keith
NPR All Things Considered

A lot of people are rushing to wrap up their online holiday shopping early this week, to take advantage of free shipping offers from retailers. Even as the National Retail Federation predicts overall holiday spending will be down this year, online spending is expected to grow, in part because shopping on the Internet has become so convenient.

Consumers have more information than ever at their fingertips, but it can still be tough to figure out which businesses to trust. A new Web tool from the Better Business Bureau is designed to help.

The BBB has been around for almost 100 years, taking consumer complaints and policing business practices.

“It used to be [that] you would have to call up your Better Business Bureau to ask about a company, and ask whether it had a satisfactory or unsatisfactory record,” says BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick.

But times have changed — a lot — and the BBB has just released a new plug-in for Web browsers. It’s designed to make it easier to figure out which businesses have the Better Business Bureau seal of approval. The plug-in was created by a company called Azigo, which has created a similar tool for AAA.

“It kind of overlays on top of your browser,” says Southwick, as she enters an online search for plumbers in Northern Virginia.

The plug-in checks the BBB’s database against the results pulled up by the search engine.

“Then you’ll be able to see immediately whether they are a BBB-accredited business,” Southwick says.

A BBB logo shows up next to the businesses that are accredited. Those businesses have agreed to meet the organization’s standards, and have also paid a fee.

But this begs the question: How much is the BBB seal of approval worth these days?

“I’m assuming it’s still in existence,” says Jennifer Smith, outside of a bookstore in Bethesda, Md. “But I haven’t heard of anyone using it for years and years and years.”

Others who were asked either hadn’t heard of the BBB or hadn’t used it in ages.

About 3.5 million people do visit the BBB Web site each month, and the site’s traffic has been steadily growing. But when it comes to informing consumers, says Damian Roskill, who works for the Web-tracking firm Compete, there is a lot of competition from sites like Yelp, which lets users comment on and rate their experiences with local businesses.

“About 27.5 million people are visiting the site on a monthly basis, so [it's] just orders of magnitude bigger,” Roskill says.

He says the BBB site is a bit old-fashioned, falling into the category of Web 1.0, as opposed to the newer, more interactive Web 2.0 model.

“Just go to their Web site. It feels pretty cold,” says Roskill. “Contrast that with going to Yelp and see which one feels more like a place where you want to hang out.”

Of course, the BBB isn’t trying to be Facebook or Yelp, for that matter. Think of it as one more tool to help you make intelligent decisions about where to shop or whom to hire to fix a leak — and it’s in a toolbox that has a lot more choices than it used to.

Read or listen to the story here.

Download and try the BBB app here.

Check out this excellent interview of Kynetx Founder Phil Windley & Steve Fulling by Robert Scoble. Scoble asks all the right questions about what makes Kynetx’s technology so powerful and why it “changes everything.”

Video Title:

“Customer-centric, real-time Web apps from Kynetx”

A new platform from Kynetx has tools that let developers use customer preferences to add features to Web sites, regardless of the browser.