Rethink Books, the Dallas startup that has raised over $2 million to date, just launched its BookShout! platform and they’re going after the Christian book market.

The unique platform enables and encourages users to interact with each other while reading digital books.

See their press release below the video.

Dallas-based technology start-up Rethink Books announced today at the annual Catalyst West conference the release of BookShout!, a revolutionary new reading platform which enables users to engage and interact with each other while reading digital books, allowing friends to read books together, whether nearby or far apart.

Developed over the last 2 years for the Christian market – where small groups are part of the DNA – BookShout! allows users to not only read a book but to further experience, discuss and dialogue about it with others. Leveraging the technology of Facebook, this foundational software created by Rethink Books goes beyond a simple highlighting and note-taking tool to an affinity, community-driven function.

“This is why BookShout! is such a perfect fit for the Christian audience,” said Rethink Books Founder and CEO Jason Illian. “We are all part of the body of Christ, and we were designed to engage around the Bible and other meaningful books. We are simply using technology to enhance our interactions, both in person and virtually.’

“The web is actually being rewritten around people,” Illian continued. “We’re moving from being viewers of a concert to actual band members on the stage.”

Initially launching for the iPad, BookShout! will soon be available on iPhones, the web, and Android devices. Upon signing up, users are connected with friends via their social networks and provided suggested users to “follow.”

In addition, users are encouraged to buy books together and create reading circles, allowing them to read books with their small group, friends from school, people from church, and even the author. They can share their thoughts and notes with fellow users and to sites like Facebook and Twitter. An online video demonstration of the platform is available here.

Through their Facebook connections, users can create “reading circles” of any size, which can be made public or private. It can be a virtual group or a group with a physical location. Each reader can see what others in their reading circle highlight as well as read their notes and comments with a unique multi-colored highlighting system. Other readers’ notes can also be turned off without having to “un-friend” them.

Every major Christian publisher is participating in the BookShout! launch, with a number of free ebooks being offered during launch week, including works such as “Jesus + Nothing” and “Loving the Way Jesus Loves” from Crossway; “The Fitting Room” and “Godspeed” from David C. Cook; and “Code Triage” and “Promise Me This” from Tyndale.

In addition, several other digital books will be available free with purchase of the print version at Catalyst, including “The Explicit Gospel” from Crossway and “The Principle of the Path,” “The Grace of God,” “Soul Cravings,” “Unleashed,” “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” and “Searching for God Knows What,” all from Thomas Nelson. Altogether, approximately 10,000 books will be available for purchase through the BookShout! store, from these publishers and others such as Zondervan and Tyndale.

BookShout!’s unique technology will allow authors to interact with their readers either individually or as a group, create a following around their books and communicate directly with followers. They can share personal notes from their writing of the book, as well as respond to readers’ thoughts as they are posted. Authors and pastors can easily publish manuscripts or sermons directly to BookShout! for their followers to read and share notes.

“As both an author and a publisher, I can’t tell you how excited we as an industry are about this new platform helping to create community around our books,” said Mike Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and now a Rethink Books board member. “What’s most heartening is that it will help readers discover – through their own friends and circles – the books that will be most meaningful and enjoyable to them.”

In addition to Hyatt, other well-known authors whose books will be available on the platform at launch include Rick Warren, Jennie Allen, Phil Cooke, Robin Jones Gunn, Tricia Goyer, Fred Sanders and Matthew Turner.

Rethink Books is a Dallas, Texas-based technology start-up focused on helping readers buy, interact and share more books, specifically within the Christian market. For more information, please visit www.rethinkbooks.com or www.bookshout.com.

David Chen, a Dallas-born and now NYC-based entrepreneur, founded RECAPP Inc to help sports fans like himself follow their favorite teams from across the country.

While he was born and raised in Dallas, Chen has lived in other parts of the country as well and wanted to be able to stay up to date on other teams. “Since I was a kid, I’ve followed the Cowboys, Rangers, and Mavericks. But I’ve also lived in Portland and New York so the app has been really useful in helping me stay up to date on the Blazers and Knicks,” says Chen. He added that “the app will be especially useful for people that follow teams around the country.”

RECAPP is a mobile application that allows you to create a tailored news feed experience in a slick mobile interface. After downloading the app, I was able to quickly add my own favorite teams (Dallas Stars, Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Portland Trailblazers, Portland Timbers) and check out the latest news.

The app works by polling thousands of curated feeds and organizing each feed by the team or sport it focuses on. For example, a RECAPP user following the Texas Rangers would receive a constant feed of Rangers-related news from sources including the ESPN Dallas, Dallas Morning News, Star-Telegram, Texas Rangers, and more.

RECAPP is currently available as a free download for iPhone from the app store.

TangoTab, the company that brings you great offers on dining out and then feeds the hungry when you redeem them, has just launched an iPhone app that is available in the app store now.

Their slogan is “when you eat, they eat.”

With the new app you can:

• Search for offers nearby, sorted by proximity
• Search for offers by zip code or restaurant name
• See the offers in list form or on a map
• See your current offers and offer history
• Check-in to redeem your offer when you dine or show your confirmation from your iPhone

According to their website, the company has helped feed over 60,000 people through various charities and foodbanks.

Pi’ikea Street, an app development company who’s co-founder Matt Smith is from Hurst, was featured on WFAA TV. The spot comes on the tails of much success with their apps for kids that have been featured by Apple on the app store, as well in the New York Times amongst other accolades. Check out the video below!

Pi’ikea St., developers of the award-winning Interactive Alphabet app, recently released their second app, Memory Train, a memory game of concentration and focus for children. It’s a universal app that runs on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The app is currently featured in ‘New and Noteworthy’ in the Education area.

Founders Matt (a DFW native) and Ben were inspired to develop the app that focused on memory training through motion. “All our apps are non-violent, calming experiences that provide the positive reinforcement and encouragement a child needs to learn while exploring. That’s our philosophy in a nutshell”, say the duo.

Hop on the train with Spacey the elephant and help him focus his memory while on the way to the circus. Memorize the characteristics of objects passing by and recall them to earn stars, badges, and peanuts. Along the way, kids may find a few surprises!

Kids will be challenged to remember things like:
* “What color was the shape?”
* “Which one was green?”
* “What number just passed by?”
* “What 3 things just passed by?”

Features:
* Choose from 9 player avatars
* 4 player slots so brother,sister,mom and dad can play independently
* 10 different types of levels
* Adaptive Difficulty
* Earn stars, badges and peanut trophies
* This app is language neutral with no spoken language so that children from anywhere can play

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* Universal Application
* 35.8 MB

Pricing and Availability:
To celebrate this release, Memory Train 1.0 is 50% off for a limited time for only $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category.

DOWNLOAD HERE

ShopSavvy has announced Matthew Weathers, former product lead for PayPal Mobile, has joined as vice president of product to lead development of its mobile commerce strategy. He will be based in the company’s San Francisco offices.

Last month, ShopSavvy introduced QuickPay 1.0 on both the iPhone and Android smartphones enabling consumers to easily buy an item through the ShopSavvy app and have it shipped to their home. Weathers will focus on the upcoming launch of QuickPay 2.0, which will support point-of-sale purchases via near field communication (NFC).

Meet the winner of Dallas Startup Weekend #3: VoteOnPlay (@voteonplay), a social gaming application that keeps fans engaged in live sporting events by voting on the outcome of plays in real-time. Show your support and VOTE for them in the Global Startup Battle!

Global Startup Battle is a capstone event that ties together teams from more than 20 Startup Weekend events taking place during Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 12-21). Winning teams from each city submit a 90-second video pitch that highlights their freshly-launched product or service. Viewers from around the world can vote for their favorite concept. The winners will take home an assortment of cash and prizes from partners such as Twilio, oDesk, Microsoft and Lexmark, and some one-on-one time with a celebrity venture capitalist or angel investor.

Pi’ikea St. LLC today announced that Interactive Alphabet, an app which achieved quick recognition as a leading alphabet app on the App Store has received the award for the Best Kids’ iPad app of the year from iLounge as part of their annual Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards. As a winner, it will be featured in the iLounge 2011 Buyers Guide. Due to the high level of interactivity in the app, Interactive Alphabet became an overnight sensation for learning the ABC’s with babies, toddlers, parents, and educators.

iLounge’s editor-in-chief summarized the accolade like this: “To say that we were impressed by Interactive Alphabet – ABC Flash Cards would be an understatement – it is truly one of the very best iPad applications yet developed, and a fantastic value for the price. The colorful art, charming music, wonderful activities, and attention to detail make this a ‘go-to’ title for teaching kids the alphabet, as well as real world uses of letters. That it works with the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod touch is just icing on the cake.”

“We are floored”, say Pi’ikea Street co-founders Matt Smith and Ben Lew. According to the duo, “Positive feedback on Interactive Alphabet has been pouring in from parents and educators alike.”

Interactive Alphabet for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch makes learning the alphabet a hands-on experience. The original artwork and characters draw them in, fun animation and sound effects peak their interest, and memorable unique interactions, such as eating the Apple, playing with the Squid, zipping the Zipper, and making music on the Xylophone keep them coming back for more. Each letter is softly spoken and the upbeat music and sound effects will have kids dancing, mimicking, and asking Mom or Dad if they can have their own iPad. Babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, and even parents are having tons of fun with this great new app!

Interactive Alphabet 1.5 is $2.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category. Purchase and Download.

Source: prmac

Have an app that you want to publish in the Apple App Store that has the same name as another [trademarked] app? Go ahead, Apple approves. At least that appears to be the situation today with a new app called Shop Savvy.

Sound familiar? It should since it’s the name of the uber popular barcode-scanning comparison shopping application by Big in Japan. Alex Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan, posted a story to their company blog today outlining the situation.

Shop Savvy, the application released yesterday by Blumai, describes itself as an app to calculate the final sales price of an item after tax, and track your spending history. While this is a bit different than Big in Japan’s application, both apps are clearly in the shopping space and could be considered competitive.

What is particularly strange is that the application’s developer, Blumai, nor Apple seem to mind that Blumai is infringing on a registered trademark of Big in Japan. Muse claims that both Blumai and Apple have so far refused to remove the competing application.

Folks that have heard of Shop Savvy (the barcode scanning app) and search for it in the app store are now presented with the following search result:

A bit confusing to say the least, and definitely detrimental to the brand that Big in Japan has spent 2 years developing.

We’ve reached out to Blumai for comment but they have yet to respond.

UPDATE: Below is the response I received from Blumai

Hi Bradley,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are a small and new firm and have been busy working on several apps. We don’t have a lot of resources so we primarily use the iTunes submission process as our sanity check when we register our apps.

To our surprise we received word earlier today that another application on the iTunes store is using the Shop Savvy name. We looked into the matter and decided that it would be best to take down our application from the AppStore and rebrand it under a new name.

We’ve put in the request with Apple to have our application taken down and we are currently in the midst of thinking about a new title for our application.

Kind Regards,

Peter Lai

The “build your own kingdom” game We Rule, developed by local app company Newtoy and published by ngmoco, is up for a number of awards at the Game Developers Choice Online Awards.

The game, which has been downloaded over 2.5 million times and has hundreds of thousands of daily active users, has been nominated in the following categories:

• The Best Online Game Design
• The Best Audio for an Online Game
• The Best New Online Game

You can also make your voice heard by voting in the Audience Choice category here.