There may now be myriad ways to take online content and repackage it attractively for offline presentation, such as through the News from YOUs Facebook application. Those reading online, however, are typically still stuck with the same, dispersed set of online feeds they always have been. Flipboard is a new iPad app that aims to integrate and spruce up all those tweets and updates in a single, personalized online magazine.

Just launched this week, Flipboard for iPad bills itself as “a social magazine that brings to life the stories, photos, news and updates being shared across Twitter and Facebook.” The free app automatically creates a magazine from the user's social content. Sections devoted to Facebook and Twitter, for example, let readers quickly flip through the latest stories, photos and updates from friends and trusted sources. Links and images are rendered right in the digital magazine, so users no longer have to scan long lists of posts and click on link after link; instead, they instantly see all the stories, comments and images in one place. Flipboard also lets readers easily create sections around topics or people they care about. Suggested sections include sports, news, tech and style, all featuring content hand-curated from popular and interesting Twitter feeds; alternatively, users can create their own. Ultimately, material from sites including Flickr, Foursquare and Yelp will also be included, according to a report in the New York Times.

Mike McCue, Flipboardʼs CEO, explains: “With over one billion messages posted every day, social networks are quickly becoming the primary way people discover and share content on the Web. The result is a huge influx of incoming messages and links people must sort through across multiple web sites just to stay up to date. We believe the timeless principles of print can make social media less noisy, more visually compelling and ultimately more mainstream.” California-based Flipboard just acquired semantic analysis company Ellerdale, with an eye toward helping future versions of Flipboard extract, categorize and feature highly relevant and hot trending content from across a variety of social networks, it says. Eventually, it aims to accept advertising and to charge for certain content, the NYT reported. App-minded entrepreneurs: one to get involved in... or emulate with an offering of your own?

Website: www.flipboard.com
Contact: info@flipboard.com

Spotted by: nytimes

It may now be possible to add digital data to a traditional cemetery marker, but that's not necessarily the same as creating a full-fledged online memorial. Aiming to enable the latter, 1000Memories provides a place for friends and family to gather and remember deceased loved ones.

To create an online memorial, users of 1000Memories begin by customizing a homepage for the deceased, including a full-screen photo. They then invite family and friends to the site, where a dedicated page allows everyone to see all the activity there so far. Stories and memories about the deceased are easily shared on the site, as are photos from a variety of sources. An online guestbook, meanwhile, lets all visitors leave a brief note to share their thoughts and feelings. 1000Memories even allows users to start a project in someone's honour or direct donations to a favorite charitable cause.

While the field of online memorial services is a crowded one, many of those sites were clearly created in the early days of the web. With its fresh design and more current feature set, 1000Memories sets itself apart and could attract a sizeable audience. Using 1000Memories is currently free, and it appears that's not likely to change: ultimately, San Francisco-based Hampshire St. Experiment—the startup behind the site—is considering creating and selling print books of the content on individual sites, according to a report on TechCrunch. Who will step up as partner to help make that happen...? (Related: From online baby blogs to printed baby books.)

Website: www.1000memories.com
Contact: contact@1000memories.com

Spotted by: Margarita Barry

“Buy one, give one” initiatives are increasingly common forms of corporate generosity, but it wasn't until recently that we began seeing them involving children. Much the way Happy Blankie lets recipients of its animal blankets help decide where the donated ones get sent, so Texas-based clothing maker Whitten Grey aims to let the girls who wear its dresses participate in donating similar ones to girls in far-off lands.

Through Whitten Grey's Project Little Grey Dress, buyers of any eco-friendly dress from the company receive a unique code along with their purchase. When they enter that code online, they can then choose what country they'd like to donate a dress to—currently, the choices are Liberia, Guatemala, Malawi and Zimbabwe. After choosing the colour of the dress they'd like to send, girls can then enter a message they'd like to include for the girl who receives it.

Generosity has become increasingly important to the Generation G masses, so it stands to reason they'd want their children to learn that virtue too. Purveyors of other kids' products, large and small: time to bring some charity-minded capabilities to your own pint-sized patrons...? (Related: Buy a onesie, donate one to a baby in need.)

Website: www.whittengrey.com/give/
Contact: give@whittengrey.com

Spotted by: Inhabitots via Judy McRae

Forward-thinking manufacturers are working to decrease the amount of packaging used for their products. Some offer concentrated formulas, others sell refills in bags instead of containers. Now, a Canadian startup has come up with an innovative solution we hadn't yet spotted: refill cartridges that consumers dilute at home, with tap water.

Developed by Planet People, the iQ line of household cleaning products features small cartridges of plant-based concentrate. Consumers fill a spray bottle with ordinary tap water and pop in a cartridge. The coloured concentrate visibly mixes with the water, and voila: a full bottle of cleaner. iQ comes in four varieties: glass, bathroom, floor and all-purpose cleaner. All made with non-toxic and environmentally sustainable ingredients.

Besides reducing packaging and plastic waste, the system obviously cuts down on transportation, reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. And—appealing to people's wallets as much as their conscience—iQ passes on packaging and transportation savings to its customers. iQ starter kits, which include a spray bottle full of solution and a first refill cartridge, retail for approximately CAD 6.49, while cartridges are approximately CAD 2.79. The products are currently available from natural food stores in Canada, and from Hannaford and Sweetbay in the US. If we weren't so busy reporting on new business ideas, we'd snap up international distribution rights ourselves ;-)

Website: www.iqclean.com
Contact: www.iqclean.com/contact_us.php

Fashionistas love exclusivity, but usually it's all about who you know, or how much you're willing to spend. Creating a twist on limited editions is The Red Rail, a new Dutch fashion label that's only available to blood donors.

The first Red Rail collection was presented at the Amsterdam Fashion Week last Friday, and consists of 20 unique outfits by 18 up-and-coming designers. Since the number of items is limited, The Red Rail will use a lottery to pick 20 winners. Over the next six months, people can select their favourite outfit, donate blood, and then send an email to theredrail@stichtingnobel.nl, listing their donor ID and the item they'd like to win. The lottery will take place in January 2011.

Initiated by the Nobel Foundation and sponsored by the DOEN Foundation, the project was developed to enlist a new (younger) generation of blood donors, and to heighten awareness of the need to donate blood. According to Nivel, a Dutch research institute for health care, it's likely that the Netherlands will be facing a shortage of blood donors within three years. The Red Rail hopes to convey the message that a blood donation is a personal, altruistic gift, and one worth giving.

Website: www.theredrail.com
Contact: theredrail@stichtingnobel.nl

Spotted by: Yu-Lan van Alphen and Nicole Rietvelt