Too much choice, too little time—it's a constant theme of the information age. There are 60,000 apps available for the iPhone, but the benefits of using personally relevant apps can almost be negated by the amount of time it takes to discover them. 16apps is a new web service designed to streamline the process. The service scours users' Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or LastFM accounts for information about their hobbies, interests, lifestyle, character and location. It then uses the data to make personalised app recommendations. For instance, if it detects messages or links on a user's profile related to politics, it may recommend an app like "Political Tweets"; if it finds swear words, it has been known to recommend "Rude Ringtones".

Although the functionality of the app has had a mixed reception among the social media crowd, the value in the concept is clear. As consumers experience an explosion of choice in more and more areas of life, recommendation engines are becoming indispensable tools. What makes 16apps particularly interesting is that it doesn't require previous interaction with users in order to discover what they (are) like, since it makes use of openly available data that they've already shared, painting a full picture of their 'digital personality'. It creates an interesting challenge for brands: how to mine the data in a relevant way, without being intrusive or spammy.

Website: www.16apps.com
Contact: info@16apps.com

It's been almost three years since we wrote about Denim Therapy's jeans-doctoring service, and now the company has added a new offering to its line: a special service that adjusts favourite jeans for pregnant bellies—and then, post-baby, back again.

Pregnant mothers simply send New York-based Denim Therapy their favourite jeans. Denim Therapy then inserts expandable side inseams in the pants that will move and grow as the woman's belly expands. Perhaps even better, however, is that once the baby is born and the mother has brought herself back to her pre-baby figure, Denim Therapy will restore those jeans back to their original form. As the company puts it, "Why spend money on a new pair of maternity jeans when you can feel sexy and comfortable in your own favourite jeans. And voila, you're also doing your part of being environmentally conscious." Pricing on the service is USD 60 per pair.

More than 4 million babies are born in the United States alone each year, and that translates into a whole lot of jeans in need of modification along the way. Crafty minipreneurs: time to stock up on expandable fabric for a similar service of your own...?

Website: www.denimtherapy.com/maternity-jeans/
Contact: info@denimtherapy.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

We've covered a few examples of businesses that allow consumers to buy, sell, rent and trade used clothing, including OURthreads and Closet Infinite. Providing a slightly different twist on the notion, however, is thredUP, which uses a Netflix-like model with prepaid envelopes to help users swap the clothes they don't wear for some they will.

Currently focusing just on shirts, thredUP is free to join. Users begin by setting up a virtual closet to keep track of the clothes they'd like to exchange, using descriptions of the brands, sizes, colours and patterns—no photos are required. Users also tell thredUP what they'd like to get in exchange, including the brands, sizes and styles they prefer. Next, members purchase prepaid envelopes—a special offer currently has a package of three half-priced at USD 12.50. thredUP then looks for good matches in the virtual closets of other members to find items that might be suitable. It sends them one such item for each envelope they've purchased, along with an address to send one of their own items to. The result, as the site puts it: "out with old-to-you, in with new-to-you." If the recipient of an item likes it, they simply keep it; otherwise, they list it as an item they'd like to trade. Members can assign each other "stylie" points as tokens of appreciation for particularly nice items received, and those are redeemable for free stuff on thredUP along with qualifying them for special promotions.

Billed as "a refresh button for your closet," Massachusetts-based thredUP plans eventually to expand beyond just shirts to include all clothing items, including kids' clothes. It also plans to sell targeted advertising and to begin offering premium services for better matching precision, according to a report on Vator.tv. In the meantime, thredUP already ties in nicely with the sellsumer trend, giving recession-weary consumers a way to make the most of what they have. One to try out—or get involved in? (Related: IKEA organizes furniture swap — Amazon trades gift cards for used video games.)

Website: www.thredup.com
Contact: support@thredup.com

Spotted by: Treehugger

In an age that has many of us walking around with the sum of the world's knowledge in our pockets, information about flight delays lags behind. FlightCaster, a new San Francisco-based service, aims to solve this problem. Using a patent-pending algorithm, the company claims that it can predict more than 95 percent of delays to flight arrivals up to six hours in advance. It looks to be an improvement on Delaycast, which we featured last year.

FlightCaster's calculation involves comparing statistics from the past 10 years of flights with the most recent data relevant to a particular flight from the US National Weather Service, the FAA Air Traffic Control and FlightStats.com. FlightCaster will then display, as a percentage, the relative probabilities that a plane will be on time, delayed by less than an hour or delayed by more than an hour. Only a flight number is needed to use it, and the system—rather than trying to pin down a single estimated time of arrival—helps passengers make a personal decision about whether to travel to the airport, based on their own priorities.

Launched last month, FlightCaster is available for free online, or as an iPhone/Blackberry app (USD 9.99). The service currently only operates in the US, but international expansion is in the works. Also expect to see richer information about alternative travel options in future versions. (Related: Flight tracker notifies contacts of arrival.)

Website: www.flightcaster.com
Contact: www.flightcaster.com/contact

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Created to help people swiftly exchange contact details without using business cards, Poken is a cute plastic creature that uses RFID to transfer data. When we featured Poken back in February, we added: "there's plenty of mileage in this idea, including bringing it to other audiences. Unless we're wrong of course, and professionals *do* want to high-five their pandas after a meeting."

Turns out that Poken ran into this issue—many business professionals weren't comfortable whipping out a plastic zombie, and the 64 contact limit on the original Poken was too constrictive. Smartly, they responded and today launched Poken Pulse, a sleek sibling to the first product line.

Poken Pulse has room for hundreds of contacts and includes an integrated 2GB USB memory stick, which explains the higher price of EUR 29.99. No software installation required, and it works with any operating system. In addition to slick black and white, Poken Pulse also comes in a few colourful versions, designed by Dutch artist Gaby Zwaan. Future features include flexible flash memory capacity, and allowing developers to create applications for Poken. Great to see a young startup rapidly responding to consumer needs it may not have anticipated!

Website: www.pokenpulse.eu
Contact: www.pokenpulse.eu/contact