You can see how easy it is to use the card in my brief video: Just tap the card to any phone that has an NFC radio. The card will pass data to the phone and even tell the phone what to do with it. In my case, it passes a link to my GigaOm Pro profile and tells the phone to open a browser to that web page.

The card could just have easily added me as a contact to the phone. In fact, the NFC tag can be re-programmed as needed in case you want to change the data on it. I’m not one to carry business cards around all that much, but I could certainly see myself carrying this one from Moo, particularly as more phones come with NFC capabilities.

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Often living for years with a relatively small amount of investment, this generation of companies is characterized by having endured setbacks, switches and significant changes in the landscape. It’s a situation that, in many cases, has helped foster a real sense of community and a survivor’s attitude.

In the third part of GigaOM’s Euro 20 roundup, we’ll look at five startups we’ve dubbed Almost Famous. They’ve weathered the storm, come out the other side, and have solid products to offer.

• Our introduction to GigaOM’s Euro 20
• The Euro 20 Super Stars
• The Euro 20 Ones to Watch

Criteo

Founded: Paris, 2005
Investors: Elaia Partners, IDInvest, Index Ventures, Bessemer Ventures
Business: Online ad re-targeting

Europe’s advertising industry is rich and creative, with a long tradition of building clever and innovative startups. But of all the names that are bandied around the continent, perhaps France’s Criteo is the one to keep notice of over the next year.

It focuses on “re-targeting” — that is, catching users who have visited a website but failed to complete a purchase, and then showing them ads on other sites in order to tempt them back.

It’s proven highly successful, with annual revenues set to pass $200 million soon, but the real question is what happens next. The company has raised money every two years since its inception, suggesting that another round could be on the horizon — but with such good numbers, perhaps an acquisition or flotation should be the next logical step.

Mind Candy

Founded: London, 2003
Investors: Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Spark Partners
Business: Online games

Early efforts from London game developer Mind Candy were critically acclaimed but not commercially successful: a formula that led founder Michael Acton Smith to change direction in 2007 by introducing a new game, Moshi Monsters. A virtual world aimed at tweenagers, the title has become a significant multimedia brand and allowed the business to reposition itself in the social gaming space.

On the back of recent growth, the company — led by serial entrepreneur Michael Acton Smith — has seen its value rise dramatically in the past year. That led to investor Spark recently selling half its stake. Is this just the beginning for Mind Candy’s journey to Super Star?

Moo

Founded: London, 2006
Investors: Atlas Venture, The Accelerator Group, Index Ventures
Business: Customizable business cards

When it began five years ago, Moo took one of the London’s newest industries — the web — and married it to one of its oldest: printing. It harnessed new digital printing techniques and hooked into photo-sharing services such as Flickr and Picasa, to allow people to customize and print business cards, postcards, greeting cards and more. With a strong following among early adopters and a charming, human approach, it offered something other print-on-demand services struggled with.

A move to the next level may feel overdue. The company’s long-term plans have no doubt been hampered by the increasingly gloomy retail climate in Britain. But the business seems to be carrying on without too many hitches. It’s important, however, to see Moo not only as an interesting entity in its own right, but also as a crucial player in building up the vibrant startup scene in Britain.

Shazam

Founded: London, 1999
Investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Institutional Venture Partners, DN Capital
Business: Music discovery

The oldest startup on our list by several years, Shazam has always been built on great technology. Its first product, launched in 2002, allowed users to identify music they were listening to simply by waving their mobile at the sound. With an audio fingerprinting system that feels like magic, the team has expanded its business to apps and partnerships, with customers like AT&T, Vodafone, NBC and Fox.

But what looked like an increasingly maturing business two years ago, suddenly took on fresh verve with an injection of capital from Kleiner Perkins and a change in management. That switch escalated the company’s plans and now, with an expanding scope and huge ambitions, the business is looking at the television advertising market.

Viadeo

Founded: Paris, 2004
Investors: AGF Private Equity, Ventech
Business: Business networking

It’s fair to say Europe has developed a reputation for clone services — most notably with the Samwer brothers, a duo who have made their careers building and selling German-language versions of sites like Facebook and Groupon. It’s no surprise, then, that French professional networking site Viadeo, is sometimes spoken of in disparaging tones; after all, it started just a few months after its biggest rival, LinkedIn.

It might not have developed as much as its transatlantic cousin, but it’s no slouch either. It has been consistently profitable since 2009, and having rolled up a number of smaller companies, it now has 35 million users. Next up? It’s plotting a course to become the network of choice in rapidly growing markets such as China.

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Photobox, which prints digital photos and books, announced that it was purchasing Moonpig — which sells personalized greetings cards online — in a deal funded through a mixture of cash, shares and borrowed money. The Financial Times has plenty of detail about the transaction.

The two are known to have been circling each other for a while, but Photobox CEO Stan Laurent suggested that the deal was about trying to become the biggest player globally in what he called the “personal publishing market”. However the timing, just a few days after greeting cards retailer Cardfactory bought online gift business Getting Personal, makes it look like a wave of consolidation is starting to hit the wider online printing business in the U.K.

It’s a large sector with several significant players and no runaway winners right now. Precisely what it means for local stalwarts like Moo.com, or international companies with big British presence like Dutch company Vistaprint, remains to be seen. Similarly, it’s not clear whether this will have an impact on American rivals like Snapfish, Zazzle and Shutterfly, though there’s certainly the possibility that it could help ignite similar consolidation on the other side of the Atlantic over the next year or two.

Photobox, which is backed by Highland Capital Partners (Ask Jeeves, eToys) and Index Ventures (Skype, MySQL), says it will be raising another round of funding off the back of the deal. It has previously suggested it might consider flotation.

In the long run, though, this deal may actually have more cultural impact than it does to the market. After all, the purchase is a testament to perseverance: the story of two dotcom veterans who many thought wouldn’t stay the course. Moonpig was started in 1999, as the dotcom bubble was hitting full speed. Even the name itself seemed to be meaningless, plucked from the Web 1.0 handbook (it was actually based on founder Nick Jenkins’ nickname).

Photobox came a year later, hoping to build a business that would help keep the humble physical photograph alive. Both made it through the crash and the desolate years afterwards and recovered well, building substantial and valuable businesses over time.

In fact, in a way they’re also indicative of a certain style of European startup: one that just keeps on going and going. Moonpig founder Jenkins was forced to take six rounds of investment to push the company to profitability — but at each point he put his own money in as well to prove to investors that he was serious. The business didn’t turn a profit for five years, but when it did things grew pretty quickly. And the result of Jenkins’ dedication, says the Financial Times report, is that he retains 35 percent of the company even after all this time, and gets a substantial reward of almost $70 million for his efforts.

Photograph used under Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user lollyknit

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But even the best OCR business card reader technology has limitations. And while adding over 100 business cards to my contact files this week using my NeatReceipts for Mac, I discovered many of them. Cards with certain design features simply didn’t scan well. And as scanning becomes more common, this is something that business card designers should keep in mind. That contact was important enough for you to give your business card to; you need to make sure you make it easy for them to accurately add you to their contacts list — or you risk your card ending up in the trash.

Here’s my list of do’s and don’ts for creating a scannable business card.

Don’t:

• Use fancy fonts. These easily confuse OCR software, especially on letters like “c” and “e”. A clean font like Helvetica may seem boring, but it is easy for OCR to translate.
• Combine your name and title. Names and titles separated by a comma on a single line (such as “Nancy Nally, Editor”) didn’t translate correctly in the OCR I was using.
• Overlay text on a pattern. This is too confusing for OCR.
• Angle text. My scanner’s OCR couldn’t translate text that wasn’t parallel to the edges of the card.
• Mix orientations. Keep all the text oriented in the same direction (preferably horizontally, since my scanner had trouble reading vertically-oriented cards).

Do:

• Keep it big. If you get squinty looking at your card, so will OCR software.
• Give text breathing room. Keep letters nicely spaced so that the OCR can distinguish them easily from each other.
• Keep it light. Cards with dark backgrounds seem impossible to scan (even those with high-contrast white text).
• Put your company name somewhere in text. OCR can’t translate stylized logos, so make sure the company’s name is in text somewhere too.
• Keep it on one side. Scanners only read one side of a card, so keep all the critical contact information on one side.

This last issue was a very common problem with the batch of cards I just scanned. Double-sided printing is becoming very affordable so more people are creating business cards that are printed on both sides. This creates the temptation to spread the critical contact information on both sides of the card, which makes it inaccessible to card reading technology. Ideally, you should have contact information on only one side of the card, and then use the other side for a logo or mini sales brochure. A printer like Moo.com, with its ability to print a different back on each card in a set, offers the ability to get very creative with a card back’s promotional uses. Meanwhile, the front of the card can hold all of the traditional contact information in a clean and simple (scannable) format.

Do you scan business cards? What problems have you come up against?

Days after releasing an update to iTunes that blocked the Palm Pre from syncing, Apple has ended another dispute concerning iTunes, this time by settling.

Last November, Apple began issuing cease-and-desist letters to Odioworks, which runs Bluwiki, a public wiki. In this case, people were publishing decompiled code from iTunesDB, the library file that stores music and playlist information for an iTunes user. The goal was simple: Make Apple devices interoperable with other media applications, like Songbird.

Apple asserted this was a violation of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, raising the possibility of legal action. In response, Bluwiki took down the pages and sought legal assistance. The Electronic Frontier Foundation took the case and Odioworks v. Apple was born.

Today, it died, though what ultimately killed the lawsuit is up for debate. If you believe Apple’s letter (PDF), it was because the technology was rendered moot. Apple had “stopped utilizing the code in question,” thus publishing the code was “no longer of any harm or benefit to anyone.” A less charitable interpretation might be that Apple’s legal maneuverings had successfully prevented open discussion, at least at Bluwiki, until changes were made to iTunes.

The problem is that what Apple did was wrong. The DMCA explicitly allows reverse engineering for “analyzing those elements of the programs that are necessary to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs.” It’s anti-competitive behavior like this that makes appropriate action like stopping the Pre hack seem less so.

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I’ve lived an untethered, web working, co-working lifestyle for around nine years. In my previous life as an R&D consultant, hopping between Paris, London, Leeds and San Francisco, having my “office” at my side was the only way to be productive. As such, what I carry when traveling is exactly what I have when I’m at a desk. I don’t like to carry multiple devices, chargers or files and papers.

The Bag
My pride and joy used to be the Timbuk2 Detour, which works as a messenger bag, a briefcase or a backpack. It’s tough as nails, stylish, and big enough for a 15-inch notebook. I recently replaced it with a slightly roomier Timbuk2 Commute Messenger that allows me to carry my digital gear as well as enough clothes and toiletries for an overnight stay if necessary. Timbuk2 is the “BMW of bags”: pricey, but desirable and durable.

The Computer
I have a 2-month old unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro. I’ve always preferred to keep just one computer, carrying all my personal and professional data as well as all my apps, so that I have my entire digital existence at my fingertips. I’ve only been a Mac convert for two years, but the combination of power, elegance and simplicity has me hooked. However, the unibody design on my current machine is noticeably heavier than my previous 15-inch Macbook. After a month of conferences in March (attending ETech and SxSW), I’m thinking that a Macbook Air may have been a more pragmatic choice.

The accessories…
I’m Apple through-and-through, so I also carry:

• a white 16gb iPhone, largely used for email, Twitter, maps, music, podcasts and schedules.
• an Apple Bluetooth headset, for use with Skype, iChat and my iPhone, when driving.
• an Apple remote, for presentations, although this has now largely been superseded by the Remote and Keynote iPhone apps.
• a wireless Mighty Mouse (yes, I’m one of the few admirers of the Scroll Ball!)
• a Mini DisplayPort to VGA dongle for the MacBook.
• a 512mb USB flash drive

The non-digital accessories…

• a B5 Muji notebook (although I actually rarely use paper, even for notetaking. My brain has lost the ability to operate a pen!)
• a pair of Muji Gel Ink Pens (red & black)
• 20-30 Moo MiniCards, for giving out my contact information

I like to keep things simple and uncluttered, but looking ahead, I’m seeing the value of taking up a few more items: a 3G data plan coupled with a netbook (although it will have to be from Apple!) and perhaps an HD camera, such as a Sanyo Xacti.

Most significantly, I think my “gear” is becoming less important to me. I’m pretty sure that I could live off a range of web apps and a powerful smartphone. I suspect the value of gear will be reduced as ‘‘things” are increasingly articulated as services.

What’s in your bag?

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A case of Moo growing up? It’s the most-requested product from Moo’s customers, Moross tells us, so, yeah, if selling something that users ask for is a sign of maturity, Moo’s getting both older and wiser. And while business cards might not have the cool factor of the mini-cards (which are half the size), they are much more practical in the traditional networking world.

Moo’s business cards will cost $22 for 50 of them — a bit more than its mini-cards, but they will use the same paper and have most of the same customizable features, along with some new color and graphics options. They’ll fill the gap between the expensive, bulk-sale cards from a design shop and the cheaper but lower-quality cards that can be bought online, says Moross.

Of particular interest to the earth2tech types is a 100 percent recycled and biodegradable eco-card option, for no extra charge (Moo customers, you have no excuse not to get this option!). Moross also claims that its printing process is much more efficient than the standard, and points out that printing in small batches can also cut down on wasted cards.

As Om put it eloquently last year, “Moo is among the first wave of young businesses finally putting the so-called Web 2.0 technologies to work to make good on the promise that this much-ballyhooed generation of startups has been vapidly pledging for far too long: That Web 2.0 would reinvent the boring, the old-fashioned and the antiquated.” Hopefully Moo will continue to make good on that promise, and won’t start equating boring with grown-up.

Image courtesy of Moo and Flickr.

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It’s not an earth-shattering product that will change the world, but a well-designed and low-cost product that could be useful for interested green entrepreneurs. For those not familiar with the web 2.0 darling Moo, the company has been selling mini-cards (half the size of a biz card), stickers and postcards for the past couple of years. The company’s printing process is more efficient than the standard, and by printing in small batches the company says it can also cut down on wasted cards.

Mini-card fans like the fact that they can print different Flickr photos on their cards, and easily customize the cards with colors and designs. Moo founder and CEO Richard Moross tells us that the company’s business cards will have the same and more features as the mini-cards. Moross started Moo because he was bored with the standard business cards out there, but tells us that business cards have been the most-requested item. While not using using business cards at all would be the most eco-friendly, Moo’s cards are a novel option to try out.

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Table Template Manager, from AbleBits, is ideal for the Word user who creates a lot of tables in Word, and reuses them. It’s a free download, and lets you save the formatting for tables you like and will use again, and manage a collection of tables.

Microsoft’s own International Character Toolbar is very handy if you’re using Word 2003. With one click, you can insert characters from all around the globe in your documents, and open toolbars specific to several languages concurrently.

For Office 2007 users, Microsoft’s Save As PDF or XPS is good for allowing you to easily save as PDF or XPS for all the applications in the suite, including Word.

If you work with letterhead a lot, Letterhead System is a Word add-in that automates the self-updating of letters and letterhead. You can use it to manage letterhead-based Word documents so that they share common attributes.

While many people are used to importing from Excel to include mathematical components in Word documents, Microsoft offers a Word 2007 add-in called Microsoft Math that does sophisticated graphing, lets you solve for variables, plot functions, and more. You can plot visual elements in either 2-D or 3-D with it.

Do you know of any good Word add-ins?

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• Fixed issue with V CAST Music and 4GB+ removable memory read error
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• Fixed to display �=� symbol on the bottom in the calculator for LG Joy font
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• Fixed the auto lock setting so that the touch screen will not lock on its own when auto lock is set to off
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• Fixed to have no difference between the displayed image (to let youknow which scene was taken) and the actual saved image, when you take apicture aiming at any moving objects
• Fixed when device goes to maps.google.com, the device resets

To get the upgrade you have to take your phone to a Verizon store and as always call ahead to make sure your store has the update ready to apply.

(via Phone News)

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