Israel’s Drippler aggregates all relevant news and info relating to subscribers’ high-tech toys, making it simpler to use devices to their full potential.
Being a part of the computerized, networked, always-available modern tech world comes at a price. Chances are you shelled out thousands of dollars for the devices you use — laptop, iPod, smartphone, tablet. A new Israel-based website, Drippler, is there to make sure you get the most out of your device investment.
Drippler scans hundreds of gadget-related websites, including blogs, tech news sites, manufacturer websites and communities for content relevant to the devices users list when they set up a free account at the Drippler site. Using advanced data processing technology, Drippler matches every piece of info to the listed gadgets, identifies the most important, interesting and relevant updates (“Drips”), and puts them in users’ personalized dashboard (“My Drips”) and weekly personalized email.
It sounds a bit like RSS or Google Alert — where you type in a keyword and Google emails you news and blog content mentioning the keyword — but Drippler is much more sophisticated, says CEO Matan Talmi.
“Our technology goes far beyond simple keyword searches, and provides users with all the relevant content on their gadgets. Drippler’s automatic curation technology attributes related content according to the product’s category, brand, series, model and specification.”
You won’t get this level of detail using RSS or Google Alerts. However, says Talmi, it’s not too detailed a level, fetching only the latest and most relevant content. “The web is flooded with information and Drippler saves users the hassle of searching and browsing through the noise,” he says.
Wading through the data
Just a few decades ago, relatively primitive devices (like the Apple II computer) were already doing amazing things, such as creating the graphics for movies like Star Wars. Today’s advanced devices have far greater capabilities. But how many people do you see using their iPad to create movies — much less to do all the cool stuff they show you on the commercials?
The reason consumers don’t use devices to their full potential — and often end up getting frustrated and sticking them in a drawer — has nothing to do with laziness or stupidity, but simply confusion. There is just so much information out there that it’s almost impossible to keep track of what devices are capable of. In the race to sell more products, manufacturers are constantly coming out with new versions of operating systems and software that supply devices with ever new and more powerful capabilities, along with revisions to fix bugs and protect against viruses. Reading the manual just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Savvy, organized consumers will make sure to check the websites of manufacturers of their devices on a regular basis, as well as tech blogs.
Drippler is a better source of information than either of these alternatives, says Talmi, because it scans more sources.
Better than blogs
“We think of Drippler as a layer between the user and all the information out there, so we’re part of the ecosystem,” he says.
Users who rely solely on Drippler can avoid browsing dozens of sites and blogs because most of them are already feeding into Drippler — which gives the appropriate link and credit to information it aggregates.
“Many blogs actually request to be added to our sources, in order to gain more traffic,” Talmi says. “We’re always happy to find out about new high-quality sites, and use them as sources.”
Drippler’s public beta site launched last August, and Talmi said that it has been getting great traction and feedback so far.
Located in Tel Aviv, Drippler is a privately held company with seed funding from high-profile investors and well-known Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs such as Reuven Agassi of SAP Business One, Yanki Margalit of Aladdin Knowledge Systems and David Assia of Magic Software Enterprises.
Talmi expects the startup to grow along with consumers’ love of devices. “We plan to keep growing rapidly,” he says, “and in a year or two we expect to be the leading source for gadget information, and installed on any mobile device used by gadget lovers.”