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Guide (software company)

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Guide
IndustrySoftware
FoundedMiami, Florida (2012 (2012))
FounderFreddie A. Laker
Headquarters
Miami Edit this on Wikidata
,
United States Edit this on Wikidata
Key people
Freddie A. Laker, CEO
Leslie Bradshaw, COO
Websitegui.de Edit this on Wikidata

Guide was a US technology startup company developing a newsreader app that translates text from online news sources, blogs and social media streams into streaming audio and video. The company's apps include animal character readers.[1] The company was founded in 2012 by chief executive officer Freddie A. Laker, and privately launched its mobile app in alpha in February 2013.

The company closed in 2014.[citation needed]

Guide app

Guide is a visual newsreader app for personal computers, mobile devices and Smart TV,[2][3] which uses text-to-speech and avatar technologies to turn text-based online news, blogs and social media updates into video content.[4][5][6] These technologies allow Guide to turn articles into news program-style episodes, incorporating video or images from the original source, while the text content of the article or blog post is read aloud by a virtual news anchor.[7] The app creates a "channel" for each site or news source, within which individual blog posts or news articles are separate episodes.[8]

Guide allows users to choose from three different virtual news anchors in the base application,[9][10] and the company has stated it will offer additional avatars and newsroom backgrounds for purchase.[6][8] An alpha version of the app, for iPad only,[2] was privately released on February 8, 2013.[4]

Screenshot showing the Guide app's user interface

Background

Freddie Laker, former vice president of strategy at Sapient Nitro and founder of digital agency iChameleon Group,[6][2] developed the idea for Guide in 2011 after he noticed the rising trend in Smart TVs and Smart TV content at that year's CES.[8] He observed that the apps for Smart TV did not provide content in a TV-friendly format and decided to create an app that would provide a "TV experience".[11] In January 2013, Laker was joined at the company by chief operating officer Leslie Bradshaw.[12] The company is based in Miami, Florida, and has seven employees as of February 2013.[8][13]

Guide closed its seed funding round in February 2013. It raised $1 million from investors including Sapient, the Knight Foundation, MTV founder Bob Pittman, founding Google team member Steve Schimmel, and actor Omar Epps.[3][4] The company stated that the seed money will be used to focus on further development of the Guide app and pursuing patents for its technology.[3][6] In February 2013, Guide was one of 65 companies out of 500 applicants selected to demonstrate its app in the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Accelerator in Austin.[10][14]

References

  1. ^ "Man scores $1.5 million with kitten that can read to you | Power Pitch - Yahoo Finance". Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
  2. ^ a b c Samantha Murphy (5 February 2013). "This App Packages News and Social Streams Into Video". Mashable. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Ken Yeung (5 February 2013). "Guide raises $1m to create a video news channel of websites read by avatars, now in private alpha". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Darrell Etherington (5 February 2013). "Guide Raises $1M In Seed Funding To Replace TV News With Feeds And Virtual Anchors". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  5. ^ Liz Gannes (5 February 2013). "A Passive Newsreader App: Guide Wants Its Avatars to Read Your News". All Things Digital. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d Kira M. Newman (5 February 2013). "Don't have time to read? Gui.de turns your news into video". Tech Cocktail. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Blog feeds turned into personalized TV show". Springwise. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  8. ^ a b c d "Miami-based startup turns your RSS feed into a personalized newscast". Contagious Magazine. 5 February 2013. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  9. ^ Yi Chen (11 February 2013). "Digital anchors present any blog posts as TV news". psfk. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  10. ^ a b Nancy Dahlberg. "News: Miami startup Guide receives $1 million in seed funding; next stop SXSW". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  11. ^ Ellis Hamburger (5 February 2013). "Can Guide's digital news anchors replace daytime TV?". The Verge. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  12. ^ Kira M. Newman (16 January 2013). "Leslie Bradshaw leaves JESS3, starts afresh as COO of Guide". Tech Cocktail. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  13. ^ Anna Heim (1 January 2013). "Awesome Offices: Inside 8 fantastic startup workplaces in Miami". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  14. ^ "SXSW Accelerator 2013 Finalists". South by Southwest. SXSW Inc. 2013. Archived from the original on 26 February 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
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