T-Online Venture Fund invests in weblin

The T-Online Venture Fund is investing in the Hamburg company zweitgeist. Weblin, the Web 2.0 application developed by zweitgeist, makes a completely new, entertaining form of contact and interaction possible. With the aid of a virtual character, Internet users are able to communicate with one another quickly and easily on any website. The start-up founded in 2006 is thus further expanding its cooperation with the Deutsche Telekom group which had already got off to a successful start when weblin entered into a cooperation with Gamesload, Germany’s leading online portal for PC game downloads.

Weblin not only benefits from the worldwide connections of the global player but also from the many interesting cooperation partners belonging to the Deutsche Telekom network.

“With Web 2.0, communities, blogging and personalised services, the consumer is playing an increasingly stronger role in an interactive Internet world,” says Christian Schmahl, member of the Investment Committee of the T-Online Venture Fund and Member of the Segment Board, Products & Innovations Deutsche Telekom AG. “In this connection, weblin is a highly innovative and unique communication product making it possible for the user to build his own personal social network. Apart from the fantastic team, we were particularly impressed by the combination of individualisation with a personal avatar companion and the advantage of having a high-performance browsing tool. Our investment in zweitgeist is an innovative contribution by the T-Online Venture Fund to this dynamic market.”

For further information please read the press release:Press Release: T-Online Venture Fund invests in zweitgeist

weblin points now activated – get update now

Weblin is getting better and better, the weblin world is growing from week to week. And a lot has happened in the last three weeks since the last fat update version. There are new functions and new avatars, check out weblin now!

It is great to see every day how active you all are in weblin. We would like to give you something back and reward you with weblin points. There are points for many different activities such as, for example, chatting, surfing, sending webositions and web pages. But also for inviting friends to try out weblin and thus supporting the growth of the weblin community. So, whoever chats a great deal or visits a particularly large number of web pages can look forward to being awarded weblin points. This is how it looks: the points are shown under the name of your weblin.
But that is not all; you will soon be able to do more with the points. One of the many bonuses will be that, as of a certain number of points, you can choose an exclusive avatar

(like one of the two above). Just wait and see!

CNN Business 2.0: weblin is one of the 31 world’s hottest startups

The international press and blogosphere recently discovered weblin. The famous CNN Money.com Business 2.0 magazin is writing: “It’s not just Silicon Valley. The user-generated revolution is in full swing worldwide. Business 2.0 Magazine picks the best non-U.S. sites to watch.” weblin is one of these hottest 31 companies. So, if do not already have a weblin account, go for it now!

Screenshots from the weblin Flashmob on Live Earth Concert in Hamburg

Have a look on the screenshots on flickr and sevenload we made from the flashmob today on live earth event right on the website streaming the concerts from hamburg.

Lancia Online Press Conference with weblin Avatars

Things were ablaze on Thursday morning on the web page of the Lancia Momo Design Project . At 11.30, the Italian motor makers Lancia (FIAT Group Automobiles S.p.A.) held the world’s first on-line press conference with avatars on its own web page. Participants were real journalists and press representatives from Italy, the conference language was Italian. Together with the presenter, the Lancia hostess Angel presented the web page and the advertising campaign for the Lancia Momo Design Project. It is all about heaven and hell, about angels and the devilishly passionate characteristics of Lancia’s new Ypsilon model. The press representatives had installed the weblin software before the conference and then went on-line with their own avatars. The avatars designed by Lancia especially for the on-line campaign all have a Lancia Ypsilon logo on their t-shirts. Communication is quite simple; you write in your own speech balloon. The web page is, in a manner of speaking, the press conference room. Everyone who enters the web page with a weblin avatar can see and chat to all the others. Weblin connects the virtual world of avatars with real life, with people and with the real content of web pages. I do not wish to predict the worse but who needs an island in Second Life when much more is possible in the real Internet so much more easily?

Brand new: Lancia cooperates with weblin!

A few hours ago the cooperation with Lancia (FIAT Group Automobiles S.p.A.) went live. This is an outlook how future online marketing and advertisement could look like.

Lancia offers the download of four weblins branded with the Lancia logo. The website mentioned above has a hostess with wings who welcomes new weblins. The weblin download will be promoted by an integrated banner. Just have a look.

Lancia is a testclient for the advertising agency Testawebedv (Armando Testa Group). They will extend the collaboration with other Italian brands if this cooperation goes well.

Please check the following reference

Weblin is noted on the shortlist “Best social innovation” of the futureaward

The futureaward lists weblin on its shortlist published May 25th, see zukunftsaward.com for further information.

More than 100 applications were received and the organizer was amazed about the variety of new ideas. Below the candidates were big names as Deutsche Post AG, power supplier EnBW and the Hotel Vierjahreszeiten (four seasons). The jury said it was difficult to find the four laureates in the categories: best product innovation, best service innovation, best social innovation and best prototype.

The laureates will be announced on the 12th of June on the “Future Award 2007” within the Futurecongress in Kronberg/Ts.