If you’ve ever fancied the idea of battling Top Trumps style with your friends’ faces, Facetrumps has got you covered. Simply sign into Facebook, select the friends you’d like to include, choose the categories and then set their various ‘strength’ scores for each. Facetrumps will then turn your friends into trading cards, delivered to your door.

We asked Jon Stephens from Facetrumps to tell us a bit about the idea:

The idea for Facetrumps originally came from those random pub conversations in which you end up talking about which of your friends are most likely to millionaires / get married first / or get drunk the fastest. We started thinking about how we used to do this when we were kids, but it was more comparing cars / battleships / planes using packs of Top Trumps (we’re trying not to use the phrase for copyright reasons). It seemed like an obvious next step to update the classic card game for the new generation of kids that are growing-up with Facebook accounts.

We knew about how powerful Facebook Connect could be through using it with a previous project of ours (www.wirediary.com) and knew that it would be relatively simple to use the profile images to create the trump cards.

Our target markets are children who are most likely to play with the cards, and adults who are going on stag do’s or who are looking for a quirky present for people. So far people seem to have particularly enjoyed coming-up with their own categories and rating their friends.

We think there is a lot of potential in looking at how to use the data in social networks to produce offline products (and we’ve seen a couple of companies starting to do this recently). If Facetrumps is successful then we are going to try to move in to other similar areas, possibly using data in twitter as well. We may also do a phone app version of Facetrumps and allow users to upload their photos etc so people don’t need to use Facebook Connect (this would be useful if you were creating packs for your work colleagues who you were not connected to on Facebook).

If you’ve ever fancied the idea of battling Top Trumps style with your friends’ faces, Facetrumps has got you covered. Simply sign into Facebook, select the friends you’d like to include, choose the categories and then set their various ‘strength’ scores for each. Facetrumps will then turn your friends into trading cards, delivered to your door.

We asked Jon Stephens from Facetrumps to tell us a bit about the idea:

The idea for Facetrumps originally came from those random pub conversations in which you end up talking about which of your friends are most likely to millionaires / get married first / or get drunk the fastest. We started thinking about how we used to do this when we were kids, but it was more comparing cars / battleships / planes using packs of Top Trumps (we’re trying not to use the phrase for copyright reasons). It seemed like an obvious next step to update the classic card game for the new generation of kids that are growing-up with Facebook accounts.

We knew about how powerful Facebook Connect could be through using it with a previous project of ours (www.wirediary.com) and knew that it would be relatively simple to use the profile images to create the trump cards.

Our target markets are children who are most likely to play with the cards, and adults who are going on stag do’s or who are looking for a quirky present for people. So far people seem to have particularly enjoyed coming-up with their own categories and rating their friends.

We think there is a lot of potential in looking at how to use the data in social networks to produce offline products (and we’ve seen a couple of companies starting to do this recently). If Facetrumps is successful then we are going to try to move in to other similar areas, possibly using data in twitter as well. We may also do a phone app version of Facetrumps and allow users to upload their photos etc so people don’t need to use Facebook Connect (this would be useful if you were creating packs for your work colleagues who you were not connected to on Facebook).

It may seem like the world of e-commerce is an increasingly mature space but it is still surprisingly segmented.

Almost every marketplace, from Amazon to EBay, has its own listings policies and proprietary formats making the life of an independent online retailer a complicated one.

Stepping into the breach are sites like SellerExpress which provide centralised platforms from which online retailers can manage their listings, and stock levels, across numerous marketplaces – in this instance Play.com and the various Amazon marketplaces.

A single dashboard allows for bulk uploads across multiple sites and rapid data entry based on product barcode or ISBN numbers. The site also allows retailers to ‘auto reprice’ ensuring that they maintain the highest possible margins while still shifting their stock.

It’s probably not the sexiest industry to play in but where there’s customer pain, there’s potential profits.

Site: www.sellerexpress.com

Applications like 4square have undoubtedly given the idea and enormous boost but it seems as if game mechanics is everywhere at the moment (case in point, we highlighted Yoxi just a few days ago).

Finnish startup Deal Machine applies the concept to a rather obvious opportunity – sales teams. The site allows sales managers to set rules, break down a company’s sales process into targets and rewards, create leader boards etc…

Where else could this simple concept be applied effectively? The answer is anywhere you’d like to motivate people to do something – think business, marketing or ‘doing good’ for starters.

Site: www.dealmachine.net

So Google have unveiled their App Inventor, which allows users to create Android-based mobile apps using a simple drag and drop interface.

“To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.”

When this same kind of idea was applied to online publishing we ended up with tens of millions of blogs and a new industry. When it was applied to web design we got businesses like  SquareSpace. Audio recording: podcasts. Low cost video cameras and simple eidting software: YouTube. Print-on-demand:  Blurb, Lulu and Newpaper Club.

Whenever you take something that used to required technical skill or access to expensive equipment and make it accessible to the masses, the masses seem to grab hold of it and run – creating all kinds of weird and wonderful things in the process.

App Inventor is the first big step in doing exactly this for the mobile app market (there are other DIY app tools out there but nothing with this kind of clout behind it). Expect to see two things happen:

• Individuals creating simplified, personalised apps to help solve their own daily needs or just for fun – some will break out and become hits
• New structures, like marketplaces for DIY apps, to grow up around them
• Hyper-local apps, which previously wouldn’t justify the cost of creating them, will become more common

Of course, this is really just a first tentative step and there’s a lot of ground yet to cover.

App builders will need to become even simpler and probably cross-platform. Apple will no doubt have something in the works too but the next big thing in this space may be a well-branded, well-back startup – something like a SquareSpace or possibly even an Open Source option, a WordPress for apps.

Whatever the format and whatever the timescale, it’s hard to imagine that DIY apps won’t become much more common – and that inevitably means new opportunities for creative entrepreneurs.

Uppy Media‘s Facebook app allows users to tag the clothes they’re wearing in photos and share them with friends. Users can also use the app to ask others what they’re wearing.

The company makes money through affiliate links, so if you just have to have that dress your best mate wore on Friday night, you’re in luck – and so are Uppy.

For similar ideas in this space check out Pixazza, Udorse , and Coolspotters.

Typography is certainly benefiting from a growing presence as an art form. Pair that up with something of a renaissance in high-quality print and you’ve got a recipe for a business.

The Keep Calm Gallery does exactly this – selling screen printed posters based largely on typography and evoking something of a ‘British heritage’ aesthetic.

What started with a few prints from the two of us soon grew into a site featuring a wide selection of work from some fantastic artists, designers and print makers. We work closely with our artists and printers to be able to offer the highest quality fine art prints for the home.

A format to be replicated around your own particular passion?

Site: www.keepcalmgallery.com

In another example of people turning just about anything into a business opportunity, online retailers are selling jars of volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull [ay-ah-fjad-la-jo-kul], the Icelandic volcano which disrupted over 100,000 flights in Europe.

Sites: www.nordicstore.net / www.nammi.is