Today we launched a totally new application to help online shoppers: YouTellMe Virtual Products. We use a new technology, called Augmented Reality, to virtually display 3D products in your livingroom! Everyone can use it, all you need is a webcam and a printed ‘marker’. With this new application, you can ‘virtually’ hold the new iPhone in your hand, without going to the store! You can even see what the latest bigscreen TV will look like in your livingroom, before ever spending a dime.

Try our virtual product pilot now!

If case you wonder who made this magic happen, check out Dave’s profile. Dave is the latest member of our development team and responsible for the Augmented Reality project! Congrats Dave on a great project!

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Currently one of our main concerns here at YouTellMe is data. We think we built a great application to make product comparison easier and faster, but any comparison is only as good as the data it’s built on.

Many of our competitors can get away with having mediocre data sets with the occasional data-gap in places, but not us. Our technology requires a much higher data-quality and gathering all the correct data and meta-data for every currently available product in a category is a h*ll of a lot of work!

We have a quality over quantity strategy, which (for now) means we have a narrower catalogue than other comparison sites. Currently we have 8 productgroups we compare: computer monitors, digital cameras, espresso- and coffeemakers, flatscreen televisions, gps navigation systems, printers, sim only plans and dishwashers. In the upcoming months we will be adding categories on a monthly basis.

We try to listen to our users when deciding what category we will be adding next. You can tell us on YouTellMe.nl or just leave a comment here. We’re sure there’s a lot of buying descisions that are driving you crazy, so tell us, what would you like to compare?

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Yesterday, the Dutch marketing blog Frankwatching.com posted an article about YouTellMe. We’ve got several positive reactions based on the post, so we are well pleased! Unfortunately for our international readers, the article is only available in Dutch.

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Actually, we moved in oktober, so this post is a bit overdue… but better late than never. We have been so busy with our beta launch, that there has been little time for blogposts, sorry! Our new office is located in the very heart of Amsterdam, right next to the famous Westerkerk and Anne Frank house. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Rotterdam, an excellent city where we have enjoyed working and living these past years.

Our building is the big white one, leaning precariously to the front

Thijs has done an excellent job furnishing the inside (with a tight budget) and we are all very proud of the result. It feels good spending time there, and that’s important when twelve hour working days are no exception.

Everyone reading this blog is very welcome to visit. If you’re in the neighborhood, don’t hesitate to stop by. Right now, it’s back to work for us… many great things are underway in the coming months!

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YouTellMe.nl, our website in the Netherlands, is now online! It has been in private beta for a few months, and last week it opened to the public!

Our team has worked extremely hard these last few months to make this happen. We are very pleased with the result of our hard labor and the positive reactions that we are receiving from our visitors! I’m extremely proud of our (small) tech and design team to have successfully pulled of such a huge job!

However, this is only the beginning: our basic platform is now online, but in the background we have been hard at work to roll out more features/improvements in the next few months… There are some really exciting developments coming your way, but more on that later!

For now we need YOUR help to make YouTellMe smarter, better and more social! We invite you all to visit YouTellMe.nl, register as a member and participate. We also love to hear your feedback, feature requests and comments. If you have something you wanna tell us, please email Thijs, our WebExperience Chief, at thijs [at] youtellme [dot] com.

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Last week the Dutch e-commerce magazine Twinkle published an article and online news item about YouTellMe. Unfortunately, the item is only available in Dutch.
The article talks about our concept and gives a preview of our website.  We also give our views on the market for product comparison and online shopping. Twinkle is a magazine especially for e-tailers in the Netherlands (our home base). We are very pleased that they have picked on our concept in such an early phase!

In the mean time, our team is continuing development on the website. A short time ago we have quietly opened a (very) private beta. We are currently hard at work with the user feedback we are receiving. In the coming weeks we will be handing out more and more invites. So if you aren’t on the beta tester list yet, please follow this link to sign up.

We’ll be back shortly with more exciting news, so check back regularly!

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A few days ago Google App Engine was launched, a new platform for hosting (and scaling) your web applications. The platform received much attention in the blogosphere and of course comparisons with Amazons EC2 were quickly made in major tech blogs.

We were especially excited to hear that Google had chosen the Python for their App Engine implementation. Our project is largely build in Python using the Django framework… So we rushed towards Google’s website to get beta access, and have our lead engineer test drive the new system! First impression: although it’s still very much beta, it looks very promising. Our lead will write an in depth post about the App Engine and Django in general, as soon as he has some free time (which should be somewhere around 2011 ) Read the rest of this entry »

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Although we weren’t able to attend The Next Web Conference this year because of our busy development-schedule, we did keep a close watch through the live feeds. It’s great that a small country like ours hosts a conference with such an impressive line-up of speakers and events! For anyone who missed the 2008 edition too; you can find an overview of the blog-, twitter- and other mediacoverage here.

Anyway, we hope to see you at The Next Web Conference 2009, and who knows…you might even see us in the list of startup pitches

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After a long time of developing we have finally raised the curtain a little bit! We now have a live partner-area where selected online retailers can subscribe. When registered, partners can manage their own account and information online.

YouTellMe offers retailers an exciting new platform to display and promote their product offerings. Our innovative technology makes it easier for consumers to choose the right product and store. With less effort, consumers will be able to make better decisions. Stores can benefit through increased conversion and more satisfied customers.

Registrering is easy, in 3 simple steps retailers can create an account. We will personally review every subscription and activate those accounts that comply with our terms and criteria. Please note that registering is only possible for retailers in the Netherlands and Belgium right now.

Visit the partner-area at partner.youtellme.nl

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A few days ago, Jason Calcanis from Mahalo.com wrote a blog post entitled: How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips). After posting it, he received numerous critical comments from bloggers everywhere. Michael Arrington on Techcrunch was a bit milder and endorsed many of the points made in the original post.

Although we are still puzzled by the Mahalo business model, we at YouTellMe do relate to many of the points made in Jason’s post. Read the rest of this entry »

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