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GetSelfCentered.com launched

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A new-school movement, launched today, aims to inspire one million young people to get “selfcentered”: become more authentic, grounded, balanced and self-aware by spending time each day connecting to their inner selves.

The selfcentered Tour, a nationwide series of experiential events, teacher training programs, and entertainment, supported by a content-driven web community, kicks off in February. At the core of The selfcentered Tour are unique and simple tools to get selfcentered, practices that are easy to understand, live, teach, and love. The techniques include signature meditation, breath styles, and body opening flow that give the mind an opportunity to quiet down, the body an opportunity to relax, and chaos an opportunity to exit.

Founder and chief enlightenment officer Max Simon, who at 22 became the youngest teacher in the history of the world-renowned Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, Calif., has spent the last four years traveling the country teaching meditation and yoga to thousands of people at the Chopra Center’s prestigious workshops and events. Noticing that traditional methods of teaching weren’t attracting a younger demographic, Simon decided to create an alternative approach to show his generation how to step away from the endless mind-chatter, disconnect from the buzz, and settle into a world of authentic inner calm.

Originally posted on January 27, 2008 @ 11:21 pm

Internet Brands acquires niche community websites

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Internet Brands, Inc. announced the acquisition of HuntingNet.com, OffShoreOnly.com, and Horsetopia.com, three popular community websites in the online hunting, performance boating, and equestrian niches. The sites join well-known online community destinations including Wikitravel.org, FlyerTalk.com, and BikeForums.com as part of Internet Brands’ fast-growing Travel & Leisure division.

“All three of these sites are leaders in their niche categories, with unique original content, strong user participation, and impressive levels of traffic,” said Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands. “The acquisition of these sites is a continuation of our strategy to provide our users with rich, high-quality sites and our advertisers with a targeted audience that is passionate about their interests.”

HuntingNet.com is the largest hunting community on the Internet. Founded in 1995, the site consists of more than 10,000 pages of content including daily hunting news updates, original articles, field journals, and photo galleries. HuntingNet.com’s community forums allow thousands of registered members to discuss all aspects of hunting, from exchanging tips and techniques to sharing photos of recent hunting excursions. A growing video library features how-to videos, competition videos, and user-contributed video clips.

With more than 45,000 registered users, OffShoreOnly.com has grown to be the world’s largest performance boating website since 2001. A vibrant enthusiast community and active discussion forum are the primary focus of the site. OffShoreOnly.com is also home to a large collection of user-generated content, including photos, videos, and classified ads. The site complements TheHullTruth.com, a boating and fishing site operated by Internet Brands, to provide enthusiasts with fully comprehensive boating resources.

Since launching in 2002, Horsetopia.com has revolutionized the way people buy and sell horses. The site links buyers and sellers from around the world, creating a global marketplace with a much wider reach than traditional advertising methods. Horsetopia.com charges no commissions or finding fees, and offers free basic text ads to sellers in addition to multimedia paid ads. A discussion forum covers hundreds of topics related to owning a horse, making Horsetopia.com a resource that visitors frequently return to after buying or selling on the site.

Originally posted on January 23, 2008 @ 6:35 pm

Riffworld.com online community for musicians launched

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Sonoma Wire Works today introduced RiffWorld.com, an online music collaboration community for RiffWorks users. RiffWorks easy-to-use guitar recording software with built-in online collaboration and podcasting has been updated and integrated with RiffWorld.com. During the beta test, over 600 songs were created by 200 collaborators worldwide (US, Canada, UK, EU, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and more) with no latency or distance problems. RiffWorld.com is now out of beta, and 20,000 RiffWorks users are ready to play.

Using the RiffWorks desktop recording application, up to four musicians can connect and collaborate on a song simultaneously. As a layer records, it instantly streams to other players’ running RiffWorks. As the Riff loops, other players can add more. All contributions are saved on RiffWorld.com and can be opened later for further collaboration. Musicians worldwide are creating songs together online no matter how far apart they live or what time zone they are in!

On RiffWorld.com, musicians list their gear, songs, collaborations, and comments. Similar interests are linked automatically using modern social networking technology, making it easy to find people with the same musical tastes. Musicians chat about song posts and collaborations on RiffWorld.com and directly inside RiffWorks while they play. Awards go to songs with the most plays, editorial picks, and song contests wins. RiffWorld.com connects musicians who have similar interests and inspires them make more music together.

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Originally posted on January 22, 2008 @ 6:05 pm

Big Green Tree eco-community launched

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biggreentree.pngInformation Architects announced the launch of the Big Green Tree (BGT), the first eco-dedicated web community that will bring friends of the environment together like a green MySpace.

BigGreenTree.net is a fully licensed component of IAGREEN.com designed to play a major role in unifying the “Green Renaissance” in one of the first social networking sites dedicated to the environmental movement worldwide.

BigGreenTree.net creates a Global web community of individuals, groups and organizations who promote Eco-information and progress and share a mutual interest in protecting the environment. It also will serve as a viable work space and data collection point for like-minded green enthusiasts. At BGT, information and an open flow of dialogue is expected to both stimulate new interest in the green lifestyle and act as a foundation for direct action.

Originally posted on January 19, 2008 @ 12:04 pm

Triblocal expands to 13 more Chicago suburbs

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Triblocal, the hyper-local community publishing service of Chicago Tribune, will expand its coverage to 13 additional Southwest and Western Chicago suburbs, providing residents a new way to post and comment on stories, photos and event information about their hometowns. This move will bring Triblocal’s total number of sites to 21.

The new communities will include: Palos Heights, Palos Park, Palos Hills, Lemont, Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Manhattan, Glen Ellyn, Warrenville, Wheaton, Winfield and West Chicago. The Triblocal.com sites feature local submissions from citizen contributors and Triblocal reporters that are relevant and community-focused.

By the end of the year, Triblocal will have a total of 35 hyper-local websites and eight newspapers with a circulation of 120,000. Print editions will be distributed weekly with home-delivered and single copies of the
Chicago Tribune.

Originally posted on January 17, 2008 @ 11:20 am