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Kundi.com was a spin-off venture from Paul Allen's Interval
Research Corporation. It began in 1999 as a fast-track research
project to explore interesting commercial opportunities relating
initially to webcams, whose usage had begun to explode. We found
that webcams and streaming media had a search problem unique for
the Web: time. Search engines were not equipped to find events as
they happen. We developed an alert infrastructure, whereby
people can alert other people in real time to encourage propagation.
Kundi means flocking, herding, or swarming in Swahili.
When Interval closed its doors in April 2000, Kundi was one of the
projects that continued to receive support. We launched a beta site
in February 2001 and demonstrated the concept, but in April 2001
our support stopped.
Between 2003 and 2004, all three patents
were allowed. The patents are for quantifying, normalizing,
and alerting items of current interest
via a network. They include any item, not only video
or streaming media (e.g., recent blog entries, info about parties,
sales events); and any network, not only Web or Internet (e.g.,
mobile phones). Central to the IP is the “hot now” button,
i.e., a means by which users can send out conscious and explicit
“this is hot now” signals.
Our vision statement
can be found here.
As we say: It's very Warhol.
Credits
Michael Naimark, Instigator
Stephen DeBerry, Founding CEO
Core Team: David Lubensky, Ignazio Moresco, Camille Norment, Veronica
Rocha, Emily Weil
Principle Advisors: Aviv Bergman, Baldo Faieta
Consultants: Diane Schiano, Rob Shaw, Meg Withgott
Updates
June 2006: Provisional patent application filed for "Hardware-embedded
alert and feedback system for items of current interest via a network,"
moving the alert button and feedback system from being web-based
to being camera based.
Jan 2008: "Propagation Engine" file posted on USC Stevens Institute for Innovation website.
Dec 2008: "Source-Based Alert When Streaming Media is of Current Interest" USC patent app is now online.
Oct 2010: Kundi video scenario is #1 (of 100,000,000) on Google searches for live global video.
Nov 2010: The time to relaunch may have finally come. New proposal.
Dec 2010: USC patent allowed (pub no 20080320159).
Apr 2011: USC patent issued (US patent no 7,930,420).
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