CIR 7.01 - A small Hamilton, Ontario-based startup called MapTheWorld.net is on a mission to help newspapers defend themselves from the Googles and Craigslists of the world. The weapon of choice: a tool that allows newspapers to generate their own interactive maps with value-added local and nonprofit information unavailable anywhere else. With a team of mostly volunteer student cartographers across North America, MapTheWorld.net has already compiled a feel-good smattering of defiantly eclectic data, including the locations of all American Humane Associations in the U.S., various battlefields, cemeteries and war monuments; plus a mash-up of politically correct facilities ranging from food banks to the Red Cross.    more »

CIR 7.01 -- HarvestINFO, the online advertising technology firm specializing in newspaper collaboration, is on a roll – or should we say, a rollout – with numerous products and newspaper conversions recently completed or in the near offing. Established in 1996 CEO Scott Bailey HarvestINFO’s primary focus has been the conversion of newspaper ads into an online format that is searchable and interactive.“That has been the legacy of the company,” said Larry Zimmer, VP marketing and retail products at HarvestINFO. “We’ve built up several hundred newspaper customers in our active portfolio,” he said, including daily newspapers of all sizes, weeklies, and a few alternatives. “We have a wide variety. We work with a number of major groups such as Cox, Gannett, and some Knight Ridder, so we cover the gamut.”   more »