Dispatches from the Next Tech Gold Rush

Less-Sketchy Online Classifieds, Stress-Free Babysitter Referrals, and Other Wondrous Web Services
Four local startups it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Care.com: This Waltham company’s site can help when your babysitter picks have come down to the “edukated male with no track marks” and the lady who brags in her Craigslist ad, “WON’T SPARE THE ROD.” Here you can tailor your search for sitters, tutors, pet sitters, or adult-care helpers, and even run a background check.

Buzzword: Google has already toyed with a rudimentary online challenger to Microsoft Word with its Google Docs program. Waltham-based Virtual Ubiquity wants to go much further with its Flash-based Buzzword, a word processor that sits in a user-friendly Web browser. The technology enables two people to work on the same project at once, allowing your screwups to be noted by your boss in real time.

Geezeo: College kids love to text-message. College kids also tend to bounce checks. Framingham-based Geezeo thinks it can use the former habit to stop the latter. By texting their Geezeo account, users can check credit statements and bank balances; the company also offers a budgeting application that shows how much of their book money they’re blowing on booze.

iMoondo: Another improvement on the online classified model, iMoondo is like Craigslist with videos. Since going live with its website this May, the Mission Hill–based firm has begun expanding its offerings to more than 20 other cities, giving homebuyers and hopeful lovers alike the ability to scout the inventory more carefully.

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