- Juke Legal music streaming has been available for a while in other countries, but flat-rate services like Spotify had, till now, been blocked by the German music rights organisation GEMA – the same people responsible for blocking thousands of music videos from Youtube. Juke, a brand new start-up in Mitte, seems to have struck a deal with GEMA and labels that everyone can live with. After a 14-day free trial, you pay €9.99 a month to stream any of 1,300,000 tracks from Miss Kittin to Vivaldi on your computer or phone. In German. www.myjuke.com
- Doonited The good Samaritan goes digital with Doonited. The people at this philanthropically inclined start-up, which officially launched in May, believe in the old adage that one good deed a day can change the world. You receive an assignment daily from the site – like giving a homeless man an apple – then you can share your experiences with other users and bask in the warm glow of helping out your fellow humans. www.doonited.com
- Network Awesome After considering what a TV network could be at its best, media culture gurus Jason Forrest and Cory Vielma set out to present content in a way that is free and interesting. Since launching in January, Network Awesome has set itself the daunting task of curating Youtube, and the result is somewhere between art salon and dive bar. With six shows daily touching on everything from Nabokov to Nyan Cat, the site is a godsend to the ADD-frazzled, input-starved millennial generation. www.networkawesome.com
- Wooga Founded in 2009 and recently proclaimed the “newcomer start-up of the decade” by the online magazine Gründerszene, Wooga is the cool new kid on the block, if nearly 40 million monthly users are any indication. Founders Jens Begemann and Philipp Moeser both worked for Jamba, and their platform for online games with such upbeat names as ‘Brain Buddies’ and ‘Bubble Island’ propelled them to the top: Wooga is now the largest social media gaming developer on the continent. www.wooga.com
- Researchgate You wouldn’t really associate social networking with scientists. All those bushy-eyed, frizzy-haired geniuses must be too busy curing cancer to waste their time on the internet. Since launching in 2008, Researchgate has changed that. Over one million professionals (from engineers and chemists to doctors and economists) have joined the network that aims to provide them with a platform to connect, share their work, and stay up-to-date with current theories. www.researchgate.net
