If you still keep a Rolodex, today is your lucky day: More business cards could be flooding an office near you thanks to a partnership between AOL's About.me and Moo, a printing company based in Rhode Island.
About.me, a personal profile startup that launched back in December and was acquired by AOL only four days later, allows new users to create a basic account in a matter of minutes. It's one place that pulls together your various social media profiles and presents them on a single sleek page with -- what else? -- an "About Me" section custom-tailored to present yourself to friends, family and potential employers. Your Facebook page is too informal; your LinkedIn account too static and professional. "Stick it into your email signature or Twitter bio and you never have to worry about where to send people again," according to the site's introductory video.
Starting today, About.me users can have Moo print 50 free business cards (you still have to pay for shipping costs) using the information in their profiles. "Moo will add your about.me profile, unique url and QR code to your cards," TechCrunch reported this morning. "Users can also upload additional images; edit contact info and more."
For those who don't know what to do with traditional business cards (I have a stack sitting on my desk, but I rarely ever use or look at them), Cardcloud is a new app that keeps things in the digital realm. It "allows users to instanteously trade contact information with the people they meet," according to Techland's Chris Gayomali. "All you need is the other party's email address ... and Cardcloud will send all the relevant info -- name, email, social networking profiles, etc. -- to that person along with a digital business card you can write messages on (so that they remember you)." Currently only available for iOS, Cardcloud will soon be released for both BlackBerry and Android users.
What's most interesting about the new app is how it maintains the Rolodex, complete with a rotating file that shuffles through "joyless rectangular business cards," while shifting all of the data onto your smartphone. We're found a more convenient way to store and access this information, but continue to present it in the same form.
A demonstration of how Cardcloud works for the iPhone:
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