Tech pros will get an early look at the latest and greatest apps for work and play — just in time for the holidays — at the edgy, intimate, and fast-paced SF AppShow 2012 event on Nov. 8, 2012, at 6:00 PM (PST) in the South of Market district in San Francisco.

The AppShow moves around the United States in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but the San Francisco version is a favorite for tech pros, app developers, journalists, and investors who live and work around Silicon Valley.


Popular apps, such as Uber, Waze, and Dropbox for iOS launched at the SF AppShow, where tech pros in the audience and via livestream got to see them before anyone else in the world. Other apps have gotten a major jumpstart just by showing up, like SoundHound, which went from 100,000 downloads before its appearance at a 2010 SF AppShow to now hovering upwards of 100 million downloads.

Watch the live feed here, and ask questions, if you like, via Facetime. I’m hosting the event, and all the apps are pre-selected and curated by show producer and Valley app evangelist Seth Socolow. There will be a ton of breaking news at this event, as well. Here’s a preview.

1. Projectbook

Projectbook from Theory.io is a a full-fledged competitor to Evernote — but with a twist. Available now for Apple iOS, it’s a natural language tech product that acts as a full-featured notebook — and it also lets you find notes, PDFs, documents, to-do lists, and other text, regardless of whether you’re online.

2. DocuSign Ink

DocuSign, well known around corporations for its e-signature tech, is showing off its DocuSign Ink app. DocuSign Ink lets you sign documents anywhere on any device. It’s on Apple iOS and just inked a deal with LegalZoom. There’s a lot of competition in this market — most notably from Adobe — so we’ll be watching what’s new here with great interest.

3. City Guides, Offline Maps

Stay.com is a new venture. Its City Guides, Offline Maps app (for iOS and Android) targets business travelers and consumers with its vector-based maps, viewable online and off. Based in Oslo, Norway, the firm is founded by execs who created and sold the first hotel-booking web service in Scandinavia.

4. Big Day!

Big Day!, from the husband and wife team that is Kijome Software in Vancouver, Wash., is launching a reminder service for Apple iOS at the SF AppShow. Using push notifications, it not only lets you know when folks have birthdays or other important dates coming up, but it works with gifting networks too. It’s basically a referral service on steroids. In addition to its expected launch, look for news regarding affiliate deals and major merchants.

5. Blue Kangaroo

Blue Kangaroo will be announcing its deal-finding app for Android at the show. Think of this as a kind of Google for offers and deals. A great example of the contextual awareness trend, this app is from former Yahoo execs who are taking on the challenge of online deals. Claiming that this app is easier than having to deal with the kind of clutter Groupon and similar services sent you, Blue Kangaroo pushes deals and offers based on interests it says its smartphone subscribers actually care about. This will be a fun one to watch at the show. We expect big news from Blue Kangaroo execs.

6. Rumgr

Rumgr is a free Apple iOS app that uses geolocation so that you can post your used stuff online and sell it to neighbors. Garage sales are obsolete with this thing. The app is funded by Tony Hsieh of Zappos fame.

7. Chocolapps

Chocolapps, based in Paris, will show Zorro, the latest in its series of multilingual interactive books for kids. But forget the kids for a moment. Pull out your iPad and think about it. What better way to brush up on your Mandarin the next time you have to fly to Taiwan for that work meeting? And remember that Zorro was based in Santa Clarita — that’s Santa Clara, the heart of Silicon Valley!

8. Glaze

The 11ers’ Glaze, from Dreamworks’ alums Daniel Wexler and Gilles Dezeustra, turns your photos into paintings in seconds. It zoomed to No. 4 in the iTunes Photo and App Store four days after launching this summer, and news regarding new pro photographer features in a new revision of this Apple iOS app will hit at the show. Expect an update that adds breathtaking new styles and support for high-resolution output at up to 21mp, plus support for image metadata and additional quality improvements to this $2.99 (USD) app.

9. AppDisco

AppDisco for Android, and Android only, is a kind of Pandora-like app discovery tool. It delivers apps and games it thinks you’ll like via a playlist like system. Why Android only? More will be revealed at the show …

10. Madefire

Madefire Motion Books says it will be showing the future of moving media at the show and a platform for authors to create a new type of moving media digital book. It starts with comics, but it won’t end there. The app, for Apple iOS, also is a platform for authors hoping to create moving-media books, brochures, and — here’s an IT angle — training manuals. But it starts with comics. This video explains why MadeFire just might have a whole new type of media in its hands.

If you’re in San Francisco, join us at the SF AppShow 2012, a media-sponsored event in part by my geeksite aNewDomain.net, and led by me, John C. Dvorak, and Dr. Jerry Pournelle. The door open at 6:00 PM (PST), and the after-party goes till midnight. Also, keep your eyes peeled for more app news announcements following this event!