A list of the top 100 hottest emerging and most innovative tech companies in the media industry was released today, and everyone here at Hubdub was delighted to be included as hot property in the Games & Entertainment category. According to the press blurb, the Tech Media Invest 100 aims to:

“…showcase young entrepreneurial companies that are developing innovative new ways to serve business and consumers and have the potential to radically change the shape of the technology and media industry….these companies have potenial and we look forward to seeing how they monetize their innovation”

Congratulations to everyone else who made the list!

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We have just launched a brand new fantasy sports game - FANDUEL.COM - which lets all us Fantasy Sports fans play and win fantasy sports in a day instead of waiting (and suffering!) the whole season. Players can draft a new team at any time, and pitch it head-to-head against an opponent - a friend, or another FanDuel player - for real money. The player whose team has the most fantasy points at the end of the day’s games wins the cash prize. It’s purely fantasy baseball right now, but the fantasy football game will launch with the start of the football season next month.

You can play from $5, although there is a free version too (but you don’t win prizes and where’s the fun in that?!)

We came up with the idea when we were hanging out with some major Hubdub fans out in Texas earlier this year, and thought it would be great to bring the excitement of Hubdub to fantasy sports. And FanDuel was the result. We hope you’ll like it!

So if your fantasy baseball team is hurting right now, why not give FanDuel a try. Click here to sign up - and we’ll give you a $10 bonus to play for free.

Or, if fantasy baseball isn’t your bag, sign up here and we’ll notify you when the fantasy football game starts next month.

As ever, we value your feedback, so let us know what you think!

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Techcrunch Europe is hosting the European Tech Awards next month in London and we were pleased to hear today that Hubdub has been nominated for Best European Web Application.

If you’d like to vote for us (and of course we very much hope that you will!) then click here to vote (no need to register, just click on Hubdub then scroll down and click the Vote button at the bottom of the page).

Thanks!

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I thought I’d check my email at 6.30 this morning before my children decended on me, and imagine my delight when I opened an email from one of our Super Users (thanks Onedave!) telling me that Hubdub was featured on CNN yesterday.

I then did the natural thing and checked Google analytics - and noticed that, of course traffic was up, but that there was also a significant amount coming from the BBC’s website. And blow me if we hadn’t been on the BBC too!Not a bad start to an otherwise wet and grey Edinburgh day. (Thanks CNN and BBC!)

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Hubdub is up against media monsters such as the BBC, Sky, The Telegraph and Reuters - we’ve all been shortlisted for the Association of Online Publishers’ award for innovation, taking place on June 2nd in London.

The shortlist is:

Band In Your Hand - BBC
CluedUp - Telegraph Media Group
guardian.co.uk message for Obama - Guardian News & Media
Hubdub.com - HubDub
Reuters Davos World Economic Forum Coverage - Thomson Reuters
Sky News - Templated Graphics - BSkyB
Telegraph Mobile Application - Telegraph Media Group
The Economist Debate Series - Economist Group
The Feelings 24 Hour Challenge - Global Radio

It looks like the “glitterati of digital publishing” will be there, and  it will no doubt be a very glamorous and prestigous event. We’re absolutely thrilled to be short-listed. But how’s a wee start-up supposed to compete with the BBC et al when the cost to attend the ceremony is £300? All donations gratefully received…

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At long last, the moment every College Basketball Fan has been waiting for…no, there’s still 4 days to go until Selection Sunday, but today Hubdub’s March Madness 09 Predict-A-Thon launches!

So what exactly is this Predict-A-Thon?

• A discrete prediction competition only for the NCAA Basketball Tournament
• Players sign up and receive H$1000 to predict on questions about March Madness 09
• You can play right through the competition, with in-running predictions about the Final Four and Championship Game - watch the game live and make your predictions REAL-TIME
• The top 5 players at the end of the tournament win CASH prizes!
• Oh yes, and it’s completely free to enter!

You think you can last the distance? Then sign up for the March Madness 09 Predict-A-Thon here*

I’d love to hear what you think of our first Predict-A-Thon - drop me an email anytime.

*If you're an existing Hubdubber, you'll have to sign up with a different user

name I'm afraid - although you can use the same email address.

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If you’ve been dreaming of what March Madness will bring for Hubdub, it’s time to rise and shine, rub those eyes and stretch out those prediction fingers as Hubdub March Madness is nearly upon us.

In just three short days we will be lifting the curtain on our first ever cash prize prediction competition, with prizes totalling $500. (That’s real cash btw, not H$!). It’s free to enter, and Hubdub Gods and newbies alike all start on H$1,000. At the end of the competition, the top 5 players on the March Madness leaderboard will pocket the following bounty:

• 1st prize: $250
• 2nd: $100
• 3rd: $75
• 4th: $50
• 5th: $25

So, whether you’re a seasoned Hubdubber or an absolute beginner, head over to http://marchmadness.hubdub.com and pre-register your email address to get notified on Monday the instant the games are open.

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I want you all to suspend reality for while.  Close your eyes, count backwards from ten and clear your mind. Now I want you to imagine. Imagine a Hubdub exclusively for Sports fans. A Hubdub where you can focus your Hubdub efforts on one sports tournament at a time – where you can predict on a hundred questions only on that one tournament. Imagine a level playing field, where everyone (from Orlin down to Tom!) starts with H$1000 at the same time, at the beginning of the tournament. Imagine somewhere you can really prove how much of a sports genius you are compared with other Hubdubbers. And imagine if you could win real money prizes…

Now, imagine if that were available in time for March Madness…

When I click my fingers, you will wake up and forget all about this conversation. <click>

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I recently discovered a new-comer to the top echelons of the Hubdub leaderboard and thought I would investigate. It seems that he won his fortune on the question on the Stimulus Bill.  After offering him my congratulations, I was thrilled to receive the following email which I thought I’d share with you - the excitement of Hubdub, brought to you by a genuine, bone-fide Hubdubber…

Paul from Minnesota

Age 41 male

Real Estate investor owning nearly 100 properties.

“For my business I have to keep on many aspects of the news.  HUBDUB is a natural fit for that need.

How I found you:

I think I found HUBDUB from a mention on a story from 20/20 on ABC…..they may have mentioned collective intelligence being smarter than any one opinion.

Starting out:

When I started HUBDUB I lost everything and was looking forward to the $20 sign on credit.  Eventually I won a bet here and there and built up my funds.

Satisfies my needs:

I love to gamble and this is a lot cheaper and offers many more avenues to wager on.  I love the news and learning new things.

Valuable tool:

I read things on HUBDUB and wager a small amount.  When it settles, I am emailed and find out what the outcome was.  Great way to keep up on the news.

Chatter and insight:

I have found that there are so many genuine people on HUBDUB that offer accurate and insightful angles to each topic.  It would have been tempting to spew falsities out there to scare people into making a position better, but it is virtually not out there.  There is a fairness to the participants that is to be applauded.

Taking Chances:

To get to the top you have to take chances.  Searching for the popular questions that people want to throw money at is difficult.  Sometimes I toss in $2000 and the percentages go haywire.  In the Stimulus bill I tossed in money at 50% return and then it does to 40% and even 30% within a few minutes and my account net worth drops like a rock.  I then figure, if I liked it at 50% I should love it at 30-40%.  So I go in again even heavier.  My Net Worth creeps up even higher than before.  Within a few minutes people dump money on the other side and again I am tempted to wager even more at 15%.  This repeats its self over and over for several days until I find I have tens of thousands into the question.  Finally, there I sit with tons of money in the question sitting at 17% and cashing out of another deal just to find funds to put more in.  The whole time I am seriously doubting myself as to why I would want to put more in.  I thought I was a sure loser.

Then I signed on and thought there was something wrong with HUBDUB as I saw the account read twice what my previous net worth was from only signing on a few hours ago.  I initially thought that someone must have made a wager big time on the wrong side, I should hustle and cash out while I can at least get something out as I was assured to lose this according to the news days leading up to this.  Sure enough I check the news sources and it was pretty much a done deal and I had won.  People were sending me messages and congratulatory remarks.  I had won a ton of money and everyone appeared happy for me.  I think that says a lot about those involved.  The heartfelt comments were almost touching enough to give the HUBDUB funds back…..I said almost!  I will be giving it away sometime I am sure in my next wild prediction…..or perhaps the one after that or somewhere down the line.  I am happy to encourage someone to beat me and will offer congratulations when it happens.  Until then today is my day and I am trying my best to climb up the leader board.”

For more information about the Stimulus Bill questions, read Destry’s blog post.

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The Independent is the first media company to introduce “Powered by Hubdub” - a new product developed by us at Hubdub to allow other news organisations to host Hubdub’s functionality on their own website. This first iteration is focused solely on the Six Nations Rugby Tournament, but “Powered by Hubdub” can be configured to offer predictions and forecasts on any combination of news, sport or entertainment, all hosted on a third party site. We expect to be announcing more deals like this shortly.

The press release follows:

The Independent Launches Six Nations Fantasy Betting Market

Edinburgh, Tuesday 3^rd February 2009 – Cash-strapped sports fans can now bet on the results of Rugby’s Six Nations Tournament without breaking the bank, thanks to a new fantasy prediction game available exclusively on the Independent’s website (http://independent.hubdub.com/ )
Powered by the media technology company, Hubdub.com, the Six Nations Fantasy Betting Market gives players a pot of virtual dollars with which to make predictions on the outcomes of questions such as how many points will Gavin Henson score and how many kicks will Danny Cipriani have charged down. The game is free to enter with predictions being bought and sold, and managed much like a stock portfolio, with the top predictors winning prizes at the end of the tournament. Players can set yourself against your friends and colleagues or see how they rate against the Independent’s wider community and try to earn the accolade of the canniest rugby supporter online.

Hubdub launched their main prediction game, www.hubdub.com in January 2008 and has proved that fantasy betting can bring added excitement and engagement to avid news followers. This is the first white labelled product that Hubdub has produced, and media organisations are lining up to bring the technology to their own news sites. As Jimmy Leach, Director of Digital at The Independent, says, “It’s a fantastic opportunity for sports fans to show off their knowledge of every aspect of the Six Nations tournament and be able to prove to their mates just how much they know about everything from full-back to prop and from Edinburgh to Rome”

Current predictions include:

Who will win the Six Nations? Currently Wales has 58% chance of winning http://independent.hubdub.com/m16634/Who_Will_Win_The_RBS_Six_Nations_2009

Who will complete the Grand Slam? Current forecasts says 55% chance nobody will complete it http://independent.hubdub.com/m26178/Who_will_complete_the_Grand_Slam_in_the_2009_Six_Nations

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