fizwoz Announces The Football Fever Contest

San Francisco, California, June 11, 2010- fizwoz, the rapidly growing online marketplace for cell phone captured photos and videos, is excited to announce “Football Fever”, and the release of its SocialEyes photo and video contest platform. SocialEyes makes it easy for brands to create, launch and manage social network-based voting contests for photos and video taken on mobile phones.

Powered by SocialEyes, the fizwoz “Football Fever” World Cup contest includes a grand prize of $5,000, plus N900 smart phones contributed by Nokia for other category prizes. The contest is free to enter through the mobile fizwoz application.

Contestants submit their images to the contest, then encourage the members of their social networks to vote for their entry. Targeted at media companies and major brands, SocialEyes provides a mobile phone submission process that verifies images are original and the copyright is owned by the contestant. A password protected viewing gallery allows photo editors to approve images and eliminates inappropriate images from being posted to their website. Contestants take a photo with their mobile phone and enter the “Football Fever” World Cup contest in one of five categories using the free fizwoz mobile application. Once their entry has been approved, contestants are each given a dedicated landing page showing their image or video and providing social sharing tools such as: gmail or Yahoo mail address books and links to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and several other social networking tools. The contestant with the most votes wins.

“We are delighted to launch our new SocialEyes platform around the World Cup. With fizers in 97 countries, it gives us a great opportunity to combine an innovation between social sharing and image contests,” says Andy Sheldon, CEO of fizwoz.

fizwoz officially announced the “Football Fever” World Cup contest on June 10th, live on a segment on ABC-7’s “View from the Bay”. To learn more about “Football Fever” and to download the free fizwoz mobile phone app, go to http://www.fizwoz.com/footballfever starting at 7p.m. EST, June 10th.

About fizwoz:

With more than 30,000 registered users in 97 countries, fizwoz.com™ is the first and only online auction site that allows you to make money off pictures and videos you take with your cell phone! fizwoz connects "photographers" (consumers) with more than 45,000 media professionals worldwide. Within seconds of your image being captured, professional organizations can start bidding on your content. TV networks, newspapers, magazines and blogs are competing to see who can be first to use the images, so don’t just give your content away, make money off it. There are several fizwoz categories including: breaking news, sports, entertainment, public figures, and weather.

Founded by entrepreneurs Andy Sheldon and Ian Smith, fizwoz also provides media companies with a crowd-sourced photo and video capture service where they direct the effort of “fizers”, by posting specific image requests in the fizwoz assignment desk.

Media Contact:
Claudia Lombana
+1 (415) 871 4686
claudia.lombana@fizwoz.com

San Francisco, California, January 26, 2010- Online photo and video auction marketplace fizwoz™, Inc., today announced the Company’s mobile application is now available for smartphones running on the Symbian S60 operating system and Nokia’s Maemo-based N900 device via Nokia’s Ovi store. Already, the free fizwoz mobile application has been downloaded by thousands of users from over 90 countries.

With the introduction of these two new platforms fizwoz’ mobile application can now be deployed on over 200 Million smartphones globally. The free fizwoz mobile application allows consumers to upload photos and videos captured on their mobile phone to the fizwoz marketplace where media organizations bid for the exclusive use of the images in editorial coverage. The fizwoz service turns any cell phone into a ‘sell’ phone and finally offers a way for a consumer to make money from photos and videos they capture rather than simply sending them to a website where they don’t get any compensation.

fizwoz users, or ‘fizers’ as the Company calls their registered marketplace sellers, can take advantage of Nokia’s N900 camera technology. With 5.1Mega Pixel resolution and 720p 30 frames-per-second video capture, the N900’s camera specifications match professional studio cameras of three years ago and establish Nokia as a leader in camera technology on mobile devices. “Consumers are often in the right place at the right time to witness a breaking news event or celebrity sighting,” said Andy Sheldon founder and chief executive officer of fizwoz. “Armed with a Nokia phone they can capture some outstanding quality photos and videos and submit these highly desirable editorial images to the fizwoz marketplace where media companies can buy the exclusive rights within seconds of their capture.”

Launched in October 2009, fizwoz already boasts thousands of registered users. Media companies have recognized the immediate value of the fizwoz marketplace by signing up and describing the types of photos and videos that best match their editorial focus. fizwoz users span the globe with fizers in over 90 different countries and media companies ranging from CNN and The New York Sun to local TV stations and web sites. The free fizwoz mobile application for Nokia S60 and N900 smartphones are available in the Nokia OVI store, and users can download the application via their phone or online and within seconds be posting valuable images to the marketplace.

About fizwoz

fizwoz amasses and distributes the world's broadest current event video and still imagery content captured by everyday citizens on their mobile camera phones. fizwoz makes these images available in an accessible and usable manner—24 hours a day, seven days a week—via an open auction marketplace on the Internet. fizwoz imagery is used for news, sports, entertainment, blogging, personal interest projects and a broad range of contemporary creative purposes. Founded by entrepreneurs Andy Sheldon and Ian Smith, fizwoz products are used each day in traditional and digital media worldwide. For more information, visit www.fizwoz.com.

Contact:
Andy Sheldon,
Founder/CEO
(650) 218 4712
andy.sheldon@fizwoz.com

Media Contact:
Claudia Lombana
+1 (415) 871 4686
claudia.lombana@fizwoz.com

Weather Central Pilots New Service, and Media Buyers Direct the Growing Army of Non-Professional Users, fizers, with Their Cameraphone-Captured Content – See fizwoz Demo at 2010 CES

San Francisco, California, December 16, 2009- Online photo and video auction marketplace fizwozTM, Inc., today announced fizwoz Assignment Desk. This new service for media buyers allows them to enter an assignment directing the photo and video gathering activities of fizwoz sellers around the world. The Assignment Desk editor can review photos and videos submitted privately and decide which image(s) they wish to buy. The remaining images are moved into the marketplace where other buyers can bid on them.

Weather Central, an early adopter of the new service, will use the fizwoz Assignment Desk to gather weather-related photos and videos from consumers.

"fizwoz Assignment Desk is a terrific tool for media companies," says Steve Smedberg, senior vice president of marketing and product development at Weather Central. "We’re constantly looking for content during breaking weather events and great shots of impactful weather we can share with our television station clients. Clients can air the material automatically through our SimulCAST™ technology or by accessing our on-demand services. Now fizwoz enables us to direct the photographer or videographer, so we get the exact imagery we’re looking for faster and at a more reasonable cost."

Traditionally, media companies would dispatch a news crew to a breaking-news story, but it could be hours before the crew was on air and there was significant expense for the media company. Now the media company can harness the power of consumers equipped with ever more capable cameraphones to gather their initial photos and videos from the scene; whether it’s clicking a celebrity at a movie premiere, shooting the chaos created by a weather-related phenomena, or capturing images of those rescued from an avalanche, and be on air more quickly with exclusive content.

"We’re getting some really interesting, valuable, and exclusive photos and videos posted to the fizwoz marketplace," says Andy Sheldon fizwoz’ founder and chief executive officer. "Now with fizwoz Assignment Desk our media clients can direct the effort of the fizer army in gathering their news and current affairs images."

The Assignment Desk editor describes an assignment and indicates how much they would be willing to pay for a photo or video. The fizwoz service then notifies fizwoz sellers, or fizers as the company calls them, about the new assignment via their registered email and to the company’s Facebook fan page. They can review the details of the assignment online and decide whether they are in a position to submit content. Then, using the fizwoz mobile application, fizers submit their images to the assignment by selecting the specific assignment in the mobile application. Fizers can submit to more than one assignment at any time. The Assignment Desk editor at the media company can review photos and videos in a private viewing gallery and buy images that best fit their editorial requirements. Any unsold images are automatically moved into the marketplace and then other media buyers are notified of their availability and can bid on them in the normal way.

About fizwoz

fizwoz amasses and distributes the world's broadest current event video and still imagery content captured by everyday citizens on their mobile camera phones. fizwoz makes these images available in an accessible and usable manner—24 hours a day, seven days a week—via an open auction marketplace on the Internet. fizwoz imagery is used for news, sports, entertainment, blogging, personal interest projects and a broad rangeof contemporary creative purposes. Founded by entrepreneurs Andy Sheldon and Ian Smith, fizwoz products are used each day in traditional and digital media worldwide. For more information, visit www.fizwoz.com.

About Weather Central, LLC

Weather Central, LLC, founded in 1974 by broadcasters and meteorologists based in Madison, Wisconsin, is the leader in providing professional on-air, online, print, mobile and enterprise weather solutions and forecasting utilizing dynamic weather graphics, precise forecast models and data and patented technology. More than 500 clients and hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide enjoy the benefits of Weather Central solution’s attention to detail and insight. Products and services available from Weather Central are: 3D:LIVE™, :LIVE™, Live Online™; ESP:LIVE™, ESP:Online™ and Live Interactive Radar™ storm tracking systems; A.D.O.N.I.S. FutureCast® , MicroCast®, and Personal MicroCast®, proprietary forecast models; MetroVision™, forecast visualization tool; WxWarn2™, severe weather crawl system; LIVE:Wire™,and LIVE:Wire Mobile Alert™ automated severe weather information alert systems; ScreenWRITER® and SportsWRITER®, interactive news and sports presentation systems; and WxPoint™, automated localized weather display system.

Media Note: fizwoz product demonstrations will be available at 2010 International CES, held in Las Vegas, in the Nokia Booth, South Hall 3, #30313, as well as at the “Lunch at Piero’s” event during CES on January 7 and 8, 2010.

Company Contact:
Andy Sheldon,
Founder/CEO
(650) 218 4712
andy.sheldon@fizwoz.com

Media Contact:
Claudia Lombana
+1 (415) 871 4686
claudia.lombana@fizwoz.com

Pioneering Online Photo and Video Auction Marketplace Lands Star Leadership

San Francisco, California, December 2, 2009- Online photo and video auction marketplace fizwoz™, Inc. today announced news authority Brian Banmiller will help guide fizwoz’s plans for expansion as the company’s chairman of the board of directors.

Banmiller brings decades of experience as a national business correspondent for CBS News Radio to his new role. He is also known for his nationally syndicated and award-winning television program, “Banmiller on Business,” and his two decades as the business editor and news anchor for KTVU, the Fox affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In addition, fizwoz unveiled the formation of an advisory board of industry visionaries with leadership, business intelligence, and licensing and monetization experience adding to the wealth of experience in the fizwoz management team.

As a result of the efforts of this new management team, fizwoz is able to attract well-recognized customers such as Weather Central, which will gain breaking weather images for its customers. Other media customers will soon be announced.

“fizwoz is a tremendously exciting opportunity for me,” says Brian Banmiller, chairman of the board of fizwoz. “The industry I have served for more than thirty years is undergoing significant change as the shelf-life of news gets shorter and the cost of acquisition goes up. fizwoz is well positioned to not only offer a cost effective alternative to media companies for exclusive content, but also provide the photographer or videographer with a more efficient way to make money with their smartphone images.”

In addition to his traditional chairmanship duties Banmiller will assist the company in soliciting media companies to sign up for the free service and promote the media buyer services such as the recently announced fizwoz Assignment Desk.

“The addition of Brian to the company as Chairman of the Board is of global significance for us and I am honored and grateful to have him serve,” said Andy Sheldon founder and chief executive officer of fizwoz. “Brian’s in-depth knowledge of how media outlets work and his seemingly limitless roster of media and financial institutional contacts will bring incredible value to the company. It will increase our visibility as a trusted provider of video and photography content to media companies around the globe.”

In addition to Banmiller’s election to the board, fizwoz has announced the formation of a management advisory board. The board members include:

Andrew Finlayson, currently a Knight Scholar at Stanford, has in the past been a vice president at Fox Chicago and most recently served as a director of online content at the Fox Television Stations group.

Iain Scholnick, chief executive officer of ImageSpan. A visionary and veteran of the Internet and wireless industries, Scholnick brings more than 18 years of technical and operations experience to drive ImageSpan towards its mission of leading the market in licensing and billing automation for media.

Dave Martin, vice president of Digital Media at Ignited. Martin leads the digital media planning and buying efforts for clients such as Universal Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, NBC, Bravo, Oxygen, Syfy, USA, and MSNBC. Martin is a thought-leader in the digital media space, focused on the transition of digital media from the PC to the living room, where targetability and measurability will bring an unprecedented level of value for advertisers who currently struggle with time-shifted and fragmented media consumption.

“Every management team needs a ‘go to’ set of advisors who have ‘been there and done that’ in their respective industries,” added Sheldon. “It’s an endorsement of our business model and approach that we’ve been able to attract the interest and support of such an accomplished team of advisors.”

About fizwoz

fizwoz amasses and distributes the world's broadest current event video and still imagery content captured by everyday citizens on their mobile camera phones. fizwoz makes these images available in an accessible and usable manner—24 hours a day, seven days a week—via an open auction marketplace on the Internet. fizwoz imagery is used for news, sports, entertainment, blogging, personal interest projects and a broad range of contemporary creative purposes. Founded by entrepreneurs Andy Sheldon and Ian Smith, fizwoz products are used each day in traditional and digital media worldwide. For more information, visit www.fizwoz.com.

Contact:
Andy Sheldon,
Founder/CEO
(650) 218 4712
andy.sheldon@fizwoz.com

San Francisco, California, October 1st, 2009- San Francisco based entrepreneurs Andy Sheldon and Ian Smith today announced the launch of fizwoz the first ever online auction site for mobile phone captured photo and video. Fizwoz matches consumer content with potential buyers from television networks to social networking sites.

So that sellers can post their photo or video to the marketplace within seconds of capturing the image fizwoz provides a native application for almost all smart phones worldwide including the Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, and Windows Mobile-based phones. Consumers need only download the free application and begin taking photos or video with their mobile device. Content can then be posted on fizwoz.com in the following categories: breaking news, public figures, entertainment, sports, places and fun. Sellers include a starting bid, optional reserve price and buy now price. This information together with a description is posted immediately to the fizwoz auction.

Potential content purchasers are members of the media around the globe, including but not limited to television and cable networks, local television stations, newspapers, magazines, special interest media, emerging media, social networking companies, corporations, independent journalists and bloggers in both print and web applications. Buyers on fizwoz create a free account and identify the category or categories that match their editorial focus. Potential bidders in the auction are notified by fizwoz that content submitted matches their interest and bid on the items they want similar to other auction sites, and content goes to the highest bidder.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for citizen journalists to earn anything from bragging rights to substantial sums of cash," said Andy Sheldon founder/CEO of fizwoz "By pointing and shooting a chance encounter with a celebrity to offering reasonably priced editorial photography, everyone with a smart phone could be using their device to capture a video or photographic treasure and putting it in front of buyers and journalists around the globe within seconds."

Media outlets will also benefit from the fizwoz marketplace. Content buyers will purchase only what they need and could have exclusive rights to the image once they have purchased it. "In the ever changing landscape of citizen journalism and user generated content, fizwoz offers an interesting dynamic of opportunity for both mobile device users and companies looking for relevant up-to-date content. The recent events in Iran serve as a perfect example of this," said Mike Sargent, president of Sargent media and formally vice president editorial photography at Getty Images. "It allows media companies to be more places at once just by allowing consumers to become photo suppliers."

The company has been beta testing the service with over two hundred active sellers and will roll out new features to the service in the coming weeks. A number of registered buyers including CNN have also been helping the company test the service.

About fizwoz

fizwoz amasses and distributes the world's broadest current event video and still imagery content captured by everyday citizens, on their mobile camera phones. fizwoz makes these images available in an accessible and usable manner -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - via an open auction marketplace on the Internet. fizwoz imagery is used for news, sports, entertainment, blogging, personal interest projects, and a broad range of contemporary creative purposes. Our products are used each day in the traditional and digital media worldwide.

Contact:
Andy Sheldon,
Founder/CEO
(650) 218 4712
andy.sheldon@fizwoz.com