Kids can already publish their own stories in book form thanks to Tikatok, which we covered earlier this year, and soon they'll be able to record their own voices narrating classic stories, fairy tales, nursery rhymes and lullabies with accompanying video and music.

Speakaboos is a site that aims to bring classic children's stories into the digital world, primarily through storybook videos featuring celebrity narration, illustrations and original music. Stories including Arthur, Snow White and Aesop's Fables are available for free viewing on the site, accompanied by links to educational activities, games and contests. The stories can also be downloaded for USD 0.99 per title, and are available on iTunes.com and Rhapsody.com as well. Launched in October with more than 30 titles, New York-based Speakaboos just recently added a holiday collection. The company donates at least 15 percent of all revenues to child-focused charities including the National Education Association and The Creative Coalition.

There are other sites out there that offer digital storytelling for kids, of course—including Storyline Online, which also features celebrity narrators. What's especially interesting about Speakaboos, however, is a forthcoming feature that will let parents and kids create their own versions of its video stories. The site's "Record Your Own" feature will allow kids, parents, grandparents or even teachers to record their own voices reading (or singing) their favorite story, song or nursery rhyme. The result will be a fun, karaoke version kids can share with their friends, for example, or a personalized story a parent or grandparent can use to help tuck their loved ones into bed even when they're not there.

If there's anything better than a site with high-quality content, it's a site that lets consumers create and share their own. Now, how about adding a marketplace feature that lets the storytelling whizzes of Generation C(ontent) turn their creations into some well-deserved C(ash)....? That's a story that will continue to be retold again and again!

Website: www.speakaboos.com
Contact: www.speakaboos.com/contact_us

Spotted by: Roberta Steinberg

Connecting air travellers has been an ongoing theme over the past two years or so, as KLM and others have set up social networks to help fellow flyers hook up. While KLM's first effort focused on frequent flyers in China and Africa, however, a new network from Air France-KLM aims to connect travellers anywhere in the world.

Bluenity allows members to meet other people travelling on Air France or KLM online, at the airport, aboard the plane or at their destination. Members can use the site to offer tips and make comments on a variety of travel-related topics, or they can search for fellow passengers on a particular trip and arrange to meet them, exchange destination information or share a taxi on arrival. Membership on the site is free.

Despite its claim that it is the first social network for travellers launched by an airline, Bluenity is reminiscent of British Airways' MetroTwin and GenFlyLounge, launched recently by Lufthansa. And with more general sites like Dopplr already out there as well, connecting passengers across airlines, it's also not clear whether a single-airline network will "fly," so to speak. Only time will tell—in the meantime, one to watch! (Related: Enhanced networking for business travellers — Sympvertising and secrets for business travellers.)

Website: www.bluenity.fr

Spotted by: Marie Sedefian

We're deviating from our regular schedule to bring you the best new business ideas we've spotted over the last 12 months; smart concepts that will continue to provide entrepreneurs with plenty of inspiration and opportunities in 2009! Featuring both startups and new concepts by established players, here's our pick of media & publishing ideas:

1. MagCloud — Magazine publishing for everyone & every niche
2. Faber & Faber — Out-of-print books, printed on demand
3. Flat World Knowledge — Open source approach to textbook publishing
4. Blurb — Marketplace for book makers
5. Kidmondo & BabyChapters — From online baby blogs to printed baby books
6. HarperCollins — Publisher hopes crowds will spot next bestseller
7. Relay & WWF — All-you-can-read digital magazines
8. Random House — Selling books by the chapter
9. Kluster — Crowdsourcing platform
   
10. Offbeat Guides, Tripwolf, HSBC & Dorling Kindersley — Personalized travel guides

Want more? Check out our picks for 10 industries.

When preparing for some shuteye in the city that never sleeps, one option is to settle down with a favourite book in New York's Algonquin Hotel. Combining a long-standing literary tradition with one of the latest gadgets, the hotel is offering free loans of Amazon’s Kindle, pre-loaded with a book of the guest’s choice.

The digital book service—which launched in September 2008 to coincide with National Literacy Month—ties in with the hotel’s literary roots, reminding guests that it used to be frequented by such fabled writers as William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker. For guests whose decision-making skills are paralysed by limitless choice, the devices also come loaded with bestsellers and modern classics, as well as books written by members of the hotel’s famous Round Table, including Edna Ferber and Robert Benchley. Guests are free to use the devices anywhere within the hotel.

It’s a win-win all round: customers try something new, Algonquin offers a personalised service using the latest technology and Amazon gives a select group of potential buyers first-hand experience of their product. (Related: Hotel offers reader-in-residence.)

Website: www.algonquinhotel.com
Contact: www.algonquinhotel.com/anav_contact_us.html

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

Online and offline are no longer mutually exclusive realms, as we've already pointed out in numerous examples. The latest illustration comes from the world of online baby journals, where purveyors are increasingly beginning to offer print versions as well.

To wit: Kidmondo, which we covered this summer, has since added a print option to its offerings. Through a partnership with custom publishing platform Sharedbook, Kidmondo now gives parents a fast and easy way to turn all the content they create online into a "KidBook" in the brick-and-mortar world. Users can pick which parts of the online journal they want to include in the book as well as customizing the content, cover, titles and more. Pricing for the KidBook begins at USD 28 for a perfect-bound softcover book with 20 full-colour pages and free US shipping. Hardcover is also available, and additional pages can be added for USD 0.50 each. KidBooks are currently available only in English, but Kidmondo hopes to accommodate other languages in the future, it says.

BabyChapters, meanwhile, is another site that lets parents share their baby's precious moments with family and friends in a safe and secure way, and also offers an online-offline combination. After creating their free online baby book, parents can select the chapters they'd like to include in a hardcover print version. Prices begin at USD 27.95 for a 24-page book, with a 20 percent discount for additional copies. Los Angeles-based BabyChapters launched in April.

For years offline ventures struggled to make their way online. Now that online ventures are often the starting point, opportunities abound in connecting digital offerings with the tangible here and now. (For more on that subject, see trendwatching.com's OFF=ON briefing.) Online is a given; now offline is cool once more! ;-) (Related: Blurb's blog-to-book printing.)

Websites: www.kidmondo.com — www.babychapters.com
Contact: hello@kidmondo.com — www.babychapters.com/contact_us.php

Spotted by: Timothy Gutowski