Cloudy has friends everywhere, Happy Friday!

We are super excited to finally announce that Tripl will be part of the Dreamit Ventures summer accelerator program in New York City. Dreamit ranks as the #3 accelerator program in the world according to Forbes Magazine (rankings here) and has put a strong focus on e-commerce companies for this class. 

They just put together a world class advisory board including executives from Amazon, American Express, QVC, WalMart, Kate Spade and many more. You can see the official announcement here. 

So what does this mean for Tripl? Well for the next few months the entire team will be moving over to New York City. Dreamit just signed a lease to a new 7,500 sq ft office on 38th St and 8th Ave which was Fab.com’s previous HQ. Tripl will be accompanied by 14 other startups from around the world. The team will be living in an amazing new apartment located on the Upper West Side and will be heads down in intense mentorship from the industries biggest mentors like Fred Wilson and many others. Dreamit has produced many successful startups including Adaptly (one of NYC’s startups to watch in 2012), SCVNGR, and SeatGeak. 

The news of the new patch of classes has recently hit the press and can be found at the publications below. 

• Business Insider
• BetaBeat
• VentureBeat
• TechCrunch

Pete is presenting all the upcoming Tripl excitement at #TNW2012 in Amsterdam

Instapaper
Since I have a very busy agenda I often run into articles for which I have a shortage of time to read them straight away. With Instapaper I can easily save the article for offline reading later. I’ll do a lot of Instapaper reading on my way to Amsterdam and TheNextWeb Conference tomorrow.

Foursquare
I am a true Foursquare Junkie!

Twitter
Forgotten to be mentioned by my colleagues prior to this post but well worth a mention in the category of best apps. Since I am an active Twitter user ( @fellowshipofone ) I tend to use this app during many occasions throughout the day.

Things
This app helps me manage my tasks easily (both work related and personal), and in a period like now (Crunch Time) this is a welcome convenience. I like the simplicity off the app without losing functionality.

Yelp
Apart from being a Foursquare Junkie I have a great appreciation for good food, since Yelp opened up in Sweden it has helped me find many good places for food and drinks.

Snackr
I enjoy listening to Snackr a lot! In a way you are never lonely anymore ;-)! But seriously, Snackr is an entertaining app which tells me the news out loud when I am on the move and helps me remind my friends birthdays and even tells me about the weather.. not entirely unimportant when living in Sweden.

Next Episode
As a genuine movie and tv series guru I needed a way to manage all of which I am about to see in the upcoming days. This app helps me with this. 

VideoFyMe
These guys have found a great way to share and monetize your own video’s. A Stockholm based startup with great ideas on how to develop this even further into the future.

At Tripl we obviously have a ‘Clean Desk Policy’ ;-)!

This is what Crunch Mode looks like at the Tripl desks in Stockholm. The symptoms of a company in Crunch Time are in general: 1) A team wired in with headphones to keep them from being distracted by surrounding noise and activity 2) Shaky hands as a result of a excessive coffee consumption and 3) the ability of a team to see the sun both rise and set from the office. It is however all worth it ;-)!

Leading up to our presence during this month’s TheNextWeb Conference in Amsterdam we thought it would be good idea to start collecting Tripl stories from the past few months. You may have been a local in your own town, or a traveller to a destination, who have met interesting people through Tripl,  shared your knowledge about a destination, shared interests or even discovered things which were new to you. 

By now we can almost write a book about the introductions we have had through Tripl, but we are convinced that there are hundreds of other interesting stories out there which are still unknown to us, and we’d love to hear about them. 

If you would like to share your story you can send it to hello@tripl.com. Send us a nice picture with it and let us know if you would be ok with it if we would publish your story. Don’t forget to leave your address so we can send you a few Tripl stickers by mail.

Many thanks and remember to stay tuned for all the upcoming excitement in the next few weeks.

Instagram
Who wouldn’t love this app. Great user interface coupled with beautiful filters for your photos. Making photos social is like following your friend’s life journey.

FLUD
I first came across FLUD when i was doing research for a project in school. I fell in love with the UI immediately. Very beautiful app, and it has since evolved to a social news app. Check it out. Great for daily commuting when you need your news on the go!

PULSE
It was a tough choice choosing between FLUD and PULSE. Since i like both, i decided to include both of them in the list. PULSE made me abandon the BBC news app. Similar interface, but customizable and the choices of feeds you have is insane (albeit like FLUD). Sad to say, i use FLUD more, but PULSE has better loading time. Definitely better for a quick fix.

CLEAR
I’m a design geek, so who wouldn’t like a beautiful yet minimalistic app when it comes to a to-do list? They revolutionized gestures when it comes to daily usage. Innovative yet simple.

Gowalla
Though the service has closed down. But i’ve always been amazed with their craft. The amount of passion they put into each icon. Very inspiring in that sense. Great guide for cities as well.

Wunderkit
Another to-do list. Beautiful app, but haven’t quite find the collaboration/social part of it useful. Other than that, beautiful. I use it a lot on my desktop.

Evernote
Your digital notebook on the go! Anywhere, everywhere. Very easy to bookmark stuff on the desktop, and i use it to read my daily notes on my commute back home. Very useful.

Whatsapp
I am from Singapore, and i’m currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. What better way to keep in touch with your friends while avoiding high telco costs when it comes to messaging. Seamless and useful. I don’t see how anyone wouldn’t use it. An extra simple feature of sharing your current location as well to your friends, it makes life easier, for them to find you if they are lost in a complete strange city.

It is OFFICIAL, we have moved into downtown Stockholm, Gamla Stan! If you are around make sure to come by and say hi!

Last week I met up with Anthony, a 21 year old student Media Marketing & Publishing at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Anthony is graduating at ‘Visit Sweden’ in Stockholm. Since he is a Tripl user I took the opportunity to meet, and I am glad I did..

How did you first hear about Tripl?
When I was planning my internship in Stockholm, I found a list with tech startups based in Scandinavia. Tripl was one of the companies I immediately became interested in, because they make ‘social travelling’ much easier than it used to be.

Care to share your first impression? 
I liked the fact that it was easy to sign up to Tripl. Connect with Facebook, write your interests by adding tags and you are good to go.

You have used Tripl by now, What did it do for you?
Tripl helped me finding several cool people in Stockholm I wouldn’t have met otherwise. As soon as I signed up with Tripl, I received requests for meetups. Tripl made it easier to leave Amsterdam, knowing that interesting experiences were ahead of me in Stockholm.

You sound somehow surprised..
As a media student, I think I have tried every social network there is. There are only a few social networks I keep using on a daily base. Now Tripl.com is one of them, I didn’t expect that when I first signed up for the service.

What if you could have a say in our product meeting?
I would like to introduce option to recommend things in your city to travellers. While you might not be able to set up a meet up with everyone visiting your current location, recommending a bar or something takes only a few minutes and can avoid people ending up in crappy tourist traps.

We are working on a product iteration and a native iPhone app! What would this do for your ‘Tripl Experience’?
With an iPhone app, it would even be easier for users to browse visiting tourists and invite them for a meetup. We all have these moments in which we are lost in our smart phones, now we can spend this time by finding and meeting with travellers to your town.

Where is your next trip going to, and more importantly; who are you hoping to meet through Tripl?
On my next trip, I will be going to either Helsinki or Copenhagen. Scandinavia has a lot to offer and I hope to meet people that are willing to show me and my friends cool lunchrooms, art exhibitions and clubs over there.

You know that our office is going to move close to your current home? Your are more than welcome for to grab a coffee or a beer on a Friday afternoon.
I do! And I think moving to Gamla Stan is a great decision. It is a wonderful area, and users of Tripl visiting Stockholm will also be more likely to drop by the office, since it’s right in the middle of the city.

And a beer by the water near your new office sounds great ;-)!

Any last comments you want to share with us?
To everyone who reads this: If you are visiting Stockholm, please use Tripl.com. This city is full of active and interesting users that can’t wait to show you the hidden gems of Stockholm.

Thanks Anthony for your time and enthusiasm. In response to your suggestion; There are of course many services which focus on ‘places’, we try to somehow stay away from getting involved in that market. But you can of course, once you are connected with locals, ask them directly which places are worth a visit. And if they share the same interest it might even fit to your needs better than any service which recommends places could offer ;-)!

 Find Anthony on Tripl: www.tripl.com/anthony.bokslag

Last week we featured Peter’s favorite iPhone apps in a blog post! As a result of that we got some great suggestions for what other apps to use. Hopefully you guys can recommend some more after you have read about Wouter’s favorite applications. Here they are..

Facebook Messenger:
My perfect way to stay connected with my friends back home and everywhere else in the world. Works great since a lot of people carry around a smartphone nowadays. Download it here

Facebook:
Isn’t it obvious..! Download Facebook here

Instagram:
Having a background in photography I love all photo apps, and especially the social element in Instagram appeals to me. You can get it here

Camera +:
The best photo editing application for iOS if you ask me, please correct me if I am wrong. for only $0,99 it is yours here

Clik:
Had my first Youtube party with Clik two weeks ago, love how simple it works. Get the app for free and start ‘cliking’ on Clik.

iTranslate:
Living in a foreign country and being motivated to adapt the language I make great use of this translator on my phone.

Skype:
I have a crystal clear connection with my friends and family back home and can easily show my surroundings by using the camera.. I am big fan of Skype for iOS.

Spotify:
Our neighbors at Spotify did a great job, now I have ALL of my favorite music with me wherever I go.. even if there is no internet!

Path:
Loving the design of Path. Simple interface and a great way to follow a select group of people if you feel like your Facebook is getting to crowded. Get it here

Fancy:
I love nice things, beautiful things and cool things.. all of which are being featured on Fancy. Good for inspiration or random daydreaming. Download Fancy

iZettle:
A few weeks ago I received my card reader for iPhone, a perfect way to accept mobile payments. Download the app and request your card reader (Scandinavia only..for now)

Wrapp:
Currently only useful in Scandinavia but a great way to present your Facebook friends with a present on their birthday. It makes sense that I feature this app, my birthday is in a few weeks ;-)!

Soundhound:
One of my iTunes christmas presents, and very happy with it. Saved me in several situations where I needed to figure out the name of a particular song. Get it here.

Dropbox:
My office on the road, I am very thankful to have all of my files close and ready to share or present. Try it out if you haven’t already done that ;-).

Foursquare:
I was a big fan of the Gowalla design, and since they were big in Stockholm it was an obvious choice. Now I am already a big Foursquare fan for months and, like a big child, competing day after day. Compete with me and download it here.

Meetup:
Since a few weeks hooked on meetup.com, had some great meet ups with tech people here in Sweden and am sure that whatever your interest are you can find a suitable meetup on this app.

Looking forward to your suggestions and comments, and please be more careful with your beautiful iPhone than I was…

We have just send out all of the requested Tripl stickers, if you forget to leave your address but still want them just drop us a message ;-)

Our brand new designer Brian is ready to get to work