Wemo Media, Finalist for the SXSW Accelerator, Invites the Public to its Newly Open Beta for theBlu Global Interactive App Inspired by the Ocean and Created by Artists Around the World

VENICE, Calif., March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting today, the public is invited to experience the Ocean on the web through an innovative new social rich media application, called theBlu, created by Wemo Media, a finalist in the SXSW Accelerator for the Entertainment Category. Wemo co-founder Neville Spiteri will present theBlu today at the SXSW Accelerator to a live audience and industry judges.

TheBlu moves from private beta to public beta, allowing users from all over the globe to dive in. During its private Beta, theBlu won over a wide range of audiences including Academy Award winners like Avatar's Andy Jones, top tier museums and ocean institutions, and users from over 40 countries.

"TheBlu is a global entertainment platform that allows us to create the Ocean on the web with the social collaboration and curation of Academy Award winning artists and world-class animators, engineers and developers around the world. We are excited to share theBlu at SXSW," said Spiteri, upon news of the selection as a finalist for the 4th Annual SXSW Accelerator, presented by Microsoft BizSpark.

Wemo Media is pioneering a new form of globally shared entertainment media that is native to the web and scales to hundreds of millions of people around the world. TheBlu is the first of many titles that Venice, Ca.- based Wemo Media will be releasing through its disruptive Maker Media Platform. The web platform allows 3D artists, animators, game developers and musicians to collaborate from wherever they are in the world.

By creating an easy-to-use app allowing users to share in an immersive, worldwide, collaborative art experience, the Wemo team has created theBlu to be entertaining and educational, while also supporting ocean conservation efforts worldwide. The approach mixes Wikipedia-like global participation, movie/game studio production practices, the simple accessibility of Facebook, the deep immersion of high end 3D visuals, the interconnectivity of IP-enabled devices and high-powered partnerships with internationally acclaimed institutions and organizations.

Wemo Media's world-class team is comprised of Academy Award-winning artists, technology innovators, veteran executives from film, games and the web, and renowned marine scientists including: Andy Jones (Academy Award winner, Avatar), Kevin Mack (Academy Award winner, What Dreams May Come), Louie Psihoyos (Academy Award winner, The Cove), Joichi Ito (Director, MIT Media Lab) and Sylvia Earle (Explorer in Residence, National Geographic).

The Accelerator is the marquee event of SXSW Startup Village where early stage technology companies demo innovative new technologies in front of influential industry judges and a live audience. Sponsors of the SXSW Startup Village include Microsoft BizSpark, HTC, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Turner Broadcasting, and .net.

As a key event of SXSW Festival's Startup Village, the Accelerator competition will take place on the fourth floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton. TheBlu is one of seven competitors in the Entertainment category that will present during the three-day Accelerator, which runs Monday, March 12th to Wednesday, March 14th. Winners for the Entertainment Category will be announced on March 13th.

TheBlu joins 56 finalists in seven different categories: News Related Technologies, Social Media and Social Networking Technologies, Innovative Web Technologies, Entertainment Technologies, Health Technologies, Mobile Technologies and Music Related Technologies.

Judges will select a winner in all the categories, except Music Related Technologies. Winners will be announced on March 13th at 6pm at the Austin Convention Center. The last day of the event will focus exclusively on Music Related Technologies.

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