By Lou Covey, New Tech Press Editorial Director A couple of weeks ago, New Tech Press attended TechCrunch Disrupt, looking for some companies that were not getting the buzz at the conference, but making Web 2.0 accessible to no-geek types. We found several. This link to the video interviews takes a look at five of them -- Poken, Caplinked, Rseven, Urban Spoils, Yapper and Ovia. A couple of others weren't around when we came by with the video camera but nonetheless were worth mentioning here: Bubbalon and Ark.

Ark makes it possible for online shoppers to designate a portion of their purchases to their favorite charities. Organizations can apply to be covered by Ark, or supporters can apply for them, and Ark will check them out, give them a certification, and then the option will show up on the Amazon, or EBay shopping window. This is not necessarily a new idea, but other options force the donors to choose from a list created by someone else. Ark democratizes this process by opening it to all organizations.

Bubbalon, on the other hand, is a little more self-serving... but pretty cool nonetheless. There is a fake group on Facebook that is supposedly trying to get a "dislike" button on the platform and lots of people think that's a good idea. Bubbalon has taken that idea and run with it way beyond just a boring "dislike." They make a button that can actually rate anything, like a survey asks you to rate something from 1-10. Then it takes all the various ratings and averages them. This provides a more interactive experience for the user, and a more valuable marketing information source for the object of the review. You don't have to know how to write a clever review, just slide a button up or down and rate something from Atrocious to Awesome.

This tech could give Yelp a run for it's money. So maybe Yelp should buy them. Like now.

This report sponsored by Dehood.com