Apture: A Tech Company Banking on Journalistic Cred

There's certainly no shortage of tech companies these days. Apture, based in San Mateo, California, and led by 23-year-old Tristan Harris, who left a master's degree program at Stanford to start the company, has added itself to the mix. But while Apture announced itself to the blogosphere at large yesterday, it has been courting traditional-media clients since April.

Apture provides a point and click system for publishers to add cross-reference links to their Web pages: for instance, a background article plus video and audio on a topic within a blog post. Rather than rounding up embed codes, like those used to post YouTube videos, or individual links, publishers can search for relevant multimedia without leaving their page and then insert links with one click. By moving their mouse over the resultant links, visitors can view the multimedia--whether a background Wikipedia article, a PDF, or a video--on the same page.

April Joyner is a reporter for Inc. magazine. She regularly covers sales and marketing topics and writes on start-ups for Inc.’s Elevator Pitch column. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. @aprjoy