BURLINGTON, Vermont, February 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- kluster Goes Live Days Before Their Unveiling at the TED Conference

kluster (http://www.kluster.com) launches its free public beta and ideas are welcome.

kluster is a web-based platform that enables communities to collaborate and decide. kluster's philosophy is that development and decision-making is better served by engaging groups.

kluster's founder, Ben Kaufman (21), proved the success of this model in his first venture, mophie, an iPod accessory company. mophie engaged consumers and retailers to participate in product design and development. Designs were chosen by the community, manufactured, and sold in retail outlets in 28 countries. mophie was successfully acquired in August 2007. The undisclosed proceeds of the sale were invested in kluster.

mophie's success convinced Kaufman and his team to build a diverse platform that would enable consumer-influence across organizations worldwide. kluster participants will work on a variety of initiatives including product development, marketing and advertising, event planning and virtually any decision-making activity better served by asking a group. Community members will contribute based on their experience and interest. Decisions within the site are made algorithmically by assessing the weight of each community member's vote based on their participation, past successes and risk.

The project architecture is extremely flexible, focusing on four key concepts:

-- phases - phases break down projects into small manageable deliverables. Phases also allow users to define an audience, either public (allowing the entire world to influence the decision) or private (allowing just a select group to participate). -- sparks - sparks are ideas or proposed solutions to a phase. sparks can be text, photos, graphics, audio/video, CAD, animation, etc. Users may express themselves however they are most comfortable. -- amps - amps allow participants to collaborate by proposing enhancement and refinements to a spark. -- watts - Community members show support by investing watts into sparks that they believe in. watts are kluster's internal currency. Members can earn and grow their watts based on sound judgments and positive participation. watts encourage users to participate and stay on target, keeping the community productive. Participants who invest in phases that carry a "reward" have the opportunity to turn their watts into cash.

Today, kluster is launching the platform and encouraging everyone to jump in. "There are too many people who walk the earth with groundbreaking ideas that will never see the light of day," said Kaufman. "We strongly believe that the world should be working together to figure out what's next, rather than just buying what's new."

Later this month, kluster will run its first major project at the TED conference in Monterey, California. Attendees, who consist of some of the world's "greatest thinkers and doers," will collaborate with kluster's online community with the goal of developing a totally new product within 72 hours.

"kluster represents a new way of designing products, services and communications, and we're proud to debut the company at our conference next week," said Tom Rielly, TED partnership director. "TED's attendees and http://kluster.com members will work together during TED to create something amazing in a beat-the-clock style experience."

For additional information on kluster or to become a member of the community, visit http://www.kluster.com.

About Ben Kaufman:

At 18 years old, Ben took an idea for an iPod accessory and founded mophie in 2005. He designed and launched mophie's first product while still attending high school in Long Island, NY. By 2007, mophie was selling its products in 28 countries worldwide. mophie was successfully acquired in August of 2007, allowing Ben to focus on the development of kluster. Ben was recently selected as Inc. Magazine's #1 Entrepreneur in the 2007 30 under 30 category. He is proud and honored to be a college-dropout, holding a high school diploma from the Portledge School.

Web site: http://www.kluster.com

Tiffany Markofsky for kluster, +1-917-748-1138, tiffanymarkofsky@maxborgesagency.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: To request an interview with Ben Kaufman, contact Tiffany Markofsky at tiffany@kluster.com or at +1-917-748-1138. You can download a press kit by http://www.klusterfck.com/press_kit.zip .