GameBrix is game building technology aimed at people who want to build games, including college students, web designers, advertising agencies, and corporations that want to have a portal where they can build games.

Another company, Snapse, is focusing on allowing people to share their content, including films from Russia. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company is working on an effort with Intel Russia to connect students across rural Russia with web-based storytelling and access to the Russian State Archives, said Snapse COO Dave Evans.

The company also offers moviemakers a way to publicize upcoming movies. Its World Without Waves community allows Snapse users to create their own films using footage from a feature film that's about to be released.

Snapse's backers include Progressive Insurance, which is interested in using the web as a direct sales vehicle. Hedberg Investments of Fort Worth is helping fund Snapse, along with financial consultant A. Foster Nelson.

Yogesh Patel, director of Axill, also talked at the conference about how he is steering his Piscataway, New Jersey-based company toward a better way of utilizing web inventory for advertising.