Monday, September 14, 2009

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TC50: 5to1 Lets Publishers Regain Control Over Unsold Ad Inventory Top
Remainder aka remnant advertising are not exactly widely known terms, but the average person browsing the web for content knows perfectly well what it is. Anyone who’s ever browsed their favorite news site and has been exposed to advertising units that seem totally off base with the publisher brand, or even completely – even if unintentionally – juxtaposed to the content that’s being viewed has been a ‘victim’ of ads that were placed just to fill up unsold ad inventory, which is what remnant advertising comes down to. 5to1 , a startup with a high-profile founding team that includes former Fox Interactive execs Jim Heckman and Ross Levinsohn , has raised $4.5 million in seed funding to work on a solution that can turn remnant advertising into premium advertising. The company’s breaking out of stealth mode today at TechCrunch50 with a service that could rid both publishers and advertisers of the extremely ineffective ad campaigns that are basically only beneficial to the networks selling them. The 5to1 system allows publishers to get in between the remnant networks and the ad inventory to give them more control over what will appear on the site, where and when. The company’s founder and CEO Jim Heckman dubs it a “Match.com meets iTunes for advertising” because it allows publishers to dynamically create ‘playlists’ of ad units of sorts and easily run both proper ads and potentially placeable remnant ads on variable places on their website(s). Ultimately, the goal is to make it easier for content publishers to increase the quality of – and with it, the revenue that comes from – the ads that appear on unsold inventory without too much hassle. And if it takes off we’ll see a lot less of these horrible screaming ads that you’d never click on even if they held you at gunpoint. Expert panel Q&A: Q – Marissa Mayer: At Google, we agree that optimization can be done. However, what technology do you have for matching content to advertising, and how can you provide for larger-size networks with lots of inventory? A – Jim Heckman: We’ve been in stealth for a year, but we’ve noticed that publishers like hearing about being able to match advertising with context and having control over it. We didn’t want to compete with the Google model, but we’re more like iTunes: you ‘play’ ads when you want. It’s no different than what Web 2.0 has done for content. So if you’re a tech blog on gadget, you can see what ads work for gadget news sites specifically. It’s not algorithmic, but more of a marketplace. Q – Roelof Botha: Can you demonstrate better CPMs? A: We can find ads so fast, even with hundreds of thousands of ads in the system, literally in seconds. You can drag and drop ads right in the rotation. We talk to publishers and they tell us that even if we get similar CPMs but just prettier ads that don’t curse with the content, they’d already be happy. But talk to us again in six months. Q – Tony Hsieh: Does it take a lot of time for publishers to deal with your system, and what about scale? A: We showed publishers in our beta test that it doesn’t take a lot of time to manage their advertising units on unsold inventory. They want to be involved, and they seem to be motivated with the speed of our system. The key thing is: the compiled results of the entire network shows the context of just one ad in seconds. Q – Paul Graham: Humans can only do worse than the best optimization, right? A: Pages are dynamic. What we found is that a vast majority of ads are not contextual, and we can fix that. Q – Marc Andreessen: Regarding the chart, which side do you lean most to? A: All inventory is not created equal, but I’d say just in the middle. Video: Pictures: Other coverage: Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50 Panel: The Internet Is Killing Itself Softly With Remnant Ads Top
In between startup sessions at TechCrunch50 , we are hosting a number of heavy hitters in a panel titled ‘Creating scarcity, value and brand protection as we face limitless ad inventory” in collaboration with AdMeld. On the panel we have Michael Barrett from AdMeld, Kenneth Fuchs from Sports Illustrated, Kal Patel from Best Buy, Peter Foster from Hi5, Jim Heckman and Ross Levinsohn from 5to1 and Aaron Broder from Gorilla Nation. TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde is moderating. Talking about the dilemma that remnant ads pose to quality publishers, Ross Levinsohn cautions: “In many ways I think the Internet has killed itself to a degree because there was a notion that I will just add another page without maximizing the premium spots.” Live blog : Kal Patel is talking about Twelpforce, an initiative from Best Buy that taps into the essence of Twitter to leverage customer service. Ross Levinsohn : Advertising doesn’t always work. Sometimes algorithms don’t function because it lacks a human touch. Big brands and advertisers need that, to not have machines take over where and when there advertising units appear. Peter Foster : How low are we willing to go. It comes down to what are you wiling to accept and what aren’t you. The real challenge to us as a publisher is to find a network that is truly premium. Heather Harde : What percentage of inventory are you direct selling? Kenneth Fuchs : We sell everything direct. Peter Foster : We end up selling 5 to 10 percent. Aaron Broder : Premium programs go beyond selling a box ad. It is really about connecting your ad with a marketer’s messaging. You obviously have to listen to the publisher and what they want. Michael Barret : Typical publisher at AdMeld has 100 million impressions plus they can not sell directly, and they have direct sales forces. We’ve built this platform that allows publishers to tap into all of these different sources and concentrate on their direct selling. Jim Heckman : You’re talking about campaigns that are built custom, programmed with a publisher. Something that will be complementary to the brand, ads that the user will relate to and not tune out. When I was at MySpace, we had a 100 million (billion?) unsold ad impressions. Silicon Valley creates companies looking at the whole world of advertising, we are approaching a trillion unsold pieces of inventory. When you have a nice ad followed by a fat belly ad after the sold inventory runs out, that hurts the publisher. 63% of all ads aren’t even looked at anymore, Consumers are tuning out. 90% of all ads are unsold, they are machine-based and pushed. So there is uplift, but when you disperse it among the inventory, the individual publishers are hurt. Ross Levinhson : AT Fox Sports, 70% of the inventory was sold. If we sold out all the remaining inventory, I think in 2003, it meant only $250,000 in revenues. We made a determination that a quarter of a million dollars at that time wasn’t worth the hassle of policing it. On MySpace, we had to create scarcity where there was no scarcity. So we had the homepage, ad networks were arbitraging. Tom shut that down, no more ad networks on that inventory. If you have a site like Hi5 or MySpace or Facebook, creating billions of impressions a month, you have to find a way to create some scarce inventory so you can talk to the Best Buys. They don’t want to be next to [remnant ads] In many ways I think the Internet has killed itself to a degree because there was a notion that I will just add another page without maximizing the premium spots. Kal Patel : We look at how does it actually show up in front of our customers. Jim Heckman : What has happened is we are selling a small percentage of our quality content, and everything else is going to the remnant networks. Peter Foster : Also back in the day there were a few dozen ad networks, now there are 500. That is the challenge, there are so many companies doing great work, but it is all being back-filled by the same inventory. Jim Heckman : I think Ross is right. Creating scarcity in any business is essential. I think you are better off not selling an ad at all on your front age and protecting your ad integrity. If you are Sports Illustrated and you have a story by a top writer with beautiful images. Do you really want to put a yellow teeth ad up there? Video : Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Display Your Friends' Best Pictures In Your Flickr Galleries Top
Flickr has long had a way to note other users’ pictures that you think are worth saving. But the “Add To Faves” function is rather single serving, and not very social like the rest of Flickr. Today, the service is launching a new feature called “Galleries” to expand your interaction with others’ photos. Basically, Galleries allow you to curate up to 18 photos from anywhere on Flickr into your own hand-made gallery. Previously, if you wanted to make a group of pictures surround something, you could only do it with your own. With Galleries, if you wanted to make a collection of the 18 best pictures taken at TechCrunch50 , for example, you can easily do that, no matter who took the picture. The top portion of these Galleries are the thumbnails and below each of them is the large-sized versions of the pictures in a stream. Clicking on any of the thumbnails jumps you down to the portion of the page where that particular picture resides. Here’s a particularly artsy one for you . To add a picture to a gallery, just click the “Add to gallery” link in a picture’s menu bar. [photo: flickr/ marshall astor ] Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Clicker Wants To Be TV Guide For The Web Top
More and more television content is making its way online. But because of different deals by various networks, it’s all over the place. Even the huge sites like Hulu, only skim the surface in showing what is out there. Clicker , a service launching today at TechCrunch50 , wants to be the most comprehensive way to find the video content you’re looking for on the web. While there are no shortage of video search engines out there, Clicker believes its offering is superior because it creates a structured database of programming, organizing shows by things like network, genre, and show name. This type of data not only allows for better search results, but it allows you to browse content without having to do text-based searches, which you probably won’t be doing when television and future web-enabled tablets start to serve up this content. Clicker already has a deal with Boxee. The goal is really to be the best search engine for video content. Clicker will point you in the direction of whatever you are looking for (and will do embeds if they’re available), but won’t serve up the videos themselves. They will also delve into surfacing content not explicitly produced for television, but is still high quality web video content. But they don’t want to be YouTube, which is cluttered with user-generated content. Clicker is going for a different market. Clicker will also allow users to edit and submit information about shows wiki-style. As a search engine, the business model will obviously be search and display advertising. But eventually, there is a plan for Clicker Pro premium accounts, which the company envisions might be used for storing you favorite videos online, kind of like a DVR of sorts. CEO Jim Lanzone (former CEO of Ask.com) and COO Paul Wehrley presented Clicker today on stage at TechCrunch50. Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased) The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn. Q: Is this automated? JL: Where content resides is always changing, a lot of it is automated, but we have to find stuff too. Q: How do you monetize. JL: We’re looking at the IMDb model. And eventually we’ll have a Pro version. And there’s a downstream model since we’ll be sending a lot of traffic. Q: What do you think about Bing? JL: That’s not fair. I think it’s fantastic for pushing beyond 10 blue links. A lot of it looks familiar though. Q: How do you get the market penetration? JL: Part of it is branding, some of it is distribution deals. We’ll also be very heavily SEO’d. Q: What’s the business model? JL: It’s mostly advertising, and we’ll get into Pro later, again. But IMDb makes $75 to $100 million in just what they do. Q: Is this funded? JL: Yes, earlier this year Benchmark and Redpoint – $8 million. Q: Would you invest? JH: This is a big problem for web video. RC: Great product. YV: I can never predict if products will succeed so I bet on people. Jim is a good one to bet on. TC50: Clicker is a TV guide for the Internet age VentureBeat. Clicker Guides You To Internet TV #TC50 Techgeist. CrunchBase Information Clicker Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Spawn Labs Is Slingbox For Video Games Top
Slingbox owners love their devices. They allow you to watch your home television content anywhere you are in the world with an Internet connection. A new startup, Spawn Labs , launching today at TechCrunch50 wants to extend that concept to video games. But Spawn Labs offering is actually a bit more robust because it includes a social element as well. A key part to playing video games is playing them against other people. And with the Spawn HD Pro appliance, you’ll be able to do just that. Say a friend has an Xbox 360 in California and wants to play a game against you, but you’re in New York. From New York, you would simply install the Spawn Player application on your computer, and you could remotely connect to their system, to play a game. The key to all of this is of course the Spawn HD Pro box, which will retail for $199 (available on their site today). These boxes will be able to transmit HD-quality (720p) content over the Internet to the computer on the other end. On those computers, users can play the game with an input device of their choosing. The idea of playing popular video games over the web is a hot area right now. The two most well-known names in this field are OnLive and OTOY . But both of those are attempting to use their own servers to create a completely online experience, Spawn Labs is simply allowing you to take an existing console and transmit the content over the Internet. Of course, one potential issue with this method is that someone must be on the other end (where the console is) to make sure it has the game disc you want to play inside of it. Eventually, the plan is to expand Spawn Labs’ technology beyond video games as well. They’d basically like to handle any and all video content over their box. Computers, other set-top boxes, and even mobile devices are all in the pipeline to be hooked up to Spawn Labs’ services. Today, President and CEO David Wilson presented alongside QA engineer Daniel Bethke. Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased) The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn. Q: Is it a weakness to have one game in at a time? DW: That is something we thought about, but the direction of the industry is to have games on console’s hard drives. Q: How do the graphics travel? And is this software on the console itself eventually? DW: When you’re in a bandwidth constrained around, the network will downscale. Q: So this is more targeted in the home? DW: We’re targeting both. Q: The bet is that customers will pay $200 for a hardware device to play games remotely. How often do players do that? DW: Right now they can’t do it. But there is a strong desire for this. We have orders from several of the top game developers in the world for this. Q: What kind of support? DW: It runs any game on the supported consoles. (Xbox 360, Wii, Gabecube, PS3, etc) Q: This also assumes the player has their controller? DW: You don’t need one, but you can use any controller you want. Q:  What about the handhelds? DW: Theoretically yes, not sure yet though. TC50: Spawn Labs lets you play your console games on your laptop VentureBeat. TechCrunch50: Remote-Controlled Xboxes, Cableless Cables Gearlog. Spawn Labs launches way to play console games remotely on PC BigDownload Spawn Labs HD-720 enables streaming of console games joystiq. Gaming Tech Firm Spawn Labs Launches With $1 Million In Funding paidContent. Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 AustinStartup. Spawn Labs Allows You To Play Your Console Games On Any PC #TC50 Techgeist Spawn Labs launches at TechCrunch 50 Austin Entrepreneur Network. CrunchBase Information Spawn Labs Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Toys Spring To Life With ToyBots Internet Magic Top
Eventually, it’s probably safe to assume that all electronics will be in some way connected to the Internet. As long as you’re not worried about a Skynet-style Terminator apocalyptic future, that’s probably a good thing. With that in mind, the online gaming network SGN began working on a secret project to connect children’s toys to the Internet. Today, ToyBots is being unveiled at TechCrunch50 . Basically, the ToyBots’ vision is to be the platform that any toy maker can use to make sure their devices have a portal to the Internet, and all the data potential that comes with it. SGN and ToyBots founder Shervin Pishevar describes the key idea as a “Kindle of toys” or an “iPhone inside of a toy.” The thought there being that the Kindle works so well because of the network behind it that allows the device to seamlessly connect to Amazon’s extensive collection of books. Likewise, ToyBots is announcing a partnership with a major telecom provider (they’ll announce in the next week or so) that will allow toy makers to set up pre-paid service for their toys (that is, have wireless costs baked into the product, like the Kindle, rather than making customers pay a monthly fee). ToyBots’ demo product is called the Woozee. Basically, it’s a cute stuffed toy that can transmit messages sent over the Internet. So if a parent is away on a business trip, but wants to be able to read to their child at night, they can record themselves reading on something like their iPhone (via an app) and send it to the toy. The child would get an alert via the toy that a message is there. Then, when they’re ready, they can play it back, via the toy (think: Teddy Ruxpin , but with a parent’s voice rather than a stranger’s, and it has an accelerometer!). A sender could also set message to play for a specific time; the child’s bedtime, for example. There is also a website component to this Woozee that allows for further functionality. You can have a network of friends with their own toys, for example. This is kind of like the Chumby , as it’s a web-connected device with a website component where you can manipulate it as well. Alongside Pishevar, Carrie Feigel, Senior Director Marketing, presented today. Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased) The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn. Q: Who are you selling to? And will you let Obama speak to children through this device? SP: Yes, Obama will be able to speak to the kids. The number one audience is the developer community to make all kinds of toys. We’d like the major toy companies to get on board. Q: How important is the platform versus the toys? I want a Chucky toy. SP: I want a Chucky toy as well. A lot of different audiences can be reached with this. We hope it’s similar to the App Store with the iPhone. CF: There’s a big market for people who want to get their favorite toy with this tech. Q: How does Spongebob get on this? CF: He would get his own toy and cotent. Q: Do you make royalties from toy developers? CF: That’s a part of it, but also a partnership. SP: We don’t want to build the toys ourselves. We want to be the gaming cloud. Q: Will you open this to anyone, or will you control this? What about porn? SP: We’ll leave that to someone else to work on. Q: What’s the security? CF: There would have to be careful controls, we would approve apps, and manufacturers would have a say. Q: Big challenge crossing the virtual world to physical world with a toy. CF: Club Penguin started virtual then went physical. Q: Invest/take another meeting/pass? GZ: Second meeting JH: Same RC: Get retailers YV: We need better toilet seats first! DD: Nothing more to say than what Yossi did. TC50: Toybots lets toys come to life with Internet connectivity VentureBeat. ToyBots – Connected Toys Of Some Sort #TC50 Techgeist. Quick Thoughts from TC50: ToyBots Startup Marketing Blog. CrunchBase Information ToyBots Woozees Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: FluidHTML Wants To Rewrite The Web With Flash-like HTML Top
Adobe’s Flash product has obviously been an integral part of the web for many years now. But it still has a major weakness when it comes search engines and complexity. While Adobe and others have been working on solutions to make Flash-based website more Google-friendly, they’re still nowhere near as crawl-able as regular HTML-based pages. FluidHTML or “Fhtml” is a new server-side markup language that hopes to merge Flash-like functionality with the easier-to-use HTML language. Obviously, trying to create what would essentially have to be a new web standard is no small task. But the group behind Fhtml thinks they have a shot to do it because Flash is so widely used by millions of sites on the web who want a better visual appearance than HTML can offer. Aside from just Flash, Fhtml is also going up against Silverlight another Adobe framework, Flex. But Fhtml claims to be not only simpler than both Flash and Silverlight, but more powerful than Flex. Another downside to Flex, Silverlight, and Flash is that they all must be compiled. Fhtml, like HTML, does not need to be. This makes it a lot easier to edit on the fly. And because all of those are more complex, they often require a special developer with just those skills to create a site using those technologies, Fhtml promises to be much simpler. And because it’s server side, the company says that Java developers, PHP developers, Ruby developers, .NET developers and Python developers can all write Fhtml in their native language. Today on stage, FluidHTML CEO Michael Collette and Founder Jim Kremens prototyped the Southeby’s (one current partner) website in FluidHTML. They also showed a Hulu media player made in Fhtml. They’re looking for $1 to $2 million in funding in October. Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased) The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn. Q: How does this compare with HTML 5? MC: I expect HTML 5 is a big leap forward, but what happens after that? JK: And HTML 5 won’t be fully implemented until 2014. Q: What has Adobe said about it? MC: We haven’t spoken to them. (Laughs) Q: Making Flash searchable is a big plus, but getting developers to switch their language is tough, how do you deal with that? JK: The product is free to developers. And we think it opens them up to be more creative than HTML, while not having to deal with some difficulties of Flash. MC: It runs at the full speed of Flash too. Q: What’s the business? MC: We charge a low fee to publishers. Q: Have vast is the object library? MC: It’s extensible, which is great. Developers will expand it beyond what it is now. And an open API in January. TC50: FluidHtml builds a more web-friendly version of Flash VentureBeat. CrunchBase Information FHTML Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50 Backstage: Ron Conway Defends his "Spray and Pray" Honor Top
This morning Jason Calacanis made a quip that Ron Conway is such a prolific angel investor that all presenting companies at TC50 were getting $50,000 just for walking on the same stage with him. Conway made a face, so Paul Carr and I grabbed him back stage and asked his thoughts on frequently being called a “Spray and Pray” investor. As evidence that he doesn’t invest in everything , Conway also names the one that got away. Conway says that things are getting easier for start-ups in the Valley and that most start-ups he knows aren’t having problems getting money. In fact, he says he’s facing some stiff competition to get in deals. That’s good news for entrepreneurs. (Note Jason Hirschhorn pacing behind us. Apparently Conway was about to slip him a list of his companies MySpace should buy…) Video is on the jump. CrunchBase Information Ron Conway Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: iTwin Remotely Connects Two Computers Via USB Drives Top
Remotely connecting two computers is still a pretty big pain. It usually requires two parties jumping through a bunch of hoops to get things working. This includes each computer having the same software, using various passwords, and waiting on a connection. iTwin , a new startup launching today at TechCrunch50 aims to make the process entirely plug and play. iTwin takes the idea of remote connection and transfers it to hardware. A simple two-part USB drive allows one user to plug it in to one computer and then snap off and hand the second part to someone else with another computer. They will then have instant access to the other computer. It’s as if there was a hard line cable connecting two computers anywhere in the world, but there is no cable, just the USB drives and the Internet. As iTwin puts it, they’re the “cable-less cable.” The idea came to the team when they realized that remote access to a second computer was simply too complicated for most users. Everyone gets how to use USB drives, but those simply either don’t have enough storage to share an entire other computer’s hard drive, or are not secure enough (you could lose the drive, etc). So iTwin combines the two technologies. This is a product totally designed for the mass market, not the techies, though they’re obviously welcome to buy and use it as well, iTwin notes. Next year, some 200 million flash drives are expected to be sold, that’s the market iTwin is looking at. The plan is to launch iTwin in the first half of 2010 for $99. CEO Lux Anatharaman and COO Kal Takru presented the company today. They are based in Singapore. Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased) The experts: Don Dodge, Yossi Vardi, Ron Conway, George Zachary, and Jason Hirschhorn. Q: Security is a big concern. LA: Everything is encrypted. Q: What happens when I lose the other half? LA:You just pull out your half and your data is safe. Q: How many people are in the company? LA: Two of us and three engineers. Q: Does this kill remote desktop? LA: It certainly could. Q: How much does this cost? LA: Eventually if we make enough of these it will be super cheap to make. We will distrupt portable storage. Q: What distribution channels? KT: We will initially sell it online through our own web store. The initial launch with be in Singapore, in 6 months in U.S. and Europe. Q: File sync is a big problem. How do you compete with what Microsoft is doing with Live Mesh, with its free offering. LA: Uploading a terabyte to the cloud is still too time consuming and expensive. This is a two-person device to give people a very easy and tangible way to save something. Q: Would you take another meeting with them? DD: Pass YV: Pass RC: I’m software too but I would consider GZ: I would take another meeting JH: Cool technology but retail is tough. TC50: iTwin allows encrypted, cableless file-sharing VentureBeat. CrunchBase Information iTwin Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Bing Pops With Visual Search Top
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand keywords. Today at TechCrunch50, Microsoft senior vice president Yusuf Mehdi announced a new visual search feature on Bing which returns results as an interactive gallery of images. For instance, if you type in “dog breeds,” it organizes them for you in a grid of images that you can scroll through using a slider on the right. When you hover over a particular image, it enters the name of that dog breed in the search box. And you can re-order the image results by size, breed, exercise needs, and Bing popularity. There are more than 100 visual galleries ranging from movies, books, and cars to products, animals, and sports teams. The sorting categories change each time. So for movies, you can filter by release date, title, or rating. Cars can be sorted visually by make, price or mileage. When you resort, the images fly around the screen to find their new positions. The visual search acts as a showcase for Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, which makes the animations and visual rendering possible. “The whole concept,” says Mehdi, “is that the world of search will change. There will be a more graphic way people will search, and it will pivot how people search.” The judges were impressed with his demo. Ron Conway noted, “I think the huge winner here will be consumers because competition breeds innovation, and this nice little battle between Google and Microsoft is fantastic for consumers.” Microsoft launches Bing ‘Visual Search’ CNET. Microsoft's next attack on Google: Bing gets visual search VentureBeat. Bing Tries More Pictures, Less Text Silicon Alley Insider. Microsoft's Bing Introduces Visual Search Feature paidContent. Making Search Prettier: Bing Launches Visual Search ReadWriteWeb. Microsoft Updates Bing with ‘Visual Search’ Feature PC World. Microsoft Bing Adds Visual Search Option Bits NYTimes. Bing: Now With Visual Search Digital Daily. Meet an Awesome Search Engine for iPhone Apps – Bing Digital Inspiration. Bing Search Gets Visual Technologizer. Hands on: Bing gains Silverlight-only Visual Search feature Ars Technica. Microsoft Bing Adds Picture Searches for Some Queries Bloomberg. Microsoft Bing gets visual search; full 2.0 update later this fall All About Microsoft. Microsoft Adds Visual Search to Bing PC Magazine. Bing’s new visual search tools are both stupid and cool Daily Finance. Bing 2.0 "Visual Search" Launches, Allows Search By Pictures Search Engine Land. Is Bing Optimizing for the Short Snout? The Noisy Channel. Microsoft announces Bing Visual Search MobileTechWorld. Bing Goes the Visual Internet AppScout. Visual Search – Why type when you can see it? Bing Blog. Microsoft Bing Visual Search Option Helps Us Become Lazier Searchers Google Watch. Bing encourages visual search Computer World. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Widget-Happy Bloggers Can Express Their Personal Brands With SealTale Top
Bloggers love to have widgets and badges on their sites that communicate their personal brand in the form of interests, causes, and affiliations. Korean startup SealTale is tapping into the widget craze by making it easy for bloggers to create widgets that express their affinity to particular interest groups and products. The TechCrunch50 finalist lets bloggers pick “seals” which typically shows the logo of a particular product or band or movement. They can also create their own seals. When a seal is clicked on, it flips around to show an RSS feed made up of posts from other blogs that have seals with the same tags. In this way, blogs can connect to each other and send each other traffic based on common interests. The tags can be edited to to customize the feed. The seals also work across social messaging sites such as Facebook and Tumblr. On the back of each seal, along with the feeds there are targeted ads (also based on the tags). And the seals themselves act as advertisements for commercial brands. Companies can offer seals and program the feeds with news, events, and other information they think will strengthen their bonds with brand enthusiasts. The seals could be particularly effective as marketing vehicles for bands, movies, and other content. They will support music and video, in addition to text feeds. Expert Panel Q&A : Conway: How big is the market size, is it available today? Chae Myungjin: Our service applies to all the services like Myspace and Facebook. It is like Google AdSense. Conway: How long has the product been available? Myungjin : It's been available for 6 months in Korea, we have 20K users, 200K people who have come in. Don: What is the revenue model? Myungjin : We earn money from advertisements. Two ways. One is brand seals and product seals. Another way, which is an advertisement through the seal book, in the info tab they can upload advertisements in the form of feeds. Calacanis: They can claim the seal, correct. If somebody made a seal for an iPhone, the company Apple could then buy it and put the proper information in? Myungjin: Yes. Calacanis: Judges, would you invest? Conway: We'd have to see how the product took off and acceptance in other countries Vardi: What he means is if he knows it is a success, he will invest. Hirshhorn: It is obviously great eye candy, a way to say these are the brands I am interested in. Other than the interface I don't know how different the delivery stem is. TC50: Sealtale offers a personalized way to declare brand loyalty Venture Beat. SealTale – New Widgets For Your Blog (?) #tc50 techgeist. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: More Cowbell! Tweens Can Mix Their Own ToonsTunes In A Virtual Studio Top
As social networks target younger and younger audiences, ToonsTunes is taking a musical approach. Announced today at TechCrunch50, its virtual world for tweens takes place in a space station where their avatars live in personal pods and can record songs in a virtual studio called the Mix-O-Matic. In the Mix-O-Matic they create tracks by selecting from thousands of different instrumental loops—hip hop drums, pop guitar, funk keyboards, and, yes, even cowbell—recorded by professional rock musicians. Then they can lay down their own vocals. The site mixes it all together to make it sound decent. Once a song is recorded, it can be shared with other tweens inside ToonsTunes, or their avatars can perform the songs in virtual concert halls. The tweens can also jam together, and even connect Guitar-Hero-style instruments to their computers to play along. The space station has different rooms to explore, including many with musical games. The focus of the site is around music and fun. ToonsTunes president Paul Bohan says the company plans to charge for enhanced experiences in the virtual world, sponsorship revenues, and virtual goods. Expert Panel Q&A Zachary: It was like Garageband meets Club Penguin. I was impressed by the product quality. Don Dodge: I loved it, the quality is absolutely amazing, amazing sound, animation. I like it and it is in a hot market. Games and music are two of the biggest markets Q: Marketing plans? President Paul Bohlan: Guerrilla marketing through schools, but really it is virally by sharing music via email an don all of the social networks Vardi: What is the size of the company Internally funded and five people in the company. Vardi: It is very impressive. ?: Activision would love this. Conway: What is the target age, is it just below Guitar Hero? Bohlan: It is 6 to 14. Don Dodge: I would definitely take a second meeting. Calacanis: What kind of valuation do you think you are at? Bohlan: We think the total valuation is somewhere around $15 million Dodge: $1 to $2 million I'm in, above that no. Vardi: I think they should go to Disney, Activision. Hirshhorn: I agree they need to go to Disney or Activision Calacanis: If you want $15 million, you probably need to go to strategic investors. If you want angel investors, you need to go lower. Quick thoughts from TC 50: ToonsTunes Startup Marketing Blog. TC50: ToonsTunes is like GarageBand for kids Venture Beat. ToonsTunes Launches at TechCrunch50 . SheBlogs. ToonsTunes Launches World’s First Virtual Community Offering an Online Recording… Reuters. Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Unlocking Learning Through Videos And Games With Clasemovil Top
Kids today with their YouTube and video games, how do they expect to learn anything? Alex Moctezuma has an idea. How about teaching them with games and videos. Moctezuma is the CEO of Mexican startup Clasemovil , which he just showed a demo of at TechCrunch50. Clasemovil is a fun learning community aimed at K-12th grade across Latin America. It is filled with hundreds of interactive lessons in the guise of videos, games, and learning activities. Students pick a subject like math, history, language, or science. They are then presented with a menu of related activities. The site is self-directed. The students pick which activities to explore, much like they would on a regular entertainment site. The students earn points for answering questions correctly. Each subject has its own page with a leaderboard of top-scoring students. The points can be converted into a virtual currency. Each student has a profile page where they can see how many points they’ve accumulated, send messages to other members, and make new friends. Teachers and schools also get a view into student activity. They can monitor a specific student’s performance, or that of an entire class. If a student is struggling with science, Clasemovil acts as an early warning system. The company is also launching a virtual world to teach kids about personal finance. Students can apply for a virtual credit card with which they can buy virtual goods. They get points for saving and paying off their debt. Moctezuma plans to charge for premium memberships for students or bulk licensing for schools. The startup is backed by $500,000 from an angel investor. Expert Panel Q&A Ron Conway: How much has been invested in the company so far. It seems like millions. Moctezuma: We have world two years to develop the videos and all the contenet. We are thinking to scale it so that teachers can Conway: So is it $1 million Moctezuma: Half million dollars. Conway: You have accomplished a lot with half a million dollars Don Dodge: I like it, I think it is a high quality presentation. You have a challenge. Your users are kids, the people who pay for it are the parents. You have to market to both. Moctezuma: Yeah, and we have also seen that teachers are very important because they can recommend it. Dodge: So you think the teachers will tell the students, the students will tell the parents and the parents will pay the money? Calacanis: Is this a pass, a consider, an definite? Conway: I would consider it but I would encourage the company to Zachary: I applaud the effort, but this would be a pass for me. There is so much competition here. Partnerships I have , we were investors in Knowledge Adventure, that was nominal return. Getting awareness with parents is very hard, school boards are very political. A lot of greasing required. TC50: ClaseMovil launches a virtual world for learning VentureBeat. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
TC50: Story Something Maximizes Story Time For Time-Starved Parents Top
Every parent knows how important story time is for their kids. It is a ritual, an opportunity to connect, and a learning moment. But too often it gets crammed into the few minutes left at the end of the day before putting them to bed. The average working mom spends two hours a day with her children, but only 4.5 minutes of that time is devoted to reading. Working fathers are even more remiss, spending only 2.5 minutes a day reading to their tots. Making the most out of that time, and extending it, is what TechCrunch50 finalist Story Something is all about. Story Something generates personalized stories for a child that makes them the hero by putting them at the center of the narrative. A parent selects a theme (dragons, pets, superheroes) to see a list of stories that fit their child’s interests. Stories can be browsed by topic or age. The hero takes on the child’s name, and a story is generated which can be viewed on the Web or emailed to the parent. That turns your iPhone into a bedtime reader. Parents can build a virtual bookshelf of stories around different themes. They can get a new story emailed to them every day on any schedule they choose. Waiting with a fidgety child at the doctor’s office? Read them a story. As children get older, the stories change to more of a”Choose Your Own Adventure format, allowing them to decide which way the narrative will turn. The stories themselves are created two ways. Story Something will commission professional authors to write tales on an ongoing basis, and it will also crowdsource stories from parents. Everyone has at least one great children’s story in them, or at least they think they do. Story Something aims to be an outlet for their creativity, as well as a way to share those stories with other parents. Upload text, images, and a title and your done. The stories themselves will be free up to a certain point, but once a parent becomes hooked they will be charged a monthly subscription fee of about $3. And for aspiring authors who ant to add more editorial features to make their stories stand out, there will be a fee for that as well. The site will open in private beta in a few days. You can sign up here . Q&A with the experts Jason Hirschhorn: How important is form factor. Children like to hold the book Jim Rose, CEO: We are targeting children 3 to 8. They love to hold the iphone. The form factor question is more for parents than for kids. Kidd love it Ron Conway: can you read it in the Kindle? Rose: Sure. George Zachary: What happens if one of these stories becomes the next Harry Potter, who owns the derivative rights? Rose: If it is a commissioned work, we own the rights. Otherwise, just the digital rights. Yossi Vardi: What is the status of the company right now? Rose: Two employees, a small private beta, will launch in next few days., worked with 20 authors, commissioned 50 stories. Don Dodge: How are parents going to find out about Story Something? Rose: Especially on the social networks, the mommies are especially strong. But being able to send Yossi Vardi: How profound is the assumption that parents will continue to make kids? A: I don't know. I have two. There's a lot of kids Don: Jason Calacanis will be a customer soon. Vardi: I actually got a new grandchild this morning. Jason Calacanis: Would the judges invest in this? Ron Conway: We would definitely have another meeting. Don Dodge: it is a business that can scale without a lot of investment. It is like a lottery ticket Hirshhorn: It answers the desperation of parents everywhere so definitely consider it. TC50: Story Something creates personal stories for your children VentureBeat. Story Something cria histórias de dormir para o seu filho TC50 Jornal tecnologia. Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Live From TechCrunch50 Top
Streaming .TV shows by Ustream And so it begins. The finalists are prepped and double-prepped. The Demopit companies are overflowing in the halls. And we are about to start this year’s TechCrunch50. For all of you following along at home (or the office), we’ll be streaming the conference live via Ustream here on TechCrunch as well as on the TechCrunch50 website . You can also vote for your favorite startups on this page thanks to Microsoft Bizpark. (The voting will begin as the startups start presenting). The startup with the most votes will win our Web audience award. You can also follow along on various social media sites. Just search for the tag #tc50 . You can find official photos here on Flickr and Tweetmeme has set up a TC50 channel that aggregates links and Tweets. You can also try these links: Twitter: #techcrunch50 or #tc50 FriendFeed: #techcrunch50 or #tc50 Flickr: techcrunch50 or tc50 So who will be the next Mint? Stay with us over the next two days to find out. The TechCrunch50 List: the presenting startups VentureBeat. Pitch Glut: 220 Web Startups Launch in Two Weeks ReadWriteStart. A Sundance for Startups The Huffington Post. Round Up of this Morning's Startup Presentations at TC50: Session 1: Youth & Games (Updating) TheNextWeb. Techcrunch 50 2009 Coverage Silicon Angle. TechCrunch50 kicks off: Let the games begin CNET TechCrunch50: The iPhone as a Game Controller? AppScout. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 

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