TechCrunch50: The day 1 schedule

The first day is upon us for the dueling conferences for start-ups: DemoFall and the TechCrunch50.

The organizers of the TechCrunch event have been playing their start-up cards close to the vest, but Monday morning at last released the names of the companies presenting throughout the first day. The three-day event, taking place at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse, runs from 7:30 a.m. PDT to 7:30 p.m. PDT on Monday.

For who's on tap at DemoFall, which is happening in San Diego, see Rafe Needleman's preview, "DemoFall preview: 10 to watch," … Read more

Google announcement coming later today

Google will present something--we don't yet know what--in a special 15-minute slot at the TechCrunch50 event Monday at 11:45 a.m. Pacific time. I will be there and will cover the announcement in a live blog. For the as-it-happens report, check in on Webware at 11:40 a.m. or so, or sign up in the widget below to get a reminder e-mail.

If you have a theory about the announcement, take the poll at right. You can enter your own option if you don't like the ones I've included.

Update: Google has just announced the Google News Archive, … Read more

You are your domain: .tel and .mp

Two domain-based identity sites will be in the media this this week: Telnic's .tel, which launches at DemoFall, and Chi.mp, whose team will be holding court across the street from the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday (clever strategy, that). I think these two companies make a trend, but I'm not convinced it's a long-lived one.

The simple concept behind both companies is this: You'll get your own name in a domain, a .tel or .mp, and then use it as a hub for your online identities and content. The sites will … Read more

DemoFall preview: 10 to watch

The DemoFall and TechCrunch50 conferences launch Monday. Demo's posted its list of it 72 presenting companies. TechCrunch will post a part of its list, we're told, at 6 a.m. Monday.

You can see the full Demo list at the end of this post. But here are the top 10 companies I'd be paying the most attention to if I were going to Demo (I'm going to TechCrunch with Josh; CNET News writers Elinor Mills and Daniel Terdiman will be at Demo). I'll do a list, or lists, for TechCrunch too, time permitting.

Rafe's Top 10 previews from Demo (Please note that I haven't talked to all these companies yet, so my understanding of these pitches is incomplete, and my post-conference Top list will likely be different.)

(Note #2: I have replaced one my original picks due to a press embargo error on my part.)

Clintview by Clintworld: This is a financial analysis tool primarily for mobile phone carriers. It simulates customer behavior related to pricing and helps create pricing tiers and plans that generate the most revenue. It brings a disciplined approach to pricing services, which I think is smart. Might be applicable to paid Web services as well. CrowdSpring Private by CrowdSpring: The company is not new, but I still love the idea. It's a new twist on the open marketplace for intellectual work. At Demo, the company will unveil CrowdSpring Private, which lets companies create their own, closed markets, so creativity doesn't leak out onto the Web, heaven forbid. Infovell: Very interesting new search service. It lets you type in arbitrarily long queries, and then ranks results based on importance and frequency of word clusters. Also lets you use entire Web pages as queries, generating a "more like this" function that doesn't currently exist. Could be great for researching complex medical or legal topics. Avego by Mapflow: Adds intelligence to casual carpooling with a car-service-like gizmo that tells drivers where riders are that want to go where they are going. It's hitchhiking 2.0: Scary but cool, and very green. PaidInterviews: Pays job candidates for going on interviews. Totally whacked economic model, if you ask me, but that makes it interesting. Plastic Logic: New science for electronic books, possibly competitive to existing e-Ink technology. Real chemistry at a start-up conference. What a breath of fresh air. SpinSpotter: Claims to spot bias and inaccuracies in news stories. Helpful, if it works. Although it will probably expode if pointed at the blogosphere. And who watches the watchmen? .tel by Telnic: One of several new companies that lets users create personal calling card Web sites using a new top-level-domain. I am highly skeptical of this model, but I want to see how it develops. WebDiet: Location-based diet helper. Gives you food advice based on what's close to you. Unknown if it gives you an electric shock and shrieks, "Keep walking!" when you pass a McDonald's. Xumii: Makes a service that access all your social sites from your mobile phone. Could be very useful for the younger, multiply-connected set.

See full Launch Week coverage of DemoFall and TechCrunch.

The DemoFall lineup is after the jump...… Read more

At the TechCrunch50, an unfair advantage?

It stands to reason that TechCrunch the blog will have an unfair advantage in covering the TechCrunch50 event. The same team produces both products, and the company has put a gag order on companies accepted to present on stage. Only the TechCrunch team knows who's going to be pitching at the event. So it will be easy for them to organize their coverage and even prepare stories on the presenting companies ahead of time.

This kvetch may smack of inside baseball to many readers, but it's been bugging me. Do I really want to spend three days covering … Read more

A user guide to following DemoFall and TechCrunch50

On Monday, September 8, two major product launch shows kick off: DemoFall in San Diego, and TechCrunch50 in San Francisco. There will be more than 100 products officially announced at these conferences, and we'll be covering the best of them on CNET blogs and on our Launch Week page.

For the full rundown of everything that's happening at the show, see the Twitter feed at the right of our roundup page, or go to the standalone Launchweek Twitter page.

We'll have video crews at both shows. Natali Del Conte at DemoFall, and Kara Tsuboi at TechCrunch50 will … Read more