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In the TechCrunch50 Demo Pit

From deep inside TechCrunch50... Although there are 50 companies presenting on stage, even the companies that didn't qualify for stage time get attention at the event. I explored the demo pit yesterday, where the runners-up pitch to the passers-by.

Companies covered in this video:

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Web service tells you what stresses you out

Me-trics is a lifestyle service that correlates your stress level with the other things going on in and around your life. You report on your stress, and also feed it your content feeds, and it tells what you're doing that is causing you stress. Or what you do that reduces it.

There's an easy interface for mobiles that lets you tell the service how you're feeling. On the input site, you feed Me-trics your financial data form Mint, your Twitter feed, and so on, and it will make the connections. Then if you notice that Twittering makes … Read more

TechCrunch50: The day 2 schedule

One day down, and two more to go, as the TechCrunch50 gives start-ups a chance to show off their nifty new goods and services.

CNET News is providing full-on coverage of both TechCrunch50, taking place in San Francisco, and the dueling, simultaneous DemoFall event, located downstate in San Diego. You can find it all on our comprehensive Launch Week page.

Herewith the list of Tuesday's TechCrunch50 presenters:

• Alfabetic (Presented by Oded Broshi and Arik Kopelman) • DropBox (Presented by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi) • Emerginvest (Presented by Andrew Waterman and Eugene Kim) • ExchangeP (Presented by Saul Kato and Charles Katz) • … Read more

Peter Thiel: Google is undervalued, and CEOs are overpaid

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and who rarely gives public interviews, spoke with Michael Arrington at the TechCrunch50 conference today.

Topics ranged from politics to finance and technology. On the item of the stock market, Thiel is concerned that our economy keeps producing bubbles--technology, housing, foreign investing, etc.--yet he does not feel the current technology market is a bubble. Referring to the valuation of Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and other tech stocks, he said, "on a relative basis, they're among the cheapest companies in terms of stock."

But the 2000 bubble, he says, "set technology … Read more

Live coverage: Monday's Google announcement

We're live at TechCrunch50. Google has an announcement scheduled for 11:45 a.m. PDT. See below for the live report on the Google News Archive, which makes digital copies of old newspapers available online through partnerships with the company's publishers.

See more product launch stories from TechCrunch50 and DemoFall.

TechCrunch50: 10 to watch

There are 12 sessions for the TechCrunch50 pitches spread over three days. Here are my top picks for the ones to watch for this conference, based solely on the write-ups in the conference program. Hopefully the pitches will live up to, or surpass, the blurbs.

Although not every session gets a pick from me at this early stage, TechCrunch50 looks like it will be a very good launch conference. There are some creative ideas being presented here.

For the full lineup of TechCrunch50 presenters for day one of the conference, go here.

Rafe's 10 to watch from TechCrunch50

Shyrk … Read more

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

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