Launchweek08

Tingz is a new widget engine whose big feature is cross platform data sharing. At the TechCrunch50 conference it was shown off on a Mac, iPhone and Windows Media Center PC, with various widgets pulling together the same data set.

The example given was a recipe widget on your computer that tells you how to make something, and if you don't have one of the ingredients you can bookmark it. This information gets ported over to a shopping list widget, which you can then access on-the-go via the iPhone application.

Presumably users would have it installed on both platforms … Read more

In the TechCrunch50 "Demo Pit," companies take up temporary residency -- new ones each day -- hoping to catch the eye of the conference attendees. Three grabbed me so far today. These are companies for our time: They're helping consumers be smarter with their money.

First up, Rate Surfer. You give it access to your credit card accounts, and it will alert you when rates change (useful if you sign up for cards with teaser rates) and it will, if you let it, move your balances between your accounts to make sure you're paying the least … Read more

The first session at TechCrunch50 today highlighted two companies applying AI-like technologies to collaboration.

Imindi is a -- wait for it -- "thought engine." It's supposed to collect thoughts from people around the Web. At its core it's a mind mapping tool. We've seen dozens of those. Imindi's trick is that its maps can be made public, and if you're working on a map of your own you can find maps related to the topics on yours, and blend the ideas together.

Imindi has conceptual similarities to a wiki, and has a wiki'… Read more

One of the downfalls of conferences where you're scrambling to cover things live is that you don't actually get to test out the products you're writing about. Between the spotty Internet connection and end of day fatigue, one company that I think deserved a little more of a look was OtherInbox, the service that helps you fight both bacn and spam from services you've sign up for.

A day later I've already run into one somewhat serious problem: upon sign-up, it automatically sets you up to receive daily notifications of your in-box status, even if … Read more

SAN DIEGO--Arsenal Interactive launched an online concierge service called HeyCosmo at DemoFall on Tuesday.

The free Web and mobile service offers a way for friends to easily plan activities and make reservations at restaurants and other places, without anyone having to make a phone call.

When new people are added to the invite list, the service sends a voice SMS, providing details on the event, who is invited, restaurant location and other details. Invitees then respond whether they will be attending.

The company promises that you can deliver your messages and get a confirmation in 60 seconds or less, guaranteed.… Read more

SAN DIEGO--What would happen if you mashed up LinkedIn and Monster.com and threw in a dose of steroids?

A company called Paidinterviews that presented at DemoFall here Tuesday morning thinks it has the answer.

And that, the company said, is its Paidinterviews new job site and candidate recruitment site.

The first side of it is designed for job candidates trying to find a new position.

Initially, they would upload pictures of themselves, previous employment references, examples of their work and other information employers might want to know about them.

Then, they can deploy a series of widgets that allow … Read more

SAN DIEGO--Best Buy launched at DemoFall on Tuesday an online gift registry that enables people to create lists of items they want from any Web site and share that list with others.

Best Buy demonstrated a version in Firefox and said an Internet Explorer version will be available soon.

Basically, you click on the Giftag icon in the browser bar, pulling up a window at the bottom for adding items to a list. If the site supports the Microformats standard, you can just click on the item you want and the specs are added to the Giftag window. You can … Read more

SAN DIEGO--One of the nice things about Web 2.0 is that the interactivity it promises can be applied to almost any kind of application.

That's the basis of TravelMuse's new social trip planning service, which it unveiled at DemoFall Tuesday.

The idea of the so-called Social Trip Planner is that a group of people expecting to travel together can use a rich Web site to plan and organize their vacation and share information about what they're doing amongst each other easily and automatically.

The service starts with what the company calls its "inspiration planner," … Read more

SAN DIEGO--FamilyBuilder demonstrated at DemoFall on Tuesday software that is letting people link together family tree information from Facebook and other social networks. They also offer a DNA test kit.

The company, which launched in June 2007, released the first version of its cross-network, cross-platform Web site that allows people to search across all the social networks.

FamilyBuilder allows people to do genealogy research and find and connect with family members via Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Orkut. The service offers one place to manage all the information from across the networks.

The cheek-swab DNA test kit will be available … Read more