Demo ‘10 begins in Boston — calling all awesome startups

Demo ‘10 begins in Boston — calling all awesome startups

It’s been a few weeks since Demo took San Diego by storm, and I posted a few days ago about a few of the cool things that happened to some of the demonstrating companies.

More on that in a sec. But here’s a reminder that we’re… Continue Reading

DEMO rocked! Now the party starts again

DEMO rocked! Now the party starts again

It’s been two weeks since the end of DEMO. I’m awestruck by the experience, both by all of the incredibly talented people that convened there in San Diego, and by the traction 70 entrepreneurs were able to get during those short few days.

Thank you to… Continue Reading

DEMO: ShareGrove extends Facebook to conversations

DEMO: ShareGrove extends Facebook to conversations

Some criticize social networks like Twitter and Facebook for promoting superficiality over depth. When users post hundreds of miniature updates about their lives, what suffers are conversations, say the founders of ShareGrove, a San Mateo-based startup that presented at this week’s DEMOFall 09 conference.

While one… Continue Reading

DEMO: Dotgo browses the web through text messaging

DEMO: Dotgo browses the web through text messaging

Dotgo is a service that lets you pull information from Web sites through text messages, that launched at DEMOfall 09, an emerging technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat.

Users can text Dotgo’s shortcode, or a special phone number designed to facilitate SMS messages, at 368266 (which is ‘DOTCOM’ on a… Continue Reading

DEMO: GuruStorms crowdsources ideas from experts

DEMO: GuruStorms crowdsources ideas from experts

GuruStorms helps businesses crowdsource ideas and offers rewards of up to $5,000 for responses from highly specialized experts. The company is launching at this week’s DEMOfall 09 conference.

Here’s how it works: A business sets up a challenge, and recognized experts respond, offering their best ideas…. Continue Reading

DEMO: Internet spreads sexist tweets faster than ever

DEMO: Internet spreads sexist tweets faster than ever

It’s no secret that the tech world is one big sausagefest.

There were zero women — none — in Paul Graham’s YCombinator startup class last month. There were maybe two female founders at Facebook’s fbFund Rev and about five women presenters at TechCrunch50 last week. DEMO,… Continue Reading

DEMO: Buy local produce, meat and dairy with Local Dirt

DEMO: Buy local produce, meat and dairy with Local Dirt

The refrain that the industrial food system is broken gets louder by the day.

With bestsellers like Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” decrying large-scale farms, and organic food now an $18.3 billion industry, LocalDirt wants to tap into demand for local and eco-conscious food. The startup… Continue Reading

DEMO: Gelato makes online dating more authentic with real-time streams

DEMO: Gelato makes online dating more authentic with real-time streams

Gelato is a startup that wants to marry the real-time stream with online dating (not to mention maybe real people).

Instead of creating a profile, Gelato pulls in updates from your Facebook profile, Twitter account, Netflix queue, Pandora stations and Flickr photos to create what founder… Continue Reading

DEMO: eLearning startup MicroAssist launches program against sexual misconduct

DEMO: eLearning startup MicroAssist launches program against sexual misconduct

Social networking technologies and cellphones can raise sticky questions for teachers on what sort of contact outside of the classroom is appropriate.

So MicroAssist, an e-learning company based in Austin, is launching a program targeted at preventing sexual misconduct at DEMOfall 09 technology conference in San Diego… Continue Reading

DEMO: Social music player TuneWiki brings lyrics to your phone

DEMO: Social music player TuneWiki brings lyrics to your phone

Social music player TuneWiki debuted an updated version of its mobile app for Nokia phones that lets you bring lyrics to your music and browse popular songs from friends and around the world.

When you start playing music from your library, it sends the lyrics in… Continue Reading

DEMO: Sarithi LocalMart lets small businesses handle e-commerce

DEMO: Sarithi LocalMart lets small businesses handle e-commerce

Sarithi LocalMart helps local businesses and small retailers build a better e-commerce presence.

The company, which pitched today as part of DEMOfall 09, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat, created a peer-to-peer platform called Neuro. It says Neuro will help small businesses scale their online reach… Continue Reading

DEMO: Traackr delivers a who’s who on the web for marketers

DEMO: Traackr delivers a who’s who on the web for marketers

Inside social networks, blogs and Twitter is a veritable gold mine of information on who’s influential and how people distribute messages through a community.

Traackr wants to harness that by launching its “A-list” or “Authority List,” which can give you a list of the most influential… Continue Reading

DEMO: Nubli says it can sort your e-mails by importance

DEMO: Nubli says it can sort your e-mails by importance

Sunnyvale-based Nubli is launching EmailSmarts today, an e-mail assistant that automatically finds the most important e-mails and helps users answer them efficiently.

A plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, EmailSmarts uses machine learning to tease out important messages. Such an idea would be the Holy Grail of all… Continue Reading

DEMO: Whodoyouknowat backs professional social networking

DEMO: Whodoyouknowat backs professional social networking

Whodoyouknowat is a social networking service for professionals that allows users to share old and new contact information launching today at DEMOfall 09, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat.

When you join, you can see your colleague’s contacts and use that to make introductions. Different levels of… Continue Reading

DEMO: Enroute Systems launches ShipIt! to manage shipments

DEMO: Enroute Systems launches ShipIt! to manage shipments

Enroute Systems is launching ShipIt! today. The online system tracks shipments across many vendors, to optimize delivery times and lower costs for businesses.

ShipIt!, which is being announced today at DEMOfall 09, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat, helps businesses pick the best and cheapest carrier. It charges… Continue Reading

DEMO: Dubzer translates Web sites for business owners

DEMO: Dubzer translates Web sites for business owners

Dubzer, a startup that’s launching today at DEMOfall 09, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat, makes it easy for business owners to translate their web content for international audiences.

You enter your URL and the startup will aggregate every line of text so you can edit or translate… Continue Reading

DEMO: Diditz turns Facebook albums into pages that can be indexed on the web

DEMO: Diditz turns Facebook albums into pages that can be indexed on the web

Diditz lets users turn their Facebook photo albums and videos into pages that are indexable by search engines. It uses tags and categories to sorts Facebook content and lets users share it through sites like social bookmarking service Digg, Stumble Upon and Twitter.

It also targets… Continue Reading

DEMO: Piryx wants to be a payments platform for politics, non-profits

DEMO: Piryx wants to be a payments platform for politics, non-profits

Piryx says PayPal’s not enough.

The Austin-based startup is a commerce platform for non-profits and political organizations and says there needs to be a company that focuses exclusively on the space. Like PayPal, the website is integrated with online banking software: when users sign up, they’ll… Continue Reading

DEMO: RumbaFish sets up social media campaigns for businesses

DEMO: RumbaFish sets up social media campaigns for businesses

With eyeballs moving online and away from traditional media properties, it’s no surprise that a number of startups are competing to be go-to company for setting up interactive advertising campaigns.

RumbaFish is another one entering the pack today at DEMOfall 09, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat…. Continue Reading

More judges for DEMO’s $1M prize: Shervin Pishevar, Johnny Gilmore, Phil Sanderson, Nirav Tolia

More judges for DEMO’s $1M prize: Shervin Pishevar, Johnny Gilmore, Phil Sanderson, Nirav Tolia

Here’s the latest batch of judges who will be at the DEMO conference next month in San Diego. They’ll help award the $1 million media prize (see details) to the best of the 60 companies launching technology products at the event.

We’ve already announced that a… Continue Reading