Fitbit, the maker of a small device that tracks how many calories you’ve burned, has raised $2 million in a first round of funding. The San Francisco company was a hit among judges when it launched at the TechCrunch50 conference, and it plans to start selling its devices in early 2009.
There are other portable weight loss devices out there — for example, Weight Watchers offers its own mobile application. What’s exciting about Fitbit, however, is the extent to which the company says it will automate the process. You just clip the device to your clothes, and it tracks things like how many calories you burned through exercise and how well you slept. (Unfortunately, things are a little less automated on the food side; it looks like you’ll need to manually enter the foods you’ve eaten into the Fitbit website.) Then you can view your health reports on the company’s site, and adjust your behavior accordingly.
The Fitbit Tracker will cost $99, and will be available for sale initially on the company’s website, says chief executive James Park. There are plans for a roll-out to retail stores later in the year. If the economic downturn continues, Fitbit may have picked the wrong time to launch a device that some might see as a luxury or a novelty, but Park says the company has kept the Fitbit Tracker relatively affordable.
The round was led by True Ventures, joined by Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC and a group of undisclosed angel investors.
Even though social networking companies serve tens of millions of users, there’s still bizarrely little advertising on the most popular sites. Many big agencies and brands have experimented, but they’re still looking for better ways to target the users they want.
Examples of Appssavvy campaigns include Sony’s sponsorship of Facebook’s Wedding Book application to promote its film “Made of Honor,” a custom Facebook application built for Kohl’s back-to-school season, and ads for the TBS show “My Boys” on the MesmoTV application… on Facebook. Okay yes, all of their examples are from Facebook, but Appssavvy says it can also hook brands up with apps for the iPhone, MySpace, Hi5, etc.
Anyone who sits in front of a computer every day — all day — realizes how many ways there are to get distracted. There are games, instant messaging software, music — hell, I even have fun using the calendar application when I’m procrastinating from doing work. Then there’s the Internet. If it wasn’t invented as a time suck, it has grown into just that. 

MindBites
BrightRoll

The mother-focused site
San Francisco-based 



Investor Jeff Clavier said he invested in the site because, like his other investment in Dogster, it has the potential to be a “passion centric community” site. He calls it the “Dogster for moms.”