Reflections On TechCrunch40, Part II
I was viewing this one from the sidelines, all right. I spent most of last week in LaunchSquad’s new New York office, in Midtown - well, really the Garment Distric. It sorta makes sense, since LaunchSquad’s all about rolling up your sleeves, you know?
Most of my views on TechCrunch40 were largely filtered through my colleague Ryan’s views, since he was there, beaming me emails of cool companies to check out. So here’s my quick roundup:
Flock: They’ve got a hyperactive blog, and the people I know over there (Evan) are pretty cool. The browser itself is better and faster than both Firefox and Safari, but I can’t quite figure out what to do with some of the add-on features, especially the media browser and feed-reader functions. But I must say the in-browser blog editor kicks ass, and I’m using it as I type this.
Animoto : It’s a bunch of fun to use. Definitely competes with RockYou and Slide, but not nearly as robust. The fact that their stuff outputs to email, social network, iPhone, iPod, disc and a number of other formats is pretty cool. The production process is also fairly idiot-proof. Their load times and music partnerships are terrible, but that’s to be expected at this point in the game. As far as quality goes, though, this is pretty kick-ass.
My video’s right here, and LaunchSquad’s Jerry and Miko like it too.
“I don’t really share my photos except through facebook albums, but I know people who would use this” - sez Miko.
Ponoko: Like Etsy, but for furniture. My green-blogger pal GreenAmy would have a blast on this one. This will definitely catch on with the Make Magazine/Readymade crowd, but strategic partnerships are also needed to amplify the lifestyleish PR in this sector. The pricing model looks pretty ingenious, and as device printers (like, yeah, 3D) become more ubiquitous. Could be a prime acquisition for Etsy.
Musicshake: Doesn’t work on Macs, pretty much. Apparently huge with the WebKinz Asia crowd. Definitely one of those products that I’d want to try out with a room full of 9 year olds and videotape to see if they like it. I think it’s cool, but I’m biased, since I play music.
We’ll have part three from Ryan next week.
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