i knew coming into this week that it would be intense and overwhelming, but also inspiring, which is what i was looking for. it gave me an electric feeling to be surrounded by so many smart, energetic and driven people – and their enthusiasm is completely contagious! but realistically, only a fraction of the startups here will really make it so i want to share my top 10 13 so everyone can check them out. admittedly, these may not be the best businesses, but they’re the ones i would sign up for and want to test out.
techcrunch50 conference
- opentrace – traces product materials and related information and calculates their environmental load
- other inbox -helps manage email overload by creating filters for every site that sends you email
- adgregate markets – transforms online display ads into fully transactional micro-stores
- popego – social lifestream aggregator taking it to the next level by filtering interests
- tonchidot (once i have an iphone!)- “world camera” is a real world interface that connects the iphone to a virtual world allowing you to create and participate in both
- fitbit -ultra-compaq wireless sensor tracks your personal activities and works with your personalized webpage to view and track progress on personal health goals
- postbox – automaticaly detects, analyszes and catalogs all types of content from your email inbox, making it easier to find and use all your stuff
- fotonauts – takes photo sharing to a new level, encouraging collaboration
- birdpost – searchable, visual database and social network for birdwatchers (or for plants, fish – whatever)
- causecast – helps make it easier to give back based on the causes you believe in
- goodguide - the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products you use
- goplanit – travel recommendations and planning on the go
- iamnews – a global open newsroom powered by you
congrats again to Nir whose product, iamnews.com was the demo pit winner which earned him an unexpected spot on stage. very cool product.
4 Comments
Birdpost is a blatant rip-off of the NONPROFIT eBird project that has been around for years.
Much of the Birdpost application seems to be a repackaging of some of eBird’s new features like Google Mapping, Notable Birds Gadget, etc.
They obviously used existing eBird features as the kernel, added a few social networking ‘bells and whistles’ (which birders won’t care about) and voila.
And unlike eBird, Birdpost is of zero value to bird researchers and conservationists, since Birdpost data is very poorly screened for misidentifications, spurious reports and “nut job” birders compared to eBird and other real citizen-science projects.
Birdpost is posing as “citizen science” when it is nothing of the sort! No reputable ornithologist would go near it as a data source / research tool!
I urge birders to use eBird instead – after all, it not only lets you record, track, map, search, alerts, etc. – but it also helps conserve the birds we care about.
Birdpost is a for-profit ripoff of an existing nonprofit product.
For Shame!
thanks for the detailed comment jim! i hadn’t heard of ebirds before – very interesting. perhaps more entrants in the category will be good for everyone as it will help raise awareness of the options and possibilities. cheers!
Viva la ebird!
“perhaps more entrants in the category will be good for everyone”
NOT SO! Nobody will enter their bird lists into both eBird and Birdpost consistently.
So since Birdpost isn’t capable of producing DATA that is of value to researchers, it cannot avoid harming eBird, which is a REAL citizen-science project that helps bird conservation.
The only way that Birdpost could avoid harming eBird and other REAL citizen-science projects is if they reinvent themselves and address the issue of their data quality + interoperability. They are way too open for misidentifications, fabrications, “wishful thinking” sightings and other spurious data making its way into their database.
No valid research will come of Birdpost’s data as it currently exists.
QED.
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