Almost no one found Microsoft Corp.’s last attempt at a new operating system, Windows Vista, very entertaining. So when it came time for the software giant to create the sequel, it hoped a little Hollywood touch would bring audiences back to its screens. Jonathan Wiedemann, the former managing director of Propaganda Films, which made groundbreaking […]

It sounds almost silly to say it, but the Internet is going global. Of course, it’s already global. But the underlying technology that makes the Internet run was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense 40 years ago, and the federal government continued to have a dominant voice in how the Internet was run. Eleven years […]

Never mind the pie-in-the-sky business plans. Forget about the ambitions to change the world. It was all about financial discipline and making money at a conference for start-ups in San Francisco this week. Instead of cool-looking mousetraps, start-ups that drew the most attention at TechCrunch50 were focused on pragmatic solutions such as websites that save […]

It’s the ticket-scalping conundrum: Will it be cheaper to buy seats in advance of the event or will prices drop as it gets closer to game time and the sellers want to unload their wares? SeatGeek, a new company that showed its stuff at the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, aims to take the guesswork […]

At the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, the focus is clearly on start-ups with solid business plans. Some are even making money already. But that’s not to say entrepreneurs have given up on the attention-getting gimmickry that often characterizes such trade shows. Redbeacon, which is offering ways for local businesses to get customers, demonstrated its service […]

I have to confess: I sometimes get a little weary from the hype that surrounds new technology offerings. This happens particularly when I’m wearing my reporter badge and walking the floor at a conference like TechCrunch50, this week’s blizzard of start-ups desperate for attention, held in a cavernous, deafening hall in San Francisco that is literally overheating […]

It’s a common refrain, but it always bears repeating: Why aren’t women better represented at technology conferences? TechCrunch50 is no exception. “It’s like a 20 to 1 ratio of men to women at this conference,” said Stella Yu, a personal brand advisor from San Francisco. And that ratio manifests itself, she believes, in what happens on […]

The start-up world has converged on San Francisco’s Design Center Concourse this morning, where the TechCrunch50 conference is underway. And nothing says how hot the world of iPhone apps is right now than the presence of the first presenter: comedian/magician Penn Jillette. Yes, Penn and Teller have an iPhone app, which will be for sale for $1.99 at […]

Investors worried about the lack of payoffs in this recession can take heart from the deal confirmed on stage at this morning’s TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco: Personal finance software giant Intuit will buy the upstart start-up Mint.com for $170 million. It was only in February of this year that Intuit lawyers sent Mint a threatening letter, […]

It’s the sad fact of life for MySpace, a sponsor of this week’sTechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco: Silicon Valley loves Facebook and Twitter. MySpace? Not so much. Yet that doesn’t stop Rupert Murdoch’s favorite social network from trying. Chad Russell, who runs MySpace’s OpenSocial team, is at the conference, trying to persuade developers to create apps for the […]