Cozi was co-founded by Robbie Cape and Jan Miksovsky after the two of them left Microsoft. Most of the company’s employees worked previously at Amazon.com, Expedia, or Microsoft. The company’s first product was called Cozi Central and released on September 25, 2006, and includes a family calendar, shopping lists, family messaging, and a photo collage screensaver. Cozi was relaunched as a web-oriented company on June 3, 2008.

Corporate Culture

Cozi uses Tupperware-style events called Mom’s parties to conduct market research.

The company is unusual among technology start-ups in that it employs a roughly equal balance of men and women.

From Cozi Website

Cozi is a free web service that helps families manage crazy schedules, track shopping and to do lists, organize household chores, stay in communication and share memories—all in one place.

People have accused us of being fanatically family focused, and you know what? They’re right. From our very beginning in 2005, we’ve been all about families. When we started Cozi, we were just a small group of Microsoft, Expedia, and Amazon veterans—all with kids of our own—looking for a way to balance our busy schedules and create more harmony at home. So we pooled our collective knowledge and experience to create something special. Something that would make it easy and fun for families to juggle everything they have to do. Not just our families, but families everywhere.

We know every family is different, but we all have one thing in common: we’re crazy-busy. Cozi is designed to make it easier to manage everything we have to do. Cozi tracks appointments and activities, simplifies shopping lists and chores, and makes it easy for everyone to communicate with each other. Even when schedules change, Cozi is there making sure all the moving pieces fit together at the end of the day.

Avi2DVD is a freeware tool that converts Avi, Ogm, Mkv, Wmv and Dvd to Dvd, Svcd or Vcd. This program has the support of multiple audio streams, the capture from digital video cameras and others. It’s a tool for the creation of semiprofessional DVD’s.

In this software you will get multiple tabs for the configurations of the files: the input, output, encoders, subtitles and also the DVD menu. It provides the support of three external subtitles and the configuration of the DVD menu with the inclusion or manages for chapters, audio, subtitles buttons with great facilities.

Is a 100% freeware utility that uses other freeware softwares to complete the package, totally free of malwares.

The author made an important note about the functionality of the software, mentioning that the program is a codec dependant, saying that the codec package could be affected the functionality of it. Some of the softwares that could affect its functionality are the Morgan Splitter and the Nero filters. In the case that you have been installed any of this programs the author let you know it required to uninstall this type of softwares and reinstall the program.

Other Information

• Developed by TrustFm
• Latest release 0.4.5 beta / June 28, 2007
• OS Microsoft Windows
• Type DVD authoring
• License Freeware

Links

• Avi2Dvd
• AutoGK

Download

Users have the opportunity to meet new people and make friends within the context of a flirting environment. Features include an online chat facility, personal profiles, photos, and videos. Flirtomatic also offer a viral video game, FlirtQuest. Users make public challenges for other users to film and submit.

Also on offer is a comprehensive test of flirting skills. The “flirt test” was specially developed by Dr. Lenny Kristal, author of ‘The Great British Sex Survey’ and allows members and casual users the opportunity to assess their flirting skills based on a number of criteria.

Flirtomatic also features an online search engine and both web and 3G gateways for access to the service. The 3G gateway is currently only available to users with a UK mobile contract.

Partners

On the 12 February 2007, as the result of a new partnership with the British newspaper, the News of the World, Flirtomatic launched a re-branded version of its service, News Of The World Flirtomatic.

Through a growing network of partnerships with UK mobile operators, such as Hutchison Whampoa’s 3, Flirtomatic offers regular mobile operator portal integration.

Flirtomatic were first to partner with Microsoft UK’s on their AdMob text-advertising service.

Links

• visit Flirtomatic

A maximum of 20 folders (or “libraries”) may by synced, including libraries shared over the internet. Each library can contain a maximum of 20,000 files and each file cannot exceed 4GB.

Windows Live Sync was released on December 11, 2008.

Microsoft bought FolderShare from ByteTaxi Inc. on November 3, 2005, and made it a part of their Windows Live range of services.

On March 10, 2008, Microsoft released its first user visible update to Windows Live Sync (then FolderShare). This comprised a rewrite of the FolderShare website and an updated Windows Live Sync client. Support for discussion groups and Remote Desktop Search was removed, but may be brought back in a future releases. The new client has some user interface and branding updates and contains several bug fixes including official support for Windows Vista. As of April 2008, FolderShare also no longer supports Windows 2000.

Windows Live Sync had undergone extensive platform upgrades, switching from the original LAMP when it was originally built on and acquired, to the Windows Server platform. New UI improvements were also announced to be part of the Windows Live Sync release, integrating it with other Windows Live services. New features of Windows Live Sync compared to FolderShare include:

• Ability to sync up to 20 folders with 20,000 files each
• Integration with Windows Live ID
• Integration with the Recyle Bin
• New client versions for both Windows and Mac
• Unicode support
• Integration with Windows Live Photo Gallery to sync photo albums between PCs

The FolderShare software has stopped working as Windows Live Sync is released, and users have been asked to upgrade to Sync. After upgrading, Windows Live Sync automatically rebuild the user’s personal folders, however, Sync is unable to rebuild the shared libraries.

Links

• Windows Live Sync homepage

For capturing content beyond direct text and digital ink input, Evernote uses a system of Clippers (Web, Mail, and Universal Clippers) and supports drag-and-drop, cut, copy, and paste, and import/auto-import capabilities.

AI technologies used in the Evernote application for recognition, indexing and search purpose include AIR (Advanced Image Recognition) for search of typed and handwritten text in images captured on camera phone or scanner; and ANR (Advanced Notes Recognition) for search in digital ink notes captured on pen-enabled devices like Pocket PC, Tablet PC, Ultra-Mobile PC, and digital paper, amongst others. AIR technology is optimized for recognition of low quality images. In contrast to AIR, ANR technology provides not only search capability, but also outputs handwriting recognition results for ink notes; ANR can also automatically smooth and align freehand shapes and charts.

Evernote categories include Automatic, Manual and Keyword (Saved Searches). Categories are automatically assigned to notes based on attributes such as content type, date range, etc.

Evernote’s web-based version of the software was updated to version 3.0 in an open beta on June 24, 2008.

Evernote is a competitor of Microsoft OneNote on Windows and web application Google Notebook.

Links

• Evernote Official Website

Supported programming languages and frameworks

At its launch date, the only supported programming language was Python. A limited version of the Django web framework is available, as well as a custom Google-written web app framework similar to JSP or ASP.NET. Google has said that it plans to support more languages in the future. Any Python framework not requiring network access, data storage outside the Google Datastore, file system access, or compiled Python modules written in C or Pyrex should work on the Google App Engine.

Differences from traditional application hosting

Unlike more traditional virtual-machine setups such as Amazon’s EC2, Joyent’s Accelerator, FlexiScale, or even a simple shared server or dedicated server system, App Engine is a tightly controlled and tightly integrated product that places many restrictions on users. While others allow for the installation and configuration of nearly any *NIX compatible software, AppEngine requires developers to use Python as the programming language and “Datastore” – a version of Google’s proprietary BigTable – for data persistence.

Scalability benefits gained from removing joins

Google App Engine has a SQL-like syntax called “GQL”. Select statements in GQL can be performed on one table only. GQL intentionally does not support the Join statement.

One-to-many relationships and many-to-many relationships can be accomplished using ReferenceProperty(). This shared-nothing approach allows disks to fail without the system failing.

The where clause of select statements can perform >, >=, <, <= operations on one column only. Therefore, only simple where clauses can be constructed. Switching from a relational database to the Datastore requires a paradigm shift for developers when modeling their data.

App Engine limits the maximum rows returned from an entity get to 1000 rows per Datastore call. Most web database applications use paging and caching, and hence do not require this much data at once, so this is a non-issue in most scenarios.[citation needed] If an application needs more than 1,000 records per operation, it can use its own client-side software or an Ajax page to perform an operation on an unlimited number of rows.

Task scheduling is a heavily requested feature by App Engine users for future releases. Batch updates that take longer than a few seconds cannot be executed. Many have speculated that once the free quota restrictions are lifted, Google will introduce support for such operations. However, mapreduce operations are now supported.

Unlike a relational database such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, or PostgreSQL, the Datastore API is not relational in the SQL sense.

Restrictions

• Developers have read-only access to the filesystem on App Engine.
• App Engine can only execute code called from an HTTP request.
• No support for task scheduling in the traditional sense.
• Users may upload arbitrary Python modules, provided they are pure-Python. C and Pyrex modules are not supported.

Competition

The service competes with Amazon Web Services, a set of application services that enable web sites to host files and execute code on Amazon’s servers. Many tech analysts have been predicting Google’s entry into this field for years. “Google finally realizes it needs to be the web platform,” Techdirt publisher Mike Masnick wrote. “The easier it is to develop and deploy highly scalable web applications, the more innovative and creative solutions we’re going to start to see.”

Other competitors include Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform.

Links

• Official site
• Best Enterprise Startup Crunchies 2008

GitHub operates a pastebin-style site at gist.github.com

Used by

Microsoft has created a repository for IronRuby projects, to be hosted on GitHub.

Other notable projects that use GitHub as their hosted revision control platform include:

• Ruby on Rails
• YUI
• Capistrano
• Haml
• Prototype
• MooTools
• SproutCore
• RSpec
• Rubinius
• Merb
• script.aculo.us
• Blueprint CSS Framework
• BlogBridge

Links

• Visit Girhub

eBuddy is a web browser-based instant messaging service that originally started as e-Messenger in 2003. It combines MSN, AOL, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook and MySpace IM into a single web based interface. It is also available via mobile phones, independent of carrier or device via WAP or mobile internet browser.

eBuddy is a privately-held company backed by Prime Technology Ventures and Lowland Capital Partners.

eBuddy is headquartered in Amsterdam and has a second, local office in London. The company launched a third and fourth, US office in San Francisco in April 2008.

History

Paulo Taylor is the inventor of eBuddy. The idea came to life when he made a bet with a friend in which he said he could get MSN to work on a mobile phone. Working full-time at an internet company, Paulo spent his after hours working on a mobile MSN application. After several weeks, he won the bet and uploaded the application on a server. It was here that visitors asked if he could make a web version of the application. As user traffic spurred, Paulo decided to take the idea to the next level.

On September 9th 2003, Paulo together with two partners created EverywhereMSN.com. Microsoft however claimed the domain name and shortly after on December 4th 2003 the domain was changed to e-messenger.net. On May 1st 2004, e-Messenger became incorporated. On June 1st 2006, e-Messenger was renamed to eBuddy.

Features

eBuddy offers a secure login option. Users can also indicate if they wish to sign on invisibly. The chat client includes a tab mode setting to differentiate chat windows, similar to tabbed web browsing. The beta version released in June 2007 supports multiple IM networks in one interface.

Mobile

The mobile instant messaging version (eBuddy Lite), compatible with Cell Phones, PDAs, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS works on devices that support WAP or xHTML.

In June 2007, a Java ME client (eBuddy Mobile) was released that is claimed to work on the top 600 cellular phones used worldwide.

iPhone

On July 13th eBuddy released an Alpha version for the iPhone. It is based on the same AJAX platform as the Beta web version. Somewhere at the start of 2008, the eBuddy iPhone version started to point to their Lite Messenger. An optimized version of the Lite Messenger is provided to iPhone users.

Unsupported features

* QQ Protocol
* Skinning – Users cannot customize application appearance.
* Webcam interface – Users cannot utilize a webcam.
* File Transfer – Users cannot send or receive files.

Links

• eBuddy homepage

Live Mesh is part of Live Services, one of the building blocks of Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform – a “cloud” platform hosted at Microsoft data centers.

Architecture

The Live Mesh software, called Mesh Operating Environment (MOE), is currently available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, and Mac OS X. It can be used to create and manage the synchronization relationships between devices and data. Live Mesh also includes a cloud storage component, called Live Desktop. It is an online storage service that allows synchronized folders to be accessible via a website. Live Mesh also provides a remote desktop software called Live Mesh Remote Desktop that can be used to remotely connect and manage to any of the devices in a synchronization relationship. Live Mesh Remote Desktop allows users to control their devices from the Live Mesh application, as well as from any other internet connected PC.

The developer component of Live Mesh is a set of protocol and Application Programming Interfaces (API) known as Live Framework (previously known as MeshFX). It is a REST-based API for accessing the Live Mesh services over HTTP. Microsoft has also provided APIs for managed code (including .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight) as well as for Win32 and JavaScript via a developer Software Development Kit (SDK). Unlike the Mesh Operating Environment (MOE), which is limited to sharing folders, the MeshFX APIs can be used to share any data item between devices that recognize the data. The API encapsulates the data into a Mesh Object – the native synchronization unit of Live Mesh – which is then tracked for changes and synchronized. A Mesh Object consists of a collection of Data Feeds, which can be represented in Atom, RSS, JSON or Plain Old XML formats. The data entries within these feeds are synchronized via the FeedSync protocol. The MOE software also creates Mesh Objects for each Live Mesh folder in order for them to be synchronized.

Related products

Windows Live Sync is another Microsoft product that offers similar functions such as synchronized folders. Live Mesh offers overlapping features; Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync both allow remote access of files, but there is a fundamental difference in the way this is achieved. Live Mesh allows cloud storage of files which enables computers to synchronize with other computers even if one or more of those computers are switched off/disconnected from the internet. Windows Live Sync is computer to computer synchronization that requires that the computers to be synced are connected to the internet and running Windows Live Sync simulaneously – there is no online storage of files. Windows Live SkyDrive is another Microsoft service that offers cloud storage which is separate from the Live Desktop feature of Live Mesh.

Features and functionalities of Live Mesh are expected to be integrated into the Windows Live “Wave 4″ release.

Other Information

• Developed by Microsoft
• Preview release 0.9.3424.5 / 30 October 2008
• OS Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, Mac OS X
• Type File sharing, File synchronization
• License Freeware
• Website http://www.mesh.com

Best Application Or Service

Google Reader (winner)

Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. Reader graduated from beta status on September 17, 2007.

MySpace Music (runner-up)

MySpace Music section differ from normal profiles in allowing artists to upload up to six MP3 songs. The uploader must have rights to use the songs (e.g. their own work, permission granted, etc). Unsigned musicians can use MySpace to post and sell music using SNOCAP, which has proven popular among MySpace users.

Get Satisfaction

Get Satisfaction is a direct connection between people and companies that fosters problem-solving, promotes sharing, and builds up relationships. Thousands of companies use this neutral space to support customers, exchange ideas, and get feedback about their products and services…

Minted

Minted is an online stationery store. They crowd-source designs from the professional design community to create high end templates for invitations, holiday cards, and all kinds of stationery.

Meebo

Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web. We provide instant messaging and group chat to over 40 million people at meebo.com and via partner sites across the Web. At meebo.com, millions of people every month keep in touch with friends on an any IM network (AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk and Gmail, MySpace IM, Facebook Chat, and more!) and chat with people in Meebo Rooms.

Yelp

Yelp combines local reviews and social networking functionality to create a local online community. Adding social web functionality to user reviews creates a de-facto reputation system, whereby site visitors can see which contributing users are the most popular, respected, and prolific, how long each has been a member…

Best Technology Innovation/Achievement

Windows Live Mesh (winner)

Live Mesh is a data synchronization system from Microsoft that allows files and folders to be shared and synchronized across multiple devices. Live Mesh consists of a software component that allows synchronization relationships to be created among different devices. Once a folder is set for synchronization, it will be available in all devices, and any changes made to the content of the folder will be reflected across all devices.

Facebook Connect (runner-up)

Facebook is a popular, free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. The website’s name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other

Google Friend Connect

Google Friend Connect is an Open Social application offered by Google that started in May 2008. Google Friend Connect main focus is to simplify the connection between social and non-social websites and standardize the handling and presentation of social applications and content. It uses a blend of open standards, such as OpenID for signin, oAuth to control data, and Open Social for applications.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a free web browser developed by Google that has about 1% share of browser market. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers. Chromium is the open source project behind Google Chrome, and is released under the BSD license. It implements the same feature set, but has a slightly different logo.

Swype

Swype creates text input technology for screens. The patented interface enables users to create words with one continuous finger motion across an on-screen keyboard. This approach provides a faster and easier way to write. Swype delivers single-tap, multi-tap, predictive and “swype” motions for both stylus and finger based input. In addition, the application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more.

Yahoo BOSS

Yahoo! Search BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) is a Yahoo! Developer Network initiative to provide an open search web services platform. The main goal and idea of BOSS is to give users, in this case developer’s free access to the Yahoo! Search index. The results can be supplied into the developer’s website or program so that they can manipulate the resources according to their product’s requirements…

Best Design

Cooliris (winner)

Cooliris, formerly known as PicLens, is a web browser plugin that provides interactive full-screen slideshows of online images. The plugin is available for Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. At present, the software is compatible with Google Image Search, Yahoo! Image Search, Ask.com Images, Live Search Images, AOL Image Search, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Fotki, FotoTime, deviantART, SmugMug, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, hi5, Friendster, YouTube (for videos), Gallery, and any web site that implements mediaRSS <link> tags in their HTML pages. The software places a small icon in the corner of an image thumbnail when the mouse moves over it, which launches into a full-screen photo viewer when clicked.

Animoto (runner-up)

Animoto is a web application that, with the click of a button, produces videos using images and music that a user selects. Using their patent-pending Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor & director, the resulting video has the emotional impact of a movie trailer and the visual energy of a music video.

Friendfeed

FriendFeed is a feed aggregator that consolidates the updates from social media and social networking websites, social bookmarking websites, blogs and micro-blogging updates, as well as any other type of RSS/ Atom feed. Users can use this stream of information to create customized feeds to share (and comment) with friends.

Infectious

Infectious creates and sells self expression stickers for your car. The stickers, which are made to be durable yet removable, are made out of the same materials as ad wraps used on cars and buses. The company recommends 18-24 months of usage per sticker, but says they will likely last a lot longer.

Lala

Lala is a hub for online music discovery and purchasing. Users can listen for free music, adding tracks to their playlist as they surf. members who download a plugin can turn Lala into an online music locker that syncs their desktop music libraries to their Lala account. Long uploads aren’t necessary. If Lala already has the song in their library, they simply unlock the file to you online.

Sliderocket

SlideRocket is a rich internet application (RIA) that provides for every part of the presentation life cycle. It integrates authoring, asset management, delivery and analytics tools in a single hosted environment that allows you to quickly create great looking presentations, store, tag and search your assets, collaborate with your colleagues, securely share your slides in person or remotely and measure the results.

Best Bootstrapped Startup

GitHub (winner)

GitHub is a project hosting service for projects using the Git revision control system. It is written in Ruby on Rails, being developed by Logical Awesome (Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, and Tom Preston-Werner). GitHub operates a pastebin-style site at gist.github.com

12seconds.tv (runner-up)

12seconds is the best place online for video status updates. It’s a super easy way to share what you’re doing with your friends and family using short video clips. You can use your web cam or mobile phone. Show your friends where you are, share your thoughts, or tell them how you’re doing. We are building a video status platform that will help you keep up to date with your friends 12 seconds at a time.

• BackType
• Socialcast
• StatSheet

Most Likely To Make The World A Better Place

GoodGuide (winner)

GoodGuide™ strives to provide the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies. GoodGuide’s mission is to help you find safe, healthy, and green products that are better for you and the planet. From our origins as a UC Berkeley research project, GoodGuide has developed into a totally independent “For-Benefit” company. We are committed to providing the information you need to make better decisions, and to ultimately shifting the balance of information and power in the marketplace.

• Kiva (runner-up)
• Akoha
• Causes
• CO2Stats
• Better Place

Best Enterprise Startup

Amazon Web Services (winner)

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) are a collection of remote computing services (also called web services) offered over the Internet by Amazon.com. Launched in July 2002, Amazon Web Services provide online services for other web sites or client-side applications. Most of these services are not exposed directly to end users, but instead offer functionality that other developers can use. In June 2007, Amazon claimed that more than 330,000 developers had signed up to use Amazon Web Services.

Google App Engine (runner-up)

Google App Engine is a platform for building and hosting web applications on Google Web Servers. It was first released as a beta version in April 2008. During its preview release, only free accounts are offered. According to Google, a free account can use up to 500 MB of persistent storage and enough CPU and bandwidth for about 5 million page views a month. Google has also indicated its intention to eventually provide additional resources for a price. During the preview stage, Google App Engine tries to accommodate sudden surges in traffic, but errors will occur if the quota continues to be exceeded.

• Force.com
• Yammer
• Zoho

Best International Startup

eBuddy (winner)

eBuddy is a web & mobile messenger which supports various instant messaging services including Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook, and MySpace IM. eBuddy is a web browser-based instant messaging service that originally started as e-Messenger in 2003. It combines MSN, AOL, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook and MySpace IM into a single web based interface. It is also available via mobile phones, independent of carrier or device via WAP or mobile internet browser.

• Wuala (runner-up)
• Fotonauts
• OpenX
• Vente-privee

Best Clean Tech Startup

• Project Frog (winner)
• Better Place (runner-up)
• Boston Power
• ElectraDrive
• Laurus Energy

Best New Gadget/Device

• iPhone 3G (winner)
• Android G1 (runner-up)
• Ausus EEE 1000 Series
• Flip MinoHD
• SlingCatcher

Best Time Sink Site/Application

• Tap Tap Range (winner)
• Texas Hold Em (runner-up)
• Mob Wars
• iBowl
• Zivity

Best Mobile Startup

Evernote (winner)

Evernote is a software application that allows users to capture information of various types, including text notes, mobile phone snapshots, printed and handwritten text within images, web clips, and digital ink. All data added to Evernote are run through a series of recognizers that make any text within the various note formats searchable. The application uses a continuous “roll of paper” metaphor for its user interface. Additionally, users may create folders, categories and notebooks.

• ChaCha (runner-up)
• Posterous
• Qik Skyfire
• Truphone

Best Mobile Application

imeem mobile (winner)

imeem for Android helps people easily discover music that matches their tastes. The application enables users to create custom Internet radio stations by searching for specific artists, discover new music through personalized recommendations and listen to the most popular artists in the imeem community. .

Google Mobile Application (runner-up)

Google’s mobile application is available for the Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and numerous other mobile phone solutions. The application supports websearch, directions, maps, business listings, GMail, YouTube, and phone contact search. Google Mobile also supports an SMS search system..

• Pandora Radio
• rolando
• ShopSavvy
• Ocarina

Best Startup Founder

• Linda Avery and Anne Wojcicki (23andMe)
• Michael Birch and Xochi Birch (Bebo)
• Robert Kalin (Etsy)
• Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone (Twitter ) (winner)
• Paul Buchheit, Jim Norris, Sanjeev Singh, Bret Taylor (FriendFeed ) (runner-up)

Best Startup CEO

• Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) (winner)
• Jason Kilar (Hulu) (runner-up)
• Tony Hsieh (Zappos)
• Elon Musk (SpaceX)
• Andy Rubin (Android)

Best New Startup Of 2008

FriendFeed (winner)

FriendFeed is a feed aggregator that consolidates the updates from social media and social networking websites, social bookmarking websites, blogs and micro-blogging updates, as well as any other type of RSS/ Atom feed. Users can use this stream of information to create customized feeds to share (and comment) with friends.

Dropbox (runner-up)

Dropbox is a storage application and service operated by Evenflow, Inc. The service enables users to store and sync files online and between computers. Dropbox has a cross-platform client (Windows, Mac and Linux) that enables users to drop any file into a Dropbox folder that is then synced to the web and the users’ other computers with the Dropbox client.

• GoodGuide
• Tapulous
• Topsin Media
• Yammer

Best Overall Startup In 2008

Facebook (winner)

Facebook is a popular, free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. The website’s name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other.

Twitter (runner-up)

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or email, or through an application such as …

Amazon Web Services

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) are a collection of remote computing services (also called web services) offered over the Internet by Amazon.com. Launched in July 2002, Amazon Web Services provide online services for other web sites or client-side applications. Most of these services are not exposed directly to end users, but instead offer functionality that other developers can use. In June 2007, Amazon claimed that more than 330,000 developers had signed up to use Amazon Web Services.

Android

The Android platform is a software stack for mobile devices including an operating system, middleware and key applications. Developers can create applications for the platform using the Android SDK. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use, which runs on top of a Linux kernel.

• hulu

The Crunchies 2008