Bitgravity Officially Launches The Content Delivery Network Than Everyone’s Been Talking About
Burlingame based BitGravity officially launches their website and content delivery network (CDN) this evening, although the company has been busy working with nearly fifty existing customers for months to work through any last minute issues. We first covered the company when one of its employees sent a live video stream from his car (using BitGravity) during a drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
They are focused on delivering high volume rich media (streaming video and audio files) and large software downloads with a near zero buffer time and very low lag time.
Their flagship customer is Revision3, which has a number of popular high definition video shows (such as Diggnation and The GigaOm Show) that a lot of people watch right when a new show becomes available. Given how well those shows tend to stream, it’s the best endorsement BitGravity can get. An example GigaOm Show episode (recorded during the TechCrunch40 conference) is embedded below.
CEO Perry Wu says the company has a lot more planned in the near future. They say they’ll be working specifically with big networks to stream live events and other popular content, and to look for bandwidth-heavy streams that include, for example, 360 degree views of concerts and sporting events.
The company has raised a seed round of capital but will not yet disclose investors or the size of the round.
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Edgeio Spams Bloggers: Bad Idea
Random spam is never welcome. But when it comes from a company that I co-founded, I think it’s worth criticizing in writing.
Edgeio’s classified listing platform has been doing well. We use it for our CrunchBoard job board, and many other blogs and websites have begun to use it, too. The company recently started reaching out to bloggers to discuss business development deals. Which is fine. But what isn’t fine is random mass emails out to top bloggers (including our own Duncan Riley) to pitch the product.
I emailed Keith Teare, my co-founder and the company’s CEO, who says this was a simple mistake and was only meant to be sent to people they’ve already had direct contact with. That’s fine, but as I said I’m going to call them on this since I’m a stockholder and my name is associated with the company.
Part of my promise to readers is to call things like I see them. Conflicts of interest are disclosed on our about page. And when a company I’m involved with does something I think is particularly smart or not so smart, I will point it out here on TechCrunch. File this one under “not so smart.”
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Buddystumbler Combines Social Networking And IM
Buddystumbler is a newly launched (out of beta) social networking site that focuses on Instant Messaging (IM) contacts.
Users create profiles that include the typical social networking features of photos, descriptions, and interests. Buddystumbler then offers an interface that enables searching of user profiles, interests and location, sort of part Meetro, part Facebook. The search option itself feels more like a dating site, asking whether you’re a guy or gal looking to hook up with a guy or gal (their choice of words), although keyword and tag searches are also available.
Once connecting with someone on Buddystumbler, users can contact their new found friends via a supported chat platform, by leaving a message or giving them a “High 5.” Platforms supported include AOL, Yahoo, MSN and Google.
Sunnyvale based founder Han-Shen Yuan created Buddystumbler to allow “more people to interact with each other, in communicating online,” by which I presume he meant IM. If you’re heavily into instant messaging (and generally speaking that will mean you’re more likely younger than me) Buddystumber may be worth a look.
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iWon Gets a Makeover
iWon, the site owned by IAC that attracts people with the promises of instant prizes, is revamping it’s look, going from a very 1.0 portal to a Flashy, casual-games site, complete with spinning wheels, slots, and lots of bright colors. The games are also now going to become widgetizable so they can live on people’s Facebook or MySpace pages. (And you thought you could avoid the shrill marketing come-ons just by avoiding the site).
iWon’s business model is to lure people in with cash prizes, get them to play online games like Sudoku, Slots, or Solitaire, and show them ads. Games can also be created specifically for ad sponsors.
This was iWon 1.0:
and here’s iWon 2.0:
I can’t decide which one’s lamer. Still, iWon needed to do something. According to comScore, its monthly unique visitors dropped from 5.2 million last year to 2.2 million in August. Although average time spent on the site shot up from 33 minutes a month to 53 minutes, that’s what you’d expect as the casual visitors tired of the offerings and the only ones left were the hardcore iWannaBeWinners. In beta testing, the new site has already proved to keep people playing five times longer than before. But is it the same people over and over again, or will the makeover be able to attract enough new visitors to turn things around?
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Copy And Paste On The iPhone
The following is a concept video produced by LonelySandwich.com demonstrating cut and paste on the iPhone. It’s a feature that’s sorely lacking on the phone; it can do so much but without copy and paste it can never really be a 100% computer replacement (although for me it’s a 75% of the time laptop replacement.)
It’s a old mockup so I don’t think it will be coming soon, but the video itself is worth watching 
Thanks to Matt Milosavljevic for the tip.
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UBS expected to post big fixed-income loss: report
UBS, the Swiss bank, is expected to announce Monday a third-quarter loss of 600 million to 700 million Swiss francs ($510 million to $600 million) from its fixed-income unit, according to a published report.
Randy Pausch: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Computer Science Professor Randy Pausch, who has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University last week. He gives excellent advice on how to live your life and achieve your most outrageous dreams. It’s a must see for entrepreneurs, and really anyone looking for a refresher course on living life to achieve your maximum creative potential. My favorite quote from the video is when he talks about brick walls impeding your march towards goals. They’re to stop other people, he says, and overcoming them just proves to you how much you want something.
Thanks to Paul Bragiel, the founder of Meetro, for sending this to me and a recommendation to spend an hour and a half watching it. I’ve now seen it twice, and think it is worth sharing with our readers.
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Mets lost millions (of $) in collapse
The New York Mets lost more than a playoff spot, their pride and probably some of their fan base this past week. The franchise lost millions of dollars, while the players themselves lost at least $20,000 apiece, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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