10 startups to watch

http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=20923&channel=biztech&section=

by amrithk • 18 years ago

17 37 18 years ago

axod8• 18 years ago

$71m funding, "Dash Navigation finally released Dash Express, a two-way Internet-connected dashboard traffic gadget that brings a kind of social network to the highways."

Seriously?.. An internet connected social network in the car. O...k... $71 million?

From their website - "offers a wide range of new capabilities available from the car that makes a typical GPS practically obsolete."

Sure, I'll throw my lousy GPS away and buy a "social network enabled" one! For $10 a month, I'm sure it's worth it...

Sorry to be harsh, but seriously....

coglethorpe2• 18 years ago

I looked at the funding for all of them: 71 million, 11 million, 4 million, 11 million again. Do these ideas really merit or need this kind of capital?

Maybe I'm just jealous. :-)

Back to the GPS... I'd love something that gave me real time traffic and construction updates. Maybe they plan on using "wisdom of the crowds" for that data? What no one needs is one more distraction from driving.

mosburger• 18 years ago

do they report their velocity back to a home server somewhere? so then everyone who buys one would be reporting back to home-base that, e.g., there's congestion on I-5 because there's a ton of our "Dash" GPS units stuck theree, not moving?

If so, cool idea. (If not, feel free to "steal" my idea)

AndyKelley2• 18 years ago

The article seemed a little misguided at what a social network is. I think the idea has awesome potential - think about a live display that has all the information you could gather if all the vehicles on the road were equipped with dash. You could come up with some fantastic and useful displays. It said the guys were keeping the API open, which leads it in that direction. And they make money for each sale: a good solid business model. I predict success for this company.

axod8• 18 years ago

People are going to pay $10 a month for that are they? $10 a month to see other cars moving around 'realtime' on my satnav?

alaskamiller5• 18 years ago

I played with a Dash GPS for a week here in Cupertino. It's really awesome and I'm already trying to sell my Garmin Nuvi to switch to the Dash.

As for your complaints:

Social network for the highways is reporter-speak. What the Dash does is it consolidates traffic data from all the users, analyze it, and then pushes back to the users. So if car A slows down or stops because he encounters a traffic jam that data is sent out to other cars behind car A to inform them of such a problem. It then redirects them to another route as a means of saving you time. If you don't think that's freakin' awesome, well then I don't know, you must live on the moon.

Also hardware companies have a considerably higher overhead than web 2.0 companies considering the amount of R&D and manufacturing costs associated with releasing a, you know, actual product.

vaksel• 18 years ago

what happens if you pull on the side of the road to change your tire?

axod8• 18 years ago

I think it's an awesome feature to add to an existing GPS. It'll most likely be in the next iPhone.

Investing $71m though? Customers paying $10/month for this??? It's not that awesome.

PStamatiou• 18 years ago

The Dash Express is pretty damn good. This might change your mind:

http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/05/25/review-dash-express-gps

tptacek3• 18 years ago

I only got through #7. Srsly? "Instant voicing"? A social network... for ad targeting? "Our competition is the post-it note"?

Every one of these ideas --- at least up to #7 --- could have been launched in 1999, in the middle of the bubble.

axod8• 18 years ago

Maybe the idea is to watch these startups.... explode?

tptacek3• 18 years ago

Ok. Right here. Right now. Deadpool. I vote "Pingo" or Pingeroo" or whatever that first voice IM thing was.

auston• 18 years ago

Qik is definitely worth watching!

spencerfry• 18 years ago

This is the only one from the list that I think is going anywhere.

tptacek3• 18 years ago

I would seriously like to be educated as to what is interesting about Qik. I don't pay enough attention to mobile.

I'm going to say though that a spot update on the Duncan Hunter campaign is not a compelling story about value. =)

tialys• 18 years ago

I couldn't read the article... if I wanted to go one page at a time I'd buy the freaking magazine!

czstrong• 18 years ago

print page :)

amrithk• 18 years ago

I liked the first startup as well Pinger

josefresco• 18 years ago

Same article, 1 page, no ads http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.asp...

markbao• 18 years ago

I had to right-click and copy link, new tab and paste to get the printer friendly. Probably checks for a referrer.

lapenne2• 18 years ago

Well...when I saw Pownce on that list I didn't hesitate for a second to close that tab!

Pathetic.

alaskamiller5• 18 years ago

Why?

lapenne2• 18 years ago

Because it is either the startup scene is in such a bad state that Pownce (which is one of the worst me-too startups I've seen) is among the exciting startups to watch or the writer of the article has little knowledge of startups and innovating technology in general.

I prefer to believe the latter, I believe there are quite a few exciting and innovating startups to watch out there.

signa11• 18 years ago

anagran (http://www.anagran.com/) seems interesting...

DenisM• 18 years ago

What's up with all the negative reaction here, hackers? Of all people we should be giving the benenfit of the doubt, not denying it. Eh?

10 startups to watch

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