TechCrunch50 did an awesome job with this year’s conference.  On the one hand, sure wish we could have attended; on the other hand, the webcasts were so clear (kudos Ustream) that it was nice watching it in the comfort of my living room (analogous to the “pros and cons” of watching a football game live or on tv).  The panel sessions were simply amazing.  Each one could have been a plenary or business school keynote anywhere else.  Again thanks to the TC50 team for letting us watch for free and live!

As promised, just for fun, we’ve created a TechCrunch50 ButtonALL channel highlighting five finalist companies (where search was a relevant component…many of the promising search services, especially in the image and video category, are still in beta sign-up mode, so this the best five I could come up with).  Here are the companies and descriptions (from the TC50 website):

• Blah Girls
  Blah Blah Blah” is a new original content Web property that delivers a unique perspective on popular culture from the vantage point of the Blah Girls. The Blah Girls are an animated clique of teenagers who enjoy providing their commentary on the latest entertainment themed news and happenings. With this initial foray into the digital medium, Katalyst Media is applying their expertise in content creation in a new form, and providing a compelling offering to advertisers. (yeah, the Kutcher company)
• Causecast
  Causecast is a powerful online social medium that connects nonprofits, leaders, celebrities and brands to those who want to want to make a positive impact on the world. The site educates and entertains using original content and - most importantly - inspires people to get involved with the issues they want to support, in the ways they want to support them. Only on Causecast do media, social networking and philanthropy all converge in an unexpected and unparalleled way. Causecast helps make it easy for you to give back and make doing good your own. Causecast is also the only outlet that provides real-time daily coverage of cause-related news from around the world.
• Footnote
  Footnote makes it easy for members to combine profiles of people with historical newspapers, photos and documents directly related to them. Footnote adds millions of historical images each month to more than 40 million pages of military records, naturalization papers, photos and newspapers already on the site. It does this through partnerships with leading archives and by encouraging members to upload content from their shoeboxes. All content can be annotated and connected by the Footnote community. More than 80 million Footnote profiles are continuously enriched by users uploading photos and documents - or connecting to existing Footnote images. Each profile visually depicts a personal narrative as life events are plotted along a world timeline of historical milestones. The result is a deeper view of the key people, locations and events related to each unique individual.
• Good Guide
  GoodGuide.com provides free and easy access to the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies. Today, GoodGuide offers ratings on over 60,000 products commonly found in your home - from baby shampoo to household cleaners - making it quick and easy to find safe and healthy products that are right for you and good for the planet. GoodGuide helps you see what’s behind the label, find better products, get expert advice, and view recommendations based on what’s most important to you. GoodGuide delivers the information you need anytime, anywhere - online or on your phone. In the coming months, GoodGuide will be adding new product information for food, toys, electronics, automobiles, and beyond, making it the best resource for buying safe, healthy and green products that protect you and your family.
• Tweegee
  Tweegee.com is a pioneering destination site that empowers Tweens to express themselves creatively and safely in an innovative and customized online environment. Tweegee integrates social networking, digital content, and interactive tools to offer a complete online platform for Tweens. Tweegee provides Tweens with the ability to take full ownership of their online activities, to create their full personal web sites, communicate via web based email, organizer, and more , engage in rich multiplayer games, interact with a webcam games and application, read news most relevant to them, and author their own articles and much more, all at one destination. Tweegee’s novel approach offers a creative and independent outlet for Tweens to construct their online characters. All communications are protected with technologically advanced safeguards, such as the patent pending “WordUp!” feature, human and automatically moderation and more Tweegee equips Tweens with a genuine web 2.0 experience; addressing Tweens interests and concerns yet allowing them to experiment with the “real internet”.

To add this channel, go to the Customize Screen and scroll to “Fun” then choose “TechCrunch50 Companies” OR you can just click here (once).

I will be following (and rooting for) Virginia-based companies over at the Richmond Good Life’s Tech News section.  There are two Virginia companies represented at Demo: (1) Paidinterviews (Blog) of McLean, VA and (2) SitScape of Vienna, VA.

As for TC50, they just released the companies, and from my initial research (clicking on the crunchbases), I don’t see any Virginia-based start-ups.  :(  There are lots of California, but I guess that should be expected.  I haven’t even looked at the Demo Pit companies (Too much work…Sure wish they’d publish a list of origin city/countries like Demo).  Once I figure out who’s Virginia, I will start covering them (UPDATE! I clicked on all of em.  I only saw Samepage of Falls Church, but there were tons of companies without location data).   In addition, the Commonwealth is being represented at TC50 by the folks at Mixx (McLean, VA) who’ve created the official TechCrunch Mixx (a mashup that aggregates all the “Diggs, Feeds, Tweets, and Blog Posts” onto one page).  Mixx was recently profiled by Somewhat Frank (Video: Visiting The Mixx HQ Mixxing Bowl) who is covering the TC50 event in person. 

If I see any good, working search engine type products, I will create a special limited search channel for ButtonALL later this week!