In kicking off this year's TechCrunch50 conference, co-host Jason Calcanis borrowed a quote from Disney's film Ratatouille, asserting, "our job is to support the new." If the first half of the conference is any indication, what's "new" in the tech industry these days is a renown effort to bridge gaps between industry archetypes that aren't.
Playing Matchmaker to Fill in the Gaps
A good number of yesterday's pitches hint towards a revived trend of matching and converging certain existing products and services in the effort to make better use of them. Here's a quick rundown of a few of the judges' favorites:
- Matching physical toys and the web: Toybots, a startup that aims to make physical toys more interactive by allowing them to transmit messages and voice recordings via the internet (read: Teddy Ruxpin, now potentially more creepy. But in a good way).
It's About Time
While the startups presented thus far aren't necessarily groundbreaking in their technology, they reflect an effort in connecting the tools we use so those tools become more efficient -- and we have more time actually to enjoy, well, our time.
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