TechCrunch50: SeatGeek advises you when to buy tickets to the big game

It's the ticket-scalping conundrum: Will it be cheaper to buy seats in advance of the event or will prices drop as it gets closer to game time and the sellers want to unload their wares?

SeatGeek, a new company that showed its stuff at the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, aims to take the guesswork out of that decision.

"We have an algorithm that can forecast ticket prices," said Jack Groetzinger, co-founder of the company. He compared it to Bing's FareCast, which does something similar with airline tickets.

SeatGeek aggregates tickets on sale from most of the major re-sellers, like StubHub, RazorGator, TicketsNow and others.

Say you're interested in getting tickets to Oct. 4's showdown between the Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies. (See the screen grab at right.)  SeatGeek searches available seats, and says you can get cheap seats for below face value, but you should wait -- the price will probably go even lower. But if you want the medium or expensive seats, buy them now, as those prices will probably rise. (Perhaps the conclusion is that if Dodger fans can't get close to the action, they'd rather stay home.)

Groetzinger, 25, and co-founder Russ D'Souza, 24, sold their earlier company, Scribnia (which D'Souza called "Yelp for authors and bloggers") four months ago, and immediately started SeatGeek. They were living in Boston at the time, where Red Sox tickets are hard to come by and only available on the secondary market.

"We see this as a huge opportunity for a change-the-world type of business," D'Souza said.

-- Dan Fost

TechCrunch50: Dot-com dreams

At the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, the focus is clearly on start-ups with solid business plans. Some are even making money already.

But that’s not to say entrepreneurs have given up on the attention-getting gimmickry that often characterizes such trade shows.

Redbeacon, which is offering ways for local businesses to get customers, demonstrated its service by ordering 500 cupcakes -- and then delivering the cupcakes throughout the conference hall.

IMo, a two-person company based in India, nearly bombed when it blasted the song “Eye of the Tiger” and then the demonstration failed. But iMo co-founder Himanshu Baweja bounced back later, in what was probably the best demo of the show. For one thing, he didn’t utter a single word in showing how he’s developed an application that makes an iPhone work like a joystick -- in conjunction with any PC-based video game.

Baweja dressed first as a motorcycle rider and played a racing game. He stripped the jacket and helmet, dressed as a pilot, and showed an airplane game, to the tune of "Danger Zone." The pilot hat and jacket dropped, and he picked up a baseball bat, playing an urban street-fighter game to the tune of "In Da Club." In the question-and-answer period that followed, he said the app would sell for 99 cents.

-- Dan Fost

TechCrunch50: Penn and Teller, the iPhone app

Penn Jillette reveals the secret behind a gadget. Credit: Andy Sternberg from Flickr.

The start-up world has converged on San Francisco's Design Center Concourse this morning, where the TechCrunch50 conference is underway. And nothing says how hot the world of iPhone apps is right now than the presence of the first presenter: comedian/magician Penn Jillette.

Yes, Penn and Teller have an iPhone app, which will be for sale for $1.99 at the iTunes store as soon as Apple approves it. The app lets the user fool his or her friends into thinking that the user knows Penn and Teller, and that the famed duo will perform a card trick over the phone.

Jillette demonstrated how it works to a panel of venture capitalist judges. The user asks a friend to name a card, and then launches the app. The app mimics the iPhone home page, but enables the user to enter a code identifying the card. Then the user pretends to send a text message to Penn and Teller, and a dialogue ensues, ending with the magicians "guessing" the friend's card.

"We wanted to create a trick that somebody could download with no instructions," Jillette said. "We also wanted a trick that would fool ... people."

As Jillette fielded questions from the venture capitalists on stage, it became clear that he is not a typical tech entrepreneur.

"Our main beta tester is a stripper in Philadelphia named Heather who does this for everyone who hired her to do a lap dance," he said. Heather's tips are way up, he reported.

When venture capitalist George Zachary asked what business he was, at least theoretically, being asked to invest in, Jillette shot back, "There’s no venture capital required. We’re done and it’s for sale now."

Asked what he was going to do next, Jillette said, "I’m going to go to Las Vegas and shoot bullets at my partner Teller."

--Dan Fost

Around the Web 5.27.09: the Zune HD, a Blockbuster video game rental service, Nokia's troubled app store

Is the Kutcher-Twitter love affair coming to an end?. Credit: dpstyles via Flickr

-- Microsoft says the Zune HD, a touch-screen rival to the iPod, will be out this fall. Boy Genius Report

-- The worldwide recession has created dozens of hot young start-ups in India. AP via LAT

-- Ashton Kutcher threatens to sign off Twitter if the microblogging service partners with a reality TV show. CNN

-- Blockbuster will launch an online video game rental service to better compete with Netflix. Silicon Alley Insider

-- A former TV evangelist buys AmericanLife, a Christian cable network. AP via LAT

-- Twitter's founders say they're planning to stay with the company for the long haul. Bits

-- Time Warner will reportedly decide at a board meeting Thursday whether to spin off AOL. TechCrunch

-- Nokia's app store has a terrible first day, crashing and getting routinely mocked. USA Today

-- Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama's Supreme Court nominee, knows a thing or two about computers and technology. Wired

-- Alana Semuels

A note to readers: We're playing around a little with the format of the Tech Blog, so this will be the last day of Around the Web -- for now. Instead, you'll see more short posts referring you to other blogs' takes on interesting tech stories of the day. If you love that idea -- or hate it -- feel free to e-mail us with your concerns. You can find our contact information by clicking on our names in the panel in the right-hand side of the page titled Our Bloggers.

Around the Web 5.26.09: Pan-European song licenses, Nokia's Ovi Store stumbles and Vizio fights back

Will the digital television transition on June 12 catch you unawares? Credit: Brocco Lee via Flickr.

-- About 3 million U.S. households are not ready for the digital television transition, to occur on June 12, about half the number of three months ago. MSNBC

-- Are you one of them? Read this primer on the digital transition and become a DTV guru. ArsTechnica

-- Music labels, under pressure from the European Union, will offer song licenses that apply across EU, not just individual countries. WSJ

-- Nokia's answer to iTunes, dubbed the Ovi Store, falters on day of launch. TechCrunch

-- Vizio fights back, sues Funai Electric for patent infringement. TWICE

-- Warner Bros. aims to become major publisher of iPhone Apps. mocoNews via WashPost

-- Nano-materials can hold your data for a billion years. Slashdot

-- Seiko Epson finds way to manufacture large-screen OLED televisions, using inkjet technology. Engadget

-- Alex Pham

Around the Web 5.22.09: Apple tablet updates, Warner bid for Midway, Data.gov launch

David Kernell, who reportedly hacked Sarah Palin's e-mail in September. Credit: Associated Press

-- Data.gov, the U.S. government's public data catalog, launched. ReadWriteWeb

-- Remember that accused Sarah Palin e-mail hacker? His new defense: The messages were public record. Wired Threat Level

-- Warner Bros. offered $33 million for bankrupt Midway Games. LAT

-- More details have surfaced about the new Apple tablet computer: price less that $1,000, screen as big as 10 inches, due early next year. TechCrunch

-- Bloggers are expecting a much faster iPhone with more storage and a video camera, but no actual Apple tablet announcement at Apple's WWDC. Silicon Alley Insider

-- Another round of phishing scams hit Twitter and Facebook. CNet

-- The judge assigned to the Pirate Bay case was accused of bias. Now, the judge assigned to that bias case is being removed -- yep, for bias. Wired Threat Level

-- As blogging and social media grow, the chances of getting sued for borderline behavior are increasing. WSJ

-- Chris Lesinski

Around the Web 5.21.09: Yahoo's social networks, Google quitters, Mozilla Jetpack

 -- Pandora is still growing, and now they've got aggressive plans to monetize. Wired Epicenter

Tim Westergren of Pandora, confident in its future. Credit: wwwhatsup via Flickr

-- Acer is going to enter the U.S. home server market. CNET News 

-- Mozilla's latest project, Jetpack, could make Firefox extension development as easy as Web development. TechCrunch

-- Twitter isn't opposed to selling ad space to generate revenue. Silicon Alley Insider

-- Gov. Schwarzenegger wants the Supreme Court to reinstate a state law banning the sale and rental of violent video games to minors. LAT/AP

-- Yahoo says that it's shopping for a social network. PaidContent

-- Google is determining which of its employees are most likely to quit using (you guessed it) an algorithm. WSJ

-- Chris Lesinski

Around the Web 5.20.09: Craigslist sues South Carolina AG, Media Center gets Netflix streaming, HP sees dark days

Palm's big bet, the Palm Pre. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

-- Prostitution ads seem to be slipping past Craigslist's monitors. CNet

-- But  Henry McMaster isn't slipping past Craigslist's lawyers. The company sued South Carolina's attorney general, asking a court to rule that he has no right to threaten its executives with criminal prosecution for aiding prostitution. Bits

-- Palm is betting its future on the Pre smartphone. LAT

-- Microsoft's Media Center gets the Netflix video streaming service built in. Silicon Alley Insider

- Hungry for an IPO? Underwriters for OpenTable.com's initial public offering, expected this week, raised the price range for the deal to $16 to $18 a share, from $12 to $14. Money & Co.

-- You know that talk of a tech-industry recovery? HP isn't seeing it. NYT

--Yahoo Search got an upgrade designed to kill off the idea of 10 blue links. Wired

-- Second Life generates 15 billion minutes in online calls. VentureBeat

-- Google CEO Eric Schmidt: We can be friends with Twitter without getting married. Telegraph

-- Alana Semuels

Around the Web 5.19.09: Daimler invests in Tesla, Palm Pre due June 6, exercise games overwhelm

Tesla Motors, which makes the all-electric Tesla Roadster, sold a 10% stake in the Silicon Valley company to auto giant Daimler. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

-- The Palm Pre gets a launch date: June 6. The company's best hope for competing in the smartphone market will cost $199.99 after rebates with a two-year contract. CNet

-- Er, yeah, June 6 is two days before the Steve Jobs-less Apple developers conference. Is Palm trying to own the news cycle? CrunchGear

-- The movie industry is booming. Video games based on movies? Not so much. Company Town

-- Boston loses more relevance in the high-tech ecosystem as Greylock Partners moves to Silicon Valley. Bits

-- Old meets new: Automaker Daimler took a nearly 10% stake in Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric car company. Wired

-- Can an algorithm help stem an employee brain drain? Google is trying to find out. Silicon Alley Insider

-- Wolfram Alpha, a new kind of search engine supported by 10 terabytes of data from thousands of sources, finally launched. LAT

-- How many exercise video games is too many? VentureBeat

-- Chris Gaither

Around the Web 5.18.09: OpenTable's IPO, the Internet's secret passwords, Twitter and small businesses

Food from the Kogi BBQ truck is sold with the help of Twitter. Credit: inuyaki.com via Flickr

-- Those "secret questions" you answer to help you remember the password to your 8 million Internet accounts might not be so secret after all. Technology Review

-- New phones and operating systems have cellphone makers hoping for a big summer. NYT

-- Small businesses that use Twitter often have good results, boosting daily sales at one pizza joint 15%. Ad Age

-- Facebook apps might make more money than Facebook in 2009. Silicon Alley Insider

-- OpenTable goes public this week, in one of the first Silicon Valley IPOs in a loooong time. BoomTown

-- People spend more time on social networks than they do e-mailing. NYT

-- Soldiers are using online dating sites to meet members of the opposite sex, sometimes while stationed abroad. USA Today

-- Workers at Chinese search engine Baidu decide to end a strike for now. PaidContent

-- Google's Eric Schmidt gave the commencement address at Carnegie Mellon on Sunday. TechCrunch

-- The San Francisco Giants are experimenting with a site that changes the prices of tickets based on demand. NYT

-- Alana Semuels