We learned today that TechCrunch was being sued by Earthcomber.  It seems the real beef they have is with Loopt, over an infringed patent involving systems for searching users based on a criteria.

As the story goes, TechCruch had created a mobile network on Loopt for their users and now find themselves tacked onto this lawsuit as a co-defendant.

As Michael Arrington reports on TC,

I called Earthcomber President Jim Brady this morning to verify the lawsuit. At first he wouldn’t answer - all he did was try to explain how he’s been wronged by Loopt. When pressed he did confirm that the lawsuit was filed, but quickly added that he didn’t really mean to press it with us. He wants to go to court with Loopt, but is willing to quickly work something out with us to make this go away, he told me, hinting that he’d like to partner with us. He also said he’s been desperately trying to get me on the phone but hasn’t been able to, so he decided to sue us instead.

TechCrud commentary removed (see below)

Arrington continues,

We will not be bullied, and people who file frivolous lawsuits need to be put down. I would rather run TechCrunch into the ground and go out of business than let this guy win.

Go get ‘em, Mike!

We’ll continue to track the progress of the situation.

TechCrud Update: Anonymous lawsuit threats coming from Chicago based IP addresses scare me. The following statements are hereby retracted:

• If what Arrington says is true, Jim Brady is a major league asshole.
• Jim Brady is the cruddiest person on the web.

I will add that it is not true that the staff at Earthcomber is required to give Jim Brady oral sex as a condition of employment or that Jim himself is an actor in several gay porn movies. I repeat, the proceeding statements should be considered to be untrue.

Thank you, that is all.

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I am a fan of Woot.com. This was probably evident in my assessment of HoopStick a couple days ago.

On a near monthly basis, Woot offers their “Random Crap” item.  When it goes up for sale (usually during a “Woot Off”), it always sells out in a matter of seconds, usually crashing their site in the process.  Regular shoppers see this item as the holy grail of all their offerings because for $8 you you have a chance of getting something really good on the cheap.  At the bare minimum it’s entertaining to see the junk they dig out of their warehouse to send you.

Here’s the crap that landed on my front porch today-

My crap! Click to enlarge.

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From the daily REJECT pile comes Peegly.com, another “come confess your secrets” type of site.

In their own words,

Peegly is a virtual pillow intended for your inmost thoughts, feelings and emotions. A big, soft and good-natured pillow is always ready to hear you out and help you… Here you can tell just anything, share any emotions you seethe with or are overwhelmed with.

“Right, come share anything and everything, because…”

All new sentiments appear on the main page of the portal, which gives every visitor a personal ‘podium’ to declare their feelings.

“…we want to publish your most intimate thoughts publicly, where everyone can read and ridicule them.”

Anonymous submissions are added to the site immediately with no moderation or email verification needed.  Visitors also have the option to comment on others’ posts.  (There may be great potential for fun in this.)

The Good: Cheaper than a psychiatrist;  Easier to confess your sins to a virtual pillow than going to church.

The Bad: Another creepy mascot.  That tasseled pillow looks all to eager to hear my secrets.

TechCrud Grade: F

Forecast: Who cares?  Probably will be found and overrun by spammers within 6 months.

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TechCrunch reports on today’s launch of yet another San Francisco based startup, SimplyBox.com.  Their business model has something to do with revolutionizing online bookmarks as images.

As TC reporter Jason Kincaid insightfully puts it:

Web bookmarks are badly in need of an overhaul. Sure, they’re fine for jumping to the dozen or so sites you visit on a daily basis, but they quickly become unwieldy whenever they’re used for research purposes.

Right, because what can be more annoying than having to bookmark a site with a single click or two. Let’s do it this way instead:

To use SimplyBox, you hit the “Box and Save” button in the browser toolbar, which turns your mouse arrow into a targeting cursor and displays a series of “boxes” at the bottom of the screen. After highlighting the portion of the page you’d like to save for later, you drag it into the box you’d like to store it in.

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