Twiistup 5 Announces the Top 10 Start-Ups to Watch at Southern California's Hottest Tech Event

Tech Community Comes Together to Celebrate the Best New Companies

LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/17/08 -- Twiistup, Southern California's premiertechnology and media event attracting the creative elite, unveils the 10companies selected to carry the honor of being appointed to Twiistup'sesteemed showcase of "Showoffs." On February 12, 2009, the Showoffs willdemonstrate their products and services to an audience of more than 1,000of Southern California's most prominent business members.

Twiistup's panel reviewed more than 100 companies, the majority early-stagestart-ups, all vying for the opportunity to hold one of ten coveted Showoffspots at Twiistup 5. Known as an event for spotting great talent early,past Twiistup Showoff's include (1) Good Reads, named by Time magazine as aTop Ten Web site; (2) Goowey Media which AOL went on to acquire; and (3)Mint.com, that later won first place at TechCrunch40.

"Showoff finalists consistently represent the most innovative companiesspanning the technology industry. Building off of our previous success andLos Angeles' start-up energy, Twiistup 5 has emerged as the premier eventbridging the gap between media, entertainment and the investmentcommunity," said Twiistup Founder Mike Macadaan. "In looking at the massivegrowth and recognition Twiistup receives at each event, it's no surprisethat this is seen as the definitive event to attend in Southern Californiaif you're interested in being on the cutting edge of what's new andupcoming."

All Showoffs are eligible to win two awards to be announced before midnighton February 12: the prestigious "Fan Favorite," selected by popular voteand the Judges Choice, a new category.

Judges include blogger and author Sarah Lacy; BillShrink CEO Peter Pham;Somewhat Frank founder and editor Frank Gruber; Devlyn Steele, CEO ofTwiistup 4 Showoff winner ToolsToLife.com; digital media pioneer andinvestor Richard Wolpert; Jackie Peters, co-founder of Heavybag Media;Mixergy.com founder Andrew Warner; Brian Solis, publisher of two topTechnorati blogs, PR 2.0and bub.blicio.us and Citrusbyte founder Will Jessup.

The selected finalists are (in alphabetical order):

1. Causecastwww.causecast.orgSanta Monica, CACausecast, dubbed "a one stop philanthropy shop" by TechCrunch, is aplatform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment andeducation converge to serve a greater purpose.2. Cogiwww.cogi.comSanta Barbara, CACogi set out with a simple goal -- give professionals a way to effortlesslyrecall and track everything in their important conversations through theuse of an intuitive, browser-based service that seamlessly transcribes theimportant parts of conversation -- the 'COGent Ideas' or Cogi.3. eHowwww.ehow.comBellevue, WAMore than 17 million people visit eHow.com each month to search more than180,000 articles that are professionally written with clear and concisedirections on how to do things. It also has a rapidly-growing library ofarticles created by eHow's members.4. FixYawww.fixya.comSan Mateo, CAFixYa empowers individuals to repair and improve upon their already-purchased possessions. The company also offers business services tomanufacturers and retail businesses through its custom partnershipopportunities.5. GoGreenSolar.comwww.gogreensolar.comLos Angeles, CAGoGreenSolar.com is a global group of professionals dedicated to improvethe distribution of renewable energy products, services and financing forpeople everywhere.6. Meebowww.meebo.comMountain View, CAMeebo is a new communications and media company that's re-writing the waypeople have conversations and communicate on the Web.7. RoboDynamicswww.robodynamics.comSanta Monica, CARoboDynamics is built by passionate people who want to use technology toshift the status quo and leverage state-of-the-art technology in roboticsto change the way people live and work.8. TheScenewww.thescene.comVenice, CAThe Scene connects individuals to the hottest places, people and events intheir area. The Scene's trendsetting community is on the pulse of nightlifeand entertainment in various cities throughout the world.9. Viewdlewww.viewdle.comSanta Monica, CAViewdle is a facial-recognition powered digital media platform forindexing, searching and monetizing video assets.10. Yammerwww.yammer.comWest Hollywood, CAYammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productivethrough the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question:'What are you working on?'

Twiistup 5 will be held at Private Hangar West in the Santa Monica Airportin Santa Monica, Calif., at 7:00pm on February 12, 2009. Tickets are onsale now at www.twiistup.com/getin.

Twiistup 5 sponsors include bub.blicio.us, Chi.mp, CyberCoders, HeavybagMedia, Marketwire, Mashable, Virgin America and TechZulu.

A limited amount of passes are available for established media andbloggers. Media who would like to be considered for a complimentary ticketshould email twiistup@lewispr.com

About Twiistup

Twiistup is the premier LA technology and media event, attracting thecreative elite from all business verticals and horizontals in the area.Thousands of technologists from across the U.S. have turned out forTwiistup events, including: entrepreneurs, investors, media-planners,business development executives and content creators from the web, gaming,film, TV, live-events, music, print and mobile industries. Twiistup hasbeen featured in media including LA Weekly and LA Times, among many others. For more info please visittwiistup.com.