I just spent some time looking at EchoSign, a new service launched by Jason Lemkin and Jeff Zwelling.

EchoSign helps you keep executed documents organized. Document writing and negotiation has been largely handled online, via emails, for the last ten years (before that, fedex and faxing of versions back and forth was the way to go). However, when it comes time to execute a final agreement, both sides generally print the document and fax it back to the other side. Unless someone scans the signature pages and creates a pdf, there is no electronic signed copy.

Efax helps somewhat and I often ask people to send docs to my efax number so that I have an electronic copy. But Echosign, besides being free, goes further. Once a document is finalized, you simply upload it to the site and use their interface to email it out to everyone. The emailed document includes a fax cover sheet with the fax number pre-filled. The other side simply prints it, signs it, and sends it to the fax number on the pre-printed form. The original party then receives a pdf version of the signed document for filing, printing and/or forwarding.

I have no idea what the business model is, since its a free service, but EchoSign definitely fixes a big problem for lawyers and companies trying to keep executed agreements and other documents organized.

I’ve looked at other services that are trying to solve the version control of documents…hosting a word or other document that the parties can change and finalize is a great idea and something law firms would easily pay for. Writely and the other ajax office application companies would tweak their services to accomplish this of course. In the meantime, I would really like to see EchoSign create an API and allow services like writely to built the signature piece right in.

From TechCrunch.

I’ve had a chance to talk to AllPeers founders Cedric Maloux and Matthew Gertner. This company is set to take the world by storm. In my opinon this single firefox extension will massively increase the attractiveness of that already popular browser, drawing more millions away from embattled Internet Explorer.

AllPeers is a simple, persistent buddy list in the browser. Initially, interaction with those buddies will be limited to discovering and sharing files – If you choose to, you can share any file on your network with one or more of your friends. They will be able to see what files you choose to share (even getting an RSS feed of new files you include), and with a single click download it to their own hard drive.

AllPeers will work even when the sharer is offline – AllPeers is a bittorent client, and will allow files to be pulled from multiple sources. When downloading, the file may be grabbed partially or fully from others you have shared it with (or who shared it with you). So a user just clicks on a file, and waits for it to eventually download. Screen shots can be viewed here.

With AllPeers, I can share photos and home movies with my parents, songs (and anything else) with friends, and also access the files that they choose to share.

In the future, AllPeers will also have folders to allow public sharing (probably with restrictions to control copyright violations). I also assume they will build chat and VOIP functionality into the application as well.

AllPeers will not be advertising funded. There are hints that the business model may eventually be centered on monetization of paid content, but that will be down the road. For now, they are focused on launching with the basic shared-folder approach. And that is fine with me – I’ll be hooked from the second I can get my hands on it.

AllPeers has seven employees, is based in Prague and is a UK company. They are self and angel funded to date. If you’d like to sign up for the beta, enter your email here. An initial batch of beta testers should get their hands on it later this month.

From TechCrunch.

I’m not sure if Retrievr has any commercial application, but it is a really beautiful piece of technology.

Retrievr has a Flash sketch pad built into the site. Draw something – anything – and it will fetch Flickr images that are similar. My very rough drawing of a black line intersecting with a red blog brought up some nice results (see image).

More information is available on their about page, here.

From TechCrunch.