San Francisco based Browster definitely appears to be dead, as GigaOm reported earlier this week. I have been unable to get a confirmation (or any response) from emails sent to CEO Scott Milener and one of the investors in the company, and the site has been up and down (mostly down) for the last few days.

Browster’s browser plugin let uses preview sites on search results and some other sites without clicking through to them. Our previous coverage is here. We’ve also covered competitor Cooliris.

The fact that everyone connected with the company is being so quiet about this is a little odd, given that the site is down. Based on his LinkedIn profile, Milener is on to his next company, Vieweo. Browser is not mentioned at all.

Browster raised $5.8 million in a Series A round of funding just a year ago, and had closed at least one previous angel round with a number of individuals and funds.

Browster is now in the TechCrunch DeadPool.

Browser plug in Browster released version 2.0 of its product this weekend and is aiming to make MySpace profiles easier to view. A Windows download for IE and Firefox, Browster preloads pages from search results and provides a live minibrowser when inserted lightning bolts are hovered over. The new version also offers a live search box supporting a number of web, blog and shopping search engines inside the Browster window. Those search box results are combined with contextual ads. Future features will also generate ad revenue.

This version’s biggest change is that it makes the notoriously unnavigable profile pages on MySpace easier to use. Users can hover over friend photos or username links on one user page and get a preview of that friend’s profile in a Browster pop-up instead of having to click through, wait for the painfully slow page load and then repeat with the back button. Browster strips out the CSS hacks, music players and slideshows that clutter many pages – and that represent a big part of the business model of many startups profiled here! What’s left are the MySpace user’s “about me” section and all their photos. Essentially, it’s a way to check out someone’s friends and comment makers without having to leave one profile page and suffer through multiple pageloads (though Browster itself is only so fast). Browster may not be for everyone, but I actually find this new feature quite useful.

The San Francisco based company, whose CEO participated in our recent video documentary about Web 2.0, aims to take a cut of ads served inside their mini browser. One thing that can be said about the service is that it only pops up its previews when you hover over the lightning bolt icons instead of any time your mouse passes over any link. That’s a small distinction but one that makes Browster far more usable than, for example, competitor Cooliris (our coverage).

I think it’s a very useful idea, but unfortunately execution is easier said than done. An eight by five series of one user’s friend photos in rows can only be previewed vertically, one column at a time with the Browster “next” button stopping at the bottom of each column. Search results pages do navigate properly though.

The company’s revenue model is through ads on search box results and future features will have ads around them as well.

It’s mind boggling how many companies are making MySpace plays these days, but if the site can maintain its status as a virtual replacement for the rest of the web for many young people then it makes sense. It might sound strange to think of a whole new release of a preexisting product to target MySpace, but at an estimated 10k+ pageviews per second MySpace may be a big enough pie to make even small pieces a viable business strategy. Or fickle teenagers may move elsewhere and all these companies will adapt to the next fad social networking site. One way or the other, crazy as it might sound, I think that providing ancillary services for social networking environments is not a bad idea. If this morning’s announcement included how much AOL paid for Userplane that these sorts of strategies might appear all the more obviously viable.

Company: Browster
Previous Profiles: July 13, 2005 & August 3, 2005

Scott Milener, the CEO of Browster, just left a very interesting comment on our last Browster posting. After supporting Firefox for only a couple of weeks (actually, about a week), it accounts for 1/3 of total downloads:

thanks for posting and for the kind words about Browster. We’re really happy to be supporting Firefox. We’re now getting requests for Browstr on all platforms and all browsers – lots to do!

interestingly our Firefox install numbers are already 1/3 of our installs (thousands per day). it’s that kind of acceptance that helps drive the Firefox community and companies like ours to support the platform. please drop me a line with any thoughts about improvements or any other ideas.

thx
Scott Milener
CEO
Browster

Company: Browster
Previous Profile: July 13, 2005

What’s New?

Browster announced Browster 1.0 for Firefox today. See our previous profile for more information on what Browster does.

From their Press Release: “SAN FRANCISCO , Calif. , August 2, 2005 – Browster, Inc. today announces
availability of its flagship product, Browster 1.0, as an extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Browster is the first instant-page viewing product for Firefox, providing users with the fastest way to view search results by simply by mousing over a link. With Browster’s unique Next Page feature, Firefox users can skip from result to result with zero delay. Browster users experience a faster, easier and more fun way to browse the Web. Browster 1.0 for Firefox is available now for free download from www.browster.com.

Browster pre-fetches Web pages listed in search results and includes the first instant page rendering capability. Users can then view this page, or the entire web site in the Browster window. As users browse their search links, Browster’s patent-pending LookAhead® technology displays the preview window as users roll their mouse over a link. Browster for Firefox is a revolutionary, secure, lightening fast way to preview web pages.”

We are very glad to see this release. Browster will now be permanently installed and used. Great application.

Company: Browster

Launch Date: Beta in February 2005, Version 1.0 launched today, July 13, 2005

What is it?

Browster is a tool, available only for IE (damn, I just lost half of my readers right there) that pre-fetches content from links on a web page, and makes that content available by mousing-over the link. Too see it visually click here.

So we dusted off IE (used only for FTP these days), downloaded 334k of stuff and had at it.

Browster allows you to browse search results more quickly and with fewer clicks. Browster will also pre-fetch content from non-search sites if you tell it to (there are a couple of easy ways to do this).

There is a nice feature to basically scroll through search results quickly by clicking on an arrow. It’s hard to explain but works very well.

Browster has CPC advertisements on the top of its window. I don’t mind the ads, but the copyright holders of the content they are showing may. I also wish they would have focused on Firefox before IE…Even though IE still has a very large market share, it seems like most of the cutting edge users are on firefox, or macs. Not having support for those browsers is a serious mistake because your most important customers (bloggers, for instance) won’t use it.

Tom Foremski wrote about Browster a few hours ago and pointed out a number of very serious flaws (we agree with some, disagree with others). At the end of the day, our only real concerns are those mentioned above (browser support and copyright infringement issues). From a business model perspective, there’s very little that’s viral or sticky about the product. That means ultimately their liquidity event valuation may be based on their technology rather than their network.

It’s a great tool and as soon as they support firefox I’ll use it regularly.

Additional Screen Shots:

Management Team:

Scott Milener, CEO and co-Founder
Jim Kelly, Vice President, Engineering
Steven Lurie, Vice President, Business Development
Wendell Brown, Chairman and co-Founder
John Zeisler,Member, Board of Directors
Link

Investors:

First Round Capital
Wendell Brown, co-Founder and Member, Board of Directors
John Zeisler, Venture Partner, Gabriel Ventures
Ken Sawyer, Managing Director, Saints Ventures
Rick Magnuson, former General Partner, Menlo Ventures
Robert Simon, General Partner, Alta Partners
Links

Relevant Links:

How it works
Faq
Press
About
Investors
Management
Scott Milener (founder) blog

Tags: browster, search, techcrunch, web2.0, profiles, reviews, InternetExplorer