Paul Boutin is a journalist I’ve been following for some time. He’s very credible. Got this list of the TechCrunch 40 finalists by looking at the banners hanging around the Palace Hotel. I’ve visited all their sites, but many aren’t up yet. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see who will win the $50,000.

It’s interesting that the best news is flowing over on Twitter. It’s far faster than TechMeme, which doesn’t have anything yet about TechCrunch 40.