TravelMuse kicked off September with our appearance at DEMOfall 08 on Sept. 8, where we launched Social Trip Planning. Thanks to all the press and bloggers who covered us, we were excited to meet you and share our story so far.

Edward N. Albro from PC World said, “It looks valuable as a way to come up with initial travel ideas and plans” and included TravelMuse in the “12 Promising New Web Sites and Services” out of all DEMOfall 08 and TechCrunch50.

Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat listed TravelMuse in his top ten company picks of DEMOfall 08 and also wrote specifically about how TravelMuse plans to simplify travel planning.

Business Week’s Carmine Gallo took a look at the DEMO presentations from a slightly different angle and wrote about how to deliver a presentation under pressure, highlighting TravelMuse’s presentation and comparing it to advice from Moore—the need to create a new place in my brain to hold the information you’re about to deliver.

Troy Wolverton of San Jose Mercury News listed TravelMuse in his Top 5 picks from DEMOfall 08 and referenced the pain he feels when planning his own vacation with his wife … and how TravelMuse aims to solve that problem by providing a work space where multiple people can swap travel ideas and research.

Michael J. Miller from PC Magazine listed TravelMuse in his “My favorite DEMOfall 08 Products” saying, “I very much like the look and features of TravelMuse. I like the idea of gathering and collecting information on the trip from any Website in one place, and letting multiple people work together to plan a trip.”

Rolf Potts of Vagabonding said, “TravelMuse makes a nice way to bookmark and store your research, and it’s definitely a must-have for groups planning to travel together” , adding ”you’d be hard pressed to find a travel site that looks as slick and is as easy to use as TravelMuse”.

PLing of TripHow said, “TravelMuse is the best thing on the market right now.”

Thrillest said, “Organizing a killer trip with friends can be a serious pain--open up the planning to everyone and prepare for a parliamentary stalemate, but leave one person in charge and risk visiting MimeFest, again. Make group trip planning frighteningly easy, with TravelMuse.”

To read more, visit our press page.

Now while most of our attention was on DEMO, our Interns, Hannah and Marissa, managed to score free passes at TechCrunch50, by volunteering—here’s what they had to say:

“Our volunteer duties included everything from building a bunker of backpacks on Sunday, to manning the registration tables—in between we managed to listen to company presentations and check out the booths in the Pit. Our favorite companies included Swype, which we had a lot of fun trying out, and GoodGuide – we’re glad to know what’s in our shampoo! Marissa also learned a lot from the lunchtime panel about Venture Capital firms and loved hearing Mark Cuban’s keynote discussion.

We managed to do a little TravelMuse guerrilla marketing on the side, before heading to the after-party, where we ate our weight in canapés and watched TechCrunch attendees network up a storm. Hannah returned to TechCrunch on Wednesday to see Joss Whedon and loved handing him his name badge as he checked into the conference."

TravelMuse launched its TravelMuse Beta on Monday June 9th—alongside another minor (Apple!) announcement—call us crazy or foolhardy! Anyhow, it’s not every day that you can say you contributed to bringing down the TechCrunch site. We are delighted with all the positive coverage we’ve received to date, and a big thanks to everyone who wrote about us—we appreciate it!

CNET’s Rafe Needleman over at WebWare broke the news at 9 p.m. PDT on Sunday and wrote about the Inspiration Finder, saying “The idea could be a very positive contributor to domestic harmony” and “…it could become a very robust vacation planning tool."

TechCrunch followed with the headline, “TravelMuse May Be the Undecided Traveler’s Dream Come True!” Jason Kincaid went on to say, “At this point TravelMuse seems like a good place to start when you’re beginning to plan a trip … and as a hybrid travel magazine/suggestion site, TravelMuse may well find a place in the crowded travel space."

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land said, “…the Inspiration Finder … does something unique and interesting in combining the directional power of search with the serendipity of discovery."

I’ve not yet seen one that considers the multiple dimensions that TravelMuse looks at, including budget, travelers’ ages, maximum hours in flying time, and preferred vacation activities,” wrote Diane Clarkson of Jupiter Research. “Definitely worth checking out."

"Already I love the travel magazine feel of the website versus the webby social networking feel of most other new travel sites and the fact that a lot of its editorial content (written by 50 freelancers) is fresh,” commented Jen Leo at the LA Times.

Although most of you probably have a pretty good idea of where you like to go on vacation, you may occasionally run out of ideas … fortunately, if you're in that boat, a new website can help” said Ed Perkins of Smarter Travel “I'd say that TravelMuse is off to a decent start … it's an innovative approach to travel planning."

Elisabeth Osmeloski at Search Engine Watch concluded “Is this the new face of online travel planning? Maybe too soon to tell, but I like the way it's looking! Keep making it easier for travelers to engage online and this mature industry will find a way to keep growing."

We had articles as far afield as Italy and France with great posts from Geekissimo, FredCavazza and Blogit—how’s your French or Italian?

Mashable had my favorite article of the week where Paul Glazowski got straight to the point “It’s a Beta, and I have to say I like it.” … “You can take TravelMuse just for its reviews, its trip planner, or its ‘Book Travel’ annex. Any single segment seems able to stand on its own. Taken all together, it is even more impressive."

For the full news roundup, visit the TravelMuse Press and Media page. Thanks for your support and stay tuned—we’ve got lots more great stuff to tell you about soon. But for now … we’re catching our breath, drinking a beer (or scotch) and enjoying some social time at a team BBQ over at Eric’s place!