We've just confirmed Urbanspoon Biz Dev lead Fred Dimesa for our iPad demo session at next month's DMS conference. One of the reasons this is cool -- besides the fact that we like Urbanspoon -- is that the company just…
Specialized verticals are a major part of the new marketplaces environment. One vertical we like is TeachStreet, a portal that helps consumers find teachers, and then helps sign them up and process payments. Along the same lines is TakeLessons, a…
Online retail spending reached $37.5 billion, up 14 percent from a year ago, according to comScore's latest quarterly study. Highlights from comScore's study include: The 14-percent growth in the quarter was primarily a function of an increase in the number of…
Localmind, a location-based Q&A service, arrived on Android this week, after closing a round of $600,000 in angel funding last month. The app was a hit at SXSW earlier this year but at that time was iPhone only. Localmind leverages…
SocialGuide CEO Sean Casey briefed us today on recent accomplishments and upcoming milestones for his company that focuses on social media activity around television programming running on 170 U.S. networks. The basic idea for users is that in addition to…
Mobile data continue to pelt us. This is a good thing, as ad networks (with promotional intent) release the data they're seeing for ad placement. See, Millennial, JiWire, Jumptap, et al. I usually internalize these data but don't write about…
Mobile marketing company HipCricket has announced it will be acquired by Augme Technologies for $44.5 million. Of that total, $6 million will be cash, the rest stock, in addition to a $27.5 million earnout over the next year. For Augme this…
Internet display and text advertising are great. But nothing really matches video for engagement and open rates. A number of players are specializing in SMB video. A new company, Webshoz (pronounced “Web shows”) is focused on presenting an onscreen “bar”…
Groupon got a flying jump investing in overseas properties that have basically cloned its daily deal concept and set up local operations. International now accounts for 54 percent of Groupon’s revenues, according to the S-1 it filed with the SEC…
Google has acquired Dealmap, a deals aggregator and exchange, and will presumably use it to complement its own sourcing of deals for Google Offers, the daily deal site now in New York, the Bay Area and Portland and coming soon…
Following our coverage of Google's Chromebook launch, I got the chance to use one of them today. As advertised, Google has set up stations at Virgin America gates in certain cities to loan them out for full flights or just…
With the the collision of deals, mobile and payments, we're witnessing an important transformation in local. Closing the loop on ROI has long been the holy grail of advertising, not just digital advertising (insert John Wanamaker quote). This was a…
Yext announced today that it closed a $10 million D round led by Right Media founder Michael Walrath, and existing investors (SV Angel, Sutter Hill). The funding will help Yext to continue to build out its Power Listings product. At…
Gannett has now publicly announced that it has expanded its DealChicken platform to 10 to 15 markets, and will be in 57 markets where it has newspapers and/or TV stations. The company obviously enters a crowded marketplace, but will likely…
Businesses do really well online when they create “events” -- as local promotion companies ranging from Zvents to Active.com have discovered. Home Depot has classes. Those are events. Brew pubs have free samples. Those are events, too. And so are…
The new breed of lead providers for services appears to have slowed down. While Angie’s List is all over the air waves, building its consumer base for an expected IPO, and ServiceMagic is performing well for IAC, and expanding, not…
Its been an uphill battle for Dex Media West, SuperMedia and the Yellow Pages Association since they filed suit in November 2010 against the city of Seattle's restrictive opt-in ordinance. Last month, a federal judge granted partial summary judgment to the…
TVplus CEO and Founder Ajay Shah argues that in spite of connected TVs, cross-platform video and "TV Everywhere" types of viewing options for connecting to video, it will be the "second screen" that will drive the social revolution that links…
When you get beyond the limited form factor of mobile, it really turns out to be a better platform for creating, managing and bidding on used goods, says Dan Zheng, a cofounder of EggDropApp, a new mobile-based auction service. Mobile…
We predicted in our U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast the growth in the U.S. daily deals market from $1.25 billion this year to $3.93 billion in 2015. Low barriers to entry are producing a host of Groupon and LivingSocial spinoffs.…
