Wow. There is money out there: a retail deals site called Groupon has raised a whopping $30 million Series B funding round led by Accel Partners, one of Facebook's early backers. Existing Groupon investor NEA, which led the company's $4.8 million Series A round in January 2008, also contributed.
Here is the gist of Groupon: there are currently editions for 26 U.S. cities. The site advertises a deal each day from a selected local establishment like a restaurant, nail salon, or gym. There's a heavy discount involved. But enough members have to opt into the deal in order for any of them to get it. Groupon takes a cut of earnings if the deal hits the "tipping point" and goes live; otherwise, the featured merchant does not have to pay.
They've been profitable since June, founder and CEO Andrew Mason told CNET. So why raise $30 million? "We want to roll out to another 50 cities or so next year," he said, adding that early in 2010 it hopes to expand to Canadian cities, "so it's just going to help us increase the rate of customer acquisition and focus on building new technology." He wouldn't say what that new technology is, but he did add that the company went from 10 to 120 employees in the past year and planned to continue to grow at that rate.
The company grew out of an existing start-up called ThePoint, which applied a similar "collective" model to community and activism projects, before switching entirely to the retail model.
Hyper-local publishing company Examiner.com is set to launch its service in five Canadian cities.
According to the organization, Examiner will now provide localized content to those living in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. The company will also offer national content for all those not living in the five cities.
Examiner is growing up quickly since its launch in April 2008. Examiner now provides localized content in 162 U.S. cities, according to a company spokesperson. It plans to add 40 more markets in the coming months. With the expansion to Canada now under way, the spokesperson told me in a phone conversation on Wednesday that the company plans to bring its service to the U.K. and Australia by the first quarter of 2010.
Examiner's foray into the Canadian market follows its strategy in the U.S. market, the spokesperson said. When it launched in the U.S., only five cities were covered. Today, local "examiners" are posting more than 15,000 stories per week.
Examiner is currently looking for Canadians who are "passionate about their interests and areas of expertise" to join one of the markets' local sites. When Examiner chooses a writer, they provide training on how to write articles. All writers are paid based on performance and other metrics.
Google made two significant enhancements to Google.com on mobile phones Wednesday.
The first, history sync, now makes it possible to carry over a record of your search queries when you switch between mobile and desktop versions of Google.com. Dubbed "Personalized Suggest," Google will now remember your searches and will add them into the list of search suggestions you see as you type into the search bar. The new feature saves you from browsing through your history to repeat a query.
Of course, you do have to be logged in to Google for this to work, and you've got to have Web History switched on. Enable it on a phone by selecting "save searches" in the Settings menu on Google.com. At launch, the feature is only available in the U.S. on Android, iPhone, and Palm WebOS phones.
Google Local on mobile.
(Credit: Google)The second addition today similarly gets the mobile and desktop versions of Google.com talking to one another. Google has redesigned local search to make finding places of interest while on the mobile Google site much more finger-friendly. Click or tap "Local" on the mobile browser and you'll see a Start screen with categories you can browse to find restaurants and other businesses nearby, similar to what you can do on Google Maps. You'll need to have the My Location feature enabled.
There's also a category for viewing the points of interest that you starred as favorites on a Google Map. Starring essentially bookmarks the location's Google Place page. Bookmarking isn't anything new, but the browsable layout is relatively new to Google, which generally favors bare links to graphical enhancements. This treatment has the mobile Google site looking like a mobile hot-spot-finding app you might find in an on-phone app store. We have to say, it's a nice change.
The rejiggered Local Search kicks off in the U.S. and China, with support for more regions in the works.
A screenshot of the back-end dashboard of Citysourced, as displayed at TechCrunch50.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--It's about time people got excited over here.
It's not that the smattering of fresh new companies presenting at the annual TechCrunch50 start-up launch conference was boring, per se. Most of them, in fact, had an extremely practical slant to them, like the array of job- and car-hunting sites that take something Craigslist does and make it way less sketchy. And therein lies the problem: Sometimes, those sorts of productivity and next-gen enterprise start-ups simply aren't that cool and shiny when you stick them into a PowerPoint demo.
But it was on the morning of the second day of the conference that the judges, audience, and organizers seemed thoroughly impressed by an app that they could actually use. Meet Citysourced, a new iPhone app that lets the residents of an individual city log complaints and inquiries--graffiti, potholes, neighbors who go streaking--and send them straight to City Hall.
They had two announcements accompanying the launch: first, that Palm had made a research-and-development investment in Citysourced to build an app for the Pre handset; and second, that the city of San Jose, Calif., had signed on board to use Citysourced as its official mobile 311 system.
You might be thinking that this sounds familiar. That's because it's not the only player in the space: Open311 has gotten some buzz for applying the open-standards model to building civic feedback systems. Also, earlier this year the city of Boston commissioned a mobile development company called Connected Bits to build a complaint-filing app called Citizen Connect.
But none of the existing civic-engagement apps have caught on yet, and Citysourced's mix of no-brainer efficiency and easy-to-read maps seemed to impress both the judges and the audience. So did the back-end Web interface for mapping and tracking inquiries and complaints. Digg founder Kevin Rose, one of the judges, called it "an amazing idea" and started offering suggestions: he wanted to be able to subscribe to a feed of updates from his neighborhood, for example, as well as see volunteer opportunities and vote on the priority of issues, Digg-style.
Citysourced "just seems that it's one that's sort of a no-brainer," TechCrunch founder and conference organizer Michael Arrington said after the presentation, asking for a show of hands in the audience to see how many iPhone owners in the audience would want to download the app. Many arms were raised.
The challenge, as panel judge Tim O'Reilly pointed out, is that Citysourced can only beat its competitors if it has the best approach to the market, namely its effectiveness in getting new cities on board. The start-ups' executives said that they're already in talks with some more of the 10 biggest cities in the country and should have more announcements soon.
In either case, the laptop-wielding masses at TechCrunch50 seemed to think that this new mobile start-up is one to watch.
Google is giving local merchants the ability to access data about how Web surfers arrive at a local listing in Google Maps, in hopes of figuring out why so many people in a particular neighborhood are searching for pizza.
Google lets small businesses create a small Web listing that appears next to queries such as "pizza San Francisco," which pop up in Google Maps with a link to a business' Web site and address information through a service called Local Business Center. Inside the center, they've been able to do things like verify their address and phone number, but Google is now adding search results data to the dashboard within Local Business Center, said Carter Maslan, director of product management for local search.
For example, San Francisco pizza parlors will be able to see the zip codes from which searches originate that wind up at their listing, the keywords that searches are using to find their result, and basic stats about search activity, Maslan said. The idea is to give those businesses a set of metrics from which they can make business decisions about expanding delivery areas, advertising in certain areas, or what people are looking for in a local pizza joint.
"It's that kind of new visibility into search patterns that we hope will help business owners," Maslan said. This feature is not linked to any of the accounts that businesses might have with Google's AdWords or AdSense programs.
The service is gradually rolling out Monday to those in the U.S. with Local Business Center accounts, with support for additional countries coming later.
The new dashboard for Google's Local Business Center now comes with a lot more data.
(Credit: Google)
New reviews site NextStop made its public debut on Monday after a successful private beta. The site lets anyone write a quick 160-character take on local attractions from around the world. In comparison with other mainstream reviews services like CitySearch and Yelp, this size limitation forces users to keep their rants and raves short and to the point.
In fact, the site is encouraging users to only leave positive reviews, meaning you're not going to run into long, and often entertaining, rants about bad service or a botched entree. There's not even a star-based rating system to be found on NextStop. Instead, every review is expected to be positive, and worth your time.
Writing a review is broken down into three simple steps, and the service holds your hand for the first two. You type in the name and general location of the business or attraction and it does a quick search in the background to find the street number and any local information. Once you've picked the proper place, it then pulls up photos from around the Web that you can add to your review. You're also able to upload them from a URL or from your hard drive.
Writing a new review is a three-step process, and one that takes about a minute from start to finish.
(Credit: CNET)As for the reviews, 160 characters is quite short. Truth be told, however, you can go over that limit if you have more to say. Similar to Twitter it lets you know how many characters you have, and whatever excess writing you've done simply gets truncated, so other users won't see it until click through to see the entire thing. A major strength of this forced brevity is that adding new reviews is incredibly easy. The few sample ones I did took less than a minute from start to finish.
NextStop's city guides let users quickly arrange a to-do list of local attractions. These can also be printed out and stuffed in your pocket.
(Credit: CNET)Along with single reviews, users can make customized city guides. These are simply a compilation of spots you've reviewed that can be browsed like a music playlist. It's fairly standard fare for a local reviews site, but NextStop lets you quickly rearrange the order of each stop, as well as print it out on printer-friendly sheet you can stick in your pocket to take with you. You can even write new reviews directly from the guide creator, meaning you can put together a pretty comprehensive walking tour of a local neighborhood in a matter of minutes.
One major component that's currently missing from the site is a mobile application. You can still access the site through your phone's browser, but you don't get niceties like geo-location to find things around you, or the capability to easily access a bookmarked list. I expect this is something that's coming later on, since such an import part of local exploration is doing it while away from a computer.
That aside, NextStop has two big things that will likely keep users coming back for more. One is deep Facebook integration that lets you share your latest reviews in your news feed, and gives you recommendations of people you should be friends with based on similar things you both enjoy. Like Netflix's rating algorithm, this encourages you to review more places, since it can better connect you to like-minded people.
Another aspect is a badge system that rewards heavy users with medals. The more you've added and contributed to the site, the more distinguished a badge you get. Unlike Yelp's Elite system, this doesn't reward writing style as much as it does volume, meaning that it's easy to get higher-level badges if you use the site frequently.
NextStop faces tough competition from giants including Yelp, which recently rolled out its own short reviews service called Quick Tip--something that's not as robust as the company's existing five-star reviews system, but that allows users to do quick, one-off reviews. There's also Diddit, which is focused specifically on lists and checking off items or places where you've been. It too has a robust itinerary manager that lets you quickly create a day trip and get ideas from others.
Where NextStop is really going to have to sell itself is the fact that you can write a review for any place in any city around the world, and that it will learn your tastes to give you suggestions on people you should know and places you should go. Between that and a GPS-enabled mobile phone app, there's a ton of room to grow it into a successful place to bring in advertisers and get people casually writing several reviews a week.
MySpace started off as a hub for indie bands to connect with their fans. Now, with a new partnership with the IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned Citysearch, it's hoping to do the same for the likes of bars, clubs, and restaurants.
Called "MySpace Local," the new section on the News Corp.-owned MySpace will be rooted in existing listings from Citysearch (restricted to major U.S. cities) that are souped up with social features like the ones that you might see on a band or celebrity's MySpace page (photos, videos, comments, and the like). It's launching with just "restaurants," "bars," and "nightlife" categories, but will eventually expand--and it'll only be available to a select number of users this week before rolling out to the rest of MySpace's U.S. users.
"We're using the tools of new media to make the discovery as social and therefore as relevant as possible," said Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing at MySpace, in a conference call on Tuesday. "The first thing you will see are ratings and reviews from your actual friends. When a reviewer is anonymous or unknown, it's hard to say whether you should care what they think."
Eventually, MySpace Local will highlight reviews from celebrities, "influencers," and power users with "street cred." There will also be new features like menus and possibly an online reservation tool.
This move will put MySpace in competition with fast-growing reviews site Yelp, which has been dealing with image and credibility issues recently but which has nevertheless been catching up to Citysearch in reach.
It'll also present more opportunities for local advertising. The social network has been courting small advertisers with a program called MyAds. But there will be big brand advertisers on MySpace Local, too, with Outback Steakhouse and Coors signing on for the launch.
Citysearch, which recently overhauled its site, also syndicates some of its content to AOL.
Berman said that research showed about 50 percent of active Citysearch users have MySpace profiles that they check at least once a month. "There is healthy overlap, but there is also a healthy new audience to be reached," he said.
This post was expanded at 10:54 a.m. PDT.
By now, many prospective college students have received responses from all the colleges to which they've applied. But now comes the hard part: deciding where to go.
Luckily, there are some sites that help them in that endeavor and provide them with valid insight before they make their final decisions. Even better, these sites can also help those who haven't applied yet and are starting their initial research.
For the high school junior who is considering applying to different colleges or the high school senior who needs to make a decision, these sites are outstanding resources.
BeRecruited: BeRecruited is designed specifically for the high school athlete. Instead of waiting for a team to find the student, BeRecruited gives them an opportunity to find colleges across the United States that have the kind of athletic program for which they're looking. They can then upload information about themselves and their high school athletic performance to attract the attention of team recruiters.
CampusExplorer has a lot of great information.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)CampusExplorer: CampusExplorer allows students to search more than 6,000 colleges in the United States to find which campus is right for them. They can search by area, curriculum, or type of school. The site provides information on the size of the school, what it offers to students, and the attendance cost. It even has advice on getting into the school from students who have asked questions about the college on Yahoo Answers.
Cappex: Cappex requires students to sign up and create a personal profile that includes grades, extracurricular activities, and SAT/ACT scores. Once that profile is completed, they can search for colleges, learn about the schools in which they're interested, and use a handy tool called "What are my chances?" to help them determine if they really have a chance at being admitted to a particular school.
CollegeAnswer: Owned by college financial-aid company SallieMae, CollegeAnswer provides students with information about all facets of college admittance. From basic research on schools to information on paying for a college education, the site has it all. It provides in-depth information about colleges, including their demographics and attendance costs. But where it really shines is in its information about college life in general. It's an outstanding resource for prospective and current students.
... Read more
Real estate search site Trulia released a survey Thursday showing that the "American Dream" of owning a home is still alive even as the recession continues to plague the world. According to the company, more than 75 percent of Americans still consider owning a home as part of achieving their personal dreams, but only 5 percent of respondents say they believe that President Obama's plan to increase home ownership incentives will do any good "to restore faith in the American Dream of home ownership." In fact, 53 percent of those surveyed believe that creating jobs and establishing job security is the most important plan President Obama can follow. The full Trulia survey is available on the company's site.
Web analytics firm Omniture has released a new tool that will allow marketers to measure brand activity across Twitter, the company announced Thursday. According to Omniture executives, its service is the first of its kind to provide actionable analytics about what's going on in Twitter. Marketers who decide to use the Omniture tool will be able to view tweets among customers, vendors, employees, and competitors to evaluate how well their advertising campaigns are working. The tool is available now.
Mobile media firm SendMe announced Thursday that it has secured $12 million in a Series D round of funding that was led by Triangle Peak Partners. According to the company, it was able to secure the funding after it enjoyed strong growth over the past year and it plans to use the capital to increase its presence in the mobile market.
Local.com announced Thursday that it has renewed and expanded its agreement with Idearc Media, the company behind SuperPages.com and Verizon's Yellow Pages. According to the company, the new deal will allow SuperPages advertisers to receive premium placement on Local.com. According to both companies, most users won't recognize any difference in the two operations.
Google Maps and Google Earth are the centerpiece of NYCGo, a new information and reference project launched by the New York City government to provide resources to both visitors and locals. Wednesday's launch announced the debut of NYCGo.com, a Google Maps-fueled local search and reference site, as well as the unveiling of the renovated New York City Information Center a few blocks north of the tourist-heavy Times Square district.
NYCGo.com contains not just Google map and search data, but also travel deals from Travelocity and local content from what-to-do powerhouse Time Out New York, nightlife culture magazine Paper, the New York Observer, and eco-living guide Greenopia.
The information center, located on Seventh Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets, is equally Googly. The city's technocratic mayor, Michael Bloomberg, even contributed a guest post to the official Google blog to announce it: "The Information Center features interactive map tables, powered by the Google Maps API for Flash, that let you navigate venues and attractions as well as create personalized itineraries, which can be printed, emailed or sent to mobile devices," the blog post explained. "Additionally, there's a gigantic video wall that utilizes Google Earth to display a 3D model of New York City on which you can map out personalized itineraries."
Bloomberg has been aggressive about promoting tech initiatives during his time in office, from a wind power plan (part of the much bigger "GreeNYC" project) and a city-run venture firm. Under his watch, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google opened its New York satellite office, taking over several floors of the historic former Port Authority building downtown.
A side note: the video provided by Google shows the "interactive map tables" in the new information center, and they look a whole lot like Microsoft Surface units. But they aren't, a representative from NYCGo tells us. They're custom-made.
