We all know the Foursquare story quite well: The app launched at SXSW four years ago, and a fair amount of people have been using it to check-in ever since. The company is releasing a new version of its flagship iOS app, which will put those 3.5 billion check-ins in the forefront with search and explore functionality. It’s a move that we saw coming ever since they did practically the same… → Read More
Roamz, a local search and discovery startup which has been struggling to gain traction as a consumer-facing service, is shifting its focus again. This time, it’s shopping its aggregated location-based data to businesses and retailers under new branding “Local Measure.” And though only a few weeks old, Local Measure already has paying customers, the company says. → Read More
Hubbl, the app discovery service built by former TechCrunch Disrupt finalists, has introduced an interesting new feature today for users of its iPhone version: Passbook integration. To get started, you simply visit a link (hubbl.io/passbook) from mobile Safari, in order to add a pass to Apple’s Passbook which will then send you a new app deal every day. The Passbook feature will also be added to a… → Read More
Google’s location-based Field Trip application has just made its way to the iTunes App Store today, after previously having been Android-only. The app, which works a little bit like Google Now, runs in the background on your phone then automatically shows you information about nearby businesses, including places to shop, dine, and be entertained. → Read More
Felix Miller and Martin Stiksel, the co-founders of the music discovery and streaming site Last.fm, went into a kind of startup hibernation after selling their early-moving, prescient startup to CBS in 2007 for $280 million. Today, on a cold December day in London, they are re-emerging with Lumi, a site that wants to tackle the discovery conundrum yet again, but this time on the wider web. And… → Read More
At The Pool, a Los Angeles-based social discovery network that aims to be the anti-Facebook (and anti-Twitter for that matter), today announced it has emerged from beta and is in the process of closing a $1 million seed financing round led by Clearstone Venture Partners. Also participating in the investment are a bevy of Los Angeles-based angels, including Buck Jordan of Canyon Creek Capital and… → Read More
Creating stem cells out of adult cells. Amazing. Winning a Nobel Prize. Amazing. Saving lives potentially? Outstanding.
Check out this video from David Prager and Glenn McElhose, formerly of Revision3, which sold to Discovery Channel, and Diggnation fame. The fellas have visited a Nobel Prize winning lab doing some really outstanding things. It’s not often that you get to catch a glimpse of the… → Read More
Twitter does a lot of things well, but it hasn’t really nailed context yet — or search. After you first join the service, it takes a significant amount of following and unfollowing before you settle on a stream (or Twitter hose, as some call it) that works for you. Search, too, is noisy and generally unhelpful. In May, Twitter started to test some personalization features to start making better… → Read More
As the Web evolves and hundreds of sites collect data every day on who we are and what we love to do, personalization has become fundamental to user experience to help users find signal amidst the noise. Some companies utilize our social graph to provide recommendations from the people we trust, while others mine Big Data, incoming data from APIs and more. The problem, however, is that most… → Read More
You may know GetJar as the largest independent, cross-platform app store, and one of the largest distributors of Android apps outside of the Android Market. With more than 2 billion downloads and some 150K+ applications, the company continues to grow. This is thanks in part to its “open” model, which allows third-party app makers to distribute apps for most of the major mobile platforms. Getting… → Read More
Apple recently changed its developer guidelines to indicate that it might not be so happy with apps that essentially replicate what the App Store already provides, in terms of providing lists of apps to buy. But another change in iOS 6 pointed out by a developer contact suggests that Apple definitely does want to encourage developers to help it sell mobile software: a new object available… → Read More
One of the things that I usually end up doing at a bar, either after a few drinks or massive boredom, is discuss my latest favorite iOS apps. You know what I’m talking about, a bunch of nerds sitting around a few adult beverages with bright screens flickering. I’ll usually say something stupid like “What do you think about the new Facebook update?” Lame, maybe. Fun, yes. → Read More
With so much information, content and so many services now living online, there’s a lot of choice — even for something as simple as where to go to buy a new pair of socks. Oh, and there’s a lot of data. As it’s evolved and gotten better at making sense of its new Big Data, the Web has become an extraordinary engine for discovering new stuff: News, cat videos, porn, you name it. Naturally, scores… → Read More
Finding a good restaurant – even in a city you’ve never been to – has never been easier. Thanks to Yelp, Urbanspoon and its various brethren, a good place to eat is generally just a few clicks away. What if you want to find a restaurant with a very specific atmosphere, though? Say you’re in the mood for a pizza at a relaxed place where the noise level is just right for a good conversation? Chances… → Read More
Social travel planning service Gtrot is changing its focus and is now officially relaunching its website with a new emphasis on local discovery. Somewhat reminiscent of Foursquare’s “Explore” feature, Gtrot is working to build a platform where you can discover, save and share the best restaurants, bars, clubs, arts, events and even the best local deals from services like Groupon and Gilt City… → Read More
I don’t know if Highlight, Glancee, Banjo, or any one of those other startups you’re now officially sick to death of hearing about are going to make it, but I know that for the first time in a long time, we’re starting to move in the right direction in terms of mobile innovation. And no, I don’t mean we need more people-stalking apps, I mean we need more passive use of our mobile… → Read More
MySocialCloud is a new, and somewhat stealthy, startup that aims to organize your online life through bookmarking, stream consolidation, filtering and auto-login capabilities. The service, which until now has only been available to users at a handful of colleges out in California, has some pretty impressive backers, too. The startup has raised “just shy of a million” from Sir Richard Branson and… → Read More
Amazon announced a new licensing deal this morning with Discovery Communications, the media company behind cable TV channels including the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery and Science and Military Channel. Under the terms of the agreement, which CEO Jeff Bezos calls the company’s “biggest addition yet,” Amazon Prime customers will now have the rights to stream series… → Read More
One of the biggest challenges we’re facing as we move into the post-PC era is the challenge of navigating through a disconnected web of applications. Bought and sold as self-contained packages of code, apps are independent little creations, boxes you tap for specific functions. Single purpose beings.
Unlike the web, apps are not connected to each other through links (although they could be)… → Read More
Even more news from the Netflix camp, which has just signed an agreement with media juggernaut Discovery Communications to renew and expand their licensing deal.
The companies this morning announced a two-year, non-exclusive licensing agreement that allows Netflix users to stream prior-season series and specials, including an expanded selection of additional seasons of popular series from … → Read More
Several iPhone app developers have teamed up to launch PhotoAppLink, a new open source initiative that aims to simplify photo editing by tying multiple photo-editing apps together.
As you know, there are an incredible number of photo editing apps in iTunes today, and often, each especially excels in one particular area. For example, converting photos to black and white, cropping, compositing or… → Read More
All year, I’ve heard some variation of this phrase: “A big shift, from search to discovery, is underway online.” I’m still figuring out what this means. I’d like to share my thoughts on it, and I’d like to hear what “discovery” on the web means to you.
First, I do not believe that there is a “shift” from search to discovery. “Shift” isn’t the right word, because people will continue to search… → Read More
It’s been a good start to the year for StockTwits. For starters, as we reported last week, the realtime info-sharing hub for investors and traders, has doubled its monthly visitors since December. It also recently stole Yahoo Finance products exec David Putnam and added Chris Bullock, who was formerly the senior managing director for global investor relations services at NASDAQ, as its new VP of… → Read More
Well this stinks. Space Shuttle Discovery is in the closing stages of preparation for its final flight ever. After that I guess American astronauts will have to hitchhike their way into orbit, which is pretty lame, I think you’ll agree. The launch is scheduled for November 1. → Read More
Just like clockwork more companies are announcing its plans for a 3D TV stations. ESPN’s plans were just announced and now we hear that Discovery, IMAX, and Sony have form a joint venture to develop a 3D station. → Read More
I don’t use many Bluetooth headsets – I rarely drive – but I found the Discover 975 to be a welcome addition to the headset pantheon. Unlike larger – or, dare I say, smaller – headsets the D975 seems just the right size for easy insertion and removal and it is unobtrusive enough to avoid the dreaded Bluetooth Douchebag Syndrome (BDS), a disease that slowly affects the… → Read More
Scientist wannabes, rejoice!
Discovery Communications has released a Discovery Channel application on the iTunes App Store (link to the program), bringing heaps of video content produced by the popular non-fiction media company to the iPhone and iPod Touch. In addition to video clips, the app also boasts a collection of quizzes, photo galleries, programming schedules and updates from Discovery… → Read More
No joke, I just received my obituary in the mail today at the office. Apparently, I died while surfing at Rockaway on Monday, July 6th. That’s news to me. I’ve never surfed Rockaway. The contents of this rusty jar are quite puzzling and I was met with the following note. → Read More
Discovery Networks have acquired How Stuff Works for $250 million. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Discovery plans to use the site “as the cornerstone of an effort to bring its vast library of video content to the Web.” Discovery previously acquired environmentally focused blog TreeHugger.com for $10 million in August. How Stuff Works is a long standing provider of… → Read More
Discovery Communications has announced the acquisition of TreeHugger.com for what is believed to be $10 million. TreeHugger.com started as an environmentally focused blog in 2004 and grew to include forums, green guides and other related features. The site sits in the Top 20 blogs worldwide according to Technorati and is said to have 1.4 million unique visitors a month. Alexa ranks the site at… → Read More
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