The flood starts: Layar, Urbanspoon bring augmented reality to iPhone
Two big entrants in the world of augmented reality today brought their apps to the iPhone today.
Both Layar, one of Europe’s pioneers in augmented reality browsing, and the popular restaurant-finding app Urbanspoon are using the technology to mark up the real world. Augmented reality is a nascent field that lets developers superimpose data and graphics on a camera’s viewfinder (kind of like how the Terminator scopes out targets, but not deadly).
The apps are part of… Continue Reading
IAC buys restaurant recommender Urbanspoon
Urbanspoon, the startup behind a popular restaurant recommendation application on the iPhone, has been acquired by web giant IAC. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch hears it was in the millions of dollars.
The Seattle startup has a web-based recommendation service, but it found its biggest success with an app that uses the iPhone 3G’s GPS features and WiFi/cell tower triangulation to provide recommendations based on your exact location. It also uses… Continue Reading
Roundup: Yelp allegedly extorts, Twitter embraces its origins, Tesla CMO defects and more
Here’s the latest action:
The downturn finally hits HP — The company announced a 10 percent drop in earnings yesterday and plans to cut salaries. CNet has more.
Yelp accused of extortion, again — Local business owners report that the trendy review site offers to hide negative critiques in exchange for cash. And it’s not the first time Yelp has been called out for this.
TechCrunch reviews 2008 — Erick Schonfeld offers up insightful snapshots of last year’s startup, venture and… Continue Reading
Active Network acquires online campsite booker ReserveAmerica
The Active Network, a network of sites targeting athletic and active-lifestyle users, announced today that it’s buying ReserveAmerica, an online service for booking campground space across the U.S., for an undisclosed amount.
It was formerly a subsidiary of IAC, a conglomerate of interactive web-based businesses (including CollegeHumor, Vimeo and eVite), which agreed to hand over 100 percent of its stock in Reserve America Holdings in exchange for 3.5 million shares of convertible preferred stock in Active…. Continue Reading
IAC, conglomerate of web properties, launching new “content venture”
update: rumors are beginning to spill out; Alley Insider suggests the venture is a collaboration between IAC’s Ask and Digg.com, and will launch “very soon.”
With the bid by Microsoft to purchase Yahoo potentially reducing the number of major Web companies, other conglomerates may also come under pressure to sell or break up. IAC, the owner of sites such as Evite.com, Ask, Match.com, Citysearch and Excite, has seen its stock go nowhere despite several years of… Continue Reading
Citysearch, Merchantcircle connect their local business services
Citysearch, an online guide service about local US businesses, has partnered with MerchantCircle, in an effort to hold their own in the increasingly competitive area of local reviews.
The move comes as Citysearch is under attack from newer, fresher sites like Yelp, which offers reviews about locales and is appearing as high, if not higher than Citysearch in search engine results.
Citysearch, a division of IAC, has a large collection of local data that includes 14.5 million… Continue Reading
Roundup: Silicon Valley hot in mobile, Jaiku, LinkedIn, IAC, more
Here’s the action that you missed over Thanksgiving break:
1. Silicon Valley becoming mobile innovation hub
2. Why Google bought Jaiku
3. LinkedIn drawing suitors?
4. IAC to spend $100M in China
5. NeoEdge launches ad network for casual games
6. Feds may subsidize broadband access
Silicon Valley becoming mobile innovation hub — Despite the U.S. being the laughing stock of the world for its backward mobile networks, Silicon Valley is becoming a center for mobile innovation anyway. Nokia, the large Finnish… Continue Reading
Roundup: IAC to split, new Time Warner CEO, and more
Here’s the latest action:
1) IAC splitting into five companies
2) Sea change ahead for Time Warner
3) Google’s merger plans may be foiled by the EU
4) Synthasite launches website creation
5) Whrrl opens local opinion site
6) Internet users like their free stuff
7) Andersen exacts revenge on PR flacks
IAC to split properties into five companies — IAC, the large parent company of Ask.com, is splitting into five separate publicly traded companies: Home Shopping Network, IAC, Interval International, Lending Tree… Continue Reading
Roundup: Six Apart’s memo, VCs and sex toys, WiMax in 2008, Newser.com & more
Here’s the latest (updated) action:
Six Apart’s headaches — The blogging software market is highly competitive, so small differences in quality can make a difference in user adoption. Six Apart, a Silicon Valley start-up that offers several blogging software platforms, including Movable Type, has released a product after acknowledging internally it could make developers mad. [Six Apart’s Anil Dash has since responded in comments, saying the company took time to fix the bugs for the release. The… Continue Reading
Interactive Corp opens venture arm, but how long will it stay?
(Update: IAC’s venture arm will be called Primal Ventures)
IAC, the New York media conglomerate run by Darry Diller, and owner of Match.com, Ticketmaster and Evite.com, is opening up a venture capital investment arm in San Francisco.
It will be run by Match.com’s chief executive Jim Safka, according to the Mercury News. Safka will focus investments on companies in the wireless, video, recruitment and consumer health areas — all fairly predictable areas, given that they are… Continue Reading
Citysearch snaps up Insider Pages in local search race
Citysearch, the division of IAC focuses on local reviews of restaurants and other services, has acquired the struggling local review start-up, Insider Pages.
The purchase (amount undisclosed) comes at a time of increasing competition in the race to deliver a compelling local search services. Citysearch’s parent, IAC, has already bolstered its local search offerings, namely with Ask City, a property that packages everything from local search to local maps, reviews, and ticket services.
However, more entrants have… Continue Reading