Highlight knows who is standing on that corner … and will tell you

What if you could walk past people and know who they were, or find out if you have a mutual friend without having to introduce yourself? An app for that launches today.

Highlight is the creation of Paul Davidson, the former entrepreneur in residence of Benchmark Capital. While formulating a company at Benchmark, Davidson kept returning to this “serendipity” that is meeting someone. And unlike the romantics who appreciate life’s little meet cutes, Davidson wants … Continue Reading

Grubwithus debuts iPhone app to book meals on-the-go

Grubwithus, the social-dining startup that helps people meet over meals in real-life, has launched an official iPhone app. The free mobile app is a promising step toward a future service that allows people to spontaneously book meals amongst themselves anytime, anywhere.

The service is already known for its “in-real-life” approach to social networking, bringing strangers together for prix fixe meals that are negotiated with partner restaurants beforehand. The social goals are very open-ended: people use … Continue Reading

GetGlue prepares to take social TV mainstream with $12M in funding

It’s not in the same league as Facebook or a Twitter, or even half the size of Instagram, but GetGlue’s highly-specialized social network for entertainment watchers could be on its way to superstardom.

On GetGlue, more than two million die-hard entertainment fans check-in to television shows and movies, over the web or from mobile devices, to share their enthusiasm and get rewards for their viewing behaviors. Seventy five major television networks have already taken notice, … Continue Reading

Kayak releases updated and unified iPad and iPhone app, takes on TripIt

Travel search site Kayak is releasing a new unified iPad and iPhone app today, replacing its standalone iPad app and adding a sleek itinerary-consolidation feature that seems poised to take on TripIt.

This is actually a major update that will turn Kayak‘s free iPhone app into a unified app optimized for all iOS devices, including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The two-year-old standalone iPad app will be phased out, which means Kayak faces the … Continue Reading

Zite’s new custom magazine iPhone app raises the standards for reading news on the go

Building on the success of its iPad app, Zite is rolling out a new iPhone-optimized version of its personalized news app today.

Zite lets you build a custom digital magazine by pulling in shared links from bookmarking and social sites, such as Twitter, Google Reader, Delicious and Read It Later. It then builds a personalized selection of articles based on activity from your social profiles. Unlike most of its competitors, Zite learns your reading habits … Continue Reading

Box spruces up iOS apps with photo and search functions

Cloud storage company Box updated its iPhone and iPad apps today, realizing that the world outside the office is no longer an oyster, but a giant second office.

Box has seen people using mobile devices to access the company’s file storage grow 30 times in the last year, and they blame that increase on the mobile workforce. Our whole culture around communication has changed. Once upon a time, we called house and work landlines and … Continue Reading

New CardMunch iPhone app converts business cards into LinkedIn connections

Professional social network LinkedIn launched a new version of its CardMunch application for the iPhone today, which promises to help you make sense of all the people you meet during networking events.

The app allows users to take a photo of paper business cards collected from new and potential contacts. It then converts the information on the card into digital, usable text. The updated iPhone app actually takes that information and matches it with a … Continue Reading

Salesforce debuts Do.com, a smart social productivity app for small teams

Salesforce has revealed a new web-based application called Do.com that combines task management with social features to create a smart way to get things done on your own and in groups.

Several other companies have tried and failed to make task management successful (there’s fresh competition from former Facebook staffers with Asana), so it’s telling to see Salesforce, which is known for its enterprise apps, trying to take a stab in this space. This suggests … Continue Reading

Brightkite founders launch Forkly, a fun app for foodies

A new food-focused app called Forkly brings the discovery of delicious dishes to center stage — and it’s a beautiful stage, indeed. The app, which is currently on the iPhone but coming soon to Android, is the latest venture from Brady Becker and Martin May, formerly known as the founders of location-based service Brightkite.

Becker’s goal in creating Forkly is to give foodies a way to take pictures of good meals, describe specific items they … Continue Reading

OMG! Cheezburger Network launches iPhone app

Cats. The iPhone haz them.

The Cheezburger Network, a group of websites highlighting silly picture, has launched its first iPhone application, porting thousands of ridiculous photos from its array of sites onto the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen.

The application lets iPhone owners quickly browse through images from sites on the Cheezburger network.  It does the job — that is, getting images of stupid cats and other animals to an iPhone user as quickly as possible — … Continue Reading

GroupMe to make money from brand-sponsored group messaging

One of the leaders in a brat-pack of group messaging startups, New York-based GroupMe, has just launched its first attempt to monetize its service. It is adding “Featured Groups” to the service to draw in advertising dollars.

Somewhat reminiscent of Twitter’s “promoted trends”, the startup will now enable brands to show up in a “Featured” tab on its iPhone and Android applications, where fans will be able to create groups under those featured brands and … Continue Reading

DEMO: Bizness Apps to include do-it-yourself apps for Android

Bizzness Apps is one of 53 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2011 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

Bizness Apps, a self-service tool for creating simple iPhone apps, today announced at DEMO Spring 2011 that users will be able to simultaneously create apps for both iPhone and Android using the company’s service.

The company, which focuses … Continue Reading

Is your avatar hot or not? Blue Mars iPhone app will let others vote

The Hot or Not web site was an early web sensation when it debuted in 2000, letting you rate how attractive women or men were with a simple voting system. Now Avatar Reality, the maker of the Blue Mars virtual world, let’s iPhone users vote on how hot, or not, your avatar is.

This is an attempt to snare an audience for a sophisticated simulation experience by creating a lighthearted and entertaining lightweight app. That’s … Continue Reading

Brizzly acquires WikiRank, launches wiki-style guide to trending topics

The Hot or Not web site was an early web sensation when it debuted in 2000, letting you rate how attractive women or men were with a simple voting system. Now Avatar Reality, the maker of the Blue Mars virtual world, let’s iPhone users vote on how hot, or not, your avatar is.

This is an attempt to snare an audience for a sophisticated simulation experience by creating a lighthearted and entertaining lightweight app. That’s … Continue Reading