(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...- blog: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-31 http://joeyreporter.com/updates/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-31/ #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-07
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Geolocation Services (Cough, Games) You Should Check Out
(1 votes) Loading ...I’ll admit it. We here at The Joey Reporter love mobile geolocation services just as much as Digg’s Kevin Rose. Despite the economic downturn and the barriers to entry it has posed to tech startups, activity in this space has increased dramatically in the past year.
We discussed the growing popularity of Foursquare a few weeks ago, but recently, a couple of rivals have come across our radar that are certainly worth checking out.
- Gowalla
If we could give an award to the most creative name for an app, Gowalla would be top of the list. Not only is it an incredibly brandable name, its got a sleek interface that allows users to check in and out of places very easily. We could do without the ugly dark green color scheme, but we like the concept of having a virtual passport that is “stamped” when a user checks into a venue.
The major difference between Gowalla and Foursquare is that Gowalla is built on a crowdsourcing model. In other words, unlike Foursquare, which is only usable in certain cities like San Francisco and New York, Gowalla users can add/ create venues in whatever city they happen to be in. Gowalla is a lot more GPS-intelligent when it comes to displaying venues and if financing is any indication of long-term success, Gowalla will certainly give Foursquare a run for its money.
2. Rally
The team at 12seconds.tv entered the geolocation game with a new app called Rally, which takes a slightly different approach to exploring cities. While Gowalla and Foursquare let you pull import friends from social networks and meet people in new places, Rally wants to keep things more exclusive, which we like. The app is a much more intimate location-game because users can only share their location with people they are ACTUALLY friends with. Like Gowalla, Rally relies on a crowd-source model. However, a main difference is that users can also tag a photo of themselves when they check into a place, which adds an element of personalization to the game.
Foursquare, Rally, Gowalla, or all three? Which one do you use and which do you think will make the biggest impact in 2010?
Too many smartphones to choose from? Here are two resources
(1 votes) Loading ...
Last week, after my barely alive, completely cracked Blackberry Curve dropped three calls in two minutes, I decided I had had enough. After monitoring The Boy Genius Report religiously to see if AT&T was, in fact, slashing its Blackberry prices in half, I woke up last Friday and grabbed the Blackberry 9700. Fantastic device, I must say.
For those of you still torn between Droid / iPhone / Blackberry / HTC / Nokia Flip Phone, there are a couple of new web platforms out there that may make that decision a little easier:
TechCrunch ran an article about a new venture called Measy which raised 200K in seed funding on the promise of making the switch to another mobile device much less terrifying.
Pro’s: Nice, easy to navigate UI, asks the user the right balance of questions
Cons: For an obsessive smartphone enthusiast, the results are somewhat limited. In addition, the questions could be displayed in a somewhat cleaner format (ie, lightbox?).
These guys are on top of their game when it comes to the recommendation space. From golf clubs to blogs to makeup, the Hunch team can grab a snapshot of user behavior by asking him/her questions and then deliver pretty accurate results. The more you use it, the more it learns about you. Brilliant venture from the people who brought you flickr.
Pros: User has more control over metrics because he/she can skip questions. The page layout is more user friendly than Measy because users don’t have to scroll to the bottom of the page to answer questions. Good results.
Cons: If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to spend too much time playing around with Hunch (it’s fun though!), it might not be the best fit…they ask users A LOT of questions.
Any other smartphone recommendation platforms out there? Let us know in the comments!
Fundraising and M&A… It’s all in the track record
(3 votes) Loading ...It goes without saying that a year ago, Christmastime was far from cheery, plagued by the doom and gloom of failed banks, slumping housing prices, and a rock bottom stock market. The economic mood was clearly felt in the VC industry, which saw huge drops in M&A and IPO activity through 2008.
However, the end of 2009 seems to signal a slight resurgence of confidence in the VC space. Steve Frederick and Don Rainey, general partners at Grotech Ventures, write that there are still good opportunities for young companies to grow – provided they can bootstrap and innovate. Furthermore, in the first three quarters there were nine VC-backed IPOs compared to six during all of 2008.
Long gone are the days when VC’s would jump into the arms of any 20-something with a business plan. However, if a budding entrepreneur has the management team and resume to back up his plan of attack – no matter how old – investors are far more likely to bite. Take Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, who’s mobile credit card transaction platform, Square, received a quick $10 million in funding based on a cool $40 million valuation (it’s been “around” for less than one year). A brilliant idea + a proven track record = funding.
M&A activity is also alive … you just need the pedigree and resume to get your company noticed. Take Apple’s recent acquisition of music startup LaLa and Facebook’s purchase of social media aggregator FriendFeed. Founders who had a proven track record and brilliant engineering teams, above all else, were the tipping point. From Techcrunch:
But the biggest win here for Facebook is the FriendFeed team, which includes an all-star cast of ex-Googlers. Perhaps best known of these is Paul Buchheit
, who is responsible for creating Gmail, pioneering some of Google’s early (and incredibly lucrative) advertising products, and coining Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto. Other ex-Googler co-founders include Bret Taylor
M&A and venture cap is alive and well…just make sure you align yourself with the right people if you’re looking for a big break.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-06
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...- blog: Next Big Sound: More Proof Music Startups Are Not Dead Yet http://joeyreporter.com/?p=364 #
- blog: tweet your google talk status? there's an app for that http://joeyreporter.com/?p=346 #
- blog: Is there a Resurgence in the Music Startup Space? Why now? http://joeyreporter.com/?p=354 #
- blog: twitter face off – cotweet vs hoot suite http://joeyreporter.com/?p=343 #
Loading ... - blog: Carl Honore praises slowness http://joeyreporter.com/?p=337 #
- blog: Hidden facebook treasures (facebook prototypes) http://joeyreporter.com/?p=291 #
- blog: Wanna lose weight? There's an app for that (actually a couple good ones) http://joeyreporter.com/?p=329 #
- blog: No wonder people want Windows… Windows 1.0 [watch] http://joeyreporter.com/?p=333 #
- blog: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29 http://joeyreporter.com/updates/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2009-11-29/ #
Next Big Sound: More Proof Music Startups Are Not Dead Yet
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Congrats to our friends over at The Next Big Sound for raising 1 million dollars in seed money! They significantly changed up their business model to provide analytic data for artists, similar to Alexa or Quantcast. Their approach to the music space is truly unique, not to mention cost-effective. It undercuts a huge, underlying problem: licensing rates make it financially impossible for music sites to stream songs on demand.
As we mentioned yesterday, there is definitely still life in the online music world. However, if startups in this space truly want to survive, they need to tackle an untapped niche, whether it be analytics or propriety technology. Or, widgetize a couple of siiick playlists, throw it on a splash page, and get thousands of college kids to listen.
A Resurgence in Online Music Startups? Why Now?
(1 votes) Loading ...Over the past couple of weeks, announcement from several new music companies seems to indicate that this sector may be on an upswing. New York’s The Branded, a community site for non-label artists, has an interesting advertising model in that it splits Google AdSense profits among the two most popular artists on the site. Veteran player MOG broke the news that it was launching an unlimited music subscription model, whereby consumers pay $5 per month to listen to as much music as they want. Again, no surprise here: the player is sleek, songs play, the catalog is good, and there are even lyrics! The guys from Skype, not one to miss a party, have even dropped hints that they are working on a music startup of their own called Rdio. No real info on the site, though a recent article on TechCrunch points to some serious industry veterans behind the site’s leadership. 
Is it just me or does all this news seem a little out of left field? Why is there a sudden rush to a space that has proven to be crowded, shrouded in legal headaches, and a disappointment from an investment standpoint? Especially with Google and Facebook rushing into online music, these announcements could not come at a stranger time. Having spent the past year in an online music startup, the time to start one of these ventures just does not seem right.
Carl Honore praises slowness
(1 votes) Loading ...How much better would life be if everyone slowed down just a bit. Original Video located here
Hidden facebook treasures (facebook prototypes)
(1 votes) Loading ...
Ever want to test out the newest releases from facebook. check out the prototypes in the app browser: http://www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php?app_type=6
No wonder people want Windows… Windows 1.0 [watch]
(2 votes) Loading ...Some products are so good, they sell themselves.
RSS Feed
Follow on twitter
Be a fan on facebook
Top posts around the web
powered by pluURL social pulse