TechCrunch
- Ping Is Apple’s iTunes For Everything -
What do you get when you connect your customers to each other? If the customers like your product (and I’d say 10 billions songs sold shows definite positive bias) you get more sales. This echo chamber is what everyone - from Facebook on down - is trying to create and while I don’t believe Apple will pull it off, I think Ping is the first step in the right direction for online sales.
First, take a gander at what El Gruber has to say about Ping. He notes: “One way or another, though, if Ping proves popular, it shouldn’t remain focused solely on music.” He comes at the Ping question from a usability standpoint - shouldn’t there be a separate Ping app? Something completely disconnected from iTunes? In this way, Apple can add books, movies, apps, and the like to Ping and separate it from the lump of code called iTunes.
- Coulomb Wins $15 Million To Roll Out Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Across America -
Coulomb Technologies, a company setting up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the United States, today announced a $15 million series C funding. The round was led by Rho Ventures, Voyager Capital, Siemens Venture Capital, and Hartford Ventures, joined by Harbor Pacific Capital and LS Cable Ltd., and LS Industrial Systems Co., Ltd.
With its recharged coffers, Coulomb will be embarking on a program called ChargePoint America, and providing 4,600 new charging stations to nine regions in the United States: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue and Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC.
- Eric Schmidt: ‘We’re Already Fast..Fast Is About To Get Faster’ -
There’s been a lot of speculation about what will be announced at today’s Google search event. Google has been playing around with its logo, which seems to be pointing at the addition of live-updating results. We have received another clue from CEO Eric Schmidt today with a cryptic Tweet: I predict big things happening today at Google. We’re already fast…fast is about to get faster. Schmidt has only Tweeted 24 times since he joined Twitter last December.
Yesterday, Google’s doodle was action-oriented and kinetic, which Google called “fast, fun and interactive.” Today’s logo updates in colors as you type in the search box. And this combined with Schmidt’s message about speed points to Google rolling out the live-updating results-as-you-type feature they’ve been testing.
- Context Optional Helps Brands Run Location-Based Promotions On Facebook Places -
As Facebook Places becomes a destination for brands and local businesses to connect with Facebook’s 500 million-plus members, there is a need for technologies that help businesses run promotions and track interactions with their Places pages. Context Optional, a SaaS offering that allows users to build, monitor and manage brand presence on Facebook, is debuting a customizable Facebook Places Check-In Leaderboard, a way for brands to recognize users who ‘check in’ to Facebook Places such as retail stores and restaurants.
Places Check-In Leaderboard allows guests who check in to various locations to claim ownership of said locations via specially-designated categories which are tied to frequency of check-ins. Brands who implement a Places Check-In Leaderboard will be able to create Leaderboard categories such as ‘High Roller’ and ‘Shop-a-holic’ and attach special deals and offers to Top Fans on the Leaderboard.
