News Byte

Social-Shopping Website OpenSky Relaunches as Full-Fledged Online Marketplace

OpenSky, the two-year-old e-commerce site that took a stab at social shopping by allowing members to follow celebrity and expert curators, has relaunched as a full-fledged marketplace for small businesses. Merchants can open up their own “stores” on the site for free, and can sell to OpenSky’s 2.5 million members, with OpenSky taking a commission on items sold — like Etsy, but with a social twist, more established sellers and a much smaller community of shoppers. Items listed range from cosmetics to clothing to kitchen supplies. OpenSky is based in New York and has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital funding to date.

You Like Amanda Bynes. You Really, Really Like Her.

@MsAmandaBynes_! You are my favorite actress! You are so genuine and funny and you love your fans! Thanks for being you :)

– From a bug on Twitter.com that displayed messages to users scrolling through certain celebrity profiles that appeared to be written by those users and retweeted by the celebs in question

ShoeDazzle Taps Rachel Zoe as New Celebrity Spokesperson

Now that ShoeDazzle’s co-founder Brian Lee is back as CEO, he has a new celebrity lined up to help turn things around.
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People Tries to Boost Subscriptions by Selling a New iPhone App

Meet Celebwatch, a Twitter/People.com mashup. You can pay Time Inc. a buck a month for it, but they’d prefer to give it away.
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Exclusive: Twitter Eyeing Media Bigs, Including Hollywood Mogul Peter Chernin, for Board Seats

A little entertainment glamour along with the tweets?
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Viral Video: Pattinson and a Very Different Stewart Share a Ben & Jerry’s Moment

Awkweird, but Twihards love it.
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Viral Video: “Jaws” Guy Bites Mark Zuckerberg and “Eric” Brin at Webbys

If you love a celebrity getting all self-righteous on the world, especially the tech world, then here’s a big plate of Richard Dreyfuss for you.
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L.A. Stories: HipSwap Tries to Take the Creepy out of Craigslist (Video)

The mobile app-heavy service allows anyone with stuff, including boutique merchants with quirky stuff to move, to quickly snap photos of items, price them and then — presumably — sell.
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Spotify’s Special Projects Head Shakil Khan Moves to Path to Do Same

The fix-it guy for the popular music service takes his tools over to the personal social network.
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Exclusive: BermanBraun Buys Most of Shelby Bonnie’s Whiskey Media

Can’t we all just get along? Yes! Hollywood grabs a piece of Silicon Valley content tech.
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Viral Video: RIP Elizabeth Taylor