rival

Groupon's Andrew Mason Talks About…No, Not Exec Shakeup, But Groupon Now

Kara Swisher in News on March 24, 2011 at 6:04 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown had a cheap Chinese meal and a chit-chat with Groupon CEO Andrew Mason in Silicon Valley–but not about what most people want to talk to him about. Instead of the departure of the Chicago-based social buying site’s President and COO Rob Solomon, all he wanted to talk about and show off is Groupon’s latest real-time deal innovation, which it is calling Groupon Now.

Video: GroupMe Dudes Talk Group Messaging Phenom (and Drink Beer at the Same Time)

Kara Swisher in News on March 14, 2011 at 3:01 pm PT

If you had to pick the hotsy-totsy start-up to win the media darling of South by Southwest award for 2011–following in the precious footsteps of Foursquare and Twitter from years past–it would probably have to be GroupMe. Here are the co-founders of he group messaging/conference call/locations/photo sharing service enjoying their day in the sun–quite literally, at their free grilled-cheese-and-beer giveaway this weekend in Austin.

Liveblogging Yahoo Q4 Earnings: "Encouraging" Is the New Black

Kara Swisher in News on January 25, 2011 at 2:10 pm PT

BoomTown was looking over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, as I blogged the conference call after Yahoo released its fourth-quarter earnings after markets closed today. It’s pretty! But Yahoo’s revenue growth–still, not so much. Yahoo exec, though, declared the results “encouraging.”

Google Joins Mozilla With Opt-Out Plug-In for Chrome

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on January 24, 2011 at 3:04 pm PT

Like Mozilla, Google has heeded the call of U.S. regulators to give Web users an easy way to stop companies from tracking their online activities for targeting advertising.

Q&A: Bill Gross's UberMedia Goes for a Third Name and Strategy

Liz Gannes in Social on January 24, 2011 at 1:00 am PT

NetworkEffect talks to UberMedia, the perpetually renamed year-old start-up, about the business of buying up independent Twitter clients that compete with Twitter’s own options.

IPad Rivals? There Are No iPad Rivals.

John Paczkowski in News on January 19, 2011 at 7:50 am PT

If one were to portion out the tablet market as it exists today, one might allot a segment to Apple, another to Google, one to Microsoft and, soon, another to Hewlett-Packard’s Palm. If Apple COO Tim Cook were to portion it out, he’d divide it in two–iPad and Not-iPad– and it wouldn’t be an equitable division.

Microsoft Brings the First Piece of Office to the iPhone: OneNote

Ina Fried in Mobile on January 18, 2011 at 9:49 am PT

Bowing to market reality, Redmond is offering a version of its note-taking program that will run on Apple’s iPhone. The app will be free for a limited time, Microsoft said.

Sony Decides It Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out of Cellphone Patent Fight

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 29, 2010 at 9:53 pm PT

Sony has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission against Korean rival LG, alleging patent infringement. It’s the latest legal challenge in an epidemic of cellphone-related patent disputes.

Q: Why No Twitter Board Seat for Kleiner's John Doerr? A: His Google Board Seat (Plus, Is the Star VC Looking at Spotify and Groupon Next?)

Kara Swisher in News on December 16, 2010 at 5:14 am PT

Star venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins paid $150 million for a stake in Twitter and all he didn’t get was a board seat. That’s due to another directorship he has at search giant Google. Maybe Doerr will get one at Spotify or Groupon, where he could be investing next.