Street Fight Daily: Uber Fires Self-Driving Car Architect, Google Tests Personalized Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Uber Fires Former Google Engineer at Heart of Self-Driving Dispute (NYT)
The ride-hailing service had acquired Anthony Levandowski’s company last year. He was accused of stealing product plans from his former employer.
#SFSNYC: Verve Sees New Revenue Streams in Location-based Mobile Ads (Street Fight)
“People, not platforms, drive revenue,” says Verve’s Ray Green. “We [often] talk about technology and revolutionary platforms, but rarely do we talk about the actual people, which is what drives revenue for most of what we do.”
Google Tests Personalized Search, Likely a Future Ad Targeting Weapon (MediaPost)
The “Personal” drop-down option under the “More” tab in the Google search toolbar displays content related to the person doing the search, including emails that appear in the user’s Gmail account and personal notations or events in their calendar.
How to Differentiate Among Marketing Automation Companies (eMarketer)
Choosing a marketing automation provider is no easy feat. Marketing agency R2i recently put together a report comparing some of the top marketing automation providers in an effort to break down the maturity and effectiveness of individual tools.
Through This Ourglass, Watching TV in Public Is More Fun (Street Fight)
“Making TV smarter” has been the mantra for many a failed startup over the years. I won’t tell the sad tale of AOL TV, which I helped build content for. That said, Ourglass is approaching things a little differently: targeting TV out-of-home and looking to make public experiences with the tube more fun and useful.
Waze to Expand Carpool Service Across California June 6 (TechCrunch)
Waze still exists primarily as a mapping and navigation app that focuses on community engagement, asking users to report things like road hazards and bad weather and then pooling that data and sharing it with other users, and with parent company Google’s own Maps.
Sam’s Club Bulks Up Its App Marketing Strategy With Data-Driven Retargeting (AdExchanger)
When customers download the Sam’s Club app and start browsing consumables, that’s a strong indication that they’re going to become a regular patron – and those are the people Sam’s Club is gunning for.
Amazon Patents a Parachute Shipping Label for Drone Deliveries (The Verge)
Amazon hopes its Prime Air network will eventually deliver packages within 30 minutes, and it has gradually accumulated patents on drone technology and infrastructure. But the company still faces regulatory hurdles in the US, where autonomous drones are still not authorized to fly.
Dean Baquet: Local News Is the Biggest ‘Crisis’ in Journalism (Poynter)
The New York Times editor’s most important thoughts didn’t involve the chaotic White House, which has galvanized armies of reporters. They pertained to the dismal state of local news coverage around the nation.
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