Street Fight Daily: Airbnb Buys Localmind, A New Hail for Gotham

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.

Airbnb Goes Social and Local with Acquisition of Localmind (GigaOm)
Airbnb announced in a blog post Thursday that it’s acquired Localmind, the Q&A startup that allows users to answer and receive information particular to their locations. Airbnb noted in the post that Localmind will allow them to add more social components to their popular travel product.

Openings & New Hires at Locu, Patch, Apple, Groupon, Signpost and More (Street Fight)
Lots happening in hyperlocal as the year comes to a close: Locu snags PayPal vet Mok Oh as an adviser, plus lands a hot ex-Googler. Booker brings on a dynamic duo in its hiring spree. Patch sees big moves at the top. And some shifts at Groupon. Plus, open gigs at Telenav, Signpost, Swipely, Yellowbook, Yelp, and more.

Hail to the Big Apple! NYC Temporarily Approves Taxi Apps, but e-Hailing’s Restricted to 1.5 miles (The Next Web)
The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission’s nine-member board voted today on proposed rules which will finally allow e-hailing in the Big Apple, similar to those already in place in the likes of Chicago and Toronto. So, from 2013, New Yorkers will likely be ordering cabs from their iPhones and Androids in the comfort of their own home or local bar, in addition to their trusty flailing arms on street corners.

What Kinds of Mobile Ads Are Most Effective? (Street Fight)
Patrick Kitano: Mobile advertising works best when not in the form of a banner ad. On a panel at Mobile Loco in San Francisco this week, participants all agreed the serving interesting content formatted to smartphones and tablets as a part of a contextual marketing strategy is the most promising strategy. The more an advertisement itself looks like a mobile app, the more consumer acceptance it will garner.

Franken’s Location Privacy Bill Voted Out Of Judiciary Committee (AdWeek)
Sen. Al Franken’s location privacy bill requiring companies to get permission from users before collecting their location information was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon in a bipartisan voice vote. The Location Protection Act of 2012, better known as the Stalking Apps Bill, would address some of the problems brought to light by a Federal Trade Commission report released earlier this week that found many kids apps were transmitting precise geolocation information to third parties without seeking parents permission.

How Google’s Maps App for iPhone Hurts Nokia (The New York Times)
Apple isn’t the only company that should feel nervous about Google’s release of a new maps app for the iPhone. Nokia may have lost whatever chance it had to get iPhone owners hooked on its mapping service.

Groupon Updates Its iPad App With ‘Nearby’ Feature and Support For 6 More Countries (TechCrunch)
Groupon has updated its iPad app, bringing the company’s key “nearby” service, which lets people search for and hopefully redeem deals close to them, to the tablet. Its part of a bigger strategy for Groupon to add more functionality into its overall service that will likely see integration of mobile commerce and other features into the app down the line.

Rewind.me Launches Klout Scores for Real Life (Pando Daily)
Rewind.me takes the check-in data Foursquare collects a step further, synthesizing it into useful insights about your behavior. The company has launched a Klout-like score called R:Factor, which measures the quantity, quality and other attributes of your experience in a single activity category.

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Urban Airship, Spun (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan look at how phone carriers are striking back; Broadcastr spins to Spun; acquisition news from Urban Airship; funding news from Clearstory and Poshmark and special guest Spun co-founder Scott Lindenbaum.

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