Street Fight Daily: Yelp’s Case Against Google, Urban Airship CEO Resigns
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Leaked Documents Show How Yelp Thinks It’s Getting Screwed By Google (TechCrunch)
Documents leaked from inside Yelp allege that Google is manipulating its search results to favor Google+ content over Yelp content. The materials accuse Google of blatantly highlighting its own products in searches made in the US but not in Europe in order to avoid angering EU regulators who are reviewing Google antitrust complaints.
Why Retail Will Face the Same Fate as the Media Industry (Street Fight)
Jeremy Rifkin, the prolific author who has served as an advisor to a number of world leaders, believes that the astronomical investments in Uber and Airbnb signal the breaking of a long-held “firewall” that kept the transformative effects of the Internet contained to the virtual world. Here Rifkin discusses why a small reduction in margins could kill traditional retail.
CEO Of Startup Urban Airship Leaves Company After Being Accused Of Sexually Assaulting His Ex-Girlfriend (BusinessInsider)
Portland police have been quietly investigating Urban Airship co-founder and CEO Scott Kveton for the alleged sexual assault of a former girlfriend. After news broke, Kveton announced that he was leaving the company. Kveton has been the subject of several media profiles and has been at the helm of Urban Airship as it’s raised millions of dollars in funding.
With Acquisitions, Brooklyn’s Corner News Media Grows Into a Regional Cluster (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: Publisher Liena Zagare’s independent Corner News Media network in Brooklyn has added three established community news sites in the borough to grow into a cluster of seven sites in a market of 1 million people. Street Fight recently caught up with Zagare to learn more about what her two acquisitions will mean for their neighborhoods and her company.
Finding Ways to Use Big Data to Help Small Shops (New York Times)
A wealth of information that some call big data is becoming increasingly available to small businesses. Such information was once available only to big corporations with vast computing power and deep information technology departments — and more recently to online start-up companies with data-mining capabilities.
Google Tests Personal Data Market To Find Out How Much Your Personal Information Is Worth (MIT Review)
If you could sell your location data every day, how much would you charge? A research team including Google has carried out an experiment to find out. Unsurprisingly, people trusted themselves with this information more than they trusted organisations such as banks, telecommunications companies or insurance companies.
The Google Local Carousel Is Still Spinning Out Of Control (SearchEngineLand)
Greg Gifford: Almost a year ago, Google threw everyone for a loop with the rollout of the Google Local Carousel. The SEO community scrambled to try to figure out how it worked, and theories started flying about how it would change search behavior. It didn’t take long to realize the biggest problem with the Carousel: business owners had no control over the photo that gets displayed.
Marriott’s CEO Just Made a Pretty Good Sales Pitch for … Airbnb? (Time)
Take it from the CEO of one of the world’s largest hotel companies: If you want to sample an authentic neighborhood when traveling, go with an Airbnb rental, not a hotel. When asked about Airbnb, Sorenson dismissively described the service as an “interesting experiment” that was “fun to watch.
How Trulia Turns ‘Real Estate Porn’ Into Lasting Relationships (VentureBeat)
Real-estate information service Trulia has seen tremendous success with its mobile app. But the trick is turning people who are idle browsers of “real estate porn” into more serious, long-term customers. At VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference today, Trulia chief marketing officer Kira Wampler explained how she does just that.
For Lazy Tipplers, There’s an Uber of Alcohol (Businessweek)
Chris Vaughn and two partners founded Saucey, a Los Angeles startup with an app that allows users to have alcohol brought to their door. Saucey, which was officially launched in May, has a squad of drivers who will go to your local liquor store and pick up a bottle of your favorite, plus extras if you need them.
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