Street Fight Daily: Google to Introduce Echo Rival, Amazon to Open More Stores
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Google To Introduce Its Voice-Activated Home Device (New York Times)
Google will introduce its much-anticipated entry into the voice-activated home device market on Wednesday. Named Google Home, the device is a virtual agent that answers simple questions and carries out basic tasks and will compete with Amazon’s Echo.
Amazon To Open More Brick-and-Mortar Stores, Beef Up Prime Services (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos on Tuesday promised more retail stores as well as new services for the company’s Prime unlimited shipping membership. (Subscription required.) Recode: Amazon launches restaurant delivery in Manhattan with more than 350 eateries.
ClipCall Uses Mobile and Video to Help Consumers Connect with Home Service Providers (Street Fight)
Lots of companies have taken a whack at the local home services space — from Angie’s List to a raft of startups. ClipCall, which came out of beta in January and will present at Street Fight Summit West on June 7th, relies on customers using the company’s app to record video of a job they need doing and then sends that video out to nearby experts.
Facebook’s Jakubowski: Audience Network ‘Basically Fraud-Free’ (For Now) (AdExchanger)
Ensuring the company’s Audience Network meets the same standards as its news feed is one of the jobs of David Jakubowski, Facebook’s ad tech head who oversees Atlas, LiveRail and Audience Network. Here the exec talks about how Facebook is monitoring its publisher relationships.
How True Religion Uses Wearables to Elevate the Shopping Experience (Street Fight)
“It’s no secret that today’s retail landscape has shifted from ‘shopping efficiency’ to experiential. Customers want and expect elevated treatment from their brands. Specifically, brands that they frequent,” says the company’s SVP for direct to consumer, John Hazen.
Twitter’s New Beta Program Lets Developers Put Ads in Embedded Streams (The Next Web)
Twitter is rolling out a beta program that will allow developers to add advertisements to tweets. By integrating Twitter Kit with MoPub publishing platform, ads can be piggybacked onto the content you’d normally find in a tweet. It’s the first time Twitter is letting developers advertise directly within Twitter, which will also relate to off-platform content as well.
How Macy’s And Lord & Taylor Are Building ‘Smart Environments’ (Geomarketing)
In a bid to boost earnings by better understanding the smartphone-toting consumers’ path to purchase, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor have tapped Zebra Technologies to facilitate two connected-store solutions aimed at erasing the divide between the smartphone and the in-store shopping experience.
Millenial-Focused Local News Startup Charlotte Agenda Expands to Raleigh (Nieman Lab)
The site, sensibly called Raleigh Agenda, is scheduled to debut July 1, and will be aimed at Raleigh’s growing population of young professionals. It’s an audience the Charlotte site has found some success in reaching, and the latest growth for a small cohort of local sites targeting young people with lifestyle-heavy coverage.
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