Digital » Services
03 May 2013

  • Square bets recommendations based on payment data beat Foursquare check-ins anytime

    Digital

    Square is using its trove of payment data to build an engine for making local recommendations, a move that could upend the conventional wisdom about luring customers through their mobile devices. The recommendation engine, which is already at work in the commerce startup’s merchant directory, will someday suggest places to visit based on a customer’s [...]

02 May 2013

  • Yahoo in talks to buy travel rewards startup Milewise

    Transport

    Yahoo nearing deal to buy travel rewards startup Milewise, according to sources (via Pando Daily) By Erin Griffith On May 2, 2013Yahoo is poised to acquire New York travel startup Milewise, according to people familiar with the deal. The deal is set to close this week, they said. Milewise was founded in 2010 to help consumers [...]

01 May 2013

  • Why Google Now and Siri make great travel companions for iOS users

    Digital

    Google Now is often compared with the Siri voice assistant on Apple’s mobile devices, but its power lies in giving you information you need to know before you have to ask. It works best as a supplement to Siri, rather than a replacement, now that it has expanded from Android devices to iPhones and iPads. [...]

29 Apr 2013

  • Top travel sites then and now: How usability has evolved in travel

    Digital

    What did Expedia look like before the site and its peers turned the bricks and mortar travel agent industry on its head? And how did airlines connect with customers online when dial-up connections were the norm? It seems like another lifetime when these online travel sites broke onto the scene in the mid- to late- [...]

27 Apr 2013

  • Five drivers in Maine who trust a GPS more than their eyes

    Transport

    Police say a motorist following GPS directions took a road less traveled and ended up having to be rescued after his car became submerged in water. Officials say the motorist had to climb on top of his 2005 Pontiac Grand Am to await rescue by the Lebanon Rescue Department Friday morning. Lebanon Rescue Crew Chief [...]

26 Apr 2013

  • Maps are the heart of the mobile experience, Waze CEO says

    Digital

    Of course the CEO of a mobile mapping company is going to say maps are super important. But Waze CEO Noam Bardin has an interesting way of putting it. “What search is for the Web, maps are for mobile,” Bardin said at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference last week. The latitude and longitude of a [...]

25 Apr 2013

  • The 36 NYC subway stations where Wi-Fi and cell service are now available

    Digital

    New Yorkers are able to make phone calls, send texts, receive emails, and access Wi-Fi underground at 30 subway stations for the first time today. The locations of the newly wired stations were announced in Times Square today by MTA officials and executives from Transit Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Boingo Wireless. Voice and data service [...]

20 Apr 2013

  • UK-based startup Love Home Swap mixes rentals into its swap services

    Digital

    Love Home Swap, a U.K.-based startup that appeals to homeowners that want to trade their places, is getting into proper rentals. The company, which launched about a year and a half ago, was operating on a member subscription model. People would pay to get access to a network of homeowners that were open to swapping [...]

19 Apr 2013

  • Google Translate adds Cambodia’s Khmer as its 66th language

    Digital

    Google has announced Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, as the 66th language supported by Google Translate. There are an estimated 16 million native speakers of Khmer, mainly concentrated in Cambodia. Apple added Khmer support to OS X Lion back in 2011. Google Translate now comes with its own Khmer virtual keyboard and support for [...]

16 Apr 2013

  • Mapping and traffic service Waze sees benefit in its army of users

    Digital

    “The companies that are in this space are going find that it’s going to get harder and harder, and that they’re going to have to invest more and more, and the cost of updating your maps is going to increase,” Bardin told AllThingD’s Liz Gannes at D: Dive Into Mobile in New York today. Waze’s [...]