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Airbnb, the coolest lingo for startup descriptions on AngelList
DigitalThat Airbnb is the poster-child of the sharing economy — or collaborative consumption if you want to be hipper — is now a given, so much so that a fuddy-duddy business magazine like Forbes put the company and its CEO Brian Chesky on its latest cover. But before a company becomes the zeitgeist in the larger pop culture, [...]
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Airbnb CEO responds to illegal rentals story: “First of all, it’s not illegal everywhere”
OriginalLast night, PandoDaily founder Sarah Lacy interviewed Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky at a sold-out event in the tech blog’s PandoMonthly interview series. Chesky used the opportunity to address Skift’s story from earlier this week about illegal rentals in New York City and other markets. Sort of. During the interview Chesky chose to focus on what he [...]
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Airbnb’s growing pains mirrored in New York City, where half its listings are illegal rentals
OriginalApartment rental site Airbnb’s revolutionary simplicity has made it easy for tens of thousands of people to both list and discover lodging options in private residences and book them easily, quickly, and safely. But a basic search on Airbnb.com for New York City lodging demonstrates that more than half of the available bookings on the [...]
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How Washington, D.C. created the U.S.’s best bike share program
TransportIf you had been handed, a decade ago, a map of the U.S. and asked to predict where the novel idea of bike sharing—then limited to a few small-scale projects in a handful of European cities, might first find its firmest footing, you probably would have laid your money on a progressive hub like Portland [...]
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Analysis: Zipcar to expand to airports and embrace business travel under Avis Budget ownership
TransportAvis Budget Group plans to expand Zipcar availability at airports during peak-demand periods, and will also offer one-way Zipcar service to and from airports. It’s a graduation of sorts for Zipcar, which offers car-sharing services on more than 300 college campuses, and 20 metropolitan areas in North America and Europe. Following news of Avis Budget’s $500 [...]
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Car-share pioneer Zipcar goes to Avis for $500 million
TransportAvis Budget Group Inc. agreed to buy U.S. car-sharing company Zipcar Inc. for $491 million, targeting consumers looking for an alternative to owning their own auto. Zipcar’s board agreed to a bid of $12.25 a share, the Parsippany, New Jersey-based Avis Budget’s said today in a statement. The offer, which has been accepted by holders [...]
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Parking spaces are the newest commodity to be bartered in the sharing economy
DigitalParking is one of the most vexed commodities in modern American life…Fixing it is going to require better policies, but it also needs a healthy boost from the private sector. Into the breach steps Parking Panda, launched earlier this year in Baltimore and now available in many cities. It is a simple way to rent [...]
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Airbnb acquires Localmind to create crowdsourced advice about neighborhoods
DigitalAirbnb announced today that it has acquired the startup Localmind, which makes a social app that allows users to ask and answer questions specific to locations. In a blog post, Airbnb noted that the team would bring a new social component to the company, and the location-based information that Localmind has been working on is [...]
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UPDATED: New York City’s taxi commission says “yes” to one year trial of taxi-hailing apps
TransportNew York City’s Taxi and Livery Commission met this morning to decide whether or not consumers will be allowed to hail and or pay for yellow cab rides in Manhattan with apps by companies like Uber, Hailo, Lyft, or some other upstart. Seven TLC commission members voted in favor of a one-year trial, with two members [...]
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Uber updates iPhone app with Foursquare destination search
TransportUber revamped its iPhone app and integrated Foursquare search, which means you can select a pickup or dropoff location using Foursquare instead of having to clumsily type it into the black-car app. It’s a very sensible move, making the Uber app much easier to use for customers looking to get from here to parts elsewhere in [...]
