Startups

As a first-mover, HotelTonight is in an enviable position. The company faces competition from imitators, including big brands, but there absolutely will be more than one winner in the same-day booking sector. There is a whole big world out there.

QuickMobile has found itself a lucrative niche, and is clearly in expansion mode.

Yelp indeed has stubborn problems, and long-term trends aren't in its favor. Still, as a first-mover, its content can't easily be duplicated.

At least Peek backs up its questionable PR tactic of announcing a Boston launch when awareness surrounding the city is at its highest by donating to The One Fund Boston.

Yahoo is hungry to buy small companies and absorb in the talent, unlikely the interest is in building out the Milewise brand and service as a standalone. None of the miles/points startups -- AwardWallet, Traxo, UsingMiles, Superfly -- have broken through yet, and Milewise is in the same general category.

TripAdvisor's acquisition of CruiseWise is great news for TripAdvisor subsidiary Cruise Critic, which is a leading cruise news and cruise-information site, but is hampered by an outdated user interface and bulletin-like forum technology. This acqui-hire will enable TripAdvisor to finally modernize Cruise Critic, a project that's probably been on the agenda for years.

Hackathons beat sitting around and brainstorming, and Hertz is smart to tap the wisdom of the coders as mobile becomes even more important in the car-rental industry.

Yelp upped its marketing to entice local advertisers to ante up. Relatively few are advertising, which is either a huge opportunity for Yelp, or a sign of its shortcomings.

Hailo is now the second app with approval to participate in the pilot program, but neither Hailo CEO Jay Bregman nor TechCrunch made note of the startup’s premature launch this weekend.