Alert! Ping4 raises $4M to develop its mobile emergency warning technology
Ping4 wants to become to use its hyper-local geo-fencing technology to build a finely tunable emergency alerts system for any public safety agency. Read more »
Startup whiz Ori Allon launches mysterious people-powered local startup
Ori Allon, a two-time entrepreneur who sold his previous companies to Google and Twitter, is back now with a third startup called Urban Compass. The details are scarce but it will be a local, human-powered service that relies on algorithms to mobilize workers. Read more »
Curbed’s Lockhart Steele weighs in on advertising — and Nick Denton
Everyone likes the idea of a thriving website sustained by a community of local readers. But too often “local” has been the stuff of journalistic ideals rather than real-world business plans. Real estate blog, Curbed, appears to be bucking this trend. How? Read more at paidContent »
Can MIT’s Media Lab help to reinvent local media?
The Knight Foundation says it wants to help reinvent local and community-level media through the Center for Civic Media at MIT — the non-profit entity just announced new funding for the center, and a new director in online media pioneer and long-time Harvard University fellow Ethan Zuckerman. Read more »
EveryBlock Learns Secret to Local News: People
Hyper-local site EveryBlock started out as an automated news aggregator, pulling in feeds based on specific locations. But founder Adrian Holovaty says he has realized that data is nothing without human interaction, and so the site has relaunched with more of a focus on community. Read more »
Hyper-Local News: It’s About the Community or It Fails
photo: See-ming Lee
AOL has agreed to acquire Outside.in, a hyper-local news aggregator, for substantially less than investors put into the company. Like many other experiments in hyper-local news, it failed to connect with the communities it was supposed to be serving, and that is the kiss of death. Read more »
Is Hyper-Local News Doomed, or Did TBD Just Get Sandbagged?
The dismantling of Washington-based local news site TBD has some arguing that such local online-media ventures are doomed to failure, but others maintain that the site’s demise was a result of corporate infighting, and says nothing about the strength of the original concept. Read more »
Hyper-Local News Startup TBD’s Future is TBD
One of the more high-profile experiments in hyper-local news, a Washington, D.C.-based startup with the unlikely name TBD, has had a somewhat troubled history — losing its general manager just months after launch — and now the site has been restructured, raising fears about its future. Read more »
Yahoo Goes Hyper-Local With Content (For Targeted Ads)
Yahoo really isn’t in the “check-in” game, which means it has to find other ways to bring advertisers together with local users. One attempt is the new Yahoo Local beta which delivers hyper-local content from local publishers through the web in 30 initial locations. Read more »
OpenFile Wants to Re-Invent Local Journalism
Former CNN foreign correspondent Wilf Dinnick started OpenFile last year because he wanted to reinvent community journalism in digital form. The beta site launched last month in Toronto, with plans to expand to several other cities soon. The site blends traditional journalism and user-generated content. Read more »
Hyper-Local News Site TBD Launches to Much Fanfare
TBD.com, a Washington-based experiment in online hyper-local journalism from Allbritton Communications, creators of the political news site Politico, launched this morning with much fanfare. Whether the new startup’s blend of local reporting and blog aggregation can win it an audience remains to be seen, however. Read more »
Outside.in to AOL's Patch: Bring It On
Mark Josephson, CEO of hyper-local news aggregator Outside.in, isn’t concerned about AOL pouring $50 million into its Patch.com hyper-local news operation. He says that while they are both going after local advertising, the two services are very different and there’s plenty of room for everyone. Read more »
