A graduate of Excelerate Labs in Chicago, SpotHero wants to act as a parking spot broker for the big lots as well as offer consumers the cheapest parking rates through its mobile apps. The company’s $2.5 million round was led by Battery Ventures. Read more »
Nokia Research Center has developed a new system for finding parking spots that rewards users for sharing information on primo spots. It’s a smart approach to a common problem, as users might be more willing to share if they know they’ll get privileged information in return. Read more »
The service expands from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore to let individuals and private garages rent out empty spaces. In San Francisco (and across the bay in neighboring Oakland), Parking Panda will have 5,000 to 10,000 parking spaces available for reservation via its new iPhone app. Read more »
If you’re reading this in Los Angeles right now, there’s a decent chance you’re doing so while stuck in traffic on a packed freeway. Well, help might be on the way if efforts from companies such as Xerox to make sense of traffic flows work out. Read more »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Barney Pell has a new startup. The serial entrepreneur, who sold Powerset to Microsoft, has founded a new company called QuickPay, which aims to revolutionize the way that people find and pay for parking. QuickPay has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Fontinalis Partners. Read more »
