Five finalists have been chosen in 20 different categories for the 2012 Crunchies awards, and we’re proud to release the worthy nominees today. Voting for the winners starts today, and the winners will be announced January 31st. Read more »
The online world and the real world still don’t meet in many places. But with same-day delivery Google may be trying to understand how to make those two worlds mesh, while also improving its ability to track how well its ads work. Read more »
I was an AirBnB sceptic for a long time, but trying the service made me realize just how disruptive it could be — and how it also shares a lot of the same characteristics of other disruptive businesses that are powered by the social web. Read more »
Owning physical items — cars, apartments, office space — will be increasingly inefficient for a global market. This is driving a greater interest in the share economy. Companies like Zipcar and Airbnb have paved the way here, but a host of startups have surfaced recently, too. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TaskRabbit is one of the most talked about distributed and freelance workforce startups. While most people use taskrabbits for getting groceries or doing minor tasks, some startups are finding that TaskRabbit is good source for finding researchers and staff up consumer panels instantly. Read more »
San Francisco is truly the test bed for alternative tech-focused transportation. And on Tuesday, folks in the Bay Area will have access to yet another option: SideCar, a mobile app that will offer real time ride sharing. Read more »
When GigaOM sat down with Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com, to talk about online outsourcing, he expressed incredible optimism about the growth of his site and web-powered international hiring in general, but far less hope for niche platforms aimed at connecting workers with gigs. Read more »
What Billy Beane is to baseball, Dave McClure wants to be technology startups. And like Beane, he is willing to go anywhere in the world to find a slight edge to beat his richer, bigger and fancier rivals on Sand Hill Road. Read more »
Women at NBCU, NBCUniversal’s female-targeted ad sales, marketing and research initiative, is launching a new digital advisory board called Women@NBCU. Members include Google’s Marissa Mayer, Twitter’s Chloe Sladden and One Kings Lane’s Alison Pincus. Read more at paidContent »
Mark Gilbreath of LiquidSpace predicts that the driving force of the sharing economy will become time, and the companies that can do business in real-time will occupy a more strategic, and profitable, place in the ecosystem. Read more »
TaskRabbit has raised $17.8 million in a Series B funding round. It’s just been 7 months since the company announced its $5 million Series A, but growth has been fast and furious: TaskRabbit has tripled net revenue and seen a seven-fold increase in customers since May. Read more »
TaskRabbit, the website that allows people to outsource errands and other jobs, has appointed Eric Grosse as its new CEO, the company announced Wednesday. Grosse will bring some proverbial grey hair to the San Francisco startup, replacing TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque in the chief executive position. Read more »
German startup Gigalocal has good backers and a name that seems inspired. But can its focus on a local market be enough to help open up a gap in the increasingly busy — but still relatively unproven — field of service marketplaces? Read more »
The emerging web-sharing movement, which includes startups like Airbnb, RelayRides, and ThredUP, has its roots in the maturing way that people use the Internet and cell phones, and its future economy will rise around location, niche groups and capital-intensive, under-utilized and time-sensitive objects. For entrepreneurs looking ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TaskRabbit, the online marketplace that allows people to outsource errands and other jobs, has debuted its first iPhone app. The whole point of using TaskRabbit is to save precious time, so the iOS app is great — it allows people to get things done on the go. Read more »
Ownership is old-school. The folks at Collaborative Lab have put together this infographic and startup list to highlight all the innovation that is happening around using the web to share “stuff.” Read more »
TaskRabbit has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Shasta Ventures. The three-year-old startup, which currently brokers tasks in San Francisco and Boston, will use the money to expand its reach to other metro areas nationwide. Read more »
