a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Taste Savant releases an iPhone app for its curated restaurant review aggregator

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web

For so many of us, Yelp has become an essential part of the routine when searching for new local restaurants. However, as the site has become increasingly noisy and unreliable, Taste Savant is aiming to eat Yelp’s lunch with the release of an iPhone app for its chef-curated restaurant review service. Taste Savant turns away from the free-for-all that is crowdsourcing by taking a more exclusive approach. By acting as an aggregator for reviews from chefs, critics, food bloggers and your friends, it attempts to provide better information than you’d find from sites like Yelp. You can think of it more like…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: 
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Etsy to launch its wholesale platform this summer, will take a 3.5% commission for each order

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Etsy plans to publicly launch its wholesale program in August, and today revealed how much it’ll be charging users for each order. The scheme launched in beta almost a year ago and is designed to connect Etsy’s army of sellers with prominent retailers. While many independent manufacturers find success selling their hand-crafted creations on Etsy, the company’s wholesale initiative offers greater reach through physical stores. “For many sellers who have built sustaining, full-time businesses on Etsy, Etsy Wholesale is a way to support their continued growth,” Camilla Velasquez, Etsy’s director of payments and multichannel sales said. When the platform sheds…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: ,
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Gmail now lets you quickly add photos that you’ve backed up from a smartphone or tablet

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 12:04 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Product Updates

1198185278_aa5e0a3b6d_b
If you use Auto Backup to instantly store your smartphone and tablet photos on Google+, you’ll soon be able to add them to new Gmail messages with just a few clicks. Starting today, Google is updating the ‘Insert Photo’ button located on the bottom toolbar of new Gmail messages to include photos that have been backed up from mobile devices. Hit the icon and you’ll be shown the same grid interface found on Google+, with tabs for recent photos and all of your curated photo albums. The option to upload a new photo from your PC or laptop, as well as…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: 
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

BTC China preempts China’s crackdown with an ATM app that exchanges cold hard cash for Bitcoins

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 11:48 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, bitcoin, Product Launches

SPAIN-JAPAN-IT-FINANCE-BITCOIN
BTC China, until recently the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, has rolled out an ATM Web app called Picasso that lets you sell Bitcoins in return for cold hard cash — but both parties have to be physically present in order to carry out the exchange. At first glance, this is a highly inconvenient arrangement. A BTC China spokesperson tells TNW that because it isn’t a legal financial institution, it cannot transfer money to bank accounts directly — and in order to circumvent that, the exchange between buyer and seller has to be a physical payment of cash. The move looks likely to be a response to…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: , ,
a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

HaxAsia’s accelerator program brings Asian hardware startups to Silicon Valley for crowdfunding

Apr15
by on April 15, 2014 at 10:23 am
Posted In: accelerator, Around the Web, Asia, Hardware, Insider

Hardware
As more consumer hardware startups crop up on crowdfunding platforms, an accelerator program HaxAsia has launched in Singapore to give a helping hand to those focusing on Asian markets. Behind the accelerator is a group of investment firms — Ruvento Ventures, IncuVest, DI-Group and SpinUp Partners. Slava Solonitsyn, the managing partner of HaxAsia, says: We’ve seen the explosion of successful crowdfunding launches recently, which brought to the world great products such as the Oculus Rift and Pebble Watch… However, most of the hardware teams launching crowdfunding campaigns often fail to communicate their product ideas well, lack the distribution network and underestimate the manufacturing risks and costs. All…

This story continues at The Next Web

└ Tags: ,