With SellSimply’s Chirp, launched at the beginning of November, making a payment is as easy as a tweet: @SellSimply #pay @ThePayee $200 for [reason] The Portland-based startup also lets users purchase items or donate to charities by replying to tweets like the following: Donate to the disaster relief fund. Reply all with “donate” to give…
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Today X.commerce was officially announced at the annual Innovate Developer Conference in San Francisco, bringing together the technology assets and developer communities of eBay, PayPal, and Magento, as well as a number of technology assets across the eBay portfolio. The additional assets being folded into the X.commerce ecosystem include RedLaser, Milo, and Zong, among others – and…
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Last week in New York, we got a chance to sync up with the X.commerce team, which is a new division of eBay. X.commerce includes eBay, PayPal and Magento and will soon be launching a new platform for merchants, payments and beyond. The launch of the platform will take place at the X.commerce Innovate Developer…
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The daily deal can be tough to resist, and the market around reselling unused deals is growing. The daily deal industry itself, while fairly new, already accounts for $5 billion dollars annually, according to Bradley Wasz, co-founder and COO of CouponTrade, a company whose unique marketplace allows users to sell those untapped deals and buy…
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Google Wallet, the web giant’s mobile payment system, launched yesterday on Sprint Nexus S 4G phones. Locked with a pin number, Google Wallet’s Android app pulls funds from your Citi MasterCard or Google Prepaid Card, which you can load with any credit card. Google plans to directly support Visa, Discover, and American Express in the…
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Your favorite movies have their own unique soundtracks, and now your favorite books can, too. Founded by Paul Cameron, Booktrack is a startup that is changing reading – and the publishing industry – forever. Booktrack creates synchronized soundtracks for ebooks to enhance the reader’s imagination and engagement. Combining music, sound effects and ambient sound, Booktrack’s…
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With the trend of people increasingly using their credit/debit cards and the growing options of mobile payments, our society is becoming less cash-focused. A sample size of 1, myself, can tell you that I rarely use cash these days to pay for anything. I prefer the convenience of swiping a card, getting reward points, and not wondering…
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Earlier this month, I reviewed the highly publicized launch of Jumio Netswipe. The company hasn’t wasted anytime expanding their reach into the online payment space. The company has now launched a WordPress plugin aimed at the small businesses and bloggers who utilize the platform to power their websites. Websites who utilize the plugin will see…
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First, he launched Paypal, and then he went on to fund DNA sequencing, commercial space travel and Facebook. Peter Thiel is known for having big ideas and doing amazing things. Now, this self-made billionaire has his sights set on creating sovereign nations that will spring up from the ocean, free from the laws of any…
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If you’ve ever freelanced, you know that invoicing can be a dreaded chore. After finishing the work you were contracted to do, you have to create multiple invoices before actually getting paid. Tradeshift is taking the frustration out of invoicing and making sweeping changes in the e-payment arena. Tradeshift allows everyone, from freelancers to large…
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Way back in December 2010, we predicted that 2011 would be the year of mobile payment. Boy, were we right! We have already covered 6 different apps/platforms, and I am about to cover a 7th, Venmo, below, an app that has actually been around a while. Tech Cocktail’s co-founder Frank Gruber explained to me that…
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Whether you love learning new hobbies and skills, or have expertise you’d like to share, Skillshare is creating a space to come together and exchange this knowledge within your community. Reminiscent of Chicago-based CommuniTeach and Skyara out of San Francisco, Skillshare is an online marketplace where you can learn anything from anyone. Believing that neighborhoods and communities are the world’s…
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eBay acquired Zong, provider of payments through mobile carrier billing, today for a compensation of an estimated $240 million in cash. Zong uses direct connections with mobile network operators around the world to provide a secure payment solution. Zong is also a mobile payment provider for Facebook Credits and is accepted at over a thousand…
Read MoreThese days you don’t need to be a programming expert who writes hundreds of hours of code to create a mobile app. In fact, anyone can create one using YAPPER, Your App Maker! YAPPER makes mobile app creation a breeze by offering a mobile publishing platform for media organizations, publishers and brands. You can mobilize…
Read MoreCompass Labs offers an innovative social advertising solution, allowing advertisers to reach highly targeted and “precise users” (e.g. users who are about to buy) on Facebook and other social applications. Traditional online ad networks do not have the ability to target specific user segments on social media. They have limited targeting information, and can only…
Read MoreThis year was a big one for the payments industry. Startups offered innovative solutions for business owners and consumers to handle ongoing payments woes. Here’s what will come in 2011: Mobile Payments Extravaganza- With new smartphones and the debut of the iPad this year, payments startups are jumping on the mobile bandwagon and will continue…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More