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NYT trying to ease readers in to paying for the content by offering a discounted subscription plan of $0.99 for the first month

Overview of Google Offers and its potential to either fail or disrupt Groupon beyond what LivingSocial already has.

Google launching check-in offers/loyalty system with American Eagle, Quiznos, Arby's (!!!!!!!), RadioShack, Finish Line, and Macy's.

"The amateur iPhoneographer demographic is huge -  there are far more iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 users in the world than had already joined Foap. But the founders also wanted to keep it iPhone only. So the founding pair decided to create a greater incentive for Foap's army of iPhoneographers to get their friends to join the community too: by offering commission. Every photo license on Foap costs $10. For every one sold, the photographer gets $5, while Foap keeps $5. But now, if you invite a friend, you get 10 percent of each of their photos that are sold. Your newly invited friend the photographer still gets their $5, though - your 10 percent "commission" comes out of Foap's take."

""We're a direct response shop and we are held to a strict ROI metric," said Will Ferguson, senior director of online marketing, display advertising & social media at 1-800 Flowers. The company uses AddThis--which offers a toolbar that enables users to share content over Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere-to help it collect data from billions of search queries, domains and URLs. "We are able to leverage this data to introduce new audiences to our product," said Ferguson."

"Affordable tech"

"At any rate, the 10.4 million figure seems to be at least marginally good news for Foursquare, which, according to one investor capital source, is having to work harder for funding these days than in years past. ComScore earlier this year reported Foursquare drew just between 5 million and 6 million users monthly from March to June.  The Nielsen number is likely informative for brands still in the consideration stage about cultivating their Foursquare presence through organic features on the app or via the platform's nascent ads offering. Whether or not it's a good number for three-and-a-half-year-old Foursquare is probably a matter of opinion. And it's worth noting that Nielsen ranks the geo-social company only behind Facebook (78 million) and Twitter (23 million) in terms of July mobile app users. Overall, Foursquare usage, per Nielsen, was up 118 percent during the month year-over-year."

"Walmart began recruiting top Silicon Valley talent and acquiring start-ups last year. For instance, Walmart acquired Kosmix, a company that specializes in making web design more seamless, for $300 million. That team has been working for over a year to fix Walmart's systems and improve its website.  Walmart is investing in the "social gifting" market. A year ago, Walmart launched "Shopycat," which makes gift recommendations based on friends' Facebook profiles. The site is now called "Walmart Gifts" and allows customers to log in and get personalized recommendations based on Facebook and Twitter profiles.  The retailer got a better search engine. A dozen top engineers took 10 months to build it, and while the company won't discuss sales figures, they said the new system is more user-friendly. "If you search for cotton socks now, you'll actually find them," Manjoo writes.  Walmart is trying to lead the charge in same-day shipping. Its at an advantage considering that 96 percent of Americans live within 20 miles of a Walmart.  Walmart is investing like crazy in its mobile app. "Walmart imagines that as you go through an average day, you'll remember things you need--milk, bread, a new tennis racquet, a toy truck for your nephew's birthday--and tell the voice-enabled Walmart app. The app will list each item's location inside your local Walmart and include product info; eventually, it will also learn your preferences and offer recommendations. And once you're actually in the store, you'll be able to summon an associate to help you," Manjoo says. "

"In the case of Electiongrams, NBC is relying on a start-up called Chute that provides back-end tools for large-scale photo management to brands and large media companies. Chute helps its clients pull in photos that people share through email or sites like Facebook, but also offers human and automated moderating tools."

"OrderGroove, a startup that allows brands to create subscription and membership commerce, has raised $7 million from Fung Capital USA, with additional investment from Lerer Ventures, Legend and SWaN Ventures, Allegro Venture Partners, Bee Partners, as well as former Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez and NEW Corporation's Chairman Fred Schaufeld. Brands turn to OrderGroove to add subscription commerce models to their e-commerce sites. For example, L'Oreal uses OrderGroove's SaaS to offer a monthly box of skincare products."

"In the UK, Domino's has launched what it's calling Pizza Box Office, an initiative giving online pizza orderers their choice of complementary movie streamed to PC, Mac or tablet (release). The initiative is designed to incentivise ecommerce orders and illustrates how digital movies, like music tracks before them, can now be used as the auxiliary content of wider marketing campaigns."

"Facebook might have found a way to get people to use a long-neglected feature: check-ins, where you announce to your friends where you are. It is testing a new service that offers local businesses free Wi-Fi through a router. To get online, customers must either check in using Facebook or get a passcode."

 Playground Sessions uses a gamified approach to digital learning for piano players to encourage them to keep practising, with real-time analysis of progress.

Shoppers have become increasingly comfortable using the smartphone or tablet to browse retailer offerings, look for discounts and compare products-whether on the go or on the couch. For moms especially, who tend to lead shopping and mobile trends, the use of these smart devices may have reached the tipping point: Mobile has become more than a nice accessory to augment the shopping process; it has become an essential stop in the path to purchase. Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Moms-Mobile-Part-of-Shopping-Routine/1009722#qpdE6EZ6QEPTj4Lx.99 

Maybe now funded projects will actually be manufactured and fulfill orders.

With today's relaunch on iOS, the app offers a few more features - it has added support for "predictive March Madness" via its sports tile button, for example, and it can also alert you to nearby events and important occasions, like birthdays, as well as those from your own calendar. There are more news sources and sports teams available in the app, too, and you can better personalize your notifications.

A new startup called Deliv hopes to provide retailers with a new way to please tech-savvy shoppers, by offering same-day local delivery for the same price - or less - than having items shipped. Crowdsources peoples around the area to deliver for it. More about convenience than speed -- time of day is most important

Kolab offers a solution for any student that has become sick and tired of switching between Microsoft Word, Facebook, OneNote, and email. It offers real-time collaborative document editing, Facebook chat integration, video chat, and audio recording for lectures amongst its laundry list of features.

It should come as little surprise to industry observers that Facebook plans to unveil both a rich, skinned version of its Android app at a press event tomorrow, along with the first hardware to run that experience out of the box. The phone, by HTC, is appropriately named "First"-appropriate because of its status as the première phone to undergo Facebookification and its similarity to the name of HTC's newest flagship, the One. More screenshots follow