Yelp launches in Australia. We interview the CEO [video]
Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 1:43 am by Jason Cartwright
Today marks the launch of Yelp in Australia. For those unfamiliar with the service, Yelp is a service that allows users to rate their experience with businesses. These business ratings can aid in the decision process for selecting a business to suit your needs.
Imagine you find yourself in an unfamiliar city and want to discover the best restaurant to dine at that evening. Rather than take a gamble on a random place, you can inform your decision by using the wisdom of the crowds, or rely on your social graph to surface the best places. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking Yelp is just for restaurants, it’s not.
Based on international statistics to September, Yelp reviews are made of up only 23% shopping, 23% restaurants, 10% Home and local services, 9% Beauty and fitness and 8% Arts, Entertainment and events. From these numbers and the pie chart below, you can see Yelp covers a massive cross-section of businesses in all different industries.
Yelp launched in the US in late 2004 and has continued it’s international expansion to Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium. Seven years later, Australians will get their turn.
The local launch of Yelp here in Australia means Australian businesses will be added to the list of cities available. Yelp has worked with Sensis to add a bunch of local businesses, which means they won’t be starting from scratch. Initially the company has focused on Melbourne and Sydney, but will work throughout Australia. To a large degree, it’ll be up to the community to contribute content.
From 6:01am this morning, a dedicated Yelp Australia website will be live – http://yelp.com.au. The Australian launch of Yelp will also include the launch of free iPhone and Android mobile applications. There are currently no dates for the launch of a Windows Phone 7 application. Good news for Americans who already have the Yelp app on their phones, the Australian locations will simply show up.
Gallery
Yelp for Business Owners will also be available, the company’s free suite of business owner tools. Businesses can claim their businesses, then add images, post business information like special events and publically and privately respond to customer reviews. Businesses can offer Yelp Deals, essentially these work the same as Facebook or Foursquare deals.
Video
On Monday this week, I got a chance to sit down with Co-founder and CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppelman to discuss the Australian launch. Check out the video interview below.
Kevin Rose’s new startup Milk recently launched their first mobile application Oink. The app, which offers similar functionality, gets users to rate the things inside businesses rather than the business itself. When asked for his thoughts on Oink, Stoppelman replied that they have had similar functionality for years now. It is however achieved in a very different way. Yelp looks at a reviews at a business, then algorithmically identifies common objects, dishes etc that are discussed.
More information @ Yelp.com.au (available from 6:01AM 30/11/11).
Australia’s first sub-$1,000 Ultrabook
Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 12:14 pm by Jason Cartwright
Ultrabooks are all the rage right now, with Macbook Air competitors coming from almost every PC manufacturer. The favourite right now for those with unlimited budget is the Samsung Series 9, if your boss is paying, get this one. The next tier down is a more reasonably priced Asus UX21 (Zenbook) is a great the middle class. But what about those on a budget ?
Good news today for those looking for an ‘affordable’ Ultrabook. The Acer S3 Ultrabook now starts at a brand new price of A$999. Just under that magical $1,000 mark. Yes to reach that price point there are compromises above and beyond the regular Ultrabook limitations.
The Acer S3 family starts at A$999 but only houses an Intel Core i3 chip, rather than the i5, or even i7 chips found in other Ultrabooks. There’s also a 320GB SATA drive, rather than the power-saving and speedy SSDs. If thin and light is your requirement, not speed and grunt, then this may still satisfy your check boxes. It still weighs in at just under 1.4kg and is just 13mm thin, wrapping up a 13.3” display.
It’s always been a promise of Wintel Ultrabooks to hit the sub $1000 mark, but until now that had been unachievable. Most like the Asus retail for between $1200-$1500, with the Samsung over $2k. Price pressure down is always great for consumers and while you can pick up a standard laptop for less than an Ultrabook, you should definitely consider the benefits.
Telstra is bringing Rebecca Black to Australia.. late much ?
Posted Friday, September 23, 2011 at 4:17 pm by Jason Cartwright
Rebecca Black is coming to Australia. Nope, I didn’t ask for it either, blame Telstra.
The world of Internet meme’s move pretty fast, with most videos spreading rapidly over the course of a few ours and forgotten about a few days later. Rebecca Black’s Friday video lasted longer than most and received the appropriate remix treatment to extend its lifespan.
It seems Australia’s largest telco, Telstra is funding the expedition international voyage to have Black visit down under. If they were looking to cash in the ‘success’ of the teen internet celebrity, they sure did miss the boat. The timing is intriguing given the release of Windows Phone 7.5 and iPhone are both due in October. I’m sure Apple is smart enough to avoid Rebecca Black, I hope the same can be said for Microsoft.
Black confirmed the news with a Twitter post earlier today and followed up with a YouTube video.
Head of TiVo Australia leaves for the US, future looks grim
Posted Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 8:42 pm by Jason Cartwright
Director of TiVo Australia or Hybrid Television Services (ANZ), Robbee Minicola has left Australia, and is already back in her home country of the USA, after working internationally for 27 years. She confirmed this with a post on twitter a few hours ago. Her profile description listed her as the “TiVo mad leader working towards building the best TiVo experience in AU and NZ”.
TiVo in Australia hasn’t exactly been booming with poor sales numbers, lack of updates and models and downsizing to skeleton staff. With the head of the company, TiVo’s future in Australia becomes even more bleak. As an owner and fan of TiVo, its incredibly frustrating that TiVo is being left to die like this. There has now been multiple models and updates released internationally that have not made it to Australia.
What has always puzzled me about TiVo is its lack of partnerships and bundles with television manufacturers. Consumers have embraced HDTV’s over the past few years in a massive way, so bundling a discounted TiVo would have been a great way to drive sales. One hope for TiVo fans is that Australian licencee of TiVo, would be acquired by someone who has the resources and passion to make TiVo a success in Australia. Fingers crossed.
Family HQ is a private social network for your extended family
Posted Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 8:09 am by Jason Cartwright
Family HQ is a new concept in social networking – it’s private. An Internet start-up that is 100% owned and developed within Australia, Family HQ is the first Australian social network of this type. During Microsoft’s Tech.Ed conference I got a chance to sit down with the Co-Founders Jase and Brooke Farmer.
Family HQ was created as a result of a personal need, that was then requested by friends. The private social network is designed for those that want to keep content private, so security is strong focus.
More info @ FamilyHQ.com
Google Voice now available in Australia
Posted Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 5:48 pm by Jason Cartwright
No doubt most Google users would be envious of our US counterparts who have enjoyed cheap call rates via Google Voice. Well today Australia gets its turn. Google have officially launched Google Voice for Australia, sadly there is one key exception. One of the best parts of Google Voice is the Google Voice Number.
A Google Voice number allows users to route all their calls through what’s effectively an alias number. This can be handed out to without fear of exposing your actual real number. This may launch at a later date in Australia.. fingers crossed.
So what do we get today? Basically its Google’s answer to Skype out. Google Voice Australia rates are low, charged at US$0.02 per minute to landlines or US$0.10 for calls to mobiles. There’s no initial flagfall charge when a call is connected like a tradition non-IP call.
While Skype pro never enticed me to lay down cash, for some reason Google Voice is enticing, so this afternoon I tried it out. Sure it worked, but call quality wasn’t fantastic in both directions and the mobile carriers can’t be blamed for shotty coverage, this was too a landline. Just be aware of this if your thinking of ditching your landline and going with Google Voice your VOIP solution.
You can access Google Voice through the Gmail interface, apparently there is a plugin to install, but it seems I already had it from Google+ hangout testing. It is annoying call costs and balances are still in US dollars.. baby steps. Buying credit is a fairly simple process, if you try and call without any, you’ll get a link to buy credit. $US10 is the minimum buy if your going to try it out.
Australia wasn’t the only country to get Google Plus today, calling from Gmail is now available to 150 destinations and 38 languages according to Google’s blog post.
More info @ Google Voice via ZDNet
