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Facebook acquires 'social discovery' service Glancee

Just about a month after scooping up mobile photo-sharing app Instagram for approximately $1 billion, Facebook has further fattened its mobile portfolio by acquiring Glancee, a location-based, "social discovery" app designed to connect you with friends in the real world.

A notice on Glancee's Web site today reads:

We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering … Read more

Save a step when googling with Search Highlighter

The Google search bar saves you the step of opening a new window or tab to search for something, should you endeavor to copy and paste or type a search term into it. With Search Highlighter, you save another step between you and your Google results, needing only to highlight a word in Chrome and hit return.

The extension adds a menu bar below your bookmarks bar with either a Google or Bing search bar (your choice). Any word you highlight shows up in the search bar; hit return or click the magnifying glass button to initiate a search.

If … Read more

Startups at SXSW: Lots of buzz, little substance

For all the hype that Highlight received during SXSW Interactive, the app pretty much went silent when it came to the music part of the conference. Awareness of Highlight among techies was high, but it just never made it to the outside world. I'd like to say that this is surprising, but really, it's not.

Buzz apps seldom achieve osmosis between the tech world and the real world. Those that do sometimes find fame and fortune, but the majority just swirl around the industry vacuum before pivoting into oblivion. It's a problem.

One of the most basic … Read more

2012: The year of the App-ocalypse?

In the past week, two high-profile mobile apps were effectively shut down and acquired -- Hipster by Aol and Oink by Google. Both had big PR buildups, rave reviews from the tech press, and strong usage from the digerati.

What they did not get was traction beyond that, and the teams went on to be acqui-hired. Even apps that seemed to define new categories, such as GroupMe for group chat and Foursquare for check-in, have failed to gain popularity with the general public. GroupMe sold to Skype and Foursquare is shifting from the check-in model to the reviews/discovery space … Read more

How to unleash your networking skills with Highlight

Every year, there's always one app that takes the crown at South by Southwest. By no official decree, one smartphone application grows rampant during the event, as it gains traction with nerdfest SXSW attendees and later spreads to early adopters. Like you. And me.

This year, about a dozen apps attracted some buzz (you can view them all here), but the one that garnered the most attention and activity was Highlight (iTunes link).

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The free, location-based app alerts you of people in your vicinity with similar interests and mutual friends. Not aimed at romantic pursuits, Highlight moderates … Read more

Highlight vs. Glancee at SXSW: Rolling with the serendipity

AUSTIN, Texas--When Chris Connolly sat down in his seat on the "Nerd Bird," the nonstop flight here from Oakland, Calif., to get to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, he had no idea that a new social discovery app was about to play a role in boosting his business prospects.

Connolly, the head of design at Foodspotting, had recently signed up for Highlight, a tool that helps identify potential new social matches by virtue of proximity and shared Facebook friends and interests. And now, as he settled in for the four-hour flight, his seatmate leaned over and said, &… Read more

Glancee takes up arms in the SXSW people discovery app wars

AUSTIN, Texas--Walking around the halls at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival here this week, it seems that almost everyone is looking at their phones. But while plenty are reading the latest tweets, checking in on Foursquare, or updating their friends through GroupMe, there's a whole new category of services that has captured people's attention.

Known as people discovery apps, these tools are helping SXSW attendees make new connections. Tied to users' locations, the apps identify where they are and look for matches with others nearby, mainly by identifying common friends or interests on Facebook.

Leading the pack … Read more

The battle for SXSW is Highlight's to lose

Highlight, a passive location-sharing app, is poised to emerge as the big winner of South by Southwest, thanks to a wave of positive media attention. But will it be able to live up to expectations?

The SXSW music, film, and interactive-media festival is one of the most important and prominent launching pads for tech startups. The confab hosts one of the largest concentrations of techies and early adopters in the world (more than 20,000 will attend this year's festival), making it fertile ground for an app to quickly gain traction and go viral.

Don't underestimate the "… Read more

How to endure SXSW--and live to tell about it

First things first. Take a deep breath. And now repeat the process.

OK, you're off to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest Interactive, a five-day bacchanalia of panels, keynotes, parties, barbeque feasts, beer-soaked networking, and maybe even a little sleep. Just remember, if you want to be taken seriously there, don't call it South by Southwest. It's "South-by," or, in written form, "SXSW."

If you've never been before, it's OK to be stressed about what you've gotten yourself into. I've been six times, and I'm totally overwhelmed. And … Read more