yelp

Business reviews site Yelp amounts to an "extortion scheme," according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles court by two law firms and a Long Beach, Calif., veterinary hospital that claims it was "victimized" by Yelp sales representatives asking for payment in exchange for the removal of negative reviews.

"The plaintiff...asked that Yelp remove a false and defamatory review from the Web site," a release from the law firms alleges. "In response, as set forth in the lawsuit, Yelp refused to take down the review. Instead, the company'… Read more

There's a scene in the 1989 comedy "Troop Beverly Hills" in which rival bands of Wilderness Girls attempt to best one another in a fundraiser by selling boxes of the same cookies to the households of a single upper-crust neighborhood--and unfortunately for the underdog protagonists, their arch-enemies have beaten them to the punch at just about every house. That's what it may soon look like for the explosion of companies offering ultra-discounted, fire-sale daily deals for local businesses, which have fast become the Web's latest retail craze.

Here's how it works. You'll sign … Read more

Yelp is an online reviews service for local eateries and attractions. Users can leave reviews for any business they've been to, including photos and personal anecdotes. Yelp then gives the establishment a 1-5 star rating based on the total number of ratings, which makes it easy to find out whether or not a restaurant is worth going to.

In a particularly handy turn, Yelp's service can also be found on mobile devices, allowing users to look up reviews on-the-fly when visiting a new city or confronted with an unfamiliar business. The service manifests both as a mobile-friendly Web … Read more

Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private equity firm that counts U2's Bono among its investors, announced Wednesday that it has committed up to $100 million in funding for reviews site Yelp.

It's initially investing $25 million in the Series E round, and plans to increase the investment to up to $100 million through the purchase of stock from employees whose stock has vested, as well as other eligible shareholders. Elevation co-founder Marc Bodnick will join Yelp's board of directors.

The funding round comes just a month after Yelp was reportedly close to a $500 million acquisition by Google, … Read more

Augmented reality is fast becoming a reality for mobile search apps of all stripes. Layars, which calls itself a "reality browser," was one of the first of interest to pop up on our iPhone radar. Not long ago, Yelp oh-so-quietly added its own way to slap its content over the world you see through your camera lens. The "monocle" feature originally surfaced as a hidden gem within Yelp 3.0. Now, in Yelp 4.0, Monocle has earned its place as a permanent feature on video-enabled 3GS iPhones.

Expect to see many more augmented reality apps … Read more

You know a new technology has reached the big time--or jumped the shark, depending on your perspective--when someone builds a conference around it.

So the Tuesday announcement of the Augmented Reality Event, billed as the world's first commercial event about that technology, is the official sign that the times are a-changin' for AR.

Of course, anyone can cobble together a conference, and just because it exists there are no guarantees that it will be any good, or feature anyone worth listening to. But the folks behind the Augmented Reality Event have at the very least scored a coup with … Read more

Yelp for iPhone contains all the ingredients you'd expect from the well-known business-rating and reviews site, and each new version layers on more muscle.

Yelp on iPhone cleanly displays user-reviewed listings for restaurants, bars, banks, and so on, utilizing the iPhone's GPS know-how to target your current neighborhood. Each listing squeezes in the address, user ratings, distance, and price range. Mapping capabilities show you how to get there, and a call button can help you make the reservation. Feeds featuring your activities, your friends' ratings and tips, and all rating and tips for businesses nearby bring the app … Read more

Among the new features is the idea of "checking in" to a local businesses, which will let you alert your Yelp friends that you're there--complete with a push notification. Yelp will also reward repeat visitors by denoting them as "regulars," with the most often visiting party getting a special badge.

Sound familiar? You might have used Foursquare or Gowalla, … Read more

The geo craze has come to Google search: Open up a Google.com window in the browser of an iPhone or Android cell phone and you'll now have the option to click a "Near me now" option to bring up search results close to your immediate location.

"First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you're standing right in front of a business or if it's just a short walk away," a post on the Google Mobile blog Thursday read. &… Read more