Webware Radar: Yapta tracks hotels so you don't have to
Also: StrikeIron has raised $5.5 million in funding, Omgili has a new tool to help you find what's hot in the blogosphere, and HubSpot is making it easier to follow marketing leads.
Online travel shopping service, Yapta, announced Friday that it has launched a new hotel price tool that will allow users to track and compare pricing on national and international hotel rooms. According to the company, users will be able to choose the hotel they're interested in and then sign up to be alerted when rates drop. The site checks the hotel prices daily and compares them to find similar properties. Once a customer's specified threshold of affordability is reached, they can be alerted to the price drop and acquire a room. The tool is available now.
StrikeIron, a company that provides back-end tools for pushing data over the Web, announced Friday that it has raised $5.5 million in a round of funding. According to the company, it has used the funding to expand development, product management, and sales efforts. The company also announced that due to the funding and growth it has enjoyed over the past few months, it's hiring a larger workforce, though it didn't say how many people it would be hiring.
Omgili, a search engine that allows users to search through forums and discussion boards, announced Friday that it has launched a new service called Omgili Stream. According to the company, the new tool will search the Web and particular discussion sites to find which topics are being discussed the most at any given time. By default, the company said that it will filter results based on the publishing date of content. The free tool is available now on Omgili's site.
Online marketing service provider HubSpot announced Friday that it has launched a new Lead Re-Visit Notifications tool, which provides customers with alerts that are aimed at cutting down on the number of missed marketing connections. According to the company, HubSpot users have received a number of qualified leads, but since it's difficult to respond to each instance, HubSpot's new tool will have a sales representative call a lead the moment he or she is visiting the company Web site, so it doesn't go unnoticed. The new feature is available in HubSpot's Marketer product.