The idea is the same: startups, founders, cool stuff, resources, but only with a better domain name, and (I hope) a better design.

Head over to StartupDispatch.com pronto, subscribe to the RSS feed, plug into my Twitter feed and let me know if the blog is any good at all.

Studying for semester-end graduate school exams and nursing a startup addiction isn’t exactly the best recipe to top the grade curve. Hence, the sabbatical.

I will, in the unlikely event that I can get the time to excuse myself from a daily slog through dense literary studies on the conceptualization of the speaker in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, post a few updates here. My backlog of articles runs deep. It keeps shaming me into firing up Windows Live Writer before I panic and (wisely) head back to studies. Literary theory doesn’t make for pretty reading, but it is what I do, what I love (besides tech startups, just to clear the air). But be sure, that come December 9th, when I get done with the exams, this blog machinery will be in full swing.

I’ve been collecting data on funding rounds throughout November and will post a detailed report soon. Also in the works are profiles on dozens of new startups, including a few interviews (yes, I persuaded someone to do that), and a gradual enlargement of the site’s focus towards news and resources for entrepreneurs.

I lead no hallucinatory existence though; this is a small, young blog, and I hold no ambitions of it stepping into the worn out shoes of tech-press luminaries like TechCrunch or Mashable. But if I can make this blog a worthwhile stopover – daily, weekly, even monthly – I would consider it a job well done and grant myself a generous pat on the back.

TL;DR - I have exams. So no new posts. Sorry.

With a domain like that, you can forgive the domain-geek in me for gushing over Do.com, a new social productivity app, which launched in private beta today. I first stumbled across the site a few weeks back when it was still in early alpha stage. My first thoughts then, as they are even today, were: that is one heck of a domain name!

So when I finally got my invite for the app’s beta launch, I couldn’t wait to camp out and test the service out. Someone paid a hefty, multi-million dollar fee for this domain name; it would only be appropriate that they utilize it properly.

First impressions: Like Asana (which I covered a while back), Do.com is a ‘social productivity’ app. It means you can create tasks, to-do lists and projects, share them with your co-workers and work together to get things done more efficiently. You can assign tasks to individual team members, follow tasks, share files and collaborate on projects.

After logging into your account, you are deposited straight to the dashboard which shows all your tasks, projects and notes at a glance. Tasks are organized via ‘sections’ (say, ‘Now’, ‘High Priority’, ‘Low Priority’, etc.). Click on ‘Create Task’ and a right pane pops up where you can assign a task to particular team members, ‘subscribe’ to the task (i.e. get updates on its status) and share files with other members on the team.

You can assign tasks to individual team members, follow their progress, and share files

Once you’ve assigned a task to a team member (who must be on the site, of course), you can create a due-date, a description, and add it to an existing project (or create a new one). You can also add ‘subscribers’ who will get regular updates on any changes made to the task. The service integrates with Google Docs, so sharing files for a task is easy as well.

'Subscribe' is a neat way to follow a task's progress

You can sort tasks by section, by due date, by your ‘sent’ tasks, by completed tasks, and even create a custom sorting filter.

Projects can be private or accessible to everyone

You can also juggle around multiple projects, each with its own list of tasks. Projects can be made private to a select group of people, or accessible to everyone.

Do.com doubles up as a neat little notepad as well. You can create simple notes, attach them to a task, and even select text from a note and create new tasks with it. All notes are assigned are color coded and searchable.

The notepad is simple, but useful

Despite being in beta, Do.com is fast, slick and effortless to use. It is powerful, feature rich, and should definitely give upstarts in this field – most prominently, Asana.com – some stiff competition.

Oh, as for Asana.com itself, there are remarkable similarities in how these two sites function. They are both billed as ‘social productivity’ apps, both have remarkably similar interfaces (though Asana’s is most staid), and both have nearly the same list of features.

I like Do.com’s ‘Notes’ feature though, which Asana lacks. It’s not a fully-featured notepad, but it gets the job done. I find myself scribbling down reminders on post-it notes and notepad files on my desktop. Perhaps I’ll buck that habit and start using Do.com’s notepad instead.

This is an exciting little app (also available for the iPhone, by the way), and holds a lot of promise. The company hasn’t released any information on monetization yet, though in all likelihood, it will follow a paid model (like Asana) for enterprise users, free for individuals and small companies.

Oh and that domain name will definitely turn some heads as well.

- Remember the old line about plastic Monopoly money? Prepare to can any quip about ‘plastic money’ forever, bury it in the backyard and slide a huge rock on top because if the new Canadian C$100 bill is any indication, we could all soon be stuffing our wallets with polymer and not paper notes.

Explained: Canada recently introduced a new C$100 bill made of plastic polymer. It is twice as durable as paper money, can be recycled, and best of all, is almost impossible to counterfeit. Combine that with the inherent coolness of see-through, glossy plastic money, and we can all wave goodbye to paper money for good. About time, I say!

(Link)

- ArsTechnica reviews the Amazon Kindle Fire, and they are not impressed:

But in our time with the Kindle Fire, it fell far short of what tablets should be able to accomplish. As a vector for Amazon’s video and music stores and huge e-book selection, it’s great. As an e-reader, it’s merely OK. As an Internet and app portal, it falls short of Amazon’s promises.

Similar verdicts are pouring in from blogs and review sites across the internet: the Kindle Fire is slow, unresponsive, badly designed, and just not up to par with consumers spoilt by the iPad. ArsTechnica does really good reviews though, so if you are planning to get a Fire for Christmas, you might want to spend half an hour to trudge through the lengthy review.

- Cubicle Warriors: Do you dream of one day working in an office with breathtaking views of beachfront properties, a ginormous desk overlooking a glorious sunrise, a plush leather chair and a day bed? If yes, head over to Trent Walton’s excellent blog and take some inspiration (and encouragement) from his seriously swag-loaded workspace.

- Marco Arment is the kind of tech writer I would follow brazenly through the thickest of battles. He’s not only the creator of one of the internet’s most beloved apps, Instapaper, but is also perhaps one of the finest tech writers around. His blog, Marco.org, is worth the top spot in your RSS reader, so I’m not linking to any particular post, but the blog itself.

- Startups often talk in codes few outside of the startup community understand. ‘Early adoption’, for instance, can often mean that you’ve been able to convince your friends to become regular (if reluctant) users. Niklas Agevik decodes the startup tongue and translates it into normal people-speak. The results are worth a few epic lulz.

- Finally, Google Music, if you’re unaware, is now open to public. No comments about the service until I’ve used it, but apparently, it comes with some pretty darn good free songs. Gizmodo has been kind enough to make a playlist of some of the better ones. Two thumbs and two toes up for Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son” and Outkast’s “B.O.B.” Also listen to: “Cult of Personality” by Living Color for awesome guitar work.

Image Credit: Kevin Dooley

What do you do when you have hundreds of beta hungry bloggers and early adopters banging on your virtual walls with sledgehammers of tweets and emails for access to your not-quite-ready product?

Why, you challenge them to a game and hand over beta invites to the top ten players everyday. Along the way, you bag cool points, garner some press attention (we are suckers for stuff like this) and pique the curiosity of early adopters worldwide.

This is exactly what RAVN, a new startup that lets people find, schedule and book ‘activities’ online, has done with its game, RAVN hunt.

Head over to the RAVN.com homepage and you will be greeted with a fairly unremarkable splash page (save for the moving background). Click on the ‘Play for an Invitation’ button, however, and the scene quickly changes into a shooting game where you have to hunt ravens to collect points. Be among the top ten players on any day and you’ll win a beta invitation to the site.

But wait. Start off the game and you’ll be confronted with a very familiar sight: a dog. Specifically, a particularly annoying dog that catches all your kills and guffaws like a maniac each time you fail to score. Even more specifically, this dog:

Yes, the RAVN beta-game channels Duck Hunt, the iconic Nintendo game that delighted and annoyed and entire generation. The pesky pooch is still the same, but chasing ravens instead of dead ducks. You can’t kill him (though God knows I tried), and he’ll still mock all your shooting efforts. It’s annoying. It’s brilliant. And it makes me very nostalgic.

The play-for-beta invites was innovative enough, but RAVN has earned a warm and fuzzy place in my heart by channeling Duck Hunt.

Startup founders: more of this please!

When I was younger, my father once brought home a few chunks of wood, some plywood, and a box of nails. He borrowed power tools from our neighbor and a saw from a friend. Over the next two weeks, he would gather us – me and my brother – in the garage after coming back from work and work until late midnight finishing off a cabinet. Being young, I was excluded from any physical duty save tidying up the garage floor or fetching some tools, but I watched with fascination as my father fashioned chunks of wood into a beautiful cabinet that stood a little taller than me. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but my father took immense pride in his creation and showed it to any and everybody who cared to step inside our house.

There are millions of people like my father: hands on with tools with a remarkable talent for craftsmanship. CustomMade, a startup based out of Cambridge, MA, is essentially a platform for such people, connecting them with buyers globally. I can imagine that a startup like this would appeal immensely to my father: it would allow him to no just show-off his creations to the entire world, but also, perhaps, make a neat little profit out of it.

Before we get deeper into the world of CustomMade, let’s get some news out of the way: the startup just raised $2.1M in Series A funding. The round was led by First Round Capital and Google Ventures. Other participants include Founder Collective, Launch Capital and NextView Ventures.

Back to CustomMade.

CustomMade works as an online store and portfolio, as well as a platform for connecting artisans with buyers. Artisans, whether amateur or professional, can upload their creations to the site. Buyers can browse through these creations, order a product directly, or contact the artisan for customization. Alternatively, buyers can place a project request on the ‘Project Board’ and find competent artisans (CustomMade prefers to call then ‘makers’) to do the needful.

The site isn’t overtly flashy or brilliantly designed. But it looks good and gets the job done efficiently. The real focus here are the makers and their creations, so it is only appropriate that frivolous design elements are done away with.

When you log on to the site, you have the option of either shopping custom-made creations, or finding makers who will fulfill your custom order. From hot tubs and saunas to writing desks and benches, you’ll be hard-pressed to not find a maker who will furnish your requests.

The online store is comprehensive with categories demarcating the offerings into ‘Custom at Home’, ‘Custom at Work’, etc. Library furniture, wine racks, silver jewelry, bathroom fixtures, home décor – there is plenty to browse through. Since these are custom-made, rather than factory manufactured, the prices tend to be a bit high. At the same time, each creation has that hand-made quality and individual quirkiness in design that lends it character which no IKEA offering can match. And of course, custom-made artifacts are generally stronger and made from better materials than their factory produced counterparts. Plus, buying custom means you will be supporting a local craftsman.

You can follow makers across the site or browse through their portfolios

If you happen to like a product by a particular maker, you can browse through his/her portfolio, ‘follow’ him/her around the site and even ask for a customized order. Most makers offer the option of buying one of their wares through the site itself, while others only offer customized solution.

CustomMade also works as a directory of local craftsmen. Look up craftsmen by city, follow them around the site or contact them directly for an order. Alternatively, you can post a request for a project and get quotes from interested makers. Makers can also browse through open requests on the ‘Project Board’.

CustomMade.com also works as a local directory of craftsmen

Payment for orders is handled through PayPal, though CustomMade encourages buyers to contact sellers and arrange for alternative payment means such as personal checks or even cash delivered in person. This, of course, prompts the question: why even bother to go through with CustomMade and not contact the makers directly? To that effect, CustomMade offers a ‘Trust & Safety Guarantee’ that promises to protect both buyers and sellers from fraud. Although to be honest, I couldn’t find much on the site regarding this; the link in the FAQ was non-existent. I’ve emailed the support team to learn more about this feature.

Pictures across the site tend to vary from professional to amateur

Like any peer-to-peer marketplace, the site suffers from inconsistencies in the products put up for sale. Some are gorgeous, some pedestrian. One man’s treasure, indeed, can be another’s trash. The custom-made cabinet hand-crafted painstakingly over a month by a hobbyist might be the most gorgeous thing since Helen of Troy to him, but in the eyes of others, might be an inferior specimen. Similarly, the photographs of the products tend to suffer from variations in quality. Some are professionally done, brightly lit, while others fail to give a fair idea of the product being sold.

Perhaps I will email my dad this article. At nearly 70, he’s not that hands on with his tools anymore, but I’m quite sure he would love to see regular enthusiasts like him selling their wares online. Maybe if he was born a couple of decades later, he too would have been a part of the Custom Revolution being spearheaded by the likes of CustomMade.

Over a week and no linklist. Not that many would demand it, but an apology nonetheless. Sometimes, life can come in the way of linklists. Hopefully, that won’t happen too often (at least for a couple of weeks).

That set, lets get roaring into today’s awesome reads:

- OnStartups, one of my favorite websites on, well, startups, marked its 6 year anniversary with a recap of some of the best posts on the site over the past six years. Bookmark it. Read the posts over the weekend. Take notes. And then thank yourself for not wasting money on business school.

- What’s small, has a weird name, and haunts the collective nightmares of credit-card company executives? If you guessed Dwolla, you’d be right. This tiny, 12 person startup based out of Des Moines, Iowa, is moving $350 million each year and is making Visa and Mastercard quiver in their boots. BusinessInsider has fantastic article on this interesting startup and its equally interesting founder, Ben Milne.

- The era of crowdfunding is upon us. With Obama’s “American Jobs Act”, small businesses will increasingly turn to crowdfunding to get access to capital. Here’s an infographic by ReadWriteWeb that dwells on this issue and comes up with some impressive numbers.

- Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch likes styluses (or is it styli?). A lot. Here’s proof. And he makes a valid point: why should we throw away with gay abandon something that has served us since the dawn of recorded history?

- I work from home. So does almost every startup founder. I can tell you from experience: working from home can often turn into one heck of a trainwreck. There’s the obvious loneliness of the experience: hours holed up in a room before a computer screen with nada but Twitter for company isn’t the exact prescription for ‘healthy social life’. Then there’s the (oft recurring) chance that you might end up on a bender and spend an entire day browsing /r/funny on Reddit. Here’s some advice from David Tate on how not to lose your head when working alone from home.

- Persuading people to do your bidding, like bullshitting your way through an exam, is an art. While I can claim to have mastered the latter, the force is weak within me when it comes to the former. Fortunately, here are 17 Jedi mind tricks to persuade people.

- “Fuck”. That’s a great way to begin a presentation. Or so I thought. Here’s an article on why not to use select unprintable words (like ‘Fuck’. Oops) in your presentation. Good stuff.

- Have a startup idea? Statistically, the odds are that it will suck (sorry, founder). But in case you need a second opinion, where is a deliciously ell baked article by Paul Tyma that should serve as your guide down this treacherous path. Read it. Then re-read it. It’s that good.

Image Credit: Furryscaly

Signs that the startup culture has truly permeated the mainstream: Selena Gomez, familiar to you as Ms. Bieber and Disney star, is now a tech investor. The what, the where, the how and the why follow:

Selena Gomez joined the likes of CrossCut Ventures, Mike Jones, Kamran Pourzanjani, Brian Fitzgerald, among others in a $750k funding round for Postcard On the Run.

Postcard On the Run, to the uninitiated, is an iPhone app that allows anyone to take a picture and send it as a postcard for a mere $1. The company does all the hard work: printing and mailing, while you get to send a piece of paper nostalgia to a loved one. Impressive idea that caught on well enough to compel Apple to release a similar service, and court the attention of tween celebrities like Selena Gomez.

If Selena Gomez’ involvement wasn’t strange enough, here’s more: the company is releasing a new service, ‘Smell Mail’. For a mere extra 50¢, your postcards can smell of chocolate, flowers, popcorn, pine, or baby-powder. I’ve never understood the kind of people who would pay for something like this, but apparently, there is a big enough market for it.

Moving back to Selena Gomez.

It wasn’t too long ago that one wise men proclaimed: the geek shall inherit the earth.

And sure enough, the geeks complied.

Your mom is on Facebook. Protests are organized through Twitter. You find your dates through OkCupid. You obsess over iPhones, lust over iPads, and gush with excitement over WWDC keynotes. That the death of Steve Jobs prompted as many obituaries as Michael Jackson speaks volumes for just how deep technology has permeated the mainstream.

It was only a matter of time before the tech world caught the attention of Hollywood.

The leader of the pack is undoubtedly, Ashton Klutcher. I was a late follower on Twitter, numbering well over the 8th million. I was expecting the usual vapid celebrity narcissism but instead found cogent arguments, witty one-liners, and breaking news, all about tech startups. Hello, Ashton! Where’s the insider Hollywood gossip? Did you forget that you were a model-turned-actor and not a startup founder?

Ashton even looks the part these days. He would fit right in at any Silicon Valley hacker event: the same disheveled appearance, the haggard hirsuteness, the ‘was-up-all-night-coding-dude’ look that all geeks wear with pride.

And of course, a shower and a stylist visit later, Ashton would look like a movie-star again for a promo shoot.

Ashton is where the entertainment world collated with the tech world. He was the pioneer so to speak. His investment portfolio is strong (HipMunk, AirBnB, GrubWithUs, among others), and it’s easy to imagine that he introduced not a few celebrities to the only world that, perhaps, moves faster than Hollywood.

And sure enough, Hollywood has responded. With aplomb. Chamillionaire is a regular at TechCrunch events. LadyGaga is an investor in Backplane. Leonardo DiCaprio has active interest in Mobli.

And now, of course, Selena Gomez and Postcards On the Run.

These celebrities are not just investors; they are also users.

Each time you download an app with your iPhone, read a book on your Kindle, or play a game on your PC, you are employing incredibly advanced technology. You have access to more computing power in the palm of your hand today than the entire computer science department of MIT did in 1990. To the average user (as the average celebrity), technology is a part of everyday life now, as common as cassette tapes and boomboxes were to a kid in the 1980s.

We might not all be nerds, but we are all definitely becoming geeks. And that’s a good thing.

Selena Gomez’ involvement in the tech world should be welcomed. It’s great press for Postcards on the Run, of course, but it is also a harbinger of things to come. Of course, lets not forget that among her millions of followers on Twitter, at least a few curious minds will read about this career move and wonder, ‘what the hell is a startup?’. And that is a wonderfully delightful road to lead a curious mind through.

The history of the human race can be traced in the history of its wars.

Perhaps that doesn’t speak too highly of us as a species, but fact remains: we’ve waged wars longer than recorded history, with stones and clubs at first, arrows and swords later. Wars have shaped the contours of civilizations ancient and present, have given birth to countless inventions and innovations, and have even been the catalysts for great works of art. Would there ever be an Iliad without war? Would Hemingway have ever written For Whom the Bell Tolls in peace? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But consider that this medium – the internet – itself is a by-product of military research, and you can begin to grasp the primacy of wars in the development of human civilization.

Because of this, war memorabilia or ‘militaria’ is a big business. Millions of hobbyists around the world obsessively collect historically significant artifacts of military and police. A Victoria Cross isn’t just a medal; it contains an entire narrative of human valor and achievement. A crumbling, rusted spear from the 16th century might very well have turned the tide of history, while a faltering gun scope could have made the difference between two sides in a pitched battle. Each piece of historical military hardware is replete with rich history.

WarStuff, an online marketplace for war memorabilia, makes this rich history accessible to millions of collectors (and curious non-collectors) around the world. Launched in 2009 as an alternative solution to eBay wary collectors, the site has quickly morphed into the to-to source for all things militaria.

The Nuts & Bolts

Traditionally, the militaria market has been served by local fairs and specialized stores trading in military antiques. This, of course, was an inadequate solution given the global orientation of the market. With the advent of the internet, eBay became the de-facto platform for hobbyists to trade militaria. eBay, however, as any user will testify, is expensive, replete with payment issues and untrustworthy. Which is why WarStuff attracted members by the thousands when it launched in 2009.

Doing away with the eBay model, WarStuff charges no listing fees, nor does it take any commissions on successful transactions. Users can list their militaria for free and buyers can either place bids or pay the ‘Buy-It-Now’ price. Unlike eBay, there are no limitations of the payment methods; sellers can use PayPal, their own merchant credit card processing accounts, and even accept checks, cash, or postal orders. The end result? Happier sellers, even happier buyers.

That brings up an important question: how does WarStuff make money?

WarStuff charges sellers for promotional listings. Sellers who want to get their wares seen more prominently can pay a small fee to promote their listing over others with a highlight or bold text. Additionally, WarStuff sells advertising space to stores, fairs and war-related websites/games/apps to generate additional revenue.

WarStuff also operates a number of branded properties that focus on militaria from particular conflicts, such as the Vietnam war or the war in Afghanistan.

For Collectors, by Collectors

Militaria, because of the obvious political implications of war, isn’t a hobby without its share of controversies. Dealing with war-related artifacts can often evoke strong emotions among collectors and non-collectors alike. This is especially true when dealing with militaria from recent conflicts, particularly German WWII memorabilia.

The situation isn’t helped by the rather ambiguous policies of eBay and other major auction sites. De-politicized listings are often yanked without warning even as some sellers openly trade in militaria with overt political motives.

Since it is dedicated solely to dealing with war memorabilia, WarStuff has a rather lengthy list of terms and conditions to deal with controversial listings. The site doesn’t allow any listings for live weapons or ammunition. Ethically contentious items, such as WWII Nazi memorabilia are partially hidden so as to protect the sensitivities of surfers. While WarStuff recognizes the historical significance of militaria and thus, doesn’t apply any limits to what can be sold on the site, it actively polices the listings for any items that violate its TOS.

Says Paul McCabe, WarStuff’s founder, “We keep a careful eye on listings, as do our community. If we believe any seller has political motivations, is listing an item which insults the memory of the dead, or trivializes conflict, we will take action”.

Case in point: in February 2011, a decommissioned Royal Air Force Harrier Jump-Jet fighter plane was put up for sale on eBay. Militaria collectors were, of course, salivating at the thought of owning such a magnificent piece of military history. However, a couple of days later, the listing was removed from eBay because the jet, despite being a harmless relic, somehow flouted the site’s weapons policy.

That jet eventually found its way on WarStuff where it found a happy buyer. As one of only four such jets, it was an important milestone in not just military history, but in human engineering ingenuity as well.

Going Ahead

The online militaria market is estimated to be worth over $10M in the United States alone, excluding high-ticket items. Combined with Europe, the total size of the online market is several million dollars more.

Hobbyists trade in military wares for their historical value. Many artifacts also make for solid investments. In 1990, a 1815 Waterloo medal had a market value of 350GBP. In 2006, this had increased to 3500GBP – a ten fold appreciation.

High-ticket items regularly realize hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions. In 2010, Lord Ashcroft bought a double Victoria Cross – one of the most sought after medals – for a reported fee of £1.4M. The same year, a Crosby Garrett Helmet (a Roman parade helmet made from copper) became the most expensive piece of militaria ever sold when it fetched a price of £2.35M at an auction.

WarStuff is ideally placed to tap into this burgeoning market for military antiques. Two years after launch, it has already carved a niche in the British militaria market and is now in expansion mode to conquer the Western Europe and American markets monopolized by eBay inferior offerings. As a site made for collectors, by collectors, WarStuff has attracted a passionate user base that understands history and discards the jingoism normally associated with anything war related. This user base is arguably the site’s strongest suit going forward.

Going ahead, WarStuff will have to side-step ethical issues that may make mainstream press and investors queasy about working with the company. It is impossible to de-contextualize artifacts of conflicts. One perspective might paint a gun as a historically important tool; the other might focus on the human costs and suffering associated with it. The latter opinion is strong and vociferous, even if at times unreasonable. So far, WarStuff has done a good job of policing its listings and laying out its policies clearly. The challenge will be to maintain the same level of well, cleanliness, as the community grows in size.

WarStuff is based out of London. It was founded in 2009 by Paul McCabe, who is a militaria collector himself and has a wealth of experience in running dotcom businesses.

Scour Groupon or Living Social, and you are bound to get inundated by a flood of daily dining deals. Group buying for food makes sense: there are plenty of opportunities to upsell more expensive items on the menu. Besides, word about good food can spread really quickly, enabling a business to gather a new customer base without much marketing expenditure.

But with hundreds of daily deals on the menu, how do you close in on one that will appeal to your taste buds (and your wallet)?

That’s where BiteHunter steps in.

This New York based startup has built the world’s first real time meta search engine for daily dining deals. Think Kayak for food deals. It digs through the deals, happy hours and specials on various websites, and displays them all neatly on a map of the city. You can zero-in based on your choice of cuisine, restaurant, or location. It all works quite smoothly and the deal database is always up-to-date.

After raising $250k in seed funding in 2010, the company has now chewed off $800k from angel investors Avraham Kadar and Eyal Chomsky. According to co-founder Gil Harel, this funding will help in expanding BiteHunter’s offerings in the mobile space with two big features in the works: a push notification system that will alert users to nearby deals based on their so social media activity (Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, etc.), along with a way to buy deals within the BiteHunter app itself.

I can see the utility of a search engine for daily dining deals. Combing through each daily deals site can be terribly cumbersome and time consuming. Kayak made it easy to search for air tickets without visiting half a dozen sites simultaneously; BiteHunter should bring the same disruption to the daily deals space.