What a difference a deal makes. This morning, Groupon launched its first nationwide deal, $25 off a $50 purchase at Gap. The promotion, which was available in every city, briefly crashed Groupon's servers as deal-happy consumers clicked on the 50% discount and pinged their friends. Despite the technical difficulties, according to Groupon's CEO Andrew Mason, as of 11AM PST (the e-mail blast went out at roughly 6AM in each time zone) Groupon has sold 200,000 Groupons and is currently selling roughly 10 per second. Ten sales per second is an unusually high volume, Mason says, "several multiples ... Read similar

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Although it seems as if Foursquare and Facebook are new bosom buddies now that Foursquare has officially joined the Places parade, along with Yelp, Gowalla and Booyah--- the popular geo-location service is clearly treading carefully. During Wednesday's presentations, many of the partners presented the outlines of comprehensive integration plans. For example, Booyah's CEO Keith Lee announced the launch of InCrowd, a new social game specifically designed to leverage the functionality of Facebook Places. By comparison, Foursquare's presentation w... Read similar

Netlog, the company that sagely changed its name from Facebox in 2007, is taking this gaming thing pretty seriously. While the bread and butter of the Belgium-based operation is still social--- with 69 million members on its youth-centric social network--- gaming is now nearly 20% of revenues and climbing, according to Netlog founder, Lorenz Bogaert. Twenty percent is fairly significant when you consider that its gaming operation, Gatcha!, launched just 8 months ago. At its core, Gatcha! is a gaming distribution platform. The service creates its own in-house games but the bulk of its busi... Read similar

Foursquare may have a tenuous partnership with Facebook Places--- but don't let the Kumbaya presentation fool you, these frenemies are gunning for the ultimate mayorship and Dennis Crowley is feeling very confident. On Friday's taping of Gillmor Gang with former TechCrunchIT Editor Steve Gillmor, Kevin Marks and John Taschek, Crowley discussed the opportunity for places, outlined his plan for the next iteration of Foursquare and knocked Google for its social awkwardness. While his disgust with Google's mismanagement of the ill-fated Dodgeball is well documented, in his explanation you don't ... Read similar

Now that TweetDeck's Android app is out in beta mode, with its multiple streams (notably Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Google Buzz) and blended options, many users want to know when TweetDeck will overhaul its iPhone app. The company's CEO and founder, Iain Dodsworth, who dropped by TechCrunch's headquarters on Wednesday, says it could be a "good couple of months." So, what is taking the British startup so bloody long? According to Dodsworth, his 15-man team is pretty strained, from working on updates to the desktop client, the Android app, the iPhone app and new features like User Streams.... Read similar

Now that TweetDeck's Android app is out in beta mode, with its multiple streams (notably Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Google Buzz) and blended options, many users want to know when TweetDeck will overhaul its iPhone app. The company's CEO and founder, Iain Dodsworth, who dropped by TechCrunch's headquarters on Wednesday, says it could be a "good couple of months." So, what is taking the British startup so bloody long? According to Dodsworth, his 15-man team is pretty strained, from working on updates to the desktop client, the Android app, the iPhone app and new features like User Streams.... Read similar

There is no shortage of gift card marketplaces on the web, with startups like Cardpool, Gift Card Rescue, and Plastic Jungle all promising to rescue your unused credits or sell discounted cards. However, these sites typically require buyers to wait several days for the physical arrival of their gift cards, frustrating users who want to use credits immediately for online purchases. Cardpool, a Y-Combinator startup founded by Anson Tsai (formerly of Anywhere.FM) and Timothy Wong, is trying to change that. Starting this morning, Cardpool will give current members the option to purchase instant r... Read similar

There is no shortage of gift card marketplaces on the web, with startups like Cardpool, Gift Card Rescue, and Plastic Jungle all promising to rescue your unused credits or sell discounted cards. However, these sites typically require buyers to wait several days for the physical arrival of their gift cards, frustrating users who want to use credits immediately for online purchases. Cardpool, a Y-Combinator startup founded by Anson Tsai (formerly of Anywhere.FM) and Timothy Wong, is trying to change that. Starting this morning, Cardpool will give current members the option to purchase instant r... Read similar

Just when you thought our digital culture was bumping against the limits of oversharing, Looxcie steps in with a device that makes it even easier for oversharers to document every mundane moment of their lives. The Artiman Ventures backed startup has officially launched a wearable camcorder, that fits over the ear, which allows users to capture short clips and immediately share and publish those videos on the web via a companion mobile app. And starting this Wednesday, the device is available on Amazon.com for $199. Videos of Looxcie in action, ahead. Read similar

Just when you thought our digital culture was bumping against the limits of oversharing, Looxcie steps in with a device that makes it even easier for oversharers to document every mundane moment of their lives. The Artiman Ventures backed startup has officially launched a wearable camcorder, that fits over the ear, which allows users to capture short clips and immediately share and publish those videos on the web via a companion mobile app. And starting this Wednesday, the device is available on Amazon.com for $199. Videos of Looxcie in action, ahead. Read similar