Brilliant! Just Brilliant.

Shopobot

December 14th, 2011

A venture into predictive pricing models.

http://www.shopobot.com/

There are a lot of price comparison sites around. The idea behind Shopobot however, is to look at price variations over time and predict the best time to buy. Are prices rising, falling or staying about the same? When do prices historically drop?

Right now the site only deals with high end electronics but if the model works I’m sure we’ll see more items added. On the other hand, game theory suggests retailers will get wise to these models as well and come up with ways to counteract it. My guess is this site may be useful in the short term for expensive products.

Tripomatic

December 13th, 2011

Easy trip planning.

http://www.tripomatic.com/

There are a lot of great tools available online to plan your next trip, from buying airline tickets and booking hotels to organizing tours and hooking up with locals. Tripomatic helps you by providing an overview of your trip and a day by day itinerary that you develop using intuitive, visual tools.

It starts with a map of the city or country you want to visit and presents pictures of local attractions. You can easily see their relationship to each other on a map and, if you hover over the pictures, see more information about the attraction. When you select multiple attractions Tripomatic generates an efficient travel itinerary for you to follow. You can even find hotels close to your route.

SignNow

December 5th, 2011

Legally sign documents electronically. For free.

https://signnow.com/

It’s about time. For years we’ve been conducting business via the internet; electronic banking, making purchases, sending documents. Yet when it came time to sign something we had to resort to snail mail or overnight delivery services. Using SignNow you can electronically send someone a document for signature, have them sign it online, and then receive the signed document via email.

The person receiving the document doesn’t need to have an account with SignNow to sign and they have the opportunity to send the document back with questions or comments before signing if they desire. The service is a time-saver and something that should have been done long ago.

Watchily

December 3rd, 2011

A simple site for finding the lowest cost provider for movies or shows you like.

http://www.watchily.com/

There are numerous places to find video entertainment online these days but the prices can vary significantly. Watchily is a price comparison site that focuses solely on videos. A good site to ensure you’re not paying more than necessary for entertainment.

Wanderfly

December 2nd, 2011

A travel site that helps you figure out where to go and what to do there.

http://www.wanderfly.com/

Wanderfly helps sort activities by using a variety of criteria including budget, travel dates and interests. It’s useful in narrowing your choices and finding opportunities you hadn’t considered or were unaware of. A handy site if you’re don’t know what you want to do and are looking to be inspired.

If you enjoy travel you might also be interested in AdventureLink.

http://www.adventurelink.com/

AdventureLink is still in beta but keep an eye on their site because it looks promising. Similar to Wanderfly, it also sorts available activities by location and type of traveler. The listings appear to be geared more toward adventure travelers than tourists.

Qminder

November 30th, 2011

Not a website but a smartphone app to reduce time wasted while waiting in line.

http://www.qminderapp.com/

I hate wasting time so this app caught my attention. It allows users to get a virtual place in line and then take care of other things while remotely monitoring their place in the que.

Obviously, vendor participation is required to make this work but hopefully it will catch on and we can all have a personal reminder when our turn has arrived.

Ybuy

November 29th, 2011

Try out new products before you buy them.

https://www.ybuy.com/

For a subscription fee of $25/mo. (no shipping) you get to try out new gadgets without having to buy them. An interesting new model for $100-600 range products you have heard about but aren’t sure whether you’d like actually using them.

Curators select products to offer and you pick the ones you want to try. If you decide to buy it your subscription fee for that month goes toward the purchase price, if you decide not to buy it simply send it back in the postage paid box.

How useful is this service? Hard to say, but I like the online/offline crossover of the site and the idea of a subscription service for a physical product. It reminds me of Quarterly.

http://quarterly.co/

Quarterly is a site created by Zach Frechette (who also co-founded and edited GOOD magazine) to share wonderful physical objects with the world. For a quarterly subscription fee ($25) you get a carefully curated item selected by one of Quarterly’s design icons.

You never know what you’re going to get but it will be good. And you get to keep it.

CookItFor.us

November 28th, 2011

Professional cooks make the recipes you like, delivered to your home.

http://cookitfor.us/

Several new sites lately around cooking. Is this a new thing? People not cooking their own food.

Anyway, the basis for the site is outsourcing your cooking of home cooked meals. You find a recipe you like and then commission a local chef to make it for you. All done in a restaurant kitchen setting (not someone cooking in their own home). Dishes are made to order and delivered to your door.

Still early stages so cooks may not be available in all areas but they’re expanding rapidly.

Is this better than just calling for takeout? Well, it’s bound to be a little more expensive, but if you want a specific recipe, especially for those who have dietary needs, you can be sure you’re getting exactly what you want. It’s like having your own private chef.

Speaking of private chefs, you should also check out Munchery.

https://munchery.com/

Munchery selects talented chefs to create a special meal then offers it to Munchery users. Meals are freshly made that day and delivered to everyone who orders in advance.

Meals run about $20/plate but it’s essentially a catered meal by a respected chef. Not too shabby.

Right now only available in San Francisco.

Areas of Interest

Areas of Interest