Blogging

ShopIt, a social shopping service that works with popular social networks and e-commerce sites, announced today that it raised $2.5 million in Series B funding from Emerson Ventures and Propulsion Ventures. The company wants to raise a total of $7 million before it closes the round.

ShopIt harnesses the popularity of social networks to entice sellers to use its service. After creating a store on ShopIt’s site, sellers can direct potential customers to their ShopIt profile to buy their goods or post their store’s widget anywhere on the Web. More importantly, ShopIt stores can be integrated into social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Hi5, along with sites like Craigslist and Amazon. Once the customer buys a product, ShopIt’s e-commerce platform provides identity management features and shipping solutions to streamline the post-purchase process.

“In turbulent economic times, we are very pleased to have this backing from our investors, as it will enable us to continue our leadership in this exciting space,” said Matt Hill, CEO of Shopit. “This new funding will carry the company well into 2010, despite our plans to be profitable in mid-2009.”

Thanks to the funding, which Shopit will use to develop its own advertising network, the company will start to hire more employees in the areas of advertising, sales, and technology.

Originally posted here:
ShopIt lands $2.5 million in Series B funding

Warning: this site may not be SFW.

Finding that someone special is so tedious. Apparently, finding someone not-so-special, but good enough for right now is even harder. It requires, first, grooming, then flirting and conversing, and above all, going into dreaded designated meeting places like bars or yoga classes or–horror!–coffee shops. (You can tell I haven’t dated in a while, since I have no idea where people actually go to get a date…the dentist? A “writers’ workshop?” Those are my best ideas.)

But never fear, all you lonely souls out there, for a new, semi-creepy application is to the rescue. A mix of Google Maps and Craigslist classifieds has resulted in HookupMaps, a service that shows you exactly where the people wanting to “hookup” in your city are. For instance, in San Francisco, I can tell you that in my friendly hood of the Mission, there are currently 518 people seeking people. It will also tell you the age and gender of each poster.

Look for local love by geography with Craigslist mashup HookupMaps. (click to enlarge)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The site also lets you filter your searches based on a few criteria: m4m, m4w, w4w, w4m, and whether the post contains a picture. You can search by city, neighborhood, or, disturbingly (or perhaps, ingeniously, if you really don’t want to wade through all the dreck) by keyword. An example of a keyword search would be, “mature,” or, “looking for love”…or perhaps I am being naïve.

A few of my favorite headlines up on the site right now read, “I am Barack Obama going on a date with you,” and, my personal favorite, “I drink beer in the shower.” Yeah, that last guy seems like a real winner. I’m sure young, Bay area women will be flocking to that post.

But seriously, you never know. With Hookupmaps you can easily filter the online personal ads Craigslist has to offer and thereby take matters into your own hands. Now there is really no excuse to join Match.com.

(Via JadaSpeaks)

Related: HousingMaps.com

Read the rest here:
Personal ads + Google Maps = HookupMaps

There will never be enough ways to search through Craigslist.

To help in the hunt, there’s a new tool called Search All Craig’s Lists that does the dirty work for you–scouring all the cities and countries with local Craigslists and compiling them into one index that can be searched extensively, and with ease.

It uses Google custom search which is fast, but not as precise as using Craigslist’s own search tool. You can narrow down what area of the country you’re in, but that’s only so helpful. In my search for the video game Call of Duty 4 I got results from Seattle all the way to Reno. Knowing Google search parameters helps narrow it down even further, but it’s not nearly as simple Craigslist’s which lets you narrow it down by neighborhood.

Where sites like this come in handy is when it comes time to find obscure items. Something like a stamp or coin collection might be something somebody is willing to ship, whereas most goods on the service are for in-person pick ups only. They can also be helpful in case you’re trying to track down stolen items, especially where you’re not sure how far the thief has taken your goods, which in my own personal experience was not that far. A service like this would have helped me dig through the results that much faster.

Another service that does this is Crazedlist, which keeps you inside the confines of Craigslist’s search engine, and shows all of the results from all of the various cities in the same window. However the “hack” Crazedlist uses requires toggling a certain setting on your browser, which many folks may not be comfortable with.

[via Lifehacker]

See also: Find stuff faster on Craigslist–if you dare

Search All Craig's lets you search through every single Craigslist all around the globe using Google custom search.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

More:
A less crazed way to search all of Craigslist

If you’ve ever hunted for a job, housing, or furniture on Craigslist.org, you’ll appreciate the help of a devoted desktop reader to sift and sort through multiple listings. I’ve taken a look at two free Craigslist-helpers on CNET Download.com–Craigslist Reader Pro and CraigsList Reader. While neither one is perfect, we found Craigslist Reader Pro to be the stronger choice, though it would do well to learn from what CraigsList Reader has done right.

Craigslist Reader Pro by CraigsPal is good at precision searches, but bad at presentation.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Craigslist Reader Pro, published by CraigsPal, isn’t pretty to look at, but it does quickly hone your search to Craigslist’s key cities and categories, and displays results in one of the reader’s four program panels.

There are certainly some nice touches here–a search bar to aid in choosing the location of the query, a chance to define positive and negative keywords, and choices to only read posts with images or search titles only. A list of extra variables appropriate to each category you’re searching is especially useful for whittling down results. For instance, you can tick a box to find pet-friendly apartments or non-profit jobs.

While I liked the filter menu to further attack ungainly results after you’ve launched a search, what’s sorely missing are management tools to slash entries you no longer want and to flag favorites one-by-one–it’s currently all or nothing. Without these, Craigslist Reader Pro remains a strong search engine that’s limited by the most basic of readers.

CraigsList Reader lets you manager listings and is easy on the eye, but has been known to return less accurate results.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

CraigsList Reader, on the other hand, achieves much more with design, but contains some worrisome performance omissions. The interface, a Microsoft Office 2007 clone (and not the first we’ve seen) is much more legible and attractive than its rival. CraigsList Reader also tops the CraigsPal ‘Pro’ reader in organization and customization, and for some that’s the lure. You can delete single listings or clear them all, and save individual data files on your PC. You’ll also be able to set notifications for incoming listings that match your criteria, and customize the reader’s display.

However, the tool is neither as advanced when it comes to picking out locations nor as adept at defining or narrowing searches. Most importantly, CraigsList Reader routinely failed to return as many listings, even when the criteria were equal for both readers.

The ideal Craigslist reader would splice CraigsList Reader’s organizational tools and more advanced design with Craigslist Reader Pro’s superior engine. Until that happens, or until CraigsList Reader improves its precision and accuracy, we recommend CraigPals’ Craigslist Reader Pro, warts and all.

Source:
Search Craigslist from your desktop

If you’re looking to find a place to crash in a foreign city and have tried solutions like Craigslist or AirBed & Breakfast, you’ve got to check out Roomorama. It’s a peer-to-peer rental community that lets visitors find a cheap, low-key place to stay, and gives renters with some extra space a chance to make some cash.

Like AirBed & Breakfast, people with some extra space can put their place up on the market. If someone’s coming into town during the dates you set as being available, they’ll have the option to book it. Once you approve the booking, the payment goes through Roomorama’s system (which uses PayPal) and the traveler gets a confirmation.

As a traveler you can sort out listings by all kinds of factors, but my favorite is the simple matrix of amenities. You can click to highlight the things you want, like Wi-Fi, parking, laundry, and the all important hot tub. It’ll filter the results in real time with every click, and if there’s not something that matches up with what you’re looking for you can opt to make it a request. If someone’s been on the fence about listing their place they can then claim your request with their offering. If an agreement is met you can book it on the spot.

Roomorama is currently limited to New York City with other cities to come. In the meantime, you can list and request rooms in different cities using the aforementioned shout-out system that does the matching for you.

[via Delicious]

Related: Rent your house or couch by the day with AirBed & Breakfast

List places for others to stay or find a place to crash yourself with Roomorama, a hotel service of sorts that cuts out the middle man.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Read more from the original source:
Couch surf or rent your basement with Roomorama