Here is a recap of posts from last week, in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full.

When Your Back is Against the Wall

You probably remember Victor Kiam’s famous commercials for Remington shavers from 1979 when he said on camera, “I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company.” It got your attention because here was a guy who was putting everything on the line for his new company. The commercial convinced a lot of people to try an electric razor and their sales ballooned. (read more…)

Breaking: Motorola Announces ‘Blur’

At Mobilize ’09, Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha is announcing the latest Google Android Build known as Motoblur. It will enter the U.S. market through a new T-Mobile branded smartphone known as “Cliq” (“Dext” outside the U.S. through Orange and other carriers TBD). (read more…)

Mobilize ’09: What Is ‘Context’ in Mobile?

A panel at Mobilize ’09 is discussing what factors govern context in mobile. Online, of course, we have a (somewhat) well-defined set of factors to approximate context — keywords, page content, IP address, etc. (read more…)

Parking Data Ventures Teams With 6 Parking Cos.,

The next big vertical is … parking? Parking Data Ventures has been created to tackle all things parking. The five-person, Baltimore-based service has created a database of 10,000 parking locations. It has partnered with six of the largest parking lot companies in the U.S. and Canada, and has info for 15+ other leading parking companies. It competes with Urban Mapping Inc., which has created its own parking garage network. (read more…)

Mobilize ’09: The Perrenial Platform Question

At GigaOm’s Mobilize conference, a panel is currently discussing the ongoing challenge of deciding what platform on which to develop mobile products. Of course, the answer is, “it depends.” As we explored in a recent report, this will most often have a lot to do with reach, as well as other factors like the capabilities of the platform. (read more…)

Local Takes Center Stage in Top Mobile Apps List

Venerable mobile news source Fierce Mobile has just released one of its signature top 10 lists. This time the theme is “Top Mobile Applications of 2009,” including mobile apps across different platforms. Of the 10, I count six that are local, or serve content that is relevant to a user’s location. (read more…)

‘Clever Commute’ Now in 5 Cities; Adds Ferries, Buses and Subways

Clever Commute, which aggregates info from commuters on tardy schedules, is now in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C., per an article in USA Today. The service was launched three years ago by Joshua Crandall, a New York City-bound commuter, to keep track of NJ Transit info. He initially got five fellow commuters to exchange e-mails with him. (read more…)

MerchantCircle Tries to Get Stickier With ‘Neighbors’ and ‘Answers’

MerchantCircle is seeking to transform itself from a source of search engine leads for SMBs into more of a destination site that consumers and businesses will use over and over again. The company reports 20 million unique visitors, which if calculated in a certain way, would make it the fifth-largest Internet Yellow Pages. It also has more than 900,000 small businesses that have “claimed” a page and may use the company’s robust tool sets and features. (read more…)

YPMobile Relaunch: Video And PPC

AT&T Interactive has launched a new version of its popular YPMobile iPhone app. The new version will allow users to watch  video, and will support pay per call advertising. The video capability will tap into AT&T’s growing library of SMB video across its own domain and on its YouTube channel. As we’ve argued, these can help qualify local purchase decisions in the IYP environment. (read more…)

NYT and WSJ  ‘Go Local’ in the Bay Area

Today’s New York Times ran a story about how both The NYT and The Wall Street Journal plan to launch full-fledged regional editions, beginning first in the Bay Area. According to the story, Bay Area residents could see regional editions as early as November. (read more…)