LDA – Is On-Page Optimization the SEO Secret?

Posted by Dana Lookadoo This post was originally in YOUmoz , and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. How do I recap the SEOmoz PRO Seminar session on Uncovering a Hidden Technique for SEO ? The title is so attractive that it produces Pavlonian symptoms as we salivate at the thought of uncovering a hidden SEO treasure. Ben Hendrickson of SEOmoz presented a model which appears to show how Google may assigning relevance to keyword terms based on context – topical relevance . Is Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) that hidden jackpot? 1st – LDA is not new nor something SEOmoz invented. The Information Retrieval model has been around for 7 or 8 years, and IR geeks have talked about it before. There are a number of resources, as well as nay saying, about LDA and Google’s possible use of it. 2nd – What is new is SEOmoz’s LDA Topics Tool that produces a relevancy score based off a query (search term). It enables one to play with words that may increase a page’s relevancy in the eyes of Google . It shows words that help Google determine how relevant the page is to a user’s search query. Game Changer? Kyle Stone tweeted that the LDA tool is a game changer, and many retweeted. Is SEOmoz’s LDA tool a game changer? That’s yet to be seen. The goal is to report Ben’s research as presented at the Mozinar and how a layman (myself) interprets such. Rand is going to do a follow-up post to explain more. Why all the hype? The SEO Challenge SEOs face the continual challenge of figuring out Google’s hidden ranking algorithms. How do we rank higher? Which signals are the most important? We know search engines are “learning models” that attempt to understand “context” of words . Google has said for years that webmasters should concentrate most on providing good relevant (contextual) content. There are ways to rank higher. Is it as easy as 1, 2, 3? Create quality copy with keyword(s) on the page along with associated anchor text links. Get good links. What Ben talked about in this session. LDA – Topic Modeling & Analysis Latent Dirichlet Allocation, in layman’s terms, translates to ” topic modeling .” In search geek terms, LDA is the following formula: (Did you digest that? Don’t worry; Mozzers groaned and laughed at the same time. PLUS: Scientist Hendrickson delivered this session after lunch!) LDA Simplified – Here is Ben’s way of explaining topic modeling: (Okay, I was once proud that I got an A in Logic and Combinatorics – discrete math/set theory. However, that computer science class now feels like basic math compared to this formula.) It made more sense when Rand Fishkin joined Ben on stage and when Todd Freisen moderated and deciphered during Q&A. (Manuela Sanches of Brazil was sitting next to me and said that Ben’s ” presentation needed subtitles !”) The objective of LDA, from my deciphering of Greek, is to understand how Google is using semantic contextual analysis combined with other signals, to define topics/concepts. It’s how Google analyzes the words on a page to determine the “set” to which a word belongs – how relevant a search query is to pages in its database . For example: How does Google assign relevance to the word “orange” on a page? They determine orange is related to the fruit set or to the color set by page context. LDA Defined: “Latent Dirichlet Allocation (Blei et al, 2003) is a powerful learning algorithm for automatically and jointly clustering words into “topics” and documents into mixtures of topics. It has been successfully applied to model change in scientific fields over time (Griffiths and Steyver, 2004; Hall, et al. 2008). A topic model is, roughly, a hierarchical Bayesian model that associates with each document a probability distribution over “topics”, which are in turn distributions over words.” Bayesian – ah, a term I recognize!! Bayesian spam filtering is a method used to detect spam. It draws off a database and learns the meaning of words. It’s “trained” by us when we mark an email as spam. It looks at incoming emails and calculates the probability that the content of an email is contextually spammy. I found a PowerPoint presentation about Bayesian Inference Techniques by Microsoft Research from 2004 that presents the possibility of using LDA. Go to slide 54 and read: “Can we build a general-purpose inference engine which automates these procedures?” Microsoft has been looking at LDA models. Do search engines use it as one of their primary methods? Ben sampled over 8 million documents with approx. 1,000 queries. He believes Google is using LDA topic modeling to determine (learn) what words mean by their associations with, relevance to, other words on the page. (Other factors are included.) Ben called the results a ” co-occurrence explanation ” that use a “cosine similarity.” SEO Takeaway : Results that are higher in Google SERPs, in general, have more topical content. Search engines do APPEAR to apply semantic analysisÂ… when indexing a page and determining the intent of the words on the page. Rand tweeted an explanation (in 140 x 4) as follows: Dana’s LDA Catwalk Metaphor for Topic Modeling: Imagine the words on your page as walking down the fashion runway in Paris. Your keyword phrase is “dressed” in semantic accessories, words that correlate to and dress up your topic. Associated words bring meaning to and highlight the fashion model’s outfit. Adjectives , modifiers and synonyms are like jewelry, hats, and shoes. The combination can transform your base layers (your target terms) from casual or conservative business attire into a sexy night-on-the-town ensemble. Combinations and permutations of words on a page “dress” your skinny or curvy fashion model. Relevant words provide Google with an image of what she is wearing and the catwalk upon which she struts. LDA refers back to what Google already knows about these “accessories” (words) and their previous association with the topic terms related to fashion. Enter Topical Ambiguity – I just broke the “rules” for context with the catwalk metaphor by referring to modeling in two contexts on this page: I used “modeling” terms that relate to the “fashion industry” set. The catwalk metaphor is irrelevant content that is off-topic for discussing “LDA topic modeling.” Google Algorithm Exposed? Ben clearly said that LDA is an ATTEMPT to explain the SERPs . His scenario, a quote from his presentation slides, follows: One of us needs to implement it so we can: 1) See how it applies to pages 2) See if it helps explain SERPs One-two-three-not-it. LDA is not LSI . There were some tweets claiming SEOmoz was bringing back LSI or snakeoil. Ben clarified that LDA is not LSI, which deals more with keyword density. He explained that he is NOT talking about loading keywords on a page but about the relevance of the topics within the page. He said that: “LSI doesn’t have the same bias toward simple explanations. LSI breaks down as you try to scale up the number of topics.” The LDA tool deals with context, semantic relevancy, not density – in addition to some other random factors. Example: If SEOmoz has a page all about “SEO” and “tools,” and there is another word on the page that can be explained by a word that is more related to SEO topic, then the related word would be used. Meaning, “seo tools” doesn’t have to be repeated over and over, and the related word would be interpreted by Google as being relevant. Ben, who appears to have the brain of a search engine, noted that it “appears” LDA is what Google is heading for in the near future. He said (paraphrased): If they are not doing it, they seem to be doing something that has the same output. They are probably already using it. Rand deciphered: It’s a super weird coincidence if Google is not using it. Are On-Page Signals Stronger than Links? Are we heading toward more emphasis of on-page topic modeling? I’m not an IR geek, but I do plan to spend more energy focusing on understanding how search engines retrieve informaton. We are dealing with a semantic Web. LDA may indicate that good old on-page optimization sends stronger signals than links. SEOmoz’s LDA tool attempts to show how relevant content is to a chosen keyword. It computes relevance of queries . The following shows how relevant SEOmoz’s Tools page is to Aaron Wall’s SEO Book Tools page . The score at the top is an indicator of how relevant the content on that page is according to LDA. Aaron’s content is 72%* relevant for the query “seo tools.” SEOmoz’s tools page is 40%* relevant. *NOTE: (I inserted the logos.) You can run the same pages and get different results. The results are similar in that SEO Book always scored as more topically relevant, but the percentage varies. Is this the random Monte Carlo algorithm at work? Ben? Mozinar Question: “How do we execute this for SEO?” Ben’s Answer: “I don’t actually do SEO. I write code.” That’s up to us, the SEOs, to play and test in our Google playground. Use the tool to decide if you can win with LDA to optimize your on-page signals. Use the LDA Topics Tool to return words that could be used on a page for a query. Then determine who is ranking for that term. Simply write content that is highly on-topic based off the findings you observe. If you are not performing that well in the SERPs, think about classic on-page optimization . In the example above, rather than putting another instance of “seo tools” on the page, LDA shows there are better ways to tell Google that you are about that topic. The tool provides a way to measure that. IMPORTANT: There is a threshold at which too many related words will appear as too spammy. LDA is not something to be used to game Google. Test the LDA Tool out for yourself, and draw your own conclusions. *** DISCLAIMER: I’m not claiming this methodology has uncovered hidden SEO treasures. Time, testing and playing around with a new SEOmoz tool while observing the SERPs will reveal the answer. In the meantime, I’m going to dress up my pages and accessorize them with relevant terms that make them dazzle so they look good climbing the Google catwalk. Do you like this post? Yes No

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LDA – Is On-Page Optimization the SEO Secret?

iPhone 4: Consumer Reports Needs To Get It Together

Sometimes I want to buy something like a blender or a car or a washing machine. And sometimes my wonderful and loving mother ( who’s birthday is coming up) finds out because I accidentally tell her, or my dad does, or she uses that mom ESP thing that she used to find out I was hiding beer in my closet in high school. Anyway, she finds out. And then I can’t buy the one I want to buy, the shiny one on Amazon, because some issue of Consumer Reports said that the better one is the boring unshiny one and I need to be more responsible and stop wasting money on stupid stuff. And so a chart of red and black dots gets to decide for me. Because one thing I’ve learned in life is to never make mom unhappy. She’s upset enough that her son turned out to be a blogger, whatever that is. But the thing is, that trust that my mom gives to Consumer Reports was hard earned over decades of obsessive use. She trusts Consumer Reports. And if I read it I might trust it too. If they rated stuff on shininess I’d definitely subscribe. But suddenly Consumer Reports is crazy for the link bait. This iPhone 4 antenna problem has them going absolutely batshit crazy and, and nearly every day they’re firing off a new set of recommendations, or demands, that conflict with the old recommendations and demands. I would like to say this is just process journalism and applaud it. But they actually seem completely schizophrenic . It’s not a process, it’s chaos theory. The best parts are the constant updates to all the old articles where they try to justify all of their conflicting justifications simultaneously. July 2 : “iPhone 4′s supposed signal woes aren’t unique, and may not be serious” July 3 : “iPhone 4 signal debate rages; we experience signal loss in some calls” July 12 : “Consumer Reports can’t recommend the iPhone 4,” adding “ Cover the antenna gap with a piece of duct tape or another thick, non-conductive material. It may not be pretty, but it works.” July 13 : “Why Apple—and not its customers—should fix the iPhone 4″ (what happened to the duct tape?) July 14 : Forget the duct tape! “Apple’s Bumper case alleviates the iPhone 4 signal-loss problem” People who subscribe to Consumer Reports don’t want to read about using duct tape to fix their stuff. They aren’t early adopters and they do want to be given a clear buy rating. They don’t need breathless up to the minute updates on what sticky non-conductive material will be best suited to make a broken phone work. My poor mother must be so confused right now. So I’ll just tell her what she needs to know: Don’t buy an iPhone 4 until this problem is fixed . And then still don’t buy one because AT&T is awful. Buy an Android instead. CrunchBase Information Apple iPhone 4 Information provided by CrunchBase

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iPhone 4: Consumer Reports Needs To Get It Together

How I Think The iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference Is Going To Play Out

Perhaps you heard, Apple is having a little press conference on Friday . The reason? Officially, it’s about the iPhone 4. That’s all they’ll say. But everyone knows the slightly more detailed reason: the iPhone 4′s antenna . The only details Apple is giving out about the event is that it’s going to take place on their campus on Friday morning at 10 AM PT. But talking to some other people who got calls from Apple as well about the event may hold some clues as to what we can expect. First and foremost, the whole thing is bizarre. Apple has announced events with very little notification before, but never this little notification. The event is Friday morning and they notified people on Wednesday evening (or night for those people on the east coast). This essentially gives people  one day notice. And they’re calling people across the U.S. about it, and asking if they can make it. For some, this means last-minute cross country flights. Obviously, Apple isn’t going to be paying for those, so it’s not clear how many people from outside the Bay Area are going to attend. And many are unsure if they should attend because Apple is being so vague about what they’ll be talking about. But you have to imagine if it’s a last-second press conference, it has to be pretty major, right? Not necessarily. My sense is that the main idea behind this event is to get a bunch of big publications and other key Apple influencers into a room to go over the iPhone 4 antenna issue once and for all. I have little doubt that Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself will be leading this discussion, with other Apple executives talking as well. I also suspect we may see some antenna and wireless industry experts to offer their insights as well. The purpose of such a gathering would be to cut off the backlash against the iPhone 4 at the knees. The Consumer Reports flip-flop would seem to be the major catalyst here. And regardless of what you think of Consumer Reports, Apple knows that it is a brand many average consumers trust. In fact, Apple has had no problem citing it before when they rate the iPhone favorably (incidentally, the iPhone 4 is Consumer Reports’ highest-rated smartphone , despite the non-recommendation). Still, the Consumer Reports story is just one thing. More troubling to Apple has to be the cascade effect it has had on the media. CNN is talking about it, MSNBC is talking about it , local news is talking about it — even David Letterman is talking about it . The situation has gotten out of control in a way the tightly-controlled Apple cannot find comfortable at all. So that’s what I believe this event is about. A way to pivot the message back to what Apple perceives to be the facts. Apple will undoubtedly acknowledge that holding the iPhone 4 does affect the signal . But they’ll note once again that this is true of all cellphones. And perhaps some experts will chime in to show some results to prove this to be the case. They’ll also undoubtedly point out how the iPhone 4 actually has the best antenna Apple has ever produced. They’ll probably have results to back this up as well. The focus will be on the facts that Apple has studies to prove. And the idea behind all of this is to drill it into our heads that the antenna issue is being blown out of proportion . That it’s an easy headline about a hot product. And Apple’s tactic may just work. Because it’s a lot harder to blindly write about one side of a topic when the other side has very directly addressed and refuted the issues with you. Apple will also likely talk about the software fix that is currently testing (iOS 4.1) which they say will help the issue as well. Our early tests show iOS 4.1 doesn’t fix the antenna issue at all (it is, after all, a hardware issue). But it does alter the bar indicators to make them more accurately reflect your actual signal, which is what Apple said it would do. Earlier tonight,  a MacRumors forum poster laid out a similar scenario about how this event may play out. The difference is that he believes Apple will give out $50 gift cards that iPhone 4 purchasers can use to buy iPhone bumpers (cases) if they wish. I’m not sure how likely that is. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple does announce a way to specifically give away these bumpers (which are normally $29) to people who buy (or have bought) the iPhone 4. Another thing the forum post didn’t really hit on was the importance of who is invited to this event. As I said, Apple seems to be focusing on key influencers in the tech media. My belief is that Apple is hoping that by aiming at the top, the message will trickle down and overwhelm the Consumer Reports fall-out. Again, whether you agree with it or not, it seems like a pretty good strategy. Of course, all of that is just speculation. With this little amount of time before the event, it’s unlikely that anything will leak out before it happens. But there is always the possibility of one giant curveball. While I still find it hard to believe that Apple is thinking about an iPhone 4 recall at this point, the possibility is interesting for this Friday event. After all, it makes more sense to issue a recall in a controlled manner (where journalists can digest the news and ask questions), rather than to issue a statement about it and have everyone scream bloody murder. Again, I don’t think that is going to happen, but it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility if say, Apple is willing to acknowledge that there are at least some defective iPhone 4 antennas. The thing that’s a bit curious about this press conference is that Apple has already set a precedent by issuing a statement about the antenna issue on July 2. If they’re now doing a full press conference, surely their announcement must be more significant, right? But again, that statement was before Consumer Reports changed its mind and decided you shouldn’t buy the iPhone 4 due to the antenna issue. And that report has led us to where we are now. To combat that, Apple may feel the time is right to pull out their not-so-secret weapon: Steve Jobs. On a stage. Talking . [photo: flickr/ acaben ] CrunchBase Information Apple iPhone 4 Information provided by CrunchBase

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How I Think The iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference Is Going To Play Out

Apple Calls A Special Press Conference For Friday, Antenna Issue Likely The Subject

Word is breaking that Apple is calling a special press conference on this coming Friday to talk about the iPhone 4. Yes, you can probably guess what this is about. Apple blog The Loop has the (basically non-existent) details right now — that it will be in California on Friday morning and about iPhone 4. A small group of press are reportedly getting the invites right now. Update : We just got the call, we’ll be there at 10 AM PT on Friday to cover it live. The big question that everyone must be wondering is if Apple will announce a recall of the iPhone 4 based on the antenna problems — which are very real . We still believe that’s pretty unlikely. That said, it’s very, very, very rare (in fact, I don’t think it has ever happened) that Apple would call a special press conference at the last second. If they didn’t have something very major to say, they’d much more likely issue a release. But with all the talk and speculation flying around out there, perhaps Apple (and CEO Steve Jobs in particular) just wants to sit people down to talk about the issue. Apple has been widely criticized for saying basically nothing about the issue beyond Jobs’ quotes that users should buy a case or hold the phone different . Apple released the first beta of the iOS 4.1 software today. As our sister site MobileCrunch noted , it does not fix the antenna issue. Instead, it simply does what Apple said it was going to do: make the signal strength indicator more accurate. CrunchBase Information Apple iPhone 4 Information provided by CrunchBase

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Apple Calls A Special Press Conference For Friday, Antenna Issue Likely The Subject

Foursquare Founders Pull Out $4.6 Million For Themselves From Last $20 Million Round

Dennis Crowley didn’t get the big personal payday he would have if he had sold Foursquare to Facebook, which he almost did. But Crowley and co-founder Naveen Selvadurai did okay with the $20 million Series B funding they raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square, and O’Reilly AlphaTech. According to an SEC filing (first spotted by Dan Frommer at SAI ), the two founders personally took home $4,636,688 from that round, or 23 percent of the total amount raised. Under a part of the filing titled “Use of Proceeds,” the company had to disclose “the amount of the gross proceeds of the offering that has been or is proposed to be used for payments to any of the persons required to be named as executive officers, directors or promoters in response to Item 3 above.” There are only three people listed as “executive officers, directors or promoters”: Crowley, Selvadurai, and board director Albert Wenger of Union Square. It would be highly unusual for one of the VCs on the board to take personal liquidity out of a deal before his firm does. And Union Square put more money into this round. No wonder Crowley flew to South Africa to watch some of the World Cup games right after the round closed. With the IPO markets not as attractive as they once were and companies staying private longer, it is becoming increasingly common for founders to take some money off the table during later venture rounds. (Other recent venture rounds saw much bigger sums going to founders). As long as the company does well, nobody will blame them. But if the company hits on hard times when that cash could be helpful, well . . . then a different story will be told. Update : Foursquare says the founders sold shares essentially so that investors could buy more. Spokesperson Erin Gleason sent me the following statement: As is common in Series B financings, Dennis and Naveen sold a small portion of their personal equity as a secondary offering to allow our investors to achieve their ownership objectives. CrunchBase Information Dennis Crowley Naveen Selvadurai Foursquare Information provided by CrunchBase

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Foursquare Founders Pull Out $4.6 Million For Themselves From Last $20 Million Round

Foursquare Tidies Up Venue Pages To Emphasize Tips

Foursquare , freshly flush with cash , is in the process of altering its service. They realize that the check-in model can only go so far, and they have to build utility on top of it. Part of that is changing the game aspect . Another part is the user-generated “Tips.” Today, those have been made a clear area of emphasis on Foursquare’s website. On the newly redesigned venue pages (here’s TechCrunch , for example), there is now a big text input box for Tips. You type in what you want, and hit the share button and the tip immediately appears. This is much more seamless (and obvious) than the previous process. And tips are hugely important to Foursquare. They’re the things that pop up every time a contact checks-in to a place. You can also mark tips so you remember to do them later (and note what you have done). This is all about adding value on top of Foursquare’s fast growing social and place graph. These new pages also make it more obvious how the owner of a venue can claim the place as theirs (something Foursquare hinted was coming soon ). And it more prominently shows “Total check-ins,” “Total people,” and “Your check-ins.” And, of course, the Mayor of the venue is displayed prominently. Foursquare, which is a mobile application, is in the process of gearing up for the launch of the 2.0 release of its service. You can bet that tips will be a big part of that as well. CrunchBase Information Foursquare Information provided by CrunchBase

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Foursquare Tidies Up Venue Pages To Emphasize Tips

Prediction: This Statement Is Going To Come Back To Bite Microsoft In The Ass

“ It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that. “ That was Microsoft COO Kevin Turner during his keynote speech at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington today. I’m going to go out on a (not very big) limb and predict that this comment is going to come back to bite Microsoft in the ass. Microsoft has a long, illustrious history of putting its foot in its own mouth with comments like this. But usually it’s CEO Steve Ballmer making the comments . Ballmer’s most famous remarks are also about the iPhone. After it was announced in 2007 (but before it launched) Ballmer seemed willing to tell anyone who would listen that the device would fail. Who can forget this video ? And then there’s his comment to USA Today : “ There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. ” He went on, “ But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get. “ The iPhone is now Apple’s most successful product in its history. Microsoft, meanwhile, is in the process of completely pivoting its mobile product offering after bleeding market share in the years after the iPhone’s release. Of course, this comment by Turner is a bit different. He’s commenting on the antenna issues with the iPhone 4 — a problem which is very real . But comparing the problem to Windows Vista, Microsoft’s operating system in between Windows XP and Windows 7 that is generally considered to be a failure (even by many inside Microsoft), and a massive misstep by Microsoft, is foolish. The iPhone 4 antenna issue is a scar on a beautiful woman. You don’t break up with the woman because of it, you work around it because of her other attributes. She might even put on some coverup (the bumper) so you don’t even notice it. And some may not even notice it at all. Windows Vista is Kathy Bates in Misery . Turner’s assumption is that the antenna issue is going to damage Apple’s brand to the point where people start jumping ship. And he hopes to have Windows Phone 7 waiting with open arms. “ One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call ,” Turner said. But all indications right now is that this exodus is not and will not happen. Engadget did a nice roundup of writers and experts all around the country to get their reaction to the iPhone 4 antenna issue. The consensus? No big deal. Either all of them are brainwashed fanboys on Apple’s payroll — see, I saved you a comment right there, commenters — or they’re just giving their honest

Crocodoc Closes Angel Round, Launches Revamped Document Collaboration Tools

I’ve said it before , and I’ll say it again: I detest Adobe Acrobat. Scarred by years of wrangling with bloated software that requires premium upgrades for some basic features, I’m happy to try out any other solution. YC-funded Crocodoc is one promising startup that offers a very straightforward alternative: it makes it dead-simple to upload and start marking up a PDF file (and a variety of other document formats) using a web-based editor. And today it’s launching an overhauled site that makes it much easier to start marking up documents in tandem with a team of friends or coworkers. The company is also announcing that it has closed an angel funding round, with a strong roster of participants including Dave McClure, Joshua Schachter, Paul Buchheit, Steve Chen, and XG Ventures. Crocodoc CEO Ryan Damico says that the earlier version of Crocodoc had some issues, namely when it came to document collaboration, which has been a popular use case. Crocodoc has allowed users to annotate their documents for some time, but this typically involved using virtual sticky notes. That works well enough if you only need to leave a comment or two, but people would wind up covering their documents in these sticky notes to get their point across, leading to a big mess. The new version of Crocodoc axes stickies in favor of a system that lets users comment and respond to each other’s comments in the document’s margins, which should work much better. Damico says that the new version of Crocodoc includes plenty of other changes as well. The UI has been overhauled, as have most of the editing tools. Document exporting works better than it did before. And the site has also built out its API and embedding features.  The site offers some premium features, like SSL encryption and password protected documents, but Damico says that Crocodoc is currently focused on making sure it is addressing the major pain points for users with its free product, with other plans to monetize down the road. Crocodoc isn’t disclosing the size of their round, other than to say that ”it falls into the category of typical angel rounds in terms of size”. CrunchBase Information Crocodoc Information provided by CrunchBase

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Crocodoc Closes Angel Round, Launches Revamped Document Collaboration Tools

Groupon, Twitter, Foursquare, And Yelp Will Convene At The Social Currency CrunchUp

Social currency—everybody wants it. It is not about being popular or smart or beautiful (although those things help). It is about influence, and power, and money. On the Internet, social currency takes on new meaning. It is about creating influence by mining social relationships online. For businesses, ultimately, it is about turning those social connections into cash. How you do that and who is doing it well will be the focus of our Social Currency CrunchUp on July 30 at Stanford. (Attendees also get to go to our annual summer bash at August Capital that evening— combo tickets on sale here ). The agenda is packed with startups and investors making social commerce a reality. Groupon CEO Andrew Mason (the king of social coupons) will discuss the dynamics of group buying and discounts with leadership from News America Marketing (the largest player in traditional print, in-store and online coupons). Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman will explain the rise of people-powered local directories and how mobile apps are driving a huge chunk of local search. Speakers from Foursquare, Twitter, and CityGrid Media will talk about the business side of geo and social apps. Bart Decrem , founder of Tapulous (which was recently bought by Disney) and Shervin Pishevar , CEO of SGN, will delve into game mechanics in social games and apps, in general. We will explore social currency from every angle: group buying, social influence, virtual currencies, social games, and geo-marketing. Capacity is limited to 500 attendees. The CrunchUp event is during the day. The party at night is for a larger crowd but sells out extremely quickly. CrunchUp attendees also get a pass to the party. About the Social Currency CrunchUp: July 30, 2010 9 am – 4:00 pm Arrillaga Alumni Center, Stanford University 326 Galvez Street, Palo Alto, CA 94305 Get CrunchUp-Party Combo Tickets Now @ Eventbrite: $295 INCLUDES admission for one (1) to the August Capital party and expedited fast-pass door entry. You DO NOT need to purchase a separate August Capital Party ticket if you purchase a CrunchUp ticket. Tickets are non-transferrable, based on availability. Capacity limited to 500 attendees. All details here . Please contact Heather Harde or Jeanne Logozzo for sponsorship opportunities and help support our summer tech fest. Contact Laura Boychenko to request a press pass. 100 MORE TICKETS RELEASED NOW for the summer party at August Capital ( Update: sold out ): July 30, 2010 5:30 – 10:00 pm 2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park CA Get Summer Party Tickets Now @ Eventbrite: $30. Tickets are non-transferrable, based on availability. We’ll also release a third batch of August Capital summer party tickets on Friday. Tickets will be released weekly in batches. Stay tuned, they sell out quickly. CrunchBase Information Andrew Mason Jeremy Stoppelman Bart Decrem Shervin Pishevar Information provided by CrunchBase

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Groupon, Twitter, Foursquare, And Yelp Will Convene At The Social Currency CrunchUp

New York City To Keep Track Of Water Use With Wireless Monitors

New York City residents will now be able to track their water use in real time. The city has installed wireless meters in The Bronx (the program will expand in the future), and residents will be able to see how much water they’re using at any given moment. The idea is to encourage people to cut down on their water consumption. “Wow, I used X-Number of gallons of water during that shower, let’s see if I can make that X-Minus-One next time.” And so on.

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New York City To Keep Track Of Water Use With Wireless Monitors