Groupon acquires last-minute travel app Blink

Groupon today announced the acquisition of last-minute travel app Blink, a leading European destination for great deals on highly curated, same-day hotel bookings, bolstering its rapidly growing Groupon Getaways travel business. The Madrid-based Blink works with more than 2,000 hotel partners in eight European countries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are very excited to welcome the Blink team to the Groupon family,” said Aaron Cooper, senior vice president of Groupon Getaways. “The combination of a fantastic mobile app, same-day inventory management for properties and a team that is obsessed with mobile and last-minute travel will help us further expand our travel business as the go-to destination for great deals on great places to stay.”

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Deal! NoteSuite goes on sale for back-to-school

Theory.io today announces that NoteSuite, which debuted in June as the No. 1 best-selling iPad and Mac productivity app, will be available from Aug. 23 to Sept. 15 at a special price of $1.99 for iPad and $4.99 for Mac. NoteSuite is normally priced at $4.99 for iPad and $9.99 for Mac.

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Canada's Keek social video service passes 58 million user mark

It may not be as popular as Instagram or even Vine, but the Canadian-created social video sharing service seems comitted to compete against those leading apps. The company is reportedly raising $100 million for financing to better compete with more widely popular apps and services. Keek allows users to record and post 36-second long videos called "Keeks" from smartphones as well as computer connected webcams. Followers can then comment and like the videos. You know, sort of like YouTube.

Founded in 2011, Keek's aggressive moves could make it a big story in Canadian app innovation. Keek is available on browsers, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry.

Source: Venturebeat

Crushing It: Candy Crush reportedly makes $633,000 a day

There hasn't been as big an IT mobile game since Angry Birds a few years ago but Candy Crush is reportedly making $633,000 a day and could bring in up to $230,000 a year if it maintains its momentum. This is remarkable for what many consider to be a Bejeweled kock-off. The freemium version of the app is the no. 1 grossing app right now and an example of how one app can hit the big time. What do you think is the key to Candy Crash and its popularity?

Source: 9to5 Mac