Zoom in on PhotoShelter Interested in taking your prolific Instagram food photography talents to the next level? Check out PhotoShelter, the startup that lets photographers customize their own websites, market themselves online and sell their work—among other helpful tools—all in one place. Clicking through PhotoShelter’s site, we must admit these examples of online photography portfolios look pretty darn sexy. The company reported a profit only 18 months from launching, so they must be doing something right.
The lid is off on Boxed Sure, those chicken finger samples are always freakishly delicious, but who really wants to schlep all the way to the nearest Costco? Thankfully, last week saw the launch of Boxed, a new mobile-commerce app that lets users shop for goods at warehouse club prices, all from the convenient location of sitting-on-couch-in-underwear-with-iPhone-in-hand. “Boxed makes wholesale savings convenient for you; whether you’re a college student without a car, a busy professional without time, or a new parent without the ability to make an all-day warehouse club trek,” said Boxed CEO Chieh Huang on the company’s site, “Everyone deserves the savings and convenience that we’re delivering.”
Refinery29 is looking sharp Good news all around for Refinery29, reportedly the nation’s largest independent fashion and style site. Last week, the company was named #174 on the 2013 Inc. 500/5000 list, which ranks the country’s fastest growing startups. Refinery29 boasts a three-year sales growth of 2,301%, and was also the highest-ranking media company on the list. Additionally, the company announced that Nathan Coyle—formerly of Creative Artists Agency—will take over as executive vice president, head of business development, based in New York.
10gen who? At some point in time, all of us have broken up a marriage or two over the same, age-old conundrum: what the heck’s the difference between MongoDB and 10gen? The answer: MongoDB is the name of the open source NoSQL database, while 10gen is the company that develops and supports the database. But none of that matters now, because yesterday 10gen announced it was officially changing its name to MongoDB, Inc., thereby clearing up any confusion, and “more closely [unifying] the open-source database project with the company behind it,” according to a press release.
The Suitest is literally the sweetest This week, classy hotel room search engine The Suitest—which launched in beta last spring—announced a nifty new feature that’ll help you save big bucks on that five-star seaside suite in South Beach (side note: please take me with you). The new “Hotel Time Machine” feature predicts how the availability of a hotel room will evolve over a 30-day period, and then advises you on when exactly to book the room to get the cheapest rate. It’s definitely a great way to convince yourself to book that fancy shmancy December vacation. Also, winter blows.
Bike to the future Tomorrow night at 6:30p.m., betaNYC is hosting its third-ever #BikeHack themed night, where attendees can share their latest technological innovations pertaining to Citi Bikes, and New York biking in general. This event’s particular focus is on “cycling data and mapping,” according to the event page. That all sounds cool, but I’d really just like someone to tell me how the heck a biker’s supposed to make a left turn at a busy NYC intersection and not get bowled over by an oncoming cab. Sincerely, me.
Show me your python Raise your hand if you’re a lady. Now keep your hand raised if you’re super into the programming language Python. Hand still raised? Then you’re perfect for Thursday night’s Hack Night at Pivotal Labs, hosted by NYC Pyladies. The event invites women to demo their Python-centric projects, share their programming ideas, and take part in coding tutorials. Slither there for 6:30p.m.