OpenTable

OpenTable gobbles up Foodspotting for $10 million

OpenTable, a company that provides online restaurant reservations, has acquired Foodspotting, a site and apps that let users post photos of the food dishes they encounter at eateries.

The companies announced the deal today, saying that OpenTable will pay approximately $10 million in cash to acquire Foodspotting. The acquisition comes after Foodspotting inked a deal with the restaurant-reservations company to share user photos of food dishes in OpenTable listings. OpenTable didn't say what its plans are for Foodspotting, but it did say the photos are a "taste" of what to expect.

Still, Foodspotting users won't lose … Read more

How to use Siri's new features in iOS 6

Siri was useful on iOS 5, but it often felt like it should be capable of more. With iOS 6, Siri has gained some new capabilities, all of which are nice additions to the personal assistant on iOS.

Siri can now make reservations, give you movie info, keep you up-to-date on sports, launch apps, and post to Twitter and Facebook on your behalf. Let's start by taking a look at the process to make a reservation using Siri.

Twitter and Facebook

Having to type out a tweet or status update for Facebook is so 2011. In 2012 and beyond, … Read more

Create a geek's dream date

Forget the flowers this Valentine's Day. Go for a lightsaber-lit dinner, the open-source iNecklace, and the flirtatious Fingle app. Bridget Carey shows off tech to woo the nerd of your dreams.… Read more

Magellan RoadMate for iPhone updates with Yelp, Google search

Magellan's RoadMate app for iPhone updates today to version 2.0 with a refreshed UI. However, the biggest change is the new POI search, because joining Magellan's standard list of searchable points of interest are new options for Yelp and Google Local.

With Yelp search you can browse all of Yelp's categories and subcategories. Search results include Yelp's star rating for quickly identifying, for example, the best Ethiopian restaurant in your area. Once you've found your destination, the app can call the venue or initiate turn-by-turn directions. Additionally, every search result is a clickable link … Read more

Dinner reservations for the Web-savvy

OpenTable is an online reservation service. It lets people find reservations at local restaurants and book them from their computer or mobile phone; all the while, not having to use the traditional system of calling or visiting the restaurants in person. The service is currently available in all 50 states (big cities, for the most part) as well as a growing number of international locations. Total number of restaurants is now in the tens of thousands.

OpenTable's reservation system allows customers to search for restaurants on three different criteria: type of cuisine, restaurant name, or location/neighborhood. Customers can … Read more

Hungry investors snap up OpenTable

OpenTable was the special of the day on Wall Street on Thursday.

The restaurant-reservation company's stock soared on its first day of trading on Nasdaq, gaining nearly 60 percent to close at $31.89 after selling 3 million shares at $20 a share during its initial public offering Wednesday. Nearly 5 million shares changed hands, trading as high as $35.50.

OpenTable's stock performance is the biggest first-day gain for an IPO since energy-management systems firm Orion Energy Systems gained 65 percent in its debut in December 2007, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.

OpenTable's revenue … Read more

OpenTable IPO: Is it financially sound?

Updated at 9:00 a.m. PT Thursday to include OpenTable's IPO pricing.

Online restaurant reservation provider OpenTable is getting ready to go public.

According to a release, the company will price its initial public offering at $20 per share.

But a share price doesn't tell you the whole story about a company. Whether you're thinking about investing in OpenTable, or you simply want to see why the company's executives believe that it has a good chance to be successful on the Nasdaq, there's no better way to find out than to look at its current state of operations.

Profits (or no?) According to its latest SEC filing, OpenTable earned $16 million in revenue during the three months ended March 31. During the same period in 2008, it earned $13.2 million in revenue. For the first quarter of 2009, the company generated a profit of $366,000. Last year, it lost $87,000.

Annually, OpenTable hasn't fared so well. According to its 2008 income statement, the company lost $1.02 million on revenue of $55.8 million. In 2007, the company generated a profit of $9.2 million on $41 million in revenue. That said, its profit was the result of a $9 million tax benefit. It lost $856,000 on operations in 2008 before it incurred that benefit.… Read more

Webware 100 winner: OpenTable

Site: OpenTable.com Category: Location-based services

OpenTable is an online reservation service. It lets people find reservations at local restaurants and book them from their computer or mobile phone; all the while, not having to use the traditional system of calling or visiting the restaurants in person.

Along with its reservation system, OpenTable also maintains a database of restaurant information and reviews from both its users and partners. Similar to Yelp and CitySearch, this lets people recommend or discourage restaurants in OpenTable's database. Those reviews show up to other users when they do a search or while they plan … Read more

Webware Radar: TripAdvisor adds new restaurant features

Responding to its users' desire for more restaurant review offerings, TripAdvisor announced Tuesday that throughout 2009, it will be adding features that will allow visitors to do more than review eateries on the site. So far, the site features 2 million reviews and ratings on 500,000 restaurants worldwide. To help users search through those more effectively, TripAdvisor added price, cuisine, and "recommended for" filters to its restaurant page Tuesday.

Also, the company has partnered with OpenTable.com to allow U.S. users to make a reservation directly on TripAdvisor's site. The company's new iPhone app, … Read more