(maketecheasier.com)

BIG BITES. Big Apps winner MyCityWay partners with NYC app Bitehunter. "No other app helps you navigate a city like a true local than MyCityWay and now... the apps make it possible to roam and find a great meal for cheap. Users can share tips on activities, hot spots and restaurants with each other, as well as create 'best of' lists to share with users and, as of today, foodies can find the top local deals for each market thanks to BiteHunter’s thousands of sources."

GEORGIA STARTUPS. OnWednesday, January 18th, Union Square Ventures will host the first Flashpoint Demo Day. Flashpoint is a three-month accelerator program based at Georgia Tech; 17 startups will demo.

ONLY IN THE ALLEY. The 12-startup calendar, from SNAP Interactive and Hotlist, has been released and the syndicate will ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ on December 28.

CHRIS CLINGLE. "Clingle launched a new feature that ‘merries’ social, tech and the holidays to let you gift conveniently and thoughtfully right from your smartphone.

Here’s how Clingle Gifts work:

1. Download the Clingle App (available for iPhone and Android)
2. Select a friend on the Clingle platform or through Facebook.
3. Choose a gift from a choice of 40+ brand partners, powered by iStash, including Zappos, Barnes and Noble, SpaFinder, Wine.com and Travelocity.
4. Pay securely by credit card and attach a video or audio message to send to friends."

HOLIDAY LARGESSE. "For each new group created on our special Happy Holidays page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app between now and New Year’s Day, we’ll donate $1 to the Food Bank For New York City, for up to 2,000 groups.  For every $1 donated 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need."

GET UPDATES. "GetGlue rolled out major updates to its iPhone app and website... These updates will enable users to be introduced to new content based on their check-ins and connect them to other fans who like the same type of content." The features include redesigned profiles, different UX for real time chat, a more visual stream, and a Guides tab to help users find stuff to watch.

APP LAUNCH. Pocket Card Greetings is made in NYC. "The latest is an iOS app perfect for the holidays--it lets you send virtual greeting cards to your friends and loved ones.  The front of the card is a Christmas/NewYears/Holiday message and the back of the card is a 30 second video message."

DEADLINES: Peter Thiel cradle-robbing fellowship: Dec. 31. Rockstart Accelerator Amsterdam, Jan. 6. FinTech Innovation Lab, Jan. 18. TechStars NYC, early deadline Jan. 10, final deadline Jan. 23. NYC Big Apps Awards, Jan 25.

JOBS. Spotify looking for head of communications. SignPost needs a product manager. P2PU is looking for a Django developer. Lot18 needs a junior operations associate. Loosecubes needs an office manager. Producteev is looking for a social media manager (intern).

SKILLSHARE EVERYWHERE. Skillshare had two big announcements yesterday: 1) the democratized education platform is available in "every major city" in the U.S. now, and 2) CEO Mike Karnjanaprakhorn has been named one of 12 TED fellows in 2012.

FORRST RANGERS. The developer community Forrst has started posting jobs. Bring it on, Stack Overflow.

SAVE AMIT. The campaign for Amit Gupta continues! Upcoming: bone marrow drive in Delhi and swabbing party in Somerville and much, much more.

DREAM TEAM. New Work City is joining forces with the hackers of NYC Resistor to cross-promote events. Synergy!

XX INNOVATION LUNCH. "I’m super psyched for my lunch this Friday," Charlie O'Donnell wrote in his newsletter this week.  "Marissa Campise from Venrock and Sarah Tavel from Bessemer are co-hosting a lunch with me for up and coming women entrepreneurs to get a chance to meet venture investors."

CLINGLE! "It’s time to Clingle! MyCityWay, developer of the popular urban city apps has launched Clingle, a first-of-its-kind personalized mega-utility location-based social network ... What is Clingle? Clingle is a social network that connects people with their friends and the world around them. One of the most unique features of Clingle are 'Clings'--personal messages (text, pictures, audio and coming soon, video) that can be left for friends at favorite locations, and only unlocked by them when they check-in. The app is brought to you by the same team who created MyCityWay, a BMW iVenture backed and 2009 NYC Big Apps award-winning app. The free app can be downloaded from the iTunes store at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clingle/id449924410?mt=8.

ADD TO NESTIO. Nestio.com, a real estate listings manager, a week ago launched support for nationwide listings  and announced a partnership with eBay to include "add to Nestio" buttons on every listing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Wanderfly is a year old and has "inspired 4 million trips with users from 217 countries, won a Webby nomination, Top 10 Startup by Time Inc. & Top 100 Brilliant Companies by Entrepreneur, and launched our recommendation technology on 1000 NYTimes.com pages." And made themselves a birthday infographic.

IMMACULATE LAUNCH. "Over the last two and a half years, a community of like minded individuals in good taste has formed around Immaculate Infatuation. Co-founded by Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal, two music business executives, Immaculate Infatuation has become NYC's go-to resource for honest, no bullsh*t restaurant reviews." Coolio and Gary Vaynerchuk are users.

MONIES. "OpenSky.com, the shopping destination that allows members to design their ideal shopping experience curated by some of the world’s most interesting people, today announced it has secured $30 million financing from new and current investors.  New investor Providence Equity Partners led the financing, which included participation from existing investors Highland Capital Partners, Canaan Partners and The Raine Group."

"GramercyOne is developer of cloud-based booking, business management, and marketing software used by more than 2500 businesses worldwide.Today, we’re announcing that the company has raised $14.5 million in Series A funding round led by Revolution Ventures (chaired by AOL founder Steve Case)."

TECHIES FOR CHARITY. A formal group of NYC technology and advertising executives will run the New York City Marathon on November 6 and raise money for Camp Interactive, "a 10-year-old non-profit that exposes inner-city kids to both technology and the outdoors that is very active here in NYC." The Team InterActive NYC Marathon team consists of: Matt Siegel, COO and Co-Founder of IndabaMusic; Toby Daniels, CEO of Crowdcentric; Peter Miron, CTO of Knewton; Michelle DeForest, Director of Marketing and Strategy at DOTGO; David Pashman, Legal Team Leader at Meetup; James Cooper, Chief Creative Innovation Officer at JWT and more. "As of October 24, the team has raised more than $47,000 for the organization and hopes to bring in $100,000 total."

WE ARE ALL A VC. On Thursday, a meetup for readers of the Fred Wilson blog.

WHO'S HIRING? RollingStone.com listed a job in this week's Inside Startups newsletter--but it's not for a developer. Want to be a national director of digital ad sales? "Candidate will be a seasoned sales executive who will execute an aggressive growth plan to grow the overall digital business."