It appears we now have a concrete reason for Oink’s mysterious shuttering yesterday. Kevin Rose, Internet cutie pie and ex-overlord of Diggnation, has been hired by Google. According to AllThingsD, “Google is not outright buying or ‘acqhiring’ Milk, the sources explicitly said, but Rose and some others from the company have been hired.” Read More
Milk Inc., Digg founder Kevin Rose’s new app shop, announced today that it was shutting down its first app project, Oink. The iPhone app was meant as a servicey rating tool, where users could highlight and rate specific aspects of a restaurant or bar, like meals or drinks. It saw fast growth upon release in November 2011, but apparently very little after the initial excitement died down. Read More
The iTunes App Store got another offering to the ratings gods today. This one in the form of Stamped, a New York-based startup which boasts two Xooglers as co-founders, Bart Stein and Robby Stein (possible relations? Ed note: We’ve received word from Stamped’s PR team that their last name is merely coincidental), and more Xooglers within its seven-person team.
When TechCrunch first reported on the app back in September, MG Siegler (in his pre-VC days—how quaint!) salivated over Stamped’s simplicity, which boils recommendations down to whether or not you’d send something to your friends with a stamp of approval. At the time, Mr. Siegler compared Stamped to Instagram when “Simplicity and speed won the day.” Read More
