Rick Robinson

Product creator, predictor and observer of things at intersection culture and tech

May. 31, 2017

Through This Ourglass, Watching TV in Public Is More Fun

At the outset, Ourglass, based in Campbell, Calif., thought it was going to be selling hardware products to bars and restaurants. But why do that when you can give all that away and sell lucrative sponsorships? And how? By making the TV smarter of…

May. 15, 2017

Friends Don’t Let Friends Dial Drunk — There’s a ‘Mode’ for That

I can’t say I’m proud of working my way through the vices in this column. But if I do get to sloth, please somebody stop me. Let’s see, there was that time I wrote about an app to help you party and hook up with foreigners when you travel. Then of…

May. 3, 2017

If the Gym Fits, Reserve It — Startup Makes It Easy to Never Miss a Workout

How many times have you been stuck in traffic trying to get to the gym before the window closes and you need to be at work or home for dinner? I’m betting for many of you it’s a lot — certainly is for me. But suppose that gym on the other side of a…

Apr. 19, 2017

7 Startups Decamp to the ‘Smartest Place in the World’ to Rethink Mobility

Marketers using mobile phones to connect real-time data and buyer-intention to drive and measure consumer foot traffic is a tired vision of the future from last year … it has more to do with our past than our future. It’s so 2016. How about cars…

Apr. 11, 2017

CloudSponge: Soaking Up Your Contacts to Connect You Anywhere

We’ve all been there — asked to open our address books so a software tool could swipe our contacts and email friends or neighbors to help spread the word about something of interest, or include them in the cool new app we just discovered. These days…

Mar. 23, 2017

Voice Bots Have One Big Problem: Human Behavior

I love you. What are the best shampoos to fight hair loss? When does the next season of Girls begin? Find local spas with a male masseur. What is the average weight of a 5’7” woman? Please make a dinner reservation for our anniversary. Find the…

Feb. 7, 2017

Google Analytics for Brick-and-Mortar? Spatially Targets Where to Set Up Shop

Creating a business is harder than you think. Even if you’ve done it before, your recollections are likely whitewashed by a self-preserving subconscious — a salve to the many pains of creating something from nothing and trying to keep it…

Jan. 18, 2017

Post in the Machine: How Blockast is Taking a Shot at Local News Collection

Were I to count the ways mainstream news outlets, hyperlocals and other hopefuls have tried to tackle the challenge of successfully covering local news for a mobile audience (which is to say… everyone), I’d need more hands. This is not to imply prior…

Dec. 20, 2016

The Buzz on Wikileaf: Compare Pot Prices Then Map a Route to Your Next High

A GasBuddy for pot? Why not? At least that seems to be the conclusion of one Seattle-based entrepreneur, whose location-based pricing-and-reviews service wants a slice of what he estimates will be an $8 billion industry in 2017. Dan Nelson started…

Dec. 6, 2016

Hand Delivery, No Lines, Pharmacist Chats — You Call This a Pharmacy?

It’s right up there with sitting in rush hour traffic on the DC Beltway or hanging out in my doctor’s waiting room — the joy of picking up prescriptions. The local pharmacy was once a place with some communal value where you knew the pharmacist and…

Nov. 9, 2016

Mobile 1.0 Had Its Own Uber: Recalling the Birth of the Future

When mobile devices first arrived, they promised to unlock entirely new consumer behaviors around products and services — with the most successful experiences still rooted in core human desires to connect and interact, as on the desktop. And it was…

Sep. 27, 2016

Pingup and EatStreet Set the Table for Simple Digital Food Ordering

Ordering dinner is getting a little bit easier. Two powerhouses in the chain that links that Chicken Phad Thai to the plate on your table are partnering to simplify the process of actually getting it there. EatStreet, the digital ordering service…

Sep. 13, 2016

App Connects Travelers With Revelers, Parties Ensue

So you’re finally taking that big trip to Athens, Greece — the one you’ve talked about ever since daydreaming over pictures in a fifth-grade history book. You’ve got mental sketches of the incredible sights waiting to be colored in by reality: The…

Aug. 29, 2016

Can Augmented VR Turn Window Shoppers Into Buyers?

For starters, nobody wants to wear the headgear — those myriad virtual reality headsets that open a second life for our senses. Heck, people wouldn’t even wear the slender Google Glass to achieve an augmentation of their reality. As for the gamers…

Aug. 16, 2016

Local Loyalty: Klosebuy Plans to Bring Powerful Marketing to Main Street

I’ve never really taken advantage of loyalty programs — at least not those that require me to do more than verbally communicate a number, like I do at my grocery store. Cards, coupons and their ilk (even when digitized) seem to slip into a clutter of…

Jul. 19, 2016

TRAY Cooks Up Ways to Make Restaurant Checkout More Mobile and Social

Despite the fact that Facebook, Twitter and even Pokémon Go are all packaged neatly within our phones — making certain no waking minutes are left unfilled — when you’re actually waiting on line for something, none of that really matters. People still…

Jun. 22, 2016

Your Local Broadcast: Centric Finds the Cameras in Your Neighborhood

Couple of thoughts: 1) I appreciate aggregation. Why ask me to traverse several sites when one destination pulls them all together in an easily digestible package? RSS feeds have enabled this sort of thing, as have many content plays over the years.…

Jun. 9, 2016

Picking the Locksmiths: Bizyhood Unlocks the ‘Ghosts in the Data’ Problem

What would you do if you wanted to game Google into thinking you’ve got a vast network of local shops servicing area customers based on their search queries? No need to ask as some sharpies have already figured it out, according to a recent New York…

May. 18, 2016

ClipCall Uses Mobile and Video to Help Consumers Connect With Home Service Providers

About five years ago the company I helped co-found (Urgent.ly) had designs on delivering on-demand home services to consumers who were fed up with calling a plumber — while standing ankle-deep in water in the basement — only to find they had no idea…

May. 10, 2016

Will an ‘Internet of People’ Threaten the On-Demand Heavies and Give Power to SMBs?

In short order we’ve seen a share of local commerce move from brick-and-mortar to digital to mobile, as SMBs discovered new ways to take advantage of the variety of platforms promising efficiency in connecting small businesses with consumers. But…