"Entertainment Shopping" is one of the more controversial genres of startups emerging on the web. The basic premise: you pay for a chance to get something at far cheaper than it normally sells for, but there's a risk that you'll come away with nothing. It's part gambling, part bargain hunting and it's proved to be very popular, with sites like
Swoopo leading the charge and other sites bringing the model to
hotels and other verticals. And today, TechCrunch Disrupt Finalist
ToVieFor is bringing entertainment shopping to a new market: high fashion. If you like
Gilt Groupe (a site that offers high-fashion items in fire-sales), this should be right up your alley. Log onto the site, and you'll see an array of high-end handbags and accessories being sold off at a potentially steep discount. If you want to buy one (or at least, a chance to buy one), you need to buy some ToVieFor credits, which run 99 cents and are cheaper in bulk. And then you can get down to business.
FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS
F5 NETWORKS
Roaming the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt I came across Teamly, a new web app designed to help businesses manage their employees better. Yes, I know that sounds familiar, but what I liked about it was that this was a super, super simple app compared to a lot of the feature-crammed companies out there in this space. The issue here is that a lot of corporate systems for managing people are really not designed for small businesses. They are just too complex, being packed full of to-do's, tasks and projects. So Teamly is out to try and makes all that performance monitoring way easier. 
One thing I love about my Palm Pre is that I'm able to run homebrew apps without performing any firmware surgery on it. Thanks to PreWare (et al) the apps are easy to find, easy to install, and a select few like 
People are obsessed with airline mileage, but it's really difficult to keep track of what programs you should be a part of let alone which ones are advantageous. A Mint for travel,�
