What's Driving Ford?

Sept. 9 - 10, 2013San Francisco, CAEarly Bird Tickets on Sale For hotels, a technology glitch can result in unhappy tourists and millions in lost revenue. HotelNinjas, a Barcelona-based startup with a vision to be the Salesforce.com for the hospitality industry, is launching this week. Cofounder Avi Meir said he was inspired to start the company after realizing that most hotels still relied on “expensive, outdated, server-based technology.” HotelNinjas cofounder Avi Meir HotelNinjas offers property management and channel management tools (through an integration with WuBook), a customer relationship management service, and a booking engine for hotel websites. Meir says 30 hotels are lined up and are “ready to make the switch.” The company is charging its first customers $4-9 per room on a month-to-month basis. Hotels can sign up directly or via AppExchange, Salesforce’s app marketplace. Meir told me he recently made a trip to Salesforce’s San Francisco headquarters to form a partnership with the cloud giant. He claims the startup is the first hotel technology provider developed on top of Salesforce’s platform as a service offering Force.com. HotelNinjas was founded in September 2012, and has grown to seven employees. Meir is the former vice president of product at BudgetPlaces.com, an online travel agency. To continue its momentum, the company will need to win over customers from more established vendors in the space, including Micros.com’s Opera Property Management software and Medallia. But Meir believes that HotelNinjas has an edge over its competition with its customizable CRM and integration with hotel booking websites. “At the end of the day, the one thing that matters to hotel owners is how they can increase occupancy and revenue,” he said. The founders have poured their own money into the startup, buttressed by grants from the Spanish government. In total, they have raised about $100,000.  Top image via Shutterstock Filed under: Business .blurb-cat-cloud .event-boilerplate { width:278px; margin:0px 0px 10px 20px; padding:10px; float:right; border:1px solid #e4e4e4; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; color:#000; } .blurb-cat-cloud .event-boilerplate .logo-date-wrap { width:100%; display:block; float:left; margin-bottom:8px; } .blurb-cat-cloud .event-boilerplate img { float:left; } .blurb-cat-cloud .event-boilerplate .date-location { float:right; font-size:12px; line-height:14px; text-align:center; padding-left:7px; padding-top:5px; padding-bottom:3px; border-left:1px solid #e6e6e6; } .blurb-cat-cloud .event-boilerplate .cta { display:block; clear:both; width:100%; border-radius:5px; border:1px solid #1864b1; color:#fff; text-shadow: 0px -1px 0px rgba(0,0,0,0.3); text-align:center; text-decoration:none; font-weight:600; font-size:18px; line-height:17px; padding:4px 0px 6px 0px; background: #1f80e4; background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  #1f80e4 0%, #1862ae 100%); background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#1f80e4), color-stop(100%,#1862ae)); background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  #1f80e4 0%,#1862ae 100%); background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  #1f80e4 0%,#1862ae 100%); background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  #1f80e4 0%,#1862ae 100%); background: linear-gradient(to bottom,  #1f80e4 0%,#1862ae 100%); filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#1f80e4', endColorstr='#1862ae',GradientType=0 ); } Check out VentureBeat's product data sheets for morein-depth information on CRM software and solutions. .crm-boilerplate { background: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid #E4E4E4; margin: 18px 0; -webkit-box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 24px 0px rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 24px 0px rgba(255, 255, 255, 1); } .crm-boilerplate p { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size:16px; line-height:22px; font-style:italic; color:#000; text-align:center; margin:15px; } .crm-boilerplate a { text-decoration:none; color:#1f81e5; }    

Ric Deverell is convinced the sell-off in gold is far from over. On Thursday, Deverell -- Credit Suisse's Global Head of Commodities -- told reporters in London that the yellow metal was heading to $1,100 this year and to $1.000 within five years. He made those comments during Credit Suisse's 5th annual commodities day in London. He also circulated a 41-slide presentation on commodities titled "The Setting Of The Sun."  It included 5 slides dedicated to his bleak outlook for gold. "Gold has been the only trending asset for the past ten years, but the trend has broken," wrote Deverall noting that the recent sell-off has been a highly unusual 3 standard deviation event. "Despite recent falls the price still appears excessive," he added noting that gold continues to be priced well above its long run average. Even relative to other metals, gold appears to be significantly overvalued. However, it was this last slide that was arguably the most important (and most hilarious). You see, gold bugs have argued that the global debt crisis would continue to flair up and central bank monetary policy would cause inflation to run rampant. But both of those concerns have receded. Deverell uses the analogy "Planet of The Apes Risk" to illustrate the risk of financial and societal meltdown. This is something that could happen in Europe if the euro broke up. For now, the euro is holding together.  And humans have not been displaced by apes. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »    

“I don’t know why I’m so mad about this.”

Google Glass is one of the hottest gadgets on the planet right now, but not everyone's a fan. In fact, there are many people worried about privacy. In this Sunday Comic, we see that the government is concerned, too — just for a slightly different reason. SEE ALSO: More Sunday Comics Comic written by Larry Lambert; illustrated by Jerry King. Read more More about Comic, Gadgets, Comics, Humor, and Watercooler

Silicon Valley has long been at the forefront of the tech startup scene, but thanks to the growth of emerging companies in other areas of the U.S. and worldwide, the West Coast is no longer the only tech hub sparking startups and innovation. In fact, according to a report by financial research analyst firm PrivyCo., there were more than 100 acquisitions of tech startups in New York City last year, amounting to $8.3 billion. The city is now only positioned second behind Silicon Valley in terms of startup acquisitions. And thanks to the expansion of larger companies such as Facebook and Google to the New York area, this is only the beginning of the bigger trend Read moreMore about Startups, Business, and Mobile