So you live in a major American city like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, or Chicago. You’re hungry. You know you’ve got tons of lunch menu options in a given area to choose from. But do you go for a standard recipes, or do you seek out one of the day’s specials?

If you’re on the prowl for something new, Lunchtimedeals might help to simplify and streamline your decision making process. The idea behind the service is to give restaurants a platform by which to reach potential customers with discounts and special dishes.

You can visit LunchTimeDeals and simply seek out featured items as they come. But if you want to give it the least bit of effort, a quick sign up of your email and location can give you regular messages about things being pushed out by neighborhood eateries. Of course, this entails names in the food business to join the fold and push highlights to a select segment of the site’s audience. But Lunchtimedeals is young. If it manages to connect to the right set of “early adopters,” it could grow fast quite soon.

We mentioned a few cities that Lunchtimedeals lists in its database. Other locations include Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Yet it should be said that New York is essentially the only place worth searching. All others are devoid of entries. (Or, to be thematic about it, entrees.) This can certainly make the site feel empty and host some unnecessary linkage, but just as long as you recognize its informational limitations, it might serve you well.

Naturally, the creators of LunchTimeDeals are as eager for consumers as they are for producers in the great big (prepared) food chain we have in this country, so they provide basic “Tell a Restaurant” and “Tell Your Friends” Web forms for people to interact with. If all goes as planned, it’s not unimaginable to think it will be long before LunchTimeDeals manages to diversify its day-to-day attentions to breakfast, brunch, and dinner, too.

The so-called social Web just became legitimately open, as MySpace has launched the two first implementations of its Data Availability initiative on Flixster and Eventful. Simultaneously, the company is announcing that it will support OpenID, allowing its users to sign into any OpenID-enabled website using their MySpace credentials. The move comes one day before Facebook’s developer conference kicks off, where the rival social network is widely expected to announce the first implementations of its own data portability initiative: Facebook Connect.

The implementations of Data Availability on Flixster and Eventful work much as you might expect. On Flixster, users can register using their MySpace credentials, at which point they can import their profile data and connect with any of their friends who already have accounts on Flixster. On Eventful, users can not only import their profile data, but also receive alerts for events coming to their area, based on the artists that the user has friended on MySpace. Hence, if you’re friends with Augustana on MySpace and they are having a concert in your town, you’ll automatically be alerted to it.

All of this information is synced across the Data Availability supporting sites and MySpace. So, if you update your profile, edit your biography, or remove an artist from your friend’s list on MySpace, this will immediately be reflected on Flixster and Eventful. Certain more sensitive data like religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are only cahceable for 24 hours by Data Availability partners, while core profile data like age, location, and profile photo can be stored on the third-party site, though still synced with MySpace.

Asked about the distinction between data that is cached and that which is stored, Jim Benedetto, SVP of Technology at MySpace told me: “It’s very technically challenging to rely on MySpace’s server [for accessing all of the data]. [As a user] if I don’t want all information to be available to Flixster, I can revoke access and cut it off. But a core piece of information such as my age, email, first and last name that is key to the initial registration, Flixster can maintain control over so people can continue to login to Flixster with it.”

As for the OpenID initiative, much like other Web giants including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo that have announced support for the movement, MySpace is only acting as an identity provider, meaning that while you can use your MySpace credentials to sign into other Web sites, you cannot yet use your credentials from another OpenID provider to sign into MySpace. Nonetheless, announcing support for OpenID is another small victory for MySpace over Facebook, and keeps the pressure on the latter to legitimately open up.

MySpace first announced Data Availability in May, with launch partners Yahoo, eBay, Twitter, and Photobucket. Asked about the status of these higher profile rollouts, Benedetto told me that “All of them are currently working on their implementations. Flixster and Eventful are just smaller companies that were able to move very quickly using our APIs to get them live.”

As for Facebook, they announced Connect with Digg signed on to support the initiative one day after MySpace kicked off Data Availability back in May. Google also has its own hat in the ring in the battle to become your universal profile with its Google Friend Connect offering.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:MySpace Data Availability Goes LiveEventful MySpace App: Tell Your Aritsts Where You Want Them to GoFlixster Calls Down $5M of its Series BEventful Launches Facebook App for Bringing Artists to Your CityTwitter Interface for Eventful: Fact of Fool?Eventful Working with Presidential Campaigns in Grassroot EffortsEventful Demands $7.5 Million - and Gets It

Source:Mashable!

Glam Media, the self-described distributed media network that sits atop the women-centric market of the Web, with either a whole or partial role in over 600 websites and blogs, is expanding its sights yet again this year, just weeks after it introduced a new advertisement marketplace called GlamX Ad Exchange. Today the company unveiled its very own application platform. It is dubbed, simply enough, Glam Application Platform.

Glam is inviting publishers, developers, and advertisers alike to exercise the platform, which it has code-named “Atako” and currently has positioned as a private beta. The company believes the strength of the release resides at its core, where an open-source design has been implemented. (Said to be based on the Google Gadget spec, the platform may also take advantage of OpenSocial and OpenID.)

The Glam Application Platform also arrives with levers to monetize developments easily, with or without advertisements. If application creators wish to go without marketing, developments may be distributed freely, as they would ordinarily, or through direct payments. Any applications borne of the Glam Application Platform will be delivered through a system called the Glam Apps Store.

Whether or not Glam has taken cue from Apple’s own App Store initiative, whose design was first publicly introduced earlier this year, Glam is no doubt employing the concept to further its mission to tap its increasingly valuable content network as broadly and deeply as possible. Since the point at which Glam surpassed iVillage last year as the dominant force in online media space specific to the female demographic, the flash terms “vertical” and “network” have in kind been touted ever more strongly by the company. With the Glam Application Platform there’s no doubt that the company sees its global audience of roughly 77 million monthly users as carrying considerably more value than has so far been realized.

The initial establishment of the Glam App Platform, because it is private beta, may have a limited impact at first, but it likely won’t be long before it does away with developer invitations. In the meantime, the effectiveness of the debut will hinge largely on which designers gain entry to start.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Glam Launches Distributed Media PlatformLifetime to Use Glam’s Managed Vertical NetworkGlam’s New Ad Exchange Connects Marketers, Publishers, & Ad NetworksGlam Media Steals Executive Talent from MySpaceGlam Reigns over iVillage as the No. 1 Network for WomenGlam Signs Google for Ad Brokerage and SearchGlamMedia Launches GlamTV, Offering Indie and Mainstream an Internet Platform

Source:Mashable!

Prices seem to be increasing everywhere on pretty much everything from fuel to groceries, making finding good deals more and more important. So whether you’re an avid bargain hunter or just need to save some cash, we’ve put together a list of over 20 resources to help you find coupons online.

We’ve listed a wide variety of coupon sites ranging from those that let you print coupons to take to the grocery store with you, to sites that provide cheaper prices for online stores, and even social sites where users can vote on the best deals.

Do you use coupon sites? If so, which do you find offer the best deals?

Brick & Mortar Shopping

CoolSavings.com - Tons of printable coupons divided up by style of shopping with listings of free samples you can get.

CouponMom.com - Has coupons you can print, helps you find coupons, gives you strategies on how to use them to make them most effective, and a whole lore more.

Coupons.com - Who needs to wait for the Sunday newspaper circular when you have Coupons.com? Go to the site, find your desired coupon, and print it out to take to the store.

CouponSurfer.com - Mixes up printable coupons for brick & mortar stores with ones for online sites.  The heavier emphasis does seem to be on groceries and food.

OnlineCoupons.com - This one works a bit differently than some other sites in that you pay an annual subscription fee and also pay for them to mail you physical coupons for the grocery store.  Coupons for restaurants may be printed for free at any time after you join.

Valpak.com - Enter your zip code and get results for coupons in your area as well as some online vendors.

Online Shopping

BensBargains.net - For eight years Ben’s Bargains has been updated daily with new coupon codes for all sorts of online deals. The site mainly focuses on electronics.

CouponCabin.com - Focuses on everyday coupons, but also has coupons that have a clear expiration date.

CouponChief.com - Collects various coupons for numerous online merchants into one handy site which is searchable by store name or product category.

CouponWinner.com - Thousands of coupons for hundreds of different online merchants from free shipping to free products and hefty discounts.

Dealighted.com - Aggregates deals from numerous shopping forums around the Web and puts them into one centralized source for you.

DeaLoco.com - Besides providing you with normal coupon listings, they also assign a “Grief Factor” to each to tell you how much hassle it will be to use it.

DealsOfAmerica.com - Attempts to bring you deals only from the most reliable of sources by focusing on the largest online retailers and traditional brick & mortar chains.

FatWallet.com - Featuring thousands of deals for online stores along with forums for users to discuss the current deals and ones they have found on their own.

FreeShipping.org - As the domain name suggests, this site is completely dedicated to finding you free shipping deals for all of your online shopping needs.

GottaDeal.com - Well known for their annual early release of Black Friday advertisements, GottaDeal is working all year long to bring you the best in online and offline deals.

MyCoupons.com - Has over 4,000 stores you can look up by name. Also has message boards for sharing more codes, rates how well codes have worked, and a whole lot more.

RetailMeNot.com - One of the more clearly labeled coupon sites with clear labeling of what the coupon does, what the code is and when it expires.

Slickdeals.net - Lists new coupons by the date issued and then lets you sort them down by when they expire, vendor, and other methods.  Also has active forums for more discussion.

Social Coupon Sites

Dealigg.com - Besides being able to vote up the standard coupons, you also get a nice selection of free sample offers you can vote on.

DealsGlobe.com - You can give deals the thumbs up or down as well as search the coupons by numerous methods, even down to admin and user submitted.

DiscountPatrol.com - Users submit deals they find online and then others vote them up if they consider them a truly great deal.

Mallicious.com - The editors of Mallicious post new deals each day and then the users vote them up or down Digg style.  Users are also encouraged to post deals that they find.

RedFlagDeals.com - A site for Canadian deals that allows users to vote up the best ones to the top.

[Image Credit: Sale photo by Tim Parkinson (Creative Commons Attribution)]

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Cellfire Launches Tomorrow - Free Cellphone CouponsCoupon Alerts As You Shop OnlineStaples Gets More Eco-FriendlyCellfire and MerchantCircle Team Up for Local Mobile CouponsText2Store Launches Affiliate Widget for Local DealsOhMyBuzz Adds Direct Sales to E-commerce PortalMashable T-Shirt Design Contest: Win an iPhone!