American Express Enters the Private Sale Travel Market with Vacationist

American Express became the latest company to enter the private sale market this week. Vacationist, a site launched in partnership with Luxury Link, offers 25 to 40% off of published room rates alongside profiles from Travel + Leisure (an American Express publication) editors.

Vacationist only marks the second site to focus on the travel market – compare that to more than 10 sites who battle it out for unsold apparel, but we have to wonder if the same issues of limited inventory will come into play.

Bea Valdes: Show and Sell

So you already know that big jewels will be the big thing for fall, right? Well when it comes to the pieces you decide to go big with, there’s statement jewelry and then there’s Bea Valdes. If we had to put Valdes’ pieces into a category, we’d call them press conference jewelry because they’re way beyond a simple statement. Which is good, because we literally didn’t have the words to describe the collection when seeing it for the first time.

Music For A Cause: H&M Battle of the Bands Supports the Fight Against AIDS in New York

H&M’s third-annual Fashion Against AIDS collection, done in partnership with Designers Against AIDS, and new festival-inspired collection (featured here) are slated for release on May 20th. {DAA} In support of the campaign to support AIDS prevention and education, an official launch party will be held to host the first-annual H&M Battle of the Bands contest. […]

What Do You Get for Buying an Unreleased iPhone? A Police Raid and Busted Door

Gizmodo received heavy media coverage for publishing photos and specifications of an unreleased iPhone prototype, but some – including Apple, have questioned the legality of how the company came into possession of the top-secret device. According to Gizmodo accounts, the phone was left in a bar by Gray Powell, an Apple employee out celebrating his 27th birthday.
Apple, who is notorious for secretive testing and release practices that make the military look chatty, isn’t amused.

So last Friday, San Mateo police armed with a search warrant broke down Chen’s door and seized business cards (really?), 3 MacBooks, 2 digital cameras, 1 Dell desktop, an IBM Thinkpad, 2 external hard drives, a Motorola phone, an iPhone, an iPad and a server.

Giles Deacon is In at Ungaro, Unencumbured by Celebrity Advisors

Rumors of Giles Deacon’s lunch with Ungaro executives to discuss taking over the creative direction of the label are a mystery no more.

Fashionista reports that Jason Campbell, editor of the JC Report, has confirmed Deacon’s new role at the label.

Twits on the Run: Rambler Shoes Tweet Your Every Step

Few social networking sites have swept the country (or at least this country’s media) quite like Twitter. It’s difficult to find a news broadcast not reminding you of the station’s Twitter name, or tying the 140-character social site to political rallies around the world. To make it easier for addicted tweeters to keep their followers […]

Is Gilt Going After Groupon’s Business Model? The Competition Builds

When we reported Groupon’s massive $1.35 billion valuation, we noted that the locally focused group deal site was valued at more than 3 times the $400 million valuation investors gave Gilt just last year.

Apparently, we’re not the only ones who noticed.

As of a few days ago, Gilt is now offering Gilt City, a New York specific section of the popular site dedicated to deals on local experiences ranging from a 3-course meal for two at Rouge Tomate, to frozen yogurt at 16 Handles and discounts on salon services at Vartali Salon.

Privacy Fail: Blippy Exposes Users’ Credit Card Numbers

There’s been plenty of buzz about Facebook’s latest privacy changes, but social shopping site Blippy may inadvertently steal some of the concern.

Blippy.com, a site that allows users to share their purchases with friends (or the world, if they choose) based on credit card purchases, allowed some credit card numbers to remain visible through a simple Google search.

Blippy is backed by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors. Ron Conway (an early Google investor), Philip Kaplan (AdBrite founder), Evan Williams (Twitter co-founder) and Sequoia Capital (the firm that’s funded Google, Apple and countless other tech giants). The company was started by two Stanford Computer Science grads.

Between all those connections, no one understood enough about search engines to prevent sensitive data – even if a small amount, from being included in a public index?

Are You Drawn to Ashholes? There’s A Watch For You

No, that’s not a misspelling. We’re referring to Eyjafjallajökull, the erupting Icelandic volcano that’s been spewing ash clouds and inconveniencing travelers in Western Europe.

Most people are generally trying to put it all behind them. Except for watchmaker Romain Jerome.

The Swiss watchmaker, whose previous special edition watches have included timepieces made from parts of the Titanic wreckage and moon dust from the Apollo 11 mission, is betting there’s at least one person who will want a memento of the difficult to pronounce molten event.

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