This year, coupon platform Coupons.com has surpassed a billion dollars in printed coupon savings. And while the news might sound like PR drivel, TechCrunch believes it's actually quite an achievement, calling it "a milestone for the company and the entire digital coupons industry." Furthermore, "This growth further validates the burgeoning coupon and digital deals space which has been brought into the spotlight recently through the proliferation of sites like Groupon and Livingsocial." During the first 9 months of the year, Coupons.com claims to have printed out $854 million in savings. Notes TechCrunch: "This represents a 57% growth …

Joining rivals large and small, Yelp is now letting local businesses add "check-in offers" to their venues. Simply, the feature lets businesses incentivize repeat customers by rewarding them with percentages off their purchases, free or fixed-price offers. Fast Company -- which puts the news in the context of "a whole new industry popping up alongside and in between the existing 'traditional' retail models" -- sees check-ins as a way of "enticing consumers to shop, supply marketing statistical data and also to 'play' Yelp." Not unlike Foursquare, Facebook, and Groupon …

Retail "discovery" site Svpply [Yes, with a "v"] Just received $550,000 in seed-round investment led by Spark Capital and Founder Collective, along with high-profile angels like Ron Conway, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley and former Myspace co-President Jason Hirschhorn. (Svpply co-founder Zack Klein, who helped start College Humor and then Vimeo, also happens to be a partner at Founder Collective.) At least in principle, the site suggests products -- and clothing in particular -- that you'll based on other products that you and your friends have already expressed an interest in. According to MediaMemo, "One reason the company …

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, believes his brainchild is threatened by social networks that don't let members extract the information they put into them. Such protectionist measures -- of which Facebook is notoriously guilty -- will result in the web being "broken into fragmented islands," Berners-Lee writes in a Scientific American journal essay. As the Guardian notes, "The world's most popular social network has been roundly criticised for leaving users' network of contacts 'walled' inside its own site." According to Berners-Lee: "The web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool because it was built …

Determined to further position itself as the gateway to the Web, Facebook is asking users to make it their default homepage. VentureBeat was first to cover the social network's new "Make Facebook Home" button, which has recently begun to appear on the top of users' profiles. As they log in, users are being prompted by several pictures of their friends and a customized sentence reading, "See what's happening with Stephanie, Kim and the rest of your friends the moment you open your browser," followed by the suggestion: "Make Facebook Home." Google, Yahoo, and other portals have been pursuing this …

Chatroulette might have lost its mojo, but, according to The New York Times, the video chat site has given rise to a number of startups inspired by its indiscriminate, serendipitous, mashed-up sensibility. TextSlide, for instance, matches random users and lets them chat via texting. To protect privacy, however, "the service displays only users' screen names as well as their area codes, which Mr. Hunter hopes can serve as an icebreaker," writes The Times. "When they tire of one another or the conversation veers off topic, they can request a new partner." Regarding Chatroulette, TextSlide's founder tells The …

Yardsellr -- which is billed as a place to buy and sell items within a network of friends -- has raised $5 million, reports Vator News. The Series A round of funding was led by Accel Partners, with participation from former backer Harrison Metal Capital. "On Yardsellr, which users can only access via Facebook Connect, sellers present their wares in terms of 'blocks,' in the physical, neighborhood yard sale sense of the word," Vator News explains. "Except, the way it looks, blocks seem to function just like categories on Craigslist or eBay." For example, there are blocks …

What to make of the exclusively-iPad-based "newspaper" that Rupert Murdoch is planning to debut early next year will all manner of News Corp. fare? "With an investment of $30 million and a staff of around 100, The Daily will be the first of a kind -- a 'newspaper' with rich media and photography built especially for the iPad," writes David Carr at The New York Times, which is no doubt watching this story develop with great anticipation and anxiety. "Based on who is getting hired for this project, it looks like the …

GTVHub has picked up on a pattern, which doesn't bode well for Google and its Web TV ambitions. Following blackouts from NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, Viacom has decided to take its content off Google TV. "That's right folks, Viacom is now blocking Google TV devices from streaming full episodes across their entire line of properties," writes the niche news blog. Now, when Google TV users attempt to watch full episodes of content from Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, or Nickelodeon, among other Viacom properties, they'll be told: "Sorry, this content is unavailable for your device." GTVHub, for …

Sure to further transform the video streaming space, Netflix is introducing its streaming-only service to U.S. consumers. The thriving video rental business will now offer customers a plan that includes the ability to view movies through its streaming service for $7.99 a month. Netflix has also increased its streaming-plus-DVD-by-mail plans by $1 to $8 per month, depending on the option. "The company said that it decided to change its plans because 'most members want us to deliver unlimited TV episodes and movies two ways: streaming instantly over the Internet plus DVDs by mail,'" CNet reports. "By increasing …