Suddenly, it's all about local -- news about your city, deals from your area and the best vacations from your airport.
TechCrunch reports that Rob Solomon, the former president and CEO of SideStep before Kayak bought it, will become president of Groupon, which offers deals of the day from your local area.
Solomon also is a partner in Technology Crossover Ventures -- which made investments in CheapTickets, ebookers, Expedia.com, GTA, HomeAway, NexTag, Orbitz and Travelport -- and he is a HomeAway board member.
Today's Groupon deal of the day in Boston was for an introductory helicopter-flying lesson and the offer was creating a lot of aerodynamic lift.
But, Groupon does its share of travel or destination-related deals, too.
Here's a recent deal for a "90-Minute High-Speed Boat Tour of the Boston Harbor."
And, here's a hotel deal from Groupon at Omni Resorts in Mount Washington, N.H.
Meanwhile, AOL, which was spun off from Time Warner Nov. 27, 2009, is "pursuing local opportunities," according to its 10-K SEC filing.
"We believe that there are significant opportunities for growth in the area of local content, platforms and services, by providing comprehensive content covering all geographic areas from local neighborhoods to major metropolitan areas," AOL states. "By enhancing these local offerings we seek to provide consumers with a comprehensive local experience."
The Wall Street Journal reports this week that AOL has allocated $10 million to an internal venture capital fund to seed start-ups with a local focus.
AOL has long had local entertainment guide's such as City's Best, but acquired local news and directory site Patch.com for $7 million in cash in June 2009 in the belief that AOL can make headway with its media business -- especially given the struggle of local print publications -- if it focuses on small communities outside of major metropolitan areas.
AOL states: "For small communities, local newspapers associated with nearby metropolitan regions have been a central resource for news and events. We believe these local print publications are currently facing significant economic challenges. In order to take advantage of these dynamics we intend to significantly invest in this area and establish online destinations that provide comprehensive news, events and directories at the community level."
AOL is in the process of rolling out additional Patch websites in small communities.
They are basically news websites, but they have travel and transportation directories which might be bolstered.
Interestingly, Travelocity still powers part of AOL Travel, but the word "travel" does not appear in AOL's annual report.
In another manifestation of "local's" cachet, BookIt.com, too, is trying to make its name locally, using its FROM technology to offer consumers the best vacations from their local airports.