This past April, theTechStarsaccelerator unleashed11 startupsinto New York City. One of those startups isThinkNear, a New York City and Los Angeles based company whose API is much smarter than your average geolocation/daily deals mashup service. Do you have an e-coupon in your morning inbox? Okay. How about a deal in your mobile pocket for a coffee shop that you happen to be walking by at that moment? Awesome. In contrast to the competition, ThinkNear is a B2B service that uses smart data to help local merchants drive foot traffic to their stores during slow periods so it’s a win-win for consumers and merchants....

The Next Web is atThe Inspire Conferencethis week and first up to speak today wasAlexander Ljung, co-founder ofSoundCloud. You’ve probably heard ofSoundCloudbefore. But for the benefit of those who have been hiding under a rock for the past few years (or for those whose audio consumption is limited to iTunes and their radio alarm clock), here’s a quick potted history. SoundCloud was founded in August 2007 by Alexander Ljung (CEO) and Eric Wahlforss (CTO)....

Brian Solis is in his car, driving towards San Francisco forAd:Tech. I imagine he’s in a red convertible Prius (that he brought back from the future) with his hair slicked back, driving up the PCH. He laughs, and tells me I can keep that image if I’d like. Tomorrow, Solis will officially announce the re-release of his book Engage! which was first released in March 2010 and features an introduction by Ashton Kutcher....

AtThe Next Web Conferencein Amsterdam, one startup took the stage with the aim to save the world.Charity Engineis the “world wide computer” to get volunteers to give up a tiny bit of spare computer time on their supercharged PCs to the benefit of a whole bunch of really cool charities including Care International and Amnesty International. The Charity Engine goes live on July 31st, 2010. On that day you can sign up on the site, download the screensaver and from then on, when your computer is idle it will be doing work for the Charity Engine the same way your Playstation 3 is doing work for SETI....

Clique, is a new New York City based startup stirring up the online dating space. The premise is simple: Clique connects friends of friends—It’s how you meet people at a party, brought online. Clique users can’t connect with anyone who is more than two degrees away from a friend, so every date is vetted by someone he or she knows. There’s huge value in having a closed community of eligible singles at your finger tips....