The Big Two

I hate going to the doctor and think what Google is rolling out is awesome. Have you WebMd‘d symptoms before? Then this will get you excited as well. Google is currently testing live video chats with doctors via medical search results. It’s a great user experience when Google pushes the exact information you are looking for (Washington weather, Nationals score, etc.) and this addition will take out the process of weeding through many sites and making a self-diagnosis. This is a step further into the healthcare field for Google and may spell trouble for sites like WebMd which rely on traffic and advertisements for revenue. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them scoop up some of the upstarts doing live video with doctors in the near future as well. This is a win for patients and when considering that Google is often the first place people turn for medical advice, they have a commanding lead to push the service on a mass scale.

Making Moves

Urgent.ly finalized a $1.2M raise led by Select Venture Partners with participation from locals CIT Gap and Blu Ventures. Urgent.ly is tackling the dated and inefficient roadside assistance industry traditionally dominated by AAA. Their product is better for consumers and better for the service providers. They’ve got a veteran team led by Chris Spanos and Ric Fleisher and are quickly growing the reach in the D.C. area and will use the funds to expand to multiple new markets by the end of the year.

HBO has killer content that people have and will continue to pay for. Now you’ll be able to do so without a cable subscription. As Time Warner works to remake itself, the company announced today that subsidiary HBO will launch a stand-alone streaming service in 2015, allowing consumers to purchase online subscriptions much like Netflix or Hulu. Bold move from a traditional company but smart, as a la carte programming is gaining more steam. And folks in Brooklyn are pumped that they won’t have to borrow their parent’s password to watch Girls anymore.

Community

Tonight at Disruption Corp. is Bisnow’s event celebrating women in tech. Great to celebrate the women that are doing big things locally as entrepreneurs, investors and community leaders. It’s an excellent group, hope to see you there.

What I’m Reading