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  September 9, 2009

  Yowza!! Another Side to Greg Grunberg

  By Amy Sommer, ULM

  You don't need Matt Parkman's hearing prowess to suss out bargains. Thanks to Greg Grunberg, the actor who plays "Parkman"on the NBC hit Heroes, who has co-created Yowza!!, an iPhone application, "app", for bargain hunters.

  Yowza!! is a free app which delivers coupons right to your phone. Open the coupon and let the cashier scan the bar code on your screen and voila -- a bargain. The app was launched on July 1 and so far has dozens of participating local and chain stores, with more signing up daily.

  "I am a technology whore. I just love it. I gravitate toward anything that is new and different and can make your life easier," Grunberg said as he charmingly introduced himself. Having followed Macintosh and their innovative products since their 1984 start, Grunberg's mind started spinning as soon as he saw the iPhone, "I thought this [the location based technology] is incredible," said Grunberg. Thanks to Twitter, another one of Grunberg's passions, his spinning mind spurned a very useful product.

  Rick Yaeger contacted Grunberg via a direct message on Twitter about an idea to make charitable giving easier to facilitate. (Grunberg heads up Talk about It.org whose goal is to raise awareness about epilepsy.) Grunberg agreed to an iChat, pleasantly surprised that Yaeger and his partner, August Trometer, wanted nothing from Grunberg the celebrity; they just wanted to help Grunberg the philanthropist.

  "These two are great guys. In the first 15 minutes of meeting them I told them about my coupon idea. It almost looked like the broadband had frozen," says Grunberg, describing Yaeger and Trometer's reaction to his idea. "Immediately Rick and August go to all of the information that can be gathered and see how easy it is for merchants big and small to use such a service." Nine months -- and countless iChats between the three -- later, Yowza!! was born.

  Grunberg's excitement is palpable -- and accurate. There are discounts available at REI, free travel sizes at Kiehls, lunch specials at Jerry's Deli, as well as coupons from "Mom and Pop" stores throughout Southern California.

  "Yowza!! It's always there when you need it. Yowza!! It's the app that pays you back," spouts Grunberg with an obvious smile in his voice.

  The catch phrases keep coming from Grunberg -- and hopefully so will the great ideas and performances.

  Source: University Link magazine

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