MyCheck, another startup that wants to make it easy to pay your restaurant bill using your mobile phone, has closed a $5 million Series B. However, perhaps more noteworthy is the company’s new backer: the Spanish bank Santander via its recently launched Santander Innoventures Fund. Read More
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The impact of mobile and social media on every aspect of our lives is nothing new, but certain events can really shine a light on how mobile has changed our way of conduct. The presidential elections do just that. During the 2012 elections, mobile was already at the center of everything, but the smartphone industry was relatively in its diapers and smartphone shipment has since grown by… Read More
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On this week’s episode, we discuss both a lengthy profile of Tim Cook, as well as a full biography of Steve Jobs. We also cover some concrete announcements, including the open-sourcing of React, Facebook’s (potentially better than UIKit) UIKit alternative, and the acquisition of database company FoundationDB by Apple, and what that might mean. But wait, that’s not all! We… Read More
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Tumblr today introduced a change to its service that will encourage users to purchase or fund products and campaigns on other websites, including Etsy’s online marketplace and Kickstarter, for example. With an update to its mobile application for iOS, posts that link to those sites as well as DoSomething.org will now automatically be given buttons that let others “Buy,” or… Read More
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It’s hard to believe, after how far the gay rights movement has come, that we’re still doing this. But here we are. Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed into law a bill that allows private businesses to discriminate against gay and lesbian consumers, according to CNN. The “Restoration of Religious Freedom Act” is meant to allow businesses and corporations to… Read More
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In early 2011, Skype bought a mobile video startup called Qik, which had developed an app that let mobile users record and stream videos in real-time which others could be alerted to and then view. If that description sounds similar to the newly hot live-streaming apps Meerkat and Periscope, it’s because the overall concept introduced then is not all that far off from what’s… Read More
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Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a new set of rules implementing Title IV of the JOBS Act. The release of these final rules further advances one of the core principles and goals of the 2012 law: to create an environment where emerging enterprises can raise public capital efficiently. Read More
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Innovid, a startup that helps advertisers create, target, and measure video ad campaigns, is announcing that it has raised $10 million in new funding. As part the round, the startup is bringing on Cisco Investments as a new investor. (Previous backers such as Genesis Partners, Sequoia Capital, and T-Venture also participated.) Innovid and Cisco were already working together on the technology… Read More
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The trend toward anonymous social applications may be on the downswing for some, but others believe there’s still a place for online discussions where users don’t have to reveal their real identity. Case in point: Cloaq, the anonymous app where users never had to provide an identifying piece of information, like a phone number or email, is today launching out of beta with a new twist. Read More
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A company can’t easily shore up its weaknesses, especially when it grows to the size of Facebook, but the social network has managed to slowly but surely reinvent itself on mobile in a way that makes sense and resonates with users. FB surely stumbled along the path, and some of its efforts even drew outright scorn, but presumably the ill-fated experiments informed recent successes, and… Read More
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