When Finland’s Jongla re-booted to offer a multi platform mobile messaging app for modern-day smartphones, I questioned how it was going to distinguish itself in such a crowded market. In part, the plan was to focus on a very youth-oriented positioning of its app, with an emphasis on cartoon-y virtual stickers from the get-go. Another was to go far and wide in terms of device support,… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Who has already sent an accidental selfie in iOS 8’s Messages app? I did. Not great. I’m late to the game when it comes to iOS 8. Many of my fellow tech journalists weaseled their way onto the beta version of the operating system, but out of laziness, or perhaps a feigned belief that I can stay away from punditry of any kind, I normally wait to get the new version of… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Lootsie, a startup that allows advertisers to present mobile app users with special rewards, announced today that it has hired its first chief operating officer, Steve Cho. Cho previously worked in sales at IBM, and he was most recently vice president of business development at Kiip — which is pretty much in the same business as Lootsie. He said it was “a difficult decision”… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Aviary just announced that it has been acquired by Adobe. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Aviary offers a software development kit to developers who want to add photo-editing capabilities to their apps. (Aviary has also created apps of its own, which it says have been downloaded 100 million times, as well as options for advertisers to turn filters and stickers into ads.) At… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Apple will discontinue the streaming music service Beats Music it acquired in May, according to five sources, including several prominent employees at Apple and Beats. Many engineers from Beats Music have already been moved off the product and onto other projects at Apple, including iTunes. It’s not clear when exactly Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre’s music service will be shut down or… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Tiggly, an educational app designed for iPad’s youngest users – babies! (oh, and toddlers, too) – has raised a Series A round of funding led by Habermaass GmbH, a Germany-based early play and learning company, and owners of the toy brand HABA, which is now entering the U.S. edtech market. Though the startup won’t disclose the size of the round, it had previously raised… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
While the free section of Apple’s App Store can sometimes make it seem like we’re living in an Idiocracy, some weird stuff occasionally finds a way to take off on the paid charts as well. The latest such oddity is Goat Simulator, a game that gives you a small town to wreak havoc in as the titular farm animal. Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
A new iOS application called Launcher is taking advantage of iOS 8’s expanded feature set in a unique way. With the updated version of Apple’s mobile operating system, developers can now create interactive widgets that sit in iOS 8’s Notifications Center. But currently, most apps that have rolled out widget support are offering support for their own applications alone. Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres today at Climate Week NYC to discuss Apple’s concerns when it comes to climate change, and what the company is doing to address the situation. Cook summed up his company’s efforts by saying that Apple needs to be “one of the pebbles in the pond that creates… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Remember that upcoming Windows 9 event that Microsoft is hosting on September 30? It might not mark the actual release of Windows 9’s technical preview, as was long expected. According to Paul Thurrott, that bit of code might not become available until October.