Netflix-Style Magazine App Next Issue Relaunches As Texture

 Next Issue, the publisher-backed subscription service offering unlimited access to 160 magazines, is launching a revamped app with new features and a new name — Texture. A joint venture from publishers Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc., Next Issue launched more than three years ago. It raised $50 million from KKR at the end of 2014, and CEO John Loughlin said… Read More

Twitter Will Reportedly Name Jack Dorsey As CEO, Bringing Back The Founder’s Instincts

 The decisive leadership of a founder could be what’s necessary to bring Twitter’s value to the masses. And apparently that’s what it’s going to get, as Re/Code reports Twitter has made the decision to bring its co-founder and Square chief Jack Dorsey back as CEO. He’d been serving as Twitter’s interim CEO for four months since Dick Costolo chose to step… Read More

Diary Of A Cord Cutter In 2015 (Part 12: Hands On With Comcast’s YouTube Wannabe, Watchable)

 As an increasing number of cable and satellite TV subscribers are cutting the cord – or never signing up for television in the first place – the traditional pay TV industry is scrambling to figure out how to compete in this new age of over-the-top services, on-demand streaming, and viewing that takes place on a variety of platforms beyond the living room’s big screen.… Read More

Google Acquires Jibe Mobile To Help Adopt New Standard For Carrier Messaging

 Today, Google announced that it will be adopting a new standard for carrier messaging called Rich Communications Services (RCS), thus moving on from SMS. The company also announced the acquisition of Jibe Mobile to help bring RCS to its Android products. Here’s what Mike Dodd, Android RCS Software Engineer and Minister of Messaging had to say (and how cool is his title?): Mobile… Read More

Social News Aggregator Nuzzel Enlists Investors From The Media Industry

 Nuzzel, the social news startup led by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, is announcing a bunch of new investors today — including Matter, the Knight Foundation-backed incubator for media startups. Abrams didn’t say how much additional cash he’s raised, but he described the new funding as “relatively small in size compared to some of our tech-industry… Read More

Amazon Introduces Merch By Amazon, A Way For Game Developers – Or Anyone – To Sell Print-On-Demand Tees

 In a clever move that combines Amazon’s prowess as a large online retailer and advertising platform with its footprint in the mobile gaming market, the company today introduced a new service called Merch by Amazon aimed at helping app developers – or any other content creators – increase their revenue by selling branded t-shirts to their customers. Developers and others can… Read More

Mobile Savings App Ibotta Scores $40 Million

 Mobile shopping app Ibotta, which got its start as an alternative means of saving money while grocery shopping without having to clip coupons, has now closed on $40 million in Series C funding to continue to scale its business. A testament to building something practical and useful for the everyday consumer, Ibotta has seen over 10 million downloads to date and a user base that has saved a… Read More

Hands-On With Google’s New Nexus 5X And 6P Phones

Google unveiled two new Nexus phones, an updated version of its Chromecast dongle and an audio-only version of the Chromecast at a press event in San Francisco today. This was Google’s largest dedicated hardware event to date, and we spent some quality time with all of the new devices. Read More

Why Snapchat’s Only Non-Ephemeral Content, The Profile GIF, Is A Big Deal

 Not everything on Snapchat disappears. As much as the app wants memories to span just 10 seconds and live for just 24 hours, one piece of content doesn’t self destruct. The profile GIF. And through its permanence, Snapchat has found a way solve a major problem with its identity system and social graph. Snapchat quietly added the profile GIFs in July alongside the flashier shift from… Read More

Google Maps Comes To Apple Watch

 At Google’s press event today, the company announced a number of new products and updates, including two new Nexus smartphones, two Chromecast devices, a new Android tablet and more, but one thing it kept under wraps was news of a notable new application arriving on the iOS platform: Google Maps now works on Apple Watch. Through an update to the Google Maps iOS app on the iTunes App… Read More

Everything You Need To Know About Google’s Nexus And Chromecast Event

 Today, Google held a massive event to announce a few new products. In particular, the company two new flagship Nexus phones — the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. But that’s not all, Google also unveiled not one but two new Chromecast devices and a mysterious Pixel C Android tablet. Here’s everything you need to know about these devices… Read More

Google Introduces Google Play Music Family Plan, $14.99 For Up To 6 People

 Google is expanding its Google Play Music service with a new family plan. The company announced at its big event that families will be able to subscribe to Google Play Music for $14.99. For this price, you get 6 different profiles so that you can get music recommendations that work for your tastes. These plans will be available “later this year.” Read More

Urban Airship Goes Beyond Push Notifications, Announces New Data Streaming Service For Marketers And Data Teams

 Portland’s Urban Airship is probably best known as a push notifications service, but it definitely has designs to go beyond this. Today, the company is launching Urban Airship Connect, a service that helps marketers and data teams ingest data from mobile apps and stream those signals to other business systems. Read More