Digital magazine company Issuu is now a collaboration platform, too

 Digital media company Issuu has been trying to offer a better way to present content online. Now it’s a promising a better way for teams to work together on creating that content too, with the launch of a new product called Collaborate. Issuu, for those of you who don’t know, allows publishers to create digital publications. They may resemble glossy magazines, except freed from… Read More

Kentucky Derby attendees can now order food, place bets from their seats

 Getting around, drinking and dining at the Kentucky Derby this year should prove a lot easier for fans and employees. According to Churchill Downs’ General Manager Ryan Jordan, the famed horse racing venue on Friday launched a Churchill Downs Racetrack app, powered by VenueNext, to give attendees a better experience on-site. The new app, available for iOS and Android devices, will let… Read More

Samsung’s VR bedtime stories are cute, but really?

 Samsung worries about your child. Are they sleeping well? Do they miss you when you’re away on business? Can they put on a VR headset without their parents’ help? That last one is pretty important. Because Samsung wants your kids to experience the joy of VR just before bed instead of a regular bedtime story even though why would you do that. Read More

Fullscreen’s new streaming service aims to be the MTV for the YouTube generation

 It’s not exactly a Netflix or YouTube rival, but AT&T-backed Fullscreen is hoping to carve out its own niche in the now-crowded subscription video market with its new service, launched this week. The $5 per month offering includes a mix of shorter, original content alongside full-length Hollywood movies and TV shows, like “Hitch,” “Dawson’s Creek,”… Read More

CloudMagic can now tell you everything about the person who just emailed you

 CloudMagic, an email application that today has grown to 3 million users, has just added a useful feature that can aid those who receive a lot of inbound email from unknown persons: Sender Profile. Similar to services like LinkedIn’s Rapportive or newly launched Connect from Clearbit for desktop email, Sender Profile lets you quickly view a summary of information about the person who… Read More

No, Google did not try to buy us, says Telegram founder

 Reports in the Russian press that Google tried to acquire the Telegram messaging app last year for $1 billion have been firmly rebutted by Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The rumors had been widely reported in the tech press today. Read More

Epic Foundation’s new app helps donors understand where their money is going

 Epic Foundation is a nonprofit aiming to improve charitable giving — an approach that encompasses the way people select, monitor and “experience” their donations. Founded by serial entrepreneur Alexandre Mars (among other roles, he was CEO at Phonevalley, a mobile marketing agency acquired by Publicis Groupe, where Mars became head of mobile), Epic is trying to bring a more… Read More

Waze downplays exploit that let researchers track users

 Waze has responded to security concerns raised yesterday in a Fusion report documenting an exploit found by UC Santa Barbara researchers. In short: it’s legit, but not as dire as it’s made out to be. The exploit leverages the Waze feature that shows you nearby users, showing that the data you’re seeing is live and giving you options should you need help. The researchers… Read More

Video consumption on Snapchat more than doubled in under a year

 Snapchat may have started out as the ephemeral messaging and photo-sharing app, but a majority of users now consume video there too, according to a report from Bloomberg today. Daily video views on Snapchat have spiked to 10 billion, the report said. That’s up from 8 billion video views on Snapchat in February this year, 6 billion daily video views in November 2015, and 4 billion in… Read More

Researchers propose theory on why touchscreen controls in mobile games are the worst

 I know we’re supposed to be all done talking about Flappy Bird, but I think it’s justified to bring it up when it appears in a research paper about why games like Flappy Bird are so hard — and so frustrating. Turns out the controls are fundamentally bad. Read More

GameTime now lets users “snap and sell” printed tickets

 Mobile ticket sellers GameTime added a new feature to their app this week that could draw more supply of concert and sports tickets to their marketplace. Designed to make it easier for users to sell old-school printed tickets via mobile, the “snap and sell” feature in GameTime feels something like check scanning in mobile banking apps. A user who clicks the “sell”… Read More

Amazon shares are spiking after posting a huge earnings beat

 Amazon posted its first-quarter earnings today, and boy did they not disappoint: it beat what analysts were expecting on nearly all fronts, and the stock is up more than 12% after its huge beat. Here’s the scorecard: The company reported earnings of $1.07 per share, ahead of 58 cents per share that were expected. The company posted a net loss of 12 cents per share in Q1 2015. Revenue… Read More

The MacBook Returns

 For many, the Steve Jobs manila envelope trick was enough. Sure, it seems a bit silly with the benefit of nearly a decade’s worth of hindsight, but when Apple’s late CEO unwrapped the standard bit of office stationary to reveal what he’d enthusiastically declared “the world’s thinnest laptop” onstage at Macworld back in 2008, the crowd, predictably, went… Read More