Skillz wins two new patents, is now helping brands sponsor e-sports tournaments

 Game tech startup Skillz today launched a service that allows brands to easily sponsor and host mobile e-sports tournaments for any game titles that they like, as long as they are already part of the Skillz platform. As we’ve previously reported, Skillz enables developers to turn mobile games into tournament-playable titles, without writing a ton of new code. Its technology operates as… Read More

Dusk’s new app lets you live stream anonymously

 Online anonymity can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can give people a voice when they’d otherwise be afraid to speak up – whether that’s because of fear of government surveillance, discussing a topic that’s known to provoke cyberbullying, or because the topic itself is sensitive – like a personal confession or health issue. But anonymity also… Read More

Hardbound’s app uses visual stories to catch you up on the day’s news and more

 Instead of killing time on your phone playing games or browsing Facebook, the recently launched application Hardbound aims to help you fill your spare minutes by learning something new instead. The months-old app introduces its own visual and interactive format for mobile storytelling, allowing you to tap through interesting mini-stories covering science, history, technology, business and… Read More

Oura Ring raises €5 million to take its smart jewelry mainstream

 A Finnish startup called Ōura Ring has closed a series A round of €5 million to ramp up production of its smart, health-monitoring jewelry. Oura Ring’s Series A backers included MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito, Jaan Tallinn who was Skype’s founding engineer and a cofounder of Kazaa and the Future of Life Institute, along with other finance professionals and tech entrepreneurs… Read More

Facebook Messenger launches Instant Games

 Bored while you wait for friends to text back? Now you can challenge friends for high scores on Facebook Messenger’s new Instant Games, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Words With Friends Frenzy. Available right from your message threads, they load in seconds since they’re built on the HTML5 mobile web standard, rather than having to be downloaded like clunky native apps.… Read More

Yahoo brings its Q&A site to mobile via a new app, Yahoo Answers Now

 Yahoo has quietly launched a native mobile app for Yahoo Answers, one of the web’s largest Q&A sites which attracts over 3.1 million U.S. monthly visitors. The app, which was previously being tested under a different name, Yahoo Hive, was rebranded to Yahoo Answers Now at the beginning of the month. Like the web version, Yahoo Answers Now lets you view, ask, answer and track… Read More

Post-App Store developer platform Blackstorm’s first showcase instant games launch on Facebook

 In Ernestine Fu’s future, you shouldn’t have to wait more than a few seconds to launch a game or an app to connect with a friend. In fact, a few seconds might even be too long. That’s what prompted the birth of Blackstorm, a development platform that has the tools to build high-fidelity applications — the same you might get from an app in the App Store — in HTML5… Read More

How a former model decided to launch an app to tackle Mental Health

 Mental health is one of the buzzwords of the moment, especially now Royalty like Prince William and Duchess Katherine have been championing it, along with Kid Cudi, Cara Delevingne and others saying that they would be open to sending their children to counselling. One in five people have suffered from depression, one in two will suffer of some other mental disturbance in their lifetimes. If… Read More

Canary’s smart security camera now works with Apple TV

 Security camera company Canary has today addressed one of the few complaints customers had with its product: there wasn’t an easy way to watch your camera’s feed on your TV’s big screen. That has now changed with the launch of a new version of the Canary app, which adds support for Apple TV. This lets you view either the live stream from your camera on your television, as… Read More

Jolla’s Sailfish OS now certified as Russian government’s first ‘Android alternative’

 The future for one of the few remaining alternative mobile OS platforms, Jolla’s Sailfish OS, looks to be taking clearer shape. Today the Finnish company which develops and maintains the core code, with the aim of licensing it to others, announced Sailfish has achieved domestic certification in Russia for government and corporate use. Read More

Yeehaw launches 3D printer for kids on Indiegogo

 The Yeehaw is a 3D printer aimed at the kids market. The company’s Indiegogo campaign carries a $249 early-bird price tag and promises to ship the first 50 units in time for Christmas. There were a few things about the company’s campaign that gave me pause. The device was designed with safety in mind, with sensors shutting off the printer in case some little fingers get a little… Read More

Amazon expands its online gift shop “Interesting Finds,” adds human curation

Following its debut earlier this year, Amazon quietly launched a revamped and expanded version of Pinterest-like feature called “Interesting Finds,” which is also now available on mobile. Tucked away inside the “More from Amazon” section of its mobile app as well as on the web, the Interesting Finds section offers shoppers a curated feed of products across a number… Read More

Facetune 2 puts a powerful photo editor in your pocket

 The original Facetune app made it easy and fast to make your selfies look next-level awesome. Lightricks just released a fully revamped version 2 of Facetune, complete with automatic 3D meshing built in, which makes it possible to have another level of editing prowess at your fingertips. Read More