Amid news that Apple Music is getting a makeover come this summer, Apple today launched a new plan to boost subscribers to its streaming music service and competitor to Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal and others. It’s introducing an Apple Music student plan which will discount the service by 50 percent for those who are enrolled in an eligible college or university. That means in the U.S.,… Read More
It takes some serious engineering magic to build low-latency group mobile video chat and simultaneous content viewing. That’s why Sean Parker’s recently relaunched video chat room app Airtime acquired vLine, which offered video chat infrastructure to SaaS companies. Founded in 2010, vLine was backed with $1.5 million from Kleiner Perkins and Harrison Metal. vLine’s team will… Read More
You may remember Launcher as the once-banned iOS widget which Apple booted from the App Store after its approval, then months later allowed back in. The problem Apple had with the app, seemingly, is that its sole existence was to be a widget provider – the app by itself didn’t offer any standalone functionality beyond widget configuration. Today, Launcher is out with its first… Read More
Quizlet, the makers of popular web and mobile study tools, hired a new CEO, Matt Glotzbach, former Vice President of Product Management at YouTube. Glotzbach led the creation of YouTube’s music subscription service, and fan-funding business platforms. But Quizlet will not be his first education-focused initiative. A 12-year Google veteran, he was part of the founding team of Google apps… Read More
Netflix announced this morning a new way for consumers to control how much data its app uses when they’re accessing the service by way of a mobile device. In the updated version of the iOS or Android application, there will be a new setting called “Cellular Data Usage,” where you’ll be able to switch off the automatic, default setting then choose either a higher or… Read More
Drawbridge, a startup that helps businesses identify when a single person is using multiple devices, has raised $25 million in Series C funding. Every time I write about Drawbridge, I’m contractually obligated to mention that the company is backed by two of the best-known venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. For this round, Drawbridge back… Read More
Apple’s App Store search is experiencing significant issues this morning, which, if allowed to continue for a longer period of time, could end up impacting app developers’ sales. The problem is that keyword searches on the App Store are simply not returning the appropriate list of apps, and aren’t even able to pull up many apps by name. This is true even for major brands,… Read More
Fitbit is not having a good day, with the stock crashing more than 11 percent after reporting its first-quarter results. Here’s the rub: its guidance for the second quarter came in light. Very light. Industry watchers were expecting the company to report earnings around 26 cents per share, while the company put its outlook at earnings between 8 cents per share and 11 cents per share. Read More
Tesla says it is expecting to hit its goal of producing 500,000 cars annually — including the Model S, Model X and Model 3 — two years earlier than expected, meeting that expectation by 2018. All this is coming ahead of a critical next year for Tesla with the expansion of its line of vehicles with the Model 3 and updates to its Model S. Tesla also said it is re-affirming its plan… Read More
Sometimes you see an application of technology that’s so innovative and helpful that you can’t believe it exists in this age of narcissistic and short-sighted startups. Spirocall, a service that lets anyone in the world call a toll-free number and have their lung health evaluated over the phone, seems too good to be real — but it’s real, and it’s good. Read More
With the rise and rise of messaging (I have at least six messaging apps on my phone and counting), tech companies are piling into the space. Many are trying to shoe-horn ‘chat bots’ into behaving like they are capable of customer service. Facebook Messenger, Kik, Twitter, Skype, Telegram, and WhatsApp have all announced such services. But as others have pointed out, we are nowhere… Read More
Charge is a new mobile internet provider who aims squarely at the generation of people who prefer to tap on their mobile devices rather than talk into them. Next week, the company is launching a $10 per month SMS-and-data plan, and a $20 per month plan that adds unlimited voice, too. Perfect for the data-first generation of cellphone users. Read More
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