Stories for May. 23, 2013
Dodgy data: the iceberg to science’s Titanic
photo: Ri han/Shutterstock
There’s an epidemic going on in science: experiments that no one can reproduce, studies that have to be retracted, and the emergence of a lurking data reliability iceberg. Read more »
BYOD is for amateurs. Try bring-your-own-laboratory
University of Illinois researchers have created an app and a sensor-filled cradle that turn an iPhone into a mobile spectrophotometer. The combination of that mobile lab data and metadata such as location might prove very valuable. Read more »
Adios, Dora: Netflix is starting to take Viacom shows offline
Dora, Diego, Spongebob, Blue’s Clues and a number of other kids TV shows were taken offline by Netflix this week as the company’s deal with Viacom is expiring. Read more at paidContent »
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Facebook sheds some light on what it can get out of Parse
photo: Ilya Sukhar
Facebook executives on Thursday talked about how its acquisition of Parse’s Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS) can help developers, Facebook users and, of course, Facebook. Read more »
Apple ebook antitrust trial set for 9-12 days in early June
photo: Rubberball / Corbis
Apple and the federal government met on Thursday for a final hearing before their trial, which is set to begin on June 3, and features several high profile witnesses. Read more at paidContent »
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Superman wears Warby Parker
Movie merchandising is nothing new. What’s new is that Warby Parker, an online brand (going offline) is partnering up with the Man of Steel movie on eyewear that is inspired by Clark Kent nee Superman. Read more »
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Tesla CEO: With loan repayment, U.S. taxpayers made $20M profit off us
Tesla has now paid off its loan to the U.S. government entirely, plus interest, meaning U.S. taxpayers actually made a $20 million profit. Read more »
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Tippy top stars of Techstars Demo Day (Boston Edition)
Red Sox star David Ortiz stole the show at Techstars Boston Demo Day, but here are a few other highlights. Read more »
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Big data at work: 12 stories about reinvention
photo: Thinkstock Images
Big data is cool and all, but is it really changing the way companies function? Yes. Here are 10 stories that show that transformation. Read more »
Clay Christensen takes closer look at how online learning will disrupt K-12 education
A new study from disruptive economics guru Clayton Christensen’s think tank gives more clarity into how online learning could shape the future of education. Read more »
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Smule users record one billion songs, generate $12.6 M in revenue in 2012
iOS app maker Smule has been autotuning and auto-rapping the music app genre all the way to a sweet $12.6 milion in revenue. Read more »
Box acquires Folders technology to enrich iOS offering
photo: Folders screen shot
Box recognizes that user experience is important, particularly on mobile devices. The company said Thursday it has acquired technology from the Folders iPhone app, which lets users open many kinds of files. Read more »
Galaxy S 4 picks up steam: 10M sold in first month, now available on Verizon
Samsung keeps selling each successive Galaxy S smartphone faster than the prior model, leaving little room for any other Android smartphone maker to grab a piece of the profit pie. Should we all just get used to TouchWiz? Read more »
Following Behance buy, Adobe acquires mobile app design firm Thumb Labs
Adobe has acquired another design tool, following its Behance buy — the Brookyln based mobile app design shop Thumb Labs. Read more »
Apple, in political crosshairs, is on pace to boost lobbying
Having a larger presence in the nation’s capital and making friends with the policymakers that can wield great power over its reputation and fortunes may just be something Apple has to do. Read more »
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Nokia Siemens invites Intel into the guts of the mobile network
Intel is supplying the processing might for NSN’s new Liquid Apps architecture. The technology could greatly improve the flow of traffic over the mobile internet, but it might also unfairly favor some content over others. Read more »
Future-proofing business continuity and disaster recovery
This GigaOM Research webinar will examine the ways in which IT can negotiate on-premise and cloud-based technologies to produce the most resilient, responsive BC/DR system for their budget. Join us on June 6 at 10:00 a.m. PT. Read more »
Twitter unveils new multi-screen deals with “Twitter Amplify”
Twitter is rapidly expanding its “multi-screen” ad offerings through a range of new partnerships with sports, news and other media companies. Read more »
Taskrabbit looks for more revenue with plans to shake up the temp industry
You can still hire a TaskRabbit to pick up your groceries or walk your dog, but now businesses will able to hire temps through TaskRabbit’s new platform as well. Read more »
Amazon: victim or aggressor? Issue will frame Apple ebook trial
photo: Getty Images / Spencer Platt
Apple and the federal government are about to go to trial over an alleged conspiracy to fix ebook prices — but recent court filings show that Amazon will play a large role in determining the outcome. Read more at paidContent »
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Sorry UK, Facebook won’t be sharing the HTC First with you after all
The HTC First with Facebook Home pre-installed was set to launch in the U.K. next month but that’s not going to happen. EE says Facebook has decided to cancel the launch and focus on the Facebook Home software. Read more »
Google cuts prices on week-old datastore
Don’t like the cost of your cloud datastore? Wait a second, it’ll probably go down. Watch for rivals to jump in. Read more »
Amazon pushes forward with Kindle Fire HD’s international expansion
photo: Amazon
Amazon is making its Kindle Fire HD tablets broadly available internationally, with preorders shipping in June. The tablets were already available in Europe and Japan. Read more »
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Joyent to Amazon: It’s on
Joyent isn’t being coy about it: It wants to compete head on with Amazon and that means it will offer many more options including some, it says, are cheaper than analogous AWS services. Read more »
Sponsored post: Determining the root cause of a data breach using “the 5 Whys”
Developed for manufacturing, the 5 Whys technique can be applied to many situations in IT. In this post, we use it to identify the root problem underlying a data breach: nonexistent entitlement procedures. There is a solution. Varonis DatAdvantage and DataPrivilege automate permissions audits and entitlement reviews. Read more »
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ConteXtream claims mystery carrier has deployed its SDN technology to 40M customers
photo: ConteXtream
Software-defined networking vendor ConteXtream says a wireless service provider has deployed software to virtualize a network that supports around 40 million customers. Read more »
Mailbox launches iPad app and says Android is in the works
Looking to make the most of your love for Mailbox, the hip new email app? Now that the startup has joined up with Dropbox, it’s launching an iPad app this week. Read more »
WibiData gets $15M to help it become the Hadoop application company
photo: Christophe Bisciglia (left) and Aaron Kimball (right)
Startup WibiData has raised another $15 million and wants to turn the lessons it has learned in the field into generic software that can let anyone build predictive applications on Hadoop. Read more »
Podcast: How to design a connected device that isn’t a jerk, plus IoT’s recipe for success
Life now. Data later. In this week’s podcast guest Carla Diana, a product designer, discusses this mantra and other attributes designers should consider when developing connected products. Read more »
Shazam’s new iPad app automatically tags every song you ever listen to
Shazam wants you to turn your iPad into an automated logging device for any type of media playing within reach. Read more »
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Europe wants to be big in chip manufacturing
A new industrial strategy for the continent aims to unlock €100 billion in private-sector funding through the use of targeted public-sector funding for R&D in the fields of nanoelectronics and microelectronics. Read more »
Stories for May. 22, 2013
6 things every CIO should know (or at least think about)
CIOs may be the kings of the IT heap within their companies but they are also under siege — new technologies from outside, recalcitrant CEOs, budget-stealing CMOS. Some things to ponder. Read more »
Ericsson, Nokia Siemens lay the groundwork for HetNet with new Wi-Fi technology
The heterogenous network will eventually allow our devices to connect to Wi-Fi and cellular networks simultaneously, but first those networks need to coordinate with one another. Read more »
If Fisker goes for $20M, that’s an over 99 percent discount from its peak valuation
Is $20 million the final valuation of electric car maker Fisker Automotive? Yikes, that’s what a group is reportedly bidding on Fisker for, and which would be less than 1% of its original valuation. Read more »
Google plans to bring its own voice search to the iPhone and iPad
Voice search will be available as part of an update to Chrome for iOS “in the coming days,” Google announced Wednesday. It’s yet another part of Google’s broader effort to create a layer on top of its chief competitor’s mobile OS. Read more »
Survey: Share your thoughts on Microsoft’s Xbox One
The web is abuzz with talk of Microsoft’s Xbox One, which was announced on Tuesday. Here’s a chance for GigaOM readers to share their own thoughts by taking our survey. Read more »
Twitter does the two-step, gets serious on security with new authentication feature
photo: alexmillos/Shutterstock.com
Twitter has finally joined other leading tech companies in offering two factor authentication. The move comes after high profile hacking incidents at the AP and other news outlets. Read more »
Jennifer Lopez gets into the mobile dealer biz, founding Viva Movil
photo: Viva Movil
Viva Movil launching a line of mobile device stores targeted at Latinos and has tapped Verizon Wireless to be its exclusive partner. The phones and service will be Verizon, but the marketing will be all J-Lo. Read more »
Must read
How Google plans to rule the computing world through Chrome
Are you ready for Google to take over the desktop? You’d better be if you use Chrome. With it, Google is making a play to rule the computing world as a back door to a new app economy. Read more »
Google X is acquiring high altitude wind startup Makani Power
Google’s moonshot lab Google X is buying up Makani Power, a startup that makes a kite-like wind power device. It’s probably the best place for the long shot, big idea that is high altitude wind. Read more »
