Stories for May. 24, 2013
After finding users want more than just ed-tech content, Learnist plans for expansion
About a year after its launch, social learning site Learnist is looking to gain appeal among more non-education users and balance quality and quantity as its content grows. Read more »
Europe warms to OpenStack
It’s hard to precisely quantify adoption of open-source software, but it looks like OpenStack is gaining serious traction in Europe, with adopters ranging from CERN and Deutsche Telekom to France’s burgeoning national clouds. Read more »
The designer behind Google+ leaves Facebook for startup Intercom
photo: Om Malik
Rockstar designer Paul Adams has ditched Facebook for startup Intercom. Before Facebook, Adam’s design work was integral with Google+ and circles. He’s not the first designer to leave Facebook after a 2 year stint. Read more »
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Before you buy a $199 Nexus 7, check the $149 Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet
With no refresh of the $199 Nexus 7, the latest Android tablet from Hisense is worth a look. It has nearly all of the same hardware features as Google’s tablet, plus a few more, but costs $50 less. Read more »
Scanadu’s medical ‘tricorder’ sets record for fastest funding velocity on Indiegogo
Scanadu’s Scout ‘tricorder’ reached its fundraising goal in two hours and doubled it in five, making it the fastest campaign of its size to reach its goal on Indiegogo. Read more »
Behold: How Amazon wins the sales tax wars even when it loses
Amazon has maneuvered to avoid collecting state sales taxes, but that’s only part of the story: This week’s Fortune cover article reveals that even when things don’t go the retailer’s way, it’s been able to turn them to its advantage. Read more »
If Google isn’t trying to snatch Waze away from Facebook, it really should be
photo: Flickr / Dunechaser
Reports that Google has entered a bidding war with Facebook over the social-mapping service Waze may be just a gambit by the company to force a better deal, but there are compelling reasons why Google should make a bid. Read more »
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Must read
Changes ahead: more details on how iOS 7 will look
Apple is said to be planning new looks for basic iOS apps that are mostly black and white and uniform in look. Functions like slide-to-unlock will also get a facelift. Read more »
Why you should do your own mobile app store research before buying a phone
Canalys reports the mobile app gap is still big when it comes to Windows Phone and BlackBerry offering the top titles. But a closer look at the stores shows some skewed results. Ultimately, only you can determine the best app store for your needs. Read more »
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SAP cloud chief Lars Dalgaard steps down as company consolidates development
Dalgaard is off to become an investor, although he will remain a cloud advisor to SAP. Meanwhile, the company is consolidating its cloud development processes, with a view to eventually streamlining its portfolio. Read more »
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Don’t forget these apps when packing for your Disney trip
Know before you go: the best iOS apps for planning for, getting around and navigating the lines at Disney World. Read more »
The GigaOM Show: Yahoo’s big moves, Xbox’s big One, HTC’s big problem
We break down the big Yahoo news, wonder if the new Xbox will break our furniture and discuss whether HTC is broken beyond repair. Read more »
Stories for May. 23, 2013
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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 »
Must read
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 »
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 »
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 »
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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Must read
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 »
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 »
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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 »
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 »
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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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
