Reports came out on Monday that Twitter has acquired Bluefin Labs, a company that attempts to measure interaction around television and media on social media and provide feedback to businesses and marketers. Read more »
How can a design firm and a non-profit focusing on government transparency come together and make data look cool? The Sunlight Foundation and designers from IDEO teamed up to create Sitegeist, an app using location-based data to help you understand where you are. Read more »
The news had more than one report of Chinese hackers targeting United States media companies this week including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and according to a blog post from Twitter, it seems the social media company faced security threats as well. Read more »
Uber and Lyft made progress this week toward establishing the legality of next-generation taxis and ridesharing in California, overcoming some earlier hurdles with government regulation and potentially opening the door for other companies to enter the market. Read more »
Facebook announced Thursday that it’s launching a Facebook Gift Card, a plastic re-loadable card that will allow users to send credits to friends for stores like Target, Sephora, or Olive Garden. The move comes as Facebook look to build out its e-commerce on the site. Read more »
Dave McClure’s 500 Startups accelerator program will begin accepting applications for the spring class on Thursday, for the first time opening the entire application process to applicants via AngelList. The application process will stay open until March 1. Read more »
If there was any question about the direction of Facebook going forward, Wednesday’s Q4 earnings put that to rest — Facebook is trying to be a mobile company, and making good gains so far in getting there. Read more »
Facebook released its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating analyst estimates and making significant gains in mobile, which was an important metric for the company this quarter. Facebook saw mobile daily active users exceed web DAUs for the first time. Read more »
Twitter released some updates to how photos and videos are presented on the timeline Wednesday as it continues to focus on the role of media in the Twitter experience. Read more »
Which companies and sectors were the biggest winners in tech acquisitions for 2012? A new report from CB Insights breaks down where trends in M&A for 2012 among private tech companies acquired during the year. Read more »
Foursquare announced Tuesday the debut of a new app aimed specifically at small business owners who manage accounts for their businesses through the product. The Foursquare business app will allow users to update specials and information on the go. Read more »
When it comes to social video, plenty of people have tried to nail it, but no one’s really succeeded so far. Vine could come closest to making videos easy to upload and share, but will it be the answer to video’s obstacles? Read more »
Twitter has acquired Crashlytics, a company that works to improve mobile app performance and reduce bugs and crashes among other popular startups. The two companies announced Monday that the Cambridge-baseds startup will be joining up with Twitter. Read more »
App.net plans to launch a file storage API on Monday, allowing developers to build apps that use photos or files in their products, which are hosted by the users connected to their App.net accounts. Users will start with 10 GB of space to host information. Read more »
Twitter released the second half of its 2012 transparency report, detailing the kinds of information the government has requested from Twitter including information requests, removal request, and copyright notices. Read more »
It’s always a risk building on top of another technology platform, although building on Facebook’s API has obvious benefits when you’re starting out. But if you pick that route? Be sure to note how quickly the company is changing. Read more »
Facebook clarified its policy toward third-party apps using its platform on Friday, noting that apps using Facebook’s social graph and login need to either make it easy for users to post their activity on those apps back to Facebook, or not compete directly with Facebook. Read more »
No one wants to be an annoying Facebook couple posting incessantly on each others walls, but a few couples-only apps are coming onto the market with solutions. Avocado, launched by ex-Googlers, is looking to give couples their own space online. Read more »
Users of Twitter’s video-sharing app Vine will already find the deteriorating relationship between Twitter a Facebook a hindrance as they go to start using the product and have difficulty finding Facebook friends on the app through Vine. Read more »
Twitter debuted Vine on Thursday, a new video-sharing app that lets users share short, six-second clips of video in the iOS app. Read more »
A tweet from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Wednesday morning hinted that Twitter could be interested in moving toward a future in shareable video, possibly through Vine, the company Twitter acquired earlier this fall. So where is the company headed with video? Read more »
It was a confusing quarter to judge, but Google appears to have had a solid fourth-quarter when it comes to its bread-and-butter: search and internet advertising. Read more »
Do you ever wish you were just a number on a social network, and didn’t have to reveal your true identity to the people you chat with online? Meet Social Number, where all your social interactions can take place among numbers. Read more »
Some Twitter users are reporting issues getting access to the service, and the company wrote on its blog Monday that engineers are working on a fix. The outage comes on Inauguration Day, when millions of tweets about the inauguration are flowing through the site. Read more »
How does the tension between free and paid manifest itself in the technology world? Panelists at MIT’s Sloan School of Management conference on the Digital Economy explored the idea Friday in San Francisco. Read more »
How did venture capital stack up in 2012 compared to 2011? A new report taking a look at all VC investments for the past year breaks down some of the trends, noting overall decreases in funding but a few areas that did well. Read more »
Instagram joined the club of social media companies releasing monthly active user stats, a more helpful metric than general registered users. We broke down the metrics from some of the most popular services, taking a look at how long it’s taken each company to get there. Read more »
Instagram released monthly active user stats and growth rates for the first time Thursday, putting to rest some of the stories about a drop in user activity after privacy concerns at the end of last year. Read more »
Twitter added nine new companies to its Certified Products Program on Thursday, highlighting companies in the areas of marketing and analytics as companies it looks to partner with. Read more »
Trying to write something that people will remember? Maybe you should consider a short and sweet Facebook status update, rather than posting a photo or more formal text. A new study found that your status updates are more memorable than you might think. Read more »
Redpoint Ventures has raised a $400 million new fund to invest in early-stage startups, specifically in the areas of mobile and cloud technology, big data, entertainment technology and delivery, and mobile infrastructure companies. Read more »
Facebook debuted Graph Search in Menlo Park on Tuesday, rolling out its own personalized version of search that incorporates the photos and data uploaded by all its users on the site. Read more »
Emailing links of a product to your friends to see if they’re also interested in making a purchase? ThredUp, the company that allows consumers to buy and sell used children’s clothing, is going to allow them to make reservations for friends to capitalize on the referrals. Read more »
It’s easy to assume that 20-somethings aren’t that into traditional dating, but a variety of tech startups targeting mainly younger users have gained traction recently by quickly connecting people online and then letting them meet up and look for love offline. Read more »
Text-only SMS is looking pretty old-school with the rise of photo and messaging apps that are replacing the more traditional services. Apps like Snapchat or Facebook Messenger have gained a good deal of attention, but Digisocial’s attempt to combine photos and audio is worth a look. Read more »
LinkedIn noted Wednesday that it’s hit 200 million members, a number to note as the company continues to grow and work to build its image as the professional network in contrast to sites like Twitter or Facebook. Read more »
It was a big year for three-year old Kickstarter, the crowd funding platform that’s transformed how people view raising capital at initial levels. The company broke down some of its stats and success stories for 2012 in a year-end presentation. Read more »
On the heels of the release of its realtime search product for consumers this summer, Bit.ly is releasing an API Tuesday that will make the capabilities available to developers interested in incorporating Bit.ly’s realtime data into their apps and products. Read more »
Like the concept of the fitbit activity tracker, but worried you might drop it in the washing machine or easily misplace it? The fibit Flex could be a good option to consider, the company’s new wristband that looks more like the Nike Fuelband or the Jawbone Up. Read more »
Think you can send content on your smartphone that won’t appear elsewhere? Evidence that your Snapchat videos can be retrieved without notifying the sender comes as further proof what people in the digital age are realizing — true online privacy can be hard to come by. Read more »
