Producteev, a popular task-management tool, is taking a big step forward, updating its web and iPhone apps while launching new Android and Windows desktop apps. The wholesale improvements, which include TaskRabbit integration, help Producteev in its quest to become a universal task management service. Read More »
Bio:Ryan has covered personal technology and wireless for the San Francisco Chronicle before joining GigaOM. He is based in New York and covers a number of topics including mobile development, app economies and East Coast start-ups.
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My Focus
Mobile apps
Gaming
Mobile payments
Personal technology
Recent Posts
Fitbit was among the early leaders in building connected portable health devices, a market that has become crowded in the last year with new rivals. Now Fitbit is announcing it has raised $12 million to help it fend off competition from emerging rivals. Read More »
Research In Motion’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins, held his first conference call on Monday morning, reiterating his view that the company is not in need of a major shakeup but instead some improvements in processes, marketing and consumer focus. Read More »
RIM has announced it has replaced co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie with Thorsten Heins, the current COO. The change was necessary but Heins will have to make a clear break from RIM’s past performance, which at least initially he doesn’t appear anxious to do. Read More »
Home Depot announced it has acquired online home services marketplace Redbeacon. Combined with Home Depot’s recent partnership with PayPal on its new in-store payment system, it’s another reminder that brick-and-mortar retailers are having to look to Silicon Valley for ways to get innovative. Read More »
PayPal has said this year will be a learning year as it rolls out its in-store payment system. But that doesn’t mean it will all be small pilot programs this year. A company spokesman told Bloomberg that it expects to be in more than 2,000 Home … Read More »
In just a short time, modern tablets have become potent shopping tools that generate an outsize effect on online commerce. 2011 was the year that the tablet became an online retailer’s best friend as it emerged as the preferred device for many shoppers to make purchases. Read More »
More Must Reads
Appstores.com is launching an app distribution network that allows web publishers to curate their own app galleries, highlighting relevant apps for their audience. Appstores.com is also releasing a mobile ad unit that allows web publishers to inserts ads for apps that are tailored to its users. Read More »
Card.io last year introduced its “visual swipe” technology that allowed developers to accept credit card payments by taking a picture of a card. Now, the start-up is launching a new consumer payment app for iOS and Android that allows people to receive payments using Card.io’s … Read More »
Members of New York’s tech community, a couple thousand strong, braved the winter chill and gathered outside the offices of New York senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to protest the PIPA and SOPA legislation Wednesday, calling it a potentially crippling set of bills. Read More »
Visa Europe sees a very mobile future and now predicts that more than half of all Visa payments in Europe will be mobile by 2020. It’s another sign that the payments will increasingly be channeled through mobile phones. Read More »
New data from app analytics firm Localytics suggests the best way to make in-app purchase pay is to build loyalty and engagement, which can result in more revenue overall than a quick sell. Localytics found that loyal users generate 25 percent more in-app purchases. Read More »
IOS’ year end surge has helped close the gap on Android in the U.S., with December sales hitting 44.5 percent of all smartphones, just behind Android at 46.9 percent, according to new data from Nielsen. Android and iOS continue to separate from fast-fading BlackBerry. Read More »
Aviary, a maker of mobile photo editing tools, is introducing an update to its four-month-old mobile software development kit today with more effects, better controls and high-resolution output. Can photo editing tools hasten the demise of point-and-shoot cameras? Aviary thinks so. Read More »
SendGrid, a TechStars graduate, has become one of largest email platforms in the world by handling the boom in transactional emails that web application send out to stay in touch with users. The company is announcing it has raised a $21 million Series B round. Read More »
Charlie O’Donnell, a principal at First Round Capital in New York, thinks Brooklyn is increasingly where the action is, and he’s launching the first Brooklyn-based venture capital fund to help kick-start companies on the other side of the East River. Read More »
IBM is showing off how its artificial intelligence system Watson can help retailers get smarter in dealing with consumers. IBM believes that Watson could be positioned as a phone customer service line, in-store kiosk or as a resource available through tablet-wielding store clerks. Read More »
PayPal is lining up deals with payment solution providers to help quickly scale its upcoming in-store payment system. It has struck an agreement with Ingenico, whose point of sale terminals will soon be able to handle PayPal transactions. Read More »
Payment system provider VeriFone is arming its merchants and retailers with new tools to handle the evolutions in commerce. At the National Retail Federation convention this week, the company, is demonstrating how it can help merchants become more mobile, more responsive and dynamic. Read More »
Don Kingsborough could have called it quits. The man who founded Worlds of Wonder Toys, famous for Teddy Ruxpin and helping lead the introduction of Nintendo in the U.S., and the former president of of consumer products at Atari, was just winding down his time last year … Read More »
Online design store Fab.com is just seven months old, but it’s showing all kinds of momentum, racking up 1.65 million users and 750,000 items sold so far. Now, the company is making its first acquisition, buying up FashionStake, an online marketplace for independent fashion. Read More »
Google is getting serious about improving apps on Android, which are sometimes less polished and usable as their counterparts on other platforms. It’s introducing the first Android Design style guide, which is aimed at helping developers learn the principles and best practices for building awesome apps. Read More »
Foursquare today introduced its Explore recommendation and search function to its desktop website. The company, which began as a mobile app, is finding new opportunity in beefing up its web presence and leveraging all of its check-in data, recommendations and tips. Read More »
EBay’s mobile business is growing so fast, it doesn’t even know how to predict what to expect months into the future. It’s now predicting it will do $8 billion in gross merchandise value and PayPal will do $7 billion in mobile payment volume in 2012. Read More »
Microsoft’s patent licensing machine is back in action, lining up another Android maker: this time, LG. The Korean manufacturer signed a patent agreement providing coverage for tablets, phones and other devices running the Android or Chrome OS. The terms were not disclosed. Read More »
PayPal is taking a big step forward with its in-store payment system by partnering with AJB Software Designs, which helps connect the point of sale terminals at many top retailers to payment processors and financial institutions. AJB is in use by 20 percent of top retailers. Read More »
Design store Fab.com has seen a surge in mobile use since launching mobile apps in October, with 30 percent of traffic now coming in via mobile. But more impressive is the fact that mobile visitors are generating twice as much revenue than visitors to Fab’s website. Read More »
Shazam, best known for its music tagging app, is now rolling out its first new app, called Shazam Player, a free app that replaces the iOS music player and provides a deep set of features including lyrics, social sharing, smart playlists, bios and more. Read More »
What consumers need to understand and embrace NFC is a gateway drug. And that is not likely to be mobile payments, said Andrew Bocking, Vice President, Handheld Software Product Management at RIM. It’s more likely to be personal content sharing through NFC-enabled phones. Read More »
TuneIn Radio, which has become a powerhouse in streaming local radio content, is now ramping up efforts to bring its service to cars with a new Ford Sync AppLink integration and an updated Android app with voice-controlled “car mode.” Read More »
All that virtual currency sold in mobile games is anything but virtual in terms of revenue. Juniper Research, in a new mobile games report, said revenues from mobile in-game purchases totaled $2.1 billion in 2011 and are expected to grow to $4.8 billion by 2016. Read More »
Rich media ad firm Medialets is launching Medialets Private Marketplace, a buying platform that lets advertisers directly plan, buy and execute on Medialets’ collection of top publishers. The marketplace reflects the emergence of private exchanges in mobile and the growing maturation of mobile advertising. Read More »
Kickstarter had a huge year in 2011, taking its crowd-funding model to new heights. The New York start-up, which is helping a growing number of artists, creators, performers and accessory makers get over the funding hump, just released some year end statistics and they are impressive. Read More »
AT&T is showing some love to HTML5 with a new API platform to enable web apps and an AppCenter app store that will highlight HTML5 apps. The moves help build more momentum behind web apps, which are poised to grow as HTML5 matures. Read More »
The world is increasingly going mobile: mobile apps, to be more exact. New data out of app analytics firm Flurry finds mobile users are spending more time in mobile apps than mobile web browsing, widening a gap that began for the first time last summer. Read More »
The iPhone 4S, along with cheaper older models, has helped Apple close the distance on Google’s Android, drawing within a few percentage points in recent U.S. smartphone sales market share, according to the NPD Group. Android and iOS are very much in a two-horse race. Read More »
Increasingly, websites and services are getting a bigger chunk of their traffic through mobile with some pushing past the 50 percent mark. That’s setting up a world in which developers and publishers have to think mobile first as consumption shifts to smaller devices. Read More »
Mobile social network MocoSpace surveyed 15,000 of its users in December and found that 26.7 percent of women respondents age 30 and over played mobile games more than three hours a day, compared to 18.5 percent of men in the same age group. Read More »
Kickstarter, the fund-raising engine for an increasing number of creative projects, is poised to have a breakout winter as a film funder, with three of its projects on documentary short lists for the Academy Awards and more than a dozen films headed to Sundance. Read More »
Mobile ad network Millennial Media has filed to go public as it looks to capitalize on the big shift in advertising toward mobile devices, a market that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years as smartphones and tablets proliferate. Read More »
Barnes & Noble is looking at separating its Nook business in what it calls an attempt to capitalize on the growth of digital content. The company said there’s no time-table for such a move nor any guarantee it will happen. Read More »
PayPal president Scott Thompson’s departure for Yahoo highlights the changing face of eBay, which increasingly looks at PayPal as its crown jewel. And who better to safeguard that than eBay CEO John Donohoe, who has announced he will take over PayPal as interim president. Read More »
Walmart Labs, the social and mobile lab created by the retail giant, has picked up mobile agency Small Society. The small Portland team will be incorporated into Walmart Labs, which has a Portland office and previously acquired Set Direction last year. Read More »
Cisco’s move into living room video conferencing with its Umi product never got going, hampered by a high price and competition from free alternatives. Now Cisco has confirmed that it is no longer selling the consumer telepresence gear, though it will continue to support existing users. Read More »
The momentum behind mobile payments is picking up but many of the newest challengers in the space are going to have to get over one nagging reality: consumers still trust their banks and credit card companies to drive the mobile payments market. Read More »
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