David Meyer is a senior writer for GigaOM, covering the Berlin startup scene. He has been a technology journalist since 2006, writing for ZDNet UK and other outlets such as the BBC and the Guardian. He is also a musician, currently enjoying Berlin's electronic sensibilities.
The platform could give publishers a new tool in their quest to monetize online content. Not only does it let mobile websites issue push notifications, but it also introduces new real estate for ads. Read more »
Those on the autistic spectrum often display highly focused and analytical traits. SAP is the latest company – and the first major multinational – to move to harness these characteristics for IT-related work. Read more »
The multinational-targeting cloud platform is currently based on in-house technology, but France Telecom’s business services arm is considering options such as OpenStack for the future. Read more »
The internet of things may be largely about connecting everyday objects, but who says design shouldn’t be a major focus? Not Berg and Benetton, who are partnering up on an Italian R&D facility called Sandbox. Read more »
The titans of the web are rebels, playing by their own rules. That is to be applauded at times, but we should also be thinking about the wider, long-term implications for society and fair competition. Read more »
The world’s top handset manufacturer has signed up for Telefónica’s carrier billing service, which will let customers buy apps and content through the Samsung app store and charge it to their phone bill. Read more »
The GPS Navigation & Maps app combines OpenStreetMap-based maps with turn-by-turn navigation, with everything working offline as well as online. It’s a cheaper rival to TomTom and CoPilot, and one for privacy-minded Google users to consider. Read more »
Like FindTheBest, the highly ambitious Versus IO takes a data-centric approach to product comparisons. But it’s also using natural language algorithms and a generic data model, raising interesting possibilities for the future. Read more »
ComodIT’s “direct install” button allows for quick installation of apps on on-premise or cloud-based servers, and even makes it possible to test-drive apps for free in a ComodIT-sponsored EC2 micro instance. Read more »
The first summit in London, which is produced in partnership with Google’s Solve For X initiative, will focus on emerging tech such as the internet of things, 3D printing, artificial intelligence and sensors. Read more »
Ripple is a distributed exchange that can be used for Bitcoin and other currencies, too. Google Ventures and IDG’s investment is the latest in a recent string for firms handling virtual currencies. Read more »
LogMeIn has launched a cloud platform that inventors and developers can use to create next-generation connected devices, and it’s partnered with ARM to provide a “Jumpstart” kit to speed up the process. Read more »
The Lumia 925 is a fine-looking device and it successfully answers criticisms levelled at the plasticky 920 and 928. However, it’s very similar to other high-end Nokias. The company’s real “wow” moments happen at the low end. Read more »
Thiel becomes the second PayPal co-founder to put money into the UK’s Transferwise, which lets users send money internationally at much lower rates than those offered by traditional banks. Read more »
British privacy advocates have reacted with horror to the idea of EE and market research firm Ipsos Mori selling anonymized customer data. On balance, they shouldn’t worry so much. Read more »
The software giant’s “project Photon” seems to be materializing in the form of Lumira, which promises self-service data visualization in the cloud. It remains to be seen how this can co-exist with SAP’s BI OnDemand, though. Read more »
The aerospace and defense firm wants to beef up its commercial business by picking up Axell, whose technology is used to improve mobile broadband capacity for businesses and public safety systems. Read more »
The U.S. State Department got Defense Distributed to take down its gun designs, but they’re already widely shared online. Now would be a good time to discuss a more workable approach to regulation. Read more »
With VMware users now accounting for 70 percent of OpenNebula’s customer base, the focus in the new release is very much on making OpenNebula a no-brainer replacement for vCloud. Read more »
The flamboyant entrepreneur, who is facing extradition from New Zealand to the U.S. over copyright infringement allegations, plans to launch easy-to-use yet secure communications services. Read more »
It’s fun to compare the different ways of sending a digital message, but is there a point to doing so? According to one irate analyst, the debate – as currently framed – is futile. Read more »
The in-browser tool, which currently only allows editing in Chrome, is intended for designers who would rather do without the services of front-end developers as they create web pages for a range of devices. Read more »
Until now, Viber has been a mobile-only play that sits somewhere in between Skype and WhatsApp. Now it’s on the desktop too, and the different platform versions are very tightly integrated indeed. Read more »
Europe’s antitrust authorities have invited Motorola to defend itself over its use of essential patents as legal weapons against Apple, despite Apple’s willingness to pay what it considered a reasonable royalty rate. Read more »
The money should help Berlin-based ResearchGate beef up its sales team, as it starts trying to monetize its 2.7 million-strong community of researchers. It remains unclear, though, who stumped up the cash. Read more »
Assuming the deal goes through, Intel will see a boost in the firewall, evasion prevention and SSL VPN parts of its portfolio. Read more »
Building on Amazon’s Peritor purchase last year, the company is to hire more than 70 engineers in Berlin and Dresden to work on various cloud management and machine learning technologies. Read more »
The Swedish networking firm and China Mobile have launched a commercial trial of Ericsson’s City Site package. It provides a good hint of the sort of street furniture ‘network densification’ may require. Read more »
The Finnish handset firm, which is reviving the Linux-based MeeGo operating system as the Sailfish OS, has just announced its first new CEO in a whole seven months. Read more »
Intel Capital and others have put $9 million into Irish outfit FeedHenry, which provides a mobile app development and deployment platform, along with backend-as-a-service, for mostly enterprise customers. Read more »
The OpenStreetMap-based app, already out there for Android users, can now be downloaded for iPhone and iPad. It’s a consumer play, but also a B2B showcase for Skobbler’s mapping technology. Read more »
The UK-sited data center, which should help settle the compliance worries of many of Salesforce’s European customers, will be completed in 2014. The firm is also running a €5 million Innovation Challenge for EU startups. Read more »
M-Files, which does away with folder structures for its cloud-based take on ECM, intends to push further into the U.S. market after picking up millions from DFJ Esprit and the Finnish government. Read more »
After doing something similar in Belgium, Google is using its seawater-cooled data center in Hamina, southeastern Finland, as a way to solidify its presence among local startups. Read more »
Californian startup Pelican has designed a camera composed of multiple smaller cameras, which aims to overcome the noise issues typically associated with tiny smartphone shooters. And it seems imaging-focused Nokia wants in. Read more »
The British telco, which was recently ranked as the third-biggest infrastructure-as-a-service provider in the world, is expanding its corporate-focused platform into major new markets. Read more »
TwoGo is a cloud-based service for companies that want to get their employees sharing cars to and from work. Nokia’s Here platform provides the location component, helping to match people with likely carpooling companions. Read more »
According to analysts at Informa, IP-based platforms such as WhatsApp now carry more messages than SMS infrastructure does. However, we should be cautious about how we interpret the figures. Read more »
The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has announced an industry pilot of the long-range broadband and M2M technology later this year, in order to make sure everything works properly ahead of a likely national deployment next year. Read more »
The Wikimedia Foundation’s first major new project in 7 years is now feeding the biggest project in that stable, Wikipedia itself. But anyone can take structured data from Wikidata, due to its open license. Read more »
