Watch out, Ustream and Co: YouTube is expanding its live streaming offering
YouTube is opening up its live streaming to almost everyone: The service will allow every channel owner with at least 1000 subscribers to go live. Read more »
Stories for May. 15, 2013
How Google is setting the new search standard with voice and knowledge graph
photo: Janko Roettgers
New notification features for Google Now and richer voice recognition in searches on mobile devices and desktops keeps Google the search to beat. Read more »
GigaOM teams up with Facebook for a June Open Compute hardware hackathon
photo: Jordan Novet
Facebook and the Open Compute Project are hosting their second hardware hackathon with the winners presenting at GigaOM’s Structure conference on June 19. So start thinking about your idea, and go register. Read more »
Coming to a school near you: Google launches Android app store for education
photo: flickingerbrad
Google is getting ready to compete with Apple in the education market in a bigger way with the launch of Google Play for Education, an Android app store for educators. Read more »
Eight years later, Google reinvents its Maps for a data rich web
Eight years after Google launched Maps as a beta product, the search giant is reinventing the map for a new data rich web that lives on fast broadband, and runs on computers with oomph to spare. Read more »
Prepaid gives Google a huge Android boost (and Apple has noticed)
A third of all smartphones activated in Q1 were on prepaid plans, a trend that historically has favored Android, according to The NPD Group. Apple, though, is starting to make in-roads into the prepaid market. Read more »
VMware takes on the BYOD problem with — you guessed it — virtualization
photo: GigaOM
A new service — two years in the making — from VMware and Verizon claims to enable true “dual persona” smart phones for enterprise use. Read more »
What Google was thinking when redesigning the new Google+
Google’s reworking of its social network, Google+ shows that the company has started to marry data with design and craft new experiences. Will that be enough to turn you and I into active participants? Who, knows, I am just happy it doesn’t look like Facebook. Read more »
How RelayRides is making money from long-term car sharing
Peer-to-peer car sharing startup RelayRides tells us that long-term sharing — over days, weeks and months — makes up the bulk of their sales. Is this an emerging trend for this nascent service? Read more »
Google turns up location data usage on Android apps
photo: Janko Roettgers
Google said it will introduce location-oriented APIs so Android developers can build richer applications that make the most of the sensors on Android devices. Read more »
How Stanford’s Andreas Weigend leads by example in pursuit of data symmetry
photo: Andreas Weigend
Andreas Weigend, formerly chief scientist at Amazon, has some ideas for how businesses can do more with their customers’ data. A few come from his old employer, while others stem from personal experience. Read more »
Google officially launches its music subscription service at Google I/O
Google’s Spotify competitor is official. The company unveiled the new service at its Google I/O developer conference Wednesday. Read more »
Google I/O statshot: 900 million Android devices activated
photo: Janko Roettgers
Google tends to use its annual Google I/O conference to drop a bunch of stats about its achievements – and 2013 is no different. Check out key data on Android devices, Google Play downloads and more. Read more »
AT&T CEO: A subsidized mobile internet is coming to an operator near you
photo: AT&T
Content providers will soon pay mobile carriers to exempt their traffic from consumers’ mobile data plans, says AT&T’s Randall Stephenson. That may seem like a good deal for consumers but in the long-term it’s actually a raw deal. Read more »
Reclaiming dev-test
This webinar will explore the drivers of shadow IT dev-test practices and examine the key benefits, risks and considerations of moving development and QA to the cloud. Join GigaOM Research analysts and HP Cloud Services on May 30, 2013. Read more »
Google Apps set for a communication upgrade with deeper Google+ integration
Google will reveal new communications features for Google Apps for Business users built on Google+ technology, we’ve learned just before Google I/O is set to begin. Read more »
Live blog: Google I/O 2013 showcases Android, Chrome, YouTube and more
Starting at 9am PT we’ll bring you live coverage of Google I/O 2013 right here. Don’t miss Google’s most significant public event of the year. Read more »
New Yorker launches “open-source anonymous inbox” built by Aaron Swartz
photo: The New Yorker
The New Yorker has launched Strongbox, an open-source software system that allows users to submit confidential documents to the magazine anonymously. Strongbox was built by Aaron Swartz before his death. Read more at paidContent »
It was only a matter of time: Udacity and Georgia Tech offer ‘massive online’ degree
Udacity and Georgia Tech are teaming up with AT&T to offer an entirely online computer science masters degree that will cost students less than $7,000. Read more »
Natural language comparison service Versus IO scores $2.8M in funding
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 »
Want to let users test-drive your server apps? Devops outfit ComodIT has a button for you.
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 »
Sponsored post: Navigating the Apache Hadoop Ecosystem
Open source is a great place for innovation. But it’s just the beginning. That’s Intel’s take on Apache Hadoop. It’s a solid ecosystem that can help organizations get value out of big data, but enterprises should continue to demand more from the platform. Read more »
The TechStars startup empire expands to Austin with new program
photo: TechStars
TechStars has opened a new startup accelerator program in the capital of Texas, roughly 90 miles up the road from its TechStars Cloud program in San Antonio. With SXSW and Google Fiber, Austin is hot. Read more »
GigaOM Chrome Show 5: Google I/O preview and Joe Marini from Google talks apps
photo: Image credit: Google Store
This week’s Chrome podcast brings our first guest to the show: Google Developer Advocate, Joe Marini! Joe explains Packaged Apps vs Native Client and hosted apps. Plus a Google I/O preview and an extension to make you more productive. Read more »
Airware, which puts the brains in drones, nets $10.7M in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz
Are you a big time farmer? A building manager? A ski resort operator? Airware is banking that you too could use a drone and now has $10.7 million to build customizable autopilots for commercial applications. Read more »
PernixData nets $20M to virtualize your server-side flash
The self-proclaimed VMware of server-side flash now has more money to build out enterprise-class sales and marketing staff and to add features to its software. Read more »
European RE.WORK summit aims to solve future problems through emerging tech
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 »
Software AG wants to make app development easy for business users with Live software
photo: Software AG
Looking to help people with little programming experience build out their own applications, Software AG is releasing its own Platform as a Service following its acquisition of LongJump. Read more »
Live blog: Google I/O 2013 showcases Android, Chrome, YouTube and more
Our live coverage from Google I/O 2013, Google’s most significant public event of the year, can be found right here. Read more »
Stories for May. 14, 2013
Dots game from Betaworks hits 100 million game plays in first 2 weeks
Have you played Dots yet? Chances are good that if you downloaded the new game from Betaworks, you’ve played a game or two, since users have now played more than 100 million games since the app launched. Read more »
This electromagnetic coil can detect brain injuries wirelessly
photo: Cesar A. Gonzalez
This medical diagnostic can detect brain swelling or bleeding, says new research, and is a cheap substitute for CT scans. Read more »
This is why big data is the sweet spot for SaaS
photo: Shutterstock / Andrea Danti
When it comes to using big data technology effectively, there’s a lot to like about SaaS. When companies like BloomReach create and analyze massive web-wide data sets, they automate insights that almost no individual company could discover on its own. Read more »
Homeland Security seizes funds at main Bitcoin exchange
The US Government has taken its most serious action yet against the popular cyber-currency Bitcoin by shutting down transfers between payment provider Dwolla and a Japanese exchange where the currency is traded. Read more »
Enter GIV Mobile: a virtual operator that donates to your favorite charities
As more MVNOs populate the mobile landscape, it’s becoming harder for one virtual operator to distinguish itself from another. GIV is separating itself from the pack by focusing on charitable giving. Read more »
GigaOM hits Google I/O 2013 (roundup)
Here you’ll find all our coverage of Google I/O 2013, Google’s annual showcase of its technology prowess. Read more »
What SolarCity’s earnings say about the challenges of building a solar retail business
SolarCity is one of the leaders when it comes to installing solar panels on home owner’s rooftops. But the company’s $31 million loss, in its latest quarter, shows the growing pains for the retail solar players. Read more »
Amazon staffs up to give Trusted Advisor more powers
AWS has big plans for its Trusted Advisor and other enterprise support offerings but giving more metrics to customers will irk third-party service partners. Read more »
$349 Nvidia Shield mobile gaming console is high-powered and premium priced
Nvidia surprised and impressed at January’s CES with its Project Shield mobile gaming console. Pricing and availability details are here: If you were expecting something priced to compete with Sony’s PS Vita, you’ll be disappointed. Read more »
Wal-Mart gets PaaS and social software chops through OneOps, Tasty Labs buys
photo: Jordan Novet
@WalmartLabs has picked up OneOps and Tasty Labs, which will enable rapid application development and social applications. The buys make sense with Wal-Mart trying to offer rich experiences that best other online retailers. Read more »
German online publishers’ anti-adblock campaign backfires
A public campaign by some of the biggest German online publishers against ad-blocking software may have backfired, as downloads of one popular ad-blocking product have more than doubled. Read more at paidContent »
