For a deeper dive into the topics and technologies covered on GigaOM, check out the latest in-depth analyses on GigaOM Pro, our subscription-based research service. This week: the fall of Fisker, Wi-Fi comes to the instore shopping experience, and the death of Dell and BMC. Read more »
Just as SaaS has emerged as a dominant new force in enterprise software, mobile apps will offer innovative new capabilities and business models – and disrupt many old ones. Read more »
We are used to thinking of a “mass media” market made up of large newspapers and TV networks as the normal state of affairs in media, but what if that was just a historical anomaly? Read more at paidContent »
An annual Stanford University startup competition awarded $150,000 in prize money on Friday to ideas in construction engineering and medical devices, among others. Read more »
At our current pace of consumption, the world’s demands for compute power will quickly outpace the energy provided by our data centers. The solution is a global smart grid, and Europe provides a model for what that might look like. Read more »
While things are not quite what they used to be, Apple does still have a shot at impressing its seemingly forgotten Mac Pro customers by putting the power back into its Macs. Read more »
YouTube started to offer paid subscriptions to select channels this week. But are people actually going to pay for their YouTube videos? Read more at paidContent »
In advance of Google I/O more Nexus 7 refresh thoughts hit the web this week. Will Google move to a 1080p or better display? Android @Home could be a surprise feature at I/O, while Google’s X Phone may have been FCC tested Read more »
Reality TV, Raymond Chandler, Miami cold case, a dead hedge fund manager and privacy in the age of Facebook, circa 1985 — here are some of the the stories on the menu for this weekend. Enjoy! Read more »
Twitter will expand its data center footprint in Sacramento, Data Center Knowledge reports. The move would help the social network support traffic spikes and a continually growing user base. Read more »
Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration reform group Fwd.us is losing two big players this week: Elon Musk and David Sacks. A bad sign for the Valley’s latest political group? Read more »
How do you build an educational app or game for kids that’s both compelling and compliant with privacy regulations? It’s not an easy task, but some devleopers at the 500 Startups Mamabear conference had ideas. Read more »
The U.S., Japan, Korea and Australia are the foci of LTE activity, accounting for 90 million of those subscribers, according to Wireless Intelligence. Read more »
A new beta version of ScraperWiki makes it easy to relatively easy to scrape Twitter for certain phrases and get to work analyzing the data. It’s just one more way that data analysis is getting democratized. Read more »
The NYT’s multimedia project Snow Fall was a huge success, attracting big audiences and lots of plaudits. But the paper can do even better — it can build a new business from this type of project, and change the definition of journalism in the new century. Read more »
Google Drive had another service disruption on Friday, and it probably doesn’t help Google’s efforts to woo enterprises onto Google Apps and other Google cloud products. Read more »
Google has reportedly abandoned plans to launch a physical Google Wallet card. The company’s mobile payment system has been slow to take off. Read more »
An arcade-style game that is more challenging than it may first appear. If there were such a genre for side-scrolling puzzle games, this game would define it, except for one minor detail: it’s vertical. Read more »
Something Amazon is really good at and something Apple is not: the cloud. Amazon hones in on its competitors’ cloud-based photo territory on Apple’s own platform with a new app. Read more »
We caught up with Dave Lester, soon-to-be graduate of UC Berkeley’s School of Information and a web developer who told us about his drone hacking project, the importance of code integration, and his upcoming foray into open source at Twitter. Read more »
Psychologists are studying the use of sensor-based devices to help treat people with substance abuse problems. Read more »
ESPN is reportedly in negotiations with Verizon to exempt its content from the carrier’s data caps. Such a deal would set a precedence for a very different mobile internet than the one we know today. Read more »
Capturing energy from light and heat using tiny antennas could be a way to produce solar energy at a lower cost, and capture and reuse waste heat from industrial processes. They’re still in the prototype phase. Read more »
Twitter says it doesn’t have any interest in hiring reporters or performing other journalistic functions — but regardless of whether it does so, it is still a powerful media entity and one that grows stronger by the day. Read more at paidContent »
Boxfish’s new Android app lets you search in real time for topics on TV. The data used to power the app could one day also make your DVR smarter. Read more »
The Financial Times is the latest publisher to strike a partnership with Flipboard. The deal is interesting because the FT recently left another third-party platform, iTunes. Read more at paidContent »
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 »
A monthly look at where health tech investors put their money. Read more »
The expectations of a new Nexus 7 keep rising. This week an analyst notes that Google will use a 1920 x 1200 display and Snapdragon 600 chip for an updated small tablet. Read more »
Ping.it aims to help users discover targeted content across the web — for example, YouTube videos that appeared on Reddit and got the largest number of Facebook likes. The service, in public beta, is still clunky, but worth checking out. Read more at paidContent »
Love him or hate him, Oracle CEO, billionaire, America’s Cup aficianado Larry Ellison is nothing if not interesting. Read more »
Nokia finally has a flagship phone to offer Verizon Wireless customers and it’s aggressively priced: the Lumia 928 costs $99 with contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Read more »
Algorithms to manage connected thermostats and collect their data have become a hot property in 2013. Alarm.com snaps up startup EnergyHub for its thermostat management software. Read more »
Connected products are becoming more common. Which means that even after a product goes out the door, the company responsible can still keep an eye on it. That has big repercussions for business and consumers. Read more »
Under the Radar is the only event that gathers VP and C-level execs from Fortune 500 companies and the world’s most recognizable brands (Virgin America, Bank of America, Google, Salesforce.com and more) to discuss real business problems and how emerging startups are helping to solve them. Read more »
On this week’s podcast we discuss the evolution of LinkedIn beyond its social network, whether Apple is losing control of its iOS platform and YouTube! 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 »
… at least according to 4,800 PHP developers participating in Zend’s annual Developer Pulse survey. Read more »
Following the Fisker debacle, another auto maker with a government loan has stopped operations. Vehicle Production Group, which made natural gas and gas-powered vans for disabled passengers, says it’s closed up shop. Read more »
Clipboard, a startup that launched in May 2012, has been acquired by Salesforce, the team announced Thursday. The company allowed users to “clip” material from across the web into private collections. Read more »
