Read It Later is one of the quiet success stories of the tablet and smartphone revolution. What started as a simple Firefox extension is now a much-used tool for our shifting reading habits, thanks to the emergence of new mobile devices. Read more »
Dennis Crowley, the CEO of FourSquare, explains how as a company grows, the chain of communication changes and it’s a difficult balance to make sure the company can be as transparent with 100 people as it is with 20 people. Read more »
Apps are, at the end of the day, very personal pieces of software. And your favorite mobile app isn’t mine. So we decided to poll the staff here at GigaOM to see what apps changed our lives in 2011. Read more »
Don’t expect the pace of change in web technologies to slow down in 2012. The web is far from dead. Social media may have anointed one huge player in Facebook, but even if there is little room for a start-from-scratch general-purpose social network, there are several companies creating useful alternative social graphs. Companies can leverage key technologies and trends in 2012 to earn revenue and gain share, whether that’s by leveraging HTML5 for rich cross-platform experiences, doing heavy data analysis or integrating collaboration tools across businesses.Companies mentioned in this report include Dropbox, Groupon, Twitter and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This is the fifth in a series of posts this week that will highlight key people, companies and trends to watch in 2012 in the sectors we cov… Read more at paidContent »
As expected, the past year was an exciting one for mobile tech. I did reasonably well on my 2011 predictions, but now it’s time to power up the crystal ball and gaze at what 2012 will bring. Here are my 16 predictions for the new year. Read more »
It wasn’t just here in the U.S. and it wasn’t just iPhone users; the mobile app obsession has gone global and is now bigger than ever. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting statistics involving the abundance of mobile apps we devoured this year. Read more »
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
New antipiracy legislation recently proposed in Congress and known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) could force YouTube and other “user-generated content” sites to take content down, even if that content has not been proven to be infringing. Experts in freedom of speech and creators ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When you consider the internet, on-demand services, games consoles, mobiles, apps and [fill in your personal favorite here], we have more wa… Read more at paidContent »
Which apps were the best rated and most buzzed about in 2011? That’s a question that app rating analytics firm Mobilewalla tackled, coming up with a list of the top five paid and free apps on four of the biggest mobile platforms. Read more »
Delivering on a promise, HTC is offering a software tool to unlock its Android devices that launched after Sept. 2011, allowing users to install custom software. The supported phone list doesn’t include AT&T or Verizon models, but the tool is working on some from these carriers. Read more »
The past year in mobile has been even more eventful than most of us would have predicted. Our appetite for mobile data grew dramatically; Google’s Android continued its march to worldwide dominance; Amazon joined the tablet bandwagon; and AT&T tried and failed to acquire T-Mobile USA, among many other things. All of that activity lays the groundwork for a very promising — and very challenging — 2012. This research note serves both as a review of the major trends and events of 2011 as well as a forecast for the coming year. Companies mentioned in this report include Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full research note, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This is the third in a series of posts this week that will highlight key people, companies and trends to watch in 2012 in the sectors we cov… Read more at paidContent »
As we look toward the next year, the cleantech sector faces many challenges, which we examine in detail in this 2012 outlook. Renewable energy generators encounter an increasingly difficult subsidy environment, and key cleantech innovations like electric vehicles face an uphill climb in terms of connecting ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In half a dozen years, I’ve tried more task manager apps than smartphones — and I’ve tried dozens of phones. But Any.DO, a free app for Android, offers an elegant iOS-like interface and syncs with Google Tasks. If you do one last thing this year, try Any.DO. Read more »
Christmas day 2011 was a record-breaking day for Android and iOS device activations, says a new report from mobile analytics firm Flurry: Ac… Read more at paidContent »
Out of all of Google’s close to $1 billion in clean power projects, turning biomass into energy seems like the least relevant technology to Google’s core business. But Google has made a few small investments into biomass projects, including a hog waste to energy project. Read more »
Samsung is reportedly in discussions to offer Android 4.0 software upgrades to its Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab slates. Perhaps Samsung’s TouchWiz software is slimmed down or eliminated, which may not be a problem. Getting carriers to support such an upgrade, however, may be. Read more »
Apple’s iOS devices were popular gifts during the holiday weekend, as you might expect. According to a new study, there were 12.5 times more devices accessing games and apps using one major analytics platform than during previous weekends, in fact. Android fared almost as well, too. Read more »
FilmOn, the premium-content internet streaming site that met controversy earlier this year over lawsuits involving CBS (NYSE: CBS), CNET, an… Read more at paidContent »
As the year winds down, here’s a look back at the biggest, most significant things that happened in the apps we use on our smartphones and tablets this year, as well as the most important themes to watch out for come 2012. Read more »
Attempting to build consensus among Android vendors is a tricky undertaking in late 2011. As a result, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and its partners… Read more at paidContent »
Devices that treat our face as a fingerprint are one of the more unnerving technologies of the information age. Privacy regulators are start… Read more at paidContent »
Does the world really need another search engine? Trefis says yes at least for do-it-yourself and even professional investors. For them, Trefis is launching a new search option that will return only pertinent, rich data about the companies they follow. Read more »
A breathless report says Facebook is going to use its new Timeline feature to appeal to advertisers. But is this really surprising? Like most free web services, Facebook has always relied on advertising — and adding social elements to advertising is the future of the medium. Read more »
Last year, News International made The Times and The Sun newspapers free on Christmas and used the opportunity to promote their respective i… Read more at paidContent »
Some research out from Xyologic today on app store download trends in 2011 indicates that while games have remained a popular category acros… Read more at paidContent »
Analysis by Xyologic found that of the top 150 apps downloaded on each the iPhone and Android in 2011, Android leaned toward apps, with 85 of 150 being non-gaming apps, while 100 of the top 150 apps on the iPhone were games. Read more »
This is the fourth in a series of posts over this week that looks at the most significant developments of this year in the sectors that we c… Read more at paidContent »
A California appeals court yesterday rejected Universal Music’s claim that video-sharing service Veoh didn’t do enough to protect content ow… Read more at paidContent »
Much has been made of Microsoft’s failure to shift its dominant presence in the PC market to the mobile market, but at least the company has… Read more at paidContent »
HTC says it has already figured out how to ship Android phones in the U.S. that don’t run afoul of a patent held by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), the… Read more at paidContent »
Android’s Market and the App Store from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) may be getting ever-closer to being level in the number of apps on offer, but whe… Read more at paidContent »
More scrutiny of News Corporation’s UK tabloids by Ofcom… but this time with a good result for the media company. The UK communications re… Read more at paidContent »
Ask Box.net CEO Aaron Levie about his company’s cloud storage business, and you’ll hear a long, excited answer that probably won’t include the word “storage” at all. He’ll talk about sharing, collaboration and universal access — anything but the core storage infrastructure that makes Box’s service possible. Read more »
Earlier this week, I grilled Amazon for attempting to control web browsing activities on its Kindle Fire as the device was blocked from browsing Google’s Android Market website. With the new Kindle Fire software update, Amazon no longer blocks access, which is the right move. Read more »
On Monday, Apple won an ITC ruling resulting in an import ban on some HTC smartphones running Android. The patent found to have been violated has to do with a feature for detecting and using data, but HTC says it has already addressed the issue. Read more »
Late on Tuesday Andy Rubin, SVP of Mobile and Android head honcho for Google (NSDQ: GOOG), gave the world the latest figures on how much And… Read more at paidContent »
Recommendations have become the holy grail of the social web, sparking competition between small services like Pinterest to Amen and large ones like Facebook and Google+. So how can Italian website Circleme elbow in on the action? Read more »
