It took a grueling two and half months, but the Federal Communications Commission auction of new 4G airwaves is finally over. The…
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Here’s how Sidecar took the lead in the carpool race
It’s been four months since Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar officially launched their carpool features. And although all three rideshare companies have marketed their new carpool…
Read MoreUpCloud unveils MaxIOPS storage backend as it opens shop in US
The Finnish cloud firm has finally make its long-promised expansion into North America, claiming it wanted to wait until it had suitably differentiating features before doing so.…
Read MoreHere’s what local governments care about when it comes to connected cities
Local governments are trying to make their spending more efficient by making their cities connected. They're starting one connected category at a time.…
Read MoreMotorola updates the Moto X and G and debuts its swish new smartwatch, the Moto 360
The Moto 360's round display and sleek design is truly impressive, but Motorola made some significant improvements to its core smartphone lines as well, and even took a shot at designing a better Bluetooth headset.…
Read MoreBelly will run 7-Eleven’s digital loyalty program in 2,600 convenience stores
Belly's smartphone-based loyalty program is picking up a lot of traction with big chains like 7-Eleven, but Belly corporate success might be coming at the expense of its original small business customers.…
Read MoreParkWhiz raises $10M as more VC cash flows to parking spot-booking startups
Competing Chicago VCs are funding different parking reservation startups as they try to lock down the market for online spot bookings in different cities.…
Read MoreWhen the network gets fried: A photographic look inside AT&T’s disaster recovery operations
Gigaom got a tour of AT&T's disaster recovery drill in Chicago, an exercise in restoring communications in the unlikely event that an entire core network goes down.…
Read MoreA look inside Motorola’s new downtown Chicago headquarters
Motorola declared its official return to Chicago today, opening up its new digs to the media. We snapped some photos to give our readers the tour and explain why Moto's homecoming matters.…
Read MoreQuantifying my dogs: Four weeks with Whistle’s canine activity tracker
After testing the connected collar tag on my two dogs, I'm convinced Whistle has created something special. Whistle provides useful and engrossing data on a dog's daily activity, and it's only going to get better.…
Read MoreGoogle tries to fuel innovation outside of Silicon Valley with new Tech Hub network
The new program will place Google squarely in big tech co-working facilities in Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Minneapolis, Nashville and Waterloo, Canada. These cities aren't tech backwaters, but they aren't San Francisco either.…
Read MoreBig retail’s interest in loyalty startup Belly grows: 7-Eleven chips in on $12M round
Straying from its usual small business focus, Belly launched pilot loyalty programs for big retail chains last spring. 7-Eleven was apparently impressed enough to invest in the company.…
Read MoreDespite Foursquare’s struggles, Chicago’s Evzdrop isn’t scared of the check-in — or “drop”
A small startup trying to gain traction in the Windy City, Evzdrop has designed geo-social network that doesn't connect you to your friends but to strangers wherever you happen to be.…
Read MoreBelly lands big national chains as loyalty platform customers, including McDonalds
Belly originally built its loyalty and marketing platform for local businesses, but it's now gravitating toward big enterprise chains. McDonalds, Chic-fil-A, 7-Eleven and Domino's are all running pilot programs of Belly's service in Chicago.…
Read MoreLoyalty platform Belly launches a freebies rewards program called Belly Bites
Belly introduces the free sample to its local-business loyalty and rewards program. Through the Belly app, businesses can offer free goods and services to lure customers into their stores.…
Read MoreT-Mobile completes iPhone-friendly upgrade in 23 cities
Chicago, Reno, and the LA burbs join Atlanta, Minneapolis and Seattle as the newest areas of the country where an iPhone will work on T-Mobile's 3G network. T-Mo is now about one-third of the way from completing its nationwide HSPA+ overhaul.…
Read MoreWith the help of $2.5M, SpotHero aims to fill parking lots
A graduate of Excelerate Labs in Chicago, SpotHero wants to act as a parking spot broker for the big lots as well as offer consumers the cheapest parking rates through its mobile apps. The company's $2.5 million round was led by Battery Ventures.…
Read MoreSprint launches LTE in Chicago burbs, but not in Chicago
Sprint is launching its new LTE network footprint from the outside in. Rather than start with the big cities and then move to smaller markets, Sprint is starting in small cities and suburbs and building up to the big metro launches.…
Read MoreGigabit Squared plans fiber broadband for Chicago’s south side
Chicago will become the first city to receive a fiber network as part of Gigabit Squared's college town connectivity program. The Windy City may not be your classic college town, but the University of Chicago's south side neighborhood makes an interesting testbed for the technology.…
Read MoreInspired by Google, Chicago pursues gigabit broadband
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is embarking on a gigabit fiber project, thanks to the suggestion of Google's Eric Schmidt, taking advantage of the overhaul of its water infrastructure to lay new data pipes. The plan is create 15 tech zones to feed Chicago's growing startup community.…
Read MoreAT&T opens first showcase store in Chicago
AT&T is opening its first "experiential" showcase in Chicago. While technically the flagship retail location on Michigan Avenue is a store, it's not like any AT&T store you've ever seen before. Instead of making the AT&T phones the prime draw, it's showing off the apps within.…
Read More5 startups that stood out at Excelerate’s demo day
Chicago's Excelerate Labs may not have quite the outsized demo day as Y Combinator, but the 10 companies that just graduated from is accelerator program were still impressive. Here are the five startups that made the biggest impression on us: Orbeus, Lasso, Cureeo, Pictarine and Whimseybox.…
Read MoreMotorola gets a new home, leaves the burbs for Chicago’s Merch Mart
Motorola is giving its suburban digs for a new home in downtown Chicago, where it will anchor the Windy City's emerging tech community. The corporate HQ will officially be in Chicago's Merchandise Mart, along 3,000 employees, but the big brass will reside in Silicon Valley.…
Read MoreChicago’s Dabble creates a Craigslist for casual learning
Interested in trying your hand at worm composting or grant writing? Ever felt the desire to make your own sausage or kimchi? There’s a good chance someone on startup Dabble’s website is teaching just such a class this month, and for $20 you can sign up.…
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