blogger better: 2015-08-30

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Future Is African

This is a call to action for the dreamers of the world. Imagine being in a market where more people live in a high-speed mobile Internet zone than have electricity. The innovative thinking that has defined the world’s best entrepreneurs would be able to create services that don’t exist today that would empower these users. This world doesn’t need imagining — there are… Read More

http://ift.tt/1IQGPez The Future Is African http://ift.tt/1NUNBbd

Etsy’s Pulling The Plug On Grand St. At The End Of This Month

When Etsy bought Grand St. last April, the plan was to let Grand St. continue to operate its maker marketplace for tech hardware. But that’s about to change. At the end of this month, Grand St. will stop processing orders and on October 1, listings on the site will become inactive. At that point, Grand St.’s site will just be a gallery of content and photos. That’s… Read More

http://ift.tt/1OiEZZ0 Etsy’s Pulling The Plug On Grand St. At The End Of This Month http://ift.tt/1i2xrj9

App Release Notes Are Getting Stupid

{rss:content:encoded} App Release Notes Are Getting Stupid http://ift.tt/1NSJBrw http://ift.tt/1KQahrf September 04, 2015 at 10:02PM ios-release-notes

“Bug fixes.” “Jam packed full of Super Amazing Things.” “Every 3 weeks, we polish up the Pinterest app to make it faster and better than ever.” “To make our app better for you, we bring updates to the App Store every 2 weeks…Every update of our Facebook app includes improvements for speed and reliability. As other new features become available… Read More

While social media platforms theoretically can be a great place to document life’s special moments, the reality is that social pressure often forces us to curate and filter our content for others, instead of focusing on ourselves. Launched last week, Spindle is a social journaling app that solves this issue by putting the emphasis on letting a user create content for themselves, and… Read More

http://ift.tt/1im55Ae Spindle Is A Social App That Encourages You To Be Selfish With Your Content http://ift.tt/1L9NmCX

Fly Or Die: Vapium Summit Weekender Edition

With Labor Day around the corner, and Labor Day weekend already underway, it makes sense for us to have a celebratory look at the Vapium Summit Weekender Edition. The botanical vaporizer, at $189, is different from others in that it comes with its own solar panel, so you can charge it on the go without any access to a power outlet. So if you’re getting back to nature (and enjoying… Read More

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Fly Or Die: Vapium Summit Weekender Edition http://ift.tt/1IOLWfo

“Reentry has to begin the moment you’re sentenced to prison. You’ve got to start planning to come home.” That’s the motif of Teresa Hodge, who co-founded Mission: Launch in 2012 with her daughter, Laurin. The Hodges never imagined prison in their future, but when Teresa began serving an 87-month sentence in a West Virginia facility, they quickly discovered that… Read More

http://ift.tt/1QeerJu Former Prisoners Rethink Criminal Justice Through Entrepreneurship And Civic Technology http://ift.tt/1QeerJw

ThingThing Is An iOS Keyboard That Shortcuts App Switching

{rss:content:encoded} ThingThing Is An iOS Keyboard That Shortcuts App Switching http://ift.tt/1VCWMOU http://ift.tt/1N7Jh6N September 04, 2015 at 06:27PM

Now that it’s been a year and change since Apple revealed it would be opening up access to the system wide keyboard in iOS we’re seeing some pretty interesting stuff going on right within the keyboard. No, not GIF keyboards; something a lot more interesting. Read More

Seventeen international human rights and transparency groups, including the Sunlight Foundation, EFF, Free Press, Open State Foundation, Human Rights Watch and others, are taking Twitter to task for its decision to ban the Politwoops tool last month, which was used to track politicians’ deleted tweets. Twitter had earlier banned the U.S. version of this tweet-tracking service in May,… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1JrxevA Human Rights Groups Lambast Twitter For Banning Service That Tracked Politicians’ Deleted Tweets Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/1Nf77z4
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Blackberry Goes Shopping Again, Buys Good Technology

{rss:content:encoded} Blackberry Goes Shopping Again, Buys Good Technology http://ift.tt/1PPSyj2 http://ift.tt/1PPSG1O September 04, 2015 at 03:29PM Three Blackberry Curves

Blackberry pulled a surprise move this morning when it announced that it’s purchasing mobile device management vendor, Good Technology for $425 million in cash. It signals that Blackberry, which has lost most of its worldwide handset marketshare, is shifting its focus by expanding its mobile enterprise security platform. In a way, this shift makes sense, as Blackberry has always been… Read More

Facebook Makes It Easier To Optimize Ad Campaigns Based On Conversions

Facebook is unveiling an improved version of its Conversion Lift measurement tool, which first launched in January. Here’s the gist of what’s changing. Previously, Facebook allowed you to measure whether your ad campaign was actually improving online and offline sales. Now, you can also test different ads to find the best approach. “When we’ve gotten feedback on the… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1KukKdc Facebook Makes It Easier To Optimize Ad Campaigns Based On Conversions Anthony Ha http://ift.tt/1Oe3J4E
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Facebook is working to give public school students an education that’s more tailored to their needs. In a blog post today from Facebook’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, the company announced that over the past school year it has partnered with Summit Public Schools, an innovative school system in the Bay Area to improve and test their new learning technologies. Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1H5PTyG Facebook Looks To Tackle Personalized Learning In The Classroom Lucas Matney http://ift.tt/1Upp9Tu
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Apple Continuing To Strengthen Its Smartphone Market Share In The U.S.

{rss:content:encoded} Apple Continuing To Strengthen Its Smartphone Market Share In The U.S. http://ift.tt/1UpQlkX http://ift.tt/1Nsisc4 September 03, 2015 at 08:41PM apple-music-big

More and more Americans are buying into the Apple smartphone ecosystem, largely at the expense of Samsung. A new report from the digital media analytics company comScore suggests that Apple’s iPhone is continuing to further its lead in the U.S. smartphone market, now accounting for 44.2 percen Read More

Can a mobile classified app topple the behemoth that is Craigslist? An company called letgo aims to find out. Its app, which lets users buy and sell items locally, has quietly grown to over 2 million downloads since its launch earlier this year. And today, the company is announcing having raised $100 million in Series A funding from South African media company and tech investor Naspers… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1OdmNjl Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S. Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/1UpLe4o
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Can a mobile classified app topple the behemoth that is Craigslist? An company called letgo aims to find out. Its app, which lets users buy and sell items locally, has quietly grown to over 2 million downloads since its launch earlier this year. And today, the company is announcing having raised $100 million in Series A funding from South African media company and tech investor Naspers… Read More

http://ift.tt/1OdmNjl Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S. http://ift.tt/1UpLe4o

Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S.

{rss:content:encoded} Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S. http://ift.tt/1UpLe4o http://ift.tt/1OdmNjl September 03, 2015 at 08:10PM letgo-app

T-Mobile Rolls Out Native Video Calling To Select Samsung Phones

{rss:content:encoded} T-Mobile Rolls Out Native Video Calling To Select Samsung Phones http://ift.tt/1hXDGVx http://ift.tt/1JE9LKT September 03, 2015 at 06:54PM Screen Shot 2015-09-03 at 12.48.12 PM

There are a number of apps that let smartphone users make video calls today, including Skype, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, and more, as well as built-in apps like Apple’s FaceTime, for example. But this morning, mobile carrier T-Mobile announced plans to make video calls a native feature on select T-Mobile smartphones. The company says it will roll out the feature to the… Read More

ESTIMOTE Stickers - Nearables Press Kit2

The dream of indoor location sensing has always been just that – a dream. The difficulty of Wi-Fi tracking and other technologies has made it hard for anyone – from businesses to regular users – to figure out where they were in a venue. But the folks at Estimote, a Polish beacon company, may have just cracked the code. Using something they are calling “Nearables”… Read More

http://ift.tt/1FlrBy4 Estimote Creates An Indoor Location System Using Beacons And “Nearables” http://ift.tt/1LXyBsN

There’s no way to put this gently, so here it goes: The rapid advancement in digital technology is transforming the cozy world of travel retail into an all-out war for customers. And that’s a good thing for you and me as travelers, because it will ultimately mean more selection, better customization and, potentially, lower prices. Read More

http://ift.tt/1CQnMyN Technology And Data Are Spurring A Clash Of Travel Titans http://ift.tt/1UpoYaB

Google’s New Street View App Lets You Browse 360-Degree Imagery, Share Your Own Panoramic Photos

{rss:content:encoded} Google’s New Street View App Lets You Browse 360-Degree Imagery, Share Your Own Panoramic Photos http://ift.tt/1hDoRXb http://ift.tt/1KM7SOa September 03, 2015 at 05:45PM SVapp (1)

It’s no “street view for cats,” but Google’s newly launched Street View mobile app does promise to make it easier to explore Google Map’s immersive, 360-degree imagery as well as contribute your own photos to improve the overall Google Maps experience. The app, which is actually an update and rebrand of Google’s older “Photo Sphere Camera”… Read More