blogger better: 2015-10-11

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Where Does Apple Pay Stand On Its First Birthday?

{rss:content:encoded} Where Does Apple Pay Stand On Its First Birthday? http://ift.tt/1PzlZIr http://ift.tt/1JvGXpA October 18, 2015 at 05:00AM

While the “year of Apple Pay,” as Apple CEO Tim Cook dubbed 2015, still has a ways to go, the product’s first anniversary is rapidly approaching. And, considering Android Pay’s recent unveiling, it seems that its competitors are, as well. So, as we prepare to celebrate, the question is: How are things going? Read More

In the last few years, the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been thrust into the mainstream. No longer just the domain of sci-fi fans, nerds or Google engineers, I hear people discussing AI at parties, coffee shops and even at the dinner table: My five-year-old daughter brought it up the other night over taco lasagna. When I asked her if anything interesting had happened in school,… Read More

http://ift.tt/1GjDbzx Programming Hate Into AI Will Be Controversial, But Possibly Necessary http://ift.tt/1ROJT1W

nfOHassCq1aFqcJNzDBStHd9oxvFNw8rTyYZ2cwKvAg,J5_bogVjHGD5fFuCUrCExvi7c6EstB6OwS6WbJBcJnQ

Scoot, the San Francisco-based electric scooter ride share network, has teamed up with Nissan to create a four-wheeled two-seater enclosed vehicle onto the streets of San Francisco. Starting today, Scoot members have the option to rent one of these adorable little cars to get them anywhere in the 7×7. Known as the Scoot Quad, this is an all-electric vehicle that you can turn on with the… Read More

http://ift.tt/1PyQQ85 Scoot Unleashes New Four-Wheeler Quad Cars On San Francisco Streets http://ift.tt/1LV9AJ7

Economists tell us that the history of human labor is one of continually increasing specialization. As we progressed along the economic continuum from hunter-gatherer through agrarian and industrial and now into post-industrial economies, the labor force has become more fragmented, with workers having more and more specialized skill sets. Read More

http://ift.tt/1GbbTM0 Specialization, Polymaths And The Pareto Principle In A Convergence Economy http://ift.tt/1Lglz6K

Leaked Pinterest Documents Show Revenue, Growth Forecasts

TechCrunch has obtained documents that show Pinterest has been forecasting $169 million in revenue this year and $2.8 billion in annual revenue by 2018. Pinterest was also expecting to grow its monthly active users to 151 million by the end of 2015 and 329 million by 2018. Andreessen Horowitz used this information to solicit limited partners to invest in its special investment fund for… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1BIdEZe Leaked Pinterest Documents Show Revenue, Growth Forecasts Katie Roof,Matthew Lynley http://ift.tt/1GazzjD
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Match Group, a spinoff of IAC that owns properties like Tinder and OKCupid, has filed to go public. The Dallas-based company is reporting trailing twelve months revenue of $1 billion ending June 30 this year, and revenue of $483.9 million for the first half of 2015. It had net earnings of $49 million in the first half of $49.3 million, and trailing 12 month net earnings of $177.5 million.… Read More

http://ift.tt/1LSUNou Tinder Owner Match Group Files To Go Public http://ift.tt/1jITtrp

Match Group, a spinoff of IAC that owns properties like Tinder and OKCupid, has filed to go public. The Dallas-based company is reporting trailing twelve months revenue of $1 billion ending June 30 this year, and revenue of $483.9 million for the first half of 2015. It had net earnings of $49 million in the first half of $49.3 million, and trailing 12 month net earnings of $177.5 million.… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1LSUNou Tinder Owner Match Group Files To Go Public Matthew Lynley,Alex Wilhelm,Katie Roof http://ift.tt/1jITtrp
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If you were a fan of news startup Circa, you might remember that shortly before it shut down this summer, it was reportedly looking for a buyer and in talks with The Daily Dot. Well, it looks like those talks led somewhere — but not to an acquisition. Daily Dot co-founder Josh Jones-Dilworth said his company has hired “the core of the Circa tech team,” including co-founder… Read More

http://ift.tt/1PT4QYL The Daily Dot Didn’t Acquire Circa, But It Did Hire Circa’s CTO http://ift.tt/1Keyu5c

None of the three cofounders of Vine are still working on Twitter’s video-sharing app. Rus Yusopov, the last man standing, as it were, was one of the 300+ employees who was laid off in Twitter restructuring that went down earlier this week. The news was first reported by BuzzFeed, which confirmed Yusopov’s departure with a company spokesperson. Vine was founded by Colin Kroll,… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1NMQCLi Vine Loses Its Last Co-Founder To Twitter Layoffs Jordan Crook http://ift.tt/1MufMbn
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Google Play Is Getting A Makeover

{rss:content:encoded} Google Play Is Getting A Makeover http://ift.tt/1Pn14Jp http://ift.tt/1hJeJvQ October 16, 2015 at 08:58PM Screen Shot 2015-10-16 at 2.43.07 PM

Google Play, the company’s storefront selling apps, games, movies, books, and more, is getting a big makeover. Screenshots showing a revamped mobile interface offering improved navigation, engaging animations, and simpler way to switch between apps and entertainment offerings, surfaced online this week via the online profile of a Google employee. It was initially unclear why a Googler… Read More

Majority Of Users Have Upgraded To iOS 9, Report Finds

{rss:content:encoded} Majority Of Users Have Upgraded To iOS 9, Report Finds http://ift.tt/1PmHgWJ http://ift.tt/1MugOWa October 16, 2015 at 07:07PM 27a iOS 9 Availability

A majority of iOS device owners have upgraded to Apple’s recently released mobile operating system, iOS 9, according to a new third-party report which pegs iOS 9 adoption at 55 percent. That’s a slight climb from the 50 percent adoption rate Apple officially announced last month, less than a week after the software had been released, and the 12 percent adoption rate seen within… Read More

It would appear that Jay-Z, rap legend and Tidal music screaming service owner, has been hanging out with the folks over at Samsung. According to a report from Variety, Jay-Z had a meeting in Samsung’s Silicon Valley office on Wednesday with a number of executives, including Daren Tsui, Samsung’s SVP of content and services. Of course, a meeting does not an acquisition make.… Read More

http://ift.tt/1LemT9j Meeting Between Jay-Z And Samsung Could Forecast Tidal Acquisition http://ift.tt/1PxdXQq

Former Camino Engineer Releases Distilled, An Ad And Content Blocker That Won’t Slow Down Safari

{rss:content:encoded} Former Camino Engineer Releases Distilled, An Ad And Content Blocker That Won’t Slow Down Safari http://ift.tt/1MtPCWv http://ift.tt/1KduAJZ October 16, 2015 at 05:01PM

With the release of iOS 9, the ability to block ads and other content that slows down mobile websites has been a standout feature, if a somewhat controversial one. Soon after iOS 9’s launch, a number of app developers rushed to release their own content blockers on the App Store, and these apps quickly climbed the charts. With the abundance of content blockers available today, it’s… Read More

How Uber Scaled The Great Wall, Or 5 Tips For Acquiring Mobile Users In China

{rss:content:encoded} How Uber Scaled The Great Wall, Or 5 Tips For Acquiring Mobile Users In China http://ift.tt/1jHo2O9 http://ift.tt/1LS9doG October 16, 2015 at 05:00PM greatwall

China is the largest smartphone market in the world. It’s no surprise, then, that Uber has committed more than $1.2 billion in this coming year to winning the market. After just 12 short months, Uber has gone from one percent to somewhere between 11 and 30 percent market share (stats seem to vary widely), with plans to expand to 100 new Chinese cities this coming year. Read More

Twitter today released the details of how its new executive chairman Omid Kordestani will be compensated. The social media company says that Kordestani, who was poached from Google and was the company’s highest paid employee in 2014, will be paid a base annual salary of $50,000, and will have the option of getting up to 1.2 million shares on top of that. The shares are divided into… Read More

from TechCrunch » Social http://ift.tt/1jz1rDi Omid Kordestani Will Be Paid $50K/Year As Twitter Chairman, Up To 1.2M Shares On Top Ingrid Lunden http://ift.tt/1MtHTHP
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TicketFire Adds Their Own Digital Ticket Marketplace, Pic-To-Sell

{rss:content:encoded} TicketFire Adds Their Own Digital Ticket Marketplace, Pic-To-Sell http://ift.tt/1LRZGI2 http://ift.tt/1PwW0RT October 16, 2015 at 03:19PM

TicketFire adds a marketplace functionality to their patent-pending paper/digital ticket converting app. The functionality called Pic-To-Sell, allows you not only to digitize and transfer your paper tickets, but also to re-sell them to others from within the app itself, instead of relying on 3rd parties to complete the transaction. Read More

European car rental comparison startup — or self-styled metasearch engine — Happycar has raised a new $1.58 million round of funding. Notable backers include Global Founders Capital, the venture arm of German startup factory and e-commerce behometh Rocket Internet. Unusually, however, GFC isn’t leading the round. Read More

http://ift.tt/1NLWFQ2 Car Rental Price Comparison Startup Happycar Picks Up Backing From Rocket Internet’s GFC http://ift.tt/1RMkhTp

Apple Updates iWork Apps On All Platforms With Major New Features

{rss:content:encoded} Apple Updates iWork Apps On All Platforms With Major New Features http://ift.tt/1LdrtW4 http://ift.tt/1RLYATg October 16, 2015 at 11:44AM iCloud iWork

Apple has been relatively quiet with Pages, Numbers and Keynote in the past few months. But the company just released a major update for these three apps on all its platforms — iOS, OS X and iCloud.com. The apps now support the last features in iOS and OS X, but also bring long-awaited features. Read More