blogger better: 2017-12-24

Saturday, December 30, 2017

The food revolution may have just needed a cup of Blue Bottle

{rss:content:encoded} The food revolution may have just needed a cup of Blue Bottle http://ift.tt/2loxnxR http://ift.tt/2lulANS December 30, 2017 at 10:04PM

Each massive exit in the tech ecosystem usually follows the same cycle: an upstart becomes a huge business, it goes public or sells for a huge sum of money, many of the best people that built it take off and then they use their newfound wealth to start companies. But in addition to tech, the venture community has its own pet project: coffee. Read More

Apple’s $29 iPhone battery replacements are available starting today

{rss:content:encoded} Apple’s $29 iPhone battery replacements are available starting today http://ift.tt/2DBNper http://ift.tt/1LEarEy December 30, 2017 at 05:13PM

Those $29 battery out-of-warranty replacements Apple promised are now available for impacted users with an iPhone 6 or later. The company was initially aiming for a late-January timeframe in the States when it first offered up the discount, following blowback against its admission that it had slowed down older model phones to maximize performance. “We expected to need more time to be… Read More

Financial technology startups emerged as serious challengers to financial services in 2017

While cryptocurrencies stole the spotlight in 2017, a clutch of companies were quietly working behind the scenes to slowly bring the financial services establishment to its knees. It may turn out that these startup entrants of the last several years will prove to be the more relevant disruptors. Read More

http://ift.tt/295wzHE Financial technology startups emerged as serious challengers to financial services in 2017 http://ift.tt/2lkAlDF

Stories about Facebook’s advertising business tend to focus on the big numbers — its billions of users, millions of advertisers or its enormous lead over any competitor that’s not named Google. But Facebook says that one of its success stories in recent years involves a relatively small group of engineers — in fact, originally it was just one engineer, Vastal Mehta,… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2ChDRZj Facebook has a 100-person engineering team that helps advertisers build tools and infrastructure Anthony Ha http://ift.tt/2BTkaTX
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The founders of PayPal and its employees have produced many highly successful companies over the years. Often referred to as the “PayPal Mafia” because they’ve had such an impact on the startup ecosystem, this serial entrepreneur success story is reminiscent of a similar phenomenon taking place in Latin America. The story starts with another U.S. company, Groupon. Read More

http://ift.tt/1zyT1vQ Latin America’s Groupon Mafia http://ift.tt/2zMl7Ml

Holy hell, it’s been a year for Amazon. Jeff Bezos’ former-online-bookstore dumped $13.7 billion to buy a bunch of grocery stores, that speaker you talk to in your living room that Amazon makes is really popular and a bunch of server farms Amazon runs generate more than $10 billion in revenue annually. Read More

http://ift.tt/2ww7mme Amazon did a lot of funky stuff this year and it’s paying off http://ift.tt/2Cd7kUT

Amazon did a lot of funky stuff this year and it’s paying off

{rss:content:encoded} Amazon did a lot of funky stuff this year and it’s paying off http://ift.tt/2Cd7kUT http://ift.tt/2ww7mme December 29, 2017 at 10:00PM

iFixit drops its iPhone battery replacement to $29, matching Apple’s apology price

{rss:content:encoded} iFixit drops its iPhone battery replacement to $29, matching Apple’s apology price http://ift.tt/2CnfFoc http://ift.tt/2BUYVBd December 29, 2017 at 09:32PM

iFixit has never been particularly fond of Apple’s repair policies. The company’s gadgets regularly rack up poor repairability scores on the site. The site’s taking another jab at the tech giant today, dropping the price of its battery replacement kits to $29 — matching the cost of out-of-warranty battery replacements being offered up as consolation for its iPhone… Read More

OKCupid’s users are angry – very, very angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people to use real names instead of an OKCupid username, as before. The change eliminates one of the biggest differentiators between the dating app and rivals like Tinder and Bumble, which have users log in via Facebook in order to use their… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2pYw2mo OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/2CaMOEz
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OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy

{rss:content:encoded} OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy http://ift.tt/2CaMOEz http://ift.tt/2pYw2mo December 29, 2017 at 09:01PM

TrendKite is closing out 2017 with the announcement that it’s raised an additional $11 million in funding. The Austin-based startup says it’s currently analyzing 4.2 million articles every day, and using that analysis to help both brands and agencies to measure the impact of their PR efforts. So it can identify the total audience reached by articles mentioning the company, or… Read More

http://ift.tt/2CZKqfS TrendKite raises another $11M for its PR analytics platform http://ift.tt/2lhA58z

Pinterest announced today it’s adding former CBS and PepsiCo exec Fred Reynolds to its board of directors. Reynolds’ background includes global financial and strategic planning as well as business analysis, the company notes. He will also serve as Pinterest’s Audit Committee Chair. Prior to joining Pinterest’s board, Reynolds spent 15 years at CBS and… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2f82rSY Pinterest adds former CBS Corp. CFO Fred Reynolds to its board Sarah Perez http://ift.tt/2lr29W8
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Mitch Goldstone loves photo scanning. His business, ScanMyPhotos, does what it says on the tin: you send photos to the company and, using high speed scanners and special software, his team digitizes your photos, sticks them onto a USB key or online, and sends them back. He is proud of his business. Thanks to his scanners he’s helped users save their photos from tornadoes, floods, and theft. Read More

http://ift.tt/2CbE5Sg A digitizing David takes on photo-scanning Goliath http://ift.tt/2ljsoyy

Consumers dropped $200 million on apps on Christmas, up 12 percent from last year

{rss:content:encoded} Consumers dropped $200 million on apps on Christmas, up 12 percent from last year http://ift.tt/2zMJdWV http://ift.tt/2BBZN1a December 29, 2017 at 04:08PM

Consumers spent $196 million on apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions on Christmas Day 2017 across the App Store and Google Play, according to new data from Sensor Tower. The report, while excluding Android revenue in China, represents a 12.3 percent increase over last year’s spending of approximately $174 million. That speaks to a still-growing market for apps and games as well as… Read More

In this week’s episode of Technotopia I spoke to author and historian Leslie Berlin, writer of Troublemakers: Silicon Valleys’ Coming Of Age. Berlin is the Project Historian for the Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University and one of the few people who can see the entire rise of SV tech culture from a researcher’s perspective. Berlin’s book is quirky, fun, and… Read More

http://ift.tt/2DvZAd5 Historian Leslie Berlin talks about the rise of Silicon Valley http://ift.tt/2DvZgLp

Snapchat adds a 2017 year in review feature for saved memories

Snapchat users who snap and save can take a stroll down memory lane with the app’s new feature, “A Look Back at 2017.” If you’re the type that would rather ruminate than remain committed to Snapchat’s previously purely ephemeral philosophy, you can find your 2017 year in review in the memories tab. The feature is noteworthy mostly for the fact that it rips a… Read More

from Social – TechCrunch http://ift.tt/1PUnWQi Snapchat adds a 2017 year in review feature for saved memories Taylor Hatmaker http://ift.tt/2pR33Ri
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Today was a momentous day in Uber history. After much debate, rumors, and strife over the past few weeks, it looks like the company and its shareholders have come to an agreement over a tender offer that will see SoftBank own nearly 15% of the company, while also injecting around $1 billion in fresh capital. That deal is expected to close in the new year. The SoftBank tender offer was… Read More

http://ift.tt/2Ch4qxC Uber’s Frankenboard arrives http://ift.tt/2zI5S77

Instagram will now add ‘Recommended’ posts to your feed

{rss:content:encoded} Instagram will now add ‘Recommended’ posts to your feed http://ift.tt/2E4dBj1 http://ift.tt/2Cf1vTP December 27, 2017 at 08:05PM

Instagram’s feed will now show users recommended posts – a change that earlier this month was spotted while in testing, and has since quietly gone live. The feature, described here in the company’s Help documentation, will suggest posts for you based on those that have been liked by other accounts you follow. The new section, “Recommended for You,” is clearly… Read More