Yes. This a trademark application filed on October 30th for the term “subtweet.” Twitter has filed a trademark for the term "subtweet." http://pic.twitter.com/ivE9hLDm2R — Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) December 4, 2015 If you’re not sure what a subtweet is, then well…I’m not sure I can help you much. Basically, when someone talks trash about someone on… Read More
When Apple quietly turned on carrier billing in iTunes in Germany last month, we said emerging markets could be the company’s biggest opportunity and target for the facility, which lets consumers charge things like app payments and music purchases to their mobile account instead of credit or debit cards. Now this looks like what Apple is doing. Yesterday, it was flagged to us… Read More
According to IDC, sales growth of smartphones running Microsoft’s operating system will remain sluggish for the foreseeable future. New figures from the group, released yesterday, are stark. The group predicts that Microsoft will shift a total of 31.3 million phones in calendar 2015, giving the software giant an effective global market share of 2.2 percent. Read More
Samsung’s entry into consumer virtual reality, the Gear VR consumer edition, seems to be a pretty hot item for the holidays. We reported that both Amazon and Best Buy show that the item is out of stock, sending people to Samsung’s site to order one. You can still order one from Samsung, but you might not get it before 12/25, the site says. Good news is that free shipping has… Read More
Yahoo Messenger might be the best messaging app no one will use. The company just released a completely revamped version of its messaging platform, focused on mobile, group messaging and image sharing. In other words, Yahoo Messenger looks like Facebook Messenger, or WeChat, or WhatsApp, or Viber, or Line… You get the point, do we need yet another messaging app? Read More
Last month, Google introduced a new way for web searchers to find the information they want – even when that content was locked inside a mobile application. The search engine would now return results for in-app content, and offer you the ability to “stream” the app from the web to your phone, if you didn’t already have it installed on your device. Today, Google is… Read More
Make sure you submit your nomination for the best mobile app of 2015 now! With only one day left until nominations close for the Crunchies Award Show, we want to hear from you. The Best Mobile app should be a recent standout that has earned its place on your home screen and something that you can’t live without. The past seven winners of this award were imeem (2008), Foursquare… Read More
A project to probe the viability of using low power Bluetooth Beacon technology as an aid for indoor navigation — with a special focus on helping blind and visually impaired people get around independently — has been awarded a $1 million grant from Google.org to broaden and accelerate its development. Read More
“Which version of this design are we on? Did you make the suggested edits? Why is it taking so long to export?” Today, interface design collaboration tool Figma arrives to eliminate these questions with its browser-based alternative to Adobe’s desktop software. Figma constantly saves projects in the cloud with version control so teammates can always review, go back and modify,… Read More
Outside big events like concerts, tons of Ubers can be waiting, making it tough for passengers to figure out which car is theirs. That’s why last week I suggested Uber create a feature that would give passengers and drivers a visual signal they could use to find each other. Well, today Uber launched that. It’s called SPOT and involves drivers installing a colored LED light on… Read More
Uber’s latest growth strategy is to colonize the mobile app landscape with its new Ride Request Button. Launching today, iOS and Android app developers can more easily plug in an SDK with a few lines of code to add a Ride Request Button to their apps that deep-links into Uber’s app. In exchange for the literal traffic, Uber will pay US developers $5 for each first-time rider… Read More
The Star Wars marketing blitz is on, with everything from trailers hitting the internet to cans of food donning the likeness of characters at the supermarket. ridiculous, this is. http://pic.twitter.com/ib1WCwcuwI — Yoda (@yoda) September 5, 2015 People are flat out excited to see this new installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, on December 18th. To feed that excitement, the official… Read More
Making good on an announcement from earlier this year, Starbucks and Postmates have now teamed up to launch a pilot program that will see the on-demand delivery service powering deliveries for the Seattle-headquartered coffee chain. The service, which was promised to debut in the second half of 2015, allows consumers to place a coffee order via the Starbucks mobile app, pay using a credit… Read More
