In its most recent financial quarter B&N’s Nook business saw a 50.4% decrease in revenue and 58.2% decrease in device sales over the previous year. But the Nook is not dead. In fact in today’s statement announcing the company’s 2014 third fiscal quarter results, the CEO states a new Nook Color is still in the works. “The Company is actively engaged in discussions with… Read More
Samsung Is Looking For Some Good Wearable Developers
Today, at Samsung’s MWC Developer Day, the company introduced several software development kits with the hope of luring developers to its platforms. Among the kits were several aimed at the company’s just-announced wearables including the Gear 2 and Gear Fit. Samsung needs 3rd party developers to make these products successful. Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, president and head of the Media Solution… Read More
Medium Considering Raising $20 Million
Medium, Evan Williams’ clean and beautiful attempt at revamping the way people write and read online, is considering raising a venture round according to the rumor mill. We’re hearing that the company, which has been subsisting on angel money apparently, is thinking about finally taking money from VCs.
Yahoo News Digest Reviews Get A Boost From Yahoo Employees, Cheerleaders
Some folks out there really, really, really like any app that Yahoo puts out. At least, that’s the picture we get from looking at the recent reviews of its Yahoo News Digest app, introduced yesterday. The app is currently flying high in the charts, and features a 4.5 star rating with 282 massively positive reviews. Taking a closer look at the review listings, many of the people leaving positive notes about the app appear to make a very strong habit of reviewing Yahoo apps, and only Yahoo apps. Some of them have only ever reviewed Yahoo News Digest, and others have only reviewed the catalog of internal products and recent acquisitions like Tumblr. Some of the Yahoo employees leaving reviews on the app appear to (from simple user name identification) include Jonathan Raspaud, a Mobility Architect at Yahoo and Yahoo India employee Rahul Aneja. There are most likely others. John Hermann and Charlie Warzel at Buzzfeed also note that new Yahoo Tech runner David Pogue and Summly acquisition Nick D’Alosio were certainly aware of the very positive reviews. And that awareness raises questions about how easy it was for them to skip over mentioning the origins of many of those reviews in their ‘interview’ today. Is this a crime? No, not really. If I was part of a two-man company I’m sure that both my co-founder and I would be calling everyone we know to rate our app. But Yahoo is a big firm, with over 12,000 employees. And, as Hermann notes, a flood of positive ratings from a large company like this could certainly tip the scales in favor of one product over another. And, in fact, this is not the first time we’ve seen this kind of behavior from Yahoo employees on apps. In May of 2012 it released its Axis browsing tool, which met with a fairly poor reception in the press. But the reviews were surprisingly positive. When a deeper look was taken, sure enough, Yahoo employees were weighing in enthusiastically. We’ve reached out to Yahoo for comment, but it has already issued a statement to Buzzfeed saying that its employees ‘were not instructed to write reviews’. Yahoo-er Raspaud’s review of the Yahoo News Digest app? “Perfect.” Update: A Yahoo spokesperson has also told TechCrunch that it does not ask its employees to write reviews, and chalked it up to ‘a case of enthusiasm’. Image Credit: Eric
Augmented Reality Is Almost Everywhere
ResolutionTube, a TechStars Seattle startup, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding for an augmented reality app that helps the technician fix everything from a heating vent to sophisticated medical equipment. Madrona Ventures led the investment with participation from TechStars CEO David Cohen and other angel investors.
The company is targeting the field services market with a knowledge base and a smartphone app that a technician can use to fix things without needing to call a toll-free number for help. Instead, the technician can use the app to scan the serial number that connects to the ResolutionTube knowledge base. If the technician gets stuck, the app can be used to contact an expert who connects with the the technician over video. The technician uses the smartphone camera to show the expert the machinery in question. That is followed with some advice and use of a whiteboard to draw and show what the technician needs to do for the issue to get resolved.
Why Does Google Need So Many Robots? To Jump From The Web To The Real World
Why does Google need robots? Because it already rules your pocket. The mobile market, except for the slow rise of wearables, is saturated. There are millions of handsets around the world, each one connected to the Internet and most are running either Android or iOS. Except for incremental updates to the form, there will be few innovations coming out of the mobile space in the next decade.
Social Media Analytics Company Viralheat Names Jeff Revoy As Its New CEO
Viralheat is announcing that it has a new CEO: Jeff Revoy, whose recent roles include serving as former Chief Marketing and Product Officer at email marketing company iContact.
A company spokesperson suggested that it was time for a new CEO because Viralheat is shifting its focus from small and medium businesses to larger enterprises: “Jeff has a lot of experience helping companies like iContact transition into the Enterprise space and will help take Viralheat through its next phase of growth.”
New Cut the Rope 2 Game Drops On December 19, Check Out The Video Preview
We’ve seen the global success of games like Angry Birds from Rovio, but while the latter has $42m in funding, ZeptoLab, who is sitting on 400 million downloads of its Cut the Rope game since its 2010 launch, has taken zero external financing. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it, and this lack of funds is not holding it back from today releasing details about the sequel. Cut the Rope 2: Om Nom’s Unexpected Adventure will be available from 19 December for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch for $0.99, with an Android version following early next year.
Leaked Facebook Video Ad Pitch Deck Reveals Plans To Steal TV And YouTube Dollars
“Avoid saying anything negative about YouTube – leave the impression of the user experience up to them” Facebook tells its adtech partners in a leaked, confidential deck that teaches them to sell Facebook’s video ads. The 32-page document details Facebook’s plan to beat television with reach and YouTube with targeting, and spills the beans about an overhaul to video insights slated for Q1 2014.
Nextdoor Competitor Meetey Launches Its Local Social Network Internationally
Back in October Nextdoor, the startup that lets people create private social networks with others who live in their local neighborhoods, raised a new $60 million funding round boosting its cash pot to $100 million. It’s now live across 22,500 of neighborhoods in the US. So as you can tell this is going to be a pretty hot space, aiming to be for our “local life what Facebook is for our social life and what LinkedIn is for our professional life” says CEO and founder Nirav Tolia.