Smartphones set to become even smarter

January 3, 2014 4:25 pm

Smartphones set to become even smarter

By Daniel Thomas

The revolution in smartphones is over. This year’s focus will instead be on step changes in technology that will help the devices play an even greater role in people’s lives. Better processors and integrated applications will mean even smarter phones, not just in terms of sheer processing power but also in analysing and making use of the masses of data collected by the devices. Kicking off the fight for supremacy in the smartphone market this year will be the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, where the following technologies and trends in mobiles will be on display. Read more of this post

Secondary Stock Offerings Keep Questionable Techs Afloat; For some companies, finding money on Wall Street is easier than finding revenue for their businesses

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014

Secondary Stock Offerings Keep Questionable Techs Afloat

By TIERNAN RAY | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

For some companies, finding money on Wall Street is easier than finding revenue for their businesses.

Short-sellers had a rough 2013 in a surging market for stocks. Some of that is overall exuberance for the new, new thing in technology—think 3-D printing—that can sustain a stock’s momentum indefinitely. But there’s another factor that can also keep shares aloft: the willingness of capital markets to give these companies money again and again. I’ve been reviewing a decade’s worth of follow-on stock offerings by information technology companies based in the U.S.—793 deals, to be exact—which raised $77 billion for 470 companies. Read more of this post

Ride service Uber, brash darling of Silicon Valley, stalks new markets

Ride service Uber, brash darling of Silicon Valley, stalks new markets

Thu, Jan 2 2014

By Sarah McBride

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick knows the value of a good controversy. After his upstart company, which lets people summon rides at the touch of a smartphone button, provoked a flurry of social media outrage in December over pricing policies that can result in exorbitant fares, Kalanick addressed prospective New Year’s Eve customers. Read more of this post

Netflix’s dumbed-down algorithms

Netflix’s dumbed-down algorithms

By Felix Salmon

JANUARY 3, 2014

Alexis Madrigal has a rollicking investigation into Netflix’s movie genres — all 76,897 of them, from category #1 (African-American Crime Documentaries) to category #91,307 (Visually Striking Latin American Comedies). His story is titled “How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood”, and as such, it’s the latest entrant to a well-stocked category of its own: Awestruck Narratives About Netflix’s Technology and the Systematization of the Ineffable. Read more of this post

Marc Andreessen Just Suggested That Snapchat Could Become A $100 Billion Company

Marc Andreessen Just Suggested That Snapchat Could Become A $100 Billion Company

JAY YAROW

When Snapchat reportedly turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook, the knee jerk reaction from a lot of people was, “Are they crazy?!?” It’s a lot of money to pass on. But, according to venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Snapchat has an opportunity to build something much bigger, much more valuable.  In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Andreessen was asked about Snapchat’s future as a business. Here’s his answer: Read more of this post

Listen to Pandora, and It Listens Back

January 4, 2014

Listen to Pandora, and It Listens Back

By NATASHA SINGER

Pandora, the Internet radio service, is plying a new tune.

After years of customizing playlists to individual listeners by analyzing components of the songs they like, then playing them tracks with similar traits, the company has started data-mining users’ musical tastes for clues about the kinds of ads most likely to engage them. Read more of this post

It’s true! The FT – and social media – really do move markets; Wikipedia visits and Google search linked to swings, research says

January 3, 2014 5:26 pm

It’s true! The FT – and social media – really do move markets

By John Authers

Wikipedia visits and Google search linked to swings, research says

Newspapers report the news. They should never aim to be part of the story themselves. But in the stock market, that division is hard to sustain. A rigorous statistical study by a group of academics at Warwick Businss School has now shown that we at the Financial Times regularly move the markets we write about. (A similar exercise for our best-known competitors would surely yield the same result; it happens that this study covered the FT.) Read more of this post

Even Google Employees Are Giving Up On Google Glass

Even Google Employees Are Giving Up On Google Glass

JAY YAROW

JAN. 3, 2014, 12:07 PM 261,004 45

Here’s a bad sign for Google’s still-nascent Glass project from Glass-evangelist Robert Scoble: I’m also worried at a new trend: I rarely see Google employees wearing theirs anymore. Most say “I just don’t like advertising that I work for Google.” I understand that. Quite a few people assume I work for Google when they see me with mine. I just hope it doesn’t mean that Google’s average employee won’t support it. That is really what killed the tablet PC efforts inside Microsoft until Apple forced them to react due to popularity of iPad. Read more of this post

Berlin’s ‘poor but sexy’ appeal turning city into European Silicon Valley

Berlin’s ‘poor but sexy’ appeal turning city into European Silicon Valley

Startups, venture capitalists and foreign workers descend on city with cheap rent and big investments from Google and Microsoft

Rupert Neate in Berlin

The Guardian, Friday 3 January 2014 18.40 GMT

A decade ago Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit tried to attract creative types to the city by declaring “Berlin ist arm, aber sexy” (poor but sexy). It worked. The City’s astonishingly low rents compared with other European capitals – a one-bed flat a short walk from Alexanderplatz in the centre of town can still be picked up for as little as €450-a-month (£373) – have helped draw arty people from across the world and made Berlin a major centre for artists, writers, musicians and, increasingly, technology and web entrepreneurs. Read more of this post

Andreessen: Bubble Believers ‘Don’t Know What They’re Talking About’; Venture Capitalist Discusses the Current State of Tech Investing

Andreessen: Bubble Believers ‘Don’t Know What They’re Talking About’

Venture Capitalist Discusses the Current State of Tech Investing

DOUGLAS MACMILLAN

Updated Jan. 3, 2014 1:10 p.m. ET

In a 2011 essay in The Wall Street Journal, venture capitalist and Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen predicted that software companies are “eating the world” by replacing old industries with new services that are smarter, faster and cheaper. Read more of this post

An Ode to Joyful Music Streaming; With more Spotify-like services on the horizon, a bounty of unexplored music beckons. But will they do a better job of helping you figure out what to listen to next?

An Ode to Joyful Music Streaming

With more Spotify-like services on the horizon, a bounty of unexplored music beckons. But will they do a better job of helping you figure out what to listen to next?

JOHN JURGENSEN

Updated Jan. 3, 2014 10:50 p.m. ET

AS A WALL STREET Journal entertainment reporter, I have an enviable music supply. My desk is piled with promotional CDs; links to download unreleased albums flow into my inbox daily; and going to concerts is part of the job description. I’m steeped in new music—so why would I draw a blank when trying to figure out what to listen to on my evening train ride home? Confronted by the empty search bar on Spotify, I sometimes feel paralyzed. The unseen presence of the app’s 20 million songs weighs down on me with each flash of the cursor. Read more of this post

Why Chinese Investors are Willing to Take Bold Bet on the Money Burning Taxi App Business?

Why Chinese Investors are Willing to Take Bold Bet on the Money Burning Taxi App Business?

By Emma Lee on January 3, 2014

Taxi-booking apps experienced booming development in the past year. Investors are still bullish on the taxi app market and continue to invest heavily in the sector, despite the facts that the sprawling growth of the industry is highly dependent on capital injections and none of the leading companies generate any profit so far. Read more of this post

Tencent tips in $100 million funding round for China’s leading taxi-hailing app – is WeChat integration next?

Tencent tips in $100 million funding round for China’s leading taxi-hailing app – is WeChat integration next?

January 2, 2014

by Josh Horwitz

Chinese taxi booking app Didi Dache has started off the new year with a bang, receiving a fresh round of $100 million in funding, according to Tencent Tech. Citic PE is leading the series C funding round with a contribution of $60 million, while tech giant Tencent (HKG: 0700) follows with an investment of $30 million. In May 2013, Tencent gave $15 million in funding to the company. Read more of this post

India May Relax E-Commerce Rules, Opening The Door Further For Amazon And Other Global Giants

India May Relax E-Commerce Rules, Opening The Door Further For Amazon And Other Global Giants

Posted 3 hours ago by Pankaj Mishra

As India prepares to reconsider the ban on foreign investments in the country’s e-commerce sector, two of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies — Amazon and eBay — are anxiously hoping to conquer what they refer to as their last frontier. Read more of this post

The Indian e-commerce saga: A look at the year that was

The Indian e-commerce saga: A look at the year that was

By Saloni

With Indian e-commerce taking a giant leap forward in 2013, e27 takes a look at major trends and events that dominated the industry last year

The Indian e-commerce industry has been known for its dramatic twists and turns from its very inception. Not surprisingly, it managed to carry on this legacy in 2013. Shedding its dotcom bubble image, the industry has come a long way. However, it is still struggling on various fronts. e27 takes a look at the year that was in the journey of the e-commerce sector in India… Read more of this post

Acoustic sensing: The ear underground; How fibre-optic cables can work like microphones

Acoustic sensing: The ear underground; How fibre-optic cables can work like microphones

Jan 4th 2014 | From the print edition

EARLY in the morning in Texas a vehicle slows and turns onto a side road. Some 7,600km (4,700 miles) away in Farnborough, south-west of London, a series of red lines zigzag across a computer screen and raise an alarm. That the lines resemble those on a seismograph picking up a small earth tremor is entirely appropriate: these lines represent tiny ground vibrations made by sounds from above. More lines appear as the vehicle rumbles across a cattle grid, identifying it as a two-axle vehicle, probably a car. Then it stops. Subsequent lines are interpreted as footsteps followed by the sound of digging. A security camera swings round to take a look—and a man with a spade cheerfully waves back. This time it is just a demonstration. Read more of this post

How Uber Conquered The World In 2013; In just over three years, Uber’s expanded to dozens of cities, dragging taxi regulations into the 21st century

2014-01-03

How Uber Conquered The World In 2013

In just over three years, Uber’s expanded to dozens of cities, dragging taxi regulations into the 21st century.

By Steven Melendez

Since its launch in mid-2010, transportation-on-demand startupUber has grown from its San Francisco roots to more than 60 citiesacross six continents. And according to widely circulated internal documents published by Valleywag in early December, the company is on track to beat investor expectations and bring in more than $200 million in revenue by the end of 2013. Read more of this post

MediaTek to control over 50% of smartphone touchscreen controller IC market in China

MediaTek could control over a 50% share of the smartphone-use touchscreen controller IC market in China after the Taiwan-based design house officially merges with fellow company MStar Semiconductor on February 1, 2014, according to industry sources. MediaTek currently accounts for over 20% of China’s smartphone touch controller segment through its affiliated company, Goodix Technology, which has been able to ramp up its market share by shipping IC parts in pair with MediaTek’s smartphone solutions, the sources noted. MStar, which is believed to be able to ship tens of millions of touchscreen controller ICs for feature phone and smartphone applications a month, has also maintained an over 20% share in touch controller IC markets in China and other emerging markets, revealed the sources. A consolidation of the touch controller units of MStar and Goodix will add more pressure on other rival IC design houses, stated the sources

Digital Fork Tracks and Sets a User’s Eating Pace; Utensil Uses Vibrations, Lights and an App to Improve Eating Habits

Digital Fork Tracks and Sets a User’s Eating Pace

Utensil Uses Vibrations, Lights and an App to Improve Eating Habits

JOANNA STERN

“Slow down! Don’t eat so fast!”

Like generations before me, I grew up hearing those words. Yet, despite the best of parental intentions, I continued to scarf down my chicken nuggets at a record pace. Until last week, that is, when the nagging reappeared in the form of a “smart” fork. The $100 HAPIfork vibrates in your mouth when you eat too fast and wirelessly reports your good (or bad) habits to your smartphone. No, this isn’t a “Saturday Night Live” parody of a late-night infomercial product. Its maker, Hapilabs, claims the fork will help you eat slower, which in turn will help you curb overeating and lose weight. And while the fork has it faults, using it for two weeks has challenged me to think more about what I take from my plate. Two bites within 10 seconds and the fork will reprimand you with a buzz of the tines and a blinking red light. The vibration is quick and painless—think electric toothbrush. Separate your bites by 10 seconds or more and the fork stays quiet and blinks green to show approval. You can decrease or increase the interval between bites, but Hapilabs says 10 seconds is ideal when the goal is to make a well-proportioned meal last 20 minutes, something dietitians I spoke to recommend.

Read more of this post

Sohu probes source of billionaire Chen Guangbiao’s wealth

Sohu probes source of billionaire Chen Guangbiao’s wealth

Staff Reporter

2014-01-02

Chen Guangbiao shows off his “room of cash,” made from 16 tonnes of RMB100 bills, in Nanjing, Dec. 24, 2013. (Photo/CNS)

Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao, known for his attention-seeking charitable endeavors including literally throwing cash at people, recently made headlines after releasing a photo of himself surrounded by an estimated 1.4 billion yuan (US$231 million) in RMB100 bills. The photo has lead Chinese web portal Sohu to launch an investigation into his wealth. Read more of this post

Warby Parker valued at $500 million

Warby Parker valued at $500 million

By Dan Primack December 31, 2013: 11:43 AM ET

Warby Parker joins the half-billion dollar club.

FORTUNE — Earlier this month, Fortune reported that trendy eyeglass maker Warby Parker had raised $60 million in new venture capital funding from existing investors. Now comes word that the round came at a valuation of approximately $500 million. This is around double where Warby Parker was valued when it last raised money, a two-part $41.5 million Series B round that included closes in both September 2012 and January 2013. Tiger Global Management led the new investment, and was joined by return backers like General Catalyst Partners, Spark Capital, Thrive Capital and First Round Capital. New York-based Warby Parker has raised a total of $116 million since being Warby Parker declined to comment on valuation for our original story, and a company spokesperson was unavailable to speak for this update.

A Stream of Music, Not Revenue

December 12, 2013

A Stream of Music, Not Revenue

By BEN SISARIO

When Spotify, the digital music company of the moment, announced this week an exclusive deal with Led Zeppelin and free access on mobile devices, it also reported impressive numbers. Its listeners have streamed 4.5 billion hours of music this year, and it has paid more than $1 billion in music royalties since its founding. Read more of this post

Amazon’s Genius: How Even The Bad News Is Really Good News

Amazon’s Genius: How Even The Bad News Is Really Good News

JAY YAROW

JAN. 2, 2014, 8:07 AM 2,240 2

Amazon is the most secretive company in tech by a mile. Sure, Apple has the most hype for being secretive, but the frustrating truth for Apple is that most of its news leaks ahead of time.  Read more of this post

America Is Basically Irrelevant To The Future Of Facebook?

America Is Basically Irrelevant To The Future Of Facebook

JIM EDWARDS

DEC. 31, 2013, 3:43 PM 2,974 3

In the last few weeks, one of the more popular headlines about Facebook is the idea that it is finally dying, its users drifting away to Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp or Snapchat.

In reality, however, the opposite is happening. In the last year, despite the rise of Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, Facebook actually became more dominant than it was the year before, as this stat from Pew shows: Read more of this post

Berlin’s start-ups want to go back to the future; With its tradition of high-quality engineering, a sizeable domestic market and the allure of Berlin, Germany ought to be the perfect European base for tech start-ups.

January 2, 2014 12:10 pm

Berlin’s start-ups want to go back to the future

By Jeevan Vasagar in Berlin

With its tradition of high-quality engineering, a sizeable domestic market and the allure of Berlin, Germany ought to be the perfect European base for tech start-ups. Yet the last time the country experienced a boom in entrepreneurship was during the final decades of the 19th century in the Gründerzeit, or founder epoch, when banks and industrial companies like Commerzbank and AEG were founded. The last German tech start-up to achieve global scale was SAP, founded in 1972. Read more of this post

Carlyle’s Graze Fights General Mills to Be Snack Netflix

Carlyle’s Graze Fights General Mills to Be Snack Netflix

Americans may soon get their snacks the same way they rent movies.

Graze.com, which has been selling personalized, mail-order boxes of snacks in the U.K. for five years, is planning a major U.S. push in January, funded by its majority owner, private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP. (CG) While Graze has barely landed in the U.S., its $70 million of sales in its home market this year already has Big Food’s attention. General Mills Inc. (GIS) is rolling out a service almost identical to Graze, right down to the $6 price. Read more of this post

Cold, dark winters inspire Nordic start-ups

January 2, 2014 12:10 pm

Cold, dark winters inspire Nordic start-ups

By Richard Milne, Nordic Correspondent

Daylight is an increasingly precious commodity in the Nordic region just after midwinter. But the lack of sun and biting cold are just two of the reasons advanced for the success of start-ups, particularly from Sweden and Finland. Read more of this post

Early Google Glass Adopter Says The Product Is ‘Doomed’ In 2014

Early Google Glass Adopter Says The Product Is ‘Doomed’ In 2014

MEGAN ROSE DICKEY

DEC. 31, 2013, 5:42 PM 8,518 11

Tech pundit and early Google Glass adopter Robert Scoble thinks the search giant’s Internet-connected glasses won’t be an instant hit. Google needs to get the price below $300 and make a lot of adjustments to its API, battery life, and design, Scoble writes on Google+. “Price is gonna matter a LOT,” he writes. “But I’m hearing they won’t be able to get under $500 in 2014, so that means it’s doomed. In 2014. When they get under $300 and have another revision or two? That’s when the market really will show up. 2016, I say.” Read more of this post