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Cell Phone Unlocking Bill Clears Senate Committee
A bill that will allow consumers to transfer their cell phones to other wireless carriers more simply was amended and approved by a Senate committee Thursday. The House passed similar legislation in February, and the bill is now expected to see a full Senate vote.
The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act was first introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Read More
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Facebook Launches “Out-App Purchase” Ads
What if in-app purchases didn’t have to happen in-app? Rather than indirectly helping developers monetize with ads that drive them installs and re-engagement, Facebook today began letting them sell Facebook desktop game virtual goods straight from ads in the News Feed or sidebar. But an even more lucrative opportunity could be bringing these “out-app purchase” ads to mobile.… Read More
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MLB’s iBeacon Project Enters Phase Two With Interactive Ballpark Attractions
Major League Baseball was among the first to embrace Apple’s iBeacon technology on a wide scale, installing them in 28 MLB ballparks across the U.S. last year to help iPhone owners check-in to games automatically and collect special offers. Now, the project is entering phase two, with a debut project at this year’s All-Star Game at Target Field that uses iBeacons combined with… Read More
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Misfit Moves Further Away From Hardware And Into Platform Territory With New Beddit Integration
The hardware wearable business is a tough gig, and today brings another reminder: Fitness and activity tracking startup Misfit has announced a new partnership with Beddit, a hardware maker that builds a smart sleep-monitoring system. The Beddit deal brings a co-branded device to Misfit’s lineup of offering, allowing the Misfit app to now also track advanced sleep information. Read More
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The App Store, Six Years Later
Happy birthday, iTunes App Store. Apple’s App Store turns six today, and now offers consumers over 1.2 million apps, which have been downloaded 75 billion times, according to the most recent official data shared by the company.
But the business can sometimes be tough for app developers, and new numbers out this morning from two different analytics companies help prove this point. Read More
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Vaavud Takes To Kickstarter Again For A New Smartphone Wind Meter That Tracks Direction
Kickstarter has been around long enough that the Kickstarter double-dip is now a well-established thing – basically it’s the practice of a company returning to the crowdfunding well to secure the resources for a new product launch. The original Vaavud was a wind meter that required no power and plugged into your smartphone’s 3.5mm stereo input jack, but that actually… Read More
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FreedomPop Brings Its Free Wireless Service To Europe, Sans Handsets
FreedomPop, the startup out of LA that has been going after U.S. carriers’ wireless business with a “free” basic mobile offering, is now bringing a SIM-only version of its service to Europe and beyond. Today, the company announced that it will kick off first with FreedomPop in Belgium, with rollouts also in the UK, Germany, France and Spain, as well as to markets in the… Read More
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Apple Patents Stronger Sapphire Displays And Illuminated Sapphire Controls
Apple has a few new patent applications with the USPTO (via AppleInsider), all relating to sapphire glass displays and elements for its use in mobile devices. The patents cover a method for making sapphire glass display covers stronger, a way to create illuminated buttons with sapphire, and a way to embed markings below a sapphire layer. Read More
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Getty Images And iStock iOS Apps Get A Big Overhaul And The New Embed Function
Stock photography giant Getty Images is updating its iOS apps, including iStock, which gets its update today, and Getting Images proper, which is receiving its overhaul on July 17. Both apps feature design changes that make the photography they show off much more the central focus. They include great-looking lightbox designs for browsing, including mosaic views on both the iPad and the… Read More
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Tinder’s Sean Rad To Join Us At Disrupt SF 2014
Sean Rad, the co-inventor of the hottest dating game in the land, will be joining us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014 to chat about the success of Tinder and its plans for monetization. Tinder is also currently the subject of a lawsuit served by its former VP of Marketing Whitney Wolfe, which we have covered here. The app in its present iteration has been around since 2012, but… Read More
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