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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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LinkedIn Steps Up Its AI Play, Turns Its Contacts App Into A New Connected App
With 40% of LinkedIn‘s 300 million users accessing the social network for professionals via mobile devices, the company has been stepping up a gear on its mobile business, adding new apps around specific experiences like job hunting. Today comes the latest development on this front, a new app called LinkedIn Connected. Designed as the next generation of its Contacts app —… 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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Ultratext Is A Simple GIF-Making App That Works With iMessage
There’s nothing more obnoxious than texting someone who doesn’t respond (at least somewhat) promptly. And their excuse? “Sorry, I didn’t see your text!” Ha, no more, my so-called friends, no more! A new app called Ultratext will help get their attention by letting you easily create colorful, flashing GIF messages you can quickly send via iMessage. Read More
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Amino Raises $1.65M To Replace Old-School Forums With Mobile Communities
Amino, a TechStars-incubated startup that’s building mobile communities around topics like anime and Doctor Who, is announcing that it has raised $1.65 million in seed funding led by Union Square Ventures. Co-founder and CEO Ben Anderson told me that his engagement with “passionate niche interests” goes back to when he was a teenager and excited about robots, but not sure how… Read More
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With LocalMaven, Businesses Can Pay “Mavens” To Promote Their Deals
Startup LocalMaven says it’s making things easier for businesses that want to use plain old cash to encourage word-of-mouth referrals. Founder and CEO Arnon Rosan comes from the events business, where he said he was frustrated that there was no good way to track or reward friendly referrals. For example, he said he might recommend a tent company to a friend, but he’d have no… Read More
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The FAA Is Deciding If Planesharing Apps Are Legal
The Federal Aviation Administration is formally deliberating on whether amateur pilots can use apps and websites to trade extra seats on flights they’ve planned in exchange for gas money. Amateur pilots aren’t allowed to profit from flying passengers, but several startups like Flytenow have set up private plane ridesharing sites, akin to Zimride for the sky. Now, one startup… Read More
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Fly Or Die: Yo
You might have heard of Yo. It’s a new app that has one singular function: it sends the word “Yo” to your friends. The app saw 50k downloads before ever officially launching and has received $1 million in funding. The idea here is that the sender, and the time of day, and the circumstances surrounding the Yo provide enough context to not need anything else. The company… Read More
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Dasher Takes Messaging Apps Up A Notch With Support For Rich Content, Location Sharing, GIFs And More
Do you need another messaging app? One that does GIFs? Sure, why not?! You have room on page 10 of your “chat apps” folder of your iPhone, right? Great! Introducing the latest contender vying for the messaging app throne: Dasher, a new social app backed by $1.25 million in seed funding from Lerer Ventures, Venrock and other angel investors. Read More
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Facebook Tries Being A TV Channel With New Mobile Video Player
If you watch one of a friend’s videos, Facebook will now try to get you to watch more with a new carousel of suggested videos that appears after you view one in the mobile News Feed. Reminiscent of YouTube’s Related Videos, Facebook confirms the existence of this fresh laidback experience in Facebook for iOS that I spotted over the weekend. It lets you quickly watch a series of… Read More
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