Getting leapfrogging right: Adapting the latest tech trends to developing nations

Sara Agarwal is Director for International Finance Organizations at Hewlett Packard. Dr. Parag Khanna is a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan public policy think-tank based in Washington, D.C.. Since the rise of mobile communications and the Internet, movements have emerged to leverage such technologies to for economic growth, social equity, improved education and healthcare, and other public goods. Under the rubric of “Information Communication Technologies for Development” (ICT4D), donor agencies, NGOs, companies, industry coalitions and other players have clamored to launch initiatives to help countries to bridge the “digital divide” or “leapfrog” to the latest—or...



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Father-son developers create service that offers different languages in a single video

There’s always been a certain je ne sais quoi about going to a foreign film. First, it absolutely confirms that you know how to read (kidding). But second, it implies that you can read between lines of dialog you don’t understand, and which are often minimally translated, to get the heart of a story. The father-son creators of an upcoming service called Alugha — still in beta — don’t think you should have to work that hard to enjoy a video just because it’s not filmed in your language. The pair is determined to facilitate the native-language translation of movies,...



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Microsoft launches Files for Windows Phone 8.1, a file management app with search, sharing, and SD card support

Following an announcement on Reddit at the start of the month, Microsoft today released the much-anticipated Files app for Windows Phone 8.1, finally bringing a file management system to the mobile OS. You can download it now directly from the Windows Phone Store. The free app includes the following functionality: Access files stored on your phone and SD card. Browse, search and launch files. Easily share one file or multiple files. Create folders to organize your files. Copy, move, rename and delete files. Microsoft says the official file manager app “makes it easy and intuitive to manage your files on...



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Google Search for Android gets global app indexing, content is no longer limited to just English

Google today released an important update that ensures app indexing in Google Search for Android works for all content, not just English. The company has also translated its developer guidelines into eight additional languages: Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. We contacted Google to ask if app indexing now works in these languages, or what exactly “more languages” refers to, since the company’s announcement isn’t clear. Google told TNW that the feature is now available globally, but for now it will only show content from the apps that the company has manually included. Google today...



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Google Stars extension for Chrome leaks: Hands on

We’ve known for a while now that Google is testing a new favoriting service called Google Stars, aimed at helping users save, share, and organize Web content. This is largely due to multiple leaks, detailing features as well as showing off the interface in a video and screenshots. Today, Google+ user Florian Kiersch, who has done the majority of the digging behind the service, has leaked the Google Stars extension for Google Chrome. It appears Kiersch managed to get the Chrome Web Store to show him the extension, which he downloaded and shared with the German site Caschys. That blog...



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Try new Recipes and Channels on IFTTT! Including Digg, eBay, Fitbit, Slack, GroupMe, Numerous and more. Two Recipes everyone should try Ten Channel updates this month Much, much more goodness coming soon. See you in June! :) —The IFTTT Team Share on Facebook  |   Share on Twitter  |   Share on Pinterest This newsletter was automatically sent to bloggggg1111.aaaa@blogger.com because you signed up for IFTTT with that address. To disable this communication, you can manage your email settings or unsubscribe from the IFTTT Newsletter.   IFTTT · 923 Market Street #400 · San Francisco, CA 94103

A guide to networking for those who hate networking

Andrea Deets is the Lead Writer at Crew, an invite-only network connecting short-term software projects with handpicked developers and designers. This post originally appeared on the Crew blog. Once I was making oatmeal in the microwave in my dorm and two of my other flatmates came in… I never cooked food in that kitchen again. I’m an introvert and people scare the hell out of me. For the rest of the year I made instant soup using hot water that came out of the tap in my room. It’s hard for me to meet people, but I’ve been working at...



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Motorola will close the Texas factory where it assembles Moto X smartphones in 2014

Motorola is closing a factory in Texas that employs roughly 700 people to assemble its Moto X smartphones, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports. The plant will be shuttered before the end of the year, throwing the future of the customizable handset – and the direction of Motorola’s future flagship smartphones – into doubt. The decision was confirmed to TNW and comes four months after its $2.9 billion acquisition by Chinese manufacturer Lenovo. According to the WSJ, Motorola will continue to produce the Moto X in China and Brazil, among other locations, but didn’t disclose whether this would include the...



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LG G3 review: Third time’s a charm for LG’s 5.5″ flagship, but questions remain over battery life

LG’s latest and greatest flagship, the G3, was heavily leaked before its official unveiling in London this week, and as a result, we pretty much knew what to expect ahead of time. In fact, it was a bit like the HTC One (M8) launch announcement – most of the key details, specs and even images were available well ahead of launch day, but as I noted in our quick hands-on with the device on launch night, sometimes the specs on paper don’t match up with the real-world performance. It’s still only been a few days since I got my hands...



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11 of the best new iOS apps from May

From internet-free voice-calling apps to Foursquare spin-offs, we covered a lot of ground with new iOS apps in May. So by way of a quick recap, here’s our pick of the best from the past month. Ringo While many apps have been challenging Skype’s throne in recent times, Ringo launched this month with a fresh take on what a mobile calling app can look like. Interestingly, Ringo doesn’t require an internet connection to make calls – it routes them in the same way a regular carrier does, so “calls are not affected by fluctuations in internet connectivity that often lead...



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The anatomy of the perfect blog post: Length, headline, images and more

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Surface Pro 3 review: Has Microsoft’s delicate compromise worked this time?

Microsoft has always had lofty goals for the Surface Pro. The notion of a singular device to handle all your laptop and tablet needs is undoubtedly enticing, and for Microsoft, it represents the future of the PC. The Surface Pro is, in theory, a sound idea. Unfortunately, bringing that vision to fruition has proved a bumpy ride. The first two models were better as laptops than tablets, and even then they probably weren’t your best option. Featuring a lower starting price, redesigned hardware, and an improved Type Cover, it’s no surprise that the Surface Pro 3 is the best Surface...



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You can now buy a trio of Nokia Lumia handsets from Microsoft’s online store in the UK

Take a virtual wander through Microsoft’s online store in the UK and you’ll notice three Windows Phone handsets have been added to its digital shelves. As Engadget reports, the Nokia Lumia 630 (our review), Lumia 1320 and 1520 (our review) are now being stocked for customers to drool over and potentially purchase at will. The Lumia 630 – the first smartphone to ship with Windows Phone 8.1 – is shipping for the paltry sum of £129, while the mid-range Lumia 1320 goes for £329 and the high-end Lumia 1520 is sold for £549. Given you can purchase an iPhone from...



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16 of the best new Android apps from May

From Foursquare spin-offs to whistle-powered selfies, we covered a lot of ground with new Android apps in May. So by way of a quick recap, here’s our pick of the newbies from the past month. Sunrise Sunrise finally opened its uber-popular calendar app to Android users this month, as well as a version for desktop Web browsers. Sunrise for Android offers a clean, simple design and useful hooks into third-party services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare. It currently supports Google and iCloud calendars, though Exchange support will be added in the future. ➤ Sunrise Swarm (Foursquare) Foursquare was founded...



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Google is pushing Play Music tonight with a live concert TV ad in the UK

Tonight, Google will promote its Google Play Music streaming and download services with a live concert aired during a TV ad break in the UK. A performance from singer-songwriter Sam Smith will be live streamed on the Google Play site from 9.30pm, before being piped in for a full commercial break at 10:45pm on Channel 4. It’s a novel idea – TV advert breaks are usually filled with short, forgettable commercials, so a comparatively long concert snippet should make viewers sit up and take notice. The advert is just one slice of a renewed marketing push for Google Play services...



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Oppo N1 mini smartphone breaks cover with a 13-megapixel swiveling camera

Following its rather monstrous N1 smartphone, Oppo is readying a smaller version called the N1 mini. The petite handset has broken cover on the Chinese manufacturer’s website, revealing its design and a few tantalising details about the hardware. As with the N1 (our review), the N1 mini is a predominantly white, plastic handset with a silver trim running around its edges. As PhoneArena reports, the smaller version also sports the same 13-megapixel camera as its goliath predecessor, which can be repositioned for both front and rear-facing shots. Otherwise, most of the N1 mini specs remain a mystery. The webpage confirms...



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SpaceX unveils a ‘fully reusable’ spacecraft that can carry 7 astronauts and land anywhere on Earth

SpaceX founder Elon Musk took the wraps off its next-generation spacecraft today, called Dragon V2. The key improvements are that Dragon V2 will be able to land “anywhere on Earth” with its propulsion system and the accuracy of a helicopter. It will also be capable of carrying seven astronauts for several days. Musk said Dragon V2 is capable of docking autonomously, and that it can land either via the propulsion system, or in the case that any engines aren’t working — deploy parachutes for a safe landing. Even after starting the propulsion system, it can afford to lose two engines...



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PicTricks emerges from beta to let real humans fix your photos for $5 each

So you have a poorly lit, badly composed photo. Join the club. Despite exponential growth in the quantity of photos shot for social networks, blogs and personal albums, it seems the quality of those pictures has not improved. PicTricks, an online service that just emerged from an extended beta, gives those who lack that photo fixing sleight-of-hand another choice. You can ditch the do-it-yourself phone and tablet photo editors and sophisticated desktop software in favor of a warm and sensitive human being to entrust with your precious shot. PicTricks is not an app and it is not a Web photo...



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Microsoft and Salesforce.com partner to bring Salesforce platform to Windows, Windows Phone, and Office 365

Microsoft and Salesforce.com today announced a strategic partnership that will bring the latter’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) apps to the former’s Windows, Windows Phone, and Office 365 platforms. Neither disclosed terms of the deal, so it’s not clear if there is any money changing hands. The two companies are planning to deliver Salesforce1 for Windows and Windows Phone 8.1 so that customers can access Salesforce and run their business from their Windows devices. A preview is slated for fall 2014 with general availability expected sometime in 2015. The duo also hopes to release Salesforce for Office 365, though a timeline...



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Google Play will stop accepting apps using legacy AdMob on August 1, platform will be sunset on August 31

Google today announced it has completed the rollout of the new AdMob to over 200 countries and as such the Google Play store will stop accepting apps using the legacy SDK on August 1, 2014. The company will sunset legacy AdMob on August 31, 2014. Google says the following will occur on September 1 as a result of the sunset: Ads will stop serving to legacy ad units. Legacy house ad campaigns will stop serving. The legacy AdMob UI will be inaccessible. The company previously said it had “no plans” to stop serving ads, but that has now changed. Android...



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Twitch now lets you filter Counter Strike: Global Offensive streams by map or skill level

Twitch has teamed up with Valve, the iconic video game developer and mastermind behind Steam, to add the first “advanced directory” to its video game streaming platform. When you browse to the Counter Strike: Global Offensive page on Twitch, you’ll now see two predetermined filters: Maps and Skills. The first lets you browse for streams that are taking place in a specific level – useful for aspiring players who are trying to learn the geography and pick up strategies. The second, Twitch says, should show “newer but highly skilled broadcasters who have just begun to build their Twitch audience.” As...



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GrabTaxi seeks to dominate Asia with a local approach unlike Uber

GrabTaxi is often compared to popular car-for-hire service Uber. However, one key difference is that Uber was born in the US and in turn adopts a very Western approach, whereas GrabTaxi faces a whole different set of problems in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia where it currently operates in. GrabTaxi is essentially a taxi-booking app which works with the existing taxi ecosystem in Malaysia (where it’s known as MyTeksi), the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Recently it stepped even further into Uber territory by launching a “limo service” known as GrabCar. The service first arrived in Malaysia and rapidly expanded to...



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Firefox Nightly gets WebRTC communications feature powered by TokBox’s OpenTok video and voice platform

Mozilla today announced a new WebRTC communications feature has landed in Firefox Nightly. The company has partnered with TokBox, which not only helped with development of the project but is responsible for the OpenTok video and voice platform that powers the service. Details are still scarce as Mozilla is calling this an experimental feature. The company is promising, however, that the goal is to “connect everyone with a WebRTC-enabled browser” without any additional plugins or downloads. Here is Mozilla’s pitch: If you have a browser, a camera and a mic, you’ll be able to make audio and video calls to...



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5 great front-end developer tools you should try

Arnaud Breton, full-stack developer at mention with a specific focus on the front-end side and user experience. This post originally appeared on the mention blog. Over the last few years, we’ve seen tremendous growth in an entirely new generation of Web applications. These apps have become much richer, leading to a huge increase in complexity on the front-end side. Frameworks like Backbone (the one we use at mention),



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Quip 2.0 arrives with read-only publishing, search operators and Word doc exporting

Collaborative document service Quip bumped up to version 2.0 today with the addition of several major features, including the ability to publish a read-only document, advanced search and an export to Word doc option. Alongside the product announcement, Quip also revealed an impressive list of its top customers, such as Facebook, New Relic, Taser and Kent Moore Cabinets, that have incorporated the service into their workflows. Quip co-founder and former Facebook CTO Bret Taylor said in an interview that the past nine months have really exceeded his expectations in terms of the size of companies that Quip has been able...



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Downcount for Android is a simple way to count down to any event

While there’s no shortage of countdown timers on Google Play, Downcount for Android is a simple, nicely-designed entry to the timer fray. Downcount isn’t about timing how long it will take for an egg to boil. No. It bypasses seconds, minutes, and even hours to let you add future (or past) events and give you an at-a-glance view of what’s on the horizon. You hit the ‘Plus’ button, give it a name and a date, and that’s about it. If you enter a historical date (e.g. the day you were born), it will count up the way instead. To delete...



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Uber vs. London black cabs dispute escalates to the High Court

A fortnight before a planned protest by London taxi drivers against the way Uber calculates its fares with technology, the private car-hire company issued a statement yesterday defending the way it operates in the UK capital. Transport for London (TfL), which regulates and licenses taxi and private hire vehicles in the capital, has previously backed Uber and similar services, but it’s now asking the High Court to rule on whether smartphones that use GPS technology to measure the time and distance of a journey to help establish a fare “comply with current law on ‘taximeters’”, which can legally only be...



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Dwolla begins offering next-day payment processing to businesses

Dwolla today announced the broad rollout of next-day transfers for qualifying businesses on its financial services platform, after completing a limited test with some of its government customers. Similar to the average bank, “next day” for Dwolla will probably still mean two business days once all the processes are factored in, but the transaction time should/ be roughly three times faster than normal. The service applies to both deposits and withdrawals. Dwolla operates with a $0.25 fee on transactions larger than $10. The startup managed to undercut existing banking fees, which typically cost around 3 percent, by going around existing...



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Mind Candy moves beyond Moshi with World of Warriors strategy game, launching later this year

London-based Mind Candy may be better known for its uber-popular Moshi Monsters, but it is now gearing up to launch a completely new game devoid of all things ‘Moshi’. World of Warriors has been a ‘”top secret” work-in-progress for the past year, representing the company’s first foray outside Moshi Monsters since it became a hit with kids around the world.. Available for Android and iOS, World of Warriors is being touted as an “epic combat strategy game with a unique skill element drawing from history’s greatest warriors.” No exact launch date has been given beyond “later this year”, but you...



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Vimeo gets into the original content game after funding six new ‘High Maintenance’ episodes

Taking a page from the Netflix playbook, Vimeo has invested in its first original TV show. The company is funding a further six episodes of the Web series High Maintenance, which has already released 13 episodes and a couple of video extras on the platform. The show was created by Katja Blichfield, a casting director for 30 Rock with an Emmy Award to her name, and husband Ben Sinclair, who plays the lead character in High Maintenance and is also the show’s director, writer and producer. High Maintenance follows a nameless cannabis dealer in good ol’ New York. Each episode...



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Virgin Media launches full slate of Quad-Play subscription bundles for broadband, landline, mobile and TV

We knew it was coming, but UK media and telecoms giant Virgin Media has launched its full slate of so-called ‘Quad-Play’ bundles, pulling together broadband, landline, TV and mobile SIMs into single subscription packages. The first two of these bundles, the ‘Big Kahuna’ and the ‘Big Bang’, had been made available to existing Virgin Media customers already. But now they are joined by the ‘Big Easy’, ‘Big Daddy’, and ‘Big Connection’, though the latter of these doesn’t actually include TV so this isn’t technically a Quad-Play bundle. At any rate, anyone can now sign up to these deals. Starting from...



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The Guardian gets personal with slick, redesigned adaptive mobile apps

The past 12 months has perhaps been one of the biggest years in the Guardian’s recent history. Besides the Edward Snowden NSA revelation scoops that elevated the UK publication into the global consciousness, a unified .com brand was launched, pulling its international properties under one digital roof, and its website went on to smash the 100 million unique monthly visitors milestone back in March. With that in mind, the Guardian is today rolling out completely redesigned native apps for Android and iOS, which sees the welcome mat laid out for iPad-optimized and Android tablet-optimized versions too (though these already exist...



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Leap Motion takes a big step forward with the public beta of its next-gen software to track hands

Leap Motion’s 3D gesture control has taken a big step forward today after the company made the second-generation version of its software available in public beta for developers. Currently, the Leap Motion software can only track all five fingers, but Version 2 is able to track “the actual joints and bones inside each of the user’s fingers.” This means that it can detect fingers the sensors can’t see, allowing you to do things like fold your hands. The new tracking has been in the works for over a year, but today’s release is only the first of “several major updates”...



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Google: We’re “not where we want to be when it comes to diversity”

Google on Wednesday shared diversity numbers for its organization for the first time, offering a more open look at the makeup of the company. After admitting that it had been wrong to hold back the numbers in the past, Google acknowledge that it is not as diverse as it wants to be. 70 percent of Google’s global workforce is male. In the US, 61 percent of employees are white, with Asian being the second-largest ethnic group at 30 percent. Hispanic and Black weighed in at 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively. In order to improve diversity, Google has invested $40...



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Google Camera for Android gets timer, option to take pictures while shooting video, 16:9 aspect ratio, and more

Google today updated its Google Camera app for Android with a multitude of new features. You can download the new version now directly from Google Play. First up, the new version lets you set a timer (tap the menu button and then the clock icon) so you can take photos with either a three-second or a 10-second delay. It also lets you take pictures while shooting video. It’s worth noting that both these feature were available before and were only added back recently. Google also notes you can now “capture landscape scenes with your left-hand” as well as choose between...



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Twitter rolls out its new Web user profiles to all

Twitter today announced it is rolling out its new profile pages on the Web to all users. If you’re still stuck on the old version, you should have the new one by the end of the day. We're rolling out the new web profiles for everyone today. Check out what you can do with the new look: https://t.co/lyN2WnT0q1 — Twitter (@twitter) May 28, 2014 The new Web profile display a larger profile photo and customizable header, highlight the photos and videos that you have posted, surface your best tweets by enlarging those that receive the most engagement, and let you...



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Write brings its gorgeous, minimalist note-taking app to the Mac

I’ve tried a variety of note-taking apps on my iPhone, but Write is easily one of my favorites. The uncluttered menu system and lightweight writing experience are fantastic when you just want to knuckle down and really focus. Now, Write is available for Mac. The product is going up against popular cross-platform apps such as Evernote, Simplenote and Byword, hoping that its focus on design and simplicity will attract new users. Write for Mac You can select multiple destinations to store your notes; Write supports iCloud – the optimal solution if you want to share notes between devices – as...



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Intel and AIQ are planning to release a ‘smart shirt’ this summer

Clothes are the original “wearables,” but Intel wants to make them smarter. At the Code Conference today, the company showed off a shirt with conductive fibers for tracking your heart rate. Designed by partner AIQ, the shirt uses Intel’s Edison development board to stream EKG information over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The box of electronics plugs into the shirt when you’re using it, and then unplugs when you need to wash. While most of us probably wouldn’t need to monitor our heartrate on a regular basis, this shirt is built with cyclists in mind. Other uses could include monitoring kids and...



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Tweetdeck now lets you add images to scheduled tweets and manage them across shared accounts

Twitter today updated Tweetdeck with the ability to schedule tweets with images as well as managed scheduled tweets across shared accounts. Both additions are available now on the Web, Windows, and the Chrome versions of TweetDeck. The company says they are “coming soon” to the Mac app but wouldn’t specify an exact date. Sending a scheduled tweet with an image is a five-step process: compose your tweet, select “Schedule Tweet,” choose your image, pick a time in the future, and click Tweet. Here’s an example offered by Twitter: Users sharing an account can now see scheduled tweets and make changes....



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Pocket rolls out a Premium version of its read-it-later service for $4.99/month

Pocket, the read-it-later service that lets you bookmark articles and videos from across the Web to read or watch later, is rolling out a new Premium service, costing $4.99/month or $44.99/year. The subscription will get you access to what it calls a ‘Permanent Library’, a feature that automatically stores a copy of the articles and web pages you save, irrespective of what happens to the article on the Web. Though given it already more-or-less stores all your articles permanently, it’s not clear how appealing this feature will be in itself. Moreover, the upgrade gives access to a new search facility...



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Bing Maps for Windows 8 gets personalized recommendations, Yelp and TripAdvisor, roaming favorites, and more

Microsoft today updated Bing Maps for Windows 8, adding a slew of features it has implemented over the last six months. These include personalized recommendations, Yelp and TripAdvisor integration, roaming favorites, a static search box, and more cities in 3D. You can download the new app now directly from the Windows Store. First up, the new auto-suggest feature gives the user a more personalized experience: when you type into the search box, Bing displays your past searches for places and addresses as well as places you may have already saved as favorites. It also includes recommendations for popular searches nearby...



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Distimo and App Annie join forces to build the ‘most complete platform for analyzing the app marketplace’

Mobile app analytics firm Distimo [previous coverage] is being gobbled up by fellow app-ranking and market intelligence firm App Annie [previous coverage], a post on the company’s official blog reveals. Moving forward, Distimo’s best features will be merged into App Annie’s platform after which Distimo’s user data will be migrated over too. The upshot of all this is to try and build “the most complete platform for analyzing the app marketplace,” explains Distimo CEO Vincent Hoogsteder. “We’re very excited to join a team that shares a common vision, and with the accumulated resources of both companies, we’re best equipped to...



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Google launches Chromecast in Australia, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Portugal, and Switzerland

Google today announced the Chromecast has arrived in Australia, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Portugal, and Switzerland. The launches in Australia and Japan were already known earlier this week, but now the full list of six new countries is official. Google is finally pushing its $35 device internationally. Just two months ago, the Chromecast arrived in 11 new countries: Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. With the original US debut, this month’s rollout brings the total availability to 18 countries. The Chromecast can be purchased both online as well as in local stores. Image...



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111+ keyboard shortcuts for your most-used online tools

This post originally appeared on the Buffer blog. Lewis and Clark discovered the Pacific Ocean. I discovered what a four-finger swipe does on my Macbook. The discoveries will not go down the same in history, but I have to admit: I was pretty stoked to find mine. Little epiphanies like these are hugely satisfying when I’m trying to squeeze just a little more time out of each and every day. A second or two here becomes a minute or two there. It’s an awesome feeling to sense that you’re working just as fast as possible. We’re always open for a...



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Microsoft acquires Capptain, a mobile analytics and push notification startup

Microsoft has acquired Capptain, a French startup that helps app developers to retain new users with targeted push notifications based on their behavior and real-time analytics. In a blog post, the company said the deal was part of its “significant investments in cloud services” and argued its deep analytics would improve Microsoft’s “story” around mobile app development. “This information empowers organizations to provide personalized, specific content to their customers in order to maximize business opportunities,” Microsoft’s Omar Kahn said. The company will be integrating Capptain’s product with the larger Microsoft Azure suite, but stressed that the startup’s solutions would still...



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Apple now offers educational discounts for the iPad in the US

Apple has added the entire iPad portfolio to its educational discount program, giving staff and students in the US some small, but welcome savings. The iPad Air is now available for $469 (normally $499), while the standard iPad with Retina Display is being sold for $379 (normally $399). Both represent a $30 discount, however the company has also dropped both iPad mini models by $20. That means you can grab the standard iPad mini for $279 (normally $299) or the ‘Retina Display’ model for $379 (normally $399). To take advantage of the reduced prices, you’ll need to prove that you’re...



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Next IE version will feature Web Audio, Media Capture, ES6 Promises, and HTTP/2; status site goes open source

Microsoft today announced it is developing at least four new features for the next release of Internet Explorer: Web Audio API, Media Capture and Streams, ES6 Promises, and HTTP/2. The company says this is not an exhaustive list of what to expect in the next version, but merely what it is currently confident that it will be able to deliver. Microsoft further says these features form a part of its “commitment to delivering interoperable implementations for the latest features on the modern Web.” The company also mentions that “several other features” are very important, it is working on a plan...



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Songkick for iOS now suggests new concerts based on your favorite artists and gigs you’ve already been to

After hitting 10 million unique monthly “fans” and generating $100 million in ticket revenue, Songkick is introducing a new suggestion and discovery system to its iOS app. Along the bottom of the screen is a new “Recommended” tab which, as the name suggests, lists a series of concerts that you might be interested in. The user interface is a simple grid, with artists photos and clear typography denoting their name and where they’ll be playing. Songkick already serves up concert alerts for your favorite artists, either by scanning your music library or curated Spotify playlists. These new recommendations are, therefore,...



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Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 is now up to £150 cheaper in the UK

If you live in the UK and think Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3 is just a little too large, it’s worth taking a look at the now discounted Surface Pro 2. As Pocket-Lint reports, the company has dropped the price of its last-generation laptop-tablet hybrid by up to £150 on its online store. The 64 GB variant is now available for £569 (down from £719) while the 512GB version costs £1,289 (down from £1,439). The middle 128 GB and 256 GB Surface Pro 2 models, meanwhile, have been slashed by £140, bringing them down to £659 and £899 respectively. None...



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Square gets into the cash-advance game for small retailers as Square Capital exits pilot phase

While it has been rumored to be in the works for a while already, US payments startup Square has officially announced it’s getting into the merchant cash advance game with a new service called Square Capital. The program is designed to help businesses grow by serving up quick and easy access to funds “in a way that’s easy to understand”, as the San Francisco-based startup puts it. In short, Square is looking at ways to help smaller, independent companies access capital without months of paperwork and complex application processes. So why would Square wish to do this? Well, so it...



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Amazon confirms it’s ordering fewer Hachette books and blocking pre-orders

Amazon is heaping the pressure on book publisher Hachette in an attempt to get better deals for its wealth of literary titles. In a forum post, the retail behemoth admitted it was buying fewer print editions and “safety stock” than usual. Furthermore, customers are no longer able to pre-order Hachette’s books – they can be purchased as normal after their release, but Amazon won’t buy the books from Hachette until the order is fulfilled. “Availability on those titles is dependent on how long it takes Hachette to fill the orders we place,” it said. “Once the inventory arrives, we ship...



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Ranker rolls out its embeddable widget so you can rank all the things

Ranker has officially released its widget for sharing and contributing to its collection of crowdsourced lists about anything. The new widget is mobile-ready and includes the option for a slideshow mode when appropriate. Since the last time we caught up with Ranker in August 2013, the company has doubled the size of its audience and grown its monthly page views by more than threefold. The company now ranks as one of Quantcast’s top 200 sites on the Web. With the release of its widget, Ranker’s reach will become even more distributed as it works with publishers to bring its lists...



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Google removes NPAPI apps and extensions from Chrome Web Store homepage, search results, and category pages

Google today removed apps and extensions that use the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) from the Chrome Web Store home page, search results, and category pages. The company also revealed plans to block webpage-instantiated NPAPI plug-ins using the harder-to-bypass page-action blocking UI as of Chrome 37. Back in September 2013, Google declared plans to drop NPAPI support in Chrome, starting with blocking webpage-instantiated plugins in January. Over the last few quarters, Google says it has seen an overall 12.9 percent drop in per-user instantiations of NPAPI plug-ins and declining usage of the most popular NPAPI plug-ins: Google hopes that...



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Facebook to cut back on third-party app spam in your News Feed

Facebook revealed today plans to show you less content that is posted automatically by your friends’ third-party apps and instead prioritize “explicitly shared stories” in your News Feed. The changes will be made in the coming months. We’ve all had it happen – sign up for a new app with your Facebook login, only to discover months later that it has been posting every single thing you do to your friends’ News Feeds. According to Facebook, some users have felt “surprised or confused” by content that just appears without choosing to share. The Verge notes that users had been marking...



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Google starts blocking extensions not in the Chrome Web Store for Windows users, disables installed ones too

Google today began blocking local Chrome extensions to protect Windows users. This means that as of today, extensions can be installed in Chrome for Windows only if they’re hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Furthermore, Google says extensions that were previously installed “may be automatically disabled and cannot be re-enabled or re-installed until they’re hosted in the Chrome Web Store.” The company didn’t specify what exactly qualifies the “may” clause, though we expect it may make exceptions for certain popular extensions for a limited time. Google is asking developers to reach out to it if they run into problems or...



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