Trump’s New Executive Order Aims to Re-examine H-1B Program
President Trump signed his “Buy American, Hire American” executive order on Tuesday, which will put the H-1B visa system under review. The order is designed to ensure that tech jobs that could be going to Americans are not being taken by cheaper foreign labor and to tighten restrictions on foreign contractors bidding on government projects, […]
Instagram Stories Beats Snapchat at Its Own Game
So many apps have ripped off Snapchat’s popular Stories feature that it’s become something of a joke among mobile app developers. Even Snapchat itself is in on it, as the company proved with its April Fool’s Day-exclusive Instagram filter. But the laughter may be catching in Snap’s throat. The company’s most direct competitor Instagram Stories […]
Google Spotlights Fact-Checkers to Manage Misinformation
Last week, Facebook announced its News Integrity Initiative, another gesture toward fixing the internet’s misinformation epidemic. While the social media giant has received most of the flak for the explosion of fake news, NYC app developers are well aware that it’s not the only platform guilty of disseminating false information. As the search engine, Google […]
Tech Giants Stand Up for Clean Energy in the Trump Era
Silicon Valley’s attitude toward Donald Trump on the campaign trail was decidedly less than enthusiastic. Sure, contrarian Peter Thiel stood with the loose cannon Republican candidate, but his politics have always leaned further right than most of his colleagues. The vast majority of the tech world viewed Trump with skepticism, uncertain of what his approach […]
Self-Driving Car Crash Adds to the Pile-Up of Bad Uber News
Uber has spent the early months of 2017 in crisis, and from the look of things, that’s not changing anytime soon. App developers who once found inspiration in the unicorn’s impressive ascent now look on with a blend of horror and fascination as the controversies multiply. From the #DeleteUber controversy to the shocking revelations about […]
Senate Dismantles Obama-Era Internet Privacy Protections
For app developers concerned with privacy, yesterday was a dark day. Senate Republicans passed a bill eliminating privacy regulations imposed on broadband providers by the FCC during the final months of the Obama presidency. Those protections would have required ISPs to get consent from the consumer before selling off personal information to a third party. […]
Latest Amazon App Update Brings Alexa to the iPhone
Look out, Siri — there’s a new voice on the iPhone, and its name is Alexa. The Amazon app development team included Alexa as part of the latest update of the online shopping behemoth’s app for iOS, marking the first time the company has directly offered the voice-first service on an iPhone. Before this week’s […]
Why Aren’t Developers Chasing the iMessage App Boom?
Messaging apps — which is to say, apps that existing within messaging platforms like iMessage, Line, Messenger, and etc. — have been a huge growth area in the mobile tech industry. Sticker sets alone drove over $250 million in revenue for Line, and Western chat apps have seen similar success stories adding-on services to their […]
Dogtown Media & Craftsman Oyster Shuck a Huge Success
SXSW has rounded out to be a wild experience this year, and our Oyster Shuck event with Craftsman and Mongers Market was no exception. Thanks to everybody who came out to enjoy good food and great drink specials in the Texas sun! We got into app development to make great products, but it can be […]
Looking Back on Looking Forward: Ray and Amy Kurzweil at SXSW
In the business of predicting future trends, there are few who can touch Ray Kurzweil. Among all the panels on offer at this year’s SXSW Interactive, we at Dogtown Media knew this was one we couldn’t afford to miss. Beyond his groundbreaking work as the primary inventor of technologies as disparate as the charge-coupled device […]