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 […]
Will Artificial Intelligence Help or Hinder Empathy Online?
Mental health is the latest trending frontier in the MedTech app development space. If you have a browsing history of seeking out mental health information through Google, you might have even seen ads for such services in the sidebar while you scroll through Facebook. From one-on-one counseling services to artificially intelligent “empathy bots,” startups are […]
Facebook Introduces Stories on the Heels of Snapchat IPO
Facebook has grown to the point where virtually every smartphone user on the planet has the app on their phone — and those who don’t almost certainly use it at home. That popularity has come at a price for the company’s app developers, though, as the original use cases that brought users to the platform […]
H-1B Visa Policy Remains Unclear for Tech Companies
While the Trump administration has made no bones about their policy plans for illegal and unskilled immigrants, immediate plans for overhauling highly-skilled immigration via H–1B visas remains unclear. This is bad news for app developers, since it’s actually an area that needs serious attention — between the lottery-style assignment system and the ease of abuse […]
Huawei will Launch a Google Now AI Assistant Competitor
Huawei isn’t the new kid on the block anymore — in fact, it’s the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. While not the go-to smartphone for San Fran app developers, it’s a household name worldwide thanks to their affordable, dependable hardware. The company is aggressively working towards claiming the second place in the next year, […]
Finally, A “Turk” That Works for Bootstrapped Startups
Algorithms and machine learning are pretty much a given for serious mobile startups these days. Unfortunately, machine learning takes data, and data isn’t always available — at a startup-friendly price point, anyway. A new startup out of India called Playment aims to solve that problem, and their clever solution deserves a spot in any mobile […]
Are Users Ready to See Ads in their Personal Chats?
Are users ready for ads to enter the personal chat space? Facebook seems to think so, as they recently announced they’ll be integrating ads with their messaging platform in small tests in Australia and Thailand. The move has sparked both approval and outrage from different corners of the app development industry. Predictably, many iOS app […]
Lyft vs Uber Debate is More Than Business Politics
Personal politics and business deals aren’t the only issues on the line anymore when it comes to the fabled fight between Uber and Lyft, the two biggest ride-sharing apps in the US (among other countries worldwide). Bay Area app developers have been following the conflict for years, but the issue just took a sharp turn […]
Paris Takes on London as FinTech Capital in Wake of Brexit
This time last year, few developers would think of the Parisian tech scene when they thought of FinTech and mobile banking app development. In the wake of Brexit, the tech community is starting to see that change. Just this week, Paris held it’s first FinTech Forum event, highlighting exciting work going on in the French […]
Will Tech Leaders Jump Into Politics in Next Four Years?
What is the pre-requisite to being president? “Being a billionaire,” some might argue—and many have been, or at least multi-millionaires, before running for the nations highest office. So when rumors started flying that Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook might be planning a presidential bid for 2020, the tech press didn’t bat an eye—in fact, the move […]