FAA Forecasts 600,000 Commercial Drones Airborne Within 2016
According to a statement released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), commercial drones are skyrocketing into the mainstream. Some 600,000 are expected to be registered within a year period. (For context, about 20,000 are registered as of this post. That’s steep growth even by iPhone app developer standards.) But don’t call in the eagles or […]
Could Mobile Tech Revolutionize Government?
We may not be seeing it in their actions, but at least on paper politicians are starting to come around to the idea of digitalizing government processes. In an age where everything is efficiently available at the push of a button, why should basic functions like taxes still be operating via pen and paper? (Or […]
How To Keep Data Harvesters Away From Your App’s API
Your app is a vault, filled with valuable data. Custom content. User emails. Images. Videos. Losing any of these things could be “game over” for a mobile app developer. The bad news is, all this data is readily available via your app’s APIs. API data harvesting is surprisingly common as a “growth hacking” tactic — […]
VR and EdTech Could Help Shrink the Class Divide
America has a class divide problem, and nowhere is that problem more apparent than in the school system. Programs like Teach For America work against the odds, but the facts remain: students born in the right places with the right level of family stability and income come out far ahead of those without. The question […]
Bots in Developing Economies Are a Major Startup Opportunity
Hindsight is always 20/20, among iPhone app developers as well as anybody else creating products in a fast-paced market. Guessing trends isn’t easy. Luckily, we’re starting to see proven success for two emerging trends, both of which have big growth opportunities for startups that jump in early: bots and developing economies. While the bot trend […]
MedTech and Diversity Themes at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 1
Y Combinator is lifting the curtain on this year’s batch of disruptive mobile startups. While the products are diverse and often unexpected, a few themes shine through: MedTech and diversity. Seeing health-focussed startups in significant numbers is encouraging, as mobile app developers have been trying to break into the medical industry for years with limited […]
What Is the Role of a Non-Technical Startup Founder?
Non-technical startup founders often get a bad rap in the tech world. This is partly because there’s simply a scarcity of quality technical talent — and partly because many non-technical founders try to jump to the top of the ladder without proving their value. Take a look at Hacker News, Quora, Reddit, Medium, or anywhere […]
To Strike Gold in the IoT App Economy, Eliminate Clutter
Proxy, a mobile app that just raised $1.6 million at the seed stage, highlights a problem that’s plaguing the IoT (Internet of Things) app industry: clutter. Love it or hate it, the Internet is getting connected to everything. The existing standard for connecting objects to the internet is to create a native app that pairs […]
Why Co-Founders Should Learn Basic Coding Skills
If you ever take a look at Hacker News comment threads or the Reddit startup community, you’ll notice a consistent trend: non-technical founders desperately seeking technical co-founders. This trend holds true in real-life mobile app development circles around Silicon Valley (and Silicon Beach for that matter). The difficulty with finding a technical co-founder isn’t entirely […]
Startup Blockai Tackles a Big Problem: Copyright Control
If you’re a photographer, artist, or writer, there’s only one way to stop people from ripping off your copyrighted material online: don’t share it with anyone… ever. This is a big problem for startup founders and iPhone app developers, because content is one of the most expensive — and hard to replicate — parts of […]