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 […]
Musk’s Neuralink Venture May Connect the Human Mind to AI
The tech world is abuzz this week with chatter about Elon Musk’s latest privately-funded venture Neuralink. Details about the “medical research” company are scant, but everyone seems to be in agreement that the purpose of the venture is to pursue Musk’s dream of “neural lace” technology. The idea is to create a direct connection between […]
Lyft Leans Into “Woke” Image In an Attempt to Unseat Uber
As Uber struggles to shake the bad press that has come to define its year so far, its primary competitor Lyft is seizing its moment and trying to move out of a distant second place in the rideshare market. Ever since the #DeleteUber commotion in January, Lyft’s strategy seems to be to present itself as […]
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 […]
Amazon Aims to Conquer New Markets with Physical Stores
Last week, one of Amazon Prime Air’s drones dropped off a small box of sunscreen at an exclusive robotics conference in Palm Springs. The package was small, but the shipment itself was huge: it was the company’s first public drone delivery on U.S. soil. We are now well on our way to a future where […]
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. […]
SpaceX Pursues Elon Musk’s “Space Internet” Ambitions
The big dreams of Elon Musk fascinate app developers worldwide, who admire the scope of his ambitions — and his ability to pull off so many of them. Fresh off the successful landing of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket last month, the company is now moving forward with another one of Musk’s […]
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 […]
EU Cracks Down on Consumer Rights Violations on Social Media
In this era of “fake news,” hateful trolling, and increasing privacy concerns, the negative aspects of social networking have never been more clear. While social media app developers scramble to address these issues, governments around the world are becoming more involved with proposed laws and regulations designed to turn up the heat on the major […]
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 […]