2017
What were your best nine Instagram photos from 2017?
You might have noticed a new end-of-year trend on Instagram the past few days. If so, you can thank 2017bestnine.com, a website that lets you automatically collect and collage your…
Imagine attending a business meeting with an Amazon Echo (or any voice-driven device) sitting on the conference table. A question arises about the month’s sales numbers in the Southeast region.…
It’s been pretty easy to point at Twitter and, with each quarterly moment when it discloses its financial guts, let out a long exasperated sigh. But then something interesting happened…
It’s the Jons 2017!
Happy New Year! It’s been a transformational year in tech. The golden era of startups ended. Sorry about that. The tech industry finally rolled over a big rock it had…
These apps will help you keep your New Year’s resolutions
Almost half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Far fewer stick to them. “Losing weight” and “exercising more” are among the most popular goals. A sizeable percentage of Americans also aim…
Hyperscale data centers reached over 390 worldwide in 2017
Hyperscale operators are defined as enormous companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google that need to provide computing on a massive scale. You would think that there would be a…
The food revolution may have just needed a cup of Blue Bottle
Each massive exit in the tech ecosystem usually follows the same cycle: an upstart becomes a huge business, it goes public or sells for a huge sum of money, many…
How a simple tech upgrade at the IRS could transform the economy
When you apply for credit, you essentially ask a lender to evaluate your financial picture to make an informed decision about your approval, rate and terms. The information that lenders…
Watch the second half of Bubbleproof’s first season
We’re excited to be premiering a new mockumentary series about the startup world called Bubbleproof. You can watch the second half of the first season right here. On Google AMP?…
Automating your life on this week’s episode of CTRL+T
People are lazy. Well, let me speak for myself. I am lazy. So it’s no wonder why on this week’s episode of CTRL+T, I was drawn to some news items…
Apple’s $29 iPhone battery replacements are available starting today
Those $29 battery out-of-warranty replacements Apple promised are now available for impacted users with an iPhone 6 or later. The company was initially aiming for a late-January timeframe in the…
Crunch Report | Apple Apologizes for Slowing Down iPhones
Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, humans spent $200 million on apps this Christmas and Google retires the Pixel C tablet. All this on Crunch Report.
Financial technology startups emerged as serious challengers to financial services in 2017
While cryptocurrencies stole the spotlight in 2017, a clutch of companies were quietly working behind the scenes to slowly bring the financial services establishment to its knees. It may turn…
The founders of PayPal and its employees have produced many highly successful companies over the years. Often referred to as the “PayPal Mafia” because they’ve had such an impact on…
Facebook has a 100-person engineering team that helps advertisers build tools and infrastructure
Facebook says that one of its success stories in recent years involves a relatively small group of engineers. Originally it was just one engineer, Vatsal Mehta, who serves as Facebook’s…
All 50 states vote yes on AT&T’s $40 billion emergency response network FirstNet
Communications are the bedrock of emergency response and management. However, those communications can be challenging when quickly evolving situations cross multiple jurisdictions. Today, AT&T announced that all 50 states, Puerto…
Amazon did a lot of funky stuff this year and it’s paying off
Holy hell, it’s been a year for Amazon. Jeff Bezos’ former-online-bookstore dumped $13.7 billion to buy a bunch of grocery stores, that speaker you talk to in your living room…
iFixit drops its iPhone battery replacement to $29, matching Apple’s apology price
iFixit has never been particularly fond of Apple’s repair policies. The company’s gadgets regularly rack up poor repairability scores on the site. The site’s taking another jab at the tech…
OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy
OKCupid’s users are angry – very, very angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people to use real…
TrendKite raises another $11M for its PR analytics platform
TrendKite is closing out 2017 with the announcement that it’s raised an additional $11 million in funding. The Austin-based startup says it’s currently analyzing 4.2 million articles every day, and…
Pinterest adds former CBS Corp. CFO Fred Reynolds to its board
Pinterest announced today it’s adding former CBS and PepsiCo exec Fred Reynolds to its board of directors. Reynolds’ background includes global financial and strategic planning as well as business analysis,…
Mitch Goldstone loves photo scanning. His business, ScanMyPhotos, does what it says on the tin: you send photos to the company and, using high speed scanners and special software, his…
You can now pick up an iMac Pro in-store, for $4,999 and up
Apple’s super-powered iMac Pro hit the company’s online store just ahead of Christmas. Now those who’d prefer to pick one up in-person can do so by paying a visit to…
A cyclist is using a Google Assistant-controlled electric bike wheel to ride cross country to CES
This is one way to put your new electric bicycle wheel through its paces ahead of launch. But more importantly, it’s a pretty solid publicity stunt, funded by Google —…
Consumers dropped $200 million on apps on Christmas, up 12 percent from last year
Consumers spent $196 million on apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions on Christmas Day 2017 across the App Store and Google Play, according to new data from Sensor Tower. The report,…
Historian Leslie Berlin talks about the rise of Silicon Valley
In this week’s episode of Technotopia I spoke to author and historian Leslie Berlin, writer of Troublemakers: Silicon Valleys’ Coming Of Age. Berlin is the Project Historian for the Silicon…
The U.S. needs to create civic social networks
I have no doubt that the same great minds who are actively driving new platforms for commerce and engagement can formulate a new product (or adapt an existing one) that…
Crunch Report | South Korea Announces New Cryptocurrency Regulations
South Korea announces new cryptocurrency regulations coinciding with the drop in bitcoin prices, YouTube gets pulled from Fire TV and SoftBank will now own about 15 percent of Uber. All…
Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to the Pixelbook
As noted earlier today by Android Police, Google has stopped selling the Pixel C through its online store. It’s a quiet and not unexpected end for the company’s well-received tablet,…
Trump’s website is coded with a broken server error message that blames Obama
If you’re a fan of Easter eggs hidden in source code, this is a pretty good one. Apparently, as Washington Post data reporter Christopher Ingraham observed on Twitter, some Trump administration…
