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Crunch Network
How to grow your app
The app ecosystem is strong and growing. By 2020, App Store consumer spend is supposed to exceed 100 billion dollars. Mobile now represents 65 percent of digital media time; 86 percent of this time on phones is spent in apps. Building a mobile app is building the most frequently used digital property type on the most frequently used digital device. Sounds like a solid place to start a business. Read More
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Cyanogen failed to kill Android, now it is shuttering its services and OS as part of a pivot
It’s been a rocky few months for Cyanogen, the ambitious startup that aimed to build a better version of Android than Google. It has laid off staff, let go of its CEO and parted ways with another co-founder — now it is shutting down its services and nightly software builds on December 31. Read More
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After Super Mario Run, Nintendo plans 2 or 3 new mobile games per year
Super Mario Run may have its detractors, but it’s also managed to rack up nearly 10 million downloads per day in its App Store debut, officially topping 50 million downloads as of Friday. Those numbers, combined with its early revenue generating power, have Nintendo still keen on exploring more in mobile, with plans to release around two or three new mobile games per year beyond… Read More
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Now Snapchat has “Filter Games”
Snapchat wants you to play with your face, not just take pictures of it. New Selfie Lens filter games are starting to appear to users, creating an addicting new Snapchat feature that also inspires competition between friends and could become a powerful ad revenue driver. Snapchat confirms this is the launch of a new, native games feature. Back in March, Snapchat tested a limited run of a… Read More
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Glu Mobile acquires QuizUp in deal valued at $7.5 million
The developers of popular celeb-themed games including Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Nicki Minaj: The Empire, Glu Mobile, acquired Plain Vanilla Corp., and its mobile social trivia game QuizUp this week, according to an SEC filing. The deal was valued at $7.5 million, including forgiven debt, according to sources familiar with the deal. This is undoubtedly a disappointing fate for the… Read More
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Twitter overcharged video advertisers, issues refunds
Now it’s Twitter copying Facebook… but in the worst way. Following several embarrassing disclosures of inaccurate metrics by Facebook, today Business Insider’s Alex Heath broke news that Twitter overcharged some advertisers. Between November 7th and December 12th, a source tells BI that video ad buyers were overcharged up to 35 percent. Twitter apparently informed these… Read More
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Facebook kills off exact location sharing in Nearby Friends, adds “Wave”
Nearby Friends didn’t turn into the Foursquare-killer it could have been, but Facebook is still trying to help people meet up in person… with a few changes. Facebook has removed the precise location-sharing feature from Nearby Friends, which now only lets you opt-in to broadcasting your approximate distance from friends and current neighborhood. Unmapped Previously, you could select… Read More
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Uber lawsuit alleges employees were misled on equity compensation
An Uber employee has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of misleading employees about their equity compensation. Uber “devised a fraudulent scheme to recruit highly sought software engineers,” according to the case. The lawsuit claims that Uber promised a more tax favorable type of options at the time employees were hired and then later changed the plan. The… Read More
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Twitter didn’t fix itself in 2016 and Wall Street isn’t happy
Layoffs, a borked acquisition and continued tepid user growth defined Twitter in 2016. And these are all things that make Twitter’s future uncertain, which we know Wall Street does not like. Jack Dorsey’s one-year tenure as CEO was more or less defined by a continue decline in its stock price and, amid all its attempts to try and re-make the service and make it more palatable… Read More
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Pokémon Go arrives on the Apple Watch
Following an erroneous report claiming that Niantic’s plans to bring Pokémon Go to the Apple Watch were canceled, the company today put those rumors to rest with more than a mere statement: it has now launched the Apple Watch version of its popular game. The new smartwatch app lets you more easily play Pokémon without having to always pull out your phone. Instead, you can tap to… Read More
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Pana’s travel companion app goes free, can automatically check you into flights
Pana, a travel companion that organizes your plans and sends personalized trip alerts, is now making its app free to challenge rivals like TripIt, Google Trips and others. First launched two years ago, Pana had previously focused on its paid subscription service for individuals and companies needing a 24/7 travel concierge — a move that may have limited its potential market. The… Read More
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AWS catapulted Amazon into a breakout 2016 on Wall Street
You could argue that 2016 was the breakout year for Amazon’s cloud computing service, AWS — and Wall Street knows that an even bigger wave is coming next year. Amazon’s retail business continues to grow, and chug along, and gobble up share from offline commerce and other companies desperately trying to up their e-commerce game. And that’s all fine and good —… Read More
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Super Mario Run’s buying population is already declining
Super Mario Run may be the first mobile app to pass 40 million downloads in four days’ time on Apple’s App Store, but the game’s payment model has been controversial for its high price of $10 for the full version and limited free play. This has led to roughly half its audience leaving one-star reviews. Despite these complaints, the game has grabbed a huge percentage of… Read More
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The NBA is launching its own fantasy game you can play while watching live basketball
While it’s clear that daily fantasy sports games like the ones offered by DraftKings and FanDuel make watching sports more exciting, they aren’t necessarily the best companion if you’re focused on watching one team play. Let’s use The NFL as an example. Any given Sunday your daily fantasy sports team can have players from 9 different teams – potentially… Read More
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Apps for holiday shopping
The holidays are almost here and there is still a little time left for last-minute shopping. Instead of sifting though all your discount emails, we found some apps that will help you save money and make both your online and in-store shopping experience easier. Slice
Online shoppers may want to check out Slice, which makes it easier to monitor shipments. There’s no need to input any… Read More -
BitTorrent Live’s “cable-killer” P2P video app finally hits iOS
Cable companies rule TV because they control the expensive wires and satellites that can deliver low-latency live content at scale. Cable companies can then dictate how much per monthly paying subscriber they offer the channel owners for access because there are few alternatives for live distribution. And the cable companies can charge consumers exorbitant prices because they’re… Read More
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GM taps 500 Startups to find early-stage investments in upcoming classes
GM has made a number of big acquisitions and investments in the past few years. It picked up self-driving company Cruise earlier this year and dropped $500 million into Lyft, Uber’s biggest competitor. For the most part, GM acknowledges that it needs to figure out how to tap into new aspects of the automotive experience, CTO Jon Lauckner said. But all these companies start somewhere. And… Read More
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Zuckerberg implies Facebook is a media company, just “not a traditional media company”
Mark Zuckerberg gave new insights about how he sees Facebook’s role in informing the world today during a Live video one-on-one year-end chat with COO Sheryl Sandberg. Facebook’s CEO also lent support to employees trying to fight fake news today, though reports indicated some employees were dissatisfied by his initially tepid response to the issue. “Facebook is a new kind… Read More
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Facebook’s VIP app Mentions adds Live video drafts, comment blacklists, replay trimming
Facebook is turning its public figures-only Mentions app into a handheld video studio with a slew of new Live broadcasting features rolling out the next few weeks. Mentions on iOS and Android will let broadcasters control brightness and mirroring through an adjustments tray, add category tags, set up comment blocklists, trim their video replays and see their audio, battery and… Read More
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