Collen Kriel
Latest from Collen Kriel
BlackBerry secures a bevy of U.S. patents and may join the fast-growing wearables market
The Financial Post has reported that Blackberry Ltd. has attained 27 new U.S. patents. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Official Gazette, included in the patents are security features and a user interface for a conference-calling system. Blackberry has seen high demand for their Blackberry Passport, which has ultimately led them to explore ...
Twitter acquires Twitpic’s archive at the eleventh hour
Twitter Inc. has saved Twitpic Inc. Noah Everett, creator of Twitpic, announced on their blog on October 25 “I’m happy to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to give them the Twitpic domain and photo archive, thus keeping the photos and links alive for the time being. Twitter shares our goal of ...
Airbnb considers employee stock sale, evaluation set to rise to $13 Billion
As Airbnb Inc. prepares for an employee stock sale, their valuation is set to rise to $13 billion, up from its $10 million valuation in April. Airbnb is already one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies, beating publically traded hotel chains Wyndham Worldwide ($9.8 billion) and Hyatt Hotels ($9.2 billion). The company is ...
Ello raises $5.5 Million and becomes a public benefit corporation
Ello has received $5.5 million in new venture capital, which ironically coincides with them legally ensuring that they will never take money from the sale of user data or ads and that goes for any acquirer. Paul Budnitz, co-founder and chief executive of Ello, confirmed to the New York Times, “It basically means no investor ...
Apple Pay is one week old and it’s been a week of highs and lows
Since launching to the public on October 20, Apple Pay hasn’t been as smooth a ride as Apple Inc. would have hoped. Apple Pay seems to be catching on with consumers and retailers; however, it hasn’t been without a few glitches. Most of the issues have been around compatibility and a huge problem of consumers ...
With Fabric, Twitter wants to be developers’ new best friend
At Flight on October 22, their first developer conference in four years, Twitter announced an app development platform called Fabric. Twitter is aiming to become the first stop for developers wanting to build or improve their mobile app. They will also be hoping to get back into the good graces of the app developers after ...
Skyscanner buys Distinction, says the future of travel booking is in mobile
Skyscanner, a veteran in the travel search market, has acquired Distinction a mobile app development company based in Budapest. The 30-strong team of web developers and designers will continue to be based in Budapest and will form Skyscanner’s new mobile hub. The acquisition sees Skyscanner bringing mobile app development in-house. Distinction recently received 1st place ...
Google launches ‘Inbox’ – and it looks like the future of email
This could be the future of email. Google Inc. have announced on their official Gmail Blog the launch of a new email app called ‘Inbox’. The search giant invigorated webmail with the launch of Gmail back in 2004, and now they’re doing it all again with Inbox. From the official blog post: “Inbox is by the same people ...
Apple iCloud ‘hacked’ in China –allegations fly
Great Fire, a reputed non-profit organization that monitors Internet censorship in China, has claimed that Chinese authorities are staging a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on Apple Inc’s iCloud, saying “This is clearly a malicious attack on Apple in an effort to gain access to usernames and passwords and consequently all data stored on iCloud such as iMessages, ...
Google’s Switch tells you exactly how to move from iOS to Android
Google has launched Switch, a website that tells you everything you need to know about switching from Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad to an Android-based device. The site is basically a manual that tells people how to move everything from photos, music and contacts across to Android. It explains how to set up your email ...