THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Battling Pandora for turf in the on-demand music streaming service business, Spotify announced plans to expand its footprint into Asia, Latin America and Northern Europe recently on its blog. The company will expand into eight new countries, bringing its total markets to 28. The new locations include Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, … [Read more...]
The China Internet Network Information Center released some startling figures on the growth, size and potential of China’s ecommerce market. The sector earned more than 1.2 trillion RMB ($190 billion) in 2012. That’s a 66.5 increase over what it made the year before. And with 242 million Chinese Internet users purchasing goods last year in a … [Read more...]
Facebook knows all about you, more than you probably know about yourself. A new study reveals that Facebook “Like” button data can reveal a surprising amount of information. Studying more than 58,000 volunteers who participated in the “myPersonality” app on Facebook, the research shows that the magical “Like” thumb can be used with over 80 percent … [Read more...]
It cost Netflix about $1.5 million in lobbying money to convince Congress to legalize sharing what you watch on your Facebook wall. Last week, just a day before the death of the judge whose congressional nomination inspired the legislation, the Senate voted to relax the Video Privacy Protection Act passed in 1988 that had prohibited video … [Read more...]
Trulia, the real estate listings site that went public last year, is looking to raise about $150 million through selling previously locked up shares. The company will use the funding to purchase acquisitions. In an SEC filing, the company indicated it would offer about 5.25 million shares in a primary and secondary offering. About 1.75 million … [Read more...]
Facebook may have thrown its idea for a Facebook phone into the virtual trash bin, but that doesn’t mean the company has abandoned voice. Its latest update for its iOS app allows users in the US and Canada to place voice calls to other users, even if they don’t know the other person’s phone number, providing both are online and have the latest … [Read more...]
Facebook enriched its revamped news feed this week with action verbs for developers that enable users to instantly post about their activities. The verbs provide Facebook users an easy way to socialize their run schedule or what they’ve been reading, for example, while providing Facebook as well as brands with critical, concrete data that can then … [Read more...]
You’re News Feed will never be the same. That could be a good thing, or a bad, but one thing’s for sure, many of Facebook’s users probably won’t like it. They never do. Change sucks. Facebook will be rolling out a facelift of its News Feed this week, Reuters reported. The changes are the biggest to hit the world’s biggest social network in … [Read more...]
Though the feature may only be six months old, LinkedIn’s endorsements have already helped the professional social network increase user incentive for engagement. This week, the company announced a milestone of surpassing 1 billion Endorsements, with 58 million members receiving recognition from other members for a variety of areas of expertise. … [Read more...]
Yes, FBI spies are watching us, or at least some of us, Google admitted in its Transparency Report. The web giant released some vague details about government requests on the private information of its users, providing ranges of figures “to address concerns raised by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies that releasing exact numbers might … [Read more...]