With the acquisition of the company in September, Bump and Flock CEO and co-founder David Lieb quietly announced last night that both apps were shutting down effective January 31st. According to a brief blog post on the Bump site, Lieb says his team is “deeply focused on our new projects within Google” and given that the acquisition appears to be talent-driven, the shutdown comes as little surprise.
From 9to5Google:
Holy wowzers Batman as BlackBerry announces over 40 million “newly registered iOS/Android users in the last 60 days.” The BBM tidbit dropped during this morning’s BlackBerry Earnings Report and while we’ll ignore the economic crisis that is BlackBerry, the messaging numbers are pretty interesting.
Chalk up another Google app for iOS update as the app goes all iOS 7-fied as the official app finally receives the treatment. It takes a few seconds to notice the changes as I almost missed the full screen front page that now omits the signal, battery and carrier label. Overall, the update introduces:
If you’re one of the few eager to try out the Mac Pro but can’t stomach the $2,999 and up price tag, here’s a super-cheap non-solution for you.
https://twitter.com/apollozac/status/399651472922902528
Got bored waiting for the real thing. pic.twitter.com/m0MJ0hCdWo
— Benjamin Mayo (@bzamayo) December 17, 2013
Sure, you won’t get the madness that is the Mac Pro internals, but it’s a black circular trashcan on your Mac dock, so that counts for something, right?
From 9to5Google:
Update: TechCrunch reports that this video is fake.
Update #2: TechCrunch now reports the video is real and commissioned by Yahoo!, but not a real product yet.
With Yahoo’s acquisition of SkyPhrase, a natural language processing startup this month questions immediately arose as to how Yahoo would incorporate the technology. Now, thanks to a video on Daily Motion discovered by Android Police, we may have our answer as Yahoo prepares a Siri voice-controlled personal assistant.
From 9to5Google:
There was little question at some point, somewhere in their roadmap Pebble’s smartwatch was going to get a dedicated appstore. That day has arrived as a new company blog post indicates the new developer portal is now open. The app store will launch to the public in 2014 and be the “first-of-its-kind wearable application directory.”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7xVrI-tUIQ]
There’s been no shortage of debate regarding Apple’s latest holiday commercial as some have found it inspiring and emotional as others find it ridiculous and lacking a clear message. There will be debate in the coming weeks over Apple’s intentions with the message and whether or not they succeeded in tugging at our heartstrings. That being said, Apple looks like a gem, an angel, a bright light on a dark road compared to Nokia’s newest ad for the Lumia 2520. It’s true that Apple may have paused its traditional product-first advertising angle and replaced it with an arguably emotional holiday spot for the iPhone 5s, but it works leaps and bounds better than Nokia’s latest embarrassing excuse for advertising.
From 9to5Google:
As Samsung works to capture more of the Android gaming market with the release of a new controller, a new analytics study shows Android gaming is on the rise. Apple may be considered the dominant leader in the mobile gaming category and it remains steadily in the driver’s seat, but 2013 indicated the Play Store is moving up fast.
From 9to5Google:
Update: Well, would you look at that, just moments after reports of a deal being near comes the news that a deal has actually been reached. The CTIA has posted a PDF document that reveals some of the agreed upon terms of the negotiations. The bottom line is no matter what, this is a major win for consumers and the overall industry even if the carriers are probably steaming over the deal.
Since the unveiling of third-party keyboards for Android some years ago, iOS users have looked on with envy. That is, until today as Fleksy is using the simplification of iOS 7 code and adding their alternative keyboard to iOS apps. Things will kick off with four apps: Wordbox, GV Connect, Launch Center Pro and Blindsquare but where the company goes from here is still up for some debate. As an option inside each app, Fleksy still won’t work like an alternative Android keyboard which works across the board no matter which app is being run.
Looking back at late May Google released a beta version of Chrome Apps for Mac, which should not be confused with Chrome OS or Chrome’s browser apps. These ‘Chrome Apps’ are full-fledged applications complete with offline support and include apps like Any.do, Pocket, and many more available in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store. Google initally released the desktop app launcher as part of a Chromium release back in May. With the app launcher, a grid icon lives in your dock and with a click a tray appears showing all your installed Chrome apps and services.
From 9to5Google:
Spotify fans the world over take note, the company is moving into the ad-supported model with a new app for both iOS, Android tablets and smartphones. The company is introducing a whole new tier of service on mobile, providing users an opportunity to listen and search for songs on the go for free with a small catch.
From 9to5Google:
Chalk up another Google Drive update for iOS as Google just announced a new sorting feature for files. Google’s iOS version of Google Drive has received quite a few updates in recent months to bring it in line with its Android counterpart. The new sorting feature should prove useful to just about every Google Drive user as it’s a much-needed and important feature.
Even as Google has yet to release a standalone app for its news platform, the company just announced a revamped mobile experience. This revamp comes on the heels of Google revealing the end of its alternative news application, Currents which is being rolled in with Newsstand.
Over the next few days Google News readers on Android and iOS devices will start to see a beautiful new version of the mobile web app that will provide an improved overall experience resulting in a kind of real-time news desk for you on your phone.
Google’s putting a lot of energy behind its packaged apps these days as the company continues to push Chromebook to the masses. Now, it appears that the company is building a toolkit to help developers create similar style Chrome apps for both Android and iOS.
Amazon has never shied away from quietly mocking Apple’s iPad and that’s why this new Kindle Fire HDX commercial (via Amazon YouTube) and its distinctly British voice has us laughing. Calling it the “magical new iPad Air” in proper British tongue, the commercial is offset with the American accented intro of the 8.9″ Kindle Fire HDX.
As the holiday season kicks into full swing with Black Friday, at least two of the nations largest retailers are offering partial credit to the iPad for blowout sales numbers. Target announced a successful start to the season with record traffic numbers to Target.com and Thanksgiving evening store openings.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9PSnkVZ8So]
It’ll come as no surprise that Nokia and its friends at Microsoft love to take cheap shots at the iPad and Apple products in general. This time around, a gentleman who just picked up a new tablet for working on the go visits friends at the coffee shop and shows off his new purchase…
A quick news blip for the 12 remaining Google Currents users on iOS as the company just announced Currents will be going by the wayside in favor of Google’s aptly named “Newsstand.” Aside from Google’s ridiculously original name, the company is ready to place all of your magazine, newspaper, blog and news site subscriptions in one place. Any other iOS users having a deja vu moment with the “Newsstand” name right about now?
Steve Jobs isn’t exactly a man known for keeping his thoughts to himself which is why excerpts from the upcoming book Dogfight found by Business Insider documenting the Google-Apple smartphone war are grabbing attention. According to the book written by Fred Vogelstein, Google was already working on its first Android-powered smartphone when Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 but had to stop in its tracks…
