Despite the U.S. government’s concerns over TikTok, which most recently led to the U.S. Navy banning service members’ use of the app, TikTok had a… Read More »44% of TikTok’s all-time downloads were in 2019, but app hasn’t figured out monetization
Xnor.ai, spun off in 2017 from the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI (AI2), has been acquired by Apple for about $200 million. A source close… Read More »Apple buys edge-based AI startup Xnor.ai for a reported $200M
French startup Lydia is raising a $45 million Series B round (€40 million). Tencent is leading the round with existing investors CNP Assurances, XAnge and… Read More »Mobile payment app Lydia raises $45 million round led by Tencent
Consumers downloaded a record 204 billion apps in 2019, up 6% from 2018 and up 45% since 2016, and spent $120 billion on apps, subscriptions… Read More »App stores saw record 204 billion app downloads in 2019, consumer spend of $120 billion
Last Halloween, we broke down some “good news” from a Canalys report: the smartphone industry saw one-percent year-over-year growth — not exactly the sort of… Read More »Have we hit peak smartphone?
Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Quibi executives — including CEO Meg Whitman and founder/chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg — took the stage… Read More »Quibi execs Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman explain their big vision
Samsung this morning announced that it has completed the acquisition of TeleWorld Solutions. The Virginia-based telecommunications company provides wireless networking and consulting services. It’s TWS’s… Read More »Samsung acquires TeleWorld Solutions to help build 5G infrastructure
TikTok has spawned countless memes formats from its creative effects, challenging Instagram for the filtered video crown. Now nearly five years after launching Boomerang, Instagram’s… Read More »Instagram adds Boomerang effects as TikTok looms
Mark Zuckerberg won’t be spending 2020 focused on wearing ties, learning Mandarin or just fixing Facebook. “Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I’ve tried to think… Read More »Zuckerberg ditches annual challenges, but needs cynics to fix 2030
At last year’s CES, Twitter introduced its first public prototype app, twttr — dubbed “little T” internally at Twitter. The app allows Twitter to develop… Read More »Twitter is bringing twttr’s experiments in threaded conversations to its main app
What if politicians could only display Twitter replies from their supporters while stopping everyone else from adding their analysis to the conversation? That’s the risk… Read More »Twitter’s new reply blockers could let Trump hide critics
Two of the top three telecom operators in India are beginning to address one of the biggest challenges hundreds of millions of their subscribers face… Read More »India’s Reliance Jio rolls out Wi-Fi calling feature
Some devices need no explanation. The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 Line are not such devices. They’re more nebulous, walking an interesting line, between premium… Read More »Samsung’s Lite devices bring the headphone jack to flagship design (sort of)
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Popsockets is launching a new must-have item to its lineup of smartphone accessories — and one that… Read More »PopSockets launches a $60 wireless charger that works with its PopGrips
If nothing else, Royole grabbed our attention a couple of years back by bringing the first foldable smartphone to market. There’s something to be said… Read More »Royole looks to move flexible displays beyond the foldable phone