Tag Archives: this week in tech

Truth in Tech

Truth in Tech Ep 11: Girls Don’t Make Passes at Creeps Who Wear (Google) Glasses

Our weekly series, Truth in Tech, is now a podcast! So you can listen at your convenience – at your desk or on-the-go.

Claire and I wade through a lot of tech news. Usually we tweet about what we’re reading, but 140 characters doesn’t leave room for much nuance. So here we gather the most interesting tech stories from startups to tech giants to acquisitions to delightful new apps, and breakdown what they all mean for the startup scene. On the slate this week:

Yahoo! acquires Summly  (created by a then 15-year-old boy) for $30 million.

Plus, shocker: 15-year-old boys kinda suck at media relations. Gawker reams the poor entrepreneur and publishes his less than stellar emails.

In Boston: Hubspot Acqui-hires 2 companies on their way to an IPO.

In New York: 500 Startups opens an office/coworking space.

YCombinator’s 2013 Demo Dayinvokes, well, crickets.

PayTangowants to bring payment to your fingertips by Continue reading Truth in Tech Ep 11: Girls Don’t Make Passes at Creeps Who Wear (Google) Glasses →

Programming, Truth in Tech

Truth in Tech Ep. 10: Acquisitions, Drones, & Starbucks Square

Our weekly series, Truth in Tech, is now a podcast! So you can listen at your convenience – at your desk or on-the-go.

1. Acquisitions Galore:

Pinterest Buys Livestar: Livestar amalgamates reviews for restaurants, movies, and music from reputable sources such as newspapers, local news blogs, Facebook friends, or people in your contact list. The acquisition cost wasn’t revealed, but Livestar did have some top investors and $2 million in funding

Babbel Startup buys PlaySay: Babbel is a language learning startup. PlaySay is a English/Spanish learning app for the iPhone where you can have real conversations with pronunciation feedback. Again exact amount of buyout not revealed, but Babbel’s goal is to break into the US Market.

2. Google launches Keep on Android and Google Drive: Keep is Google’s version of Evernote that syncs to your Google Drive. It’s android only at the moment, but wired predicts an iOS version soon

3. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday on the privacy implications of tiny, cheap drones.

“The drones, or unmanned aerial systems, have already helped the police find missing people and county planners measure the growth of a landfill. But they could also be used by drug dealers, pedophiles and nosy neighbors, the witnesses and a senator said.” Currently, only government agencies and police departments can fly drones, but the FAA will have rules in place for commercial use by 2015.

4. Starbucks’ Square Deal

Square may bill itself as the simplest way to pay–but Continue reading Truth in Tech Ep. 10: Acquisitions, Drones, & Starbucks Square →