Today at the DLD conference in Munich, Germany, the CEO of Facebook-owned WhatsApp made a couple of big announcements about how the messaging app plans to evolve to its next phase as it approaches 1 billion users: the company plans to drop its $0.99 annual subscription fee, and it will start to test out more commercial services — specifically a B2C business for companies to… Read MoreWhatsApp Ditches $1 Annual Fee, Tests Business Accounts But No Ads, Says CEO
Today at the DLD conference in Munich, Germany, the CEO of Facebook-owned WhatsApp made a couple of big announcements about how the messaging app plans to evolve to its next phase as it approaches 1 billion users: the company plans to drop its $0.99 annual subscription fee, and it will start to test out more commercial services — specifically a B2C business for companies to… Read More
Terrorists are communicating over a new secure Android app after getting kicked off WhatsApp, Telegram, and other messengers. Called “Alrawi”, the encrypted chat app makes it harder for governments and security agencies to spy on terrorist plans. It was discovered by counter-terrorism network known as the Ghost Security Group, which Fortune reports had previously flagged ISIS… 
Make room for yet another dating app. San Francisco-based Blume is hoping to entice singles into its arms with a real-time selfie feature designed to thwart catfishing. So no more being chatted up by sex-mad robots. Or wooed by forlorn hopers overselling their dating prospects with a set of out-of-date/overly processed photos. 
Today was not a good day for tech stocks. Universally, tech stocks crashed today alongside everything else, erasing billions in value across the board, as part of a bad day overall for the market. There’s not a whole lot of confidence throughout the market, but tech — even bellwethers like Apple — weren’t safe today. That being said, some stocks got particularly hammered… 
Twitter is making an update to its recently released polling feature; instead of a default 24-hour timeframe, poll lengths can range from five minutes to seven days. Launched in October, the company also touted the success of polls, announcing that 1.7 billion votes have been cast so far. The revelation comes as Twitter shares sink to a record low, with investors expressing concern… 
Anyone who has a credit card has probably experienced some sort of fraud over the last few years. I personally have had it happen several times and I am by no means unique. Today IBM purchased IRIS Analytics, a firm that helps banks detect fraudulent use of credit cards using machine intelligence. The company has been considering a product like this for some time, Bob Griffin, general manager… 
If you haven’t tried Peach out because you don’t have an iOS device, a developer has ginned up something called “Nectarine,” which is an unofficial Android and web version of the service. It’s limited as far as what you can do and how you can interact, but you can definitely view your stream (in flipped order), like posts and comment on posts. It’s pretty… 
Despite $61 million in funding, Zoosk is getting swiped to death. A source told TechCrunch the dating startup is laying off a huge chunk of its staff, and now the company confirms over 40 people will be let go. That’s one-third of the whole company. The mobile era has not been kind to the old-school web dating app. Founded in 2007, Zoosk found success by building extensions for… 
We’ve all felt it — the little adrenaline rush and increased heart rate that comes when we meet someone we’re attracted to — but now we can track it.
There have been plenty of premature obituaries for privacy falling from the lips of tech company CEOs in recent years. Yet the idea that people have a sub-set of personal information they wish to keep outside the public sphere persists — despite all the incentives and encouragements for the proverbial user to be as naked as can be when it comes to sticking their data online.