News

 Gone is the little wing in Shyp’s logo. The company is going through a major overhaul that not only changes the look and feel of the app, but also the way the entire company looks. It’s essentially a rebranding geared toward better demonstrating the company’s core competencies, CEO Kevin Gibbon said. “We’ve been working on this for over a year, and the reason… Read More

 Online publishers are about to get a lot more options for embedding tweets in their stories, with Twitter announcing a new “ecosystem” of products around embedded tweets today at its Flight developer conference.
The curation side of that ecosystem includes existing Twitter products like TweetDeck and Curator, which helps publishers find the best tweets to feature in their content. Read More

 Yesterday we wrote about Twitter’s interest in building up its platform as a place for businesses and brands to manage customer care, and today Twitter unveiled some of the early features of that effort. At its Flight developer conference, the company showed how it was working with Fabric and Gnip to help businesses run customer services over Twitter. Early users include hotel chain Hilton. Read More

 Twitter’s been playing around with polls for the past month or so…right out in the open. Today’s announcement shouldn’t come as a surprise if you follow anyone who works for the company or runs in tech’s inner circles. Over the next few days, everyone will be able to pepper you with yes/no, two-option polls. Why only two options? Not sure, but it’s… Read More

 Twitter is on double time these days when it comes to rolling out new products and pressing ahead under new CEO Jack Dorsey — a strategy that will likely get a decent gust of air tomorrow during the company’s Flight developer conference. In the meantime, TechCrunch understands that one area where Twitter wants to do more in the future is in B2C business tools, and… Read More

 Today Facebook rolled out Instant Articles to all iOS users and launched an Android beta. But news publishers aren’t the only ones Facebook wants to load inside, rather than outside, its app.
At first Facebook called them “Immersive ads” and then the “ads canvas”, but really, they’re the paid promotional equivalent to its hosted organic initiative Instant… Read More

Publishers are at risk of becoming interchangeable. With Moments and Instant articles, Twitter and Facebook seem happy to take content from publishers without ever sending people back to their sites — you know, the place where publishers earn their money. If news outlets and other media properties don’t change something, they could become dumb content in the smart pipes of… Read More

 Squad is betting that the best time to meet new people is when you’re already out and about with friends, primed to meet other groups of friends. The New York City startup is officially launching its iOS app today, and it’s also announcing that it has raised $1.7 million in seed funding from Lerer Hippeau Ventures and First Round Capital. To use the app, you form a squad with… Read More