Japanese messaging service Line rolled out a new app called Line Here – separate from its popular platform – that allows users to share their location with multiple parties, in real time. I find it interesting that Line – which is very popular in Asia, but trails Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger in the US – … Continue reading Line’s New App
This past weekend, the Wall Street Journal had a compelling article on the rise of phone-reading. It noted that readers have abandoned paperbacks, tablets, and even e-readers in favor of increasingly large-screened phones. Publishers are following suit. To engage readers, publishers are now experimenting with ways to make the mobile-reading experience better. They are designing book … Continue reading E-Reading
Having just traveled to the stellar A. Smith Bowman Bourbon Distillery in Fresericksburg, VA, I found it pretty serendipitous that I was shown the below ad by Knob Creek. It’s fascinating to see Airbnb used as a sort of platform for an experience, rather than merely a hotel replacement. Sure, the tent near the brewery … Continue reading Distilling Experiences
Starbucks has made it its business to partner with lots of tech companies – Uber, Spotify, The New York Times – and the most recent addition to that list is Lyft, the popular ride-sharing service. I think this partnership – along with Starbucks’s other deals – represents a new kind of dominance for the brand. In the 1990s … Continue reading Another Coffee for the Road
The New York Times today sheds light on rumors that Facebook has gone directly to media labels, offering to directly premiere and host music videos on Facebook, rather than on YouTube or Vevo, the traditional options. If true, this strategic move echoes the news outlet deal Facebook inked back in May, wherein written content producers like The … Continue reading Cutting Out the Media Middleman
Most people consider Costco the place to buy bulk boxes of toilet paper or industrial amounts of Raisin Bran. But two interesting statistics I saw this week point to the fact that Costco is a player in both the automotive and organic food aisles: Marketplace reported: A growing number of Costco members are also turning to the company … Continue reading Costco’s Volume
Fitbit has announced plans to go public. Although the firm has first mover advantage in the wearable fitness space, I’m a little skeptical of its long-term prospects. Namely, I think that the days of the single-use device – and especially, wearables – are numbered. As the Apple Watch – and to vastly lesser extents, Android … Continue reading Fitbit vs GoPro IPO
About darn time. No cloud home for your photos is complete without the ability to download them easily. For the first time, we’re bringing you bulk download. Continue reading Flickr
As a die-hard Stones fan, I was thrilled to hear that the band had put out a previously unreleased version of their earbud-shaking “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’,” off of the band’s 1971 ‘Sticky Fingers” album. Stones re-releases and alternate versions can be a lot of fun – think of the newly-released acoustic “Wild Horses,” or the … Continue reading You Can’t Really Hear Me Knocking
Juan Pablo Vazques has an article in Harvard Business Review about how Apple Pay’s reliance upon credit cards is ultimately iterative, but not disruptive. He writes: Apple executives could have negotiated with retail banks, just as it did with the recording labels, to launch Apple Pay. If it had, Apple Pay would have been a … Continue reading Apple Pay’s Credit Card Reliance
Silicon Spatula 