Month: February 2020
Alphabet takes the wind out of its Makani energy kites
Google today announced that it is calling it quits on its efforts to build and monetize its Makani wind energy kites. Makani, which was founded in 2006, came into Google/Alphabet seven years ago as a Google X project. Last year, the company spun it out of X and made it…
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Blue Apron is considering selling itself
Meal kit company Blue Apron has long been on the struggle bus — whether it’s been its lackluster debut on the public market, employee lawsuits or layoffs. So, it should come as no surprise that the company is considering selling itself in order to maximize value for shareholders. In addition to…
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Total web traffic around the world rose in 2019
A new report from SimilarWeb has revealed that mobile web browsing led to an overall increase in web traffic last year while desktop traffic continues to decline. The web analytics company’s 2020 State of Digital Report was compiled using data gathered from January 2017 to December 2019 and desktop web…
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Twitter acquires Stories template maker Chroma Labs
Is “Twitter Stories” on the way? Or will we just get tools to send prettier tweets? Well now Twitter has the talent for both as it’s just acquired Chroma Labs. Co-founded by Instagram Boomerang inventor John Barnett, Chroma Labs’ Chroma Stories app let you fill in stylish layout templates and…
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An Indian politician used AI to translate his speech into other languages to reach more voters
As social media platforms move to crack down on deepfakes and misinformation in the US elections, an Indian politician has used artificial intelligence techniques to make it look like he said things he didn’t say, Vice reports. In one version of a campaign video, Manoj Tiwari speaks in English; in…
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Want podcasts to remain independent? Support independent podcasts
Full disclosure one: I’ve hosted a lot of independent podcasts, with varying degrees of success. Full disclosure two: This story is being hosted on a site owned by a corporate media giant. There’s even some chance that, by the time it’s published, the decision will be made to host it…
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