Mobile Technology Science / News

Travel search giant Skyscanner has acquired Twizoo, a U.K.-based platform that identifies user-generated content on Twitter for companies to use as part of promotional campaigns on their websites. The deal represents Skyscanner’s sixth known acquisition of all time, and its first since being acquired itself last year by Ctrip, one of China’s biggest online travel companies, […]

Spain’s Digital Legends and South Korea’s Gamevil teamed up to release the realistic mobile shooter Afterpulse in 2015. The game got more than 10 million downloads and won various awards. The previous game was shut down by Gamevil in October. But now Digital Legends, the developer of the game, has taken over and is re-publishing the […]

Despite weak infrastructure and poor power supply, Nigeria stands out as one of Africa’s top tech hubs — something that was confirmed last year when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited the capital, Lagos. But to boost innovation even further, the country desperately needs a well-functioning WiFi system, which Tizeti has been trying to provide through […]

Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau wants to make sure that the company’s strong performance for the third quarter that ended September 30 isn’t a fluke. The social mobile game publisher reported net income for the second quarter in a row — the first time it has done so since going public in 2011. In an interview with […]

Zynga has acquired the mobile card game studio of Turkey’s Peak Games for $100 million in cash. The move is one of the biggest acquisitions Zynga has made under Frank Gibeau, who became CEO in March 2016. It’s also a big validation for Peak Games’ strategy of focusing on casual card games that are popular […]

Byond is launching a publishing platform for companies to create augmented reality, virtual reality, and 360-degree applications. It’s one more set of tools designed to get enterprises and brands to take the plunge into promising new technologies. The Los Angeles-based startup has created the Byond Immersive Suite to make it easier for companies to create, […]

Monzo, a U.K.-based startup building a mobile-first banking service, has raised £71 million ($93 million) in a round of funding from Stripe, Goodwater Capital, Sequoia’s Michael Moritz, Passion Capital, Thrive Capital, and Orange Digital Ventures. This latest tranche takes the company’s total funding to £106 million ($140 million) and values the London-based startup at £280 million ($366 […]

Today provided a brutal reminder of how fundamental shifts to mobile technology has caused a profound upheaval in the semiconductor market that is transforming some of the biggest names in the industry. The move away from desktop computing started long ago. But the increasingly powerful smartphones we carry, the explosion of so-called Internet of Things […]

As it has been for more than a decade, Twitter became the place to look for breaking news updates following the Texas Church Massacre on Sunday. And as it has been increasingly in recent years, Twitter became a hive of lies, propaganda, misinformation, and fake news. People searching for the name of the alleged shooter […]

(Reuters) — Amazon is cutting prices of products from third-party sellers on its website, moving beyond its more typical method of discounts on items it sells directly. The “discount provided by Amazon” applies to products including board games and technological gadgets offered by other merchants as the holiday season approaches. The retailer has been trying […]

GUEST: Optimizing ads are a hot topic these days, and we’re constantly witnessing disruption aimed at improving advertising transaction standards. Why? At the end of the day, it’s all about one thing — helping publishers maximize their revenue, and part of that discussion has been around a topic called header bidding. What is header bidding? Header […]

(Reuters) — Communications chipmaker Broadcom Ltd is planning to unveil a bid for smartphone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc by Monday, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, an attempt to create a roughly $200-billion company through the biggest technology acquisition ever. A tie-up would combine two of the largest makers of wireless communications […]

Hearthstone is mostly a multiplayer game. But its next expansion, Kobolds & Catacombs, will introduce a compelling new solo experience when it launches next December for PC and mobile. Dungeon Runs will be a free mode. It has players picking a class, starting with a weak-ish premade deck, and fighting random computer-controlled bosses. If you […]

ANALYSIS: Google announced a notable update to YouTube Kids this week, one that gives parents a range of tools to tailor the app for their kids. Among the new features is one that lets parents create individual profiles for each of their offspring. They can set each kid up with their own passcode to keep siblings […]

EXCLUSIVE: One issue Instagram faces as it continues to try and expand its userbase is how to reach folks who are in parts of the world without great internet access. That’s why the Facebook-owned company has turned to a New York-based team of engineers to help streamline and optimize its app for better compatibility with network […]

Last quarter was typical: smartphones up, tablets down. The tablet market has now declined every quarter over the past three years. Q3 2017 saw a 5.4 percent year-over-year decline: 40.0 million units shipped worldwide, compared to 42.3 million units in the same quarter last year. The only silver lining is that the 2017 drops aren’t […]

(Reuters) — Apple Inc forecast revenue for the holiday shopping-quarter largely above market expectations, helping allay investor concerns about production delays and supply constraints for the iPhone X, which it will start shipping on Friday. Apple opened pre-orders for the iPhone X on Oct. 27 and has said demand has been “off the charts,” although […]

VB LIVE: Increasingly, companies have turned to customer data platforms (CDPs) to help them run more relevant marketing campaigns using the large volume of customer data at their fingertips. Learn why software company Atlassian made the leap and how that decision transformed their marketing in this VB Live event! Don’t miss out! Access on demand for free. “Customer […]

International money transfer service TransferWise has raised  $280 million in a round of funding led by asset management firm Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) and Silicon Valley’s IVP, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Mitsui & Co, World Innovation Lab, Richard Branson, Andreessen Horowitz, and Baillie Gifford. Founded out of London in 2010, TransferWise offers a peer-to-peer (P2P) international […]

(Reuters) — Tesla Inc on Wednesday pushed back its target for volume production on its new Model 3 sedan by about three months, saying it was difficult to predict how long it would take to fix all production bottlenecks. The company also reported its biggest quarterly loss ever, sending shares down nearly 5 percent after […]