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Tuesday, December 3, 2013
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UPS is also looking into getting flying robots to deliver packages, according to The Verge, along with Internet ecommerce giant Amazon. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos dominated the news cycle yesterday with the revelation that Amazon was working on drone delivery with 30-min. ship times, albeit for a few years out in a best case scenario, but UPS also now appears to be interested in replacing its reliable army of brown-shorted carriers with repurposed evil mindless deathbots.


UPS told the Verge that it finds the concept of commercial drone use “interesting,” and that it'll continue to “evaluate” its usefulness for the parcel carrier. Big Brown also pointed out that it pours more money into R&D than any of its competitors in the delivery business, which, while not confirming it's spending on drones specifically, definitely suggests that could be the case.


In addition to the official statement, Verge quotes multiple sources close to the company as confirming that it's testing a number of different drone-based delivery programs. But unlike Amazon's vision of a robot flying from a warehouse to your door with your order of Uranium ore, the UPS implementation could shore up something like delivery from the airport to the local storage warehouse or distribution center. That's actually a vision that's much more feasible in the near-term, so long as regulators can catch up and the FAA can establish some clear guidelines on the use of unmanned transport in domestic airspace.


Imagining a world where the freeways aren't clogged with huge, noisy, loud, polluting transport trucks presents a tempting vision, especially for frequent commuters. But drones whirring between local sort facilities, central depots and airports, not to mention consumer doors and driveways, presents a possibility of a sky darkened by quad- and octocopters buzzing about their business.


The delivery drones will block out the sun, and all will be plunged into darkness. On the bright side, we'll get our Kindles in record time.







6:24 AM

UPS is also looking into getting flying robots to deliver packages, according to The Verge , along with Internet ecommerce giant Amazon. Ama...

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According to Fortune, China Mobile has begun quietly taking pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c smartphones. The below screenshot reportedly originated on a website owned by a subsidiary of China Mobile.


A potential deal between Apple and China Mobile, China's (and the world's) largest mobile carrier has been in negotiation for more than six years. Finally, however, it seems that the two giants have come to an agreement.


Back in September, we learned that Apple's newest smartphones would be compatible with China Mobile's network, though neither company made any announcements regarding iPhone availability on the network.


Just last week, China Mobile announced it would get 4G LTE, which was another hint in the iPhone direction.


Fortune reports that the webpage has been replaced with a placeholder reading “Reservation page information update, will be reopened later appointment. Please try again later, thank you for your support of Suzhou Mobile!”


Suzhou Mobile is the website owned by China Mobile's subsidiary, and according to Fortune, a great city to test out a soft launch of the iPhone with 5 million relatively wealthy citizens.


Reports have swirled lately that China Mobile would begin selling the iPhone 5s, 5c on December 18, so we should have a firm answer in the next month or so.


Screenshot 2013-12-03 09.09.37







6:24 AM

According to Fortune , China Mobile has begun quietly taking pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c smartphones. The below screenshot r...

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Yext is adding new tools today to help businesses synchronize their content and data across multiple services with the launch of a product called Pages.


Back in 2009, the company launched a pay-per-call ad service at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference, but it has since sold that business to IAC and refocused on helping businesses manage their location data, first on local search and listing services like Yelp and Bing, then on Facebook too. With Pages, it's making it easier for businesses to update their own websites as well.


To illustrate why this is useful, CEO Howard Lerman told me about being dispatched by his wife to pick up a pie, only to discover that the store in question was closed for the day. It turned out that the store's Facebook Page had been updated with that information, but its website (which is what he had consulted) was not. Lerman argued that this reflects a broader problem, where many businesses find it difficult to consistently update their websites, so those websites turn into digital brochures.


“We want to make the web a little less static,” he said.


With Pages, Yext is offering customers five different widgets - calendars, menus, bios, product lists, and social posts. Once those widgets are embedded on a site, they can be updated from the same Yext interface as everything else, with the same information. And those updates go live immediately, as Lerman showed me in a quick demo.


The new feature also points to the company's larger vision, which is to build a “Yext Cloud” that helps businesses manage all their marketing needs from one place. Lerman suggested that the company will continue building out the cloud with new products in this vein.


He also claimed that the company's focus on business data and updates is already paying off handsomely. Yext will be serving 500,000 locations and have a $50 million revenue run rate at the end of this year, he said, and he expects that to double to 1 million locations in the next year. (Lerman estimated that Yext's customer base is half small and medium businesses and half larger brands that account for multiple locations.) And he emphasized that Yext is a software-as-a-service company, with reliably recurring revenue.


In addition, Yext is announcing that it now supports international addresses in 75 countries and 150 languages, and that it's expanding its social features to include support for Google+.







6:09 AM

Yext is adding new tools today to help businesses synchronize their content and data across multiple services with the launch of a product ...

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In the world of eBay sellers, some people photograph their wares on models and take the time to write up comprehensive product descriptions. Other listings… are kind of indecipherable. Or just unhelpful.


WorldLister, an app launching today, is trying to help the latter group become more like the former, by generating listings for you that include video, sizing information, and substantial product descriptions that flow. For those too lazy to write out a full description, it's an easy way to look a whole lot more professional.


WorldLister, which is free, hooks up to users' eBay accounts and acts as a kind of seller's dashboard. Listing an item requires answering a series of questions; if it's a clothing item, for instance, it will ask for color, material, style, and size. The WorldLister platform has a real time feed of a person's listings; users can change the price of a given item there and it will update to eBay automatically. The app is also integrated with eBay messaging.


The aim is to be faster than eBay's current system, and WorldLister is promising to have listings up in minutes.


“What took eight hours of work you can do in one hour,” founder Bryan Harmon said.


According to Harmon, the team started developing the app to list clothing first, since it's a difficult category in which to nail sizing. So rather than leaving users to guess what a size 6 means for any given brand, WorldLister provides a walk through on how to measure an article of clothing flat and then uses those measurements for sizing. WorldLister then went on to develop its algorithm for other tricky categories, like used automobiles.







6:09 AM

In the world of eBay sellers, some people photograph their wares on models and take the time to write up comprehensive product descriptions....

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After revealing that Sony had sold 250k PS4 units in the UK over opening weekend, the company has finally announced global sales over the past two weeks.


According to Sony's PlayStation blog, the company sold 2.1 million units of the PlayStation 4 in the past two weeks, starting on November 15th on launch day. Sony also mentioned that, in the first 24 hours of availability, the company sold one million units.


Here's what Sony had to say about it:



It's an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn't have done it without you. I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible line-up of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead.



Microsoft also sold 1 million units of the Xbox One in the first 24 hours of availability, with more widespread availability but $100 higher price tag.


However, the Telegraph is reporting that the PS4 is winning the popularity contest, at least in the UK.


Still, many gamers are giving these new consoles some time in the market before making a decision, so while the battle may have been won by Sony, the war is far from over.







5:39 AM

After revealing that Sony had sold 250k PS4 units in the UK over opening weekend, the company has finally announced global sales over the p...

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The Linux OS lacks an effective yet simple checking and banking tool. There are money-management tools for Linux users, of course, but most full-fledged offerings are overkill for monitoring spending patterns and balancing financial accounts. In general, Linux financial applications are either too complex to use without an accounting degree or simple, spreadsheet-style apps that do little more than help you keep an electronic copy of your deposits and withdrawals.


5:39 AM

The Linux OS lacks an effective yet simple checking and banking tool. There are money-management tools for Linux users, of course, but mos...

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Gmail may not be the prettiest email program in the world. Yahoo Mail is easier on the eye. Microsoft's Outlook online has a clean and modern appeal. Nevertheless, many of us use Gmail -- warts and all -- so any app that adds utility to the Google offering can be worthwhile. Mailplane has been around for six years, but its developers have given it a makeover in this latest edition. That's not to say they've drifted away from the program's essential mission: enabling you to access your Gmail accounts without opening your Web browser.


5:39 AM

Gmail may not be the prettiest email program in the world. Yahoo Mail is easier on the eye. Microsoft's Outlook online has a clean and...

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