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Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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Fans of monogamy should get excited.


Couple, the social network for two, has just launched a relatively major update that integrates location data in a totally new way, making sure you can always keep tabs on your partner.


And if tracking your sweetie via mobile just isn’t enough control, Couple is also launching a web app for the very first time, enabling users to check out their moments, lists, and chat on the desktop.


In terms of location, Couple has added a Live Beacon feature. This allows you to broadcast your location to your partner, which automatically deactivates after 30 minutes. Founder Oleg Kostour explained that he wanted it to be easy for couples to find each other, but he didn’t want an always-on location function to scare away younger, less committed couples from using the app.


After updating, current users should notice that the location action is now centered on the first page, prioritizing it over some other actions like thumbkiss and live sketch.


Meanwhile, Couple has added in foursquare integration which lets users explore restaurants and other places nearby which they can suggest to their partner. Eventually, Kostour promised that partners will be able to create and share lists for their suggested places to go to be saved in a history for later reference.


He also explained why the company is moving into the desktop space after spending almost two years as a mobile only company.


“No matter how important mobile is, we can’t forget that most people are spending eight hours a day at work, in front of a computer,” said Kostour. And the logic makes sense.


That said, Couple now offers a lighter version of the app for the web, which includes chat and a way to browse through your moments. According to the company, it’s a first step toward a full-featured, native desktop app.


Couple launched out of Y-Combinator in 2012 as Pair, and renamed to Couple at the beginning of this year. Users have sent over 1 billion messages through the app.


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6:09 AM

Fans of monogamy should get excited. Couple , the social network for two, has just launched a relatively major update that integrates locati...

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Apple has just announced that its new Mac Pro computer, featuring that signature ‘Darth Vader’ design, will be available for sale starting tomorrow, Thursday Dec. 19 beginning at $2,999. There’s another version with better specs for $3,999, and a number of custom order options that will vary the prices upwards from there.


Orders kick off tomorrow online through Apple’s official web-based store, as well as in retail stores and at authorized resellers, according to Apple’s official announcement, so conceivably we could see the first customers actually take theirs home tomorrow.


Developing…







5:39 AM

Apple has just announced that its new Mac Pro computer , featuring that signature ‘Darth Vader’ design, will be available for sale starting ...

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I remember in the early 2000s a friend of mine through college had a mullet zine, which was an actual print photocopied irregular publication that featured candid photos he’d taken of mullets in the wild. That was the sort of thing that happened in the early 2000s, when mullets were a thing people loved ironically. Nokia thinks mullets are still a thing, and it built an entire ad around the concept of a haircut with business in front and party in the back and its new 2520 Windows 8-based tablet.


Please, by all means watch whatever the hell this is for yourself, but let me tell you right away: it’s weird, and it will make you feel uncomfortable, and it’s stupid. I’m all for a little eccentric fun once in a while, but when you line this fumbled Harry Potter-movie-soundtracked amateur comedy up against Apple’s recent holiday ad, it’s easy to see why the average human reaches for an iPad in the tablet aisle, not a Lumia 2520.







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I remember in the early 2000s a friend of mine through college had a mullet zine, which was an actual print photocopied irregular publicatio...

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Setting up a brand-new phone can involve numerous aggravations, but if you don't rely on one of the majors like Yahoo and Gmail for email, one of the worst is surely the manual email server configuration. If you use a customized domain name, your Android device's email client is likely to need this extra step. This could become an even more prevalent problem with the January U.S. launch of the reasonably priced and specified Moto G smartphone, enabling consumers to buy new devices willy-nilly and without contract.


5:39 AM

Setting up a brand-new phone can involve numerous aggravations, but if you don't rely on one of the majors like Yahoo and Gmail for em...

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A new Kickstarter campaign for a built-in case, battery and 3.5x optical camera lens aims to hit three key enhancements many people want for their iPhones: a better camera, better battery life and a protective case. Specifically, BricWave's [BRIC+] Productivity Case for iPhone 5 and 5s is a slickly designed, slim case with a built-in battery pack and a handy camera lens that snaps on and off through the power of magnets. For shutterbugs, the [BRIC+] seems like a solid option.


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A new Kickstarter campaign for a built-in case, battery and 3.5x optical camera lens aims to hit three key enhancements many people want f...

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Artists are using social media to market their work, communicate their ideas and even create new forms. Kiran Umapathy's Headphones Project, for example, documents what randomly selected headphone-wearing strangers are listening to with a story, photo and link to the song. This project -- like many other art projects these days -- lends itself well to social media sharing. "Social media's a big deal because that's where your audience is," said Umapathy, who also does marketing for Social Print Studio.


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Artists are using social media to market their work, communicate their ideas and even create new forms. Kiran Umapathy's Headphones Pr...

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Satellite startup Planet Labs is just on the brink of launching the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites into orbit, with 28 of its units expected to head into space next month. To prepare for that launch, and to expand its team to meet the challenges that come from processing a huge amount of imaging data on a day-to-day basis, the company has raised $52 million in new funding.


The new financing was led by Yuri Milner, who will joint the Planet Labs board, and included participation from new investors Industry Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lux Capital, and Ray Rothrock. The company’s existing investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Investment Group, O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures (OATV), Founders Fund, First Round Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective, and AME Cloud Ventures.


With the new funding, Planet Labs has raised $65 million altogether.


Planet Labs hopes to change the way Earth imaging is done with the introduction of ultra-small satellites, which it calls “doves,” that circle the planet in low orbit. The units are a lot less expensive to make and deploy, and since they circle a lot closer to the Earth, they can produce higher-resolution images than their larger, more expensive counterparts.


The downside is that Planet Labs’ doves don’t live as long — they typically drift down into the atmosphere and burn up after just one to three years. But the company believes it will be able to produce and maintain a large enough fleet over time to provide imaging that is higher quality and updated much more frequently than what’s available today.


Planet Labs has already had some major accomplishments in 2013, having launched four of its doves into orbit so far this year. That includes Dove 1 and Dove 2, which were launched in the spring, and Dove 3 and Dove 4, which were sent into orbit just last month.


Its next big event is expected next month, when its first constellation of 28 satellites — dubbed Flock 1 — is launched into orbit. The date for that launch is now set for January 13, after a short delay from its original December launch plan.


With the launch of Flock 1, Planet Labs will have a “torrent of new data coming in,” co-founder Robbie Schingler told me. The company is expecting terabytes of imaging data each day, which then needs to be processed and normalized before being made available to clients.


To deal with all of that data, the company is looking to hire engineers to help build out its imaging and software side of its business, in an effort to automate as much of the process as possible. The team currently has about 40 employees, but will be expanding that to meet demand for its imaging services.


That’s a big reason for the big round of funding. As for its interest in having Yuri Milner on board, Planet Labs co-founder William Marshall says the team had a great rapport with the Russian entrepreneur and investor.


“On a personal note, the founders got along really well with him,” Marshall said. “He’s a physicist, and we’re all physicists… and we had a great personal vibe.”


More than that, though, the founders said that Milner’s belief in “big ideas” was also attractive. Milner, of course, has invested in companies like Facebook and Twitter. In the same way that those companies helped to democratize communications and information with software, Planet Labs is hoping to provide more access to information about the planet we live on.


“We care about providing open access and tools around this data and information,” Schingler said. “This is about democratizing information about our planet.”


Planet Labs hopes to do that by providing affordable imaging data not to the military-industrial complex, but to organizations monitoring natural resources, agriculture, and for mapping purposes. It’s a pretty lofty goal, but it fits in with the credo of doing well by doing good.







4:08 AM

Satellite startup Planet Labs is just on the brink of launching the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites into orbit, with 28 o...

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