MAY 30-31:
Two words dominated tech news this weekend: Android Pay. And while the world is still wondering exactly what this Google I/O announcement means (we’ll post our understanding shortly), we’ve listed out some of the other tech topics you might have missed in this week’s Monday review.
1 – GOOGLE WANTS YOU TO TOUCH YOURSELF
Possibly the coolest piece of tech content to come out of Google I/O last week was Project Jacquard. Put simply, it’s going to revolutionize wearable devices by integrating touch-screen technology seamlessly into your clothing.
Rather than spoil too much of this story, you can watch the Project Jacquard video below for more details:
2 – FACEBOOK’S GETTING ANIMATED
Congratulations Internet, you did it. You finally got Facebook to allow GIFs. The social network’s longstanding angst against allowing these animated shorts on your Feed has finally come to an end. A spokesperson from Facebook told Tech Crunch, “this is so you can share more fun, expressive things with your friends on Facebook”. And the fun doesn’t stop on desktop.
Facebook plans to support GIFs on the web and in its mobile app. That said, they confirmed there is a current restriction for brands, “while Pages cannot currently post GIFs, we are exploring ways to enable this in the future”.
3 – ‘SLACK’ CONTINUES TO DO THE OPPOSITE
The snappy business communications start-up ‘Slack‘ might only have been around for less than 2 years, but it has already received a valuation of USD 2.8 Billion. And it’s clear to see why, when the CEO Stewart Butterfield announced at the Re/code Code Conference, “we’ve been growing 5% a week for 70 straight weeks – 98.5% of all people who have ever paid for Slack are still using it”.
Despite that, Stewart continues to turn down acquisition offers – 8-10 confirmed offers to be precise. Sounds silly. But as the co-founder of Flickr – which sold for USD 35 Million to Yahoo back in 2005 – it’s safe to say Stewart knows what he’s doing. Either way, it’s one B2B tool that’s worth watching.
4 – WOMAN TOSSES USD 200,000 APPLE 1 AWAY
If you thought the Apple Watch Edition was expensive, it’s got nothing on the market value of the company’s first product. Which is a price a lady from Silicon Valley won’t ever forget, as a recycling plant recently sold her left goods (an Apple 1) for USD 200,000. The nice guy recycling plant in the Clean Bay Area isn’t just helping to save the planet, they’re also looking to split the reward with the woman in question. They just need to find her first. So be sure to share this post, because you never know who might see it.
5 – UBER IS NOW FOLLOWING YOU, BUT IT’S NO ‘GOD’
In busy cities like New York and Hong Kong, hailing a cab is a rather clumsy affair. Which is why you use Uber. And now the company has implemented a service that should make a smooth ride with them even speedier. All you have to do is allow them to access your location. Doing so will let drivers track where you are, and ultimately find you a lot faster.
Thankfully, this isn’t the same as ‘GOD VIEW’, that let drivers track down reporters and venture capitalists in a PR catastrophe, last year. Mainly because you now have to allow them access. It’s part of a rewrite to the Uber Privacy Policy, due to said catastrophe. And thankfully, you don’t need to have it on. It won’t affect your app or Uber experience too much if you choose to stay anonymous.
