Lyft vs Uber Debate is More Than Business Politics
Personal politics and business deals aren’t the only issues on the line anymore when it comes to the fabled fight between Uber and Lyft, the two biggest ride-sharing apps in the US (among other countries worldwide). Bay Area app developers have been following the conflict for years, but the issue just took a sharp turn […]
Mobile App Industry Reacts to Trump Presidency
Reactions from the tech sector have been particularly charged since the final votes were tallied in this year’s presidential election. While Trump’s campaign platform made promises that worried most tech leaders, others hoped that laxer regulations under a Republican administration could hold equally large opportunities for iOS app developers, particularly those in the financial sector […]
Could Mobile Tech Revolutionize Government?
We may not be seeing it in their actions, but at least on paper politicians are starting to come around to the idea of digitalizing government processes. In an age where everything is efficiently available at the push of a button, why should basic functions like taxes still be operating via pen and paper? (Or […]
Y Combinator to Build “ultimate Full-Stack Startup”: A City
Y Combinator made a controversial announcement last week that their nonprofit arm would begin research towards building an entire city from scratch. The accelerator’s mobile app development projects have raised record-setting returns for the group, fueling a multi-million dollar nonprofit fund which Y combinator president Sam Altman hopes to grow to 100 million in coming […]
Dogtown Campaigns for Tech Policy Progress at AppCon16
Dogtown Media CEO Marc Fischer had the honor of joining over 50 mobile industry leaders and app developers from around the US at AppCon16 on Capital Hill, organized by ACT | The App Association. During the three-day conference last April, Fischer met with senators and policymakers to build bridges between tech and government. The event […]
What Developers Need to Know about the Email Privacy Act
Did you know that emails older than 180 days are available to federal officials without a search warrant? This is a surprising fact to most of us, particularly given the very public debate over mobile encryption taking place thanks to the Apple vs. FBI case. While the general public tends to view their email inboxes […]
Dogtown Media Talks Tech Economy and Open Government at Appcon 2016
To say that 2016 has been an exciting time for mobile app developers would be a dramatic understatement. On the one hand, top-down initiatives like 18F are making incredible strides towards a more digital-savvy government. It’s no surprise that politicians care about mobile tech — the mobile ecosystem is driving the American workforce like no […]
Obama’s SXSW Speech Underscores Encryption Uncertainties
Technology and politics are two of the most complex sectors in the national economy. Huge portions of the population can’t tell you what an electoral college is, or even name the mayor of their town. Outside the community of iPhone app developers — of which their are not nearly enough to meet demand — the […]
App Developers Surprised as Ad Blockers Axed on Google Play
It’s no secret to Android app developers that Google has a stake in the ad industry. Still, the tech company’s move to pull ad-blocking apps from the Google Play store this month still ruffled some feathers as consumer demand for ad-blocking capability has driven development of native browser support in the Samsung Internet Browser, Apple’s […]
Mozilla Exits Mobile Development, Focuses on Browser
Most of us know Mozilla as the company behind Firefox, the highly customizable Chrome alternative. But to iPhone and Android app developers, the company is known for something else: Firefox OS, an intriguing but short-lived attempt to provide an alternative to Android and iOS. While the anti-native web-app-only interface showed a lot of promise in […]