Brands Are Creating Their Own Branded Voice Assistants
Move over, Siri — there’s a new cheery-voiced assistant vying for user attention. Starbucks is the latest national brand to launch into the voice app space, and they’re doing it in a novel way with the creation of a Starbucks-specific voice assistant. Similar to ordering from a business via Google or Siri, the Starbucks voice […]
Developers Look Back at 10 Years of iPhone Fever
The iPhone, arguably the most iconic product of the century (so far), had it’s 10th birthday this week. For iPhone app developers, it’s hard to believe it’s been a full decade since that first announcement — you know, the one with Steve Jobs pacing the stage in his trademark black turtleneck, pitching the smartphone concept […]
Mobile Startup Targets Old-School Online Forums
Remember online forums? For anybody with an Internet connection in the 90s and early 00s, forums were as central to online life as Facebook and Twitter are today. (Especially if you had a weird or offbeat hobby, like keeping exotic snakes or collecting Star Wars action figures.) For better or worse, forums have mostly gone […]
Overlooked Communities Are Overlooked by EdTech Startups
EdTech EdTech has been hot in the startup world for several years now. Far from just a “tech for techies” code bootcamp scene, EdTech has grown to encompass a variety of platforms and startups catering to a wide range of verticals. That said, NYC iOS app developers have mostly focussed on the upwardly-mobile demographics iOS […]
Snowden Warns of Promise and Peril of Augmented Reality AppsSnowden Warns of Promise and Peril of Augmented Reality Apps
Even NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden bumped into people playing Pokemon Go in recent months — but his take on the runaway app success story is as sobering as it is inspiring. Although he hasn’t played “a whole lot of Pokemon Go” personally, Snowden spoke via the iconic Beam Pro robot at the Real Future Fair […]
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 […]
Controversial iPhone 7 Headphones Put Software Center Stage
There’s a saying that for a carpenter, the solution to every problem is a nail. The saying holds true among techies — mobile app developers will always see software solutions, while hardware designers will always see hardware solutions. This debate is raging particularly brightly within Apple right now, as users discovered thanks to the iPhone […]
Mobile App Developers Gamify Biology, Discover New Species
There are over 8 million animal species in the world — finding, identifying, and cataloguing them all is one of biology’s biggest challenges. What if professional scientists could access the experience of casual ecologists and curious kids all over the world? That’s the vision of iNaturalist, a brilliant project from San Francisco iPhone app developer […]
What the Last.Fm Security Breach Says about Mobile Privacy
“We are currently investigating the leak of some Last.fm user passwords. This follows recent password leaks on other sites, as well as information posted online. As a precautionary measure, we’re asking all our users to change their passwords immediately.” This statement was released way back in 2012, but it’s just this week that the full […]
Mobile Tech for Elderly Users Is a Huge Startup Opportunity
If you’ve ever tried to walk your grandparents through the basics of using an iPad or iPhone, then you know getting elderly users is an uphill battle. Smartphones are simple to those of us who started using them as young people, but the basics of mobile app usage are as mysterious to older users as […]