Last year, Amazon announced a set of tools that allowed third-party developers to integrate its virtual assistant Alexa, which today powers devices like the Echo speaker and Fire TV, into their own apps. Now, the company has introduced a number of improvements to one of these tools, Alexa Voice Services (AVS), which will enable a variety […]
Lyft is now allowing third-party developers to build on its platform, starting with Facebook Messenger today. Uber opened its API to third-party developers more than 18 months ago, announcing a partner integration with Facebook Messenger in December, which allowed Messenger users to order or schedule an Uber and let their friends know they are on their way via […]
A new report from U.S. consumer rights and privacy advocacy group, the Center for Digital Democracy, has set out the case for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to tighten data protection rules around how ISPs and telcos collect and use consumer data. The FCC is currently consulting on proposals to changes to the rules on how ISPs […]
Investor, entrepreneur, billionaire and Bill Gates’ other half in the founding of Microsoft Paul Allen has announced a $100 million investment in the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a fund focusing on the future of biotech research. Allen, who is worth about $15.3 billion, announced the investment today at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The purpose […]
Twitter and Facebook have recently claimed to be stepping up their fights against extremist content being hosted on their platforms. Indeed, there is some evidence that certain tactics to counter extremists’ appropriation of mainstream social media platforms — such as Twitter deploying repeat account suspensions — is having an impact on the spread of extremist propaganda. Earlier […]
Global smartphone sales in Q4 2015 experienced their slowest growth rate since 2008, according to Gartner’s latest market report. The quarter saw sales of Apple’s iPhone decline for the first time, with the analyst charting a 4.4 per cent decline on the year before quarter for Cupertino. Samsung and Huawei were the only top five smartphone vendors to boost […]
Apple’s unveiled its new four-inch iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro earlier this week, and now the two devices are up for pre-order in the first wave of countries. Customers in 12 countries — Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, UK and U.S. — can go ahead and prepare to part with their […]
It looks like Sony will follow Nintendo’s cue and focus on mobile gaming. The company announced today that it will form a new business unit that is tasked with bringing PlayStation titles and IP to iOS and Android devices. That sounds like great news for gamers, but there’s a caveat here, it seems. Forward Works, Sony’s mobile […]
BMW was among the first auto manufacturers to introduce integration with iPhones in 2011. Now, five years later, the company has at last announced at the New York International Auto Show that BMW Apps will integrate with Android devices. The first three apps to work with the iDrive system in the 2016 BMW 7 Series are […]
Remember the late-80s/early-90s TV show called Doogie Howser, MD? The show about a genius kid who became a doctor? I remember watching the show and thinking that one day, when Doogie was all grown up, he’d have to make the transition from “genius kid doctor” to just “doctor,” and that would be an interesting storyline […]