Should you upgrade to the iPhone 5S? And is Apple’s iOS 7 worth the hassle of installing?
We start this week’s GeekWire radio show and podcast with a report from our Bay Area correspondent, Blair Hanley Frank, who has been covering Apple’s latest launches this past week and shares his perspective on the new iPhone 5S, in addition to the major update to Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 7.
[Listen to the show above or download directly via this MP3]
For more background, here are highlights from Blair’s coverage from this past week …
- Here comes iOS 7: How to prepare yourself for Apple’s big mobile overhaul
- Apple’s iOS 7 is live, and here’s how to get it
- iOS 7 first impressions: Stylish and functional refresh for iPhone and iPad
- 4 inside tips for using Apple’s iOS 7 on iPhone or iPad
- Yes, I’m camping out overnight for the iPhone 5S
- Hands on with a newly Bing-ified Siri: A new engine does a body good
After that segment, we jump into the world of high-tech home improvement with our guest Matt Ehrlichman, the CEO and co-founder of Porch, a new Seattle-based startup that is aiming to bring a new level of transparency to the market.
Porch launched nationally this past week after spending more than a year collecting data on home repair, design and renovation projects. For example, you can see pictures of nearby projects, data on how much your neighbor paid for a kitchen remodel, which professional did the job, and which contractors and remodelers get recommended for specific types of work.
The service is free to homeowners. Porch makes money selling premium subscriptions to professionals (who can still get basic listings for free.
The company, which employs 30 people already, is growing quickly, backed by prominent investors from Seattle and Silicon Valley. Ehrlichman, who grew up in the Seattle region, attended Stanford University and co-founded the Thriva events management software company. That startup was sold in 2007 for more than $60 million to Active Network Inc., where Ehrlichman was chief strategy officer leading up to and beyond a 2011 IPO.
Ehrlichman talks with us about Porch’s ambitions of becoming the next big tech company to emerge from the Seattle region.
Related: Porch launches nationally, promising to bring radical transparency to home improvement market
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