Verizon CEO: Windows Phone will play a crucial role in the mobile industry

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At least one high-level mobile exec is optimistic about the long-term success of the Windows Phone. Verizon CEO Dan Mead said today that the Windows Phone has received good traction with OEM’s and thinks both Windows and Blackberry will play a crucial role in the mobile industry. Mead added that there needs to be more… Read More…

Tech Moves: Amazon vet joins Relaborate; MG Siegler leaves CrunchFund; Jawfish; and more

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Last week, we noted how difficult it is for startup companies to compete against Amazon.com and other tech giants in the region for software engineers. Well, here’s a counterexample. Relaborate, a new technology  startup, just tapped software developer Grant Gavares as chief technology officer. Gavares most recently spent three years at Apptio, and before that… Read More…

Microsoft to cover Yahoo search revenue shortfalls in U.S. for another year

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Microsoft and Yahoo will give their search partnership more time to meet their financial expectations. Microsoft has agreed to extend, for another year, its commitment to cover revenue shortfalls experienced by Yahoo in the U.S. since turning over its underlying search technology and related advertising to be operated by Microsoft. The extension, disclosed in Yahoo’s… Read More…

Apple makes gains in U.S. smartphone market, Microsoft stays stagnant in 4th place

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Apple continues to gain market share in the U.S. According to numbers out today from comScore, the Cupertino-based maker of the iPhone saw its share of the smartphone market in the U.S. jump from 36.3 percent to 39 percent for the 3-month period ending March 13. Google’s Android saw its share drop 1.4 percentage points to 52 percent,… Read More…

Epic dancing video ‘Where The Hell is Matt’ reaches 10M views in 10 months

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Since today is International Dance Day, what better time to talk about Matt Harding, the dude behind the global dancing phenomenon Where The Hell is Matt? Harding’s most impressive video, a compilation of him dancing all around the world in place like Afghanistan and Haiti, has garnered more than ten million views in ten months on YouTube and is a… Read More…

Google strikes back with ‘Now’ for iPhone and iPad

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Which online service will be the primary hub on your phone? Google this morning released its “Google Now” service for iPhone and iPad as a new feature of its existing Google app for Apple devices. It’s available by downloading or updating the Google app for iOS. The service, previously available for Android, features a series… Read More…

Why I won’t buy another subsidized Android phone (and why you shouldn’t, either)

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Guest Commentary: In the past few weeks, T-Mobile has been trying to shake up the mobile phone industry by offering no-contract plans in conjunction with the iPhone 5. Notably, their USA CEO John Legere put the issue of subsidized phones front-and-center, saying, “This is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard in my life!… Read More…

Wavii shutting down service after Google acquisition

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Reports of Wavii’s acquisition by Google surfaced earlier this week, and now that’s been confirmed. But in a more interesting piece of news coming today, Seattle-based Wavii announced that it will be shutting down its news aggregation service as part of the deal. Wavii, which helps you find personalized feeds of the news, confirmed the deal… Read More…

5 Reasons Google Shut Down Its Affiliate Network

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Industry veterans will tell you that affiliate marketing is about relationships. So when the head of the Google Affiliate Network (GAN), J. J. Hirschle made a brief announcement that Google planned to shutter the network just shy of its fifth birthday, it shouldn’t surprise anyone since relationships have never been Google’s strong suit. What was… Read More…

Google CEO Larry Page: Google Glass ‘gives me chills’

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Larry Page is excited about the potential of Google Glass — so much so that he gets the chills when wearing them. On the first quarter earnings call today, Google’s CEO touched on several different aspects of his company, including Google’s high-tech augmented reality spectacles. He said he gets the chills because he thinks it represents… Read More…