6 investors on 2021’s mobile gaming trends and opportunities
Many VCs historically avoided placing bets on hit-driven mobile gaming content in favor of clearer platform opportunities, but as more success stories pop up, the economics overturned conventional wisdom with new business models. As more accessible infrastructure allowed young studios to become more ambitious, venture...
Bumble files to go public
The dating and networking service Bumble has filed to go public. The company, launched by a former co-founder of the IAC-owned Tinder, plans to list its share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, using the ticker symbol “BMBL.” Bumble’s planned IPO was first reported in December. Whitney...
Yelp will show user feedback about businesses’ health and safety practices
Moving forward, Yelp users won’t just be asked whether a business has good food or accepts credit cards — the platform is also allowing them to share feedback on whether the staff is wearing masks and enforcing social distancing. Yelp’s head of consumer product Akhil...
Snap acquires location data startup StreetCred
Snapchat’s parent company Snap has acquired StreetCred, a New York City startup building a platform for location data. Snap confirmed the news to TechCrunch and said the acquisition will result in four StreetCred team members — including co-founders Randy Meech and Diana Shkolnikov — joining...
TrendForce expects the smartphone market to slowly recover in 2021, but Huawei won’t benefit
After a dismal year, the global smartphone market will slowly start recovering in 2021, predicts TrendForce. But Huawei won’t benefit and, in fact, will fall out of the research firm’s list of the world’s top six smartphone makers by production volume. In 2020, global smartphone...
How Niantic evolved Pokémon GO for the year no one could go anywhere
Pokémon GO was created to encourage players to explore the world while coordinating impromptu large group gatherings — activities we’ve all been encouraged to avoid since the pandemic began. And yet, analysts estimate that 2020 was Pokémon GO’s highest-earning year yet. By twisting some knobs...
PhotoRoom launches background-removal app on Android
French startup PhotoRoom is launching its app on Android today. The company has been working on a utility photography app that lets you remove the background from a photo, swaps it for another background and tweaks your photo. And it’s been working well on iOS...
Facebook highlights small businesses as it ramps up Apple criticism
Facebook already made it clear that it isn’t happy about Apple’s upcoming restrictions on app tracking and ad targeting, but the publicity battle entered a new phase today. Over the summer, Apple announced that beginning in iOS 14, developers will have to ask users for...
Tinder makes it easier to report bad actors using ‘unmatch’ to hide from victims
Last month, Bumble introduced a new feature that would prevent bad actors from using the dating app’s “unmatch” feature to hide from victims. Now Tinder has done something similar. The company announced on Friday it will soon roll out an update to its app that...
iPhones can now automatically recognize and label buttons and UI features for blind users
Apple has always gone out of its way to build features for users with disabilities, and Voiceover on iOS is an invaluable tool for anyone with a vision impairment — assuming every element of the interface has been manually labeled. But the company just unveiled...
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