Online dating phenomenon Plentyoffish.com (simply called POF from this point forward) has launched a side project dubbed Luvmybox. Yes, really. The new venture will ship you a discreetly packaged box filled with “adult oriented and flirty items” on a monthly basis for $34.95 a month. Subscription boxes are a dime a dozen these days...
Daily Archives: August 3, 2012
Learning the hard way: music service Wahwah.fm killed by license costs
It was an innovative idea. Wahwah.fm was going to bring pirate radio into the social age through its smartphone app, which let users turn their iPhone playlists into live web radio broadcasts. Users could message each other and list broadcasts as Facebook events. The service peaked at 50,000 users. And then… … Wahwah.fm collapsed....
Engineers Struggle to Move Mobile Video Without Ruining It
Intel, Cisco and Verizon are pouring $3.3 million into research at five prominent universities to improve video delivery over wireless networks. The first goal of the Video Aware Wireless Networks (VAWN) program? Find a good way to measure mobile video quality. Understanding Video Quality As consumers watch ever increasing amounts of video on their mobile...
Can Facebook Capitalize on the Social Discovery Trend?
As Facebook released its earnings last week, pundits focused on the company’s troubled mobile strategy. But Facebook may face an even bigger problem: The social networking behemoth must compete with the nimble startups poised to capitalize on the trend toward social discovery. (This is Part 3 in a series of articles about social discovery....
Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten booked $2.56 billion in revenue in the first half of 2012
Japan-based but global ecommerce juggernaut Rakuten reported its financial results for the first 6 months of the fiscal and calendar year this morning, revealing that its revenues exceeded ¥200,5 million (roughly $2.56 billion), up almost 13 percent compared to the same period last year. Rakuten reported an operating profit of ¥35,224 million (approximately $450...
Dear Facebook, It Could Really Be This Simple
“The one positive thing that this week has so far thrown light on is that there is a widespread recognition that things cannot stay the same.” — Keith Teare Oh ye of little faith: For the many of us who BELIEVE in Consumer Internet, it’s so painful to watch the Facebook/Groupon/Zynga stock trainwreck continue,...
Singaporean back-up service Dropmyemail arrives in US with Dallas office
Dropmyemail, an offshoot of Singapore-based startup Dropmysite, has landed in the US with the opening of a sales and business development office in Dallas, Texas. The company announced the new office on Friday, highlighting its strategic location in the “telecommunication corridor” of the States. From Dallas, it hopes to expand to New York, Chicago...