Parmy Olson's Blog, page 47

Snapchat Founders Likely Billionaires With New, Reported Investment

New money from one of the Valley’s most storied VC firms makes Snapchat one of the world’s most valuable private tech startups.

Android Wins Again As Huawei Snubs Samsung's Tizen

Though Huawei wants to decrease its reliance on Google’s operating system, it says Samsung’s platform ‘has no chance’ as an alternative.

WhatsApp Hits 600 Million Active Users, Founder Says

The world’s most popular messaging service is on track to be the first mobile app regularly used by a billion people.

Billionaire Chases T-Mobile, Bankrolls Free Internet Startup

The telco mogul who's bidding for T-Mobile also invested a startup that could dent the carrier business.

Hackers Unmask Anonymous Posters On Secret, Including App's Founder

A design flaw in the mobile confessional allowed two security researchers to read the Secret posts of more than two dozen friends and family.

Who's Behind The Porn Bots On Kik?

A small group of English-speaking spammers appear to be trying to swindle Kik’s mostly-teen user base, and evidence shows they’ve been at it since 2010.

Shazam Hits 100 Million Active Users As It Gears Up For IPO

Chief exec Rich Riley is turning the music-recognition service into an everything-recognition service and is boosting its advertising business.

Forget Passwords. Now Banks Can Track Your Typing Behavior On Phones

New DARPA-funded technology is tracking the pressure and speed of how millions of people in Europe tap and swipe their phones, opening up a new path for ‘behavior-based’ security.

Microsoft's Snapchat Clone Was Just Another Experiment

Microsoft Research says its WindUp app is in fact a research project to explore how people share content, though that is not explicitly stated in the app's description.

Now Microsoft Has A Snapchat Clone Too

New app WindUp joins Facebook’s Slingshot and Instagram’s Bolt in aping Snapchat’s disappearing photos service.