Jump-starting marketing tech adoption by bundling data, and more for Sunday, March 1, 2015

Jump-starting marketing tech adoption by bundling data David Card Mar 1 2015, 6:00am PDT As companies stop just talking about big data, and start applying it to business, the conversation shifts back and forth from tools to the data itself. Two years ago at Structure: Data we hosted a Mapping Session on data markets that pointed out a lot of missing pieces […] Read More » How I became my cat’s social media manager, and found a community in the process Signe Brewster Feb 28 2015, 8:02am PDT I last made an internet friend in middle school, when so few people used AIM that my real-life friends and I traded contact lists and began chatting strangers. One time a boy asked for my number and called my house. I panicked a few seconds in […] Read More » 5 reasons the FCC might be wrong about net neutrality Jonathan Vanian Feb 28 2015, 7:00am PDT This week the FCC passed new rules on net neutrality, which were essentially designed to limit the ability of internet service providers (ISP) to either slow down or boost the speeds of websites. While many experts praised the ruling, not everyone was thrilled by the outcome. Who […] Read More » Here’s a draft of the consumer privacy “Bill of Rights” act Obama wants to pass Carmel DeAmicis Feb 27 2015, 3:34pm PDT The White House has released a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2015. It outlines the steps companies need to take to tell people what data they’re collecting and what they’re doing with that information. It also suggests data opt-out options for […] Read More » Think you’re locked into a mobile OS now? Wait until it runs your car Kif Leswing Feb 27 2015, 11:47am PDT Apple’s going to reveal more about the Apple Watch on March 9, but CEO Tim Cook has already started dropping hints during a trip to Europe. The latest tidbit comes from The Telegraph: The Apple Watch will be able to start a car. Which cars? That’s a […] Read More » Tesla’s gigafactory will make batteries in 2016 for Model S & X Katie Fehrenbacher Feb 27 2015, 10:32am PDT Tesla is moving incredibly fast on getting its massive battery factory built. According to the company’s recent annual filing, Tesla plans to produce batteries in the factory as early as 2016 for its Model S and Model X cars initially. So yeah, next year. The site […] Read More » Xen security issue prompts Amazon, Rackspace cloud reboots Barb Darrow Feb 27 2015, 9:55am PDT Amazon Web Services and Rackspace are warning their customers of upcoming reboots they’re taking to address a new Xen hypervisor security issue. In a premium support bulletin issued Thursday night, Amazon said fewer than 10 percent of all EC2 instances will require work but the affected […] Read More » One positive from Superfish: Less bloatware on Lenovo’s new PCs Kevin C. Tofel Feb 27 2015, 9:18am PDT Lenovo’s credibility took a big hit this month, courtesy of the Superfish scandal: Pre-installed adware on Lenovo computers resulted in a risk to user privacy and security. The company has since apologized but is now going an extra step, bringing some solace from the incident. Lenovo says […] Read More » Maybe I’m just a dumb millennial, but I’m going to keep using Venmo Kif Leswing Feb 27 2015, 7:54am PDT Venmo, a mobile payment app popular among college students and recent grads, has security holes “you could drive a truck through,” according to an article posted on Slate this week. The report was largely based on one man’s story about how a grifter was able to steal $2850 […] Read More » Ericsson seeks US iPad, iPhone ban as it sues Apple over patents David Meyer Feb 27 2015, 2:43am PDT Last month Apple and Ericsson went to war over the fees Ericsson is trying to charge Apple for the use of its mobile broadband patents. Apple sued Ericsson in an attempt to have the patents declared non-standard-essential (meaning they don’t automatically command royalties) or, if they […] Read More » The hyperloop could be a futuristic California city’s public transit Signe Brewster Feb 26 2015, 3:47pm PDT A county halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles would be one of the first sites to host a hyperloop track under a plan revealed today by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, an organization that has been working to make the futuristic form of transportation a reality since it was […] Read More » TiVo buys Aereo name, auction fetches under $2M Jeff John Roberts Feb 26 2015, 2:16pm PDT Aereo, the streaming start-up that was poised to upend the TV industry until the Supreme Court shut it down, has been sold for scraps. Aereo’s assets fetched under $2 million at auction, according to a person familiar with the sale. The figure is a far cry from the $90-$100 million that media mogul […] Read More » Net neutrality’s next chapter: How experts saw today’s milestone and next steps Stacey Higginbotham Feb 26 2015, 2:14pm PDT Pardon me while I catch my breath after all the celebratory dancing I’ve been doing in the wake of the FCC’s historic vote to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act in order to preserve true network neutrality. We’ve explained what this means for […] Read More » Big changes atop CenturyLink cloud as Higginbotham departs Barb Darrow Feb 26 2015, 2:03pm PDT Andrew Higginbotham, the CenturyLink exec who helped bring that telco into the modern cloud computing era, is leaving the company after 14 years, Gigaom has learned. Higginbotham, who was SVP of cloud and technology, led CenturyLink’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Savvis in 2011 and subsequent purchases of AppFog, Tier […] Read More » Three big questions before the Apple Watch event Kevin C. Tofel Feb 26 2015, 1:37pm PDT Apple is holding a press event on March 9, presumably to show off and start orders for the Apple Watch it introduced back in September. I’m all but certain here on the event topic based on the previously stated April shipment date for Apple’s first smartwatch; launching […] Read More » Google may separate Hangouts, Google+ and Photos Janko Roettgers Feb 26 2015, 12:46pm PDT Google is looking to further untangle parts of Google+: The company may separate Photos and Hangouts from Google+, according to statements made by Google’s product czar Sundar Pichai in an interview with Forbes Thursday. “Increasingly you’ll see us focus on communications [Hangouts], photos and the Google+ […] Read More » The web version of Apple’s iWork suite exits iCloud beta Kif Leswing Feb 26 2015, 12:43pm PDT Apple moved its web-based versions of its iWork office suite, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote out of iCloud’s beta site and onto iCloud.com on Thursday. The web versions are free, and they come with 1GB of iCloud storage. You don’t need an Apple device to use […] Read More » Rumor roundup: Galaxy S6, Samsung’s hottest phone in years Kif Leswing Feb 26 2015, 11:36am PDT Samsung’s next flagship phone, the Galaxy S6, will be launched this Sunday, and it promises to represent a major break from the Galaxy S5. Following a year in which Samsung’s smartphone profits suffered and its mobile management endured a shake-up, the company said it was working to differentiate its […] Read More » Microsoft joins Docker in announcing new container services Jonathan Vanian Feb 26 2015, 10:32am PDT Docker’s suite of orchestration services that the container-management startup first detailed in December are now available in beta for the public to download, Docker said on Thursday. These new orchestration services are just another step for Docker to tout its cloud-agnostic platform, geared for enterprise customers […] Read More » Facebook now has a fill-in-the-blank gender option Carmel DeAmicis Feb 26 2015, 10:19am PDT Facebook has taken another step towards embracing gender diversity. Along with its 58 gender options, users can now write in their own answers. The AP reports that Facebook released the news with the statement, “Now, if you do not identify with the pre-populated list of gender identities, […] Read More »