It looks like the next big thing in the world of mobile apps could be yet another social network and messaging service. Peach allows users to share statuses, pictures, locations, GIFs and songs. People can also like their friends’ posts and send each other emoji. It sounds very similar to every other social networks available today, but due to Peach’s functionality and short-cut feature for sharing, it has caught the interest of early adopters. The app, which was created by Vine founder Dom Hofmann, is growing so fast that it crashed last week. Continue reading People Can’t Get Enough of the Peach Social Network App

Chinese company EHang, known for its Ghostdrone with head-tracking VR goggles, introduced a giant quadcopter simply called “184 drone” in Las Vegas this week. The cockpit has no controls, just a seat for one passenger, a tablet stand and air conditioning. Navigation is controlled by a mobile app using Google Maps, so passengers do not require a pilot’s license, according to the company. (However, the drone will still need FAA approval in the U.S.) The drone stands about 4.9 feet, weighs 440 pounds and can transport a 260-pound load capacity for about 23 minutes. Continue reading CES: Chinese UAV Company Unveils Autonomous Flying Taxi

Amped Wireless is showing its extended range, Wi-Fi-enabled HD cameras at CES. The 720p, 110-degree FOV (field of view) Apollo cameras feature amplifiers and a high gain antenna to extend its useful range on any Wi-Fi network up to 200 feet for the $150 base model and 300 feet for the $180 Pro model. (Distances of 50-100 feet are normal for comparable cameras.) The Apollo Pro also features 2-way audio, advanced night vision and a motion-detection trigger. The free mobile app that comes with the Apollo can manage multiple cameras simultaneously. Continue reading CES: Amped Demonstrates its Long Range Apollo Wi-Fi Cam

SeatGeek, a ticket aggregator that allows people to compare listings for concerts and sports tickets, has revamped its app and shifted its business toward resale. Their mobile app now lets people transfer tickets to their friends for free. SeatGeek takes a 15 percent cut when users list and sell their tickets. Users can both buy and transfer tickets on SeatGeek’s mobile app, unlike competitors StubHub and LiveNation, which do not offer transferring services on mobile. Continue reading SeatGeek Turns Reselling Tickets Into a Mobile Experience

The BBC introduced “Visual Perceptive Media,” an experimental project out of its R&D unit in Salford, UK, which allows video stories to adapt in response to individuals’ personalities and tastes. The British broadcaster earlier created the audio-based Perceptive Media project; a radio drama makes adaptations based on the listener’s location, time of day and other factors such as proximity to the device and background noise. The video-based project begins with a mobile app that conducts a personalization process. Continue reading The BBC Experiments with TV Shows That Adapt to Personality

Since it debuted in October, Facebook’s Shopping feed has been in beta among a handful of U.S. users. So far, the new feature can help a user track down something found in his or her News Feed. Although there are few products and no reviews, the potential lies in Facebook’s key strength — its knowledge about its users. That would allow the company to curate more accurately than any other shopping service out there. A Facebook survey reports that 50 percent of its users come to the site looking for products. Continue reading Facebook’s Beta Shopping Feed Reveals Weakness, Potential

Shopify — known for helping small businesses create e-commerce websites — has launched a new mobile app called Sello that joins a crowded field of peer-to-peer commerce efforts. Sello resembles Instagram and provides easy-to-use functionality for individuals and small businesses to sell products online. It is free to list items, but the Sello app collects a 3 percent fee for each transaction. Sellers simply post a product photo and description, list payment and shipping options, and specify a choice of social platforms, such as Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Continue reading Shopify’s New Mobile App is Like Instagram for Classified Ads

Facebook just launched Notify, an iOS mobile app for push notifications of customizable news, information and entertainment. Posted directly on the lock screen, Notify lets the user choose which cities, sports teams, music genres he wants to follow, from among 70 publishers. The feed features a link to the associated site for a 24-hour period. The user can save the content to read later or share through Facebook or other social media platforms. Notify does not, however, offer real-time discussion or feature ads. Continue reading Facebook Introduces Notify, Customizable Push Notifications

Next month, hitting the “Like” or “Share” button on Facebook will do more than signal approval. Facebook’s algorithms will begin to share data on peoples’ browsing history into its ad targeting systems, which means that, depending on what a user “Likes” or “Shares,” he or she can be served related ads on Facebook, photo-sharing service Instagram or any mobile app that uses Facebook’s ad network. Facebook’s “Like” button, which adds a bit of code to the page, was first offered to publishers in 2010. Continue reading Facebook to Track ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ Buttons for Ad Targeting

The Discovery Channel has released a mobile app that features virtual reality videos from some of the channel’s most popular shows, including “Mythbusters,” “Gold Rush” and “Survivorman.” The videos can be viewed as 360-degree experiences (via moving the phone), or as VR experiences with Google Cardboard. The videos, which were made by Los Angeles VR network startup Littlstar, are also available on YouTube, Discovery’s VR website, and a dedicated channel on Samsung Gear’s virtual reality video app Milk VR. Continue reading Discovery Releases Mobile App for VR Videos of Popular Shows

Twitter is taking a page from Facebook’s playbook by opening its mobile ad network to a larger group of marketers. Whereas Twitter’s service was formerly restricted to a small group of clients that could buy ad campaigns running on its own service and third party apps in its MoPub mobile advertising exchange, now all advertisers with dedicated Twitter account managers can widen their campaigns beyond Twitter. Newly renamed “Twitter Audience Platform,” the product will also feature more video ads. Continue reading Twitter Pushes Video for Newly Expanded Mobile Ad Network

Target will start using Bluetooth beacon technology to send recommendations about product deals directly to the smartphones of customers who opt-in for alerts. Users with the latest version of the Target iPhone app on their phones will receive in-app updates and two push notifications per shopping trip. Target is testing beacon tech in 50 of its stores around the country, and plans to use consumer feedback to adapt the service, and release it nationwide by the holiday shopping season. Continue reading Target Aims to Enhance Shopping Experience with Beacon Tech

Unnamed sources report that Microsoft has agreed to invest in Uber. Although details are not yet public, the company is expected to invest a significant portion of the upcoming $1 billion funding round that values Uber at around $51 billion. That new funding round — and the valuation — makes Uber one of the most highly valued private companies ever, along with startups such as Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company valued at around $45 billion and Airbnb, valued at more than $24 billion. Continue reading Microsoft Reportedly Plans to Invest Significant Sum in Uber

According to new data released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, user satisfaction with social media platforms is on the rise, led by Facebook’s recent success with its mobile app and improved ad targeting. In terms of customer satisfaction, Facebook was ranked the lowest social media site in 2012, but has since worked its way up to the middle of the pack, behind Pinterest, Wikipedia, YouTube, Instagram and Google+ (in that order). ACSI currently has Facebook ranked ahead of Twitter, Tumblr and LinkedIn. Continue reading ACSI: Customer Satisfaction of Facebook Users on Upswing

Shred Video, a startup out of Y Combinator, now offers an easy way to turn hours of GoPro video into a 90-second clip with music. Users simply match GoPro footage with songs from their iTunes library, and Shred Video does the rest. The new app identifies moments of action from any acceleration-based sport (think surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding) and highlights video with the beat-drop of the song. Not to be outdone, GoPro plans to release its own mobile editing software by the end of summer. Continue reading Shred Video Debuts GoPro Editing, GoPro’s Version to Follow