Apps

Stay up to date on the latest developments in the app industry, including news, updates, funding, mergers and acquisitions, and more.

Revolutionizing Short-Haul Trucking: The Iron Sheepdog Approach

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Will Lawrence, the co-founder and CTO of Iron Sheepdog, likes to say that sometimes building something simple is actually really hard. Companies can track their contracted trucks through Iron Sheepdog, giving them more transparency into where trucks are, how long a job takes and how much to pay. Iron Sheepdog announced this week a $10 million Series B round led by SJF Ventures with participation from Grand Ventures, Supply Chain Ventures and strategic partners. While not the first company to try to build software to manage these short-haul truckers, Iron Sheepdog has been able to see its growth double each year since it was founded. Contractors want to sign up, too, knowing the app gives them access to a network of more than 4,000 short-haul truckers.

“Upcoming Closure of Google Podcasts: Migration to YouTube Music Highly Recommended for Users”

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Google is shutting down its Podcasts app in the U.S. in a matter of days. In 2020, YouTube Music offered a similar transition strategy to move music listeners away from Google Play Music ahead of its shutdown that same year. However, the Google Podcasts app continued to be maintained for years because YouTube Music wasn’t ready to support podcasts until more recently. By the end of 2023, YouTube Music was able to support podcasts globally, and, by February, they had the ability to upload their RSS feeds, too. From its earlier statements, though, the plan is to discontinue Google Podcasts in 2024.

“Palmsy: The Ultimate Device-Exclusive Social Network for Your Posting Cravings”

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When you sign up to a new social network, you have zero friend, zero follower, zero like. A new app called Palmsy is trying to act as social media methadone by letting you post anything and getting likes on them. While the app is reading your contact details, because all posts are local, contact information is not sent to a server. There have been multiple time-limiting apps that try to help when it comes to reducing social media addiction. Some developers have also released very basic apps to post dumb posts without consequences as well.

Activision Probing Malware Stealing Passwords from Gamers

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Video game giant Activision is investigating a hacking campaign that’s targeting players with the goal of stealing their credentials, TechCrunch has learned. Somehow, the hackers are getting malware on the victim’s computers and then stealing passwords for their gaming accounts and crypto wallets, among others, according to sources. Zeebler described the effort as an “infostealer malware campaign,” where malware designed as legitimate-looking software unknowingly installed by the victim surreptitiously steals their usernames and passwords. Zeebler told TechCrunch that he found out about the hacking campaign when a PhantomOverlay customer had their account for the cheat software stolen. After that, Zeebler said he contacted Activision Blizzard as well as other cheat makers, whose users appear to be affected.

Introducing Amazon One: Revolutionizing Checkout with Innovative Palm Scanning App

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Amazon announced Thursday the launch of its new app for Amazon One, its contactless palm recognition service that allows customers to hover their palm over a device in order to purchase from select places, including over 500 Whole Foods Market stores, Amazon stores, and more than 150 third-party locations. Instead of signing up for Amazon One at a physical retail location, users can now download the Amazon One app (available for iOS or Android devices) and take a photo of their palm right at home. The company explains that all palm images taken via the new app are encrypted and sent to a secure Amazon One domain in the AWS cloud. Amazon says that Amazon One has been used over 8 million times. The app launch follows Amazon’s expansion of the technology for enterprise identity purposes, which gives companies the ability to authenticate employees when entering.

“Transform Your Business: The Key to Successful Mobile Apps Lies in Emulating Consumer Favorites”

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And they’re calling their company… The Mobile-First Company. Too many companies that offer B2B tools treat mobile apps as companion apps and second-class citizens. Small companies don’t need a complicated enterprise software solution. While Siel Brunet is more experienced with the needs of large companies, he has also seen how B2B apps don’t work well with small businesses. Many small companies simply rely on consumer apps to fill their needs.

LinkedIn to Introduce a TikTok-Inspired Video Feed on its App

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LinkedIn is testing a new TikTok-like short-form video feed, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday. With this new test, LinkedIn joins numerous other popular apps that have launched their own short-form video feeds following TikTok’s rise in popularity, including Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Netflix. Null posted a short demo on LinkedIn showcasing the new feed, which lives in the app’s navigation bar in a new “Video” tab. LinkedIn’s new feed would give creators a new place to share their video content and potentially reach more viewers. It’s possible that LinkedIn may also monetize the feed at some point in the future to entice creators to post their video content on the app.

“Internet Confused by Launch of Marissa Mayer’s New Photo Sharing and Event Planning Apps”

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Marissa Mayer’s startup just rolled out photo sharing and event planning apps, and the internet isn’t sure what to thinkWhen Marissa Mayer co-founded a startup six years ago in Palo Alto, Ca., expectations were sky high for the former Yahoo CEO and early Google employee. When that startup, Sunshine, revealed that its first app centered around subscription software for contact management, people wondered if something more ambitious might be around the corner. Today, after Sunshine released two equally mundane features – event organizing and photo sharing – internet commenters were decidedly mystified. I was also baffled last week, when Mayer walked me through Sunshine’s new offerings. The core thesis has always been to take the mundane and make it magical.”The team “thought about naming it Mundane AI,” she continued.

“Artifact by Instagram’s Co-Founders: The AI-Powered News App That Won’t Die”

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Artifact, the well-received AI-powered news app from Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, may not be shutting down as planned. “It takes a lot less to run it than we had imagined,” Systrom confirmed to TechCrunch, adding that it’s just himself and Krieger running Artifact right now. Artifact made a splash at launch, not only because it was the first major effort at a new social app from Instagram’s co-founders, but also because of its clever use of AI. pic.twitter.com/5PaMavJbNS — @samhenrigold@hachyderm.io (@samhenrigold) March 16, 2024Following Artifact’s announcement of its impending closure, interest in using AI to summarize the news has heated up. Browser startup Arc implemented an AI-powered “pinch to summarize” feature ahead of its $50 million fundraise.

Free FSD Beta Driver-Assistance Trial: Tesla’s Latest Offer for US Customers

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Tesla is about to start giving every customer in the U.S. a one-month trial of its $12,000 driver-assistance system, which it calls Full Self-Driving Beta, provided they have a car with the compatible hardware. The company is also reportedly mandating, at CEO Elon Musk’s request, that prospective buyers are given a demo of the software before they purchase a new Tesla. The full-court press to promote FSD Beta software, an upgraded version of the Autopilot system that comes standard in all Tesla vehicles, is happening at an interesting moment for the company. It’s the end of the first quarter of 2024, and Tesla usually pulls out all the stops — including having executives help deliver cars to customers — to meet or beat its sales goals. The decision to temporarily increase access to the FSD Beta software comes as Tesla has been rolling out a new “V12” version of the software that ditches the previous code in favor of a system that runs entirely on neural networks.