What’s happened this week:
- Rakuten, the Japanese internet and e-commerce company, acquired mobile messaging platform Viber for $900m
- Amazon have acquired gaming company Double Helix, fuelling rumours of their own gaming console development
- Google have bought tech start-up Slick Login, a company developing technology that allows online log-ins via sound waves
What we have learned:
- Tablet shipments to hit 315m in 2014
- Twitter are testing redesigns that suggest a move closer to the look and feel of Facebook and Google+
- New data suggests despite Google+ growing to over 1bn users, only 35% are active
Cool stuff:
- Instagram is changing the Fashion Week experience, demonstrated by Racked in this video
- Virgin Atlantic are trialing Google Glass and Sony smart-watches to aid Upper Class customer services in London
- Coca Cola’s latest digital vending machine was Valentine’s Day themed, and only visible to lovers who share their happiness
Where to find more:
- A new whitepaper from SecondSync challenges assumptions around Facebook’s limitations around TV based social conversations compared to Twitter
- Nice overview of branding potential of different mobile messaging platforms, from Kiki through to Whatsapp
- Does Twitter’s financial update suggest it will remain a relatively niche social network?