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Airbnb’s new ad campaign is creepy as hell

Jul14
by on July 14, 2015 at 5:55 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

airbnb mankind
If you follow Airbnb on Twitter, you might have been greeted with a series of rather strange tweets this morning. Creepy, huh? It’s actually quoting lines from its freshly released commercial, which features a baby waddling its way to the door of a dimly lit home. Here’s the backstory: Airbnb today launched a new ad campaign called Mankind. The idea is that because Airbnb hosts are everyday humans just like you, allowing strangers into their home to lay their heads for the night is an act of kindness. “We took kindness as something that is transformational about staying with an Airbnb host, and…

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TestNest offers insightful automated A/B marketing for iOS app developers

Jul14
by on July 14, 2015 at 5:35 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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For app developers, analytics are important. A new tool, TestNest, wants to offer more than download and use stats; it hopes to give developers detailed insight on how users actually get to their apps. Though it doesn’t offer the tools that can be gleaned from the App Store (and are thus only available via Apple), TestNest lets developers A/B test via social and a website set up to mimic the App Store. Here’s how it works: A developer creates a campaign, which can use A/B testing and a landing page that resembles the App Store page. The actual download happens via…

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Google’s reopening Map Maker in August with users as moderators

Jul14
by on July 14, 2015 at 4:55 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google

Screen Shot 2015-07-14 at 17.34.48
After taking down Map Maker back in May, Google is getting ready to reopen the map editing tool in August. You may recall the prank on Google Maps in April that displayed an Android bot urinating on the Apple logo in Pakistan after someone managed to get around the Map Maker approval process. It wasn’t the first fiasco of its kind and Google subsequently shuttered the tool, saying it was taking Map Maker down until it had its “moderation system back in action.” Well, it seems things are back in order as Google has revealed Map Maker will be reopening…

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The future is a robotic finger browsing the Web forever

Jul14
by on July 14, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider

Random User
Madrid-based design agency Monobo created this robot finger – Random User – which drives around the desk, incessantly tapping a vintage mouse and mindlessly browsing the Web. It could be a comment on our screen-infected lives or just really, really dumb. The designers claim it’s “a special user that ignores UX strategies…” but I can relate, little plastic finger. I too feel that listless sometimes.* ➤ Random User [Monobo via BoingBoing/Bruce Sterling] Read next: This robot detects obstacles and jumps like a cheetah  *All the time.

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Twitter nixes $31bn buyout rumors started by hoax

Jul14
by on July 14, 2015 at 4:42 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

twitter
It’s been a wild ride for Twitter stocks this morning. A fake news report drummed up the idea that the company would receive a buyout offer for $31 billion, which sent stock soaring. The report appears to be from Bloomberg Businessweek, with the byline of actual reporter Stephen Morris. But the source website is a fake — coming from a Bloomberg.markets URL, which the corporation does not own. A spokesperson from the company has already denied the veracity of the article, and the website seems to be registered to someone in Panama. According to CNBC, Twitter has outright denied any buyout claims.…

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