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Taking on Uber in India: How Ola Cabs is thinking local to battle a giant

Jul10
by on July 10, 2014 at 11:35 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, grabtaxi, India, lyft, ola cabs, uber

Ola Image 1
We read about the convenience of Lyft, Uber and other private car hire firms seemingly daily in Western media. While these services simplify car bookings and remove some of the associated dangers and frustrations, this fast-growing industry has even greater potential in developing markets, such as India. Uber has its ‘Black’ and UberX services running in India, but it is a local company — Ola Cabs — that leads the market, with a network of 11,000 drivers across 9 cities. Indeed, that very company has just raised a whopping $40 million to ramp up its focus and bring affordable and efficient…

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UK government outlines emergency legislation to continue storing private communications data

Jul10
by on July 10, 2014 at 11:01 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider

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Despite global privacy concerns raised in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced new emergency legislation that will enable law enforcement and intelligence agencies to continue to access telecommunications and online data to combat crime. The legislation comes in direct contrast to EU rulings that stipulate retaining telecoms and internet data was illegal. It also comes before ISPs and phone networks were to start deleting this data. Cameron and Clegg were quick to stress that this legislation is temporary only and is designed to provide a “clearer legal…

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Report: US VC funding activity is at its highest level since 2001, and still growing

Jul10
by on July 10, 2014 at 10:04 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

US Dollars
In news that will no doubt get people frothing at the mouth about a bubble once again, US venture capital investments are at their highest quarterly amount since 2001, beating last quarter’s record level. That’s according to a new report from VC intelligence firm CB Insights. In total, the first half of 2014 is up 71 percent on last year’s activity over the same period. The report says that in Q2 2014 there were 974 VC deals and a total of $13.8 billion invested in the USA. While more than 50 percent of Q2 deals were seed stage and Series A, late stage (series…

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Samsung is “urgently” looking into fresh allegations of child labor at a supplier’s China factory

Jul10
by on July 10, 2014 at 9:27 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, samsung

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New York-based watchdog China Labor Watch (CLW) has just accused Samsung of employing child labor in its supply chain at a factory called Shinyang Electronics in China. In response, the Korean company tells TNW in a statement: “We are urgently looking into the latest allegations and will take appropriate measures in accordance with our policies to prevent any cases of child labor in our suppliers.” In a report, CLW said it sent an undercover investigator into the Shinyang factory in June this year, and uncovered five child workers (under 16 years old) by just the third day, with evidence of more…

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WhoSay’s social publishing tool for celebrities now has an Android app for fans

Jul10
by on July 10, 2014 at 8:53 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider

Almost a year after celebrity social media publishing platform WhoSay released an iOS app aimed at connecting fans with its celeb users, it’s now rolled out an Android incarnation too. The WhoSay app and accompanying website give fans a customizable, digital entertainment magazine that pulls together celebrities’ real-time social content with richer editorial about their work and passions. On the other end, the WhoSay app for famous folks (WhoSay Talent) allows its celebrity members to reach their fans directly through WhoSay as well as through their social channels. It’s kind of like Twitter-meets-HootSuite-meets-WordPress.     WhoSay has been gathering some big-name…

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