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Alibaba is helping its merchants advertise within Chinese online videos

May30
by on May 30, 2014 at 6:13 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, Insider, Product Updates

Advertising on TV is passé – now Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is taking to targeting online video viewers instead. The company announced that it will start placing advertisements from merchants on both its shopping platforms, Taobao and Tmall, within online videos on a handful of video sites, as it seeks to capture audiences who are increasingly consuming content on their mobile devices and PCs. The online video sites that Alibaba has tied up with include top site Youku Tudou, which is often viewed as a Chinese version of YouTube. It comes after Alibaba sunk $1.2 billion into it last month. Starting next month, Taobao…

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Korean chat app Kakao Talk is now available on Mac, while a search chat feature lands on Windows

May30
by on May 30, 2014 at 4:42 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Asia, Korea, messaging app, Product Updates

Kakao
After the announcement of a merger with Korea’s second-largest internet portal Daum, chat app maker Kakao isn’t resting on its laurels. It has just made Kakao Talk available for Mac users via a newly-launched native desktop Mac client, and introduced a new search chat feature for users on Windows PCs. The beta version of Kakao Talk on Mac is available in Korean and English, with features including full sync between mobile and Mac, friends list, chat rooms, emoticons, and the ability to receive files in any format — this comes in particularly useful for sending Word and Excel documents, or photos…

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SpaceX unveils a ‘fully reusable’ spacecraft that can carry 7 astronauts and land anywhere on Earth

May30
by on May 30, 2014 at 3:57 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, Product Launches

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket early May 22, 2
SpaceX founder Elon Musk took the wraps off its next-generation spacecraft today, called Dragon V2. The key improvements are that Dragon V2 will be able to land “anywhere on Earth” with its propulsion system and the accuracy of a helicopter. It will also be capable of carrying seven astronauts for several days. Musk said Dragon V2 is capable of docking autonomously, and that it can land either via the propulsion system, or in the case that any engines aren’t working — deploy parachutes for a safe landing. Even after starting the propulsion system, it can afford to lose two engines…

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Brands can now set up shop inside Chinese messaging app WeChat

May30
by on May 30, 2014 at 3:01 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Asia, e-commerce, messaging app, Product Updates, wechat

wechat
Popular messaging app WeChat has taken a step forward in evolving as a platform after it opened up an option on Weixin — the version of WeChat offered in China — for official account owners to set up shop within the app. Not all users can take to selling their items on Weixin though. Only verified official accounts (which are typically brands) that have already linked up with the Weixin payments API can go on to open an e-commerce store. This means that a merchant such as Nike, which may have an official account on Weixin, can sell their items to…

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