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The big thing Foursquare left out of Swarm: Check-in points. I’ll miss them

May15
by on May 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm
Posted In: Analysis and Opinion, Around the Web, Insider, Social Media

Swarm
It seems a little ridiculous to mourn the passing of a feature in an app but that’s exactly what I’m going to do here. Foursquare points are no more. Today saw the launch of Foursquare’s new check-in-focused app, Swarm, which breaks the real-time social features out of Foursquare and into a separate app. As our in-depth review explains, almost every feature has made the jump. You can see where your friends are, there’s a modified version of mayorships and while badges aren’t included, there are stickers that serve a similar(-ish) purpose. Points as a ‘reward’ for checking in, however, are completely…

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Google says it may take ‘several weeks’ to work out a new system for EU takedown requests

May15
by on May 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Insider

AUSTRIA-THEME-SYMBOLS
In the wake of the landmark EU ruling this week stipulating that individuals should have the right to be forgotten by removing outdated information about themselves from search engine results, it seems Google is already being inundated with takedown requests. Elsewhere, German regulators apparently confirmed that Google would have mechanisms in place within two weeks. Regardless of what side of the fence you stand on this debate, there’s little question search engines have their work cut out for themselves if this is going to be workable. Earlier today, Google issued a statement that pretty much sums up where it currently…

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The Old Reader adds Spritz integration so you can zip through your RSS feeds

May15
by on May 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider, Product Updates

stopwatch2
RSS service The Old Reader has announced today that you can now Spritz your way through your updates thanks to a new integration with the speed reading company. In one way, it almost seems like the joining of the new with the old. On one side, you have the RSS reader, a much loved but some say decreasingly used method of keeping up to date with your feeds. And on the other, you have Spritz, a recently launched platform that allows you to quickly read anything one word at a time. Nonetheless, with the popularity of speed reading apps on mobile and…

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Velo Labs wants $50,000 to build a keyless lock that tells you if someone tries to steal your bike

May15
by on May 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider, Product Launches

Skylock_feat
Cyclists get a rough time of it on the roads, and if being side-swiped by cars, trucks and buses all day long isn’t enough, when they finally dismount they still need to lock up their bikes. To that end, Velo Labs‘ Skylock, a new ‘smart’ U-lock for your bike created by ex-Boeing and Jawbone engineers is looking to crowdfund $50,000 in order to bring the first batch to consumers. Rather than use a platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, Velo is using its own site to host the campaign so it can “maintain control over the timeline and the manufacturing process,” a…

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Memeoirs now turns your WhatsApp chats into a book

May15
by on May 15, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Memeoirs - open and cover view
WhatsApp is used by more than half a billion people to communicate with friends and family each month, but, unlike more traditional mediums, chats stay buried inside the app. Italian company Memeoirs wants to change that. Memeoirs currently allows customers to create books based on emails and Facebook messages, as we wrote in March, and now it is expanding that to include WhatsApp chats. “We’ve had this idea for a long time now, and many of our customers keep telling us how cool it would be to print a book with their WhatsApp chats. It’s a go-to app for lots of couples that are…

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