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Uber rolls into New Zealand as it officially launches in Auckland

May05
by on May 5, 2014 at 8:29 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

We’ve known that Uber was planning to roll into New Zealand for a while already, but this weekend the taxi-style service officially opened for business in Auckland. Uber’s driver-for-hire service lets you beckon a classy car with a few clicks of your smartphone and has been expanding wildly in recent times – it’s now available in dozens of cities across 35 countries. As usual with Uber’s local launches, the company has been testing its service out in Auckland over the past month or so with so-called “secret Ubers” in New Zealand’s most populous region. ➤ Uber Auckland Has Officially Launched

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Nokia announces a $100 million fund to invest in automotive technology and services

May05
by on May 5, 2014 at 7:35 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Mobile, nokia

car
Nokia may have finally offloaded its device and services division to Microsoft after its $7.2 billion deal  was completed last month, but it is starting May with an interesting announcement: it is launching a fund that will invest $100 million in connected car startups. The ‘Connected Car Fund’ fund will be managed by  Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) and “will identify and invest in companies whose innovations will be important for a world of connected and intelligent vehicles,” the Finish company says. The fund will be closely aligned with Nokia’s HERE mapping division (which it didn’t sell to Microsoft), with the aim of finding companies…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Which rapper uses the widest range of lyrics in hip hop?

May05
by on May 5, 2014 at 6:29 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Shareables

rapper
Here’s an interesting use of big data. Matt Daniels, a New York-based designer, analyzed the vocabulary of hip hop artists in a bid to find out which one has the most diverse word base of all. Daniels says he dug through the first 35,000 words of a range of top rappers, using Rap Genius, and pulled together data and the following chart. Aesop Rock, one of the lesser known artists who Daniels analyzed, came out on top, with Wu Tang Clan founding member GZA ranked second and Kool Keith third. DMX sits bottom of the pile, but Daniels has praise for his “raw…

This story continues at The Next Web

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UCWeb says its new mobile search service has hit 20% market share in China and angered Baidu

May05
by on May 5, 2014 at 5:55 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, mobile search

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Shenma, a mobile search engine that Chinese browser-maker UCWeb recently formed in a joint venture with e-commerce giant Alibaba, already has a market penetration rate of over 20 percent and monthly active users of over 100 million, UCWeb CEO Yu Yongfu said at GMIC Beijing today. Shenma was announced last week but Yu said it has been in operation for a month or so. The cooperation between UCWeb and Alibaba actually dates back to four years ago as a service within UC Browser, Yu added. In addition to semantic app search — via a single interface that lets users search China’s many fragmented…

This story continues at The Next Web

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