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When To Be Data-Driven One year ago, The Economist broke a 175-year record by starting their first major social media team, growing it to 10 members, up from two. One lesson they learned in the process: “Use data to deny and confirm your assumptions. Prioritize ruthlessly.” Iterating and A/B testing should be familiar concepts to any startup. In fact, at a Meetup event I recently attended, journalist Monica Guzman discussed a lesson she learned in her Nieman Lab fellowship: The startup mentality is what media needs right now....

The process does require the use of social engineering – including ringing the victim – and trades on the fact the average Whatsapp user is not familiar with MMI codes. The new attack is another example of why WhatsApp users need to take security seriously, hot on the heels of a previous threat from Russian hackers. How Dangerous is This? This hack, first discovered by CloudSEK CEO Rahul Sasi, is facilitated by two technical facts....

We tested the QCYs over a month, running in 90 degree weather with humidity pushing temperatures to 104, during a half-marathon, and more miles than a Fitbit could handle. Overall, they conquered even the sweatiest of runners. Features/Specs Don’t let Apple’s marketing speak confuse you, their new AirBuds are Bluetooth-powered, regardless of their new chip. Bluetooth is not our favorite technology, it’s often laggy and has issues with distances between devices, but it also reduces the battery drain on wherever your music is coming from (wired devices are powered through the earphone jack)....

Unicorn companies are businesses that have earned a $1 billion valuation. For those of you scoffing at this incredible achievement, remember: it’s “billion” with a “B.” Whether it’s a social media company that has revolutionized the way we interact with people or a transportation startup that has forever changed the way we get around, being a unicorn company is a dream that every startup founder has had at one point or another....

Here’s a quick primer on the legal documents for startups that can get your business off and running. Articles of Incorporation or Corporate Charter Once you’ve decided which type of business you’ll be registering, this is your next step. Articles of Incorporation or a Corporate Charter is a document written by a corporation’s founders and filed with a U.S. state that details all relevant information about the business. This includes the company’s name, address, objectives, planned business intentions and structure....

But tech developments don’t help everyone. If you have impaired eyesight, you likely weren’t thrilled with 3D film and cutting edge CGI. If you have mobility problems, Disneyland’s latest attraction isn’t that useful. And if you’re one of the roughly 360 million people suffering from hearing loss globally, a lot of the coolest tech isn’t equipped to accommodate you. But one company is working to make the next big thing — virtual reality — accessible for the hearing impaired....

Thread, a Pittsburgh-based startup dedicated to creating dignified jobs in the developing world, recycles plastic into socially responsible fabric. With Thread’s Series A Round of $2.8 million led by Draper Triangle Ventures, the company will be able to expand production capabilities while growing data and content collection throughout Thread’s clean, transparent supply chain. The raise completes a $3.5 million funding cycle that will continue to fuel the Certified B Corporation’s growth....

Both First Data Corp and Square are pursuing IPOs, we have three new venture funds that were started with deep coffers, and two companies hailing from Kirkland, Washington were thrilled to end their week with sizable exits. If you’re interested in getting our daily roundup delivered to your inbox daily, subscribe here. IPO First Data Corp Eyeing Massive IPO Based in Atlanta, First Data Corp focuses their entrepreneurial efforts on payments technology, and they’re currently backed by KKR....

But of course it would be nice to be paid big bucks for work that you can do from home, a local coffeeshop, or even across the world. But we can’t all be the nearly 20 percent of LinkinIn Pro freelancers who will make six figures or more in 2017 just from their freelance work. While plenty of experts are concerned the gig economy is strip-mining the freelance world for parts and services rendered, it’s possible to land those high-paying work from home positions....

We’ve put together a list of five apps that can do everything from keep you entertained to take care of your pet. Because apps are the key to a fun time! Safe Pet Treats Do you love your pet? Then you should really be careful what kind of food you buy. Safe Pet Treats helps pet owners learn more about the dangers in certain pet foods and allows you to scan the barcode found on the back of the food product....

The panel featured Kavita Shukla, Founder and CEO of Fenugreen, Laura Kennedy, Head of Business & Corporate Development at Living Social, Lindsey Grossman of Intuit, Pranav Vora, Founder and CEO of Hugh & Crye, and Usman Ahmed, Policy Council at eBay Inc. and was moderated by Jake Colvin of the Global Innovation Forum. Opening remarks were given by Tech Cocktail’s Jen Consalvo and Yoshi Maisami of Ideaspace. The crowd heard lots of great advice peppered with a few cautionary tales of challenges overcome....

If you missed Part 1, click here. For the rest of you, let’s move on to Part 2 . . . 4. Attribution will still be a priority Advertisers will continue to invest in gaining a better understanding of the value of each touch point in their consumers’ journey. Advertisers will start to question view-through attribution and want to ensure they are paying for real, actually viewed ad impressions. Overall the trend will be toward higher accountability and toward more rational, value-based pricing....

As rioters forced their way into the chambers of the Capitol building and offices of Representatives this week, President Trump was uncharacteristically silent on social media — in stark contrast to his proclamations during the wave of BLM protests last year. And then, Trump was himself silenced: hit with a ban from Twitter initially for 12 hours – which has now been extended indefinitely – and a ban from Facebook and Instagram for the remainder of his presidency....

When Twitter first became popular, there was no native ability to share photos within the app. So, naturally, entrepreneurial-minded early adopters looked to solve this problem with a multitude of third-party applications. Twitpic was one of these, and became a leading option for photogenic Tweetpeeps. Twitter found the need, however, to protect their brand by limiting the number of users that these third-party applications could support, or asking that similar names and marks be changed or dropped....

And it’s not just former staffers that hold these concerns. As Musk continues to remove the platform’s checks and balances, advertisers are dropping like flies — with 50 of the top 100 agencies fleeing the app within the past week. As recent events have shown, the safety and security of Twitter users have never been Musk’s top priority. But could this freefall in ad revenue be enough to change the billionaire’s tact?...

The suit, filed in the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore, is the first legal challenge against laws passed in 2021 allowing the Indian Government to censor its critics online. A Threat to Freedom of Expression Twitter is challenging a law which came into play just before the Indian ban of VPNs, and gave the Indian government the right to demand that social media companies remove any posts or accounts that are critical of the Indian government, or risk facing jail time....

The two countries are launching a joint task force, the US Treasury Department announced on Sunday. This will include a “memorandum of understanding” for sharing information about the financial sector, as well as cybersecurity regulations and other threat intelligence. The decision comes in the wake of dozens of high-profile ransomware attacks over the past few years. The task force’s effectiveness remains to be seen, but the fact that it exists at all is evidence that governments around the globe are taking ransomware attackers seriously....

It’s worse for WeChat than it is for TikTok: Transactions made through WeChat will be deeply limited. As Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business News, “For all practical purposes, [WeChat] will be shut down in the US, but only in the US, as of midnight Monday.” And, while the actions are ostensibly about improving data security, it turns out that TikTok swapping owners will do nothing to keep your data safer, and may even make it less secure....

YouTube’s Going Live YouTube’s new feature will be added to the main mobile app, they explained in a company blog post: Did you catch that last line? YouTube’s clearly leaning into the major difference between them and their new major competitor Facebook: YouTube relies on their search functionality to let users locate their next video, while Facebook uses algorithms to push videos on users. Users’ reaction to the “push vs. pull” mentality is probably the biggest reason those users have to pick one over the other, especially now that both video platforms have similar live mobile options....

Roundme, at its core, is virtual tour creation software. There are similar offerings available, but Roundme is just doing it better than many of the competitors out there. After spending some time exploring the world, this writer did not experience a bad panoramic tour. All images were crisp, and transitioning around the location was seamless. This is just the first layer of the virtual tour onion, however. Roundme calls this first level a “space....