#Instagram Hits 300 Million Monthly Users To Surpass Twitter Keeps It Real With Verified Badges It no fad.
Just nine months after hitting 200 million users, Instagram now says 300 million people use its photo app every month, with 70%of them coming from outside the US.
That makes Instagram officially bigger than Twitter, which had 284 million active users as of six weeks ago.
Instagram been going strong for four years now, and despite fears that the acquisition by Facebook would screw it up,
there now 70 million photos shared each day, and over 30 billion total. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says ver the past four years
what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community. Between Facebook 1. 35 billion, Messenger 500 million,
and Whatsapp 600 million users, Facebook has developed a jaw dropping mobile footprint. Instagram Of THE Week With growth steady, Instagram is now looking to strengthen its authenticity.
Soon it plans to launch verified badges for celebrities, brands, and athletes so people don accidentally follow parody, tribute,
or look-alike accounts. The tactic helped Twitter boost confidence, and Facebook started verifying profiles in May 2013.
The badges will surely be coveted by the types of users desperately trying to grow their following
and make Instagram new Explore tab more trustworthy. In the same vein of keeping it real, Instagram says it now gone from deactivating spammer
and fake accounts to full-on deleting them. This means theyl no longer appear in follower counts,
so don worry if you see yours slip a little. The bad actors also aren being counted in its new 300 million user stat.
Instagram rise has been remarkable: October 2010: Launch on iphone December 2010: 1 million users June 2011: 5 million users September 2011: 10 million users April 3rd, 2012: 30
million registered accounts on iphone, launches on Android April 4th, 2012: Instagram sees 1 million Android signups in the first 24 hours April 9th, 2012:
Instagram hits 5 million Android users, is acquired by Facebook April 30th, 2012: 50 million users February 2013: 100 million users September 2013: 150 million users March 2014: 200 million users Considering Twitter
has added only around 38 million users since March while Instagram has added 100 million, you can expect the gap to expand
if things hold steady. As it continues to grow, Instagram will encounter new challenges including the unfiltered feed problem.
As people follow more and more accounts over time, theyl eventually reach a point where they miss posts from their closest friends
because theye drowned out by more share-happy users. That degrades the consumption experience but also makes them less likely to follow more accounts in the future.
This is turn makes it tougher for everyone, especially new users, to grow their following. No one likes sharing photos into a black hole,
so theye at risk of churning out. Twitter is facing this problem already. Eventually, Instagram might need to help people unfollow accounts they never Like
or comment on, and make sure long-time users follow friends who signed up late. But for today, Instagram can rest easy knowing it captured lightning in a bottle.
It the archetypal mobile app. There were plenty of other ways to share photos before Instagram.
There were plenty of other ways to filter photos too. But Instagram took something people already liked to do made
#Lessons From ESOS Energy Legislation In The UK The U k. recently announced compliance guidelines for the government new Energy savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), a mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification
scheme in response to the requirement or all Member States of the European union to implement Article 8 of the Energy efficiency Directive.
The objective of ESOS is to reduce energy consumption, help address climate change, increase energy security and improve the competitiveness of U k. businesses.
The scheme, which came into force in July 2014, applies throughout the U k. to enterprises of 250 or more employees and to enterprises under 250 employees,
which have an annual turnover exceeding#50/$63. 71 million and a balance sheet exceeding#43/$54. 78 million.
The scheme calls for mandatory audits required every four years and administered by the Environment Agency intended to trim excessive energy use as a means to cut carbon
and pave the way for increased business profitability, competitiveness and security, while mitigating organizational energy waste.
In short but not-so-simple terms, qualifying businesses are required to a) measure total energy consumption, accounting for 90 percent of usage across all buildings, transport and industrial activities;
b) conduct energy audits to identify cost-effective, energy-efficient recommendations; c) ensure that the ESOS assessment has been conducted
or reviewed by a board-level director and approved by a lead assessor; and d) report compliance to the Environment Agency by December 5, 2015.
While the ESOS audits are mandatory, certain caveats exists there is no obligation to implement these energy saving measures internally identified in the audit,
which is expected to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of £17, 000/$27, 200 on average in the first instance and £10, 000/$16, 000 for each subsequent audit.
Though the legislation notable feature appears spineless by failing to require businesses make any of these recommended changes to save energy,
participants must demonstrate an authentic and rigorous attempt to examine opportunities for reducing energy use and have reviewed these findings at the board level.
With this considerable investment of time and money companies will likely be motivated to implement measures recommended in the audit which,
according to the Department of energy and Climate change, could lead to on average a savings of £56, 400/$90, 240 per year, per business.
The Challenge to Measure and the Burden of proof While companies may find motivation for implementing the recommended energy saving measures of the audit solely for financial benefit,
the ESOS directive is as much about enforcement as it is about the need for companies to understand power consumption.
Uncovering pockets of energy waste requires appointing personnel familiar with the scheme; the only other option is to outsource,
the vast majority of businesses lack the technology to accurately track such energy consumption. Measuring the energy consumption of a Macbook Air compared to that of a Dell Desktop PC,
for example, will prove to be difficult. While some organizations already have the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) in place
allowing IT administrators to manage large groups of Windows-based computer systems, SCCM lacks the capability to provide the accuracy the ESOS audits will require.
Utilizing power-management solutions, with consistently updated content databases of makes and models currently in use,
allows companies to reference the power consumption of each device, along with the actual power usage when on and off.
Though the U k. has been relatively slow to implement PC power-management technology, mostly due to tax incentives, perhaps by example,
U s. rebates which often cover the cost of implementation for this type of technology will encourage something similar in the U k. Of course,
taking into consideration that the U s. wastes an approximate $2. 8 billion in PC energy every year, the U k. may need to take a more effective approach to energy security.
Recognizing the additional administrative pressure placed on energy managers with ESOS which will have many similarities to existing U k. policies the government is proposing that enterprises be allowed to utilize data from other schemes,
such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy efficiency Scheme. Of the 7, 000-plus businesses required to participate, as many as 6,
000 are already in the CRC scheme and have reported substantial savings from implementing measures as simple as installing motion-sensor lights in hallways and stairwells.
The government estimates that the net benefit of the new ESOS policy will be around £1 9/$3. 04 billion between 2015 and 2030,
based on a conservative prediction that only 6 percent of potential energy-saving opportunities identified will be implemented. However, real benefits for businesses are likely to be two
Although energy efficiency in the U s. has been a buzzword for years, when it comes down to it,
According to the American Council for an Energy-efficient Economy, even China and India have fared better on the list than the U s as American energy regulations for power conservation have been particularly scarce in recent years.
and in May 2014, Congress blocked yet another energy-efficiency bill that could positively impact the environment,
create hundreds of thousands of jobs and save citizens billions of dollars a year by 2030.
Although the Obama administration and the now Republican-dominant Congress continue to be at odds over legislation that not only addresses energy efficiency
Ideally, a partnership between U s. government and industry is essential for an energy policy to have a significant impact on the future of businesses and the environment.
The state-by-state approach indicates great strides in U s. energy efficiency and environmental stewardship, but at what cost to businesses?
As the U s. continues to rank among the top three energy consumers in the world,
#Following Numerous Data Breaches Dashlane And Lastpass Apps Can Now Reset Passwords For You Data breaches like the ones at Target, Neiman Marcus, Staples, Home depot,
web users are asked often to quickly change their account passwords to protect themselves against further attacks.
Unfortunately, doing so is said easier than done users tend to reuse their passwords across websites,
Dashlane and Lastpass, have stepped now in to help with new features that allow users to automatically change their passwords on affected websites.
Dashlane beat Lastpass to market with the new addition by hours clearly, both companies understood that there a real need to help make the password changing process easier on end users.
In a beta release of Dashlane out this week, Passomatic technology has been baked into Dashlane core product
A process that might have taken otherwise time as users hunted down which sites shared that same password
and then jumped through the hoops to make the change, now takes seconds instead of minutes or even hours.
Dashlane Password Changer works with over 50 top U s. sites including Amazon, ebay, Facebook, Google, Linkedin,
Twitter and Yahoo and is continuing to grow as the feature expands. The first version is available for PC and Mac with mobile support arriving oon,
the company says. The company notes it also working on a recurring password change feature that will automatically change passwords at preset intervals for example
Dashlane, which now has 3 million users, says that the average users has about 60 passwords stored in its service.
That means its ability to change around 50 passwords automatically will cover a lot of the sites visited today.
Following Dashlane, competitor Lastpass also rolled out an automated password change feature. The company supports a few more sites at launch,
with 75 sites as of today, including big ones like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Pinterest, Dropbox and others.
Similar to Dashlane, Lastpass will automatically change a password for you when need be. To enable the feature
you click ditin the Lastpass dashboard for a supported site, and a hange Password Automaticallybutton appears.
and Lastpass logs you into the website, creates a new password and submits the changes to the site and to Lastpass.
The next time you log in, Lastpass will use the new password. One difference between the two implementations is that Dashlane feature lets you select all the supported sites
and change the passwords at once it even displays little progress bars at the bottom to show you how the work is progressing.
Meanwhile, Lastpass has you edit each site by individually. Lastpass notes however, that it makes the password changes locally on your machine so it never has access to your data.
While the automated password changing technology is a huge leap in terms of efficiency and security protections for today web users,
some may still be hesitant to take steps to protect their account information despite the featuresease-of-use.
The problem is that many of the most commonly used web services are accessed also regularly as mobile apps.
That means, in many cases, users will have to look up their new passwords, then copy and paste them into the apps to sign in.
web users have shown consistently they prefer the latter. If a site lets you make your password 23456,
it will become one of the most popular password choices. On Android, we should note,
things are a little easier thanks to support for autofilling logins. ios and Windows phone, sadly, don allow for this.)
You can try the new features for yourself, for free. Dashlane users can sign up for early access,
and Lastpass is available for download here s
#Youku Tudou One Of China s Leading Streaming Video Sites Launches Its First Hardware Line Youku Tudou, already one of China largest streaming video
sites, is moving into hardware as well. The company said that its first three devices Wifi router, smart TV box,
and 15.6-inch Android tabletill be available next January. To provide content for those devices,
the company is also launching a cloud entertainment business unit, which will create services that make it easier to stream videos and games from Youku Tudou main sites.
The Wifi router will be part of a P2p-based network that is supposed to make video stream faster while reducing Youku Tudou bandwidth usage.
The smart TV SET which supports 4k/Ultra HD video, will eventually start using Alibaba Aliyun operating system,
which includes online shopping connected to the e-commerce giant sites, as well as its Xiami streaming music service.
Youku Tudou says its monthly user base is now more than 500 million, with daily video views surpassing 800 million.
In a prepared statement, Youku Tudou CTO and president of its cloud entertainment unit Leo Yao, said,
ow that Youku Tudou has built the largest user community of online video in China, this expansion will ensure that Youku Tudou content
and services reach all Internet enabled screens in the forms that our users want, and offer a seamless experience across devices.
Youku Tudou decision to enter the hardware business comes at a time of rapid growth for China streaming video market.
According to DIGITAL TV Research, China is now the world biggest smart TV and OTT (over-the-top) content market,
with 20 million to 30 million sets sold each year. Several of China largest Internet companies have struck content partnerships over the past couple of months in a bid to win over as many viewers as possible.
For example, Xiaomi, which early in November announced plans to sink $1 billion in building online video content,
has made already strategic investments in Youku Tudou as well as Baidu IQIYI, one of its main rivals.
Meanwhile, Tencent struck deals with HBO and Warner Music group to distribute their content in China.
Alibaba and Baidu also have smart TV SETS of their own. Other top smart TV makers that Youku Tudou has signed deals with include Huawei technologies, ZTE 9 Network Technology, Goldweb Technologies;
and Jiuzhou Electronic Technology. Youku Tudou agreements with different hardware and software companies (including Aliyun
and Xiaomi) is interesting because it might be an indicator of future consolidation as China smart TV industry becomes more massive and fragmented.
The last round of major mergers in the space occurred in 2012 and 2013, when Youku bought Tudou in a $1 billion stock deal
and Baidu purchased PPS to fold into iqiyi. Banding together can also help companies that have a stake in China streaming-video industry deal with regulators.
Though the Chinese government closely monitors what is shown on TV channels it has so far been more flexible with online video.
But that will most likely change as more people rely on the Internet to watch television shows and movies.
For example, China may decide to limit the amount of foreign-produced shows that streaming sites can offer c
#With $16m In Funding Helium Wants To Provide The Connective tissue For The Internet of things Over the next few years,
wel see a torrent of new devices emerge that are connected to the Internet and each other through a wide range of different wireless networking protocols.
As a result, there a race on, not just to get those devices connected, but also to provide the network infrastructure necessary to managing all of them at scale.
A startup called Helium Systems, which has been quietly operating in stealth over the last two years,
all without relying on Wifi, Bluetooth, or cellular networks. The company hopes to do that by combining low-powered wireless connectivity and a smart distribution network for data coming from those devices.
While it still working out the products and business model that will enable that connectivity, the company is announcing today that it has raised $16 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Firstmark Capital, Digital Garage, Marc Benioff, SV Angel,
and Slow Ventures among others. In addition to the funding, Helium has named former Qualcomm exec Rob Chandhok its president and COO.
Hel also join the company board along with Chairman Shawn Fanning, Helium cofounder Amir Haleem, and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito.
Chandhok had served as the president of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms and senior vice president at Qualcomm Technologies. There he led the company strategic software initiatives in open source, Internet of things,
and wearables verticals. As a result, he has experience in large-scale wireless systems, which should help Helium as it seeks to refine its products
but the company has assembled already a 20-person team of experts in radio frequency technology and distributed networks.
That because the big idea behind Helium is to use unlicensed wireless bandwidth to transmit small amounts of data from various connected device
To do that, the company is developing its own wireless data protocol and wireless modules that can be inserted into devices that manufacturers want to be a part of its network.
since the devices in question would be delivering bytes of data rather than megabytes, it could create its own connection to them in a cost effective manner without relying on existing cellular or Wifi networks.
By leveraging low-power wireless bands and building a highly distributed network of ultra-affordable base stations (or Helium bridges), it could receive
and transmit small amounts of data from those devices seamlessly. While Helium hopes to build out its own network for devices to connect to
it not ruling out letting devices add data through other networking solutions. After all, as Chandhok told me,
the more devices there are that connect into its network, the more powerful it will be u
#Coolchip Technologies Is Redesigning The Humble Computer Fan If there one part of a PC that doesn get enough love, it the fan.
These small plastic spinning pieces cost almost nothing and keep hundreds or thousands of dollars of advanced technology from cooking itself.
The only time anyone talks about a computer fans is when we notice them doing their jobs. can go on Youtube without them winding up,
making a bunch of noise! For many, these fans are becoming increasingly unnecessary. Chips built for phones,
tablets and even some laptops are designed to use small enough amounts of power than they can dissipate heat without blowing a bunch of air all over everything.
But for users who demand power gamers, video editors and the like fans are still a reality that has to be dealt with every day.
Coolchip Technologies is working to redesign fans to be less of a nuisance. While there are alternatives (like liquid cooling) for those who simply cannot stand the presence of fans,
Coolchip work doesn require significantly changing a machine internal layout. In a presentation at Highway1 demo day
founder Coolchip founder William Sanchez claimed that the company fans are half the size and achieve 35-40 percent greater thermal performance than traditional PC fans.
That impressive, but not something that most consumers would be aware of or care about.
But when Sanchez put a mic next to one his startup fans and then a more traditional unit, there was a stark difference:
Among PC gamers, this could be huge. An enthusiast gaming rig typically has one CPU and one to four graphics cards, each
of which generate enough heat to warrant one of Coolchip fans. Anyone with a PC built for maxing out their games
or software would notice the noise reduction from switching to fans this quiet. Apparently I not the only one to notice that.
Onstage, Sanchez noted that Coolchip has partnered with Cooler Master to bring its technology to market as aftermarket add-ons early next year
and Microsoft consulted with the startup to make quieter fans for the Xbox One games console,
as well as an upcoming unannounced Xbox (likely an Xbox One Slim). Then there the enterprise and infrastructure market.
At a Facebook, Google, or Amazon data center, replacing hundreds or thousands of fans with ones using 35 percent less power could yield significant cost savings.
As data centers move from big PC processors to large networks of ARM chips, there will likely be even more individual chips to keep cool.
That opportunity is likely what drew the attention of Peter Thiel Founders Fund, which invested $500, 000 back in 2012.
And Device Sandboxes Incoming Blackphone the post-Snowden pro-privacy Android smartphone joint venture between secure comms company Silent Circle and phone maker Geeksphone has confirmed it will be adding an app store
This will enable users to segment##activity on their##device by creating multiple##secure spaces for particular apps accounts or data.
The feature will be powered by Canadian company##Graphite Software#s OS-level virtualization software. Speaking to Techcrunch back in October Blackphone cofounder Jon Callas indicated an app store was incoming detailing a plan##to expand its##hardened Android OS to include a curated app store experience#offering third party apps##it##has selected
and vetted/reviewed for potential security concerns. The Blackphone device and startup business is an attempt to consumerize the hard problem of security
and privacy within a familiar-looking Android##wrapper and by bolting on multiple third party services to put##secure alternatives for essentials such as##cloud storage within easy reach (as well as bundling up the cost of their initial subscription in with the phone).
Users can##download and add stores to their device after##purchase but that requires at least a degree of##legwork.
Adding its own privacy-focused store to the OS is therefore a natural next step#given it will expand the utility of the device
while apparently maintaining high standards of user##privacy. However it s also##a trade-off given that running third party software introduces more security risks.
That s presumably why Blackphone is##combining the launch of an app store with the addition of virtualized secure Spaces#to offer another sandboxed layer to help safeguard data on the device.
The latter feature##is likely to##appeal to corporate buyers especially since it enables companies to remotely configure
and##the user##to have just the one##device for work and person use securely separating out their##personal apps and content from##work apps and content.
Much like Blackberry s Balance feature in fact. Blackphone said today that its app store will arrive in January
#Users will then also be able to spec out additional Spaces on the device as they desire#such as for instance a child-friendly bucket with access to a sub-set of apps.
##The number of apps on the store will doubtless intentionally remain##far fewer than on major app stores such as Google Play.
Callas previously told Techcrunch the store could##include##different security review tiers for apps as a way for users to navigate the risks of running third party content.
And that it##may also include##apps that some might##consider insecure by design (such as social media apps which##focus on sharing)
or make it easier for users to download other app stores.##We re going to do things like security reviews of apps.
and we cover##the unfun things like email clients things like that which we have gone
Mobile management of data and apps are important areas that enterprise IT groups are still grappling with.
Both companies are focused intensely on growing their market share inside of the corporate market#large companies have large dollars
Box specifically has been keen to stress its more than 300000 seat roll out to the General electric client base.
The initiative is part of Box s work to become the leading cloud storage provider for the enterprise.
An early mover the firm has seen increased competition from younger firms like Dropbox and older companies like Microsoft and Google.
Differentiation from the market mean of unlimited cloud-based storage is the new calculus for its niche.
In a blog post Box##CEO Aaron Levie described the Trust effort in the following terms:#
If so Box s long-delayed IPO could kick its tires before the end of the first quarter of next year.
#Insikt Introduces Lending As A Service For Brands The lending space couldn be hotter, with folks like Lending Club set to IPO,
One of these new competitors just raised $16 million to let brands become the lenders of the future,
The San francisco-based lender will provide software that allows brands to offer small loans to their consumers,
trusting Insikt to handle the meticulous details of actually providing the loans. These brands can range from retailers and merchants to actual banks
who are limited often to a small window of financing. All loans are put on Insikt balance sheet for the first few months of their existence,
powered by capital from Capital one and Atalaya Capital Management, among others. After each brand has its own portfolio,
the entirety of that brand investments will be pooled together and issued as bonds to investors. This allows them to diversify where their money is going,
while allowing consumers with low FICO scores (or no FICO score at all) to get an installment plan application at the Pos.
In other words Insikt is playing on both sides. The platform offers investors the opportunity to power loans for brands,
which will in turn have technology that provides customers a lending option at Pos. Revolution Ventures provided the capital for Insikt $16 million round of funding,
dedicated to power growth for the company, but big financial firms have provided also upwards of $70 million in debt into the company to juice its lending business u
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