Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has been making a number of improvements to its Maps iOS application, but ultimately, the service has yet to become as popular as competing services, such as Google Maps. Misinformation and inaccuracies seem to be some of the big issues plaguing Apple’s Maps, but if you’re someone who relies on public transportation, the service has been completely useless to you up until this point. That is until Apple acquired Embark, who just so happens to have developed a public transit application in the past. (more…)

Apple Acquires Public Transit App Developer, Embark original content from Ubergizmo.

Verizon’s insatiable appetite for spectrum is legendary. The company’s most recently been eyeing Canada’s valuable 700MHz airwaves and even shown interest in acquiring troubled carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. (Especially after the CRTC rejected Telus’s attempt to purchase the latter.) The Globe and Mail now reports that VZW’s chosen to delay its potential acquisitions of the two carriers until after next year’s 700MHz auction and that the US company is considering a bid for the spectrum directly. It’s unclear if Verizon is attempting to buy time, trying to push the price of the struggling operators down or simply losing interest in the Canadian market. One thing’s for sure — if the company bids in the auction it won’t be able to negotiate any deals with other applicants until next year.

[Image credit: Andrew Currie, Flickr]

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Via: Reuters

Source: The Globe and Mail

It’s time to add another entry on our “Apple television rumors” timeline, as reports tonight indicate the company has acquired the team behind the second screen web / iPad app Matcha.tv. VentureBeat initially posted news of the acquisition at a price of between $1 and $1.5 million, which would appear to explain the aggregator’s sudden disappearance back in May. If you weren’t familiar with it before now, Matcha.tv was one of a number of efforts seeking to enable content discovery from mobile devices. By the time it closed its doors, it included TV listings of what’s on cable / satellite, queues for online streaming from services like Netflix and Hulu, personalized recommendations and social network tie-ins. CEO Guy Piekarz told TechCrunch in May that the company has a “plan to provide something better in the future.” We’ll wait and see if speculation leans towards an IR blaster tie-in for the iPhone similar to the Galaxy S 4 and HTC One, controls for an integrated living room TV experience or something else entirely.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Apple

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Source: VentureBeat, AllThingsD, Matcha.tv

Facebook may not seem like an obvious match for a machine translation company, but its just agreed to snatch up speech recognition startup Mobile Technologies to strengthen its chops in the area. If you’re not familiar with the outfit, they’re the minds behind the Android and iOS app Jibbigo, which translates your text or dulcet tones into other languages. While Zuckerberg and Co. haven’t revealed precise plans for the freshly-acquired firm, they note that the voice tech factors into their long-term plan for the web and mobile devices. “Voice technology has become an increasingly important way for people to navigate mobile devices and the web, and this technology will help us evolve our products to match that evolution,” said Tom Stocky, Facebook’s Director of Product Management. “We believe this acquisition is an investment in our long-term product roadmap as we continue towards our company’s mission.” There’s no word if Jibiggo will still receive support once Mobile Technologies joins the social network in Menlo Park, but we’ve gotten in touch with the team to find out.

Filed under: Mobile, Facebook

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Tom Stocky (Facebook), Jibbigo

Some big (and surprising) news in the media industry today: The Washington Post has just confirmed that it and its affiliated publications have been acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million in cash. The paper notes that Amazon itself “will have no role in the purchase,” and that Bezos “will buy the news organization and become its sole owner when the sale is completed, probably within 60 days.” It also goes on to explain that the existing Washington Post Company, which owns a number of other businesses (including Slate), “will change to a new, still-undecided name and continue as a publicly traded company without The Post thereafter.”

In an interview with the paper, the Post Co.’s chief executive, Donald Graham, says that “The Post could have survived under the company’s ownership and been profitable for the foreseeable future. But we wanted to do more than survive,” adding, “I’m not saying this guarantees success but it gives us a much greater chance of success.” In a letter to Post employees, Bezos, who was apparently one of several suitors considered by the company, says that he “won’t be leading The Washington Post day-to-day,” but that “there will of course be change at The Post over the coming years,” and that “we will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment.”

Filed under: Internet

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Via: @Romenesko (Twitter)

Source: The Washington Post (1), (2)