If kids went wild in your app store and racked up app purchases without your knowledge, you’re now eligible for a refund, according to a new FTC settlement. The settlement happened because Apple failed to provide users with proper notice when their children went into the app store on their devices. In other words, Apple failed to comply with an obligation to obtain users’ informed consent before charging them for goods and services. The amount agreed to, $32.5 million, is a floor for Apple, meaning that if users claim less than the agreed amount, the difference will go to the FTC. Long story short, your kids can’t unknowingly pile up a huge app store bill without your knowledge anymore.
Category: Percolate
Blackphone Is The Android Phone Privacy Advocates Long For
It seems almost every day we learn more about how our privacy is being infringed upon, and now a smartphone company is trying to do something about it. The Blackphone, an international partnership with Silent Circle and Geeksphone, will run a “security-oriented” version of Android that has been termed PrivatOS, which will let users make and receive secure phone calls, texts, video chats, file transfers, and anonymous internet activities via VPNs. The companies who created the device have extensive development experience, having worked with Firefox OS dev devices and encryption standards in the past. More details will be announced at the Mobile World Congress, but for now, it appears that privacy advocates finally have a new tech device to cheer for – and maybe even trust.
Pandora Brings Personalized Stations To Mobile
Pandora is introducing a new, personalized station feature for iOS and Android in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. So for the 76.2 million people who listened to 1.58 billion hours of music last month, the news should come as surprising and exciting – the ability to have personalized stations recommended to you is something that Pandora has been missing for some time, and is a feature that is found on many other streaming apps across the board. Listeners can get up to six suggested artist stations to add to their library at any given time based on listening preferences. The update is available today, so users can start playing with it as soon as possible.
Contently Raises $9 Million
Content marketing platform, Contently raised 9 million to empower brands as publishers. The self-service model connects writers with agencies and publishers to produce brand content whether they be white papers, sponsored articles or blog entries. While the industry seems to be shifting towards programmatic, there is also equal interest in custom, native experiences, putting Contently in a sweet spot. The Lab conducted some research on branded content on behalf of Forbes last year that found it to be most successful on publisher sites opposed to the brand’s own channels.
Steam releases SteamVR
On the heels of Oculus’s critically acclaimed new VR headset at CES, Steam announced a new VR gaming experience that’s designed specifically to take advantage of the rift. At present, the steam platform has 14 games available with VR support in Big Picture + VR mode, which is found in the beta. It remains unclear whether Steam is going to debut its own VR headset, but right now Steam and Oculus are almost joined at the hip, with many of Oculus’s main testers working within the steam system, so it seems like their best option is to work with the Oculus, something they’ve just made much easier.
Ruling: FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules Don’t Apply To ISPs
A US appeals court today ruled that the FCC’s net neutrality rules don’t apply to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which might set a precedent for prioritization of Internet traffic. The ruling might seem pedantic and not that important for advertisers, but it means that ISPs can, without fear of punishment, strike deals with websites to prioritize web traffic. The net neutrality laws are based on the same principle as the “common carrier” terms, which mean that certain types of telephone calls aren’t prioritized over others, so that the phone lines are always open to everybody, all the time. If the same laws don’t apply to the Internet, ISPs can do deals with large companies to ensure that their services have more bandwidth, taking bandwidth away from smaller websites or projects. So if you have a digital UX/UI experience, campaign, or project that isn’t in on one of these deals, it could be de-prioritized and fall on its head because of a lack of bandwidth. Or, in the words of the ruling, “it might degrade the quality of the connection to a search website like Bing if a competitor like Google paid for prioritized access.” The FCC is currently in the process of appealing the ruling, so this might not stand for long, but until it is actually overturned it’s an important development to keep a close eye on.
Gartner Predicts .01% Apps Financially Successful in 2018
Apps are not suitable for every brand and service and new forecasts from Gartner drive that point home. Based on their predictions, only .01% of apps will be considered financially successful by their developers by 2018. While that is a subjective value, it is clear that most apps are not breadwinners, failing to attract an audience for advertising and unlikely to spark in-app purchase. In fact, Gartner is also forecasting that 94.5% of downloads will be free in 2017, further driving that point home.
A brand may not necessarily develop an app to generate new revenue streams as they seek engagement and awareness. That said, branded apps still need to provide utility or at the very least entertainment. More importantly, they must sustain engagement ruling out the possibility for campaign-specific apps.
Google Purchases Nest For $3.2 Billion
It was only a matter of time, really, before Google positioned itself in the connected home market. Today, they’ve taken a huge step towards doing that with the purchase of Nest, one of the most consumer-facing, market-ready connected home technology companies: they already have a best-selling thermostat, and recently introduced the networked Protect smoke alarm. Conceivably, Google will interface the technology into its existing digital networks to make the connected home connected to Google. As Nest already has a best selling product, expect developments to come quickly with this purchase.
Snapchat Now Has Spam Issues
On the heels of its data breach just a short time ago, Snapchat has a new scandal on its hands: Snap Spam. Unwanted photos and videos got sent around to many users that Snapchat was forced to respond this morning, by saying that the increased spam was not related to the hack that went viral. Instead, CEO Evan Spiegel reminded users to change their settings such that only friends can send them Snaps. It’s an about face for Snapchat, who last year turned down several offers to be bought. At this point, it seems like scandal after scandal, and they’ll have to do a lot of work to regain the trust of users who might look for different communications mediums.
Netflix Gets First Golden Globe
From arguably “winning” CES with its 4K content, to now winning a Golden Globe, you could say it’s already been a good 2014 for the streaming and TV production company. Netflix is now, certifiably, a production house to be reckoned with, as it won its first ever Golden Globe as Robin Wright came away with the Best Actress (Drama Series) award for House of Cards. The company was nominated for six awards, and four of which were for House of Cards, while Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black only got nods for one apiece. Nonetheless, as Netflix continues to diversify its critically acclaimed programming in an increasingly popular streaming, on-demand format that’s found itself accessible on nearly every smart interface debuted at CES or available for purchase at present, it continues to establish itself as the leader into the world of streaming.
