iFixit drops its iPhone battery replacement to $29, matching Apple’s apology price

 iFixit has never been particularly fond of Apple’s repair policies. The company’s gadgets regularly rack up poor repairability scores on the site. The site’s taking another jab at the tech giant today, dropping the price of its battery replacement kits to $29 — matching the cost of out-of-warranty battery replacements being offered up as consolation for its iPhone… Read More

OKCupid’s rating sinks as users rebel over new ‘real name’ policy

 OKCupid’s users are angry – very, very angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people to use real names instead of an OKCupid username, as before. The change eliminates one of the biggest differentiators between the dating app and rivals like Tinder and Bumble, which have users log in via Facebook in order to use their… Read More

TrendKite raises another $11M for its PR analytics platform

 TrendKite is closing out 2017 with the announcement that it’s raised an additional $11 million in funding. The Austin-based startup says it’s currently analyzing 4.2 million articles every day, and using that analysis to help both brands and agencies to measure the impact of their PR efforts. Read More

Pinterest adds former CBS Corp. CFO Fred Reynolds to its board

 Pinterest announced today it’s adding former CBS and PepsiCo exec Fred Reynolds to its board of directors. Reynolds’ background includes global financial and strategic planning as well as business analysis, the company notes. He will also serve as Pinterest’s Audit Committee Chair. Prior to joining Pinterest’s board, Reynolds spent 15 years at CBS and… Read More

A digitizing David takes on photo-scanning Goliath

 Mitch Goldstone loves photo scanning. His business, ScanMyPhotos, does what it says on the tin: you send photos to the company and, using high speed scanners and special software, his team digitizes your photos, sticks them onto a USB key or online, and sends them back.
He is proud of his business. Thanks to his scanners he’s helped users save their photos from tornadoes, floods, and theft. Read More

You can now pick up an iMac Pro in-store, for $4,999 and up

Apple iMac Pro Apple’s super-powered iMac Pro hit the company’s online store just ahead of Christmas. Now those who’d prefer to pick one up in-person can do so by paying a visit to one of its various retail establishments. Availability was first spotted by MacRumors earlier today, and you can check it for yourself by entering your zip code over on the company’s site. At $4,999 and… Read More

A cyclist is using a Google Assistant-controlled electric bike wheel to ride cross country to CES

 This is one way to put your new electric bicycle wheel through its paces ahead of launch. But more importantly, it’s a pretty solid publicity stunt, funded by Google — a company that likes making a grand entrance. It’s all part of what’s shaping up to be a pretty big push for Google Assistant at the year’s biggest consumer electronics show. Read More

Consumers dropped $200 million on apps on Christmas, up 12 percent from last year

 Consumers spent $196 million on apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions on Christmas Day 2017 across the App Store and Google Play, according to new data from Sensor Tower. The report, while excluding Android revenue in China, represents a 12.3 percent increase over last year’s spending of approximately $174 million. That speaks to a still-growing market for apps and games as well as… Read More