“Nearly everyone I know is addicted in some measure to the internet,” wrote Tony Schwartz in a recent essay in The New York Times. It’s a common complaint these days. A steady stream of similar headlines accuse the internet and its offspring apps, social media sites and online ga … | Continue reading
For most marketing teams, inbound is no longer a foreign term – three out four marketers around the world now prioritize an inbound approach. The key to making this strategy work for your brand? Focus on earning your consumer’s attention via engaging content rather than buying it … | Continue reading
What does a lonely whistleblower in Russia do when they have no more information to leak? Start a music career, of course. That is exactly what Edward Snowden is doing. The famed NSA whistleblower has teamed up with esteemed electronic music producer Jean-Michel Jarre to create a … | Continue reading
Back in June last year, Google launched Sidewalk Labs with the intention of bringing technological innovation to urban areas and improving the quality of life in big cities. Since then – with the exception of the company’s announcement that it wants to set up free public Wi-Fi bo … | Continue reading
Blogging platform Medium is no longer accessible in China, according to reports. Blocked in China, which tracks sites barred by the Great Firewall, confirmed Medium can’t be accessed. The reason why Medium has been blocked now when it went uncensored in the country for over four … | Continue reading
For the best part of a year, The Next Web events team has been in talks with the Amsterdam city government about expanding the venue we’ve called home for the last half a decade – in order to create something that can accommodate the scale of content, companies and new contacts t … | Continue reading
URL shorteners are great for packaging links that you want to share on blogs, social networks and messaging services. Unfortunately, they can pose grave security risks, as two researchers discovered in a study spanning 18 months (PDF). Vitaly Shmatikov of Cornell Tech, in collabo … | Continue reading
Keeping with my recent theme of refreshing well-received past posts, I’ve decided to provide a follow up for last year’s highly successful post 8 Ways to Better Market Yourself on LinkedIn in 2015. 2015 was a breakout year for LinkedIn, both as a social network and (more importan … | Continue reading
Security firm Trend Micro says it’s discovered two critical security flaws in Apple’s QuickTime software for Windows which could be exploited to attack PCs. The vulnerability could put users at risk if they visit a web page or open a file injected with malicious content. Currentl … | Continue reading
BlackBerry made a name for itself in the mobile market over the past several years with the promise of truly secure communications. But a new report from Vice News could destroy that perception for good. Redacted court documents that chronicled a 2011 murder involving a Montreal … | Continue reading
You may not have heard of Skype TX before, but you’ve almost certainly seen it used somewhere. Announced back in 2014, it’s a dedicated system for broadcast networks to directly plug in studio-grade Skype feeds into their footage – think long distance calls with reporters and suc … | Continue reading
As if we weren’t expecting it already, there’s a huge new clue Apple is about to rename OS X to MacOS. In discussing how it concluded product life spans for an Earth Day promotion, Apple writes “years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for MacOS … | Continue reading
Apple next App Store move could spell trouble for independent developers, according to a new report from Bloomberg. If Bloomberg’s sources are to be believed, Apple has about 100 employees working on new methods to help App Store discovery. Among them is paid advertising for busi … | Continue reading
According to a recent study, Spanish men and women are some of the most unfaithful in all the world. In light of this, Durmet — a Spanish mattress company — has come up with a rather unorthodox solution to put an end to infidelity. The ‘Smarttress,’ while obviously named by a foc … | Continue reading
Google’s giving you more control over how you sync Drive files to your PC: you no longer have to sync all of your cloud files. A new option in the Google Drive for Mac and PC apps lets you select only the folders and subfolders you want to sync; that should save you a fair bit of … | Continue reading
Anyone that’s been behind the wheel of a car that can drive itself knows the second you take your hands off the steering wheel for the first time — and trust the car not to hurl itself into oncoming traffic — is a nerve-wracking experience. Most of us, however, force all this anx … | Continue reading
There’s a new tool for developers named Kite, and it could revolutionize your workflow (no, really). Calling itself an “artificial pair programmer” which offers “examples and documentation for the libraries and terminal commands you use,” Kite helps bridge gaps between what you k … | Continue reading
Today, Instagram announced its new look for Explore — the feature that allows you to explore content from other Instagram creators. Inside, you’ll see a heavy emphasis on video channels that allow you to discover, sort and filter video on specific topics. At the start, you’ll be … | Continue reading
GoPro is opening up its platform beyond adventure lovers today with the announcement of its new Developer Program. The initiative will allow third-party app developers to build their own apps or accessories to work with the GoPro camera range. Partnering with over 100 companies t … | Continue reading
Microsoft’s Visual Code Studio, announced at last year’s Build conference, has reached its 1.0 release. In announcing the milestone, Microsoft notes Visual Studio is “about more than features.” In the year it’s been around, Microsoft has worked with the community to make it more … | Continue reading
You can now customize a case for your Nexus phone, if that’s your thing. A new initiative from Google named My Live Case lets you upload an image and have it made into a case. Currently available for the Nexus 5X, 6 and 6P, Google says both photos and maps can be used for custom … | Continue reading
Yesterday, Microsoft filed suit in federal court in the Western District of Washington arguing that the US government is violating Constitutional rights of its users. The suit takes issue with the Department of Justice’s actions to side-step the Fourth Amendment — which protects … | Continue reading
That didn’t take long – just a little over 24 hours after the Amazon Kindle Oasis officially dropped, the company is already receiving backlash about its charging cover, which comes in exclusively in leather. A petition on Change.org is asking Amazon to add a vegan leather option … | Continue reading
In an interview with Variety, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said the company may consider allowing patrons to text during the movie. Yeah, this is gonna end well. While AMC isn’t sure exactly how this will be implemented, it says it’s considering options to make it possible, su … | Continue reading
If you’re using Twitter for Android — and hate the layout — things may soon be changing. Some beta testers are noticing a new-look Twitter with a bunch of Material Design cues. In the redesigned app, Twitter’s four main areas — feed, Moments, notifications and direct messages — a … | Continue reading
Google is open sourcing an encryption framework for its Eddystone beacon platform, and making it available on GitHub. Called Ephemeral IDs (EID), it allows a company to manage who has access to beacon signal. That also means it manages who doesn’t have beacon access, which is th … | Continue reading
When you’re rushing to get tickets for highly anticipated events like an Adele or Beyoncé concert, where you’re sitting might be secondary to having tickets in your hands. But sometimes, that leads to getting stuck with seats behind a column, or being far away from the nearest ba … | Continue reading
If you’re getting serious about creating bots for Messenger, there’s now a Sketch file for prototyping them before you start coding. The aptly named Bots UI Kit is a bunch of pre-fab artboards with elements you can pull for us in your own designs. You can choose from bot or human … | Continue reading
We last looked at Timetastic almost four years ago. Back then, it was a pleasingly simple way of managing time off for you and your team. Now, recently-launched mobile apps for Android and iOS have made it even more appealing. Like the Web-based product, the apps focus on doing j … | Continue reading
Apple has announced it will be discontinuing its iTunes Allowance feature on May 25. iTunes Allowance stood out because it allowed parents the ability to gift children a set amount monthly for use in the App Store or on iTunes. For those currently using the feature, Apple says an … | Continue reading
Career flexibility is valuable enough to be considered a superpower in today’s highly-competitive job market. As the world goes fully digital, basic coding has become a fundamental requirement for those with web-based aspirations. To set you on track for coding success, the Compl … | Continue reading
The digital battle that banks need to win Banks versus fintech: The ultimate rivalry Banking disrupted: The digital battle of banks Retail banks are undergoing one of the biggest shake-ups in their history as new, digital-only rivals move in on their customers. As the likes of Am … | Continue reading
Like all big cities around the world, London’s urban areas are being transformed into trendy, gentrified neighborhoods. Not everybody is a fan of this process, which usually leads to some level of corporate intrusion and rising costs for longtime residents, so researchers at Camb … | Continue reading
Although we’ve known it was coming since November last year – and dropping the axe has already been postponed once – the newest version of Chrome will no longer be updated to work with Windows XP, Vista or OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or older. This probably isn’t going to be a huge … | Continue reading
Like the train and automobile, the airplane is one of the most mythologized of all forms of transportation. With today’s giveaway, you can soar like Icarus… without that whole sun fiasco. Win the ultimate stunt flying experience and get ready for an aerobatic adventure of a lifet … | Continue reading
Recreational drone flying has skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years, and while we’ve seen some incredible quadcopters on the market, DIY aficionados will be particularly excited in the latest & greatest offering: FlexBot DIY Camera-Drone Kit. Now you can build your ow … | Continue reading
Google’s quietly rolled out a new Chrome extension that could severely threaten the future of ‘read it later’ features and services like Pocket. Google previously let you save images to your account from an Image Search and tag them for quick retrieval, but it now has a Chrome ex … | Continue reading
Virtually every time you install a new game on your Android device, you need to sign in to Google Play Games, the company’s service to keep track of what you’re playing and who you play with online. Scores of developers use it to save your progress and add your name to their game … | Continue reading
Another hot, as-a-service acronym seems to be biting the dust. “MBaaS” – mobile backend-as-a-service – received perhaps its death blow when Facebook announced it would be shutting down Parse, the company’s popular service for mobile developers. This follows kill announcements for … | Continue reading
Hold the phone! 2016 isn’t half done yet and we’re already plumbing the depths of questionable movie ideas to run with, as Sony’s yet-to-be-released Emoji Movie confirms. While its existence has been known since July last year, details about the storyline have only just started t … | Continue reading
Every year, The Next Web holds hundreds of interviews with young startups in order to shortlist the cream of the crop and invite them to Boost, our early-stage growth program at The Next Web Conference. With the eleventh edition of our flagship Amsterdam conference coming up in M … | Continue reading
Online shopping is great – it’s convenient, quick and pretty reliable. However, its ease is what makes it so addictive and people, myself included, often spend money on things they really don’t need. When you’re not handing over cold hard cash, it’s a lot easier to justify the pr … | Continue reading
Google has updated its Maps mobile apps today with a crucial feature for India: improved traffic alerts. The company says that when you use navigation mode on Android or iOS and enter your destination, the app will alert you about upcoming traffic conditions on the way to help yo … | Continue reading
Late last year, Sharp announced its absurd plans to build a talking, dancing robot that doubled as a smartphone. As if its form factor wasn’t crazy enough, the company is now taking pre-orders for the RoboHon with a price of $1,800 (198,000 Yen). That’s a lot of money for what’s … | Continue reading
With just ten days to go before season six of Game of Thrones takes over our TV screens and becomes all we can talk about, the immensely popular show has released its iconic title sequence in glorious 360-degree video. Fire up the clip below and you can pan in any direction as yo … | Continue reading
Console gamers have had to put up with hardware makers’ ploy to woo them with exclusive titles for years, and now the same thing is starting to happen with VR headsets. Games for the HTC Vive are designed to work with any headset. Meanwhile, Oculus launched its own gear last mont … | Continue reading
If you’re an OS X user that’s curious about Windows 10 — or perhaps you’re a Windows 7 or 8 user that keeps swatting away those annoying pop-ups to upgrade — you can now get a sneak peek without making the leap to an entirely new operating system. Microsoft has launched a cool ne … | Continue reading
Facebook has a new tool for designers, and it’s meant to make prototyping apps much faster and easier than your current workflow. Origami Studio is native for OS X, and uses current technology like Core Animation for stability and speed. Facebook also built Origami Studio to feel … | Continue reading