The Comunicano Daily for Friday December 12, 2014

The Comunicano Daily

Hello from a very wet and rainy, windy, blustery San Diego. Normally called Sun Diego, we're having one of wettest mornings on record with the wet stuff coming in off the coast and making driving rather trecherous. It was so trecherous, today's Breakfast With The Fire Chief, an event being organized by the great folks at San Diego Fire Rescue actually called it off. And I thought only baseball games were called off because of rain?   That's given me some time to whip up today's news and share some really interesting tidbits of news...First up is two articles on the subject of Drones. Both feature Comunicano client PixiePath started by a past client of ours, Bryan Field-Elliot who was one of the minds behind NextAlarm which successfully exited a few years back..Drones are hot business, and we're seeing more and more companies spring up in the sector. Tomorrow, PixiePath will be at the Drone Expo in Los Angeles so if you're in the area, say hello to Bryan and our own Jim Llewellyn who will be on hand...now onto the news..       For the drone fleet conductor comes PixiePath Companies delivering packages or farms mapping acres and acres of fields might not want to stop at one drone. A fleet can get things done faster. But how do you keep them safe and effective while working as a group? PixiePath, a drone software startup that launched today, thinks it has a solution: the cloud....     [continue...]     IT security whiz sets sights on commercial drone management The Federal Aviation Administration has taken a hard line so far against most commercial uses of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e.,drones) for safety and privacy reasons. But one other good reason for taking things slow is that the software for managing such drones has trailed hardware development.     [continue...]       WebRTC continues to find a way into the news with Reuters picking up the story under the watchful eye of long time friend in the Far East Jeremy Wagstaff picking up the story. It was nice to see client Temasys and analyst Dean Bubley, as well as former client at SightSpeed, Scott Lomond quoted in the piece.       With WebRTC, the Skype's no longer the limit     Web Real-Time Communication is a proposed Internet standard that would make audio and video as seamless as browsing text and images is now. Installed as part of the browser, video chatting is just a click away - with no need to download an app or register for a service.     [continue...]       Make no mistake about it your in 2015 your cell phone will be used more and more...to help you do things like make payments and be identified. In the State of Iowa, you'll even be able to really use it as your ID too.       Iowa Drivers Will Soon Be Using Their Phones as IDs The driver's license is going digital. Sometime in 2015, instead of flashing a plastic ID at a cop, drivers in the state of Iowa will be able to show off a mobile app installed on their smartphones that acts as their official license, according to The Des Moines Register .     [continue...]       The Lending Club IPO is a hit and that bodes well for those in peer to peer lending and microfinance.  Expect to see more companies jump in to what is a unique and different form of crowd funding.       Lending Club Takes Its IPO Victory Lap, As Competitors Watch Closely Lending Club, the online loan marketplace that's trying to bring Silicon Valley-styled innovation to the financial industry, pulled off a blockbuster public offering this week. In doing so, the company set the bar expectedly high for every other would-be financial disrupter. The San Francisco-based company raised $870 million from its IPO.     [continue...]     Apple now requires cases protect devices from 1m drops, meet new environmental standards Apple recently started requiring case manufacturers in its Made for iPhone (MFi) licensing program follow new requirements that will ensure cases better protect Apple devices and cover glass from impact, according to sources with knowledge of the new guidelines.     [continue...]       Pardon the pun, but Uber keeps rolling along. They are now moving into China ina big way with Baidu and that comes with both cash and greater awareness in the Far East.        China's Baidu Set To Partner With Uber And Reportedly Invest Up To $600M Uber may have just raised a fresh $1.2 billion this month, but the company looks set to welcome a new investor, Chinese internet giant Baidu, which is reportedly set to invest as much as $600 million into the U.S. firm.     [continue...]       But as they raise more money, Uber is also going to see more pressure from regulators, who want to put the squeeze on them by banning their apps in iOS and Play stores.        Brussels Minister seeks to ban Uber from Belgium Ever since it rolled out its UberPOP service in Brussels back in February, heavily-funded Silicon Valley company Uber has been having run-ins with the local government. The saga continues, as Brussels Minister of Mobility, Pascal Smet, will now file an official complaint (article in Dutch) with the public prosecution service against the increasingly controversial Uber.     [continue...]       Dating sites are hot again, and hooking up seems to be on many a Venture Capitalists mind.        VCs Swipe Right For Dating Startups With two months until Valentine's Day, investors worldwide are singling out a variety of online dating and matchmaking startups that believe tech is the solution to improving our love lives. The $12M Series A announced yesterday for matchmaking app Hinge is the 4th largest round recorded to date for a dating-related startup, beat out only by rounds for Skout, Zoosk, and HowAboutWe.     [continue...]       And this just in...Google may be leaving Russia. Well at least when it comes to engineering talent. This is all part of the concerns surrounding privacy and rights in Russia.       Report: Google Pulls Engineers From Russia Google will reportedly move engineers out of its Russian office to avoid the country's increasingly restrictive Internet freedom laws. A group of employees will stay in Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal , to focus on sales, business partnerships, user support, marketing, and communications.     [continue...]

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