Personal finance site Mint now has an iPad app. And while it might not seem a like a major deal to some, it’s a big improvement over what it currently offers for mobile. READ MORE
Mozilla has been expanding its social network. The company has just announced a special release of Firefox with Bing search. This means that users can opt to make Bing their default search engine. Part of a revenue-sharing agreement with Microsoft, the new build is available for download from a Microsoft-hosted site. READ MORE
While it might not appear so to the vast majority of observers (and customers), Netflix’s recent changes may have been the right ones, says ZDNet’s David Hamilton. The company has made a series of awkward moves (at best) to shift its business model from a DVD-and-streaming company to a streaming-only company. In the process, it lost 810,00 net subscribers in the third quarter and has seen its stock prices tumble to $77.37. But this might not be such a terrible thing, says Hamilton. READ MORE
Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our tech lives—and in a very short period of time. According to a new study by Pew Research Center, 11 percent of U.S. consumers own tablets. Considering that it has been just 18 months since Apple “redefined” the category in March 2010, that number is significant. READ MORE
Billing itself as the “anti-Facebook,” startup Unthink.com has just opened its doors to first-round beta testers. Founded on Earth Day in 2008, the company sees itself as a different kind of social networking company, one that focuses on connecting and collaborating with like-minded folks in a social-changey kind of way. READ MORE
Airbnb might have raised $112 million in new financing in July, but according to its co-founders, the company had to find its way through the “trough of sorrow” before it reached legitimacy. Speaking at San Francisco’s Failcon, an event in which entrepreneurs discuss their start-up defeats, Airbnb founders Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky describe the “trough” period as one in which they were in debt, broke, and struggled to get investors to listen. READ MORE
Google appears to have an interesting relationship with the U.S. government. And it boils down to one thing: privacy. On the one hand, the company’s Transparency Report tool makes the government’s requests for citizen’s information transparent. On the other hand, Google’s own privacy policies will now be monitored twice a year, for the next 20 years, by the Federal Trade Commission. READ MORE
BuyWithMe has discovered that acquisition as a growth strategy does not always work. The No. 3 daily deals site behind Groupon and Living Social has laid off the bulk of its staff in what is described as a “last ditch effort” to sell the company, according to the firm’s former marketing director Ian Boschen. READ MORE
One of the biggest barriers for Google+ adoption for many folks was Google’s insistence on real names rather than pseudonyms. For some, it’s a matter of privacy. For others, it was how they are recognized online, their brand. Well, Google will now allow pseudonyms. READ MORE
Online gambling has been a source of contention for some time now, with questions about what’s legal where, among many. But some companies might have found a way to solve the problem. And they’re betting on big-time success. READ MORE
