Nexon has announced that DomiNations has generated more than $100m in revenue since its launch in 2015.

The mobile strategy game, which sees players build an empire that evolves from the Stone Age to the Space Age, was developed by Big Huge Games and has been a crucial pillar in the Korean publisher’s plans to expand into the Western market.

DomiNations has gathered an audience of more than 32m players since its launch two years ago this month, most significantly in the US and Europe – markets in which Nexon’s titles have previously struggled to make as much of an impact as in territories closer to the company’s home.

Over 25m of DomiNations playerbase is in the West, with a still-not-too-shabby 7m players across Asia. Nexon now considers the game to be one of three success stories when it comes to “sustained engagement”, placing it alongside long-running titles MapleStory and Dungeon&Fighter.

It helps that Big Huge Games is a Western developer, based in North America, whereas the other aforementioned Nexon titles are developed in Asia. The firm has been investing in more Western games, including LawBreakers – the debut title from Cliff Bleszinski’s new studio Boss Key Productions – and Cambridge-based toys-to-life developer PlayFusion.

“Nexon games are well-established with millions of deeply engaged players in Asia,” said Nexon president and CEO Owen Mahoney. “The success of DomiNations in the US and Europe, is a proof point in our strategy for growing our business and engaging Western players with high quality games backed by a steady flow of new content.”

Asian mobile giant Netmarble has generated $2.3bn (£1.8bn) with its IPO, readying the firm for a series of significant acquisitions.

Reuters reports the share sale was the second-biggest ever recorded in Netmarble’s home market of South Korea with Netmarble claiming it has sold 17m shares, which equates to roughly 20% of the company. Shares were sold at 157,000 Korean Won (or £107) each.

The firm came just short of the $2.4bn it estimated it would make through the IPO.

A large part of Netmarble’s success was not just its “ability to consistently publish hit games in the highly competitive mobile sector”, as Reuters puts it, but also the accomplishments of one specific title – Lineage II: Revolutions.

Released only in South Korea back in December, the Unreal Engine-powered mobile MMO was named as the highest grossing game in the world back in February, according to figures from SuperData.

Netmarble is also based in the world’s fourth biggest games market, behind only China, the US and Japan.

The company has previously said it plans to combine money raised from the IPO with loans and its own cash flow to spend up to $4.4bn on acquisitions. Specifically, Netmarble hopes to purchased games developers and IP holders that will help expand its share of the games market in North America and Europe. It hopes to become a global top five games company by 2020.

Razer has announced that they are expanding their Hammerhead V2 audio line up with the Razer Hammerhead BT and Razer Hammerhead for iOS in-ear headsets.

“The Razer Hammerhead line of in-ear headphones and headsets are lauded for their big sound in a highly portable form factor,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “We are excited to expand our Hammerhead audio experience with a Bluetooth wireless option for increased mobility and a Lightning Connector version for iOS device users.”

The Hammerhead BT feature Qualcomm’s aptX codec and a battery life of up to eight hours between charges. Both models include an inline remote which can be used for call and music functionality, while the Hammerhead for iOS inline remote also allows for interaction with Siri. In addition, the iOS model can be further personalized with the Razer Hammerhead iOS companion app with pre-configured and custom equalizer settings.

The Razer Hammerhead BT headphones offer up to eight hours of battery life.

Both models feature custom-tuned 10mm dynamic audio drivers set in an aluminum acoustic chamber and include a carrying case and additional ear tip sizes.

The Hammerhead earbuds are available for US$99.99/€109,99 from the Razerzone.com website with availability widening to other retailers later this month.

Check out the full press release below and let us know what you think about the new Razer Hammerhead audio options in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

FULL PRESS RELEASE

Razer Expands the Razer Hammerhead V2 In-Ear Audio Line With Bluetooth and iOS Lightning Models

For Release on April 18, 2017: IRVINE, Calif.—Razer™, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today, unveiled two new headsets:  the Razer Hammerhead BT and the Razer Hammerhead for iOS Lightning.

Razer Hammerhead BT:

Engineered to deliver clear and cordless audio, the new Razer Hammerhead BT is a Bluetooth 4.1 in-ear headset that features the Qualcomm aptX® codec for low-latency, high-quality audio. Mobile users may enjoy uninterrupted listening and calls with a battery life of up to eight hours per charge.

The Razer Hammerhead BT comes with an in-line remote and microphone that is compatible with iOS or Android devices, providing easy call pick-up or music track navigation.

Razer Hammerhead for iOS:

Making full use of the Lightning Connector capabilities, the Razer Hammerhead for iOS delivers clean digital audio through a custom-tuned, digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Through the Razer Hammerhead iOS companion app, users can personalize listening experiences with customizable or pre-configured equalizer settings.

The Razer Hammerhead for iOS comes with an in-line control and mic that allows users to exploit Siri, as well as take calls or skip music tracks.

Both Razer Hammerhead models are outfitted with custom-tuned 10 mm dynamic audio drivers, which are larger than most earbuds in their class. An aluminum acoustic chamber enhances music reproduction while adding to durability. Each Razer Hammerhead comes with a carrying case that includes additional ear tip sizes to ensure fit and sound isolation.

“The Razer Hammerhead line of in-ear headphones and headsets are lauded for their big sound in a highly portable form factor,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “We are excited to expand our Hammerhead audio experience with a Bluetooth wireless option for increased mobility and a Lightning Connector version for iOS device users.”

The Razer Hammerhead BT and Razer Hammerhead for iOS are available on RazerStore.com and with other retailers. For more information, visit razerzone.com.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY:

US$99.99 / €109,99

Razerzone.com: Now

Worldwide: April 2017

RAZER HAMMERHEAD BT FEATURES:

Headphones:

• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz


• Impedance: 32 ± 15% Ω


• Sensitivity: 116 ± 3 dB @ 1 kHz


• Max input power: 10 mW


• Drivers: 10 mm with Neodymium magnets


• Cable length: 63 cm / 2.07 ft.


• Approximate weight: 0.06 lbs. (28.0 g)

Microphone:

• Frequency response: 300 Hz – 3.4 kHz


• Signal-to-noise ratio: ≥ 55 dB


• Sensitivity (@1 kHz): 42 ± 3 dB


• Pick-up pattern: Omnidirectional

In-line remote:

• Music controls: Play/pause, next, back


• Call controls: Answer, end, reject call


• General: Volume up/down, pair, power


• Full functionality on Apple™ iOS and Android mobile devices

Battery:

• Battery type 160 mAH rechargeable Li-Po battery


• Battery life: Up to 8 hours*


• Charge time: Up to 2 hours

*May vary dependent on usage & device

Range:

• Bluetooth wireless range: 10 m / 30 ft.

Package contents:

• Razer Hammerhead BT in-ear gaming & music headset


• 3 pairs of sized silicon ear tips


• 1 bi-flange ear tip attachment


• 1 compact carrying case

RAZER HAMMERHEAD FOR IOS FEATURES:

Headphones:

• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz


• Impedance: 32 ± 15% Ω


• Sensitivity: 102 ± 3 dB @ 1 kHz


• Max input power: 10 mW


• Drivers: 10 mm with Neodymium magnets


• Cable length: 1.3 m / 4.27 ft.


• Approximate weight: 0.04 lbs. (19.6 g)

Microphone:

• Frequency response: 100 Hz – 3.4 kHz


• Signal-to-noise ratio: ≥ 58 dB


• Sensitivity (@1 kHz): 42 ± 3 dB


• Pick-up pattern: Omnidirectional

In-line remote:

• Music controls: Play/pause, next, back, fast forward/rewind


• Call controls: Answer, end, reject call. Launch Siri


• General: Volume up/down


• Full functionality on Apple™ iOS

Package contents:

• Razer Hammerhead for iOS in-ear gaming & music headset


• 3 pairs of sized silicon ear tips


• 1 bi-flange ear tip attachment


• 1 compact carrying case

ABOUT RAZER:

Razer™ is the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers.

The triple-headed snake trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized logos in the world, with a fan base that spans every continent. The company has designed and built one of the largest integrated hardware and software platforms for gamers with over 35 million users. Razer is transforming interactive entertainment across multiple platforms, including the PC, console and mobile.

Razer’s award-winning products include an array of hardware and software. Among its signature products are high-performance PC and console peripherals, the Razer Blade line of gaming laptops, software services such as Razer Cortex (a game optimizer and launcher), RazerArena (a platform for esports tournaments) and zGold (a virtual currency and payment engine for gamers). The company additionally provides audiovisual certification and IP development services through its subsidiary THX Ltd.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in San Francisco, Razer is backed by Digital Grid, Intel Capital, IDG-Accel and Temasek.

For more information, visit http://www.razerzone.com/about-razer.

Smartwatches aren’t for everyone and sometimes a traditional watch is just what you want. Washington Square Watches is aiming to bring its designs and U.S. built hardware to the masses by holding a Kickstarter campaign. While the technology in these watches is hundreds of years old, it doesn’t make the technology any less impressive. Making a good mechanical watch takes care and passion. Check out the video below and the Kickstarter link at the end to find out more about Washington Square Watches’ campaign.

Founder Marc Smouha’s goal was to create a sleek and fashionable watch that’s perfect for everyday wear. Our watch can be worn for any occasion and can be customized with interchangeable straps that can be personalized.

Quality will never be compromised and we ensure this by having our product handcrafted here in the US. We vetted manufacturers from coast to coast until we found the right partners we could entrust with this task. This allows us to provide you a quality timepiece at an affordable cost.

To bring this concept of individuality to the next level we are giving you the choice of customizing your watch by offering several options of colors for your watch band. We are also offering you the chance to personalize your watch strap with your initials. This feature will make your watch one of a kind.

A quick-release clasp that allows you to easily swap out your strap at home… No tools required. This feature was added in order to update and customize your watch with our newest bands (Stainless Steel Bracelet, Nylon Strap…)

We currently plan on shipping to all our backers by the end of July. Depending on demand, we may have to push delivery date by at most 30 days. We will make sure that all our backers are kept well notified but our goal is to ship all watches on time.

Due to the fact that all straps are genuine leather, there may be slight variations in color from what is displayed on Kickstarter.

What do you think about Washington Square Watches’ campaign? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

  Source: Kickstarter

Samsung didn’t deny the issue and told ZDNet that it can easily be fixed in the settings:

“All Samsung phones undergo thorough testing to meet our high level of quality standards. The Infinity Display on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ has applied Super AMOLED and provides rich and expressive colors, enabling users to enjoy a clearer and more vivid viewing experience.

The Galaxy S8 was built with an adaptive display that optimizes the color range, saturation, and sharpness depending on the environment. If needed, users can manually adjust the color range of the display to change the appearance of white tones, through ‘Settings > Display > Screen Mode > Color balance’.”

An unnamed mobile industry official told Business Korea that a few Note 7 launch units also had a reddish tint brought about by the Super AMOLED display. If fixing color balance doesn’t work, his advice is to go in for a replacement — indeed, some affected users said making color adjustments did nothing for them.

Another insider pointed out to The Korea Herald that it could be caused by the company’s new deep red AMOLED tech. The S8, which is the first phone to use the technology, has two types of joint pixels: red-green and blue-green. Those two greens could cause a color imbalance, so Samsung made the red pixels look stronger and deeper. Whatever the cause is, it seems buyers’ best bet to check their phone against other devices when it arrives and adjust the color balance before panicking and asking for a replacement.

Xiaomi unveiled its newest flagship smartphone — the Mi 6 — today at an event in Beijing, having skipped Mobile World Congress, the telecom industry’s largest annual event where it announced the Mi5 last year.

There’s plenty at stake with this new device, given that Xiaomi suffered a sales slump last year with CEO Lei Jun admitting that the company has entered a transitional period after growing too fast.

So, what about the Mi 6?

Well, the first thing to note is that there are plenty of similarities to the iPhone 7, but price isn’t one of them. The entry model — featuring 64 GB of storage — comes in at 2499 RMB, that’s around $360, with a 128 GB option (2899 RMB, $420) and ceramic edition (2999 RMB, $435) completing the range. All three are far cheaper than iPhone equivalents, but, interestingly for Xiaomi, the range is more expensive that the company’s usual flagship prices.

The most obvious iPhone comparison is that there is no headphone jack on the Mi 6, just as Apple elected with last year’s iPhone 7. Whether the Chinese company is following the trend, or doing what makes sense for itself in this instance, that is already ammo for Xiaomi skeptics.

But that’s not all. In a further parallel, the 5.5-inch Mi 6 includes a 12-megapixel dual rear camera — à la the iPhone 7+ — which mixes a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens. Like the iPhone, the Mi 6 includes a bokeh-style photography option, alongside 10x digital zoom, 2x lossless zoom, and optical image stabilization (OIS) technology. Also on board is an under-glass fingerprint sensor on the front. Xiaomi shipped a similar sensor in the Mi5s Plus last September and, if you believe leaks reported this week, Apple may have similar plans for its next iPhone.

A sample photo of the Mi 6 ‘portrait’ mode supplied by Xiaomi

With the Mi 6, Xiaomi has bumped up its RAM to 6GB, the most it has ever offered in a smartphone. The device is powered by a Snapdragon 835 10nm processor with a 64-bit, octa-core CPU with a whopping 3350 mAh battery that the company said will last a day thanks to “optimization” controls built into its MIUI operating system. Xiaomi announced its own-designed processor in February but it isn’t present here. The chip — called the Surge S1 — made its debut in the Mi5c two months ago but it will take some fine-tuning before it is part of a flagship.

Visually, the device is a departure from the Mi5 with curved edges that Xiaomi said are made possible through its use of “four-sided 3D glass,” while there is a new silver color option that includes a mirrored finish and that rather fetching ceramic model. Other notable features include dual speakers for stereo audio, improved 2.2 dual Wi-Fi technology, and new screen options that include a new night display and reduce blue ray output.

The phone goes on sale from Mi.com and Mi Home Stores in China on April 28. An international expansion to “selected” markets will come later, Xiaomi said, although it didn’t provide specific dates for that.

Is this new package enough to regain ground that Xiaomi lost in China?

Xiaomi appears to be seeking a hailo effect with a new flagship that is packed full of tech which, on paper at least, compares favorable to the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S8. The company has always sold higher volumes with its lower priced phones — its Redmi range is priced around $150 — so expect the Mi 6 to be a mark in the sand for what its technology and manufacturing chops are capable of.

The challenge facing the company is tough. In 2016, rivals Huawei, Vivo and Oppo were among the challengers that rose up with competitively priced phones and strong offline distribution reach to knock Xiaomi off the number one perch for smartphones sales in China. Lei Jun has promised to bounce back and expand Xiaomi’s offline commerce efforts, while he intends to continue its ‘smart device’ ecosystem push to increase customer engagement and generate increased revenue. Indeed, the Xiaomi CEO recently likened his firm to U.S. retailer Costco rather than Apple, the latter being a common comparison made in previous years.

Overseas, it remains unclear how Xiaomi’s internationalization effort is going, particularly following the departure of Hugo Barra, who led the project but has since move on to Facebook. Xiaomi revealed it cleared $1 billion in revenue in India, its second largest market behind China, last year while Lei Jun added today that it ranks second in the country, but nothing has been said of its performance in the other 20-odd countries where its phones are sold.

80% of Instagram’s users 600 million users are outside the US, so it needed a way to provide a better experience for users with limited network connectivity or no data plan.

Today at F8, Instagram announced it’s built support for using most of its features without Internet access. Much of this functionality is now available on Android, which is the preferred device type in the developing world. More will come in the following months, and Instagram tells me its exploring an iOS version.

Instagram engineer Hendri says offline users will be able to see content previously loaded in Instagram’s feed. People can leave comments, Like things, save media, or unfollow people — all of which will go through when they reconnect. Profiles they’ve visited before will be visible, as will old versions of the Explore tab or their own profile.

The engineering gymnastics required to do this could help Instagram grow in developing nations where data is either too expensive for everyone to afford, or there aren’t omnipresent or stable data connections. Facebook’s developing world app Facebook Lite shot to 200 million users in just a year, proving the big opportunity Instagram could seize by allowing users to enjoys the app even in isolation. While Snapchat seems to have forgotten about the developing world, Instagram knows everyone everywhere wants visual communication.

Facebook Spaces aka Facebook In VR

Microsoft’s phone sign-in works similarly to Google’s sign-in prompts in that it uses a mobile app (available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone) to confirm your identity, but you’ll never actually need to type a password when signing on to Microsoft services. Once you’ve set up your Microsoft Account in the app, you can enable phone sign-in through the settings menu. The next time you log in to your Microsoft Account on the desktop, you only need to enter your username and you’ll receive a notification on your phone to approve the login. Tap approve, and you’re in. The notifications act as a safeguard against unauthorized login attempts and the app can also create a unique code that works as a second authentication factor for OAuth logins.

Of course, you can always switch back to your password if you’ve somehow been separated from your phone, but Microsoft says the whole process is “easier than standard two-step verification and significantly more secure than only a password.”

Last week Samsung announced that the Galaxy S8 would ship without Bixby Voice control. It seems unlikely that that little bombshell will dissuade anyone from buying the new flagship. It is, after all, a great piece of hardware, as evidenced by our recent review.

Still, it’s a notable disappointment for one of the phone’s key selling points and a stumble for a feature that’s designed to point the way forward for the company. At present, the Samsung’s smart assistant has the makings of a compelling feature, but the execution is scattershot.

Bixby can and perhaps will be the great unifying force promised by the company. In its current state, however, it feels like a suite of features added onto Samsung’s already sizable selection of Android add-ons. The company has never wanted for apps. In fact, they’ve long been one of the driving factors its use to distinguish itself from the countless other Android manufacturers flooding the market.

That was likely a large part of the reason the company opted to launch its own assistant, after failing to make too much headway with S-Voice. Why settle for Google Assistant when you can make your own in house? Doing so could once and for all unite the Galaxy’s myriad applications under a single, accessible banner and serve as the foundation for broader controls.

After all, recent plays by Amazon, Apple and Google have all demonstrating that smart assistants are the gateway to a lot more than just the weather and silly Wikipedia questions. Among other things, they’re a common language that can serve as an entry point for unifying the smart home – a space in which Samsung is clearly heavily invested with numerous connected appliances.

It’s clear that Samsung is hanging a lot on the software. It even went so far as devoting a full button to Bixby, even as it made a big show of ditching the big home key up front. But an essential part of adoption requires a strong user experience right out of the gate, and in its present form, Bixby doesn’t deliver on the blustery promises the company made ahead of launch, when it promised it would be “revolutionizing phone interfaces.”

Samsung’s acknowledgement of its failure to ship Bixby at press time was less an admission of failure than it was an opportunity for the company to talk up the pieces that are shipping with the phone.

“With its intelligent interface and contextual awareness, Bixby will make your phone more helpful by assisting in completing tasks, telling you what you’re looking at, learning your routine and remembering what you need to do,” it said in a statement sent to TechCrunch following the news. “Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21. Bixby Voice will be available in the U.S. on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.”

In its current state, Bixby consists of Home, the bit that pops up when you hit the side button; Vision, an image and text scanning service; and Reminder, which, well, lets you create reminders.

This early iteration of Home doesn’t do all that much to set itself apart from myriad other content aggregating mobile services. Vision, meanwhile, is the most promising piece of the offering, adding a shopping feature along the lines of Amazon Flow, which lets users buy things by scanning a label or barcode. That’s coupled with the ability to scan and translate text – definitely a helpful feature for frequent travels.

But as with the S8 itself, which the company promised would be “the beginning of a new way to experience the world” in its keynote, Samsung is setting the bar impossibly high. Sure, there are some compelling features on the horizon, like Voice, which is said to offer a more contextual user experience than Siri and the like. More features derived from the acquisition of Viv like added third-party support could help push it over the top, as well.

At present, Bixby feels like a rushed piece of an otherwise well-formed and long thought out phone. The company has the opportunity to deliver a real groundbreaking software experience in Bixby, one that could truly set its software apart from the rest of its Android brethren and help build a connected future moving forward. As it stands, however, the smart assistant has gotten off on the wrong foot with undelivered potential.

MIT PhD student and project lead Carrie Cai explained:

“With stand-alone apps, it can be inconvenient to have to separately open them up to do a learning task. WaitSuite is embedded directly into your existing tasks, so that you can easily learn without leaving what you were already doing.”

Those are but two of the five tasks WaitSuite covers, though. One tool from the suite can look for Bluetooth iBeacons and will send you a flash card if it determines that you’re in front of an elevator. Another will ask you to translate words while waiting for WiFi to connect, while the last one sends you words to translate while you’re waiting for an email to send.

Based on the team’s preliminary tests, some of the tools could prove more useful than others, depending on your situation. If your computer takes a while before it connects to WiFi, you can learn a word or two. Otherwise, that particular tool won’t be that useful. Their testers seemed to love the elevator app, though, since it typically takes a minute to call an elevator and only 10 seconds to answer a flash card question.

Cai also noted that their testers were able to focus on their main tasks a lot better with the addition of the WaitSuite tools, since they were less likely to check Facebook and other social networks. In the future, Cai and her team want to create similar “wait-learning” tools in an audio format for times when you can’t look at your screen. For now, you can test one of WaitSuite’s apps available for download from the CSAIL website. The team made WaitChatter available as a Chrome extension for Google Chat, so you can learn words while waiting for a friend to finish typing.

[ Source:-http://techcentralus.blogspot.com/2017/04/18/mits-app-only-needs-a-second-to-teach-you-a-new-language/ ]

The dual-camera craze seems to be hitting several smartphone manufacturers including Apple and Huawei. One company that hasn’t put a dual-camera on its flagship phone is Samsung. That doesn’t mean the company hasn’t experimented with a dual-camera setup though, at least according to one Tweet. In the Tweet below you can see a Samsung Galaxy S8+ with dual-cameras. This is apparently a prototype and Samsung has been forthright in the past that they have experimented with the idea. The reason the company has yet to incorporate dual-cameras is they found no value in two cameras on a smartphone.

Таким был S8+, таким стал Note 8 pic.twitter.com/Q1Fk8tfMpt

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) April 16, 2017

Both Apple and Huawei use dual-cameras for depth of field trickery and for the most part, they both work fairly well. Samsung is probably experimenting with the same concepts but likely aren’t satisfied with the results they’re seeing.

It is no secret that Samsung experimented with a dual-camera setup for its Galaxy S8 smartphone generation. The company told our own Dan Seifert as much during its preview event for the S8 in South Korea last month. Company execs told Dan that they didn’t pursue the dual-camera route because “Samsung has not found real value for it yet.”

What’s more eye-opening for us here is the fact that Samsung could have put that oddly placed fingerprint (on the new S8) sensor elsewhere. The consensus across most of the early reviews is the current placement of the fingerprint sensor is awkward and inconvenient, my unit should be here soon so I’ll most certainly have an opinion soon. It will be interesting to see if Samsung eventually embraces dual-camera technology or simply just dismisses it.

What do you think of this story? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

  Source: The Verge

With so many fans on Instagram and elsewhere, police kept their eyes on it. “I noticed some chatter on social media about phones disappearing on Reddit,” Indio Police Sergeant Dan Marshall told Gizmodo. “One of the common threads was that they were all losing their phones at the Sahara tent.”

Image credit: Indio Police Department

After police kept extra eyes on that area and failed to find a suspect, it was the fans that came through. “A bunch of people activated their ‘find my phone’ and pointed at, ‘Hey, it’s that guy, my phone, my dot, it’s moving with that guy,’ ” Marshall told SFGate. The fans alerted security, who detained Henao, and the police arrested Henao, 36, for grand theft and possession of stolen property.

Henao had over 130 phones in his backpack, many of which have already been returned to their rightful owners, with the rest turned into Coachella’s lost and found department. Marshall pointed out that cellphones are lost by the hundreds at the festival, but are usually turned in, so the brazen theft stood out. “The kids are just here to have a good time,” he said. To help wannabe victims, the Indio Police Department has posted a memo on its Facebook page with tips like “place your wallet/phone in your front pocket instead of the back.”

To start, well-known leaker Evan Blass understands that the Z2 Force won’t be a Verizon exclusive like its predecessor. It’ll reportedly be available on T-Mobile as well, while Android Authority hears that Sprint has its own version. That’s a big relief if you’re tired of sticking to Big Red just to get the most advanced Moto phone in the US.

As for the design? You’ll still see a 5.5-inch display and the Z series’ signature modular back, but the new Force is reportedly thinner at just under 0.24 inches (versus 0.28in for the original) while borrowing some styling cues from the Moto G5. You’d also get a dual camera system like so many other high-end phones, and a Snapdragon 835 chip should keep things speedy. About the only mysteries are the Z2 Force’s release date and price. We’d expect the Z2 Force to carry a premium like its ancestor did, but whether or not it’s a compelling handset depends on when you can buy it — those specs won’t be so compelling if you have to wait until late in the year.

There are times when it is difficult, or even inappropriate to pull out your phone. But sometimes if you’re expecting an important phone call, email, or some other notification you’ll still want to be able to react quickly. We’ve talked about the Pinn Kickstarter campaign recently, and were lucky enough to get our hands on a near-final piece of hardware to see how it works. In this review, please keep in mind that Pinn is a nearly finished product, but there may still be some small changes to hardware, software, or both. Keep reading to see how Pinn handles your daily communication needs.

Specifications

Pinn includes the following features and specifications:

• Microphone
  
  • Directional Characteristic: Omni-directional
  
  
  • Frequency Range: 100Hz ~ KHz
  
  
  • Output Impedance: 450Ω @ 1kHz
  
  


• Audio Specifications
  
  • Impedance: 16 Ω at 1KHz
  
  
  • Frequency Range: 20-20,000 Hz
  
  
  • Output Sound: 105 dB SPL +1 2dB
  
  
  • Speaker Max Volume: +14 dB
  
  
  • Earbud Max Volume: -9 dB
  
  
  • Speaker Impedance (DC): Receiver: 160hm
  
  
  • Loud Speaker: 80hm (700mW)
  
  
  • Bandwidth: 20 hz~20khz
  
  
  • aptX: High-quality Bluetooth sound, audio codec (CD quality)
  
  
  • CVC: Clear voice capture and noise reduction
  
  


• Compatibility
  
  • iOS 7.0 or above with Bluetooth 4.0 or later
  
  
  • Android 5.0.0 or above with Bluetooth 4.0 or later
  
  


• Earbud
  
  • Dimensions: 22.5mm x 21.8mm x 27.4mm (.88” x .85” x 1.08”)
  
  
  • Weight: 4.59g
  
  
  • Battery: 25 mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Polymer
  
  
  • Charging Time: 120 minutes
  
  
  • Wireless: BT Classic 2.1
  
  
  • Wireless Range: 30 feet / 10 meters
  
  


• Clip
  
  • Dimensions: 21.69mm x 71.59mm x 15.47mm (.85” x 2.81” x .6”)
  
  
  • Weight: 20.5g
  
  
  • Battery: 80 mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Polymer
  
  
  • Charging Time: 140 minutes
  
  
  • Wireless: BLE 4.1
  
  
  • Charged Capsule Support: Clip docking charges
  
  
  • Charging Type: Standard MicroUSB Connection
  
  


• Materials
  
  • Earbuds: PC Plastic
  
  
  • Ear-tips: Silicone
  
  
  • Clip: Aluminum, PC Plastic, Urethane, Silicone
  
  

What’s in the Box

• Pinn — Earbud and Clip


• MicroUSB charging cable


• 3 x Replacement ear tips

All you’ll need to get started

Design

Pinn was inspired by the pager of the early 90s, but it looks a bit more like the elongated Bluetooth headset models. This is somewhat accurate, since it does include a detachable earphone, but there’s quite a lot more to this than just a pager or Bluetooth headset.

The device itself measures about 2 ¾” long and just about ¾” wide at its widest. It tapers slightly towards the front of the device. Pinn is just over ½” tall including the clip but excluding the Bluetooth earbud, and just barely over 1” tall taking the earbud into account.

Pinn is constructed out of aluminum and plastics, with a black plastic ring around the OLED display on the front. The Pinn logo is located just above the display as well as on the removable Bluetooth earbud, while just below the display is the speaker. On the tip of the device, you’ll find a 3.5mm audio port, while on one edge you’ll find the power/escape button and covered MicroUSB charging input. The Pinn team will be tweaking the final design for the charging port cover very slightly to make it easier to open. The other edge includes multi-function up and down buttons as well as a select button.

The Bluetooth earbud is shaped as a rounded trapezoid with a small button on one end and the microphone on the other. The earbud has an LED indicator in the middle of the Pinn logo as well. The earbud has a relatively long “neck” which includes the connection socket where the contact pins on the main body connect to the earbud. At the end is a pretty standard ear tip. The tip is white, which will obviously show dirt, dust, and other contaminates (i.e. earwax) more clearly. The earbud connects to the main body via the aforementioned pins, while two retractable plastic arms grip the earbud, keeping it attached.

The pins and retractable plastic arms that hold the Earbud in place.

On the bottom of the device is the clip. The fulcrum is near the tip of the device just under the 3.5mm jack, so the clip opens near the Bluetooth earbud. The clip opens easily and clamps down pretty securely to keep your Pinn attached to whatever you want to clip it to.

Display

The OLED display is bright and very easy to read. The default state shows the time, battery level, and message status in large letters. When you receive a notification, the screen will display appropriate information based on the type of notification. For example for a text message, the sender’s name will appear on the top line while the message will scroll underneath. Caller ID information will be displayed with a phone icon on the left side, the caller’s phone number (or contact information if they are in your contacts) on the top line and “Incoming Call” on the bottom line. The information displayed will vary based on the notification, and you can set up nearly any app on your phone to display notifications on Pinn, but I’ll talk more about that in the software section below.

Ease of Use

Setting up your Pinn is pretty easy, as it’s really a Bluetooth device at heart. You’ll want to make sure the earbud is docked to the clip before starting. Then, simply power on the Pinn, at which time both the clip and the earbud will enter pairing mode. Pair both items in the Bluetooth settings on your phone and you’re ready to go. Once paired, you’ll want to dig into the app (available for iOS and Android) to set up what types of notifications Pinn should display. One pretty important setting you’ll want to check will be based on how you intend to clip your Pinn. You are able to flip the display 180° in the device settings so that you’re able to see and read the display no matter which direction you clip it.

The clip covers most of the length of the Pinn Clip.

Navigating the different options on the clip are handled via the buttons, and most of them act as you’d probably expect. Tapping the power button turns on the screen, while double tapping the power button brings up the menu. The up/down buttons are, as you’d probably already guessed, used to navigate up/down or right/left in the various option menus as well as controlling volume. The select button selects things, and will also turn on the screen with a double tap. Navigating around through the screens takes a bit of getting used to, but it is really pretty straightforward and has only a very small learning curve.

Software

The app is available for iOS and Android and covers the basics that Pinn needs to work. In the app, you’ll need to provide access to several permissions in order for your Pinn to work properly, and once permitted you’ll have options to either turn on or off various notifications. The basic notifications include call information for incoming and missed calls, Caller ID, Text Messages, and Other Notifications, which allows any other app to push notifications to your device.

The next menu item under “Other Notifications” allows you to choose any additional apps that you’d like to see displayed. You’re given a full list of all installed apps and simply check or un-check the box next to each app to turn notifications on or off. All apps are un-checked by default, so you’ll need to turn on any apps you’d like to see.

The Android app is mostly there to turn notifications on or off and select the apps you’d like to ping your Pinn.

The only settings currently listed are the incoming call ringtone, of which there are five available options. Below that is Find my Pinn, which will make your device beep if it’s within Bluetooth range of your phone (tap once to start, tap again to stop). Below that is a software update option.

There are a few features mentioned in the Kickstarter campaign that at least in this software build aren’t quite ready. The selfie-clicker function, for example, is a bit of a work in progress at the moment. On Android, you’re asked to open the Pinn app and then select the selfie clicker function on the Pinn itself via the menu. As of right now, selecting the selfie clicker (with the app open or closed) starts to open the camera app, but it hangs at a black screen with the camera icon overlaid on my Nexus 6P. This is a known issue, and the team is hammering out a few issues with devices running Android 7.0 or higher. This will be a useful function for some once it is available though.

The app will see updates to add functionality and polish prior to launch, but for now, even in its current state, it does enough to get you up and going.

Performance

After the initial setup, your experience will depend largely on how you expect to use your Pinn. Your first decision will likely be where you plan on clipping it. For the most part during my testing, I’d wear Pinn in the button flap of my polo shirts, and set it on my desk for a quick way to check notifications. This worked pretty well, though I’d sometimes have to move it a bit when driving since my seat belt would go directly across where it was clipped. Wherever you end up clipping, you’ll barely even notice that it’s there. Pinn is very small and light.

Clip and Earbud

I’ll talk more about the mic and audio performance in later sections, but using Pinn to make phone calls or listen to media was pretty effective. I did find that I needed to stick the earbud pretty deep into my ear to ensure that it wouldn’t fall out. This gave me a bit of a problem being able to hit the button on the earbud, as it was jammed back into my ear. Provided you’re in a quiet enough location, I found out entirely by accident (I was driving and just put the earbud in backward) that you can just flip the earbud around so the button is on the front. You’ll need to be in a quiet location though because that puts the mic back in the interior area of your ear.

Reading notifications is easy on the OLED screen. You should not take this as an alternative to staring at your phone while driving, as neither is safe and I’d imagine both could get you pulled over and ticketed, or worse. In appropriate settings though, seeing and reading notifications is easy. The text of the notification will scroll along on the bottom line, allowing you to check your notification without looking at your phone. For more detailed notifications you may still want to grab your phone, but Pinn will let you check and dismiss the easy stuff without getting your phone every time. You can not only read these notifications but also reply using your voice, which is a perfect segue into my next thoughts.

Using voice controls works as you would anticipate. Anything you’re able to do with Siri or Google Assistant/Google Now via the mic on your phone, you can do via the mic on your Pinn. A double tap on the earbud button will invoke Siri or Google Now. Reply to messages, search for directions, Pinn will be able to handle those sorts of things via your phone’s voice controls.

Earbud connectors and multi-function button.

Pinn will also let you know if you’ve wandered too far away from your phone. That was also a bit of a surprise at first. I walked into my house and Pinn wouldn’t stop beeping, until I realized that I’d left my phone in my car, and it was just reminding me of that fact.

Pinn is definitely in a pretty near-final state. Most everything works exactly as it’s supposed to, and a couple of items that aren’t quite ready are actively being worked on. If you’re backing this campaign you’re going to get a functional product when all is said and done.

Sound Quality

I wasn’t expecting too much from a speaker as small as what’s on board here, though, for a speaker of its size, Pinn is able to put out pretty decent sound. You’re obviously not going to get anything earth-shaking here, but for a speakerphone device you can definitely use it for a little bit of music, or GPS directions, or video watching in a pinch. The earbud works similarly well.

I didn’t have any issues on the Pinn that I used for testing, but the team is making a slight change to the earbud for the final hardware that will ship to Kickstarter backers and to retail. They discovered a small air gap during the assembly process that in some instances affected the sound quality of the earbud. Backers should end up getting an even better sounding earbud, though as I mentioned I did not have any problems with what I heard.

Plugging headphones into the 3.5mm jack provides a pretty standard Bluetooth audio experience. Your results will obviously vary based on what you’re plugging in, but the audio quality is what you’d expect from a streaming Bluetooth setup.

Did your phone ditch the 3.5mm jack? No worries, Pinn has you covered.

Running audio through Pinn is especially nice when you’re in public, where you can quickly pop off the earbud and listen to your videos, Snapchat stories, or any other audio without blaring it for all to hear.

Microphone/Voice Quality

The microphone is located on the earbud, so that’s what will pick up your voice whether you have the earbud in your ear, or docked to the clip. Since the earbud is relatively small, I did have callers occasionally need me to repeat myself, especially in noisy surroundings, since the mic is several inches away from my mouth. In quiet areas, callers had no issues hearing and understanding me. Other than the occasional request to repeat myself, callers could hear me clearly, and I could hear callers without issue via the earbud.

Docked into the clip lets Pinn act as a speakerphone, and the same conditions as the earbud apply. In quiet locations, I had no issues at all. Callers could hear me and I could hear callers without issue. In noisier environments, there is again a slight drop but you are still able to hear callers pretty clearly.

Battery Life

If you don’t have a lot of notifications set up, or don’t make a lot of phone calls, your Pinn should run in standby mode for well over a full day — it’s estimated at approximately 38 hours. If you do get a lot of notifications and phone calls you should probably expect to recharge your Pinn every night while you’re sleeping, but should otherwise get a full day of use out of it.

Pinn profile shot.

The earbud should last for around 75 minutes per charge and can be recharged two full times when plugged back into the clip. My phone calls generally aren’t anywhere close to that long, and I really just plugged the earbud back into the clip when it wasn’t in use. I could definitely get a full day on a single charge though, and usually a few days with light use when turning Pinn off at night.

Price/Value

Pinn will ultimately have an MSRP of $199USD, though right now while the Kickstarter is still active you have a few chances to get one for a bit less. The Early Bird tier is still available at $129USD, and the Kickstarter Special gets you in on the action at $169USD. The value you’ll find in Pinn depends very largely on how you’re planning on using it. I see definite value for those who spend a lot of time on the phone or need a quick and easy way to interact with their phone without pulling it out of their pocket all the time.

Wrap Up

Pinn is a unique way to use your phone without actually looking at your phone. It gives you pertinent information at a glance, gives you easy voice control options, and offers multiple ways to make calls or listen to music/GPS directions/etc. It might not be for everyone, but for people that are looking for what Pinn can provide, it’s definitely a solid piece of hardware. Pinn is also successfully funded already, so you won’t have to worry if you’re considering backing the project during its final few days. Give Pinn a look, it does what it says, and does it well.

*We were sent a review sample of Pinn for the purposes of this review.

Pinn

$199 USD

Design

9/10

Display

9/10

Ease of Use

9/10

Software

9/10

Performance

9/10

Sound Quality

9/10

Microphone/Voice Quality

9/10

Battery Life

10/10

Price/Value

9/10

Nailed it

• Solid design


• Easy to read display


• Works as expected


• Very small and light


• Multiple options for audio


• Adds a 3.5mm jack if your phone doesn’t have one

Needs work

• Earbud has to stick pretty deep in your ear


• White eartips show dirt and debris more easily


• Small learning curve to get the hang of the button combinations

One of the biggest tech concepts we take for granted today was essentially unheard of before Facebook launched its Platform ten years ago. While there were “social networks”, the rest of the web didn’t care much about who you were or who you were friends with.

This is before we “logged in with Facebook” not just on it. Before sites were peppered with sharing buttons. Before every app wanted you to invite your contacts.

“The core thesis in 2007 was that if you looked at pre-2007 social networks, there were ‘social networks’ that were social, and basically everything else was not social” Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg tells me. “The theory was almost everything should have social components. I think that’s been born-out over the last decade.”

Yet opening its audience to outside developers came with a steep learning curve. Social apps must be accompanied by social norms about respecting people’s time and attention. Facebook is still getting the hang of that.

On its 10th anniversary, a series of interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and other team members reveal how the Facebook Platform shook out and shook everything up.

Social By Design

In 2007, Facebook was experiencing unprecedented viral growth thanks in part to its freshly-launched News Feed. Given the right skeleton, it discovered people would flesh out a social network with not only their content, but their identities. The blue beast was alive. The scrappy young company could hardly keep up.

Yet the team had a hazy, crazy idea that belayed its humble dorm room beginnings. Facebook didn’t know what people wanted it to build, so what if it let anyone build apps on top?

A year later with the launch of the Facebook Connect part of the platform, it posed another peculiar question: If we let people log in elsewhere with their Facebook account and bring along their interests and social graphs, could any website become “social”?

The answers would surprise Facebook’s executives, spawn a legion of new businesses, entrechng the company while changing the Internet from a solo experience to a group one. Those same answers would also force Facebook to adapt to unforeseen trends, retreat from unsustainably spammy features, and crater some of the new business built on the fledgling Platform. ‘

Word of mouth is a top driver of popularity for any product. Facebook’s “social by design” philosophy sought to give each app its own voice users could speak through to rally their friends to enhance their collective experience.

Suddenly, Facebook’s exclusive relationship with its users became a tumultuous, bizarre love triangle between itself, the public, and its developers. One where the users were put first, even if it meant sacrificing immediate monetization of its site and the existence of some app makers.

“Crazy Time”

“There was no playbook for what we were doing. No one had built this sort of platform before.” says Ami Vora, a Facebook Product Director who was part of the initial team of five core engineers working on the launch for the first F8 conference. “We didn’t exactly know what would happen next to the developer community. We were really just trying to learn what we were doing as we were doing it.”

Vora had been working at Microsoft, a more conservative tech titan. What we think of as the “closed private beta” stage of modern platforms before they launch and open up was how many platforms ran permanently. Current Platform team member and Facebook VP of partnerships Ime Archibong tells me he came from IBM, which was “known for building proprietary stacks up and down themselves.”

The promise of pioneering a new way to work with developers lured fresh talent to Facebook. And the geyser of user growth it had tapped into attracted developers thirsty for attention.

Mark Zuckerberg on stage at the first F8 in 2007

Vora describes the “sleepless excitement” of this hockey stick-growth moment at Facebook. “One of our catch phrases was “‘crazy time?’” Employees felt the immense gravity of this phase of Facebook’s ascent. “You’d just nod to the person you were passing [in the office] and say ‘crazy time?’”

In fact, employees spent the days running up to F8 frantically updating Facebook’s marketing materials. Everything said 19 million users, but Facebook hit 20 million in the days before the event. The company scheduled a “20 million users party” for a few weeks later, “but by then we had 25 million users” Vora laughs.

After running the conference all day where Facebook announced the Platform, the core team retreated to a nearby hotel’s conference room it had established as its “war room”. There, on a spotty Wifi connection and patchwork of mobile hotspots, Facebook’s Platform launched.

With V1, Facebook lets developers create “canvas applications” within its desktop site. These experiences could be personalized with a user’s identity, and connect people to friends who were also using the app. Developers could build games and social utilities, or offer a “Profile Box” app that let you spruce up your personal presence on Facebook.

Facebook had dismantled two of the biggest barriers to people trying new web services. Users didn’t have to set up a separate username and password for each service, and they didn’t have to build a unique social graph there. Meanwhile, the lucrative viral channels helped developers rapidly build their audience as people invited their friends.

Within a few months, 7,000 apps had been built on the Facebook Platform. That number would grow to 33,000 in a year. In five years there were over 9 million apps and sites integrated with Facebook. And now after a decade Facebook has paid out almost $10 billion to its app developers.

“I remember talking to entrepreneurs in the weeks after F8 who were spending half of their day every day driving around trying to get whatever servers they could because they were experiencing so much growth” Vora says. Stanford University even created a Computer Science class where students had to build Facebook applications.

In 2008, Facebook opened the second wing of its Platform, “Facebook Connect”, which let third-party website from news publishers to utilities offer Facebook login, personalization, and instant sharing to the News Feed. Facebook effectively colonized the web, giving its citizens easy access abroad while funneling content back to the motherland. The Like button soon became Facebook’s calling card.

But while developers on Facebook’s platform would blossom into giant businesses like Zynga, others would end up as collateral damage as Facebook wrestled to control what it created.

Open To Surprises

The overarching strategy for Facebook’s Platform was that “it should be open. Anyone should be able to build on the platform” says Archibong. “Given that we aren’t going to be able to prioritize all this stuff, we don’t have enough engineers to build all the stuff we want to build, and arguably, we won’t know what the world and what people ultimately want, if we extend our Platform to developers, they’ll be able to build for these communities.”

That openness also forced Facebook to go where the platform pulled it. Sometimes that meant scrambling to support and survive unexpected success, as with gaming.

Facebook didn’t quite predict how well its desktop canvas Platform would work for spreading simple social games. Eager for distraction and with dense social graphs on the network, the college-centered Facebook demographic frittered away immense amounts of time and money on games like Zynga Poker and FarmVille. Facebook would have to build an entire international payments infrastructure around the burgeoning games industry.

Facebook VP of Partnerhips Ime Archibong

But games also threatened to kill Facebook. What some considered playful socializing others found deeply annoying. Developers seized on the viral invite and request channels Facebook offered, designing their games to heavily reward users who sucked in their frends. You either spent hours and hours watering your make-believe FarmVille crops, paid real money to keep them alive, or begged your friends to sign up and help you.

“I thought it was really fun” Vora says wistfully, showing the strength of Facebook’s cult Kool-Aid. “Remember with ‘SuperPoke’ we all just threw sheep at each other!?! Who knew that would bring so much joy. [It was] an interesting way to express your friendship with someone and bring just a little touch of lightness to your day.” 60 million people ended up hooked on FarmVille, deriving some kind of value from the game.

Developing Whiplash

Others did not think it was really fun. I did not think it was really fun. Facebook had been a way to connect online about your real life, not play pretend in a frivolous virtual universe. Sure, some might find companionship in cooperating around games. But the News Feed of updates about friends’ vacations and new jobs was overrun with viral game spam.

Zuckerberg eventually admitted half of Facebook might not want to see this content, severely curtailed its prominence in the feed, and thereby dashed the growth dreams of some developers. Meanwhile Facebook removed the entire Profile Box part of the Platform after profile customization ran amok and put the site in danger of becoming another slow-loading, buggy mess like Myspace.

Facebook game spam

Had these parts of the platform remained unchecked, they might have poisoned the populace before other developers could try their hand with chatbots and camera effects a decade later. Still, some devs felt like Facebook had pulled the rug out from under them. Startups had raised money and hired employees, betting on Facebook’s Platform to distribute their products. It was the developers who got the short end as Facebook tried to balance their needs with its own and those of the users.

This is a theme that’s played out over and over in the 10 years since.

The struggle to find this balance might stem from Facebook’s seemingly naive perspective that its partners prioritize the long-term satisfaction of the social network’s users, and Facebook by proxy, as Facebook does itself.

“Everyone knew we were building an ecosystem, and no one would be successful unless we were doing the right thing for people” Vora insists. “Even the hard conversations were grounded in this knowledge.”

“The ability to take such a long-term view on things I think allows you to have open, candid conversations about what the future looks like with partners” says Archibong. “That may mean . . . things that were arguably not as good anymore for the partner or the developer but that we collectively knew were good for people over the long-run.”

But this framework falsely delineates between the needs of users and Facebook. If developer spam drowned out the social content people came to Facebook for, the users would have a bad experience…but that would quickly lead to them leaving the social network, depriving it of fulfilling its mission and filling its bank accounts.

This prioritization has kept users happy, Facebook earnings billions of dollars in profit per quarter, and its Platform open to new waves of developers. But it’s also left a trail of dead apps and battered businesses.

Zynga struggled as a public company after Facebook deleted viral channels that helped it get huge in the early days of the Platform. BandPage, makers of  landing tab app for musicians’ Facebook Pages, was once the second-most popular developer behind Zynga and had just raised a $16 million Series B. But when Facebook decided these landing tabs made the user experience ‘inconsistent’ and suddenly shut them down, BandPage lost 90% of its traffic. It dropped from 35 million active users to 3 million in a few months, and after several failed pivots was sold to YouTube in a firesale for a fraction of the cash it had raised.

BandPage lost 90% of its users after Facebook suddenly killed off the Page landing tab part of its Platform

Yet Vora and Archibong repeatedly defended the limitations and changes to Facebook’s Platform as consensual. “I think most of those folks also understood, and were excited about the power they had gotten from the Facebook Platform. iLike woke up the next morning with 50k users, which was something they never expected” Vora recalls. She doesn’t mention that iLike withered after the Profile Box was shut down.

Archibong defends the tumultous point of Facebook’s history, saying “You actually find that conversations that from the outside looking in may look really difficult and probably seem really tough because they have both business impact for Facebook or the developer are actually okay because it’s not a transactional relationship.”

Maybe not for Facebook. With enough traction and network effect, it could outlive its Platform pivots. Still, for some developers, diverting their roadmap in search of Facebook-fueled growth was a transaction where the Platform’s exchange rate suddenly spiked.

Facebook would spend the next few years trumpeting its “Operation Developer Love”, where it tried to give app makers more warning about big changes on the roadmap and work with them more closely to ensure they were earning enough to validate the engineering time they poured into the Platform.

Balancing The Bizarre Love Triangle

The cycle of “too much virality -> too much spam -> dial back virality -> pivot the platform” has played out nearly a half dozen times since.

In 2011 Facebook launched the Open Graph platform to let apps like Spotify or Wall Street Journal’s Facebook News Reader automatically publish users’ listening or reading activity to the News Feed.

Facebook ended up reducing the number of music stories in the main News Feed and removing the side “Ticker” that embarassed people by sharing their guilt pleasure rock-outs with everyone they know. When Facebook decided stories about users opening click bait articles in Open Graph News Readers weren’t valuable enough, it downranked the apps, traffic dried up, and publishers abandoned that part of the platform.

Mark Zuckerberg discusses Facebook’s Platform partnerships with news outlets at F8 2010

On the other side of the spectrum, that same year Facebook tried to launch its own HTML5 mobile web app platform. It had been shut out of charging the same 30% tax on game payments it did on desktop computers when users shifted iOS and Android devices. But this time Facebook gave developers too few growth option, and weary from its past waffling, they never adopted Facebook’s “Project Spartan” and that Platform dried up.

Most recently, Facebook’s Instant Articles promised a publishing platform that would drive more traffic for news outlets that host their content inside Facebook’s app so it loads faster. But Facebook’s iron grip on how publishers could show ads, email newsletter widgets, subscription sign-ups, and their own design identity made the format a bad deal.

Instant Articles essentially turned publishers into ghost writers, creating dumb content for Facebook’s smart pipes rather than deepening their relationships with readers directly. Facebook tried to loosen up, but now major oulets like The New York Times, Vice News, and the Los Angeles Times have abandoned Instant Articles.

Playing The Long-Game

Clearly Facebook is still grappling with how to give developers enough support that they join its Platforms but not so much that they disrupt the network’s equilibrium. Where it’s succeeded is internalizing one thing it got wrong 10 years ago: as long as you don’t drive the users away, you always get another chance.

News articles were kept from overshadowing personal updates, and now publishers still see a massive chunk of referral traffic from the News Feed. Facebook dumped HTML5, but now is spinning up new games Platforms within Messenger and a new Steam-like desktop app. Open Graph auto-sharing fizzled, but Facebook’s Account Kit has flourished by allowing any app to use phone numbers and SMS for sign-up.

Whether Facebook is getting better at managing developer expectations or it just holds enough power to offset some missteps, it’s managed to keep its Platform well-populated. And now Facebook is expanding the definition of “developer” to include brands, small businesses, and more.

Zuckerberg tells me a high percentage of top-grossing mobile apps offer Facebook login or other Platform features. “I think that’s pretty widespread, but then even the ones who aren’t using our tools I think have generally adopted this apporach of every app, whether it’s an enterprise app or whatever it is, I think should have some kind of social sharing. I think that that idea, that’s been pretty cool to see.”

Mark Zuckerberg at F8 2016

Now Facebook is prepping a “Camera Effects Platform” to let developers help you augment your photos and videos. Snapchat also wants to give you a breadth of creative tools to enhance your social media sharing, but has never cultivated a developer ecosystem before.

With so many mistakes to make and fragile balances to maintain, a decade of wisdom could give Facebook a leg up over younger competitors. Though it doesn’t have a perfect track record as a Platform, at least Facebook does have a track record. Being older than some of its own users might not be cool, but it has its advantages.

It’s fairly safe to say that a good percentage of people now own a smartphone. The smartphone has fast become a primary device for many of these people, but it has its limits too. The Mirabook is looking to break the smartphone free of its small screen and showcase the power inside. With the Mirabook you can turn your smartphone into a useable laptop that’s much cheaper than buying a separate device. Why spend so much on a laptop when Mirabook can harness the hardware inside that already expensive smartphone?

Miraxess is a French Start-up developing Mobile Convergence since 2015. This crowdfunding campaign is a turning point and lots of things will change afterwards. You have the power to bring the next PC Mobile Revolution on the market.

In a world where mobile has triumphed, Miraxess launches The Mirabook, a true extension to give the smartphone all the capacities of a laptop. A large full HD Display, a keyboard, a touchpad, extra storage and a high capacity battery that instantly creates the ultimate laptop – of which you already own half.

As Consumers increasingly depend on their Smartphone to organize their personal and professional lives, it is becoming evident that the traditional computer has been replaced by the Smartphone as the main servant of our digital needs. The PC market and worldwide deliveries keep declining: -5.7% in the 3rd quarter of 2016 and -3.3% for EMEA[1]. This can be explained among others by the emerging markets where People choose Smartphones over PCs.

The Mirabook Extension fits into this natural movement that makes the Smartphone the universal engine of our activities. Miraxess reinvents the laptop and focuses on a small handheld computer, the Smartphone.

The project is now live on Indiegogo and is about 35% funded as of this article. The early bird pricing is $180USD which isn’t a bad price at all, if you’re expecting this technology to be useful to you. It will be interesting to see the first reviews that come back on this device and to see if it really can be what it says it can be.

Check out the Mirabook Indiegogo at the link below and Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

  Source: Indiegogo