The 6 Degrees Blog
News In Degrees 24° May | Yahoo buys Tumblr | Google goes hands-free | HP tabletop computing | BBC scraps £100m digital project | Reiss are back on track | GeoGuesser
24 May 2013
Yahoo buys Tumblr
Ever enthused to shake the dust off its shoulders and reinforce it’s position in the technology market – this week, Yahoo ‘formerly’ announced its acquisition of blogging platform, Tumblr. Founder, David Karp, promised staff they were ‘not [going] to let [them] down’ and CEO, Marissa Mayer describes the acquisition as ‘complementary’…well, for a massive $1.1bn, it better be. The deal is expected to complete in the second half of 2013 and is equal in value to Yahoo’s money in hand at the end of its first quarter in March. Is it really worth all of this cash then? Only time will tell. For now, the company expects the acquisition to grow Yahoo!’s audience by 50% (more than a billion monthly visitors) and increase traffic by approximately 20%.
News In Degrees 3° May | Get tagging those selfies | Happy birthday iTunes | LG curved TV | O2 & BT | a wink for Google Glass
3 May 2013
Get tagging those selfies
For many of us, Instagram is fast-becoming the first place we turn to when we want to capture a moment – be that a candid with friends or a vanity-induced ‘selfie’. Instagram have launched a new and updated version of its app to the iOS App Store and Google Play that will allow users to tag brands and other users – an inevitable refresh that will certainly have its benefits. In times gone by, we’ve had to rely on the comments section of Instagram to let other users know we’d posted a picture of them – this new update comes with a new section titled ‘photos of you’ for this very purpose.
News In Degrees 26° April | Amazon set-top box | PantoneView | Faber Factory & MDL | More Magazine | LinkedIn Contacts | Google Street View Hyperlapse x Leapmotion
26 April 2013
Amazon building TV set-top box
Amazon – clearly still keen to grab it’s share of the hardware market – is developing a TV set-top box, so that we can stream content from their on-demand catalogue to our television screens with ease.
News In Degrees 19° April | Kobo Aura HD | Twitter Music is Live | Google Glass Tech Specs
19 April 2013
Kobo Aura HD
Kobo are decidedly upping their game in the e-reader market. This week they unveiled a new limited edition ‘luxury’ ereader device targeted at those who are serious and ‘passionate’ about reading – ‘the Porsche of ereaders’. The device certainly looks the part – sleek contours on the back, as well as HD e-ink, means it’s definitely a winner in the aesthetics department, but what about it’s usability? The guys at TNW spared no time in putting the new Kobo Aura HD to the test. Have you pre-ordered yours or is the competition too stiff? Described by Kobo as the ‘Porsche of e-readers’ and at £139.99 a pop, are you safer with the highly-acclaimed Kindle Fire HD?
News In Degrees 12° April | Spotify for Books | Google Map Maker | O2 on the Underground | Facebook Emoji’s | LinkedIn Recruiter | Hyperlapse x Google Maps
12 April 2013
Waterstones launches ‘Spotify for Books’
For many, Waterstones is a haven for perusing and settling down with a good book, safe (to some extent) from the impending take over of e-books and other technically-charged fancies. Founder, Tim Waterstone, however, wants to embrace the inevitable digital trend engulfing the publishing industry and create nothing less than ‘the literary version of Spotify‘.
News In Degrees 5° April | Facebook Home | Google Glass Explained | Library Project | April Fools | Amazon & Goodreads | Angelfire
5 April 2013
Facebook launches Facebook Home
At the end of last year, Mark Zuckerberg was adamant that a Facebook phone was not the way forward for the social media giant – saying that it simply wouldn’t ‘move the needle’ for the company – and to some extent, he stuck to his guns. April is Facebook’s for the taking – at the beginning of this week they teased us and the press with the announcement of an Android event (which took place yesterday, 4th April). Everyone’s thoughts initially? Perhaps the Facebook phone Zuckerberg had finally succumbed to, or an operating system at least. ’Come see our New Home on Android’ was the only clue.
News In Degrees 28° March | Yahoo buys Summly | Oxford St vs. Westfield | Full Value of Mobile | YouTube 1bn | Google Glass | Free Desk Here
28 March 2013
Yahoo buys Summly
Probably the biggest tech news of this week, Yahoo – who has been at the centre of the ‘to work from home or to not work from home?’ debate recently – has seemingly struck gold by acquiring news reading app, Summly.
News In Degrees: 15° March | Samsung does Broadway | #Facebook | RIP Google Reader | Wide Web World
15 March 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 launch
Samsung have unveiled their new Galaxy S4 smartphone, nicknamed the ‘iPhone Killer’ (how subtle), which may just have Apple quaking in their boots. Samsung’s latest offering features eye tracking technology and is a follow up from last year’s device, the S3, which sold over 40 million units worldwide. Samsung are hoping to capture the market once more with a few clever features, including ‘Smart Pause’ – this enables the user to simply ‘look away’ from the device to pause video/streaming – and ‘Smart Scroll’, which ‘analyses’ the users eye and wrist motion to scroll through content. Clever stuff, huh?
News In Degrees: 8° March | Net-a-Porter goes international | Facebook Newsfeed | Evernote hack | Leapmotion Hologram Effect
8 March 2013
Net-a-Porter goes international
If you’re not familiar with luxury online retailer, Net-a-Porter, then you probably have a lot more control over your purse strings than the rest of us. Net-a-Porter houses the likes of Prada, Herve Leger and Alexander McQueen – all prestigious (and expensive) luxury fashion names – so that you can shop for luxury brands online.
News In Degrees: 1° March | LFW Update | Hotel Chocolat | Mobile World Congress | Google Chromebook Pixel | Instagram 100 million | Thermochromatic Ink
1 March 2013
LFW Ends
Take a deep breath, bloggers and fashion fanatics, London Fashion Week is over. But that doesn’t mean the hectic activities have to end – there’s still Paris Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week. LFW also extended it opening hours for London Fashion Weekend last weekend, so that us ‘consumers’ had the chance to have our own taste of the glamour that is the world of couture – did you go along?