Articles by Quinten Plummer

Facebook has been preparing to push personalized ads through its Messenger app, according to a report last week in TechCrunch The company will allow brands to send their own marketing materials through the popular chat app, suggests a leaked document apparently intended for Facebook's advertising partners....

Jana on Thursday announced it has raised US$57 million in Series C funding, enabling it to continue its plans to connect developing countries to the Web Verizon Ventures led the funding round, with backing from Spark Capital and Publicis Groupe....

Leap Motion on Tuesday introduced Orion -- a faster, more precise, more capable and more reliable hand tracking system than its predecessor. Orion is purpose built for virtual reality, and it represents a stark shift in how Leap Motion tech tracks hands and fingers, according to the company ...

Groupon's stock slipped a little on Wednesday, following Tuesday's dramatic 40 percent spike on the news thatAlibaba had purchased about a 5 percent stake in the company Alibaba last week disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had bought about 33 million shares of Groupon....

Google is developing a standalone virtual reality headset that will be several steps removed from Google's Cardboard VR, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Instead of relying on a user's smartphone and a lens-fitted cardboard headset, it will have all the necessary components built in It also won't have to rely on a PC or a console for pro...

Unity Technologies last week announced that the Unity Platform has been retooled to offer native support for SteamVR, the software foundation for Rift rival HTC Vive The move will save effort and resources, whether developers build made-for-VR titles or merely build virtual reality support into traditional games....

Amazon on Tuesday announced that it has widened its footprint in the game industry, complementing its development studio with the Lumberyard 3D game engine Based on core components ofCrytek's CryEngine, Lumberyard will support development for PCs and consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4). Amazon plans to add support for mobile devices and virtual r...

The Pirate Bay may be vying to become the world's largest streaming site. It recently began testing a plug-in that turns browsers into torrent-streaming clients Having returned from its latest exile, The Pirate Bay now is using the Torrents Time plugin to deliver an illegal answer to Netflix. With the plugin installed on a Mac or PC, users can clic...

LinkedIn last week lost about $11 billion in market valuation after it provided a 2016 revenue forecast that fell short of analysts' expectations The company's stock fell by as much as 44 percent Friday afternoon, with shares hitting a three-year-low of $108. The stock was trading slightly lower, around $107, by mid-day Monday....

Facebook celebrated its 12th birthday on Thursday by congratulating its users on how far they've carried the social network since it made its debut The company earlier this week held a more intimate celebration of its anniversary at its main campus in Menlo Park, California....

Fitbit on Wednesday unveiled a new fitness tracker that highlights muted colors and fashion-forward design elements. The Alta, priced at US$129, has a brushed, stainless steel body that supports interchangeable bands, so that it doesn't stand out for the wrong reasons....

Nintendo is looking into virtual reality, 20 years after its failed Virtual Boy console, suggest reports that surfaced Tuesday Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima reportedly described VR as "interesting technology" during an earnings call to discuss the company's Q3 financial report....

Windows 10 last month had more user share than Windows XP and Windows 8, according to data released byNetMarketShare It held 11.85 percent of the global OS market, though Windows 7 was still No. 1 with 52.47 percent....

Amazon has held licensing talks with music industry executives in connection with its goal to launch a rival toSpotify, Apple Music and other streaming music services, the New York Post reported Wednesday The company is targeting a fall rollout, according to the report....

Their fears confirmed, investors were bearish on Apple Wednesday, the day after the company reported its slowest-growth quarter ever. The company's shares closed the day at US$93.44, down 6.55 percent In its Q1 earnings report, Apple prepared investors for what may come next: its weakest quarter for iPhone sales in 13 years. Even worse is that the ...

Sony on Tuesday announced plans to merge its PlayStation operations in a new company to be headquartered in the U.S. Sony Interactive Entertainment will open for business on April 1, starting with US$2 million in operating capital The new California-based firm will merge the operations of Japan-based Sony Network Entertainment International and Son...

The rise of autonomous war machines is outpacing policies and technological countermeasures, weapons and robotics experts warned last week at theWorld Economic Forum Autonomous weaponry potentially is a US$20 billion industry that has taken root in 40 countries, saidBAE Systems Chairman Roger Carr....

Facebook on Thursday announced its new Sports Stadium -- built with no taxpayer dollars or city leases required About 650 million sports fans already make Facebook the world's largest stadium, the company reasoned....

SpaceX this week failed in its third attempt to land a rocket on an ocean platform The company has landed a reusable rocket successfully on land, but it has stepped up its efforts to land at sea....

Microsoft on Tuesday announced its acquisition of MinecraftEDU, one of the building blocks for its upcoming Minecraft: Education Edition MinecraftEDU, developed by Teacher Gaming, launched in 2011 as a version of Minecraft enhanced for the classroom.