TechCrunch
Google Exploring Location-Dependent Security Settings For Smartphone Unlock
Google has a patent application published today (via Engadget) that would make the standard system of unlocking a device much more intelligent, using a smartphone’s built-in sensor to change your security settings on a sliding basis depending on where the phone finds itself. This would allow a user to make it easier to unlock a phone while in the comfort of their own home, while making it more difficult when the device is in a public place.
The invention is clearly designed to make it harder for a stranger or unwanted intruder to access your phone and its data when it may be easily lifted from your pocket or bag while in transit or at a public location like a cafe. In the end it’s a convenience feature, more than a security one, since the most secure option would be to use the most intrusion-resistant method of screen locking available at all times. But making things easier to access at home makes a lot of sense, in terms of decreasing friction and potential displeasure with the general user experience.
The patent as described also contains a provision that would allow for a third authentication method to be set for a second so-called “familiar area.” This would allow for a number of different possibilities, like setting different levels of security for home, work and the rest of the world, for instance. It’s a handy and noteworthy wrinkle in the patent app, since it could also make it possible to essentially set up a specific security profile required in professions where on-site security of data and mobile devices is paramount.
There are a lot of ways this could potentially be useful, in fact, and it’s one of those context-based features that Google seems to be focusing on with Google Now and recent updates to apps like Keep. In the future, you have a different phone depending on where you go, and that’s something most of the tech giants seem to be working on.
Coffee Meets Bagel Takes Its Online Dating Service National With Its New iOS App
Coffee Meets Bagel, an online dating site that provides a friend-of-a-friend match every day, is now making matches nationwide. Launched in New York City in 2012, the startup is also today releasing its iOS app, which includes the same features as the free web service.
Co-founder Dawoon Kang says that with the new iOS app, Coffee Meets Bagel is looking for the happy medium between traditional subscription services and newer, casual dating apps. ”We want to deliver you a very good-quality match, one that you would expect from subscription services, but with the fun of mobile apps,” Kang says.
For those unfamiliar, Coffee Meets Bagel works like this: After signing up through Facebook, you can specify such information as religion, ethnicity, height and personal details about yourself, as well as what you look for in a date. At noon each day, you then receive one match, or “bagel” as the company calls them, that has some sort of connection to you. You then have a time limit to either “Pass” or “Like.” If two people mutually like each other, they are put in touch through a private company texting line. Kang says the one-match-a-day approach is meant to keep users from feeling overwhelmed and to keep them engaged.
The service is designed to be as gamified as possible. Users earn coffee beans in the app by inviting friends, filling out information or similar actions. They can then use beans to buy special features. Sixty-five beans reveals your match’s mutual friends, 265 lets you go back to a missed match and 500 beans gives you a score and ranking. Coffee Meets Bagel also sells coffee beans, which Kang tells me are bought by 3 to 5 percent of their users.
One notable feature was Coffee Meets Bagel’s partnership with local businesses in New York City and Boston to offer free gifts to use on a first date. However, Kang says the company abandoned this in other cities in favor of quicker expansion. After New York, the startup added Boston and San Francisco and, in March, expanded to Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Now they are releasing the service to everyone.
Coffee Meets Bagel could run into some initial issues in smaller cities with fewer users, and there might be days when the app is unable to provide a bagel. Kang tells me the service has mainly expanded through word-of-mouth, which means the user base is densely connected and leaves some outliers.
“As we grow, our member base is going to become a lot more diverse,” she says. “[We'll] have to refine the algorithm very quickly … to be able to deliver a personal, relevant match.”
While the company shares some similarities with other popular dating services, Kang says most services are usually at one end of the spectrum or the other. Sites like Match.com and eHarmony require browsing through strangers’ profiles, which can be very time-consuming. On the other hand, dating apps like Tinder are more geared towards quick matches and hookups.
Coffee Meets Bagel is more like Are You Interested or Hinge, which match users with people their friends might know. The difference with Coffee Meets Bagel is it slows the flood of matches, and is monetizing its free app by selling “coffee beans.”
Coffee Meets Bagel has raised $600,000 from Lightbank and has accumulated about 80,000 users. The startup has made more than 1.5 million matches, with 70 percent of members checking the service daily.
With $1.1M In Seed Funding, Mobile Commerce App Boxed Launches To Ship Wholesale Goods To Your Door
When it comes to getting good deals on staples, it’s hard to beat going to big club retailers like Sam’s Club or Costco or whatever other retailers there are where you can buy a 64-pack of bathroom tissue for a highly discounted rate. But you know, not everyone has one of those stores just a few miles away.
A new startup called Boxed, founded by former gaming execs from places like Zynga, hopes to change that, with a mobile app for having wholesale goods delivered to your door. The app launches today, and at first will solve this problem for users on the eastern half of the U.S. with free two-day shipping for orders of $75 or more.
The idea behind the app is to save customers time by shipping the same type of goods they would get at a warehouse club to customers directly to their doors. It accomplishes that by stocking its own warehouse with the most popular items that customers tend to buy at those retail outlets. Unlike Costco, which might have 4,000 or 5,000 items in its stores, Boxed keeps about 500 SKUs available for users in its own warehouse, according to CEO and co-founder Chieh Huang.
That’s right, its own warehouse. While a number of services — like eBay Now or Google Shopping Express are working to partner with retail outlets to provide low-priced same-day shipping, Boxed is taking the contrarian approach of actually holding inventory and fulfilling shipments from its own facility. After the failure of Web 1.0 stalwarts like Kozmo.com, that’s become a no-no for the new generation of local delivery startups.
That said, Boxed isn’t promising same-day delivery, or even next-day delivery. It’s shipping wholesale staples out via regular ground mail, with the expectation that goods will arrive at their destination within two-days of shipping. That’s one of the reasons that for now, the service is only available on the east coast.
By holding its own inventory and shipping in bulk, Boxed believes it can keep margins high and offer lower prices than what one could find online elsewhere. The free shipping on orders of $75 helps, but Boxed believes it can also save its customers time. That’s because the average warehouse club trip lasts more than 100 minutes on average, while an order from its mobile app can be placed in a fraction of that time.
Boxed was founded by former Zynga execs Huang, William Fong, Christopher Cheung, and Jared Yaman, who had joined the gaming company through the acquisition of their startup Astro Ape in 2011. Now the group is looking to switch from mobile gaming to mobile commerce, with the launch of the new app.
The startup has raised a seed round of $1.1 million from ENIAC Ventures, Social Starts, and Bessemer angel group 15 Angels. Former Zynga COO David Ko is also a Boxed investor and will lead the company’s board of advisors.
No comments:
Post a Comment