My Two Cents

Opinions at the Intersection of Business and Technology

  • Web3, Ransomware Attacks, Facebook and Apple Woes Defined Tech’s 2021

    Web3, Ransomware Attacks, Facebook and Apple Woes Defined Tech’s 2021

    With the dawn of a new year approaching, let’s look back at what’s changed in the world of tech over the past 12 months. In my role as the Senior Editor for Technology and Science at Flipboard, I’m always paying attention to emerging story trends impacting the industry. Since 2018, I’ve analyzed the headlines to…

  • Google Challenges Amazon’s Product Search Dominance With New Shopping Graph

    Google Challenges Amazon’s Product Search Dominance With New Shopping Graph

    Amid all the flurry of news Google announced at its 2021 I/O developer conference, one thing stood out to me: the launch of the Shopping Graph. The announcement may not be as glamorous as, say, Android 12, but its importance isn’t to be ignored. While Google is putting forth the full power of its search…

  • Square’s Online Store Opens up to Large Sellers With New Developer Tools

    Square’s Online Store Opens up to Large Sellers With New Developer Tools

    Square’s efforts to attract large sellers to its platform are gaining traction based on its latest quarterly earnings report. The company says that its mid-market sellers grew by 43 percent annually, twice its total Gross Payment Volume (GPV) growth. To further that momentum, Square is launching a developer API giving these merchants access to not…

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  • Qualcomm Writes 5G’s Next Chapter With New Chips, Previews Key CES Theme

    Qualcomm Writes 5G’s Next Chapter With New Chips, Previews Key CES Theme

    Like the “chicken-and-egg” metaphor, many are wondering when 5G will start to take off. Carriers such as T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T have added support to their respective networks but there are few phones currently 5G-enabled. And for those that can take advantage of the new speed, there are caveats—it’s anything but a perfect system…

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  • Introducing Filed

    Introducing Filed

    I’m a news junkie—I admit it—and spend countless hours at work, on my commute to and from, and even during my personal time scouring the internet looking for what’s going on in the world. Whether it’s tech-related, business, political, world, sports, or entertainment, I yearn to consume that knowledge. And I’m obsessed with sharing the…

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  • Facebook’s VR (Dys)topia

    Facebook’s VR (Dys)topia

    As I watched Facebook unveil the latest developments in virtual reality at last month’s Oculus Connect developer conference, there were two things going through my mind. First, there’s excitement in hearing about the latest game titles that’ll be available with Oculus VR, but it’s the second that has me the most concerned: the VR incarnation…

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  • Zendesk’s New Developer Platform Lets Brands Incorporate Customer Chat Support Into Apps

    Zendesk’s New Developer Platform Lets Brands Incorporate Customer Chat Support Into Apps

    “If you don’t reach them on channels where they communicate, you’ll lose them,” Mikkel Svane told me in an interview three years ago. It was at that time when Zendesk’s chief executive detailed how the customer service and support landscape was changing. “You have to embrace all the platforms, but you have to find out…

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  • Square Banks on Developer Platform to Woo Larger Sellers in March Upmarket

    Square Banks on Developer Platform to Woo Larger Sellers in March Upmarket

    “The journey is one of peaks and valleys,” Carl Perry remarked, describing in a cautiously optimistic tone the progress made with the developer program he manages at Square. For more than six years, the commerce company has gradually opened more of itself up to third-party developers in a bid to bring its experience to more…

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  • HiHello Tackles the Professional Networking Problem: What to Do With All Those Business Cards?

    HiHello Tackles the Professional Networking Problem: What to Do With All Those Business Cards?

    Recently, I’ve begun doing a bit of KonMari’ing in my home and eventually it led me to several boxes unnecessarily taking up space. In them were hundreds of business cards that have accrued over the years. Parsing through them, filtering out outdated cards, and trying to remember where I met people, I wished for a…

  • Facebook Touts Privacy Future, But Critics Question Sincerity

    Facebook Touts Privacy Future, But Critics Question Sincerity

    “Today we are going to talk about building a privacy-focused social platform,” said Mark Zuckerberg as he began his keynote address at this year’s F8 developer conference. Facebook’s soon-to-be 35-year old chief executive took the stage to introduce the world to what he hoped his creation could become, one that pressured its users to be…

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