Articles by Rachelle Dragani

Sequoia Capital recently led a US$100 million round of funding for South Korean retailer Coupang, suggesting that the rapidly growing Korean e-commerce market is the hot new scene for investors looking to capitalize on a country full of mobile shoppers. Founded and run by the Korean-born, Harvard-educated Bon Kim, the site has grown to become Kore...

Among the highlights of Apple's WWDC announcements this week is iCloud Drive, a major update to its cloud storage system. iCloud Drive is a file-sharing and storage product optimized to sync across several platforms iCloud Drive is designed to be a central platform for users to share or access files across Apple devices, but it's also now compatibl...

Amazon is gearing up to launch a streaming music service this summer, taking on competitors like Pandora and Spotify, according to a report from Buzzfeed The streaming service would be part of Amazon's US$99 per year Prime service, which offers subscribers free two-day shipping on many items, video streaming and an e-book lending library....

Google this week unveiled a prototype that it will test on California roads to learn more about how to make safe and efficient autonomous cars a mainstream reality ...

Zappos is ditching conventional job posts to recruit its new hires, instead launching Zappos Insiders, an internal social network designed to simplify and improve the process. Job recruitment can be a vicious cycle on both ends, according to Zappos HR Manager Michael Bailen.

A group of scientists and engineers have their sights set on re-establishing communication with a long-abandoned satellite, and NASA has given them the thumbs up to pursue the mission. ...

Facebook is rolling out a new feature that encourages users to share their entertainment experiences on mobile devices. The new audio identifier uses the gadget's microphone to listen in on any content playing. When posting a status update, a Facebook user will see an audio icon moving on the screen, searching to identify a song, TV show or movie....

Pinterest on Tuesday revealed that it was rolling out an analytics tool for marketers designed to offer them more information on which content does well The new feature, Business Insights API, lets businesses track which of their boards, pins and products are attracting the most engaged users, as well as which ones aren't garnering clicks. In addit...

AT&T on Sunday announced it had agreed to acquire DirecTV in order to expand its consumer offerings across additional platforms and better compete in the ever-evolving telecom industry. The merger of the U.S.' second-largest wireless provider and second-largest pay-TV company would be worth about US$48.5 billion. With the inclusion of DirecTV's n...

AT&T on Sunday announced it had agreed to acquire DirecTV in order to expand its consumer offerings across additional platforms and better compete in the ever-evolving telecom industry. The merger of the U.S.' second-largest wireless provider and second-largest pay-TV company would be worth about US$48.5 billion. With the inclusion of DirecTV's n...

Twitter on Monday launched a new feature that allows users to mute others, giving people the power to silence fellow tweeters without having to unfollow them The feature is designed to give users more control over what pops up in their daily feeds. If someone mutes a follower, the muted user's tweets and retweets won't show up in the muter's feed, ...

Google last week acquired restaurant website builder Appetas, a move that could strengthen its relationships with small businesses and ratchet up competition with Yelp, which currently dominates the restaurant review scene. Appetas helps restaurants increase their online presence by building out professional websites that can be integrated with lo...

Google on Monday announced it is rolling out a new feature for Google Now that aims to blend the brick-and-mortar and online retail worlds Available now for Android phones, the feature notifies users when they're physically near a store that might have a recently searched-for item available. For instance, a person who searched on Google for a speci...

HBO and Amazon on Wednesday announced a content-sharing partnership that for the first time will allow viewers to see HBO shows on a different platform. Starting May 21, Amazon Prime Instant Video users will have access to some of HBO's hits that are now off the air, including The Sopranos, The Wire, Eastbound & Down, and Enlightened; mini-series ...

In honor of this year's Earth Day, celebrated Tuesday, Apple is showcasing its efforts to lessen its carbon footprint and become more environmentally sustainable as part of its 'Better' Campaign The company released new promotional material, including a video narrated by Tim Cook, that outlines its commitment to increasing energy efficiency in an e...

Twitter on Thursday announced new ways for advertisers to connect with targets both on and off the site, via products that it claimed could reach more than 1 billion unique mobile devices. The new ad offering is the first integration between Twitter and MoPub, the mobile advertising exchange that Twitter acquired last year. With the partnership, a...

Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, a drone maker that could help its efforts to improve Internet access worldwide. Facebook reportedly was interested in buying the company itself Titan makes high altitude drones that Google could use in a variety of ways as it works to increase Internet connectivity.

Dropbox on Wednesday unveiled Carousel, a new app designed to function as a storage space for users' photos and videos The Carousel app allows Dropbox users to organize, share and save photos from their Android or iOS phone as well as from Dropbox. Photos are sorted by event to allow for easy access to the files, and the app automatically backs up ...

The Micro is the latest consumer-targeted 3D printer to generate buzz after flying past its US$50,000 Kickstarter goal this week It took only 11 minutes for the printer to reach its goal. As of mid-day Wednesday, the Micro had brought in more than $1.8 million from more than 6,400 backers....

Microsoft on Wednesday introduced Windows Phone 8.1, the latest refresh to its mobile operating system. The update includes a personal digital assistant named "Cortana," based on the popular AI character in the video game Halo. Cortana is the Windows Phone 8.1 counterpart to Apple's Siri or Google's much less personal Now. Users can access Cortana...