Archive for January 2013
What role for Berlin in the European Startup Ecosystem? Community.
During Hy!Berlin last week, Milo Yiannopoulos, Editor in Chief at The Kernel, interviewed Carter Caterfield of Art.sy, a New York-based startup working on bringing art deals online. The interview, which played on the theme of the intersection of Art and Technology, was aptly placed in the Hamburger Bahnof, a museam of modern art in Berlin. […]
Government announces new members of the influential Conseil National du Numérique
Created under Nicolas Sarkozy, the CNN (Conseil National du Numérique, roughly the National Digital Council), was initially conceived as a body that would give advice and recommendations favoring the development of the internet sector in France. Seeing this initial remit as too limited in scope, the new government decided to broaden the mission of the […]
Bouygues is getting ClockBlocked from having an iPhone monopoly in France
In the weeks coming up to the iPhone5 launch last year after the new phone was announced, most of Europe was buzzing with one common problem – not one single carrier was running the correct frequency (1800MHz) in order to provide the iPhone with 4G. Most of the carriers had built 2600MHz & 800MHz frequencies […]
Why I’m in Berlin for a week (And Why no one is in Paris)
For the next seven days, I will be getting an unofficial crash course in the Berlin startup scene. I have been invited by hy!Berlin at their expense to come out to Berlin and see what it has to offer, and with DLD Munich just around the corner (I will not be attending) and The Europas […]
In the end, Free has opt-in (Google) ad blocker on FreeBox & Mobile
After what can be described as the world’s worst publicity move followed by an even worse reaction from the government, Free has relaunched their ad “filter,” allowing all mobile and fixed internet subscribers to opt-in to the ad blocker. Originally opt-out, the ad blocker launched weeks ago, much to the discontent of Net Neutrality advocates, […]
Orange announces Orange Horizons, their newest “exploratory” subsidiary
Most TelCo’s are feeling the hurt these days – job layoffs, margins being cut, new players taking market share – however, one giant has managed to navigate the stormy TelCo seas quite successfully this past year. This week Orange announced the creation of a new subsidiary, Orange Horizons, who’s job will be to actively seek […]
French Surveillance Tech Firm accused of enabling former Gaddafi regime’s torture squad
This week a French appeals court gave the green light to five Libyans, tortured under the Gadhafi regime, to take legal action against Amesys, a subsidiary of French Tech Firm Bull. Represented by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights(FIDH), the plaintiffs are accusing Amesys of providing Libya’s former regime with a “communication monitoring system […]
Hollande threatens to push for the Google Tax if press issue not resolved by the end of the month
French President Francois Hollande announced Monday that Google and the French press have until the end of January to resolve their proprietary issues before Hollande will push for legislation requiring Google to pay press for the snippets of text that appear in Google News. “It is normal that those who make a profit from you […]
French universities to offer 20% of courses online…in 5 years
Around the world, university-level online courses have become a standard part of higher education. What began in the States in the for-profit education space through online universities such as University of Phoenix and Walden Universities, has now expanded to the top universities in the world. Many top and second-level US universities started migrating several of […]
In-store smartphone activity growing rapidly in France
We’ve reported various times about the revolutionary impact that smartphones have had on France (here and here). comScore, has just published some research demonstrating that smartphones are now a key part of French consumers’ retail experience. Most interestingly for retailers, it appears that when they’re in a physical retail store, consumers use smartphones to help […]