Archive for January 2013
Free’s “declaration of war” AdBlocker to be “neutralized” today
As Minister of the Digital Economy Fleur Pellerin gets ready to meet with Free in response to what is now being called #AdGate, a source close to the the ISP has confirmed that the ad blocker, which we explained blocks primarily Google properties, will be “neutralized” in the next few days, l’Expansion reported this weekend. […]
Voiturelib becomes Drivy: International Plans for 2013?
Today Voiturelib announced they have changed their name to Drivy, and can now be found at Drivy.com. This doesn’t surprise me, given that the startup raised €2 Million from Index Ventures last summer, and there was no way Index would invest in a company that wasn’t going to go international. Drivy resonates more internationally than Voiturelib, […]
As SMS begins to die, InZAir is adding new dimensions to text messaging
We announced earlier this week that SMS has perhaps hit its peak, as other smartphone apps begin to rise; there’s no better app to talk about than InZAir, which launched last December its messaging application in order to add two new dimensions to text messaging: location & time. While group messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, […]
UXD4Startups announces 1st UX-dedicated event in Paris Jan. 15th
January 15th, the shared office space LeChaudron will be host to one of Paris’ first English-lange UX-oriented events – UXD4Startups. Organized by notable Paris UX Designer Olivier Desmoulin, Skimm UX/Product Designer Amine Bellakrid, & Skimm Visual Designer Christine Tong, the evening event will welcome 3 notable UX speakers. Sponsored by Fabernovel, dotCloud, and Stupeflix, the […]
Why did Free roll out an opt-out ad block? War with Google.
As the incident known as #Adgate rolled out yesterday afternoon, first noticed by PCInpact, it seemed that a new update to Internet Service Provider Free’s Freebox, which provides fixed line internet, tv, and telephone services (“Triple Play”) to households, had activated an opt-out ad block to all Freebox users. As the story unfolded and various […]
New Freebox update censors ads by default for 5.5M users
In a recent update to its land-line Internet box FreeBox, Free has activated by default an option in its settings to block ads on any device connected to the internet via the Box. Originally reported by FreeNews (and picked up by Numerama), it seems that people are generally in the dark about why such a […]
SNCF starts beta testing door-to-door service in Aix En Provence
Over the holidays, France’s largest train service SNCF quietly announced a new service, named porte à porte, which allows travelers to book not only their train ticket, but a taxi to and from the departure and arrival train station. The service takes into account expected delays, and assures passengers that taxi’s will wait in the case of […]
In France, NYE SMS sees decline as MMS and new platforms rise
Although sending a SMS is still the prefered way to say ‘Happy New Year’ in France, things are starting to change. According to early estimates published in Les Echos, at least 600 million SMS were sent in France as 2013 descended upon us. SFR alone logged 280 million between 21h on the 31st and 9h the […]
Berliners! Join us Jan. 23rd for an Intro to the Paris Startup Scene
I’m very excited to announce that Rude Baguette will be giving its second General Assembly class later this month in Berlin, entitled “a pétit dejeuner with the Rude Baguette.” Similar to the course I gave in London at the end of last year, I will giving an intro course to the Paris Startup Scene – everything […]
LeCamping Manager & EIR to launch TheFamily, an early-stage accelerator
According to LinkedIn, LeCamping‘s manager, Alice Zagury, and the most recent Entrepreneur in Residence Oussama Ammar, will not be joining LeCamping for another season, and have instead partnered up to launch TheFamily. Described as an “accelerator for early-stage startups to support them from [0] to [1] through education & unfair advantages,” TheFamily sounds quite similar to […]