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Apple Hiring ‘Business Development Manager’ With Crypto Experience

Matt Milano
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Apple Hiring ‘Business Development Manager’ With Crypto Experience

A new job posting on Apple’s website indicates the company is looking to expand its Apple Pay services to include cryptocurrencies.

Apple has developed a strong portfolio of payment and finance services, with its Apple Card, Wallet and Apple Pay options. According to a new job posting, for a “Business Development Manager,” Apple may be looking expand those services to include cryptocurrency.

We are looking for a candidate who is comfortable with ambiguity, enjoys thinking about edge cases and asking “what is an alternative way of doing this”, and is a strong verbal and written communicator with a high level of integrity, energy, and sense of urgency to “make things happen”. 

Most telling was one of the listed Key Qualifications:

5+ years experience working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL, Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc..

As companies like PayPal and Visa increasingly support crypto, it’s not surprising Apple would be looking for a way to incorporate it in its financial apps.

How to Keep Your Search Engine Ranking During a Redesign

Staff
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How to Keep Your Search Engine Ranking During a Redesign

301 redirects are essential when you’re redesigning your website and don’t want to lose the search engine traffic that you currently enjoy.

The unfortunate thing about a 301 redirect is that it sounds so extremely geeky and off-putting to the average business owner that they’re scared away. That’s too bad, because it is a critical tool in search engine optimization. So, to that end, I’m going to attempt explain the benefits of 301s in the least geeky way possible.

Search Engines and Trust

There are a lot of variables in why one site ranks higher than another site at Google and other search engines. One is how long the site (and a given page) has been in existence, and another is how many incoming links a page has. All things being equal (which they never are), older pages rank higher than newer pages and pages with more inbound links rank higher than ones with fewer inbound links.

Breaking that Trust

Often, when rebuilding a site, you end up changing the URLs–or addresses–of your web pages.  Maybe it’s because you’re reorganizing your site, or maybe it’s because you’re redeveloping your site on a content management system like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. In either case, the new URLs don’t have the trust that the old URLs do, even if a lot of the content is the same.

It’s like moving to a new town. You may have been the greatest manager/plumber/accountant in your old town, but that doesn’t mean anything in the new town. You haven’t changed; you still have an excellent bedside manner or mad sales skills, but you’re starting from scratch in this new town.

When you take your established content, uproot it and replant it somewhere else on your site, you are resetting the clock on when that content was created and breaking all of the inbound links that pointed to it.

Reestablishing that Trust

There are many ways to tell the search engines that you’ve moved your content, but the most search engine friendly way is the 301 redirect. By setting up 301 redirects for your content, you show search engines where your content has moved from, and your inbound links will now direct to your new pages.

How you setup your 301s may depend on the type of host you have. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s time to talk to your web developer and get them involved.

If you want your web developer to create redirects for you, I recommend writing up a guide for him or her to show where the old pages should be redirected. Here’s a guide for you to use, where the first item is the old page and the second item is where you want the traffic to flow:

• old/old.html -> new/new.php
• van-halen/david-lee-roth.html -> van-halen/sammy-hagar.html
• wonka/gene-wilder.php ->wonka/johnny-depp.php

The easiest approach is to use a plugin like the WordPress Redirection plugin to setup 301 redirects.

If you do feel comfortable playing around with 301 redirects, .htaccess and other files on your server, there are plenty of resources online:

• How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect

• 301 Redirect – How to Create Redirects

• How to Set Up Redirects Using .htaccess

These are just a few of the top results.

Final Thoughts

301 redirects are also great when you are changing from one domain to another (never a great idea, but sometimes a necessary evil.) Even with a 301 redirect, you should expect a dip during a major overhaul of your website. However, my own experience has been that the numbers get back to normal in about a month or three and then you see increases after that.

Google Chrome Now Has More Than 3 Billion Users

Matt Milano
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Google Chrome Now Has More Than 3 Billion Users

Google Chrome has catapulted in popularity since its debut, and now has more than 3 billion users worldwide.

Internet Explorer was once the most popular browser, with Mozilla’s Firefox second. Once Google entered the fray with Chrome, the entire market was turned upside-down, and Chrome quickly become the most popular browser.

Recent research by AtlasVPN, however, puts Chromes market share at a whopping 3,258,256,887 users, or 41% of the population.

“The key reason for such browser popularity is the fact that it has been created by the tech giant Google,” writes AtlasVPN’s Anton P. “In addition, many people praise it for various customizable options and speed compared to other browsers.”

Safari comes in second, with 944,576,100 users, thanks largely to its base of iOS/iPadOS devices, as well as the Mac . Firefox comes in third place with 181,435,430 users. Microsoft Edge, Samsung Internet and Opera round out the top six with 171,327,607, 166,779,086 and 112,196,840 respectively.

Valve Preparing Nintendo Switch-Like Gaming Device

Matt Milano
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Valve Preparing Nintendo Switch-Like Gaming Device

Valve, the maker of the popular Steam gaming platform, is reportedly looking to release its own Switch-style gaming device.

Valve is a household name in gaming circles, thanks to its Steam platform. Steam is a popular cross-platform game distribution service that includes some of the most popular titles in existence.

The company is looking to expand beyond game distribution, with a foray into hardware, according to Ars Technica. The new device is code-named “SteamPal,” and appears to have a touchscreen and feature a wider profile than the Nintendo Switch. It’s believed the extra width will be used for an array of gaming controls.

There’s no concrete information on price, but Ars believes the device is built with Linux in mind. This will hopefully help keep the cost down, as Valve will be able to avoid the licensing fees associated with Windows.

While nothing is certain, it’s believed the device may make its debut later this year, as long as the supply chain and current semiconductor shortage can support it.

Vimeo Goes Public

Matt Milano
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Vimeo Goes Public

Vimeo has gone public, with today being its first day as a publicly traded company.

Vimeo parent IAC announced in December it was spinning the streaming platform off as a fully independent, public company. A month later, Vimeo raised $300 million, bringing its valuation to $5.7 billion, as it prepared to go public.

The day has finally arrived, with Vimeo now a public company.

“Today Vimeo was listed as a public company,” CEO Anjali Sud wrote on the company blog. “This has been a 16-year labor of love: sparked by a few inspired minds, nurtured by patient investors, and kindled by over a thousand passionate humans who have built, pivoted, innovated, and scaled. 

“We’ve gone through a lot of change over the years. But what has never changed is our belief in the power of video. We put creators first, and put the power of professional-quality video in the hands of millions. We built an innovative software platform, a wildly creative community, and a strong and resilient business. I don’t think I’ll ever feel more proud of a group of people as I do today.”

Sud sees a world of possibilities post-pandemic, including reimagining virtual events. As one of the leading video platforms, and YouTube’s main competitor, Vimeo seems well-positioned for future growth.

Google Officially (and Quietly) Launches Fuchsia OS

Matt Milano
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Google Officially (and Quietly) Launches Fuchsia OS

Google has released its third major operating system, Fuchsia OS, although most people probably missed it.

Google has been working on Fuchsia OS for several years. The OS is an all-new undertaking, built from the ground up, without being based on Linux, UNIX or any other OS. The company has been unusually secretive about the project, leading many to conclude it could bring together the company’s OS strategy, eventually replacing both Android and Chrome.

One of the factors in Fuchsia’s favor is Flutter, the programming language used for it. Because Flutter creates cross-platform apps, apps that are created now will be able to automatically run on any Fuchsia-powered devices once they debut.

It appears Google has finally released Fuchsia, although to an existing device, rather than an all-new device, or as part of a wider release. According to 9to5Google, Fuchsia has been rolled out to the first-generation Nest Hub, replacing the Linux-based OS the devices were previously running.

Google confirmed to 9to5Google there will not be any fundamental change in the device’s behavior. Nonetheless, Fuchsia running on a real-world device will give the company valuable input on how well the OS is functioning, and what improvements need to be made before a wider deployment.

China May Soon Ban Cryptocurrency Mining

Matt Milano
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0
China May Soon Ban Cryptocurrency Mining

China may be on the verge of completely banning cryptocurrency mining, a move that would be a serious blow to crypto.

It’s estimated that China accounts for 70% of the world’s crypto supply, and as much as 75% of Bitcoin mining. In spite of the country’s role in crypto’s rise, the Chinese government is increasingly cracking down on operations.

Last week, China began signaling it was cracking down on cryptocurrency, saying its volatility “seriously violate people’s asset safety.” The government now appears poised to crack down, not just on trading crypto, but on mining it as well, marking an escalation of Beijing’s anti-crypto rhetoric.

According to the South China Morning Post, the State Council’s Financial Stability and Development Committee issued a statement saying the government plans to “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behaviour, and resolutely prevent the transfer of individual risks to the society.”

The statement is a shot across the bow at the entire Chinese crypto mining industry, and could have profound repercussions.

“The wording of the statement did not leave much leeway for cryptocurrency mining,” said Li Yi, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences chief research fellow, according to South China Morning Post.

Needless to say, Bitcoin’s price was down on the news.

Author holds a very, very (almost infinitesimally) small amount of Bitcoin that in no way influenced this article.

Qualcomm Releases Next-Gen Snapdragon for Arm-Based PCs and Chromebooks

Matt Milano
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0
Qualcomm Releases Next-Gen Snapdragon for Arm-Based PCs and Chromebooks

Qualcomm has released the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 processor to help further Arm-based Windows PCs, as well as Chromebooks.

Apple upended the PC industry when it announced it would switch its Mac computers to its own custom silicon. Apple’s new M1 processors are the evolution of the same Arm-based chips Apple has used in iPhones and iPads for years. Shortly after the announcement, former Apple executive and Be, Inc. founder Jean-Louis Gassée predictedMicrosoft would be forced to follow suit, due to the advantages Arm’s architecture offers over Intel.

Qualcomm is working hard to help the Windows and Chromebook world embrace Arm-based chips with its new Snapdragon 7c Gen 2.

“Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 brings the leading innovations of our compute portfolio to the next generation of entry-tier and affordable devices. Laptops powered by this platform will redefine mobile computing for education users, first line workers, and everyday light consumers, enabling reliable and powerful devices that feature advanced AI, and support for multi-day battery life,” said Miguel Nunes, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are excited to bring this next generation upgrade to our entry level platform, for the very best mobile PC experiences.”

Qualcomm has simultaneously released Snapdragon Developer Kit, aimed at helping developers test their Windows 10 applications on the Arm-based chips.

“We have a proud history of creating helpful developer tools in coordination with Microsoft, and the Snapdragon Developer Kit is the latest outcome of that collaboration,” said Miguel Nunes, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “This developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point. We remain committed to helping developers address requests from customers, while reducing the overall cost of deployment.”

Google News Showcase Makes Its Way to the Desktop

Matt Milano
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0
Google News Showcase Makes Its Way to the Desktop

Google News Showcase has made its way to the desktop, continuing the company’s efforts to change how it interacts with news publishers.

Google News Showcase is the company’s platform that pays publishers to work with Google’s news products. The product has already been launched in the U.K., Australia, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Czechia and India, backed by a $1 billion fund. The platform was pivotal to Google smoothing things over with Australia when it passed legislation to force tech companies to pay for news.

The product has now moved beyond mobile and made its way to the desktop. Alex Cox, Product Manager, News made the announcement in a company blog post.

“Today, we’re announcing a few new features for News Showcase. First, we’re rolling out News Showcase for desktop users of Google News (via news.google.com/showcase). Now every user of Google News, regardless of what device they’re using, can see enhanced story panels from our News Showcase partners. This feature is available in the eight countries where we’ve currently launched News Showcase.”

Cox also reiterated the company’s commitment to supporting journalism.

“News Showcase is just one part of Google’s overall commitment to the news industry. We partner with news publishers through the Google News Initiative, offer innovative products like Subscribe with Google to help them earn sustainable revenue, and build tools like those in Journalist Studio to help make it simpler and more affordable to uncover and write stories. High-quality journalism is important to us, to our users and to society as a whole, and we’re dedicated to ensuring a positive future with our products and investments.”

Verizon Offering Free Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass

Matt Milano
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0
Verizon Offering Free Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass

Verizon is offering subscribers free Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass in its ongoing efforts to be the center of customers’ digital life.

Carriers are increasingly expanding beyond basics wireless service, offering promotions, complimentary services and partnerships. The goal is to help reduce churn — the rate at which customers switch carriers — by becoming entrenched in customers’ lives.

For example, T-Mobile offers T-Mobile Money banking service and T-Mobile Home Internet, as well as free Netflix. Meanwhile, some Verizon plans include free Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, as well as free Apple Music and Discovery+. 

Verizon is expanding its bundled services to include a free Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass plan.

Starting May 25, new and existing customers get six months of Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass, ($4.99/mo. value) on us with any unlimited plan or 12 months on us with “Play More” or “Get More” plans.

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