Adtile Raises $4.5M To Create A Marketplace For Interactive Mobile Ads

Adtile, a startup that says it’s bringing an “app store”-style approach to mobile ads, is announcing that it has raised $4.5 million in Series A funding.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the company’s Motion Ads format, which asks users to interact with their ads by shaking, turning, and otherwise playing with them. For example, a coffee shop ad could ask users to shake their phones, emptying a virtual coffee cup in the process, which then reveals a list of nearby stores.

More recently, founder and CEO Nils Forsblom gave me a demo of new editing tools that should make it easier to create these ads, and he said the company is working with customers in North America, South America and Europe. However, he acknowledged via email that building these ads, with the custom interactions they require, can still be an “extensive” process.

So this fall, the company will be launching the aforementioned store, where it will sell “pre-designed and pre-coded Adtile Motion ads,” allowing advertisers to just plug their own designs and media assets into an existing ad. As Forsblom wrote:



So in essence, it lets Adtile developers to create unique Motion Ad interactions, that can later be used by brands and agencies by just incorporating design and storytelling to the flow. So instead of spending a lot of money and time on developing new HTML5 sensor enabled ads, they can simply get them from the store. Adtile has created very specific human interface design and developer guidelines for quality and constraint purposes.

The funding follows the $2.7 million that Adtile raised last year under its old name, TenFarms. The company is not disclosing the investors.

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MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, A Next-Generation Email Platform

Founded by Dropbox and MIT alums, a new startup called Inbox is launching out of stealth today, hoping to power the next generation of email applications. Similar to the newly launched Gmail API, Inbox offers a more modern way to build apps that access end users’ inboxes. But instead of being limited to Gmail, it also works with Yahoo, Microsoft Exchange and others, the company says.

In addition, jabs the company’s website, “Inbox is an email company. Google is an advertising company. This product is our focus, and will not be ‘discontinued’ unexpectedly.” Burn!

Google made waves with the announcement of a new “Gmail API” at its Google I/O developer conference earlier this month, which offers developers who build email applications new tools to access messages, threads, labels and other parts of the Gmail inbox without requiring full inbox access. The idea is to reduce the reliance on older protocols, like IMAP, when apps don’t have to work as an email client, but are rather focusing on a specific feature set – like snoozing messages, or only sending emails on behalf of an end user, for example.

Similarly, the idea with Inbox is to offer an upgrade of sorts from the “archaic protocols and formats” that developers would otherwise have to learn today in order to work with email. However, it supports a wider range of developers, from those who only need a simple feature to those who want to build full-fledged email clients for end users.



The company was co-founded by MIT alums Michael Grinich, previously an engineer at Dropbox and designer Nest, and Christine Spang, an early Linux kernel engineer at Ksplice (acquired by Oracle). The core team at Inbox also includes several other MIT alums, plus those with experience from Google and Firebase, as well as two graduates from the Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems group at MIT CSAIL, which spun out Meraki (acquired by Cisco).

“I actually wrote my thesis at MIT on email tools, and discovered how difficult it was to add features to email apps,” explains Grinich of how Inbox came to be. “One big issue was the underlying plumbing – IMAP, MIME, character encodings, etc. – which is what Inbox fixes for developers.”


But the larger goal with Inbox is not just to offer a suite of developer tools, but to create a new email standard. That means, Grinich says, the company has to provide the fundamental infrastructure as an open source package.

“The sync engine is available for free on GitHub, and we welcome discussion and pull requests,” he says. Currently the open source sync engine works with Gmail and Yahoo mail, with plans to expand soon to all IMAP providers. Meanwhile, enterprise users on Microsoft Exchange can request access to the Inbox Developer program, which supports ActiveSync, and is now in private beta.

There are a handful of apps on Inbox already, including a few demos on GitHub using the Inbox SDKs (JavaScript or iOS). With the Inbox API, developers can access REST endpoints for retrieving, modifying and sending email, as well as building custom filters, accessing attachments, creating drafts and more. Grinich also points out that developers can build using the Inbox APIs for free without sending email data to a third-party.

Today, developers can download the Inbox engine, sync an account, and begin buildingon top of the platform in a local development environment. In the future, however, the company will release a hosted version of Inbox that will allow developers to create applications without needing to also scale their own infrastructures.

San Francisco-based Inbox is backed by Fuel Capital, SV Angel, CrunchFund (disclosure: TechCrunch’s founder also founded CrunchFund), Data Collective, Betaworks, and others, but funding details are not disclosed.

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Amazon Asks FAA For Permission To Test Its Delivery Drones

Amazon has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for exemption from rules barring it from testing drones in the United States.

The online shopping company made waves recently by showing off small unmanned aircraft that it claims will be able to deliver parcels to consumers in 30 minutes. The drone delivery service, called Prime Air, could greatly speed up Amazon’s delivery times, creating a competitive advantage for it over other digital marketplaces and lowering the time-threshold advantage that traditional stores still enjoy over their online competition.

Amazon’s plans are not small.

“One day, seeing Amazon Prime Air will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today, resulting in enormous benefits for consumers across the nation,” the company adds. It asks for the exemption so that it can be ready to launch its drones when the legal framework is in place for it to do so.

The drones, it claims, are on their eight and ninth generation, and can fly up to 50 miles per hour.

The FAA is currently testing drones at a number of locations in the United States, but has come under criticism that its work has been too slow thus far to meet set targets. If true, the FAA could in fact retard the growth of the drone industry, something that Amazon obviously thinks will be large.


Why is there foot-dragging about drones? There are rules in place that allow hobbyists to have fun, of course, but commercial use has been frowned on by the government for some time. You can understand their concerns: The FAA is tasked with keeping the skies safe. What happens when a drone accidentally flies into a commercial air pattern and takes out the cockpit window and a few hundred people. That’s a dire hypothetical, but you get the drift.

I’d love to lay wagers on what major technology company is the second into drone technology on Amazon’s scale. Microsoft probably has something in the lab. Google is more focused on cars, and Apple? Well, I don’t see that happening.

Also, when will the first drone-first e-commerce company launch to take on Amazon. And finally, how much venture capital money will be expended in whatever becomes the drone sector rat-race to become Big Drone.

Let’s hope it’s not the next clean tech.

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SO SAD: 21-Yr-Old Student Commits s*****e After Been Jilted By Lover

FRIENDS and family members of a 21-year-old student of Maritime Academy Oron, Effiong Otu are at a loss why he committed s*****e by hanging himself on a rope in his room on Thursday morning after he was jilted by his girl friend.

Ann, a family member told Vanguard that Effiong was found hanging in his room at Diamond Hill, a few minutes after he collected a rope from neighbours who became suspicious soon after he went inside his room with the rope wondering what he wanted to use it for.

According to the source, when his mother Grace Otu, a nurse at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital left the house at about 3pm on that fateful day, the young man borrowed a rope and killed himself.

According Ann: “The 10th of July was the 10th anniversary of his father’s death in a car accident and after the anniversary and everyone had left the house including his mother, he went to a neighbour and borrowed a rope which he took to his room and hung himself.”

Ann said: “The neighbours became suspicious of what he was doing in his room with the rope and decided to rush there but found the door to the room locked and before they could force the door open he had died.



She said before he hung himself, he called one of his friends, Adu on phone requesting him to tell his girl friend, Blessing who works with the UNICEM that she should now be happy that he has killed himself for her.

“Before his friend could rush to the house, the door had already been forced open by neighbours and Effiong’s body was hanging from the ceiling of the house”.

Ann stated that Effiong was an only son of the family and was given the late father’s name as a source of succor for the family but “he has again left us by this thoughtless action”

Perhaps to give an inkling of his planned action , Effiong had posted his face book page on the 6th of July the following message “It’s not about being engaged, married or in a relationship. It’s about being happy, safe, secured, relieved and feeling good. It’s about peaceful state of mind, it’s about sleeping at night without the fear of losing what you’ve got.

It’s being yourself and not someone else, it’s about feeling loved, happy, respected, understood, cared for and appreciated.! Goodnight my beautiful people!!

Efforts to speak with Hogan Bassey, the Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer did not yield any success as his phone was switched off. Effiong’s body has been removed and de[posited at the mortuary of the General Hospital, Calabar
sources; naijaloaded.com

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Drake and Chris Brown Put Aside Their Differences, In Studio Together For A New Song

Two years ago, Drake and Chris Brown’s rivalry over Rihanna came to a head with a fight at a night club in New York. Finally theyve decided to put aside their differences, they are in the studio together. A friend of Chris who tweeted the pic said the former rivals are making a song together.

To some fans of chris brown & drake its a surprise and people might as well be wondering what rihanna’s feelings would look like. lool.

when your ex’s became friends…

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TOO BAD: LASTMA Official Allegedly Beats Motorist To Convulsion [See Photo]

A LASTMA official by the name Asorona stopped a car he claimed had violated traffic rules, removed the man from the car and allegedly assaulted him around 7.30 am this morning on Tuesday July 08 in front of BRT yard at Ketu bus stop.

He and his colleagues also seized the man’s car. And before anyone knew what was happening, the young man fell down on the road into convulsion, shaking, according to eye witnesses, like an epileptic patient.

As the LASTMA official tried to leave the scene, he was surrounded by passersby who insisted he must stay there to see what happens to the man.

See more photos below:







- Sources;naijaloaded.com

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Boko Haram Attacks Put A Stop To Aid Work In North Cameroon

                                               Cameroon's Minister of Communication,

                                                             Issa Tchiroma Bakari

Aid and infrastructure projects in Cameroon's Far North region have been suspended due to high levels of insecurity caused by the Islamist group Boko Haram, reports AlertNet, a branch of the Thompson Reuters Foundation.

While the Boko Haram is based in northern Nigeria, the group’s impact is felt in a number of countries that border the region, including Cameroon.

With much relief and development work by the government and international organizations to help protect people from climate impacts now on hold, living conditions are becoming precarious for the Far North's impoverished population ahead of the rainy season in the coming months.

On a visit to the area last month, Cameroon's minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakari, said local people and the authorities are paying the cost of cross-border Boko Haram attacks and abductions, which have led to an atmosphere of fear and insecurity.

Boko Haram, which evolved from a clerical movement, is fighting for an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria. The insurgents' behavior - especially killing civilians and kidnapping girls - has provoked international condemnation.

The Cameroon government has increased its military presence in the region near the group's base in northern Nigeria, to protect people from Boko Haram's violence. Its activities in Cameroon are thought to be motivated by the prospect of financial gain from ransom demands, the minister said.

The group is thought to be behind the kidnappings of a French family, three foreign priests and a nun in the past 18 months, with Reuters having seen evidence that a ransom of over $3 million U.S. dollars was reportedly paid to Boko Haram to free the family of seven.

"The attacks and killing of innocent persons in the Far North region are a serious cause for concern. People can no longer go about their activities as before, while many development activities in the region have been temporarily halted for fear of being ambushed," Bakari said.

"This is really dangerous because we all know how vulnerable this region is, plagued with high malnutrition and poverty due to its extreme climate," he added.

Cherif Musa, a local council worker in Maroua, told Thomson Reuters Foundation people have become wary of staying out late due to the risk of attacks. Bars are shut after 9pm and gatherings after that time are banned, he added.

sources;sahara reporters

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