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Social Browser Rockmelt Launches an Android App

Mike Isaac in Social on June 19 at 8:02 am PT

Rockmelt, the startup that aims to reinvent the Web browser with a social focus, launched an Android application on Wednesday morning. Unlike the company’s existing iPad and iPhone apps, Rockmelt’s new Android app has been reconfigured to fit the many screen sizes that Android devices come in. Rockmelt also made updates to the navigation user interface, vertical and horizontal viewing modes, and added place-saving “elevator buttons” for easier browsing. The new Rockmelt apps host more than 1.1 million users to date.

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Twitter Backs Google, Says Facebook Made Mistake in Data Disclosure Deal With Feds

Mike Isaac in News on June 14 at 10:11 pm PT

After Facebook came to an agreement with the Federal government in which the social giant could disclose information request numbers to the public, Google said Facebook’s deal wasn’t enough, condemning Facebook for agreeing to publish the data in aggregate. Twitter legal director Ben Lee chimed in shortly thereafter, siding with Google: “We agree with @Google: It’s important to be able to publish numbers of national security requests — including FISA disclosures — separately,” he said in a tweet on Friday evening. The back and forth comes in the wake of a week of intense scrutiny of the NSA and tech companies, after whistleblower Edward Snowden released a series of potentially damning documents suggesting a data-sharing relationship between the Feds and a number of Valley giants.

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Twitter Touts #FollowMe, a Remixed Music Video of the Way You Tweet

Mike Isaac in Social on June 13 at 10:18 am PT

Twitter on Thursday released a new feature, #FollowMe, in partnership with data visualization company Vizify, which lets users create short, remixed highlight reels about themselves based on the way they use Twitter. It’s cutesy, but it shows off interesting stats like the words you tweet the most, as well as the times of day you’re most active on Twitter, all set to the backdrop of the photos and Vine videos you tweet (plus music, too). It’s likely a simple, visual appeal to mainstream consumers who aren’t quite sure what to make of Twitter.

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Twitter Principal Designer Josh Brewer to Depart

Mike Isaac in Social on June 12 at 2:04 pm PT

Josh Brewer, principle designer at Twitter for nearly three years, announced Wednesday he will soon leave the company to “pursue his own thing.” Brewer worked on a number of key initiatives during his years on Twitter’s design team (led most recently by Mike Davidson), where he focused primarily on product, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Dataminr Closes $30 Million Round

Mike Isaac in Social on June 12 at 9:02 am PT

Dataminr, one of the more noteworthy startups to comb through and analyze Twitter data, raised $30 million in its third venture round, the company announced. The round, led by Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners, brings Dataminr’s total funds raised to $46.5 million. Dataminr scans the hundreds of millions of tweets sent daily, using algorithms to pinpoint new, noteworthy and otherwise important tweets from influential sources. The company services clients ranging from finance firms on Wall Street to government agencies, among others.