Liz Gannes

Recent Posts by Liz Gannes

Facebook Acquires Interactive iPad Book Maker

Facebook has acquired Push Pop Press, the company behind iPad app “Our Choice,” based on a book by Al Gore.

Push Pop Press was founded by former Apple design prodigy Mike Matas, who demoed “Our Choice” at the TED conference this year to rave reviews.

But Facebook warned it does not plan to release digital books any time soon.

Statement from Facebook:

We’re thrilled to confirm that we’ve acquired Push Pop Press, a startup whose groundbreaking software changes the way people publish and consume digital content. We can’t wait for co-founders Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris to get started, and for some of the technology, ideas and inspiration behind Push Pop Press to become part of how millions of people connect and share with each other on Facebook.

Some background information on Push Pop press:
Push Pop Press created the software that powered the digital version of the book “Our Choice”
– Facebook isn’t planning to get into the digital book business, but some of the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook
– Push Pop Press was co-founded by Mike Matas, a user interface designer, and Kimon Tsinteris, a software engineer and architect
– Mike demoed the application at Ted in March: http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html
– For more on Mike and his work, see: http://www.mikematas.com/#!about and http://www.mikematas.com/#!2Rs/
– For more on Kimon and his work, see: http://kimtsi.com/

Photo credit: Mike Matas in Session 3: Mindblowing, on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at TED2011, in Long Beach, California. Credit: James Duncan Davidson/TED

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik