Vidooly acquires iCouchApp

Noida based video analytics startup, Vidooly has acquired over the top (OTT) content company iCouchApp, also from Noida, for an undisclosed amount. As part the deal, all the assets and intellectual property of iCouchApp, including its technology that powers mobile apps of TV giants like Zee TV and History TV18, will come into Vidooly fold.

The iCouchApp technology allows consumers to discover new videos, interact with TV shows and keep track of their favorite shows, at the same allowing media companies to create and maintain their own OTT app. iCouchApp was serving 1.5 Million monthly active users on its platform. The iCouchApp expertise in the OTT segment will allow Vidooly to provide actionable data across VOD (video on Demand) platforms and embrace the trend of mainstream TV going online.

Founded in November 2014, Vidooly had in June 2015 raised $1 Million from Silicon Valley based Bessemer Venture Partners. Vidooly has so far added over 5,000 individual YouTube channels and 15 multi-channel networks across the globe to its list of customers using its dashboard. Nearly 120,000 videos are uploaded every month through Vidooly network while its big data engine analysis over 500 million monthly video through its platform.

Pinterest acquires Kosei

Facebook knows who you were. Google knows what you want now. Now, Pinterest yearns to know what you want next, which is exactly why it acquired recommendation engine startup Kosei. For an undisclosed figure, Pinterest gets Kosei tech that understands 400 Million relationships between 30 Million products, and the majority of its 10-person team including its co-founders.

Kosei team will spend their first 90 days figuring out where to apply them across black ops spam deterrence, product discovery and recommendations, visual object recognition, ad click prediction for monetization, growth analytics, and building a machine learning system on spark for Pinterest data team. It can supercharge Pinterest existing graph to help brands reach people at the right moments and improve content for pinners.

Kosei products allowed customers to make better product recommendations on their sites, apps, and in ads. By looking at what user had browsed or purchased previously, Kosei machine-learning engine could compare that against commerce data sets, and predict what someone was most likely to want to buy next.

From improving the accuracy of its ad targeting to recommending better pins to appear on user’s home pages, machine learning is crucial to Pinterest future. While companies like Google get easy cues like search queries to determine what people want to see, Pinterest has to bet based on what it knows about people from their past behaviour. However, with the right machine learning algorithms, user next favorite recipe, watch, or, quote could be waiting on the Pinterest home page.

Microsoft to launch Windows 9

Finally, we may finally get a glimpse of Microsoft’s Windows 8 successor codenamed threshold next month. Allegedly called the Windows 9, the new platform is rumoured to be taking a U-turn, as it will bring back most of the familiar Windows attributes. The windows 9 are likely to come with a host of UI changes.

One of the most consistent rumours and a highly anticipated feature of Windows 9 is said to be return of Start Menu. Microsoft will launch some more windows app with some kernel changes. Microsoft also plans to remove its Charms bar. The right side overlay used to access search, share, settings, and so on. Microsoft also said to add virtual desktops feature to Windows 9 for enterprise and power customers. Apple OS X and many Linux distros already come with support for virtual desktops. Virtual desktops will allow users to create separate active desktops and switch between them from a button on the taskbar.

Another highly anticipated feature is the return of Shutdown on Start. The start screen could also be improved to boot straight into the desktop. The new improved Windows 9 OS will also bring along a more familiar task bar that is said to unify the old and new user interface. Microsoft will create a universal app store for Windows 9, Windows Phone and Xbox. People also expect Google apps feature in Windows 9 OS. Apps such as Google Hangouts, Google Maps, Gmail will be inbuilt, which may run in offline mode too.

People are expecting that they can play Xbox games on Windows 9. However, there is a problem in new OS and it is web itself. Microsoft continues to support IE 8 and 9, which require an unacceptable amount of hacking to render properly. Internet Explorer 11 is much better but developers have created some pages, which will not open or does not work properly. Microsoft will release the preview of Windows 9 on September 30 and will only reveal new features of OS.