This week’s tech headlines saw a mega-roundup of April Fool’s Day tech pranks, Jay-Z’s new music streaming service and much more. These were our best stories of the week (3/28-4/3).
1. John Biggs writes that the slim, stylish and powerful Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is the smartphone to beat this season.
2. Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z relaunched the music streaming service Tidal, which will get first releases of tracks from big-name artists ahead of other digital streaming services. Josh Constine rants about why he thinks Tidal is doomed.
3. Web hosting company GoDaddy went public.
4. Guest writer Kiran Dhillon breaks down how Google, Facebook and other tech giants pay their H-1B employees.
5. Apple and IBM’s partnership that has the companies working together to produce enterprise-friendly apps has expanded yet again with the addition of eight more apps designed for iOS devices.
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6. Microsoft debuted Office Lens, a mobile document scanner app that works with OneNote, for iOS and Android smartphones.
7. Amazon launched Amazon Home Services, the marketplace for professional services including things like TV installation, house cleaning, waiting, plumbing, electrical work and more.
8. In “A Farewell To Jobs,” Jon Evans writes that it isn’t the sharing economy which undercuts workers’ pay, benefits, and rights, but an excess of supply relative to demand that has the ability to dehumanize our economy.
9. IBM outlined a major Internet of Things strategy with a series of announcements that included a $3B investment to establish an Internet of Things unit inside of Big Blue.
10. In “The Most Powerful Force In The Universe,” Danny Crichton writes about how Silicon Valley is facing some serious risks from the excesses of its success.
11. Facebook launched its new app Riff that lets friends add clips to collaborative videos.
12. Guest writer Ezra Galston sizes up Etsy’s S1 filing in an in-depth piece about the online marketplace business.
13. Matthew Lynley reported on why the Kleiner Perkins-Social+Capital deal fell apart.
14. Tinder unveiled its first ad in the form of a video promoting Budweiser’s next #Whatever, USA campaign.
15. Apple announced that Apple Watch pre-orders will officially begin at 12:01 a.m. PDT on April 10th. Apple also released a series of four videos that show exactly what the Apple Watch can do, how it will do it and why you might be interested in buying one.
