Amazon debuts Maps API for Kindle Fire app developers [updated] Update: Nokia has confirmed that it has licensed its location platform for maps and geocoding to Amazon for its maps program. Amazon has opened a new Maps API so Kindle Fire app developers can ditch Google Maps and instead integrateAmazon’s mapping tech. “When we announced Kindle Fire HD, we also made the Amazon Maps API available to

Startups Parking Panda’s Parking Spot Rentals Service Launches In San Francisco And On iPhone Parking Panda, the startup that lets individuals rent out their unused parking spaces and allows garages to discount their lots during slow periods, is now available as a mobile application. The app currently supports a parking finder function in 25 cities, plus parking rentals in the service’s early mark

Venture Mobile Payment Juggernaut Square Closes $200M Series D From Starbucks, Citi, Rizvi Traverse At $3.25B Valuation Square has announced that it has finally closed its Series D round, totalling $200 million, with investors including Citi Ventures, Rizvi Traverse Management, and Starbucks Coffee Company. It values the mobile payments company started by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey at $3.25 billion, ac

Hardware Olympus Unveils Two New Micro Four Thirds PEN Cameras: The E-PL5 And E-PM2 This week is the annual Photokina conference in Cologne, and that means one thing: new cameras. Olympus today outed two of its new offerings, compact interchangeable lens cameras based around Micro Four Thirds sensors. The E-PM2 is Olympus’ smallerst and lightest PEN design, and aimed at entry-level users, while th

Just when you thought it was safe to ignore the app economy, we have the LIFX, a Kickstarter-funded lightbulb you control from your iOS or Android device. Why, you ask? Because it’s a lightbulb controlled via smartphone, that’s why. The product is just one day old on Kickstarter, and it already hit the $283,394 mark which means it’s definitely getting funded. The bulb itself costs $69. What does i

Fitbit just announced two new devices, the $99 One, a replacement for the Ultra pedometer, and the Zip, a $60 entry-level model that adds a bit of mirth to the Fitbit family. The One won’t be available until October but I carried Zip around for a week or so already and found it to be quite fun and capable. The Zip is a departure from the original “clothespin” style Ultra in that it can be removed

The Internet was abuzz with iPhone 5 news after Apple debuted its latest smartphone last week. Mashable brought you that story, as well as other tech and social media articles, while you were out of the office. Our team kept up-to-date on the biggest headlines, so don't worry if you missed a few. Read up on all the latest happenings in our Weekend Recap below. Editor's Picks Why You Don’t Need the

Donald Trump and his family business are set to stand trial in New York on Monday in a civil fraud case that could deal a major blow to the former U.S. president’s real estate empire. New York attorney general's fraud case against Donald TrumpAttacked by Trump, New York judge to weigh ex-president's fraud caseTrump's civil fraud trial in New York explained WorldcategoryKyiv brushes off US, Slovaki

Shazam, best known as a music-identification app, is venturing deeper into the social TV sphere Monday with the expansion of its Shazam for TV second-screen experience. Shows and advertisements have already been compatible with Shazam via partnerships -- notably the London Olympics and Super Bowl commercials -- but now Shazam works with all shows on 160 channels in the U.S. except for some local p

Millions Watch Online Video of Topshop London Fashion Week Show More than 2 million people from 100 countries watched online video of Topshop's Spring/Summer 2012 Unique show in the three hours after the fashion retailer live streamed it Sunday. The London Fashion Week show was broadcast on Topshop's website and Twitter page. It was also shown on large screens at its Oxford Circus flagship store i

Why The Hell Did I Save This? Annotary Adds Context To Your Bookmarks By Letting You Highlight Them Bookmarking things is one of those quiet, thoughtless interactions with content that probably peppers your days without you even being aware of it. Did you just discover an awesome recipe for tabbouleh? Cmd (or Ctrl) + D that thing. Does some newly-found bit of literary criticism seem tailor-made fo

The great thing about Hardware Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt is – apart from the fact that it seems to grow bigger at every event – is the sheer variety of companies exhibiting. There’s pretty much anything you can imagine, and only two feet can separate a robotics company from a mobile gadget. But it’s the opportunity investors look for I guess. Here’s a list of the companies featured in this break

Media & Entertainment Why It Doesn’t Matter That Apple’s iPhone 5 Doesn’t Have Global LTE, Or NFC For That Matter With all the new features in the iPhone 5, there have been a couple of standout omissions. Reuters, WSJ and others on Friday published articles about how last week’s iPhone 5 launch has put Europe in the slow lane and created winners and losers. Their reason: the device will not suppor

Your New, Social Calendar: UpTo Now Lets You Discover And Follow Events, From Sports To TV In March we wrote about the launch of UpTo, an iPhone app that attempts to build an event-based social network around your calendar using the iPhone calendar API. Whether you use Google Calendars, Outlook or Yahoo, UpTo goes for agnostic and works with whatever calendar you already have synced with your phon

Excuse the belated chortle here but it bears noting that Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, seems to have pushed the old maxim of a “new broom sweeps clean” all the way into the darkest recesses of Yahoo. To wit, consider the note the BI found from Mayer to her staff. We have a very exciting update to share with you today – we are announcing Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun! As of today, Yahoo is moving

Media & Entertainment Investors Are Salivating Over Zuckerberg’s Plans For Search. Here’s Why Facebook’s share price has rocketed up from $19.46 to $22.00 since Mark Zuckerberg talked at TechCrunch Disrupt Tuesday, and numerous sources in the investment community tell us it was his declaration that Facebook will tackle search that excited them most. Rather than incremental increases in revenue tha

Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here. [nggallery id=7563] Math is the foundation of all learning, from literature to music and everything in between. This week, we have Math Doodles and the Motion Math Hungry Gup

[brightcove video="1843936818001" /] Let's face it: There are a lot of videos on YouTube -- far too many for you to ever see them all. That's why we here at Mashable have created the viral video recap, to ensure that you can keep up to speed with the best of the past week. What's in store for you this week? Not surprisingly, cats. One purring soul music and another relaxedly sitting. We've also go

Facebook Users Judge Attractiveness Based on Others' Comments [STUDY] What's the first thing you look at when you make a new Facebook friend? Most likely, it's the comments on that person's profile picture, according to a new study from the University of Missouri. The comments your Facebook friends leave on your profile picture strongly affect your level of perceived physical, social and professio

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How to Protect Your Trade Secrets Internationally I recently discussed with a client what steps it should take to protect its trade secrets across the various countries where it manufactures products and conducts business. Although this client has been operating internationally for nearly a decade, it now faces the challenge of bringing its most valuable intellectual property into competitive, and

Editor’s note: Spencer Rascoff is CEO and a director of Zillow Inc. He previously co-founded Hotwire.com, which was sold to Expedia in 2003. Before his consumer Web career, Spencer was a private-equity investor at TPG Capital, and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and Allen & Company. Follow him on Twitter: @spencerrascoff. Following the closely watched Facebook IPO, there has b