BlinkMail Brings A Mailbox-Like Email Triage Experience To Mac Users

A new application called BlinkMail, launching into beta today, offers Mac users a different way to manage their email inbox from their desktop. Though competing in the same general space as other OS X mail clients like Sparrow or Airmail, what makes BlinkMail interesting is that its main focus is on email triage. Its user interface is inspired by gesture-based mobile apps like Mailbox, letting you quickly move through your message list by taking decisive actions, like archive, delete, reply or even send to Evernote or Dropbox, for example.

BlinkMail is the latest product from Moscow’s YaM Labs, a SaaS solution provider and maker of tools for more efficient meetings and email add-ons like Powerbot. The 10-person team is headed by Anatoly Gaverdovsky, a Russian entrepreneur and former CEO of VDI (EPAM) and CTO Pavel Yakhitov, previously of Mail.ru. The startup is backed by $2 million in funding from Foresight Ventures and other investors.

Like its earlier tools, BlinkMail’s overall goal is one involving increased efficiency. After installing the email client, you can customize your Mac’s arrow keys as you like, setting one as the delete or archive action, another for replies, one for adding a label, another for sending the message to a cloud storage service, and so on.

BlinkMail today integrates with Dropbox, Evernote, Things, and OmniFocus for saving emails and notes, while also letting users quickly accept or decline event invitations from its main interface.

Its keyboard shortcuts enable users to get through as many as 100 emails in about 200 seconds, the company claims.

BlinkMail is a free download (for Mac OS X 10.9 and above), but a premium version for $19.99 is on the horizon, which will include support for multiple accounts, reminders and the Evernote integration. iPhone and Windows applications are also in the works, the company says.

Personally, I’m unsure that our desktop-based email clients should try to exactly mirror our mobile experiences – after all, the reason why standalone triage apps for smartphones took off is because full email management solutions aren’t really available (yet) for the smaller screen. Better to do lightweight tasks, like email clean-out, for example, and leave the more complicated emails and appointment-setting for when we’re back at our desktops or laptops.

That being said, my perspective on email comes from having spent years in corporate environments using Outlook, and later on moving to cloud-based — and fairly robust — solutions like Gmail and Google Apps. A new generation of users, however, is growing up mobile-first, where tablets like the iPad are their first computers. For these users, desktop apps that more closely resemble their mobile counterparts may be preferred.

At the very least, for either group, BlinkMail could serve as a complementary app to your preferred, default email experience.

The beta version of BlinkMail is available for Mac users here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

View the original article here

With 5M Users Already On Board, Tynker Goes Mobile To Help Kids Learn To Code On The iPad

Historically, the U.S. educational system has struggled to get young people excited by and involved with STEM-related fields, especially computer science, which has actually seen a steady decline in participation over the last two decades, according to Time Magazine. Luckily, the winds of reform have begun to sweep into education, and parents, educators and even Uncle Sam have begun to pressure on schools to give computer science and engineering concepts a place in their curricula and introduce them in early education.

What’s more, a new generation of startups and app makers have begun to take up the mantle and are working to inspire younguns to take interest in technology and develop their programming skills. One of the most popular apps in this emerging category is Tynker, developed by a Silicon Valley-based education startup of the same name, which aims to make programming and engineering more accessible (and fun) for kids, regardless of prior experience.

Inspired by Scratch, a programming language and free coding education website for kids developed by MIT, Tynker makes use of Javascript, HTML5 and other open web standards to educate children of all ages on the basic thought processes behind lines of code. The product of serial entrepreneurs Srinivas Mandyam, Kelvin Chong and Krishna Vedati, Tynker got its start back in 2012, but has been grown quickly since.

Today, the startup’s learning platform is used by more than 8,000 schools and has helped over six million kids start programming. To support this early growth, Tynker raised $3.25 million in seed funding last year from venture firms like NEA, Felicis Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, GSV Advisors and 500 Startups, as well as a litany of angel investors.

Designed for both in-class and at-home learning, Tynker allows both teachers and parents to enroll their children via its website, enabling students to access its catalog of web-based lessons and learning content, which ranges from games and exercises to interactive tutorials to quizzes. To encourage engagement, Tynker has worked to create a fun, game-like environment around computer science education by allowing kids to learn via self-paced lessons, interactive videos and guided tutorials, for example.

Tynker makes its courses available for free for schools, while parents can purchase lessons for between $30 and $50, which includes those guided tutorials and exercises, and gives kids the ability to access different levels and earn badges as they progress. Up until now, the main point of access for Tynker’s learning content has been through its website. But over the past year, the team has been working to bring its platform to mobile devices, and this week the company finally announced the launch of its first iPad app.

The app, which is now live and has been featured by Apple, is designed to extend Tynker’s visual programming experience with a tablet-optimized, immersive gaming experience that allows kids to continue learning on the go and while in “airplane mode.” The company says that the intention is for its new app to expose its platform to a wider range of ages — making it accessible to kids as young as first grade — while making it easier for schools to roll out the platform to a wider audience and age range.

The iPad app includes story-based puzzles and games with titles like “Puppy Adventure,” “Lost in Space,” and “Sketch Racer,” which the company says are intended to introduce programming concepts like sequencing, repetition and conditional logic in a fun, interactive and game-ified way. Using the iPad’s touch interface, students drag and drop visual blocks to build a program, solving visual code blocks as they go to achieve their goal, like using logic and “loop variations” to help a lost puppy find his way home.

At launch, Tynker’s iPad app includes more than 130 puzzles, which aim to help kids understand how to recognize patterns, develop algorithmic thinking and computer drawing skills, debug programs and how to break down a problem into smaller, sequential steps.

Both Lost In Space and Sketch Racer are available at $1.99 and $2.99, respectively, which includes an additional 120 levels and concepts. And, going forward, the startup says that it will begin making additional “adventures” available for purchase within the app, allowing students who are farther along in the learning path to access more advanced puzzles and learning concepts.

For more, find Tynker at home here and on the App Store here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

View the original article here

With 5M Users Already On Board, Tynker Goes Mobile To Help Kids Learn To Code On The iPad

Historically, the U.S. educational system has struggled to get young people excited by and involved with STEM-related fields, especially computer science, which has actually seen a steady decline in participation over the last two decades, according to Time Magazine. Luckily, the winds of reform have begun to sweep into education, and parents, educators and even Uncle Sam have begun to pressure on schools to give computer science and engineering concepts a place in their curricula and introduce them in early education.

What’s more, a new generation of startups and app makers have begun to take up the mantle and are working to inspire younguns to take interest in technology and develop their programming skills. One of the most popular apps in this emerging category is Tynker, developed by a Silicon Valley-based education startup of the same name, which aims to make programming and engineering more accessible (and fun) for kids, regardless of prior experience.

Inspired by Scratch, a programming language and free coding education website for kids developed by MIT, Tynker makes use of Javascript, HTML5 and other open web standards to educate children of all ages on the basic thought processes behind lines of code. The product of serial entrepreneurs Srinivas Mandyam, Kelvin Chong and Krishna Vedati, Tynker got its start back in 2012, but has been grown quickly since.

Today, the startup’s learning platform is used by more than 8,000 schools and has helped over six million kids start programming. To support this early growth, Tynker raised $3.25 million in seed funding last year from venture firms like NEA, Felicis Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, GSV Advisors and 500 Startups, as well as a litany of angel investors.

Designed for both in-class and at-home learning, Tynker allows both teachers and parents to enroll their children via its website, enabling students to access its catalog of web-based lessons and learning content, which ranges from games and exercises to interactive tutorials to quizzes. To encourage engagement, Tynker has worked to create a fun, game-like environment around computer science education by allowing kids to learn via self-paced lessons, interactive videos and guided tutorials, for example.

Tynker makes its courses available for free for schools, while parents can purchase lessons for between $30 and $50, which includes those guided tutorials and exercises, and gives kids the ability to access different levels and earn badges as they progress. Up until now, the main point of access for Tynker’s learning content has been through its website. But over the past year, the team has been working to bring its platform to mobile devices, and this week the company finally announced the launch of its first iPad app.

The app, which is now live and has been featured by Apple, is designed to extend Tynker’s visual programming experience with a tablet-optimized, immersive gaming experience that allows kids to continue learning on the go and while in “airplane mode.” The company says that the intention is for its new app to expose its platform to a wider range of ages — making it accessible to kids as young as first grade — while making it easier for schools to roll out the platform to a wider audience and age range.

The iPad app includes story-based puzzles and games with titles like “Puppy Adventure,” “Lost in Space,” and “Sketch Racer,” which the company says are intended to introduce programming concepts like sequencing, repetition and conditional logic in a fun, interactive and game-ified way. Using the iPad’s touch interface, students drag and drop visual blocks to build a program, solving visual code blocks as they go to achieve their goal, like using logic and “loop variations” to help a lost puppy find his way home.

At launch, Tynker’s iPad app includes more than 130 puzzles, which aim to help kids understand how to recognize patterns, develop algorithmic thinking and computer drawing skills, debug programs and how to break down a problem into smaller, sequential steps.

Both Lost In Space and Sketch Racer are available at $1.99 and $2.99, respectively, which includes an additional 120 levels and concepts. And, going forward, the startup says that it will begin making additional “adventures” available for purchase within the app, allowing students who are farther along in the learning path to access more advanced puzzles and learning concepts.

For more, find Tynker at home here and on the App Store here.

View the original article here

Fresh From IPO, Wix Acquires Israeli Startup Appixia To Bring Native Mobile Commerce Support To 42M Users

Wix emerged in 2006 as part of a new generation of startups on a mission to do for website creation what Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr have done for bloggers and content creators. Riding the increasing demand for easy-to-use, DIY website builders, Wix is now one of the largest platforms of its kind on the Web, along with Weebly and SquareSpace. With over 40 million people now using its free web design tools, in November, Wix debuted on the Nasdaq as part of an IPO that valued the company at just under $800 million — representing the largest public offering for an Israeli company to date.

Today, in its first big move since going public, the Tel Aviv-based company announced that it is acquiring Appixia, a fellow Israeli startup which has developed a platform that aims to make it easy for retailers to take their stores mobile and build their own native “mCommerce” apps.

A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program in Tel Aviv, Appixia’s platform aims to make it easy for small mom-and-pop to medium-sized retailers to quickly add a mobile storefront to their existing eCommerce marketplaces. To do that, the startup’s platform supports a range of platforms, like Magento, Prestashop, Zen Cart, Shopify and eBay, automatically syncing with existing, live stores and backend systems so that merchants don’t have to manage their mobile presence separately from their online stores.

Like Wix for mobile, Appixia allows retailers to build HTML5-compatible mobile websites and native apps for iOS and Android without requiring any previous coding skills or knowledge of programming. However, the one place where Appixia differs from Wix: Whereas Wix allows anyone to build a website from scratch, Appixia currently doesn’t support retailers who don’t have an existing eCommerce store.

That said, Wix already offers a wide range of eCommerce features for those looking to quickly build eCommerce stores and automatically creates a mobile-optimized version of the sites its users create. Thus, the acquisition of Appixia allows Wix to extend its current eCommerce and mobilization functionality, giving users the ability to create an online store and then quickly add a mobile-optimized version of their store, along with native apps.

The acquisition is a strategic move in a larger sense, in that both companies offer code-free solutions that make complex and costly development processes simple and accessible, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Appixia also provides a complement to Wix’s current mobile adaptive solution, which has been growing fast since launching in October.

As part of its announcement today, the company said that users are now creating over 30K mobile sites every day and that 1.6 million mobile websites were created on its platform by the end of 2013. By integrating the startup’s technology, Wix will be able to add the kind of extended mobile functionality and features that have been missing from its platform, like support for push notifications, barcode scanning, location-based services (GPS), credit card scanning, Facebook and Twitter integration and so on.

As to the terms of the deal, while the company declined to share the price, Wix Director of Communications Eric Mason said that this was primarily a talent and technology deal and that the company does not expect the acquisition to have an impact on its non-GAAP operating results. However, the company does expect to “fully integrate” Appixia’s technology into its platform and that one of the startup’s co-founders, Tal Kol, will be leading the integration effort.

Mason also said that “time to market” was also an important factor in the acquisition, since the technology is already built, acquiring Appixia allows Wix to extend mobile support in “significantly less time” than if it had developed the technology in-house. For Appixia, which was apparently in the midst of its first funding round when it began discussions with Wix, co-founder and CEO Yigael Berger said that the team decided that the existing synergies and opportunity to reach 40 million-plus were too appealing to pass up.

For more, find Appixia at home here.

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