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Startup Watch: Google Duo, Dropbox IPO and squirting guns

Startup Watch: Google Duo, Dropbox IPO and squirting guns

The world of entrepreneurship news is a complex one, with people ever ready to give their two cents on how you should be running your business. Here’s our wrap of what we’re reading on f-f-f-failure, global trends, cyber security, digital drama, and a little something to lighten the end of the working week.

Will Dropbox become the first unicorn to go public? This is still only a rumor, but it seems that Dropbox is looking into the feasibility of a listing, getting a sense of the valuation the company could fetch from public market investors. CEO Drew Houston, had said that Dropbox had no plans to go public anytime soon. If two years isn't 'soon' enough, it seems Silicon Valley is going to apply its super fast timelines to IPOs too.

Knock knock, Google Duo here, another video calling app for you. This week Google rolled out a regular video calling product, with just one addition: allowing you to see who is calling you before you get to answer, a feature they called: ‘Knock Knock’. Obviously, Apple is blocking it. No surprise here. We abandoned Hangouts ages ago but we're not going to be leaving Skype for Knock Knock anytime soon.

Google Duo call sample. (Image via Google)

From us to you: building mode? you’ll find this very useful. A prototype should not be considered as a delay for the real product, but more as a product undertaking constant progress. Framer, Invision and Mockplus, are three tools (out of six listed on Nuwait) that will help you test the market need for your prototype without spending too much of your money.

Apple’s squirt gun emoji making some fuss. Apple has been offering a sneak peek at some of its emoji updates. Amongst them a new squirt gun. Cue protests. Why? Well, the politics of it all of course. For kids and adults, squirt guns are fun, so we're not quite sure about the reaction, nor why this campaign wants to persuade Apple from allowing anyone to send or receive a cartoon image of a handgun.

Old gun (left) vs new squirt gun.

Making the best of a child’s addiction. Parents assume iPads make their kids stupid. But how do you [parents] think developers build their passion and geeks become rich? It’s the early exposure to technology and then an often resulting addiction to all things tablet and on a screen. Merging fun with studies could be an option, but surely kids won’t like it, or will they?

Bitcoin is the future! Says yet another report. The World Economic Forum released a report last week predicting a better future for the Bitcoin currency in the global financial system. This isn't the first time we've heard this. Often used for all things nefarious, Bitcoin previously hadn't done a good job of convincing financial markets that it was good for anything more than purchasing drugs and other criminal activities. But have no fear, today blockchains are seen as a way to create transactions without using Bitcoins. So, the future of secure transactions? Or just a more secure black market?

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