While Apple’s products have become a must-have in the Russian political elite, some State Duma deputies are outraged with the executive office of the lower chamber for virtually forcing them to use iPads and iPhones for work. The Dumasoft application, released by the State Duma’s executive office to streamline the work of the deputies, can …
Since its official release on April 26, Samsung’s new smartphone, Galaxy S4, has been enjoying record-breaking sales in Russia. According to Mobile Research Group, in the first three days, over 15,000 handsets have been sold. “This is a record for a device in this price range. The iPhone 5 did considerably worse in the first …
According to the Mail.ru Group, Russian-speaking Internet users across the CIS (excluding Ukraine) spent a whopping 40.8 billion roubles ($1.3 billion) on online games. The amount factors in purchasing game time/subscription to games and acquiring artifacts, levels, etc. The figure has propelled the market to a position ahead of the film industry, which had total box …
Qiwi PLC, owner of Russia’s biggest instant-payment operator, announced that its shareholders were seeking to list 12 million Class B shares (U.S. $16–18 each) in the form of American depositary shares (ADS) on the NASDAQ in May. Overall, the company owns 52 million shares, so the placement of 12 million Class B shares accounts for the …
The California branch of the Russian Internet operator Yandex has developed a prototype software application that enables users to read news from social networks on their televisions. According to a company statement, users can manage the process by physically gesturing. Tatyana Komarova, a Yandex spokesperson, said that the experiment was a joint effort by Yandex Labs …
Yandex develops gesture-based newswire app for connected TV Read More
Around 58 percent of Americans with annual incomes of $25,000 or more are prepared to invest in early-stage startups, according to a U.S. crowdfunding industry study by EarlyIQ, Crowdfund Professional Association, and Crowdfund Capital Advisors. They are prepared to support two or three startups annually, by investing around $2,000 in each. Americans making in excess of $75,000 a …
Russian crowdfunding longs for legislation and trust Read More
While the number of bookstores and hardcopy books is shrinking in Russia, the market for electronic books is booming. Unfortunately, most e-books in Russia are illegally consumed through pirated downloads. The online project Read Legally – Russia’s first social campaign of this kind – aims to alert readers to the harm that illegal downloads do authors and to …
Ivan Kochetov remembers a conversation he had with a female colleague after a hard day at work about a year ago. “It would be so much easier if everyone kept their promises,” the annoyed girl complained. “It would save so much time and nerves!” Ivan’s busy mind started drawing pictures of people making and keeping …
PromiseUP: Russian startup teaches how to keep promises Read More
Russia’s largest social network, VKontakte – also known as VK.com – has appealed a court order to reimburse lost profits from a pop singer’s songs hosted on its website. This is one of many scandals involving VKontakte, which the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has accused of being one of the most important players in the audio piracy …
Moscow region entrepreneur Maxim Lagutin, 23, has come up with a powerful weapon against bureaucracy in Russia: his B-152 service independently processes and prepares companies’ personal data records of customers and staff for supervisory agencies. The service is offered for an annual fee of $250–1,600 and with an optional insurance policy. The service was named …
Moscow startup B-152 tackles personal data storage Read More
VKontakte got its first Hollywood star on board! According to the Huffington Post Tom Cruise announced he was joining the Russian social network on Friday from his Twitter page with a tweet that read: “Увидимся там!” (“See you there” in Russian). As of Monday 25, Tom’s profile had gained 63,000 followers, many of which commented in English …
Tom Cruise’s Vkontakte page attracts 63,000 followers in three days Read More
Russia’s Deputy Minister of Communications Mark Shmulevich spoke with Elena Shipilova of Russia Beyond The Headlines about how IT can become Russia’s leading non-resource sector in terms of export volumes, what to do in order to make the profession attractive among young people and what foreigners can learn from their Russian counterparts.
