Lego’s launched a “safe” social network for under-13s on a new app, called Lego Life.

Basically it’s a child-friendly Lego-themed Instagram.

It’ll let children post photos of their creations and comment on other people’s but with strict restrictions on what they can say.

Text comments aren’t allowed but users can either use prewritten responses or custom Lego emoji and stickers.

Although it’s aimed at children, who have to use a parent’s details to sign up, there is no restriction on adults also joining the network.

To keep kids safe, they won’t be asked for any personal information or photographs and the app doesn’t have tracking enabled.

Instead, avatars are Lego mini-figures and account names are random words.

The company says the app is heavily moderated through automated filters and e...

Applications for the Women Startup Competition are open now

Applications are open now for the Women Startup Competition, taking place in London in June and July.

The competition supports and celebrates female entrepreneurs and gender diverse startups. Finalists in the competition take part in a five-day training program to market proof their product as well as gain access to the competition’s extended network of PRs, VCs, incubators, and coworking spaces.

Ahead of the April 4 deadline for applications, the competition’s organisers are kicking off a six-date roadshow to reach out to female entrepreneurs around Europe that want to get involved.

Prague, Czech Republic – February 8; Kotka, Finland – February 14; Berlin, Germany – February 21; Vienna, Austria – March 1; Warsaw, Poland – Mar...

Rocket Internet Capital Partners fund closes at $1 billion

Rocket Internet has announced the closing of its $1 billion fund Rocket Internet Capital Partners [RICP] for investing in early stage and growth startups. This makes it the largest fund of its kind from Europe.

Investments will focus on software, e-commerce, fintech, marketplaces, and travel, according to Rocket Internet. The fund has been backed by a “diverse group of global investors, including financial institutions, pension funds, asset managers, foundations, and high net-worth individuals,” said the company in a statement. Goldman Sachs International was placement agent for the fund.

“RICP having reached the hard cap of USD 1...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has a brutal theory of how America went wrong over the past 30 years

DAVOS, Switzerland — Alibaba founder Jack Ma thinks America went wrong over the past 30 years by focusing too much on war and Wall Street. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Ma was asked about globalisation and the reaction to it represented by the election of Donald Trump as US president.

He responded that back when Thomas Friedman published “The World Is Flat” in 2005, globalisation looked like “a perfect strategy” for the US: “We just want the technology, and the IP, and the brand, and we’ll leave the other jobs” to other countries like Mexico and China, he said.

“American international companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalisation,” Ma said.

As an example ...

Google acquires Twitter’s Fabric mobile development platform

Over the past couple of years, Twitter has offered developers numerous services to help them build, test, deploy and maintain their apps as part of its modular Fabric platform. Now, the company is selling it off to Google.

The move is likely an attempt on Twitter’s part to slim down in troubling times. The good thing is that none of Fabric’s useful services – including Crashlytics for reporting crashes, Digits for user authentication, Answers app analytics and Nuance for speech recognition – are going away, as Google will continue to offer them to developers as they are.

The people behind Fabric will join Google’s Developer Products Group and work alongside the Firebase team...

Apple Watch stand turns your favorite wearable into a mini Macintosh

Christmas is over, but a $15 silicone smartwatch stand could still stuff your stockings if you’re one of millions of lazy people who have yet to take them down.

The Elago W3 stand looks like a miniature Macintosh and works with Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watches (both 38mm and 42mm versions). The simple device was designed to support Apple’s nightstand mode, allowing you to use it as an alarm clock on your bedside table by just slipping the watch bands into the dedicated slot. It looks like a legitimate (albeit tiny) Macintosh, and even comes equipped with the floppy drive cutout.

Samsung’s Gear VR and Googles Daydream have made tethered VR the norm for Android devices. Mobile VR devices like the Pico Neo CV that track users as they roam around a room, however, are something a bit more special.

Picos Neo CV is similar to devices like the HTC Vive in that it offers true untethered VR with six degrees of freedom. Though the Vive uses a pair of base stations to track movement, the Neo CV does not. Instead, it uses a front-facing fisheye camera and a series of gyroscopes to track the users relative position inside of a room, company executives said.

The Neo CV is actually a derivative of the Pico Neo, which used an associated Nintendo-like controller, rather than the users own body, to move about the room. That headset itself costs about $295.

The new head-mounted Neo ...

You Need to Market Like You’re Selling Cereal

When I was a kid, I would sit down at the breakfast table every morning to read the cereal box. There were jokes, mazes, quizzes, colourful pictures, cartoons, cut outs, give aways and anything/everything else a kid wants to look at.

I’d choose the brands of cereal I wanted to eat purely by the box. And I chose the box purely by the content and the branding. Because it spoke to me and appealed to me. They knew what I wanted.

They gave me what I wanted.

The folks who designed and wrote those boxes bridged the gap between entertaining and educating and selling more effectively than any marketers I’ve encountered since.

And that’s what your job is...