WeChat Launches Its Mobile Payments And E-Commerce Program [Week Ahead In Tech]

WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app from Tencent, launched a service customers purchase items or services inside the app. It works for brick-and-mortar in-store payments and online purchases.

It looks as if Pinterest will soon experiment with advertising. The company is hiring a "front-end engineer" for ads: Here's the help-wanted notice: "As a front-end engineer working on ads, your mission is to enhance the Pinterest experience with ads that are tasteful, relevant, and informed by user feedback. You'll have the opportunity to be on the ground floor and help shape the systems and products that serve this mission. Our team deploys twice-daily and we believe our job isn't done until promoted content on Pinterest is at least as good as organic content."

Ono's IPO in Spain is going forward despite possible Vodafone takeover bid. The WSJ reports: "Shareholders of Spanish cable company Ono SA are moving ahead with plans to list shares in Madrid amid uncertainty about a possible takeover offer by Vodafone VOD.LN -2.77% PLC, people close to the situation said."

Dell takes a stake in Kobalt. The WSJ reports: "Michael Dell's private investment firm, MSD Capital, is taking a 9.9% stake in Kobalt, a 13-year-old company that says its advanced technology makes collecting royalties more efficient and lucrative for the songwriters the company represents. MSD paid about $25 million for the stake, according to Kobalt. MSD declined to comment on the price."

Facebook scheduled a developers conference for April.

Google will launch an Android software development kit for wearables. Google's SVP of Android and Chrome, Sundar Pichai: "We'll lay out a vision for developers as to how we'll see this market working."

In the markets, people are worried about inflation.

SXSW Interactive ends on March 11.

Steve Wozniak speaks at the CEBit conference on March 13.

The Game Developers Conference runs from March 17 through 21.

GigaOm's Structure Data conference runs from March 19 through March 20.

Facebook is looking to hire a revenue analyst for Instagram.

Twitter is looking to hire a director of security.

Amazon is looking to hire an economist.