Half an hour into their two-hour testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were asked about collaboration between social media companies. “Our collaboration has greatly increased,” Sandberg stated before turning to Dorsey and adding that Facebook has “always shared information with other companies.” Dorsey nodded […]
View More Hate speech, collusion, and the constitutionCategory: Snap
The top 10 startups from Y Combinator’s Demo Day S18 Day 2
Fifty-nine startups took the stage at Y Combinator’s Demo Day 2, and among the highlights were a company that helps developers manage in-app subscriptions; a service that lets you create animojis from real photos; and a surplus medical equipment-reselling platform. Oh… and there was also a company that’s developed an entirely new kind of life form […]
View More The top 10 startups from Y Combinator’s Demo Day S18 Day 2Openbook is the latest dream of a digital life beyond Facebook
As tech’s social giants wrestle with antisocial demons that appear to be both an emergent property of their platform power, and a consequence of specific leadership and values failures (evident as they publicly fail to enforce even the standards they claim to have), there are still people dreaming of a better way. Of social networking beyond outrage-fuelled […]
View More Openbook is the latest dream of a digital life beyond FacebookSnapchat launches its first speech recognition lenses
Snapchat is today launching new lenses that respond to voice commands. The company says it’s now rolling out a series of lenses that will animate when users speak simple, English words like “hi,” “love,” “yes,” “no,” and “wow,” as opposed to taking some other action – like opening their mouth or raising their eyebrows, as has […]
View More Snapchat launches its first speech recognition lensesTinder tests Bitmoji integration using the recently launched Snap Kit
Tinder will begin testing Bitmoji in its app in Canada and Mexico, the company announced today. The new integration comes courtesy of the recently launched Snap Kit, which allows third-party apps to take advantage of Snap’s login for sign-up and features, like its Snap Map and Bitmoji, among other things. In Tinder, users in the […]
View More Tinder tests Bitmoji integration using the recently launched Snap KitSnapchat debuts a library of selfie filters
Piece by piece Snap is trying to eek a developer platform out of Snapchat Lenses and give users something extra at the same time. Today, we’re seeing the most user-facing of these efforts as Snapchat debuts a new Lens Explorer section which will give the user base greater access to scouting out new face filters […]
View More Snapchat debuts a library of selfie filtersBenchmark’s Mitch Lasky will reportedly step down from Snap’s board of directors
Benchmark partner Mitch Lasky, who has served on Snap’s board of directors since December 2012, is not expected to stand for re-election to Snap’s board of directors and will thus be stepping down, according to a report by The Information. Early investors stepping down from the board of directors — or at least not seeking re-election […]
View More Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky will reportedly step down from Snap’s board of directorsSnap is reportedly about to launch its own gaming platform
Snap is seeking to explore new ground as it tries to outrun Instagram’s efforts to copy its features. Its newest effort may be building out a bonafide hub for gaming inside Snapchat according to a new report from The Information. The platform will launch later this year, the report says, and Snap is already signing […]
View More Snap is reportedly about to launch its own gaming platformFriendmoji are finally free from their Snapchat shackles
It’s been a big week for personalized emojis.
In the wake of Apple’s Memoji announcement on Monday, Bitmoji is making a huge change to its personalized avatar service, too.
The popular “Friendmoji” function in Snapchat that lets your Bitmoji av…
SeatGeek brings ticket buying into Snapchat
You can now buy game and concert tickets from teams and musicians within Snapchat, thanks to an integration with SeatGeek . While Snapchat has started testing e-commerce features in the past few months, SeatGeek says this is the first ticket-buying experience built into the Snapchat app. The Los Angeles Football Club was the first team […]
View More SeatGeek brings ticket buying into SnapchatSnap CEO Evan Spiegel says letter about ‘toxic’ culture was a wake-up call
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel spoke a bit about some of the cultural issues at the company, going public and competition with Facebook at Recode’s annual Code Conference this evening in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Earlier today, Cheddar reported how a former Snap engineer criticized the company for a “toxic” and “sexist” culture that is not […]
View More Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says letter about ‘toxic’ culture was a wake-up callSnap’s CFO is out and a veteran Amazon exec is taking his place
Snap Chief Financial Officer Drew Vollero is going to be leaving his post at the Snapchat parent company next week and will be replaced by Amazon VP of finance Tim Stone, according to financial documents filed with the SEC today. Vollero was the company’s first CFO and has presided over Snap finances since joining less […]
View More Snap’s CFO is out and a veteran Amazon exec is taking his place