Instagrammers sure do love popstars. And soccer, aka football. Instagram on Wednesday revealed its annual list of most popular accounts, with Selena Gomez at the top for the third year in a row. The singer and actress has 130 million followers, beating fellow singer Ariana Grande by about 15 million. Quickly climbing the ranks is …
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When Apple introduced iOS 11 in September, it boasted how new compression technology called HEVC shrinks your video files about 40 percent. On Tuesday, Firefox took a step to do even better. The latest Firefox test version, called Nightly, debuts compression technology called AV1 that Mozilla said makes video files 25 percent to 35 percent smaller than those compressed with …
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If you’re going through a difficult time, Facebook wants to help. Its artificial intelligence software can now use pattern recognition to scan Facebook posts and live videos for suicidal thoughts. Once the technology has identified a problem post through what the company calls proactive detection, it alerts a team of human moderators who specialize in dealing with suicide and self …
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Ask teenagers how many “streaks” they have going, and they’ll know exactly what you’re referring to. That’s how many people they’ve been Snapchatting back and forth with for consecutive days. It’s actually addicting, they’ll tell you. So much so, Facebook apparently wants in on the game. Facebook confirmed to Mashable on Wednesday that it’s testing out a feature similar to …
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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants the US government to stop “micromanaging the internet.” On Tuesday he introduced a proposal to repeal the controversial 2015 net neutrality rules that prevented broadband companies from blocking or slowing down access to websites or services. While many people agree with the basic principles of net neutrality, these specific rules have been a lightning rod …
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Apple on Tuesday removed Skype and a few other apps from its app store in China, after the country’s government told Apple the apps violated local laws, Reuters reported Tuesday. “We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voice over internet protocol apps do not comply with local law, therefore these apps have been …
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We’re entering a world of always-on broadcasting, on a ton of apps and platforms. Facebook’s had an app called Mentions that allowed verified users and organizations to create and track video streams and engagement in ways that felt like what YouTube offers. The app can now be in anyone’s hands, and it’s now called Creator: it’s on iOS now, and …
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At first glance, Brad Parscale might seem an odd choice to have run President Donald Trump’s social media campaign during the 2016 election. Parscale owned a web development and marketing agency before he joined up with Trump, which he thinks actually worked in his favor. “This was the first political campaign I ever worked on in my life,” Parscale said …
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VR took my breath away the first time I tried it. Literally. I was so terrified by a horror game I could barely breathe by the end of it. “This isn’t some gimmick,” I thought at the time. “This is the future.” It’s a sense of wonder Kanye West must feel when he listens to music by Kanye West. That …
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Mozilla on Tuesday released Firefox Quantum, and even if you long ago switched to Google Chrome, it’s worth giving the browser upgrade a spin. Why? First and foremost, version 57 of the open-source browser is faster, clocking in at twice the speed of Firefox 52 from March, according to the Speedometer 2.0 benchmark. Mozilla knows Chrome won many of us …
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