Facebook on Friday said it has agreed to buy popular GIF-making platform Giphy. The social networking giant said Giphy will join the company as part of the Instagram team. “By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct,” wrote Vishal …
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We’re all on the holodeck now, VR headset or not
We were late to a Houseparty with my mom, my sister, my niece and nephews. We were all going to talk and play trivia and Pictionary, or whatever the app calls it. We huddled in on the sofa, taking turns. The kids wanted Fortnite trivia, which I was terrible at. I liked the sketching game better. We played rounds of …
Read More »Senators demand Facebook detail how it fights non
For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Three Democratic senators have sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers to questions about what the social networking giant is doing to combat the spread on its platforms of misinformation and disinformation regarding the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory …
Read More »Food delivery apps say they’re saving restaurants. Instead they’re charging big fees
A couple weeks ago, Giuseppe Badalamenti, a restaurant consultant and owner of Chicago Pizza Boss, posted a Grubhub receipt from an anonymous restaurant he works with to Facebook. The restaurant earned about $1,043 from 46 orders through Grubhub — but after various fees and promotions, it only took home $377. The post went viral, with more than 6,000 shares on …
Read More »Facebook launches Bitmoji
Snapchat’s Bitmoji have been around for some time, and now Facebook has its own version of the virtual lookalikes. Facebook’s new Avatar feature, launching in the US on Wednesday, lets you create a mini version of yourself to use in stories, comments and on Facebook Messenger. The new avatar stickers will also soon be available to use in text posts …
Read More »The best free stuff while you’re stuck at home
For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. With schools, stores, restaurants and theaters closed — and “social distancing” a top contender for Merriam-Webster’s word of the year — we all need lots of ways to entertain ourselves. Since most of us still have a lot of time at home ahead …
Read More »France gives social media 1 hour to delete the worst illegal content
France followed in Germany’s footsteps by passing a law Wednesday to slap huge fines on social media companies that don’t remove illegal or harmful content within an hour of notification. The new rules, which go into effect July 1, mean that companies must remove the most problematic content — child abuse and terrorism-related content — within 60 minutes. For hate …
Read More »Apple buys NextVR, which broadcasts sports and music in virtual reality
Virtual reality got a little more real Thursday, with news that Apple bought the VR streaming sports company NextVR. The California startup is mostly known for partnerships with the NBA and Wimbledon to stream live sports from specialized cameras set up courtside to people’s headsets at home. The effect is meant to make people feel as though they’re sitting in premium seats, …
Read More »Amazon upgrades its Fire HD 8 tablet with USB
Back in October, Amazon updated its value-price 10-inch tablet, the Fire HD 10, and now its popular Fire HD 8 gets a similar update, adding a faster processor, 2GB of RAM (up from 1.5), USB-C charging and 32GB of storage in the base 8-inch model (up from 16GB). The new model is $90, or $10 more than the previous HD …
Read More »Why you should wait to buy Amazon’s new Fire HD 8 tablets
Amazon continues to make small but worthwhile improvements to the Fire Tablet lineup. Today, for example, the company announced two new Fire HD 8 models, adding a faster processor, more storage and USB-C to the mix. In fact, the Fire HD 8 Plus also supports wireless charging, a rarity among modern tablets. Although you can preorder the new Fire HD …
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