Amazon, Apple and Google have banned the Parler social networking app from their services and app stores in the wake of Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. Parler has been rife with violent comments since before the attack on the Capitol, and Apple and Google say they’ll restore the app only …
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Twitter says its beta test of audio chat rooms is now live. The feature, called Spaces, will let users share audio clips in tweets and direct messages. Users will also be able to create their own rooms for others to join, and they’ll have control over who can speak in those spaces. It’s “a small experiment focused on the intimacy …
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Snapchat on Monday launched a new in-app feature called Spotlight to highlight videos on the messaging app. Spotlight positions Snapchat to compete with other social video apps and features like TikTok and Instagram Reels (which was also created to compete with TikTok). “We built Spotlight to be a place where anyone’s content can take center stage — without needing a public …
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Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE’s combination of solid specs, 5G connectivity and approachable price tag has earned it a CNET Editors’ Choice award for 2020. Its great balance of performance and value makes it a stronger value proposition than its pricey S20 Ultra or Note 20 Ultra siblings, but doesn’t force you to sacrifice the features you’ve come to expect from …
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Facebook said Thursday that it’s catching more hate speech before users report it, because of improvements to its artificial intelligence technology. From July to September, Facebook’s AI tools proactively detected 94.7% of the hate speech removed by the company, up from 80.5% in the same period last year, Facebook said. The social network attributed the uptick to improvement in its …
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Instagram is givings its Threads app a refresh with a new Status tab and a tabbed navigation system, the company said Thursday. Threads is a companion app for Instagram designed for messaging close friends and sharing photos, videos and Stories in a private setting. The app launched last year, following the death of Instagram’s other standalone messaging app, Direct. With the …
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Twitter, a social network known for 280-character messages, is giving users more ways to share their thoughts online including through ephemeral content and audio clips. The move is part of Twitter’s efforts to encourage more people to converse publicly online, a task that can be daunting to users who are worried others won’t like or share their tweets. “It is …
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Facebook-owned photo service Instagram is doubling down on short-form videos and online shopping. On Thursday, the social network said it’s adding two new tabs to Instagram’s home page to make it easier for users to find short-form videos known as Reels and products they might be interested in buying on the platform. The tabs will appear at the bottom of the …
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Facebook and its Instagram platform are taking another tip from Snapchat. On Thursday, Facebook said it’s rolling out a new way to send messages in both apps that automatically disappear once a chat session is closed. Called vanish mode, the feature will be available for some users in Facebook’s messaging service, Messenger, and in Instagram direct message for those who updated the app …
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Earlier this year, Instagram announced that you could send and receive direct messages from your computer while browsing your feed. It’s a welcome addition, and undoubtedly more convenient to use a full keyboard, but the social network is still missing a key feature: Officially supporting the ability to post photos from a Mac or PC. That’s all right, though, because there’s an …
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