Who decides who’s cool? Snapchat refuses to recommend accounts for fear of feeling heavy-handed. Maybe it learned from Twitter, whose old one-size-fits-none suggested user list immediately made it noisy, impersonal and ruled by an oligarchy. But Instagram is betting that algorithmically personalized suggestions could make its new ephemeral slideshow Stories feature addictive… even… Read MoreLegit Coder
Who decides who’s cool? Snapchat refuses to recommend accounts for fear of feeling heavy-handed. Maybe it learned from Twitter, whose old one-size-fits-none suggested user list immediately made it noisy, impersonal and ruled by an oligarchy. But Instagram is betting that algorithmically personalized suggestions could make its new ephemeral slideshow Stories feature addictive… even… Read More Who decides who’s cool? Snapchat refuses to recommend accounts for fear of feeling heavy-handed. Maybe it learned from Twitter, whose old one-size-fits-none suggested user list immediately made it noisy, impersonal and ruled by an oligarchy. But Instagram is betting that algorithmically personalized suggestions could make its new ephemeral slideshow Stories feature addictive… even… Read MoreInstagram Stories diverges from Snapchat by suggesting who to follow
Twitter’s “Trends” are often confusing. Why is #MPBMS or #TechMunch trending? You had to click through and figure it out for yourself. When Facebook copied Twitter’s trends in 2014, it vastly improved them by adding human-written descriptions right below so you knew if you cared or not. Today Facebook is removing those descriptions, and claims it’s to increase… Read MoreFacebook ditches helpful Trending Topic descriptions for global scale
You know you screwed up if Apple is about to one up you on social. Facebook hasn’t upgraded its video editor in well over three years. Lagging far behind Snapchat, YouTube, and even Instagram, it’s a stretch to even call the featureless artifact a video editor. Read MoreFacebook’s video editor is embarrassingly old, and Apple is creeping
You know you screwed up if Apple is about to one up you on social. Facebook hasn’t upgraded its video editor in well over three years. Lagging far behind Snapchat, YouTube, and even Instagram, it’s a stretch to even call the featureless artifact a video editor. Read MoreFacebook’s video editor is embarrassingly old, and Apple is creeping
In-flight VR entertainment and security guard drones were amongst our favorites from the 44 startups that launched at Y Combinator’s Summer 2016 Demo Day 1. After querying investors and our writers, here are TechCrunch’s picks for the 7 most promising companies from the first half of the batch, plus an honorable mention. Check back later for all the startups and our picks from… Read MoreThe top 7 startups from Y Combinator S16 Demo Day ...
Banks win when the poor lose. Credit cards can trap people in debt and bleed them dry with late fees. But it’s this exploitative experience that makes banks vulnerable to fintech startups like LendUp that are willing to undercut them and make up margin with software efficiency. It’s that strategy of building an enduring consumer banking brand on the principle of compassion that… Read MoreLendUp fights big banks with $47M for compassionate credit cards
“What if I figured out a way to take Facebook from 2004 and bring it to 2016? What if every field in your profile was a full video” asks Facebook’s 19-year old product prodigy Michael Sayman. The answer is Lifestage, a standalone iOS app for people 21 and under Facebook is launching today. It asks for your happy face, sad face, likes, dislikes, best friend, the way you dance,… Read MoreFacebook’s new teens-only app Lifestage turns bios into video profiles
Facebook may try to compete with Steam, or at least win back revenue lost when casual gaming shifted to mobile. Today Facebook formally announced it’s working with game engine Unity to build a dedicated, downloadable desktop gaming platform, plus it’s broadening the Facebook.com experience for gamers.
Both will allow publishers the offer their iOS and Android games on desktop in… Read MoreFacebook is building its own Steam-style desktop gaming platform with ...
Big purchases are scary to make online without anyone there to quell your fears and answer questions. Operator’s app wants to give you the same peace of mind, not with mechanical chat bot responses, but through real humans with knowledge about whatever you’re buying. Today Operator 2.0 for iOS and Android beta launches with a new Discovery tab where curators assemble… Read More