Sarah Perez
Writer
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Facebook Dating now integrates with Instagram and Facebook Stories
Facebook Dating, an opt-in feature of the main Facebook app, will begin to tap into the content users are already creating across both Facebook and Instagram to enhance its service. Today, Facebook Da
YouTube to update harassment and gaming policies, clarify changes to kids content
In YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki’s quarterly letter, released today, the exec addresses a number of changes to YouTube policies, including the recent FTC-mandated rules for kids’ content that
Twitter rolls out its ‘Hide Replies’ feature to all users worldwide
Twitter’s radical “Hide Replies” feature, one of the biggest changes to how Twitter works since the invention of the Retweet, is now available to Twitter’s global user base. Th
Apple expands and updates its ‘Everyone Can Code’ program
Apple announced today an expansion of its program designed to get more students coding. The company says it has redesigned the “Everyone Can Code” curriculum with a focus on introducing mo
PayPal to acquire shopping and rewards platform Honey for $4B
PayPal announced today it has agreed to acquire Honey Science Corporation, the makers of a deal-finding browser add-on and mobile application, for $4 billion, mostly cash. The acquisition, which is Pa
Anyone can now create maps and stories on Google Earth
Google Earth is making a significant change to its product, with the addition of content creation tools that allow anyone to create maps and stories for its platform. The feature is an expansion of th
Spotify’s free music service will now stream on Alexa devices, plus Bose and Sonos smart speakers
Spotify has worked with Amazon Echo since 2016, but only for premium subscribers. Today, that changes as Spotify says its free tier will now stream across Alexa-powered devices, as well as other smart
Facebook’s latest experiment is a meme-creation app, Whale
Facebook’s NPE Team, a division inside the social networking giant that will build experimental consumer-facing social apps, has now added a third app to its lineup with the launch of meme creat
Facebook announces dates for its 2020 F8 developers conference
Facebook announced its plans for its F8 annual developer conference, which is where the company shows off its latest technology, apps and its vision for the future. The company says the next event wil
Amazon’s new Fire TV Blaster works with Echo to control your TV, soundbar, cable box and more
Amazon already offers Alexa voice control to TV owners through its Fire TV devices, by way of a voice remote or by pairing an Echo device with a Fire TV, for hands-free voice commands. Now, it’s
Spotify turns its personalization technology to podcasts with launch of Your Daily Podcasts
Spotify is taking the personalization technology that powers its music playlists, like Discover Weekly and Daily Mix, and turning it to podcasts. The company announced this morning the launch of a new
Amazon makes its music streaming service free with ads
Amazon is making its music streaming service free. The company previously offered free, ad-supported streaming only to customers who owned an Amazon Echo device. Now it’s rolling out free stream
Apple launches a dedicated mobile app for its developer community
Apple today is introducing a new resource for the over 23 million registered members of its developer community, with the launch of a dedicated Apple Developer mobile app. The new app is an expansion
Twitter launches a way to report abusive use of its Lists feature
Like many things found on today’s social media platforms, Twitter’s Lists feature was introduced without thinking about the impact it could have on marginalized groups, or how it could oth
Google Maps tests a social networking feature with the ability to ‘follow’ Local Guides
Google Maps will soon begin testing a new feature that’s more common to social networks like Facebook, rather than a maps app: the ability to find and follow other users. In Google Maps’ c
Microsoft winds down its bigger plans for Cortana with mobile app shutdown
At Microsoft’s Ignite conference this month, the company announced a new vision for its personal productivity assistant, Cortana — one which aimed to make it more useful in your day-to-day
This Week in Apps: Apple’s vaping app ban, Disney+ gets installed, apps gear up for Black Friday
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support, and the money that flows through it all. What are developers talking about? Wh
Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content
Image search engine Giphy bills itself as providing a “fun and safe way” to search and create animated GIFs. But despite its ban on illicit content, the site is littered with self-harm and
Spotify confirms it’s testing real-time lyrics synced to music
With the launch of iOS 13, Apple added perfectly timed live lyrics to its Apple Music app. Now Spotify may do the same. Several users in international markets are now seeing a similar synced lyrics fe
Amazon and Google double down on hands-free recipes to help sell their smart displays
Amazon and Google have identified a solid use case for their smart speaker devices, powered by Alexa and Google Assistant, respectively: recipes. The companies this week have both announced new produc