Sarah Perez
Writer
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Hitlist’s new premium service puts a travel agent in your pocket
Hitlist, a several-years-old app for finding cheap flights, has begun rolling out a subscription tier that will turn it into something more akin to your own mobile travel agent. While the core app exp
Microsoft’s Twitch rival Mixer gets a revamp, including new developer tools for interactive gameplay
Microsoft is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its game streaming service and Twitch competitor, Mixer, with a host of new features, including a refresh of the user experience and the launch of
Amazon Music’s app adds hands-free listening, courtesy of Alexa
In September, Amazon announced it was adding support for Alexa voice control to its Amazon Music app for iOS and Android. However, it was implemented as a tap-to-talk function – something that d
Facebook is asking users worldwide to review their privacy settings
Starting this week, Facebook will begin asking users worldwide to review their privacy settings with a prompt that appears within the Facebook app. The experience will ask you to review how Facebook u
Tinder pilots Places, a feature that tracks your location for better matches
Tinder will now help you find matches with those people you may cross paths with in your day-to-day life. As promised earlier, the company today is announcing the launch of a new location-based featur
Spotify launches ‘The Game Plan,’ a 10-part educational video series for artists
On the same day that Spotify’s class-action settlement with musicians gets final approval, the company is making a big push to encourage artists to participate on its streaming service –
Facebook launches new tools for Group admins, including free customer service
Facebook’s Groups are one of the social network’s most popular products, with more than 1.4 billion monthly users across tens of millions of active groups. Today, the company is rolling ou
Pandora’s personalized playlists go live for all Premium users
Earlier this year, Pandora announced its plans to challenge Spotify by taking aim at one of its rival’s top features: personalized playlists. Pandora in March began rolling out dozens of variati
Facebook Marketplace expands into home services
Facebook is entering the home services market. Starting today, U.S. Facebook users browsing the Facebook Marketplace will be able to search thousands of home service professionals through a new featur
Twitter is killing several of its TV apps, too
Twitter is shutting down its TV apps on Roku, Android TV and Xbox starting on May 24, the company announced this morning. The news of the apps’ closure comes at a time when Twitter is now trying
Starbucks’s mobile payment service is slightly outpacing Apple’s
People really love getting their coffee more quickly. Starbucks, which has operated its own mobile payments service since 2011, is the market leader in terms of mobile payments users, beating out Appl
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine teams with Amazon’s Audible on audiobooks and originals
Reese Witherspoon’s media empire, Hello Sunshine, has teamed up with Audible to work on an audiobook project. The collaboration will initially see the launch of a showcase of Audible audiobooks
Subscription video services’ recommendations aren’t working, study claims
Streaming video services invest heavily in technology to improve their ability to show users a set of personalized recommendations about what to watch next. But according to a new research study relea
Comcast’s mesh Wi-Fi system, xFi Pods, launches nationwide
Comcast today is officially launching its own Wi-Fi extender devices called xFi Pods that help to address problems with weak Wi-Fi signals in parts of a customer’s home due to things like the us
Google Photos adds likes and favorites with hearts and stars
Twitter swapped out its Favorite star icon for an appreciation-focused heart icon instead, but Google Photos is embracing both icons with an update rolling out now. The company announced this afternoo
TheSkimm closes its $12M Series C with big names Shonda Rhimes and Tyra Banks on board
In March, the female-led media company and newsletter provider theSkimm reported it was raising a $12 million Series C from Google Ventures and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, along with several existin
Siempo’s new app will break your smartphone addiction
A new app called Siempo wants to un-addict you from your smartphone and its numerous attention-stealing apps. To do so, Siempo replaces an Android device’s homescreen, while also taking advantag
Vota turns your credit card transactions into recommendations, helps you spot fraud
Oh my god, someone’s doing Blippy again. If you’ve been around the internet as long as I have (too long), you’ll probably remember the meteoric rise of the social network for sharing
YouTube TV adds Tastemade and The Young Turks as it expands its digital media content
In April, YouTube TV confirmed rumors it was expanding its service by way of digital-only networks by launching two news channels from Cheddar. The streaming service was also expected to roll out ch
Selected’s recruiting platform matches teachers with schools they’ll love
A “dating app for teachers” is an odd but useful way to describe the startup Selected, which has just closed on $1.2 million in seed funding for its recruiting platform for educators. And