Sarah Perez
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The Latest from Sarah Perez
Houseparty expands beyond video chat with co-watching of live events
Houseparty, the video chat app that’s seen a surge of growth during quarantine, is preparing to expand its service in a new direction: co-watching live video with friends. The company on Friday
Google Chrome will finally help you organize your tabs
Google Chrome is rolling out a new feature to help you better manage all your open tabs. The company announced today the launch of “tab groups” for the beta version of its web browser, whi
Amazon Fire TV adds a Free tab featuring apps, movies, TV and news
Amazon’s Fire TV platform now has its own rival to Roku’s popular free movies and TV hub, The Roku Channel. Today, Amazon introduced a new “free” section on Fire TV that makes
Facebook launches Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor, in the US
Facebook’s Avatars feature, which lets you customize a virtual lookalike of yourself for use as stickers in comments and Messenger chats, is today launching in the U.S. Essentially Facebook̵
US e-commerce sales jump 49% in April, led by online grocery
Online retailers are seeing Black Friday-like sales due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business. According to new data from Adobe’s Digital Economy Index, U.S. e-commerce jumped
Instagram adds new anti-bullying features, including tag controls, comment management tools
As part of its anti-bullying efforts, Instagram today announced a series of new features aimed at helping users better manage negative comments as well as highlight positive ones. It’s also addi
YouTube Music adds a transfer option ahead of Google Play Music’s shutdown this year
Google is making it easier for Google Play Music users to make the switch to the company’s now preferred music app, YouTube Music, ahead of its plans to shut down Google Play Music later this ye
Spotify Kids app rolls out blocking, listening history features for parents
Spotify is expanding the capabilities of its parental controls on its Spotify Kids app, aimed at children ages 3 and up on a parent’s Spotify Premium Family plan. Before, parents could only sele
Instagram Lite shuts down in advance of a relaunch
Instagram Lite, the two-year-old version of the Instagram app aimed at emerging markets, has quietly disappeared. The previously highly ranked app vanished from the Google Play charts on April 13 in t
Twitter to add labels and warning messages to disputed and misleading COVID-19 info
Twitter on Monday announced it will begin to add warning messages and labels to tweets spreading disputed or misleading information about COVID-19. The labels will direct users reading these tweets to
Facebook and Instagram launch a week of grad-themed events and features
Facebook today revealed its plans to celebrate the 2020 graduates this week across both Facebook and Instagram. The series of events, starting today on May 11, will include the company’s previou
Spotify officially launches a shared-queue feature called Group Session
Spotify is introducing a new feature, Group Session, that will allow two or more of its Premium users in the same space to share control over the music being played. Essentially a “party mode
This Week in Apps: WWDC goes online, Android 11 delays, Facebook SDK turns into app kill switch
We continue to look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting mobile apps; that big app crash caused by Facebook; new app releases from Facebook and Google; and Apple's plans to move WWDC online.
Target to acquire same-day delivery tech from Deliv
Target, which already owns on-demand delivery service Shipt, is in the process of acquiring technology assets from same-day delivery service Deliv. The retailer is characterizing the deal as more of a
A rebranded and updated version of CBS All Access will launch this summer
A rebranded and expanded version of the CBS All Access streaming service will arrive this summer, ViacomCBS announced this morning. The service, now run by ViacomCBS following the merger, today offers
Google launches ‘Read Along,’ a free app that helps young children practice reading
Google today is launching a new app, Read Along, that aims to help elementary school students practice their reading skills and stay educationally engaged amid school closures due to coronavirus. The
YouTube TV to gain 14 more ViacomCBS channels in expanded distribution deal
YouTube TV is expanding its lineup of channels thanks to a new, multi-year distribution agreement with ViacomCBS, announced this morning. The Google-owned streaming TV service is gaining 14 new Viacom
TiVo enters the streaming market with a $50 Android TV-powered device, TiVo Stream 4K
TiVo today is launching a new device, its would-be Fire TV Stick competitor known as the TiVo Stream 4K. First announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, this $50 Android TV-powered HDMI d
Tinder to add video dating next quarter, after slowing user growth due to coronavirus
Tinder will add a video dating feature in the second quarter of this year, parent company Match announced on Tuesday as part of its Q1 2020 earnings report. The company also detailed the coronavirus i
Pinterest rolls out new board features including notes, dates and section suggestions
Pinterest is introducing new features that make it easier for those planning recipes, virtual events and other quarantine activities. These include the ability to add a date or notes to a board as wel