Sarah Perez
Writer
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Sling TV reports first-ever subscriber decline
Increased competition from competitors like Hulu and YouTube TV and even Netflix has finally taken its toll on Dish’s live TV streaming service, Sling TV. This week, the company reported its fir
TikTok introduces parental controls with new ‘Family Safety Mode’ feature, launching first in UK
TikTok announced today the introduction of a new set of parental controls, called “Family Safety Mode,” designed to let parents set limits on their teenage children’s use of the TikT
Level launches a mobile banking app offering 1% cash back on debit purchases, 2.10% APY
A number of startups are taking on big banks with new apps that offer modern, mobile banking experiences, innovative features and reduced or even zero fees. Entering this now-crowded market is Level,
Pandora’s new Apple Watch app lets you leave your iPhone behind
Support for standalone streaming has come to Pandora’s Apple Watch app. The company today announced the official launch of its new standalone app for Apple Watch that lets you listen to music an
Spotify mimics Apple’s design with new podcast show page updates
Spotify’s ongoing investments in the podcast-streaming side of its business helped boost podcast listening on its service by 200% last year. But today, only 16% of Spotify’s monthly listen
Walmart reports lower-than-expected Q4 earnings, despite e-commerce sales growth of 35%
Walmart’s holiday quarter didn’t perform as expected. That’s the big news today from the retailer’s weak Q4 2019 earnings, which saw revenue of $141.67 billion versus the $142.
Redbox enters the free, ad-supported streaming market
Redbox has entered the ad-supported streaming market with the launch of Redbox Free Live TV. The company, best known for its DVD rental kiosks, has been dabbling with streaming for years as consumer d
Google confirms it again removed alleged spying tool ToTok from Google Play
In December, The New York Times reported a popular messaging app called ToTok was actually a spying tool used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to track users’ conversations, locatio
Smart speaker sales reached new record of 146.9M in 2019, up 70% from 2018
Global smart speaker sales hit a record high last year with shipments of 146.9 million units, up 70% over 2018, according to a recent report on the state of the smart speaker market from Strategy Anal
This Week in Apps: YouTube TV cancels Apple’s rev share, more bad news for mobile voting, WhatsApp hits 2B users
This week, we look at YouTube TV's decision to stop revenue-sharing with Apple, another mobile voting app with serious flaws, new Apple launches in coding and AR, and more.
Facebook’s latest experiment is Hobbi, an app to document your personal projects
Facebook is adding another app to its group of experimental projects from the NPE Team, an initiative it announced last year focused on rapidly trying out new ideas in social to see how users react. T
Tinder tests new social features, including prompts and a ‘Share to Matches’ option
Tinder is testing a series of new social features designed to boost conversations between users on its service. One of the new features is a conversational prompt, first teased during parent company M
Walmart shuts down its experimental personal shopping service, Jet black
Walmart is shutting down its personal shopping service, Jet black, on February 21, after struggling to find adoption or additional investment. The service had allowed New York-area customers to text m
Netflix fights new streaming rivals with Samsung partnership
As the streaming battles heat up, Netflix is hoping a new partnership with Samsung will help it fend off rivals. At Samsung’s Unpacked event this week, the mobile device maker announced a deal w
GameSnacks, from Google’s Area 120, brings fast, casual online games to developing markets
A new project called GameSnacks is launching today from Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, with the goal of bringing fast-loading, casual online games to users in developing markets. Billion
Microsoft’s game streaming service Project xCloud launches in preview on iOS
Last year, Microsoft launched a preview of Project xCloud, its ambitious game streaming service that aims to deliver games to any screen — console, PC or mobile. However, the service until now h
Netflix fishes for new subscribers in US with free stream of ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’
Netflix is looking to get young adults hooked on its service by making its popular teenage rom-com, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” available to stream for free to everyone in t
Spotify is giving songwriters their own pages and playlists
Spotify is launching a new feature called songwriter pages, which allows songwriters to showcase a list of the songs they’ve written, alongside their most frequent artist collaborations. The pag
Google’s Gboard introduces Emoji Kitchen, a tool to mash up emojis to use as stickers
If you’ve ever felt like there just weren’t enough emoji options to express how you’re feeling, a new addition to Google’s Gboard keyboard, launching today, aims to help. Gboar
Siri will now answer your election questions
Apple’s built-in voice assistant won’t help you figure out who to vote for, but it will be able to update you on different races around the U.S. during election season, as well as deliver