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Google needs to pay Apple a small fortune to remain the default search engine on iOS
Apple and Google could be the biggest frenemies in tech. While they both compete like there’s no tomorrow, they also partner on some very specific deals. For instance, Google is paying a ton of money to remain the default search engine on iOS. As CNBC first reported, according to a Bernstein analyst, Google could pay as much as $3 billion a year just to remain the default option in… Read More
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Let’s review some of tech’s big second quarter financial stories
Now that the second-quarter “earnings season” — when all of the biggest public tech companies spill their financial guts to the public — is over, and it was filled with a lot of weird stories that seemed a little outside of the mold that we normally see. There weren’t any blockbuster product launches, huge advertising beats, wildly surprising numbers (outside… Read More
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Prisma shifts focus to b2b with an API for AI-powered mobile effects
The startup behind the Prisma style transfer app is shifting focus onto the b2b space, building tools for developers that draw on its expertise using neural networks and deep learning technology to power visual effects on mobile devices. Read More
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YouTube starts delivering ‘breaking news’ on its homepage across platforms
YouTube has started rolling out a “Breaking News” section in people’s feeds today across platforms as Alphabet continues to tailor custom content playlists to users logged into Google Accounts, Android Police reports. For most, YouTube is a place to hop from one video to the next and descend down rabbit holes, but browsing anything like a feed has become less… Read More
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Google brings six-second video previews to mobile search
Google announced a major update to its mobile search results pages today. Whenever your query brings up a video, Google will now show you a silent six-second clip to help you decide if it’s actually a video you want to see. This will work for the vast majority of videos on the web today — including, but not limited to, YouTube. Indeed, as Emily Moxley, Google’s director… Read More
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How Facebook prioritizes privacy when you die
Should your parents be able to read your Facebook messages if you die? Facebook explained why it won’t let them in a post in its Hard Questions series today about social networking after death. Facebook admits it doesn’t have all the answers, but it has come up with some decent solutions to some issues. Read More
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Google to livestream Android O launch event timed for total solar eclipse
Google is using a astronomical event to debut its newest Android operating system update: Android O is set to arrive on August 21, with a livestreamed unveiling event timed for 2:40 PM ET in NYC – which is roughly when the maximum solar eclipse is set to occur for New York. Android O will get a full reveal at that time, which seems like kind of a weird time to do it since a lot of… Read More
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Hands on with Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone
It’s a pretty captivating pitch: Andy Rubin, one of the guys who founded Android (and who lead the project within Google for eight years!) has a new company… and he’s building an Android phone. The “Essential Phone,” as it’s known. I’ve been carrying around an Essential Phone for a few days now. Here’s what I think so far. Read More
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Instagram adds a new creative way to reply to a photo or story
Instagram inception, here we come. If somebody sends you a photo or video in a private conversation on Instagram, the app will now let you play around with the original photo so that you can reply in a creative way and keep the context of the conversation. If you receive a photo or video, there’s now a reply button in the conversation thread. If you tap on this button, the original photo… Read More
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An iOS 11 feature could let you quickly disable TouchID and keep cops out
TouchID has always been a legal grey area when it came to cops and border patrol asking you to fork over your phone. But with the new update in iOS 11, that no longer seems to be a problem. Read More
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Facebook downranks video clickbait and fake play buttons
Ever gotten tricked into clicking a fake play button on Facebook that opens a link instead of starting a video? I did, repeatedly, and wrote a story in 2014 titled “Yo Facebook, Ban Links With Fake Video Play Buttons”. Now Facebook is doing just that. Today it started downranking the News Feed presence of links that display a fake play button in the preview image, as well as… Read More
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Essential Phone now available to order, ships soon to pre-sale customers
The Essential Phone has arrived, a bit later than originally announced. The first smartphone from the new company founded by Android creator Andy Rubin is now available to order, via Essential’s own site, Best Buy, and Sprint. The phone is still listed as a pre-order in all three spots, with shipping information to be conveyed later, but this is the closest people have been able to get… Read More
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Android newbie HMD’s Nokia 8 flagship lets you livestream ‘frontbacks’
Rebooting the venerable Nokia smartphone brand has not been a rush job for HMD Global, the Foxconn-backed company set up for the purpose of licensing the Nokia name to try to revive the brand’s fortunes on smartphones. But after starting with basic and mid-tier phones, it’s finally outted a flagship Android handset. Read More
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Ofo comes to the US, joining the bike-share fray in Seattle
Seattle seems like an unlikely venue for a duel between bike-sharing companies: it’s rainy, hilly, its residents can’t drive and another bike-share program recently went belly-up publicly and ignominiously. But Ofo, one of several Chinese giants in the space, is the third company to launch in the city in a month. It’s the company’s first foray in the States. Read More
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Apple could guide you around your city using augmented reality
ARKit is one of the biggest changes in iOS 11. Under the hood, Apple is about to transform the iPhone into a very capable augmented reality device. Felix Lapalme has been looking at assets in the Maps app package to find out if the company is going to leverage augmented reality for turn-by-turn directions. On July 22nd, he dug around a beta version of iOS 11 and found this mysterious 3D… Read More
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Pinterest users can now pinch-to-zoom on photos in the app
Pinterest is adding a new feature today that allows users to pinch a photo to zoom in and out on various Pins, matching a feature that’s available on a lot of other services. As the company becomes increasingly focused on mobile and discovery centered around photos, users will start expecting the kinds of behaviors that exist on other services to exist on Pinterest. Read More
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45 million people send birthday wishes on Facebook each day
Roughly 1 in 30 Facebook users tells someone Happy Birthday each day, showing Facebook’s first major emergent behavior is still going strong. Now Facebook is equipping the 45 million people sending birthday wishes each day with some new features. Now instead of just posting a soulless “HBD” or “Happy Birthday!” on someone’s wall with no personal message… Read More
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Facebook and Instagram get redesigns for readability
Taking inspiration from line drawings, Reddit and Messenger, Facebook is overhauling the design of the News Feed to make it more legible, clickable and commentable. Meanwhile, Instagram today got a little redesign itself with comment reels now being threaded so you can have sub-conversations in public. Read More
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