Augmented reality’s awkward phase will be long and painful
Howdy friends, this is the web version of my Week in Review newsletter, it’s here to entice you to sign up and get it in your inbox every week. Last week, I showcased how Twitter was looking at
This Week in Apps: TikTok viral hit breaks Spotify records, inauguration boosts news app installs, judge rules against Parler
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with
Facebook and Instagram’s AI-generated image captions now offer far more details
Every picture posted to Facebook and Instagram gets evaluated by an image analysis AI in order to create a caption, and that AI just got a lot smarter. The improved system should be a treat for visual
Snapchat permanently bans President Trump’s account
Quite a bit has happened since Snap announced last week that it was indefinitely locking President Trump’s Snapchat account. But after temporary bans from his Facebook, Instagram and YouTube acc
App stores saw record 218 billion downloads in 2020, consumer spend of $143 billion
Mobile adoption continued to grow in 2020, in part due to the market forces of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to App Annie’s annual “State of Mobile” industry report, mobile app do
Healthvana’s digital COVID-19 vaccination records are about communication, not passports for the immune
As the vaccination campaign to counter COVID-19 gets underway (albeit with a rocky start), a number of companies are attempting to support its rollout in a variety of ways. Healthvana, a health tech s
The deplatforming of President Trump
After years of placid admonishments, the tech world came out in force against President Trump this past week following the violent assault of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
Mark Zuckerberg announces Trump banned from Facebook and Instagram for ‘at least the next two weeks’
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced via his platform that Donald Trump will be blocked from using both Facebook and Instagram “for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transitio
This Week in Apps: Apple bans party app, China loses 39K iOS games, TikTok births a ‘Ratatousical’
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a
Google pilots a search feature that aggregates short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram
Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices — a move that could help the company retain use
What a Facebook Photos product manager thinks about antitrust
We may pick a battle with Facebook and win, but lose the larger war. Losing that war may mean pushing the next Instagram out of Silicon Valley.
The New York Times launches an AR-enabled crossword on Instagram
The New York Times is bringing its signature crosswords game into augmented reality. The media company announced this morning it’s launching a new AR-enabled game, “Shattered Crosswords,&#
TikTok launches its first personalized annual recap feature, ‘Year on TikTok’
Spotify users have Wrapped and Instagram users have their Top 9. And now TikTok users will have their own year-in-review feature, too. The company today announced the launch of its first personalized
Adobe brings over 20,000 design assets to Spark
Adobe is launching an update to its Spark social media design tool today that will bring more than 20,000 new design assets to the service. This update, which follows the launch of animations in Spark
Facebook relaunches Instagram Lite app, begins test in India
Facebook is working to bring back the Instagram Lite app, months after it shut down the light version offering worldwide. The social conglomerate said on Wednesday that it is testing the revamped Inst
Skylum launches Luminar AI, its AI photo editor
Over the course of the last few years, Skylum made a name for itself with a set of photo-editing apps like Aurora HDR and Luminar. With Luminar AI, it is now launching a brand-new photo editor, starti
Snap launches a native Twitter integration
Twitter is partnering with Snap to bring tweets into Snapchat with a native integration that both companies hope will push users away from screenshots and toward more interactive embeds. Twitter users
Despite limitations, 3D and AR are creating new realities in retail
“Within the next five years, I think we're going to see that having AR and 3D on your dot-com and beyond will be mandatory.”
Instagram launches shopping in Reels, its TikTok rival
Instagram today is launching Shopping in Reels, its TikTok competitor. The new feature was announced in October as something the company had in the works, as part of a ongoing series of shopping-relat
Daily Crunch: FTC and 48 state AGs sue Facebook
Facebook faces big antitrust lawsuits, DoorDash and C3.ai go public and YouTube announces new election misinformation policies. This is your Daily Crunch for December 9, 2020. The big story: FTC and 4