Apps

Snapchat rolls out ‘Topic Chats’ for public conversations

After primarily focusing on private conversations since its founding, Snapchat is embracing public conversations with a new “Topic Chats” feature. The social network says the feature lets users chat about what’s happening in the world and across various communities, from Formula 1 to the reality TV show “Below Deck.” Profiles will remain private to anyone

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Boop’s new app turns social recommendations into bookable itineraries

In a sea of AI travel-planning apps, a new startup called Boop aims to redefine the space with a new approach: turning social recommendations into bookable itineraries. Instead of getting a random AI-generated travel plan, the app offers users access to itineraries from real people who went on real trips.  When someone takes a trip, Boop uses AI to quickly turn

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Roblox will require all users to perform age-checks to access chat from January

Following a spate of lawsuits and investigations over its child safety systems, Roblox is going to implement mandatory facial verification for all users who want to access communication features, starting in January. The platform is also introducing age-based chat, meaning users can only communicate with others in a similar age group. Starting Tuesday, users can

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Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures

Mastodon’s creator, Eugen Rochko, is stepping down as CEO of the open source, decentralized social network and X rival, as part of the organization’s transition to a non-profit structure, announced at the beginning of the year. The change is Mastodon’s most significant leadership overhaul to date, and one designed to ensure Mastodon’s longevity. As part

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Meta releases a new tool to protect reels creators from having their work stolen

Facebook creators are getting a new tool to help them protect their work from being ripped off by others. On Monday, Meta introduced Facebook content protection, a mobile tool designed to detect when a creator’s original reels posted to Facebook are being used without their permission. If the creator is alerted that someone else is

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WhatsApp to launch third-party chat integration in Europe soon

Meta is getting ready to launch third-party chat integration on WhatsApp in Europe, the company announced on Friday. The tech giant notes that the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires it to give users in Europe the option to chat with people using third-party messaging services that have chosen to make their apps interoperable. “Following

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TikTok launches its own version of Instagram’s broadcast channels

TikTok announced on Thursday that it’s launching “bulletin board,” a new feature that lets brands and creators share public, one-to-many messages to their followers. Bulletin board is essentially TikTok’s own version of Instagram’s broadcast channels feature that launched in 2023. Just like with broadcast channels on Instagram, only the creator of a bulletin board can post

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Google takes on Pinterest with a dedicated ‘inspirational’ images tab in its mobile app

Google is adding a new feature to its mobile app that could potentially challenge Pinterest in becoming users’ first stop for inspirational imagery: a dedicated images tab. The company announced on Wednesday it is introducing a new “Images” icon at the bottom of Google’s Search app for iOS and Android devices that will display images

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