• Apple’s learn-to-code app Swift Playgrounds adds AR lessons

    Apple’s learn-to-code app Swift Playgrounds adds AR lessons

    Amid a flurry of educational-related announcements at Apple’s press event this morning, the company also unveiled a new feature in its learn-to-code app Swift Playgrounds, that will help teach a younger generation of iOS developers how to build AR-enabled apps. Apple has been heavily pushing augmented reality and its ARKit for developers, as the technology…

  • Snapchat finally adds @ mention tagging

    Snapchat finally adds @ mention tagging

    Snapchat now lets you @-tag someone in your Story, creating a swipe up “more” option that shows the tagged person’s name, handle, Bitmoji, and an Add button so you can follow them too. The feature could let friends call each other out in Stories, or promote their favorite influencers by making it easy for people…

  • Google adds a wheelchair-accessible option for transit maps

    Google adds a wheelchair-accessible option for transit maps

    Google Maps has a pretty solid set of data for taking transit from here to there, but anyone with a physical disability knows it isn’t quite that simple. Some stations may be wheelchair-unfriendly, have out-of-service elevators, that kind of thing. A new update to the service adds an option for you to specify a wheelchair-accessible…

  • Amazon adds fingerprint authentication to Key app for Android

    Amazon adds fingerprint authentication to Key app for Android

    Building technology is all about learning as you go. Amazon knows this, and has today added fingerprint ID to the new Amazon Key app, which enables in-home delivery of goods. The Key app was announced in October, alongside the Cloud Cam, which lets users watch goings on in their homes as delivery professionals come in…

  • Ford adds Waze to its Sync 3 AppLink for iOS users

    Ford adds Waze to its Sync 3 AppLink for iOS users

    While some carmakers and others worry about Google’s domination in mapping and how that will play out in the auto industry, we are continuing to see announcements that point, if not to Google’s influence growing, its place in the market and how some may be testing the waters for more. Today, Ford announced that it…

  • Snapchat adds GIF stickers via Giphy, plus new Friends and Discover screen tabs

    Snapchat adds GIF stickers via Giphy, plus new Friends and Discover screen tabs

    Snapchat is bringing one of the best recent features of Instagram Stories to its own app, with the ability to add GIF stickers from Giphy to your posts. This is a notable reversal of the typical pattern we’ve seen of Instagram cloning Snapchat features, but it’s a good one for users since GIF stickers for…

  • Starling’s marketplace banking rollout adds pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgages

    Starling’s marketplace banking rollout adds pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgages

    Starling, the U.K. challenger bank that offers a mobile-only current account, continues to execute on its marketplace banking strategy. Following the required regulatory approval, the Starling Marketplace is adding a number of financial services integrations, spanning pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgage brokerage. Specifically, Starling is partnering with PensionBee, Wealthsimple, Kasko, and Habito, respectively. It…

  • Facebook adds support for live streaming and video chats to Messenger games

    Facebook adds support for live streaming and video chats to Messenger games

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    Last November, Facebook launched Instant Games, a new platform for gaming with friends inside the Messenger chat app. Today, the company is announcing a couple of notable new features for this gaming platform, including support for live streaming via Facebook Live and video chatting with fellow gamers. The idea with Instant Games is to boost…

  • DuckDuckGo adds tracker blocking to help curb the wider surveillance web

    DuckDuckGo adds tracker blocking to help curb the wider surveillance web

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    Some major product news from veteran anti-tracking search engine DuckDuckGo: Today it’s launched revamped mobile apps and browser extensions that bake in a tracker blocker for third party sites, and include a suite of other privacy features intended to help users keep surfing privately as they navigate around the web. The apps and browser extensions…