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Rakuten will roll its $9B loyalty program into a new blockchain-based cryptocurrency, Rakuten Coin
Messaging apps have seen a surge of popularity in recent years as people seek ways to communicate more directly than on social networks. But they also have been adding large group chat options into the mix, to give a more social experience on those messaging platforms. Now messaging app Viber is introducing the biggest group…
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Peanut, the matchmaking app for moms, launches a community feature called Peanut Pages
Peanut, the app referred to as “Tinder for moms” because it connects mothers by letting them swipe each other’s profiles, is launching a new community discussion feature. Called Peanut Pages, it’s meant to give mothers a better alternative to Facebook Groups, Quora and other social platforms. Since its launch almost exactly one year ago, Peanut…
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YouTube Live gains automatic captions, chat replay and more
YouTube today announced several new features designed to improve the live streaming experience for both creators and viewers. The most notable additions include the ability to play back a live chat after the live stream ends, and the launch of live automatic captions on videos. YouTube began offering automatic captioning back in 2009, and has…
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Otter’s new app lets you record, transcribe, search and share your voice conversations
An app called Otter, launching today, wants to make it as easy to search your voice conversations as it is to search your email and texts. The idea to create a new voice assistant focused on transcribing everyday conversations – like meetings and interviews – comes from Sam Liang, the former Google architect who put the…
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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…
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SafeToNet demos anti-sexting child safety tool
With rising concern over social media’s ‘toxic‘ content problem, and mainstream consumer trust apparently on the slide, there’s growing pressure on parents to keep children from being overexposed to the Internet’s dark sides. Yet pulling the plug on social media isn’t exactly an option. UK startup SafeToNet reckons it can help, with a forthcoming system of AI-powered…
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Microsoft and Xiaomi to collaborate on AI, cloud computing and hardware
After Microsoft signed a deal to test Windows 10 on Xiaomi devices in 2015 and then Xiaomi bought a trove of patents to help run other Microsoft services on its devices in 2016, today the two companies announced another chapter in its collaboration. Xiaomi and Microsoft have signed a Strategic Framework Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)…
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Google adopts a new approach to bring its AR service to China
Google has adopted a novel way to do business in China, where its online services continue to be censored, after it partnered directly with three OEMs to bring its augmented reality service to the country. ARCore, the company’s augmented reality SDK for Android, launched in full today following its announcement in November. Google says there are…
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Momo buys Tantan, China’s Tinder, for over $600M as Chinese social networks consolidate
WeChat is far and away the biggest messaging platform in China at the moment, and that is helping to drive a push among the smaller players to get together for better scale. Today, Momo, the Chinese location-based social networking app that has more recently made a big push into dating services and is traded on…
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Samsung saves Opera Max browser app from the deadpool
Opera Max lives on after Samsung acquired the mobile browser to save it from oblivion. The browser was one of the first data-friendly mobile browsers and it later added privacy-focused settings, including safeguards against insecure WiFi connections and a VPN. The popular app clocked up more than 500,000 installs, but that didn’t stop parent company Opera…