Twitter Buys Snappy TV
Who would have thought that TV viewing would ever be more social? Twitter is looking to do just that by agreeing to purchase Snappy TV, which is a San Francisco based video sharing startup. The move seems to be the second step towards Twitter's ambitions of making its way in to what it calls "Social TV", the first being it's unveiling of the Vine app last year. Some of the clients of Snappy TV includes Fox Sports, Universal Sports and ABC News just to name a few. Snappy TV is already being used by various media companies to post sports updates and other videos on Twitter. This deal will allow Twitter to make videos a big part of its service, which is something it's been wanting to do for some time now. Both parties have so far been tightlipped about the purchase price.
Google and Microsoft Phones to Provide a 'Kill Switch'
Since technology is spreading, few would disagree that Smartphone theft still remains a sad reality, and the recent numbers have only shown that there are more likely to increase. Keeping that in mind, two titans of the tech world, Google and Microsoft recently announced that their future Smartphone models will feature a kill switch, which will enable the user to disable their Smartphone, making it useless to the thief. The New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, also said that with companies like Google and Microsoft on board, almost 95% of Smartphones will feature kill switches. The latest version of the Apple iOS does have a kill switch called "Activation Lock" along with a tracking software which requires a password before the iPhone or iPad can be reset. Samsung also launched a similar feature called the "Reactivation Lock" in May.
While many are calling it a marginal improvement at keeping Smartphone theft at bay, there are those who think that the Government's involvement will take us to an Orwellian scenario, with companies who are offering contract phones in a position to brick a phone just to punish either a disloyal customer or after a two-year service contract is ended. While there will be obvious financial incentives for network carriers, adding a kill switch could be the deterrent Smartphone theft needs. Whether it will work or not? We'll just have to wait and see.
The App which Encourages "Yo-ing"
Yo is a new messaging app which looks to change the way we send texts via our phone. The app was developed by a Tel-Aviv based entrepreneur who obviously thinks that 140 characters are too much to handle. Since the word 'Yo" can mean anything to anyone, you can use the app to say almost anything you want, except maybe, order a pizza. But, can you really call it a message app when you aren't able to type any message?
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