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Snapchat reportedly flies Pixy drone plans into the nearest tree
Snap has supposedly killed off its selife-snapping Pixy drone ambitions
It wasn't that long ago that Snapchat was the hot new social media upstart, snatching users away from established platforms. These days, Snap finds itself on the defensive, watching TikTok drain its base. Desperate times call for innovative measures, and earlier this year we saw Snap announce an unusual accessory that seemed designed to get people excited about its app again: the Pixy camera drone. Unfortunately, it sounds like things haven't gone quite as intended for the project, and a new report now claims that Snap has grounded its drone ambitions.
Snapchat's got some goofy new AR features for you to try
I can finally scan all the weeds in my front yard, but do I want to?
Despite the popularity of competitors like Instagram, Snapchat's still an insanely popular messaging app. Hell, it even managed to hit one billion installs on Android before Google Messages. That doesn't mean Snap Inc. has stayed confined to developing its smartphone. Experiments like AR glasses and original programming have pushed Snapchat far beyond its original concept. With a newly-reworked iteration of Scan, the company's looking to bring AR search results to its massive fanbase.
Snapchat's Android redesign has been a long time in the making. Back in late 2017, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel promised a completely rebuilt Android app. The redesign could initially only be enabled with root access, though it's been possible to turn it on in the UI for many months now. Spiegel is now claiming that the rebuilt app will be fully deployed to all by the end of the year.
Snapchat's Android redesign started cropping up for some users a few weeks ago with the 10.40 beta. By switching on "Snapchat Alpha" in settings, users were able to gain access to the new, much smoother version of the app, announced roughly a year ago in November 2017. The overhauled Android Snapchat was built from the ground up to replace the current app, which has long faced criticism for slow, choppy performance. However, not everyone was able to get it at the time. Now, tips from our readers indicate the alpha is rolling out to a wider audience.
Back in November of last year, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel announced that a new Android app was being built from the ground up. It's been almost a year since then, but we're finally seeing some movement. In fact, the new Snapchat Alpha can actually be enabled right now, so long as your device has root access.
Snap Inc hasn't been doing great, to say the least. The company's results for the first quarter of 2018 were below expectations, and now the Q2 earnings report has been released. During the period from April 1 to June 30, Snap Inc received $262 million in revenue, with a net loss of $353 million.
Technology always trickles down to less and less important uses over time. Case in point: speech recognition. It was, at one time, futuristic and incredible that computers could understand us, but now it's just kind of a given. In keeping with its trajectory of increasing mundanity, speech recognition has made its way to perhaps the most frivolous use case of all: Snapchat lenses. (They're actually pretty neat, though.)
Snap Inc. is giving third-party developers the ability to integrate some of Snapchat’s best features into their own apps with the introduction of its new Snap Kit. Its tools will make it easier for users to share updates with their Snapchat friends, use Bitmoji on other platforms, and more.
Snap Inc can't seem to turn itself around. Between threatening employees with jail time and pushing away users with the new Snapchat design, the company has had plenty of problems in recent months. Snap Inc released its Q1 earnings report yesterday, revealing lower revenue and daily active users than expected.
The original Snapchar Spectacles were something of a fad when you could only get them from a handful of vending machines. However, the hype died down when they became generally available. Snap ended up losing money on unsold hardware, but it hasn't given up on Spectacles. The second-gen specs are now available. They cost a bit more, but they include several new features.
Snapchat hasn't been doing well lately. The recent redesign received almost universal criticism, the company's stock price continues to fall, and layoffs have become common. For those of you still using the app regularly, you can now do group video chats with up to 16 people.
Snapchat's Snap Map, the heatmap overview of Snaps shared around the world, was introduced last summer, letting users get a better sense of where their friends were sharing from. However, unless you zoomed out and looked around for Snaps and Stories outside your area, you would likely miss out on content that hadn't been shared nearby. Today, Snap has introduced a feature called 'Explore' that will bring more prominence to content on the Snap Map, regardless of where it's shared from.
Oh, Snap. Read that in a voice filled with pity and bewilderment to get the tone here, because the company behind Snapchat is apparently pushing more of its chips into the financial black hole that is its Spectacles. Yes, Snap Inc. is on tilt and has plans for not one, but two new pairs of its eyewear despite lukewarm interest for the first version of the product.
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- Snap has just rolled out support for creating your own Snapchat filter or lens directly from within the Android app. There's still a more full-fledged Lens Studio for desktop for more complex filters, but for the average snapchatter, being able to put together a quick filter directly from within the app will certainly be very appreciated.
Snapchat is an inexplicably popular service, but you know what it's missing? There just aren't enough augmented reality filters (known as Lenses) for your snaps, right? True or not, Snap has announced a new tool called Lens Studio that will let anyone create augmented reality objects and publish them for other Snapchat users.
The announcement late last year that Snap intended to completely rebuild the Snapchat app has been welcomed by frustrated users. A fresh design followed, and since then we've also heard that Stories will soon be available on the web. The latest crumb of news to come out of Snap Inc. brings word that there's a new update for its other popular app, Bitmoji, offering tons of new styles.
Snap Inc. really can't catch a break. After news broke earlier this week that it was laying off two dozens of its employees, a leaked memo has surfaced that doesn't exactly paint the company in a favorable light. And as if yet another leak wasn't bad enough, here's the real kicker: the leaked memo was actually about preventing leaks.
According to a report from The Information, Snap (of Snapchat fame) has recently laid off about two dozen people, most of which were in the content team. These firings seem to fit in line with the company's financial difficulties and overall attempts at consolidation, as well as the recent setbacks for the platform's original content.
Anyone who's used Snapchat's Android app in recent years will be well aware that it's turned into a laggy, buggy mess. My friends and I used to use it regularly to send silly videos to each other, but we've all turned our backs on it by now. For those of you still muddling along with it, you'll be pleased to know that a complete rebuild is in the works. It's unlikely to make me rush back, but it's good to hear that the devs aren't completely oblivious to the issues.
For anyone who still uses Snapchat, recording and sharing video clips is probably a large part of the experience. Before now, it's only been possible to record videos of up to 10 seconds in length, as this kind of ties in with Snapchat's whole brevity thing. As the app struggles for relevance and searches for new ways to engage with its users, it's decided to allow longer videos.
Back in September of last year, Snapchat renamed itself to 'Snap Inc' and released the 'Spectacles.' These camera-equipped sunglasses were designed to record video for use with Snapchat. Initially they were only available from a series of pop-up shops, then they became available from Snap's website in February.