Social

Twitter rolling out ability to mute keywords and anonymous or unverified accounts

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2017

Wouldn't it be nice if you could mute specific keywords from your timeline, as well as cut down abuse from those pesky anonymous “egg” accounts without a profile image? Well, you're in for a treat. Soon, you'll be permitted to do just that, and then some more, as Twitter on Wednesday announced a set of new anti-harassment features in another effort to step up its never-ending fight against trolls and prevent abuse on the micro-blogging service.

Read More

Facebook’s AI identifies posts about self injury & users who’d livestream their suicide

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2017

Facebook today announced it had begun using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify people on its platform who may be at risk of committing suicide, offering them the option of speaking with a crisis helpline through its Messenger application.

Facebook's AI algorithm works by spotting warning signs in users' posts and the comments their friends leave in response. The new tool is being tested only in the US at present.

Read More

Facebook shares details about its video-focused Apple TV app, which is coming soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Facebook has officially confirmed through the mouth of its Vice President of Partnerships Dan Rose and via a press release that it's indeed planning to launch a video-focused Apple TV app soon. The forthcoming app will let users kick back and watch Facebook videos from the couch. Rose has confirmed the development at the Code Media conference in Dana Point, California. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Facebook was working on an app for set-top boxes back in January.

Read More

TweetMuter lets you hide tweets from your timeline based on keywords

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 2, 2017

If you’re a Twitter user and you’re always finding stuff in your Twitter timeline that you could really care less about, then you might like a new free jailbreak tweak called TweetMuter by Tanner Bennett.

This tweak utilizes the existing Muted Words feature in the stock Twitter app, a feature that normally only applies to your notifications tab; but TweetMuter expands this functionality to even your timeline so that you don’t have to mute people entirely, nor will you have to un-follow people to stop seeing only certain things.

Read More

Facebook working on video-focused app for Apple TV and other set-top boxes

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 1, 2017

Facebook is reportedly working on a video-focused app for media-streaming boxes such as Apple's fourth-generation Apple TV, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Last October, the social network launched a feature allowing users to stream videos from the mainland Facebook mobile app to their TVs via Apple TV. Tuning into television's market with a dedicated streaming app of its own would help the company tap more ad dollars.

Read More

Facebook rolling out new Privacy Basics feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2017

Facebook is today launching a new Privacy Basics feature on the web to make it easier for users to find the tools that let them control and adjust who sees what they share on the service.

The new section provides access to various topics based on users' most frequently asked questions about privacy and security. Privacy Basics organizes these privacy-related tools in one central place and includes 32 interactive guides in 44 languages.

Read More

Facebook is about to clone Snapchat again, this time in its mainline mobile app

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2017

Facebook didn't stop at ripping off Snapchat's Stories feature with auto-vanishing slideshows on Instagram. According to a Wednesday report from Business Insider, the social network is currently testing a similar feature in its mainline mobile app.

A company spokesperson told the publication that Facebook Stories will soon start appearing at the top of the mobile Facebook app, allowing you to tap each circle to see a friend's story.

Read More

Vine app officially becomes Vine Camera

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Vine for iPhone was updated today with a cool dark icon, a new name and same old features, making good on Twitter's promise to sunset the service and morph it into a dedicated mobile camera software.

Rechristened as Vine Camera and bearing version number 6.0, the app is focused on the tools that let you shoot and edit six-second videos shareable on Twitter, where they now loop. You can also add captions, save videos to your iPhone's Camera roll and more.

Vine Camera is available free of charge from App Store and requires iOS 9.0 or later.

Read More

Glimpse is an Apple Watch app news addicts will love (with reservations)

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated May 7, 2018

Every once in a while a Watch app comes along that brings something ostensibly new to the table. Glimpse, a project that sets out to relay real-time content from your iPhone straight to your Apple Watch’s watch face, is one of those notable additions. The app is home to a handful of social networks and about twenty prolific news outlets, which subject to your taste can selectively refresh on your iPhone and welcome you with new content every time you glance at your watch face.

The promise and potential of Glimpse is uncontested, but so are the flaws in its execution as of today. So before you speed to the App Store, think over the following items to find out if Glimpse has been tailored to you.

Read More

You can now stream live video from Twitter app

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 14, 2016

Twitter today announced that users of its mobile app can now broadcast Periscope-powered live video. Why go live on Twitter? Because live video broadcasts “bring moments and events to life in a way that no other medium can,” said the popular microblogging service. This newly added feature requires an update to Twitter's mobile app, which is rolling out to everyone on the App Store today.

Read More