Snapchat ventures into hardware with Spectacles

The social media giant Snapchat (now called Snap Inc.) is moving beyond its ephemeral video and messaging app into hardware territory. The company just released smart glasses called Spectacles that’ll lets its users record first-person, 10-second clips at a time. These clips can then be sent via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to your Snapchat app. Think of it as a more millennial-friendly Google Glass or even something like a more portable GoPro. To record clips, you just tap a button mounted on frames. A ring of tiny lights will light up to indicate that you’re currently recording. The camera-glasses makes use of 115-degree-angle lens that looks similar to the human eye’s natural field of view and can be played back in landscape or portrait on your phone. These glasses come in black, teal, and coral and will retail for US$129.99 (around CA$170). Battery life is expected to last a full day out.

A limited number of these glasses will be released. According to Snap Inc.’s CEO Evan Spiegel, “We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out. It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.”

Source: CNET + The Verge

WhatsApp Android beta version gets Snapchat-like stickers

We’ve reached a point where social media apps have started to employ similar features in hopes of keeping its user base or attracting more people into its platform. The latest example is another Facebook-owned company copying Snapchat. WhatsApp released an update for its Android beta app that introduces stickers and the ability to doodle on messages.

Aside from that the app gets pseudo-flash for taking night-time selfies and emojis will start to appear larger in chats when you don’t include text with it. If you use Facebook Messenger, that messaging app has the same feature (re: the bigger emojis).

Source: The Next Web

Instagram copies Snapchat’s Stories, names it the same thing

In the world of social media, the me-too mentality thrives. Facebook was a complete copy of Friendster and now Instagram (which is also owned by Facebook) is taking a play from its mother company and outright copying the competition. Instagram is introducing a new feature called Stories. And yes, it shares the same name as the Snapchat feature it’s gotten its inspiration from.

For those unfamiliar with how Snapchat works, the users can upload photos and videos that stay up on the service for 24 hours for your followers to see. Basically, it shows your adventure or “story,” if you will. What Instagram is doing is almost exactly the same thing. You can share photos and video clips that are up to 10 seconds long and draw or add stickers to these photos and videos, too. And yes, after 24 hours they’re off Instagram as well.

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Snapchat on iOS lets you swap faces with any photo in your camera roll

Snapchat’s new update for its iOS apps brings a nifty new feature we’ll probably see people playing around with a lot. The app will let you face swap with any photo in your camera roll. When you select the face swap button in the masking features, you’ll see a second face swap button appear next to the original. This purple button has a little camera icon to let you swap with a photo from your camera roll.

The latest update also brings with it the ability to replay a snap one more time for free. Snapchat used to charge $0.99 for this feature. But they seem to have found a different way to make a quick buck. You can’t purchase any more extra replays from the app either. No word yet when the new feature will make its way to Android but we should hear from them soon.

Source: The Next Web | Download: iTunes App Store (Free)