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

Apple fixes bug that shuts off headphone controls on iOS

One of the advantages of Apple having full control over its iOS ecosystem is bug fixes can arrive pretty quickly. A new fix released in version 10.0.2 resolves an issue with Lightning headphone controls getting disabled after a period of inactivity. This bug was reported soon after the iPhone 7 launch last week. And thankfully, Apple addressed the issue rather quickly. The physical controls on the Lightning-connected headphones and earbuds should continue working even after you’ve stopped listening to anything for a while.

Aside from that, this update fixes two other issues: one is regarding Photos closing or quitting when some users switch on iCloud Photo Library and another is regarding “an issue that prevented enabling some app extensions.

Source: The Verge

Google rumoured to be pricing Amazon Echo competitor at US$50 less

There’s a new rumour floating around that Google plans to launch its own Amazon Echo-like speaker during its October 4 event. The big thing about Google Home though is it’ll be US$50 cheaper than the Echo at $129 (around CA$170) when it comes out. It’ll will have personalized base covers, which were first seen at Google I/O back in May will be seen in the final device. This voice-activated speaker is designed to be used across rooms to ask Google questions, stream music, check your schedule, and the like.

Source: Android Police

Reports claim Twitter plans to sell itself off before year’s end

If the recent reports are to be believed, it seems like Twitter is looking for a potential buyer before 2016 ends. Three big companies are already being named as potential suitors: Alphabet's Google, Salesforce, and Verizon. Microsoft is also being rumoured to be in the mix, if only to prevent Salesforce from acquiring the company. While Twitter has been struggling to get new users, monetize, and keep user engagement up, tons of real-time data and over 300 million active subscribers make for an attractive purchase. The social network is currently valued at US$18 billion and would make for a great investment if it starts to make the money the way Wall Street hopes it will. This recent round of rumours were enough to boost Twitter’s stock. But then again, they are still rumours and the companies have not issued any statements regarding these reports.

Source: Droid Life