Twitter Blue gets a price increase to CA$6.49

Time to add the edit button to Twitter Blue?

If you're a Twitter Blue subscriber, you might not be happy to hear this news. The company plans to increase the fee for its subscription service from CA$3.49 to $6.49 starting in October. You'll already be paying the new rate if you're a new subscriber.

Twitter justifies the move in an email it sent subscribers a few days ago. "This change helps us continue to build some of the features you've been asking for, improve upon the current ones you already love, and sustain our mission of supporting journalism," the email said. 

Click to read more ...

Instagram hits pause on full-screen feed, some in-feed recommendations

After mounting criticism online, Instagram plans to walk back on some changes, including a test version of the app that shows full-screen photos and videos. It'll also reduce the recommended posts you see in the main feed. The new redesign test will be phased out over the next few weeks. 

These changes come as users express their frustration over the decisions Instagram makes to better compete with TikTok and navigate what it says is changing user behaviour from posting photos to watching more videos. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said this shift to more video consumption is real and pre-dated the rise of TikTok. But he acknowledged that people didn't like the design changes.

Click to read more ...

Netflix's 'Running with the Devil' documentary follows John McAfee on the run

A new Netflix documentary dropping on August 24 follows the infamous antivirus founder turned fugitive John McAfee. He reportedly asked a film crew to document his experience as he tried evading authorities and the Mexican cartel (apparently). McAfee became a suspect in 2012 for the murder of his neighbour, Gregory Faull, in Belize.

That documentary is called Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee. It's produced by the British studio Curious Films, whose co-founder, Dov Freedman, told Deadline that it's been "10 years in the making."

Source

Twitter taps into its roots with Status feature test

Source: Twitter

The latest Twitter experiment allows users to assign one of several pre-written labels to tweets. In theory, it would seem to replace the emojis users typically add to tweets regarding topics they're talking about and saves them a few characters. Like a spool of thread emoji signifies "A thread" is coming, a warning sign emoji is a label for spoilers, and a mic is used for "AMAs."

According to a Twitter spokesperson, the feature is designed to give a bit more context. They said, "whether you are about to drop a hot Tweet thread, share your shower thoughts, or have a bad case of the Mondays, your Tweets can better convey what you are up to." The status labels are predetermined, so you can't make your own.

Click to read more ...