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Technology
Twitter swapped out its Favorite star icon for an appreciation-focused heart icon instead, but Google Photos is embracing both icons with an update rolling out now. The company announced this afternoon itadding a new star-shaped Favorites button to its photo-sharing service starting today, which will be followed by a heart-shaped &Like& button next week. The two will have different functionality, however.
The Favorite (star) button will only appear on photos in your own library, allowing you to mark an individual item as a favorite which, in turn, will automatically populate a new photo album with just your favorite photos. This is a feature that most other photo services already offer, including Appleand, previously, Googleown Picasa, so ita bit of an obvious catch-up addition on Googlepart.
Meanwhile, the heart icon is Google Photos& version of the &like.& This will appear only on those photos that have been shared with you from your family and friends. You can also like a full shared album, but not any photos or albums that aren&t shared, says Google. If you want to save one of these shared photos to your own Favorites album, you have to copy it to your own library first.
Though seemingly minor additions, the implementation of a proper favoriting system is actually a big design decision for a social platform. When Twitter switched from stars to hearts, for example, there was quite the user backlash. And some people continue to be upset over the change years later. Even Facebook had toacquiesce to users& demands for an alternative to its &Like& button by offering different ways to react to a post.
It would have been fun to see Google Photos do something similar — perhaps a shocked emoji, or laughing with tears — in addition to the simple heart. After all, we know not all the photos we take are beloved — some are just ridiculous, goofy, crazy, weird and so on. But the heart will suffice for now.
The features follow a few other changes to Google Photos announced at Google I/O, including more AI-powered photo fixes, and the promise of black-and-white photo colorization soon.
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Write comment (98 Comments)I had a great time last year with Sonycatchily named DPT-RP1, an e-paper tablet thatperfect for reading PDFs and other big documents, but one of my main issues was simply how big the thing is. Light and thin but 13 inches across, the tablet was just unwieldy. Heeding (I assume) my advice, Sony is putting out a smaller version and I can&t wait to try it out.
At the time, I was comparing the RP1 with the reMarkable, a crowdfunded rival that offers fantastic writing ability but isn&t without its flaws. Watch this great video I made:
The 10-inch DPT-CP1 has a couple small differences from its larger sibling. The screen has a slightly lower resolution but should be the same PPI — itmore of a cutout of the original screen than a miniaturization. And itconsiderably lighter: 240 grams to the 13-inch version350. Considering the latter already felt almost alarmingly light, this one probably feels like it&ll float out of your hands and enter orbit.
More important are the software changes. Therea new mobile app for iOS and Android that should make loading and sharing documents easier. A new screen-sharing mode sounds handy but a little cumbrous — you have to plug it into a PC and then plug the PC into a display. And PDF handling has been improved so that you can jump to pages, zoom and pan and scan through thumbnails more easily. Limited interaction (think checkboxes) is also possible.
Therenothing that addresses my main issue with both the RP1 and the reMarkable: that ita pain to do anything substantial on the devices, such as edit or highlight in a document, and if you do, ita pain to bring that work into other environments.
So for now it looks like the Digital Paper series will remain mostly focused on consuming content rather than creating or modifying it. Thatfine — I loved reading stuff on the device, and mainly just wished it were a bit smaller. Now that Sony has granted that wish, it can get to work on the rest.
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Read more: Sony shrinks its Digital Paper tablet down to a more manageable 10 inches
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Another (very) big deal for Netflix: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have reached an agreement to produce films and series for the streaming service.
The New York Times first reported in March that the Obamas were in &advanced negotiations& with Netflix. The goal, supposedly, was less about criticizing the Trump administration or promoting any specific political message and more about highlighting inspirational stories.
Netflixofficial announcement makes it sound like that continues to be what the Obamas have in mind, with Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos describing them as &uniquely positioned to discover and highlight stories of people who make a difference in their communities and strive to change the world for the better.&
The Obamas have formed a company called Higher Ground Productions to create this content.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Netflix has deep pocketsand has shown a willingness to write very large checks. It says the Obamas might produce &scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features& — so basically any kind of audiovisual content.
In a statement, Mr. Obama said:
One of the simple joys of our time in public service was getting to meet so many fascinating people from all walks of life, and to help them share their experiences with a wider audience. Thatwhy Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix & we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world.
Michelle Obama memoir Becoming is scheduled for publication in November, while Barack Obama is expected to release a new memoir under the same deal. Hekept a relatively low profile since leaving office, but he did make a recent appearance as the first guest on David LettermanNetflix interview show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
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Write comment (100 Comments)Because there aren&t enough electric scooters on the roads, Lyft is looking into launching its own fleet of electric scooters in San Francisco, The Information reports.Lyft would join the likes of Spin, Bird and Lime — the three startups that deployed their scooters in San Francisco, without permission, back in March.
Lyft has reportedly been in talks with San Francisco city officials to discuss applying for a permit, and has drafted some prototypes of scooter designs. A Lyft spokesperson declined to comment.
Earlier this month, the city of San Francisco laid out its requirements for companies seeking to obtain electric scooter permits. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has yet to actually finalize the application and terms, but a spokesperson told me on Friday the permit applications should be ready as early as this week. The city will issue permits for no more than five companies during the 24-month pilot program. The program would grant up to 2,500 scooters to operate, but itnot yet clear how many scooters each company would be allowed to deploy.
Meanwhile, Uber also has its eyes on electric scooters. In April, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told me the company plans to &look at any and all options& that would help move transportation options in ways that are city-friendly. That same month, Uber acquired bike-share startup JUMP for about $200 million.
As it stands now, there are four companies that have announced electric scooter sharing. Just last week, scooter startup Skip threw its hat in the ring with $6 million in funding.
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Write comment (95 Comments)In March, the female-led media company and newsletter providertheSkimm reported it was raising a $12 millionSeries C from Google Ventures and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, along with several existing investors. Today, the company is confirming its Series C round has closed with a number of new, mostly female investors joining — including big names like Shonda Rhimes and Tyra Banks.
Variety was the first to report the news of the new investors.
The Series Cadditional investors include former TV journalist Willow Bay, now dean at the USC Anneberg School for Communication and Journalism; Jesse Draper of Halogen Ventures; Shonda Rhimes; founder and CEO of GingerBread Capital, Linnea Roberts; CEO of ELY Capital, Hope Taitz; as well as the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; and Michael Karsch of Juice Press.
Earlier Series C investors included GV(formerly Google Ventures); Spanx founder Sara Blakely; plus former lead investors 21st Century Fox, RRE Ventures and Homebrew Ventures.
TheSkimm began its life as an email newsletter, founded by former TV newsproducers Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg. The newsletter targets millennial women who want an easy way to keep up with the key news of the day. What makes the product so appealing is how itwritten in a conversational tone, making it accessible to a wide audience who often finds reading the news a dreary but necessary chore. Mixed in with its highlights from key U.S., political and international news are samplings of stories from pop culture and the entertainment industry, which gives the newsletter a bit of a palate cleanser — something thatmuch appreciated these days.
That newsletter has now grown to around 7 million subscribers, the company says. (This is the same number it reported in March.)
The company has also expanded to other products since its launch, including a $2.99 per month subscription-based app for keeping up with upcoming news and televised events, a podcast, as well as original videos for YouTube and Facebook Watch via its production arm, Skimm Studios.
Its video offerings includeSkimm&d with…& and &Get Off the Couch& for Facebook, and digital series &Sip n& Skimm,& which landed an interview withCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, followed by a discussion with House Speaker Paul Ryan assessing the proposed GOP tax plan.
Meanwhile, theSkimmpodcast,&Skimm&d from The Couch,& reached No. 1 on Apple Podcasts hours after its launch.
The company generates revenue from a variety of sources, including its app subscriptions, native ads, affiliate, content licensing and distribution, theSkimm notes in an announcement. The company is not offering revenue details, however.
&As a female led and founded company, we are excited to have the opportunity to bring such an impressive and dynamic group of female investors into theSkimm fold,& co-founders and co-CEOs Zakin and Weisberg, said in a statement. &With a majority of our audience being female, itvital to the success of our business to involve women at every single level, and that includes our investors. With their added perspective and resources, we look forward to this next chapter in our companyhistory.&
Banks added she had a personal appreciation for the product, in addition to her desire to support female entrepreneurs.
&Going from one business meeting, to the next studio set, and as a new mama, itmore difficult than ever to stay up to date on the dayheadlines,& the media mogul said. &theSkimm created a media platform that works seamlessly with on-the-go lifestyles. As a fervent supporter of trailblazing female-led businesses, I am thrilled to be a part of the next phase of theSkimmdevelopment,& Banks said.
The company didn&t offer many specifics in terms of how it plans to utilize the additional capital, but told us that it plans to &continue evolving the brand& and grow its product offerings — both premium and free. One of its plans involves expanding its No Excuses political-engagement campaign, reports Variety, which registered 110,000 U.S. voters.
New York-based theSkimm has 72 full-time employees and has raised $29 million to date.
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Read more: TheSkimm closes its $12M Series C with big names Shonda Rhimes and Tyra Banks on board
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Facebookbeen talking Terragraph since way back during its 2016 F8 keynote. The social media giantambitious plan to bring fast Wi-Fi to cities is taking another key step toward real world trials with the addition of Qualcomm. The chipmaking giant announced today that it will add the 60Ghz tech to its future chipsets, with plans to start trials in the middle of next year.
&It is based on the pre-802.11ay standard with enhancements provided by the Qualcomm Technologies& chipset and the integrated software between Facebook and Qualcomm Technologies to support efficient outdoor operation and avoid interference in dense environments,& Qualcomm writes in the announcement.
San Jose has already been floated as a potential testing ground for the technology. Itnot the biggest U.S. city, but the Silicon Valley hub should prove a solid testing ground with its tech savvy population. The companies say the tech will be useful in lowering the cost of high-speed wireless and helping deliver connectivity to populated areas with significant obstacles, including those densely packed with buildings.
The latter, naturally, makes Terragraph a natural for urban environments, where digging up the ground for fiber is a nuisance, to say the least. Facebook is also looking to service more rural spots with its Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum (ARIES) system, a technology that was unveiled at the same F8 event.
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Read more: Facebook and Qualcomm will bring fast Wi-Fi to cities in mid-2019
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