Author Archives: Matt Kapko

Snapchat is a radically different app than it was five years ago when it burst on the social media scene. However, through all of its changes, the app continues to blend communication and entertainment unlike any of its competitors. The ephemeral — or short-lived — pictures and messages that Snapchat popularized has evolved into “stories” that can be shared in sequences or broadcast live.

Snapchat continues to lead much of the industry. Its most well-known features have been copied by the likes of Facebook, Instagram and others. If Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is grappling with the same existential problems that dogged Twitter for so many years, it’s almost by design. Snapchat is comfortable with experimentation and willing to make big, abrupt changes to redefine what the app can deliver and signify to more than 150 million daily active users.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google this week is giving its long-forgotten voice and text communications service its first significant update in five years. Google Voice apps are gaining features and a cleaner design that match the look of Google’s other apps, according to the company.

Most of the new features are overdue and Google is simply catching up to similar services in the market. While you will likely be pleased with the refresh, the new Google Voice looks more like a reset than a leap forward.

Google Voice, which was released almost eight years ago, finally supports MMS on all platforms and most major carriers, according to Google. The new apps also support group messaging, in-notification replies, 3D Touch support for iPhone users and voicemail transcription in Spanish, the company says.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Professionals looking to change jobs and pursue a better career path, might want to check out LinkedIn’s inaugural list of the “Most Promising Jobs of 2017” in the U.S. The professional social network analyzed its treasure trove of data to determine jobs with high median salaries, strong job openings with year-over-year growth, and jobs most likely to lead to career advancement.

[ Related: LinkedIn releases major website redesign ]

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google+ is forcing its remaining users to say goodbye to the website design and format that many people consider to be the hallmark of the struggling social network. After Google+ was overhauled in late 2015 to focus on communities and collections, you were allowed to opt-out of the redesign and remain in classic mode. That option is no longer available beginning today.

Google+ is still in decline, by most accounts, but the company isn’t giving up on its once grandiose social networking project yet. The company is reducing white space, introducing an algorithm to hide spam from comments, and bringing back the ability to create events — a feature it killed in last year’s redesign, according to a blog post by Danielle Buckley, Google+ product manager. Google is also committed to updates, but it’s unclear how significant those might be considering how much the service has been whittled down since its June 2011 launch.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

America’s largest tech companies face a growing backlash over the potentially negative impacts of their strategic decisions and innovations. For example, companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and product roadmaps that will replace millions of jobs during the coming years. Experts in marketing, technology and social awareness say it’s time for technology providers to assume greater responsibility for the personal pain that comes along with the collective gain.

Emerging technology is at almost perpetual odds with the status quo, but U.S. society is coming to realize that dynamic can lead to job losses, unfair treatment of social services and a stain on civic engagement. The power and influence that some tech companies command is being reevaluated in light of the myriad ways people are being disenfranchised in some way by their actions.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

America’s largest tech companies face a growing backlash over the potentially negative impacts of their strategic decisions and innovations. For example, companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and product roadmaps that will replace millions of jobs during the coming years. Experts in marketing, technology and social awareness say it’s time for technology providers to assume greater responsibility for the personal pain that comes along with the collective gain.

Emerging technology is at almost perpetual odds with the status quo, but U.S. society is coming to realize that dynamic can lead to job losses, unfair treatment of social services and a stain on civic engagement. The power and influence that some tech companies command is being reevaluated in light of the myriad ways people are being disenfranchised in some way by their actions.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ralph Loura says he has been using Workplace by Facebook longer than anyone outside of the company. “I’m told that I was the first CIO, the first company to use what [Facebook] then called Facebook at Work like four years ago,” he says of his time as vice president and CIO at The Clorox Co.

Ralph Loura

Loura joined the skincare company Rodan & Fields as CTO in early 2016 and has since shifted the company’s employees from various messaging and collaboration apps to Workplace. “Everyone in the company is using the platform internally,” he says. Workplace has replaced Yammer, Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, Salesforce Chatter and many other apps, according to Loura.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant was impossible to miss at CES 2017. The surprise hit service that powers Amazon’s smart home hub, Echo, is being embedded into a growing arsenal of connected products, inside and outside the home. 

In many ways, Alexa is the feature of the moment for consumer electronics such as refrigerators, vacuums, DVR boxes, robots, TVs, washers and dryers, cars, and an important product category in which Amazon has thus far failed spectacularly: smartphones. Amazon was center stage during the annual tech gathering in the desert, as dozens of companies announced plans to integrate Alexa into their upcoming products. Ford, LG, Whirlpool, GE, Lenovo, Samsung, Hyundai and Huawei are a few of the big names that joined the race to bring Alexa to the masses.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant was impossible to miss at CES 2017. The surprise hit service that powers Amazon’s smart home hub, Echo, is being embedded into a growing arsenal of connected products, inside and outside the home. 

In many ways, Alexa is the feature of the moment for consumer electronics such as refrigerators, vacuums, DVR boxes, robots, TVs, washers and dryers, cars, and an important product category in which Amazon has thus far failed spectacularly: smartphones. Amazon was center stage during the annual tech gathering in the desert, as dozens of companies announced plans to integrate Alexa into their upcoming products. Ford, LG, Whirlpool, GE, Lenovo, Samsung, Hyundai and Huawei are a few of the big names that joined the race to bring Alexa to the masses.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here