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Apple Card

The US Citizens Can Now Finally Use the Apple Card

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Apple finally launched its most anticipated Apple card on Tuesday. For now, it will only be available for the users in the U.S. The users can apply for the card directly from their Apple Wallet app on their iPhone. They do not have to wait for the physical card to arrive as they can use it virtually through the Apple Pay as soon they request for the card.

The new card is the digital-first card that the iPhone users will get, and it will even make the credits private for the users. According to Apple, no system will keep the record of from where and when a user has shopped and what amount did he pay, like, in the cash system, it will keep the credits anonymous. So the users don’t have to worry about their data being sold by the company. But the users can see their spendings and balance in the card through the Apple Card app. They can also keep the record of the cash backs they got and see where they spent their money in Apple Maps.

Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard to design and process the card. There is no annual fee, cash advances fees, over the limit fees or late fees, that the user needs to pay to use the card. And moreover, according to the claims made by the company, it has got even lesser interest on the purchases. In fact, the company will be providing incentives and cash rewards to users for using the new card. The card is acceptable at every merchant accepting Mastercard.

Apple Card
Image Source: interestingengineering.com

The new card also renders some interesting features, like it changes colour for different types of spendings. For example, if a user is using the card for a restaurant bill, the card will turn orange. And if the spending is on entertainment, the card colour will be a mix of orange and pink. Apple has already started 3% cashback on purchase through the virtual card at selected merchants, including Uber and Uber Eats. With the physical card, the cashback will be 1%.

The new app to use the card is available for the users, who own an Apple 6 or a newer model running iOS 12.4. To use the app, you need to go to the Apple Wallet and tap on the (+) icon on the upper right corner on the screen. Then, a Continue button will appear along with a small description of the Apple Card. Upon tapping on the Continue button, a list of Card Type will appear, where you need to select Apple Card. Then you must verify and confirm your details by filling in the information and accept the Apple Card terms and conditions on the next screen.

After that, Apple will send you a description of the credit limit and interest rates based on your information, where you need to tap on Accept Apple Card. This way, the card will be ready for use.

reddit live stream

Reddit is Testing a New Live Stream Feature

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The popular American social news aggregation and discussion website, Reddit, has just announced that it is going to start a new live streaming service. Last Friday, the Reddit feed was filled with posts that were talking about a new r/pan subreddit, which made everyone curious about the new feature. Finally, Redditers started getting notifications about this new subreddit on their accounts, including the announcement about a new live broadcasting service from Reddit, and also, the rules that one need to follow in order to live stream.

The company revealed through the notification that the new broadcasting service will be called the “Reddit Public Access Network”, and only the eligible people will be able to live stream over it. The r/pan subreddit will be dedicated to the very service.

Reddit will be displaying the best live streams on its first page. There will be a voting system, like the upvote Reddit already have on it. The other users can vote for their favourite creators, and those votes will be the parameters for the lives streams to feature on the Reddit front page.

reddit live stream
Image Source: marketingland.com

But, there are some rules that the users need to follow in order to live stream on the platform. One of the rules states that the creators need to be careful about posting any adult content, anything that can offend the common users of Reddit, graphic violence, hoax promotion, as well as illegal or dangerous behaviour.

Since it will be a public network, there is no choice for the users to post anonymously or keep the live stream private. Currently, the new feature is out for testing. But even during the test, it will display the top voted posts on its first page. There has been put a limitation on the timings for the stream as well. It will be a five days test, that will end on 23rd August, and the users will be able to post between 9 am to 5 pm.

The main purpose for setting the time limit for the post is to carry out an accurate moderation for the content that will be posted through live broadcast.

“We are 100 per cent committed to making sure that content on RPAN stays safe and Safe for Work. We will be watching RPAN broadcasts very closely.” said the company in the blog post.

Though Reddit is already one of the most loved contents posting platforms, if all worked fine, the new feature can lead it to join YouTube and Twitch as one of the leading streaming platforms as well.

Huawei mapping kit

Huawei to Launch its own Mapping Kit as the Result of the China-U.S. Trade War

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The ban that the U.S. government had put on Huawei has made its experiment with its own products, and after it announced HarmonyOS (HongmengOS), the company has revealed that it is going to launch its own home-grown mapping kit similar to the Google Maps. Though the company has still not admitted that the HarmonyOS will be empowering its smartphones, it definitely is going to feature its mapping app into them.

The company has been facing some serious issues, and it got almost banned in the U.S. Though the company got a relaxation for the trade in the U.S., and it is expected to get 90 more days to operate in the country, it still is banned from embedding Google Maps into its smartphones.

This has led the company to take another step towards independence, such that it is already up to developing on its own mapping app, named Map Kit. The company will be incorporating over 150 countries into the very mapping kit, and for that, it will be operating with the local mapping apps.

Huawei mapping kit

The mapping app is not for the public use, instead, the developers would be able to create their map apps based on the kit. The kit will combine features, like street views and navigation, that will also show real-time traffic condition. The kit can also be used to add a location tracking feature in other apps, and for that, the kit will render support for the augmented reality.

“Huawei Map Kit will be available in 40 languages. It will offer real-time traffic conditions and a highly sophisticated navigation system which can recognize a car changing lanes. It will also support augmented-reality mapping,” Zhang Pingan, the president of cloud services of the consumer business group at Huawei, said in a statement.

But the company still has got into ties with an American company named Booking Holdings to work on the new mapping service. The U.S. government has though given the company the permit to work in the U.S. market, still the company is now aware that it is not permanent, and the company has to bring its own products if it wants to continue to rule the smartphone market.

In the past, many big companies have tried to build their own products, and not all have succeeded in that. The independence from the use of the third-party product will help Huawei to focus on the smartphone markets other than the U.S., and the company can also gain the customer base for its products, that the other companies would use into their products, such as is new HarmonyOS and the mapping kit. Huawei will be bringing the mapping kit in coming October.

sharechat

ShareChat Raises a $100 Mn in a Twitter Led Funding Round

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After a long struggle, India has also become home to many creative and useful startups, and even the global tech companies agree with that. Following that very fact, Twitter, one of the biggest technology company, just closed the D series funding as the lead for a four years old Indian company ShareChat.

Where Twitter led the funding, major investment brands including TrustBridge Partners, Shunwei Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SAIF Capital, India Quotient and Morningside Venture Capital took part in the investments, among which a few are the company’s existing investors. With the latest round of funding, the company was able to raise a $100 million, and with that, the company now values at about $650 million. Till now, the company has raised around $224 million.

ShareChat is an Indian social network that allows people to chat in the regional languages. This is the reason why despite tens of popular chat apps, ShareChat has grown to tens of million users in just four years. Twitter also sees the potential in the startup that is why it took the privilege to lead the funding for the company.

sharechat
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

There has been no statement from Sharechat on the matter. But the managing director of Twitter India, Manish Maheshwari said in a statement, “Twitter and ShareChat are aligned on the broader purpose of serving the public conversation, helping the world learn faster and solve common challenges. This investment will help ShareChat grow and provide the company’s management team access to Twitter’s executives as thought partners.”

Twitter just appointed Manish Maheshwari in April 2019 for its India office after it started facing a decline in its growth in India. After his appointment in Twitter, Maheshwari has said in a statement, “With premium Indian content on the rise in multiple regions across the country, I believe we are scratching the surface of what’s possible with Twitter in India.”

ShareChat supports almost every regional language except English, which has been the unique feature to attract its 60 million users to the platform. And, the company has no plans to change that in the coming future. So investing in ShareChat can be a step forward for the company to expand its limits to different regions, regional languages and people from different background.

twitter new feature

Twitter Wants You Follow Your Interest With its New Feature

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The tech industry is evolving every day, and every big tech company, as well as the startups, are coming up with new service, products and updates every sing day. So there has to be something that the other existing companies have to do to sustain through the increased competition. Despite being one of the biggest social media networks, Twitter also knows that it has to experiment with new things so that it can maintain its position in the market.

Taking a step in the same direction, Twitter announced that is working on a new feature to be included into the platform, that would allow the users to see tweets based on their chosen interest on their timeline. For now, the company is still testing the feature and will be launching soon after the successful tests take place.

With the new feature, the users will be able to follow their interests as they do for any individual’s account, and this way, Twitter will curate a relevant feed for the users. The platform is going to take the help of machine learning to bring the tweets based on the user’s interest together and show it up in their feed.

twitter new feature
Image Source: sciencemag.org

The company is calling the new feature “dedicated interest experiences”, which it has already talked about in recent years and finally it is conducting tests with them. The topic of interest for the users can be any of the sports teams, celebrities, or the television shows, but according to the product manager at Twitter, Rob Bishop, for now, the interest will only be based on sports. The initial tests are being carried out on the android devices only.

With the feature, Twitter will also bring up topic suggestions for the users, so that they can find their interest among the suggestions and follow them. Also, there will be an option to mute a particular topic you do not want to see the tweets about.

Twitter is also testing another feature, through which the users will make a list of their interests they follow and want to follow. The company even demonstrated the feature, where a product manager mixed hashtags and a few individual accounts to make a list. The list was accessed by swiping the app’s home screen.

The company is also looking forward to testing the other features like search option in DM, reordering a certain photo in a posted tweet, customizable timeline and support for Apple’s Live Photos.

tumblr

Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic the WordPress.com Owner

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Verizon Media, who last year acquired the microblogging site Tumblr has agreed to sell it off to Automattic Inc. According to The Wall Street Journal reports, the WordPress owner company, Automattic, will be acquiring Tumblr for an undisclosed amount soon.

Verizon bought Tumblr after it had acquired Yahoo, last year. Tumblr was the Yashoo’s subsidiary, and for the last year, Verizon Media was taking care of its operations and actions. The company had also imposed a ban on the adult content sharing over the platform, which got the platform to lose most of its user base.

Tumblr was one of the first and the most popular social media platform, but for the past couple of years, it has been struggling with its position in the market. Though before Verizon bought the company, many preferred Tumblr over any other social media platform. The ban that Verizon had put on the company has made many of its users boycott the platform. Since then, the companies, including Instagram and Snapchat, that came after Tumblr into the field of social media, are taking over the whole business game.

tumblr
Image Source: forbes.com

Even though the ban has led to the fall in the number of users for Tumblr, Automattic Inc. has no plans to remove the ban and continue with the Tumblr operations as it is.

“Adult content is not our forte either, and it creates a huge number of potential issues with app stores, payment providers, trust and safety,” said Automattic’s CEO Matt Mullenweg on Monday. “It’s a problem area best suited for companies fully dedicated to creating a great experience there. I have very liberal views on these things, but supporting adult content as a business is very different,” he added further.

Mullenweg also said that the company would be using Tumblr as complementary to its current platforms, and it won’t receive any changes shortly. Since Tumblr also has its app, Automattic may use its app for the expansion for its other products and services.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of a thoughtful, thorough and strategic process,” Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan said. “Tumblr is a marquee brand that has started movements, allowed for true identities to blossom and become home to many creative communities and fandoms. We are proud of what the team has accomplished and are happy to have found the perfect partner in Automattic.”

But for everyone’s surprise, according to a report from Axios, the acquisition will take place for a sum of 3 million, which is way less than the amount that Yahoo paid for to buy it in 2013, i.e. $1.1 billion.