Twitter isn’t attracting enough new users
Twitter’s had a busy fourth quarter. It’s been dropping new features like Moments and today’s best tweets announcement. Also it’s Jack Dorsey’s first full quarter as CEO. So how did it do? Well it made $710 million in total revenue a 48-percent year-over-year increase. But it’s still not profitable. It had a loss of $90 million which is still better than last year’s loss of $125 million. The company also noted that monthly active users remained flat 320 million. Not a good sign when it’s trying to gain new users with new features like Moments.
While the user numbers look flat, if you exclude SMS users that don’t see ads, it gets a bit more grim. Excluding SMS, the company reported it had 305 million monthly active users down from 307 million in Q3. In the United States, it lost 1 million monthly active users (from 66 million to 65 million) between this quarter and the last. Amazingly, it still made more money off the users that continue to send 140 character updates.
During a periscope of the earnings, Dorsey said the company will “focus now on what Twitter does best: Live.” He noted that the company wants to build the planet’s largest connected audience. To do that Twitter will focus on its core service, investing in being a leader in live streaming video, giving creators the best tools, making Twitter safer and supporting developers.
One way it may be working to make the timeline easier for people to understand is fixing the @reply and @name system. During the call he said, “we have some really weird rules in particular in replies and we just need to fix those things.”
Dorsey reiterated the company’s desire to make the timeline easier to use and get more users engaged with it. He noted that the feature announced today increased tweeting and retweeting during testing. He also talked about Moments saying that with a moment is in a tweet, it has higher-than-average click through.
As for the new timeline option, Dorsey said that its the fastest way to “get back to live without missing any of those tweets you really want to see.”
“Our job is to connect the audiences,” he continued.
Google will make it easier to be ‘forgotten’ online in Europe
Google has been complying with the European Union’s “right to be forgotten” laws for nearly two years now, but it hasn’t always been easy. Up until this point, Google has been reviewing and potentially removing information related to a search for a person’s name that appears to be “inadequate or irrelevant.” But thus far, it’s only been removing those results from the search engine in the country that the request originated from — for example, Google.fr search results would omit information for a French citizen’s request, but the data could still be found on Google.com.
Now, it appears that Google’s changing that behavior. According to a report from Reuters, those search results will be removed from all Google pages — assuming the person is doing the searching in the country in question. Continuing with the earlier example, if a French citizen successfully has his information removed from Google, it won’t matter what version of the company’s search engine is being used, so long as the search originates in France.
When this change will go into effect remains to be seen, but Reuters’ source claims that Google has already notified all of the EU data protection authorities that this change will be forthcoming soon. It’s just the latest development in Google’s struggle to meet the EU’s ruling — the company has already had to review hundreds of thousands of requests, with total links numbering in the millions, and it’s been under fire for making some wrong decisions regarding whether or not to honor the requests. This new change might not help Google be any more accurate, but it will make those requests it grants less visible, which will almost surely be seen as a good thing in the EU’s eyes.
Source: Reuters
Ys Chronicles II hits Android, Chronicles I goes on sale
Ys Chronicles is a action-adventure JRPG that has a long and storied past. It first hit American shores all the way back in 1990, and was remade a decade later for release on the PC. The two-part series was fairly popular among a niche demographic, but it finally hit its stride when it arrived on mobile devices. The PSP was the first handheld gaming platform to receive the glory of Ys Chronicles, and its popularity exploded.
The first game has been available on Android for a while, but developer DotEmu has been insisting all that time that Ys Chronicles II was on its way. Today the epic journey finally arrived, and in celebration, DotEmu is knocking 50% off the purchase price of the first game. That means there’s never been a better time to see what all the fuss is about.
The Android version of the RPG comes with every bit of the content that first wooed audiences on PC and PSP. It also brings a few extra bits and enhancements to the table, including different play modes (Andventure and Time Attack). You can also choose whether to play with the updated, HD graphics, or rock it old school with the traditional sprites. Same goes with the audio: updated soundtrack or classic. There are even a few new artifacts, weapons, and armor sprinkled in there as a perk for mobile players.
The game is available for a single purchase of $4.99. It’s a complete game with no in-app purchases. If you really want to start at the beginning, be sure to take advantage of the sale going on for the first one by clicking the buttons below.
Get the first one on sale!
Get the second one for $4.99!
Next: 10 best Android MMORPGs
Ys Chronicles II hits Android, Chronicles I goes on sale
Ys Chronicles is a action-adventure JRPG that has a long and storied past. It first hit American shores all the way back in 1990, and was remade a decade later for release on the PC. The two-part series was fairly popular among a niche demographic, but it finally hit its stride when it arrived on mobile devices. The PSP was the first handheld gaming platform to receive the glory of Ys Chronicles, and its popularity exploded.
The first game has been available on Android for a while, but developer DotEmu has been insisting all that time that Ys Chronicles II was on its way. Today the epic journey finally arrived, and in celebration, DotEmu is knocking 50% off the purchase price of the first game. That means there’s never been a better time to see what all the fuss is about.
The Android version of the RPG comes with every bit of the content that first wooed audiences on PC and PSP. It also brings a few extra bits and enhancements to the table, including different play modes (Andventure and Time Attack). You can also choose whether to play with the updated, HD graphics, or rock it old school with the traditional sprites. Same goes with the audio: updated soundtrack or classic. There are even a few new artifacts, weapons, and armor sprinkled in there as a perk for mobile players.
The game is available for a single purchase of $4.99. It’s a complete game with no in-app purchases. If you really want to start at the beginning, be sure to take advantage of the sale going on for the first one by clicking the buttons below.
Get the first one on sale!
Get the second one for $4.99!
Next: 10 best Android MMORPGs
LG teases an Always-On Display feature for the G5
We know that the LG G5 is upon us; LG hasn’t been quiet about the fact. The Korean manufacturer is also known to tease little tidbits about new upcoming features, and we just got our first one for the G5. The company’s Facebook page, LG Mobile, posted a teaser gif that reveals Always On capability on the G5’s display.
http://s.imgur.com/min/embed.js
Always On isn’t a radical concept, but a real nice to have. It’s probably most known on Motorola devices (Moto Display). It partially lights up the screen to only show information that we frequently check on our phones (the time, date, and notifications).
LG first played with the idea on the V10 (with the help of the Second Screen). However, the G5 teaser shows the information pop up front and center on the display. This strongly hints that LG will make a move to an OLED panel (which isn’t too far-fetched based on recent reportings), because lighting up the entire display for small pieces of information would be hugely inefficient. The V10 got away with it because it only needed to turn on the small secondary 2.1″ display up top.
LG V10 Always On Second Screen
While this is all we know so far officially, we have recently gotten some telling leaks. Check out our rumor roundup on the G5. The Feb. 21st unveiling at Mobile World Congress isn’t too far now, so hang tight. Does LG really grab your attention with the Always On feature?
The post LG teases an Always-On Display feature for the G5 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Valve’s VR technology now works with the Unity game engine
For many gaming platforms, the litmus test these days is whether or not they get official support in Unity’s game engine — land that and many developers (and by extension, gamers) are likely to give them a closer look. Valve just got a big credibility boost, then, as Unity is introducing native SteamVR support. If a virtual reality game runs on Unity’s seemingly ubiquitous code, it’s that much more likely to work with the HTC Vive and other SteamVR-friendly headsets. And much like the Unreal Engine, teams can edit in VR if they want to know what a scene will look like for players.
Valve’s not the only one giving Unity the thumbs-up, either. Unity is also adding support for Google Cardboard support, letting devs make VR experiences that won’t cost you or them a lot of money. Both Google and Valve are a bit late to the party — Oculus Rift support has been there for a while. Nonetheless, this is heartening news if you were concerned that game studios wouldn’t show SteamVR enough affection.
Footage of editing in VR. @unity3d #VisionSummit2016 #vr #virtualreality #womeninvr pic.twitter.com/sfEHVzkMD5
— Jenn Duong (@jenndefer) February 10, 2016
Via: Jenn Duong (Twitter 1), (2), (3)
Source: Unity
Cotton candy machines help create artificial organs
You may have seen some pretty unusual ways to make artificial organs, but Vanderbilt University might have just topped them all. Its researchers have developed a technique for making the templates of artificial organs using a cotton candy machine — that’s right, the machine whipping up treats at the county fair could effectively save your life. The team discovered that the same centrifugal process that melts sugar into delicious, fluffy strands also turns hydrogel into cell-friendly microfibers that behave like capillaries in the human body.
It’s still early going, but this approach is already much more promising than current alternatives relying on electrospinning. A block of the resulting gel ‘lived’ for over a week, and the fibers are both easier to make and 10 times thinner. They’re potentially cheaper, too. Vanderbilt got its technique working with a $40 cotton candy maker from Target, so hospitals wouldn’t need expensive equipment (beyond an organics-friendly 3D printer, that is) to create viable transplants.
Via: Fast Company Design
Tesla will unveil its $35,000 Model 3 on March 31st
Tesla has long promised a $35,000 electric car is on the way, and in today’s earnings release (PDF) it announced that we’ll get to see the Model 3 on March 31st, ahead of it going on sale in “late 2017.” That’s in addition to the currently shipping Model S sedan (shown above) and Model X SUV, and the company recently confirmed it still expects to hit that $35k price target before applying electric vehicle incentives. Also, its battery building gigafactory — key to achieving that mass market price for the Model 3 — is up and running in Nevada, with Powerwall units produced there already in use by customers.
The letter also takes aim at recent news regarding reliability for Tesla’s automobiles, saying that the “cost of first year repair claims on cars produced in 2015” was half that of 2014, and one quarter of what it saw in 2012. Hopefully that means things are trending the right way as it cranks up production. Tesla built more cars in Q4 than it ever had before, with 14,037 EVs rolling out, and it’s expecting to reach 1,000 Model Xs built every week during Q2.
Developing….
Source: Tesla Earnings (PDF)
Twitter is going to ‘fix’ how you @
Earlier today, Twitter announced that it would be implementing an optional algorithmic feed that would put the most “important” tweets that you missed at the top of your timeline. Now it seems there are more changes in the works. According to Twitter’s Q4 and Fiscal 2015 letter to its shareholders, it is now going to fix how its @name and @reply syntax works. This @reply mechanism, Twitter says, is confusing and is known to “inhibit usage and drive people away.”
While that seems a little odd at first, it does make some sense. @replies take up valuable space in that 140-character limit and plenty of people often @reply to the wrong person because of misspellings, typos or simply a misunderstanding of how Twitter works (I know I get a lot of misdirected @nicole tweets, for example). It remains to be seen how Twitter plans to fix this issue, but it does seem like the company is being more aggressive than ever in attempting to refine its product. In the same shareholder letter, Twitter also says it plans to “improve onboarding flows” so that you can find your contacts easier, and to make tweeting faster with both text and visual media.
Source: Twitter
iDevices Sells iGrill and Kitchen Thermometers to Weber
iDevices has announced that its app-enabled iGrill and Kitchen Thermometer accessories have been acquired by Weber-Stephen Products, a worldwide manufacturer of charcoal, gas, and electric outdoor grills and related accessories. The acquisition includes the iGrill2, iGrill mini, Kitchen Thermometer, and Kitchen Thermometer mini. The terms of the agreement are confidential.
Weber will partner with iDevices to release a new iGrill app, which is expected to be available in spring 2016. Until then, iGrill and Kitchen Thermometer users can continue using their accessories through the existing iDevices Connected app. Unlike some of its other products, iDevices’s iGrill and Kitchen Thermometer accessories are not compatible with Apple’s HomeKit smart home platform.
iDevices said it will now be able to focus more on becoming a leader in the home automation market. The accessory maker already sells multiple HomeKit-enabled products, including a Switch, Outdoor Switch, and Thermostat. It introduced four more HomeKit accessories at CES 2016, including a Socket, Wall Switch, Dimmer Switch, and Wall Outlet. The products will be released throughout 2016.
iGrill is an intelligent thermometer that allows you to monitor the temperature of the meat you are grilling on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
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