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ESPN looks to reinvent itself with a SportsCenter for Snapchat
More than three years ago, ESPN opened a 194,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility known as Digital Center 2. That space was built to house five studios, including the home of its flagship show SportsCenter, which has been airing on TV since 1979. The goal from the beginning was to make the show futureproof, by laying the foundation for its studio to support incoming technologies like 4K and 8K content. It was also set up to handle the rise of social media, what with a wall made of 56 screens giving the anchors' the ability to interact with Twitter or Facebook posts from athletes in a real-time 3D environment. The Digital Center 2 brought SportsCenter into the 21st century.
Discover card users can redeem their points on Apple Pay
Apple Pay gives you many ways to pay for your purchases -- and now Discover's cashback bonus is one of them. Discover and Apple have teamed up to give you the ability to redeem your cashback points through the mobile payment app, so long as you can fulfill a set of requirements. You'll obviously have to add your Discover card to Apple Pay, download the Discover app, have a rewards balance higher than the amount of the item you want to purchase and, most importantly, you have to be using an iPhone 6 or later.
CNN is the latest to make a daily news show for Snapchat
NBC isn't the only major US broadcaster hopping on the Snapchat daily news show bandwagon. CNN has launched The Update, a survey of events that will run in the Shows section of Snapchat's Stories at 6PM Eastern. Each regular episode will cover five or more stories in a quick, just-the-facts format. Logically, there will be out-of-cycle updates for breaking news. CNN's Snapchat news output has so far been limited to infographics and story links, so this is a much more concerted effort to court the mobile crowd.
Google is reportedly building a Snapchat-style news system
Snapchat's Discover mode is a way for brands to create visual stories for consumption by its 158 million reported daily users. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Google is developing a very similar branded-media content feature, nicknamed "Stamp." Sources say that publishers including Vox Media, CNN, Mic, the Washington Post and Time are planning to participate. Google might announce the service as early as next week, say the sources.
Shopify goes after Square with a new mobile credit card reader
Shopify just released its new card reader that makes it easy for merchants to complete credit or debit card-based sales on the go. The reader accepts chip dips or swipes and works with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. It connects wirelessly to Android and Apple phones via Bluetooth and at full charge can carry out 400 chip dips and 700 swipe transactions.
Samsung Pay finally works with your Discover card
Samsung Pay was supposed to work with Discover cards in 2016 (it was announced in 2015), but the year came and went without support. And that's no small problem if you like tap-to-pay purchases. While Discover isn't the biggest name in the credit business, it has over 51 million card holders. Thankfully, that conspicuous gap appears to have closed: Samsung phone owners have noticed that Discover support quietly went live in recent days. We've asked both Samsung and Discover for comment, but Samsung hasn't updated its compatibility list as of this writing. Don't be surprised if the two are waiting before making the news official.
Android Pay now works with your mobile banking app
You no longer have to use Google's official app if you want to get started with Android Pay's tap-to-buy features. The internet giant has forged partnerships with several financial institutions (currently including Bank of America, BNZ, Discover, mBank and USAA) that let you add cards and use Android Pay from within their mobile banking apps. The tap-to-pay experience should remain familiar, right down to getting notifications whenever you make a purchase.
Snapchat fights clickbait in Discover stories
Clickbait headlines and fake news aren't limited to the web and social networks. They're also problems in mobile services, and Snapchat wants to do something about it. The company is instituting rules that prevent Discover publishers from misleading users. Creators can't use headlines or images without editorial value, and they can't produce or link to fake news. The aim is to create an "informative, factual and safe" space for news, the company tells the New York Times.
Pocket's Explore tab adds more reading suggestions
Pocket is one of the slickest bookmarking services for reading on the web, but its strength was never discovering new things to read. Starting today, it's hoping to fix that with a new Explore tab at the top of its homepage: type in what you're looking to read about, and off you go. Trending stories will line up alongside articles that other users have substantially saved. Related topics are also included, if you really have some hours to kill. The feature is in beta at the moment, but Explore doesn't require a login. You just... browse. Possibly forever.
Google wants to help find your next book to read
It doesn't matter if you've got the biggest or best shop in the world if you can't connect people to the things that they want. It's an issue that Google is hoping to address in its electronic bookstore with the launch of Discover, a new way to show people stuff they want to read. The service is designed to replace the human booksellers you used to find in Barnes & Noble, offering up recommendations and reviews for stuff you should read.
NFL starts working on a Snapchat Discover channel
Big-name sports leagues have briefly teamed up with Snapchat before (mainly for Live Stories), but the NFL appears to be in it for the long haul. The football league is hiring a managing editor that would produce content for a Snapchat Discover channel full of animations, articles and videos. The exact nature of the content is under wraps, to no one's surprise. However, it's reasonable to suspect that the NFL would offer the sort of bite-sized content that it does on its website, such as news and game highlights.
Snapchat Discover update adds subscriptions and previews
Snapchat's Discover page has always felt a bit like an afterthought, despite how much revenue the company expects to make with that particular feature. So, to make that tab a little more user- and advertiser-friendly, TechCrunch reports the company is adding image and headline previews to drive users through to each publisher's content.
MTV's first original Snapchat Discover show is all about sex
You'd think that MTV would have been quick to produce original shows for Snapchat's Discover portal (to be where the young people are), but nope -- it's only just getting to that now. The network has unveiled Pants Off, an eight-episode series that dishes out serious advice on sex and relationships in an accessible way. Sex educator and video blogger Laci Green hosts each of the short-form clips, which tackle everything from sex advice myths to dating apps. It's clear that MTV and Green aren't pulling many (if any) punches in the first episode. Although there isn't anything graphic on screen so far, you probably want to watch with headphones on while you're in public.
Snapchat hopes you'll subscribe to video channels
Snapchat isn't content with simply offering videos through Discover and hoping you'll watch them... it wants to give you a reason to keep coming back. Recode sources understand that Snapchat is planning to let you subscribe to Discover channels. You'd know the moment when CNN or ESPN posts a new video, and the mobile apps would give the Discover icons a "magazine-like" look that shows the video du jour. The company isn't confirming anything, but Snapchat is reportedly aiming to launch subscriptions as early as May.
Snapchat's video viewing triples in just six months
Have you been watching a lot of video on Snapchat lately? You're not alone... far from it, in fact. Snapchat has confirmed to the Financial Times that its video viewing has tripled in half a year, to the point where people are watching 6 billion clips every day. It didn't explain the sudden uptick, but it wouldn't be surprising if it's a combination of a growing user base with Discover and the increasing volume of Live Stories you can watch. Snapchat isn't just for recording private messages for your friends, then -- it may well be a one-stop video shop for some people.
Time's up for Snapchat's original content
A service built on the two pillars of ephemerality and genitals was always going to be an unlikely destination for entertainment content. That's why it comes as little surprise that Snapchat is closing down Snap Channel, its portal for homegrown "TV" shows. According to Deadline Hollywood, the firm has also let go of Marcus Wiley, a high-profile comedy development executive that was hired in May of this year. Snap Channel had been withdrawn a few weeks ago, with Wiley charged with remaking the outlet in his own image. Unfortunately, original programming, much of it scripted, would have cost far more money than Snapchat wanted to spend. Now, the service will stick with using third-party content from other networks to provide a polite veneer behind which all those genital pictures can hide.
Discover cards will work with Apple Pay starting September 16th
Discover has been dragging its heels on Apple Pay support for its credit cards (it confirmed its plans back in the spring), but it's finally ready to get with the mobile payment program. The firm now expects to roll out Apple Pay compatibility on September 16th, with perks (such as a 10 percent cashback bonus and additional travel miles) kicking in if you use Apple's tech to buy goods before the end of 2015. This might not matter much to you if you're a loyal AmEx, MasterCard or Visa fan, but the move means that every major US credit card provider now accepts the iPhone-only service. While this still doesn't represent truly universal card support in Apple Pay, it's much closer than before.
Snapchat is getting a Sofia Vergara video series
If you ask Fusion, Snapchat's Discover portal isn't just for keeping up with daily events -- it's also about following the lives of the Hollywood elite. The media company is launching a six-episode Snapchat series this summer that covers Modern Family star Sofia Vergara's career from the viewpoint of her son Manolo. Vergaraland, as it's called, will shoot vertically to match Snapchat's signature format. You might not necessarily be enthralled by the idea, but it shows that Discover is big enough that TV celebs and bigger video outlets are taking notice. [Image credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]
Snapchat adds sharing tools to its news discovery portal
Snapchat's curated selection of news stories called Discover is reportedly in trouble, with traffic dropping significantly since its debut back in January. That's probably why the company has introduced a new function that lets you share articles and videos straight from the portal to your friends. Whenever you find something worth showing to other people, just press the screen and wait for the new tools to pop out. You can type a caption and/or write on the snapshot of the page with a digital marker, then you can send it out to pals you choose as you would any other "snap." In addition to Discover's new sharing function, you can now also take zoomed in videos by dragging your finger across the screen while recording. We took Discover's new tools for a spin and embedded some samples below the fold, but you can try them out yourself after downloading the latest app refresh from iTunes or Google Play.
Snapchat hires a top CNN reporter to oversee its news
Snapchat just showed how serious it is about turning its mobile video messaging service into your news hub. The company has hired Peter Hamby, one of CNN's best political reporters, to oversee its news efforts. He'll still contribute to the TV network through 2016, but his top priority will be the internet startup. As to what Hamby will actually do in his new job? He's not spilling the beans, but his interest in Snapchat's live stories suggests that you'll see more on-the-ground coverage of unfolding events. You may well find yourself using a single app to both catch up on the day's happenings and share gossip with your friends.
