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The Tesla D, HTC's RE action cam and other stories you might've missed
Want to take a closer look at the Tesla D or HTC's oddly shaped RE action camera? We've got all that and more -- read on for all the best tech news from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Engadget Daily: Test-driving the Tesla D, alleged Snapchat breach and more!
Wish you could take Tesla's new EV for a spin? Why not live vicariously through us -- our own Nicole Lee rode shotgun, and yeah, she enjoyed it. That's not all we have on deck for this weekend, though. Read on for our news highlights from the past 24 hours.
Snapchat servers 'were never breached,' but your snaps may still be compromised (update)
Snapchat is a photo sharing service known for its temporary nature: you send a photo to a friend, a few seconds later the photo disappears and is erased. If you snap a screen of the image, Snapchat tells the other person. That's the elevator pitch, anyway. A variety of third-party apps skirt around that temporality, enabling users to secretly save the images they're sent -- occasionally of the nude variety -- and anonymous internet forum 4chan is claiming it hacked one of those apps to access hundreds of thousands of images. Worse, those images are allegedly tied to usernames. Yes, that means your images may be at risk of exposure. Snapchat can't confirm the alleged leak because it didn't involve the company's servers if it did happen, but the company says its data centers are secure. Here's what Snapchat told us: "We can confirm that Snapchat's servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks. Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users' security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed."
Snapchat's evaporating news feed is getting ads 'soon'
Those sponsored stories on Snapchat were apparently just the beginning. At Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit today, the ephemeral messaging app's founder Evan Spiegel said that ads are en route "soon." Those ads will be based around the Story section of the application that provides a platform for evaporating recaps of whatever you choose. "We're cutting through the new technology around ads to the core of it, which is telling a story," Spiegel (above) told moderator Katie Couric. Ads seem like a natural progression for any social network, so users shouldn't exactly be surprised by this -- after all, you gotta keep those ghosts employed somehow. [Image credit: Getty Images for Vanity Fair]
Mirage is yet another Snapchat rival with 15 second video
Mirage is a free app for iPhone that lets you send photos and videos to friends that disappear after a few seconds never to be seen again. One tap on a friend and the photo or video is sent out, no questions asked. Does this sound a bit familiar? Yes, it's another app taking on the concept that made Snapchat so famous. Mirage adds a bit of its own flair, but what's important is if it is able to stand out from the crowd. It requires iOS 7.0 or later. Sign up is relatively easy, requiring just your cell phone number (for verification) and a username. A profile photo is optional. The main Mirage screen features a perfectly square camera view and a list of friends toward the bottom, a bit reminiscent of Shoutout's design that we reviewed about a week ago. Mirage lacks any buttons and instead relies on quick, instinctive use. Tap once on the camera view to flip the camera from the front to back and vice versa, double tap to add a caption and swipe to apply various filters. Then, just tap a person's thumbnail to snap a photo and send it all at once. Again, like Shoutout, there's no ability to actually preview the image you captured before it sends. You won't get to see videos either, because to record a video you tap and hold the person you want to send the video to and lift your finger for it to automatically send. This is definitely a turn off for some people, but this method makes using the app faster - and notably faster than using Snapchat. There aren't any settings to play with, not even to change the amount of seconds it takes for a photo you send to vanish. That's a bit disappointing. Videos are up to 15 seconds in length, which is a welcome increase from the 10 seconds Snapchat allows. 10 seconds very often feels like it's just under what's necessary to capture an entire thought, but then again, sometimes so does 140 characters on Twitter. Mirage also has a few unique filters which some other apps lack - mainly the unique part. After using this app for just a small period of time, it became clear to me that sadly Mirage doesn't have anything really in particular to set itself apart from Snapchat. To be successful, it's going to take a lot more than what the current version of Mirage offers. An extra five seconds of video and the ability to send a photo to someone in one tap isn't enough. Mirage does import your existing contacts, but if they haven't signed up for Mirage in place of the photo or video you send is a text message to them inviting them to join and view it. By no means is Mirage a bad app. It's dead simple to use and has a great design, but what it also has is potential. In a world where Snapchat's closest competitor doesn't even manage to put a dent in Snapchat's own user base, Mirage needs to fulfill that potential in order to compete. With that said, I look forward to what the future holds. As of right now, Mirage is available for free in the App Store. Update: Mirage released version 2.0 of its app to the App Store, which adds group messaging that disappears like the standard function as well as Broadcast to share a disappearing message to multiple contacts without creating a specific group. Plus, the update includes a new Inbox view, contact rearrangement and a search bar. This helps Mirage set itself apart more from other Snapchat competitors.
Shoutout takes on Snapchat with a much better design
Shoutout is a free app for iPhone entering the App Store this past September that strives to make photo sharing as simple as possible without all the bells and whistles some apps seem to tack on. In fact, it's so quick that Shoutout lacks a shutter button. The moment you tap a friend's name, the app snaps a photo and sends it. It requires iOS 7.0 or later. Let's not beat around the bush here: Shoutout is a direct competitor to Snapchat. I'd go a little further than that to say it mimics most of Snapchat's functionality. That's not an insult though; as the saying goes, imitation is the best form of flattery. Shoutout isn't quite imitating Snapchat, but perhaps improving upon the idea. The general idea of fast photo sharing is the same, but Shoutout's approach is slightly different. If you're a new user, Shoutout gives you a brief tour of how it works. Like Snapchat, the camera is on most of the time you use the app. In terms of the UI, that's mostly where the similarities end. A blue tab on the left with a number indicates how many new photos friends have sent to you. Swipe to pull this tab and view the photos with their optional captions. Otherwise, swiping changes filters and effects for the camera, from B&W to "Fun House." Your friends' thumbnails are always present toward the bottom of the app while you're in camera view. It may look like they're there to select individually for sharing after taking a photo, but they are essentially the shutter buttons. Tap a thumbnail and a photo is taken and sent. It's wicked fast. If you blink, there's a good chance you missed it. The advantage to this method is its speed: it's much faster than Snapchat, which utilizes a tedious multi-step process to send one photo to one person. The disadvantage is one even Apple's own Messages app in iOS 8 shares which is the inability to preview the photo you're sending before it sends. If something quickly gets in the way of your shot before you're able to take a photo, you won't know because it will have already sent. Some people can live with this, others find the sacrifice not worth the speed. Personally, I think it'd be nice to get even just a brief preview before it sends. A "Send All" button on the bottom right sends the photo to all of your friends. If you swipe to the left, your friends' photos slide out and get replaced with options for viewing a full list of friends, your own profile or adjust settings. A handy feature worth noting: tap "Create Group" in the Friends view to organize a customized group of friends to save and send photos to all at once - a pleasant little detail. Shoutout wins the award for best design. This app makes Snapchat look immature and uninspired. Plus, as with many new apps to hit the App Store, Shoutout is fully optimized to look great on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The group feature is efficient, too. However, Shoutout's one-tap photo sharing won't be to everyone's taste, and despite its better design, it's hard to compete with Snapchat's already very large user base. Snapchat is to dedicated photo-sharing services what Google is to search engines. Shoutout doesn't support video either. Does Shoutout deserve your attention? Absolutely. It's a fresh and well crafted alternative to Snapchat. The problem is people looking for alternatives to Snapchat are few and far between. If you're one of them, give this free app a "shoutout."
Snapchat acknowledges jilted founder, settles legal spat
We've seen the whole "successful startup begets jilted cofounder" thing many times before -- there's Facebook and Eduardo Saverin, Twitter and Noah Glass and (most recently) Snapchat and Reggie Brown. The legal battle that last pair has been embroiled in has finally come to an end, though: a statement released earlier today confirms that both parties have resolved their little spat. And really, what better way to quietly end a year's worth of startup drama than to issue a press release while Apple's going crazy?
Snapchat's photo-sharing live feed is finally ready for the masses
For a number of recent events, including the World Cup and Lollapalooza, Snapchat let users beam their event photos to a crowd-contributed feed known as Our Story. After over 350 hours of snaps were uploaded during the test events (then curated down to just a few minutes for each), the outfit is now letting everyone in on the action. With the latest update, a new Live section rests just below Recent Updates in the app after you capture a photo or some video footage (it's also accessible from the Stories button on the edit screen). From there, simply select the appropriate option you're attending to share your spinet of coverage with the masses. Of course, you don't have to be in attendance to browse the feed and catch on what you're missing from afar.
Snapchat's bringing disappearing news to your vanishing selfie stream
Snapchat might be the go-to app for firing off self-destructing selfies, but there's still one little issue CEO Evan Spiegel doesn't seem to have locked up yet: how is it actually going to make money? In-app purchases? Location-centric stories? The Wall Street Journal just offered up an unsurprising possibility with a bit of a twist -- the startup is apparently gearing up to launch a service called Snapchat Discovery that'll bring ads and news to its users.
Windows Phone's answer to Snapchat has you 'winding up' your friends
There's no official Snapchat app for Windows Phone right now, but don't worry -- Microsoft is offering an equivalent that might do in a pinch. The new WindUp app covers very similar ground, letting you send media and messages that disappear after a set amount of time; you're supposed to "wind up" your friends by giving them just a brief glimpse of what you're sharing. No, we don't get the (fairly contrived) explanation any more than you do, but Microsoft isn't worried about marketing here. While this technically competes with services like Snapchat, it's really a research experiment meant to explore how people "create, share and converse," not to topple someone else's messaging empire. Don't expect WindUp to evolve or reach other platforms, then. Even so, it may be worth checking out if you'd like a ephemeral chat app focused solely on Windows Phone fans.
Brits will send 300 billion IMs in 2014, and it's all down to sexting
The traditional lull in news during the summer seasons means that throughout August, companies pump out swathes of research that would otherwise get ignored or drowned out. Coincidentally, Deloitte is claiming that the UK population is likely to send around 300 billion electronic instant messages this year, up from 160 billion in 2013. What's the cause of this sudden near-doubling of iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger chat? Sexting. At least that's what Paul Lee, Deloitte's media and telecoms chief, believes, saying that teenagers sending winky emoticons and Snapchatting pictures of their genitals pets is the biggest contributor to the rise. According to the firm, the average person sends just seven texts, but nearly 50 IMs in a single day, and that if the trend continues, 2014 will be the first year that text messaging numbers fall compared to its free rivals. Just think, it'll be September soon, so we can all go back to reading about actual developments in the world of technology.
Recommended Reading: Snapchat celebs and the birth of Auto-Tune
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Snaps To Riches: The Rise Of Snapchat Celebrities by Ellen Huet, Forbes There's no denying the popularity of the disappearing-photo prowess of Snapchat. So much so that companies are paying proven snapping pros to leverage their screen-swiping art. Brands like Taco Bell and Major League Soccer see the ephemeral content as a new way to reach a demographic that's prone to ignoring more traditional marketing. Forbes sits down with Shaun McBride, or "Shonduras" as he's know in the app, for a look at how the tactic has taken hold and how it's building celebrities through little more than trendy social sharing.
Is Snapchat really worth $10 billion?
While competitors are busy cloning Snapchat in an attempt to replicate its success, Evan Spiegel and co. have continued to forge their own path. The company is already experimenting with new features in an attempt to generate revenue, but it's also apparently talking to some big hitters to ensure it can keep growing until those profits come. According to Bloomberg, Snapchat is currently in talks over a new round of funding with investors, which include Yahoo-backed Alibaba, that if confirmed could value the company at an incredible $10 billion. It's a significant figure, not only because it puts it on par with both Dropbox and Airbnb, but it's around three times the amount Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook is rumored to have offered to acquire the company last year. Not bad for a service that's known mostly for evaporating text and photo messages. Snapchat is understandably keeping quiet about its latest round of talks, and the figures could well change before the funding closes. Regardless of what happens, it appears Snapchat's decision to hold out and grow the service was the right one.
Engadget Daily: Snapchat's hefty price tag, life on the ISS and more!
Today, we ponder Snapchat's estimated worth of $10 billion, look at life on the ISS, round up nine of our favorite wearables and learn about an app that lets you video call your doctor. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Instagram quietly (and slowly) launches Snapchat rival, Bolt
We knew Instagram's effort to nab a bit of Snapchat's thunder was imminent thanks to leaked promo banners, and now, the app has officially arrived... for some. Bolt, the filter-driven photo app's own ephemeral messenger has hit iTunes and Google Play for folks in Singapore, South Africa and New Zealand. The software's claim to fame is speed: instead of having to fiddle through a series of options, tapping a contact's picture both captures and sends a photo -- no further swiping required (tap and hold records video). So long as they're in your favorites list, of course. There's also an undo feature that allows you to retrieve a message in the first few seconds by shaking your phone. While Bolt doesn't require a Facebook or Instagram account, you will have to sign up with your phone number for sorting through your contacts. For now though, most of us have to find solace in just reading about it, since a select few locales are privy to the initial rollout. Instagram's word on that particular strategy is situated after the break.
Instagram's Snapchat competitor Bolt leaks
Snapchat's meteoric rise made one thing abundantly clear -- the market would soon be flooded with copy cats. The next major player to try and drink Snapchat's milkshake might be Instagram. A banner introducing Bolt, a service for "one tap photo messaging," appeared at the top of the company's mobile app last night. The announcement was quickly pulled, but not before several people grabbed screenshots and started passing them around on Twitter. Unfortunately there's not much more detail to share at the moment, but the move will definitely raise a few eyebrows. For one, it would seem like a trivial feature to simply integrate into the existing Instagram app. Secondly, with Facebook's Slingshot already offering ephemeral photo and video messages, Bolt seems like a duplication of efforts. Of course, there's always the chance that Bolt will offer some truly unique twist on the format and shove pretenders to the media messaging crown aside.
Snapchat outs location-based filters, but only for LA and NYC
We knew Snapchat was testing a feature that let users unlock certain filters depending on their location. At the time, though, the popular messaging service kept its usage limited to people in New York City. But, starting today, Snapchat is bringing Geofilters out of the lab and making it a little more mainstream, announcing that folks in Los Angeles and The Big Apple can now start using the feature full time. Snapchat Geofilters is rather easy to bring up within the app, as it only requires a simple swipe to the right on your device and voilà. Naturally, actually having access to these pretty filters will still depend on you being at a supported spot in one of the aforementioned cities. The rest of you Snapchatters shouldn't worry -- chances are you'll see Geofilters come to other places sooner rather than later.
Snapchat lets everyone contribute to a shared World Cup photo album
Snapchat's first Our Story collaborative photo experiment was strictly an opt-in affair where you had to add a user to see it at all. However, the ephemeral image service is now trying something much more ambitious: it's giving every user access to Brazil Final Live, a group photo album that lets sports fans share pictures themed around the World Cup match between Argentina and Germany. Snapchat tells The Verge that it's curating the images to keep them on topic, but it's otherwise taking a relatively hands-off approach; while you'll automatically see the Brazil feed in your friend list, you're not encouraged to use it.
Snapchat tests stickers that only unlock when you're in popular locations
Snapchat's ephemeral messaging service is enjoying huge growth, but as it stands the company is not making any money (at least from its users). But that isn't to say it isn't testing potential new revenue sources, one of which involves fusing two popular messaging features: stickers and location. As discovered by Mail Online, Snapchat has begun offering some users the opportunity to add special stickers to their photos based on their where they are. Some Snapchatters have gained access to filters that shower them with dollar bills when they are in New York's financial district, while others have shared stickers that can only be unlocked inside popular US airports. We know that Snapchat has been working with brands to add their logo to images or videos for specific events, but these new stickers could provide an easy way to share a user's location visually, instead of checking in. Whether you'll soon be able to share a McDonald's sticker when you grab a Big Mac remains to be seen, but Snapchat appears to be open to the idea.
Facebook's Snapchat rival Slingshot now available worldwide
Facebook launched its not-so-subtle Snapchat competitor Slingshot last week, but only for the US audience. That period of exclusivity has turned out to be quite short-lived, however, as today the new way to socially network is available worldwide. So, to give it a go, all you need is an iOS or Android device, and some friends to "sling" stuff at. Images and videos shared through the app disappear after being viewed, just like Snapchat, but Slingshot is intended more for mass-broadcasting to groups of friends. It also demands you get involved, rather than just observe. If you want to see a picture sent by a friend, for example, you have to "unlock" it first by offering something in return. Slingshot is a standalone app, too, so even you Facebook-phobics can start slinging pictures of your 35 adorable felines by signing up with just a phone number.
