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Snapchat now lets you collaborate with other users on evaporating pictures
In 2013, Snapchat launched My Story for those who don't mind sharing their pics for just a bit longer, and now they're expanding that feature for those who'd also like to share with more people. While the older feature lets you add images to a feed that friends can see for 24 hours, Our Story gives you the chance to contribute to a shared timeline with other users. All you need to do is send your picture to a particular event hub under the My Friends page, though be warned that you'll have to activate location services so the app can check if you're truly there. Sadly, it doesn't look like you can make your own shared timeline with friends -- hey, there's Facebook for that -- the feature only works with events Snapchat officially adds. You should be able to access Our Story right now without having to update the app, but you'd have to attend the Electric Daisy Festival in Vegas to test it out.
Facebook's Snapchat competitor appears then disappears quickly, just like its messages
The rumors are true: Facebook has indeed been working on a Snapchat competitor called Slingshot, and true to its ephemeral nature, it showed up ever so briefly on the App Store today before it was taken down. Prior to that though, we managed to glean enough information from the app description to get a few hints as to how it works. Similar to Snapchat, you can send photos and videos to friends, and once they view them, those messages will disappear. You're even able to add captions and scribblings on them just like Snapchat. But the key differentiator between Slingshot and other ephemeral messaging apps is that before your friends can see your missives, they must reciprocate and "sling" something back. After receiving your message, they can either tap to react to it or swipe it to remove it for good.
Tinder takes a hint from Snapchat with self-destructing photo feature Moments
Tinder figured out a way to make casual, location-based hookups a little less creepy. But apparently connecting you with someone 30 feet away who just happens to like the cut of your jib isn't enough. Now the service is getting in to the so-called "ephemeral photo" game. Moments is a new feature being added to the matchmaking app for posting self-destructing photos. But this isn't exactly a Snapchat killer. The idea is less about sharing photos of your private parts and more about letting your matches get to know you a bit better. When you view your matches you'll see a new button allowing you to share a photo, then people either swipe left or right for "like" or "nope," just like they do with a person's profile photo. Plus, rather than a matter of seconds, images survive in Moments for a full 24 hours. (Oh, and you're sending them to all your matches... not just the ones that happen to enjoy the fine art of sexting.)
Not even Snapchat's CEO can make his embarrassing email history disappear
Snapchat's CEO has previously shared his emails to show his business dealings with Facebook, but we imagine he now regrets making his inbox fair game. Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag has leaked messages from Evan Spiegel's days at Stanford, in 2009, where the executive let his frat boy-side a little too far out of the closet. In addition to encouraging his fellow fraternity folks to commit sexual acts, he confesses to peeing on a female friend and even requested a "kilo of blow" for a party. For his part, Spiegel has now apologized for his "idiotic emails," saying that they no longer reflect the person he is, or his attitudes towards women. Of course, we've all made the odd off-color joke or poorly thought-out statement that we'd prefer to forget, but perhaps this is why Spiegel was so committed to building a messenger where your missives (ostensibly) self-destruct after 10 seconds.
Facebook may launch 'Slingshot' Snapchat competitor this month
Facebook could be gearing up to introduce a Snapchat-like video message tool later this month, according to a Financial Times report. The app, known to staffers as 'Slingshot,' would enable users to send short video messages, and it would likely not be integrated with the social site's other applications, such as Facebook Messenger. Based on the timing of Slingshot's potential release, it's possible that a team within the company began working on the app shortly after negotiations to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion failed late last year, leaving Facebook to build its own competitor from the ground up. Still, while the new app appears to be nearly ready for primetime, the launch apparently has yet to be approved -- it's possible that Slingshot may never see the light of day.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for May 8, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Snapchat settles with the US government for deceiving users
As privacy has become harder to hold onto in the digital age, the appeal of Snapchat was obvious; no matter what you sent, your photo would be deleted within ten seconds. Of course, what sounded too good to be true ended up being exactly that. There are simple workarounds that allow for screen shots of embarrassing or scatological images, and the company itself has admitted to giving over certain pictures to the police. Understandably some people and entities were ticked off by Snapchat's false claims, including the federal government. According to the New York Times, Snapchat has settled a deal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for lying to customers about the ability of their snaps to really "disappear forever." Don't worry though, investors -- this settlement is purely a light rebuke of the company. In fact, Snapchat wont be fined a dime. The New York Times description of the settlement sounds like the company is getting sent to its room without dessert: Under the terms of the settlement, Snapchat will be prohibited from misrepresenting how it maintains the privacy and confidentially of user information. The company will also be required to start a wide-ranging privacy program that will be independently monitored for 20 years. Fines could ensue if the company does not comply with the agreement. Beyond the numerous ways Snapchats can be saved, the FTC also warned the company that the app collects data like your contacts and transmits users' locations despite telling customers that it wasn't doing that. This news probably won't stop anyone from Snapchatting, but think twice before you send that next funny picture of your cat. You're just using it to send pictures of your cat, right?
Snapchat settles with FTC for misrepresenting its ephemeral nature, gathering user data
Snapchat has been a popular choice for those looking to send temporary messages that will soon disappear forever. Well, the auto-erase feature wasn't without flaws, and now the mobile outfit has settled with the Federal Trade Commission over it. The FTC has announced that it had reached an agreement with Snapchat for misleading users about the ephemeral focus of the app, after the commission found that users could easily save messages with third-party apps and other tricks. Despite claims to the contrary, the complaint alleges that the software gobbled up location details and other user info (like contacts) which allowed researchers to build a database of over four million user names and their matching phone numbers.
Engadget Daily: Amazon's new phone, Snapchat video and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for May 1, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Snapchat now does video chat and IM, with self-destruct still included
Snapchat, the photo messaging app beloved of cheeky monkeys everywhere, has just undergone a major transformation. Self-destructing messages are still at the core of what it does, but the iOS and Android apps are being updated today to also handle instant messaging and live video chats -- just swipe to the right from the main camera screen and you'll see a list of your friends, allowing you to chat with them using these more traditional methods.
Snapchat competitor Puffchat is incredibly insecure, founder threatens legal action
Puffchat, a timed text and photo messaging client in the vein of Snapchat, is broken. So broken in fact that I, with very little knowledge in the way of HTTP sniffing, was able to access supposedly deleted photos and messages using a free-to-download security testing application. Yeah, it's that bad. Remember, this is supposed to be a Snapchat competitor, and that company has already learned its lesson when it comes claiming that content has been deleted before it actually is. The iTunes description of Puffchat uses words like "vanishes" and "ultimate protection," but offers neither to the user. In fact, the images shot by Puffchat users are stored as simple JPEG files on the company's Puffchat.me server which can be accessed freely as long as you know the address. If you can monitor and tweak HTTP traffic between your iPhone and the web -- and there are a number of free programs that let you do just this -- you have the ability to view a user's friends list, birthday, and both sent and received text and photo messages. I set up two of my own Puffchat accounts to test this, sending a photo from one to the other, viewing it, and then fetching it via web browser after the fact. It's a bit of a joke. Self-described hacker Thomas Hedderwick was the first to draw attention to how incredibly insecure the messaging service -- which boasts between 13,000 and 15,000 users -- really is. In a blog post, Hedderwick alerted users to the extremely lax security of the app and begged Puffchat founder Michael Suppo to do something about it. Taking to Twitter, Hedderwick was ignored by both Suppo and the official Puffchat account even after pointing out how easy it is to bypass the app's thin guise of security. That is, until tonight, when Suppo alerted Hedderwick via Twitter that all mentions of Puffchat's security issues must be removed by 11:40 PM GMT, lest he be prepared for a legal battle. Hedderwick's original post doesn't detail exactly how to access supposedly deleted photos -- as violating user privacy is the opposite of what he is trying to accomplish -- but the process is so simple that it's hard to not figure it out after seeing the commands the Puffchat app is sending back to its server. Needless to say, if you're currently using Puffchat, stop and wait for a fix. As far as reassurance that the app is secure, Suppo has offered none, only to say that the service "will be fixed in due course." We'll keep an eye out for it, but in the meantime it seems like startups need to remember that security is paramount.
Poke: The Facebook app that never really had a chance
Yesterday was Facebook's 10th anniversary and the social network's presence on Apple's mobile devices is huge. The official Facebook app and Facebook Messenger are the two must-have apps from the company, with the newly released Paper showing promise as well. Then you have the Facebook Pages Manager and Facebook Camera, which target narrower segments of the overall user base and have been met with a lukewarm response overall. And then there's Poke. Regardless of whether or not anyone at Facebook had an idea for a timed, expiring-messaging app previous to Snapchat's release in 2011, Poke's debut in late 2012 will forever be seen as the company's most transparent attempt to simply grab an existing idea and slap a coat of blue paint on it. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with that strategy, and many extremely successful ideas (including some from Apple) started with other companies. It's the reality of many industries, and tech is no different. However, the company doing the adopting still needs to convince the end user that its version is worth using in place of the original, and Facebook never did that with Poke. In fact, it never really even tried. Everything from the app's description in the App Store -- which consists of five brief bullet points and nothing more -- to Facebook's complete abandonment of the app after its release has given it a very cheap vibe. It's the dollar store version of a proper social app. There are plenty of reasons that Poke didn't overtake Snapchat as the go-to disposable-messaging service (and never will), but there are two that I think played the biggest roles: First, the initial reaction among Snapchat users was extremely negative. By the time Poke launched, Snapchat was already a massive force, and regardless of whether the majority of Snapchat users also had Facebook accounts, it felt very much like Poke was a ripoff. This is evident in Poke's user reviews, where the single most popular rating is one star. The reviews include things like, "They made Snapchat" and "Is this a joke?" and even calls for all-out Facebook boycotts that obviously never materialized. The second reason -- and what I think may actually be the biggest factor in Poke's long-term demise -- is that sending a message as you would on Snapchat isn't necessarily something you want to do with Facebook friends. Facebook has built itself around identity and real-life friends and family. Snapchat is the exact opposite. It's often simply referred to as "the sexting app," but that pejorative label hints at the bigger picture; Snapchat is about mystery. You get a message knowing it will only last a matter of seconds. What could it be? Will it be funny? Will it be mean? Will it be naughty? Personally speaking, I've never used Snapchat with someone I am good friends with in the real world, and I don't think I'd ever want to. I don't need a 10-second glimpse into the life of a good friend. I have no reason to send a family member a photo or video that disappears after a blink. But peeking into a world I'm not familiar with -- which could make me smile, laugh, cringe or gasp -- is the kind of small treat that ensures I'll never delete Snapchat from my phone. Facebook seemed to realize pretty quickly that there was little reason to devote any additional resources to Poke. The app was released in December 2012, and it's been updated exactly zero times so far. That's 14 months without a single new feature, tweak or adjustment. In a way, it's somewhat surprising that Poke still exists at all. What's not surprising is that it's the least popular Facebook app in terms of ratings, and it will likely remain that way until its death. So as we remember a decade of social networking, spare a thought for Poke, because no one else will be.
Daily Roundup: Maingear Pulse 17 review, DJI's photography-oriented drone and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Coder defeats Snapchat's anti-bot system in less than an hour
Apparently, Snapchat's spot-the-ghost human verification tool isn't all that clever -- Steven Hickson has already written software that circumvents the anti-bot feature. His technique simply finds the best matches between Snapchat's sample pictures and a reference image. It's not flawless, but it's still accurate -- no mean feat for something that took less than an hour to program. Whether or not there will be a fix isn't clear. At this stage, the company will only tell us that it's making "significant progress" in locking down its chat service. While the statement hints that more security measures are on the way, it doesn't guarantee that Snapchat will defeat Hickson's code.
Daily Roundup: Snapchat's adorable captcha, T-Mo's 'Mobile Money' and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Snapchat enlists its ghost mascot to thwart potential bot accounts
It's anyone's guess what Snapchat's done behind the scenes to patch up its data vulnerabilities, but the firm's continuing to address the issues with a new public-facing measure. For instance: The app now has a new (and surprisingly cute) security measure in place to prevent the mass creation of dummy accounts usually made to harvest users' phone numbers. When new folks sign up, they're shown nine images instead of the usual captcha, and they have to prove they're not a bot by choosing the ones with Snapchat's ghost mascot. In addition, the company now implements server-side checks to ensure that those who use the Find Friends feature are real people with verified phone numbers. In theory, this double security layer should make it hard for scammers and spammers to collect private info en masse. Those still worried about their privacy, however, can always unlink their phone numbers for their own peace of mind.
Snapchat responds to privacy scares by letting users unlink their phone number
Snapchat has just taken its first steps toward addressing the exploits that led to a leak of 4.6 million phone numbers late last year. Updates to its Android and iOS apps now let you opt out of linking your phone number to your username, preventing others from easily finding you. The company is also reducing the chances for abuse by requiring that you verify your phone number when using Find Friends. They're not perfect remedies by any means -- we're sure that some would prefer that phone number use is opt-in rather than opt-out, for instance. Snapchat says it's working on more improvements, though, so it's at least aware that there's more work to do before its users can truly feel at ease.
Snapchat hires Washington lobbyist after user database leak
For months, Snapchat ignored a security team's request to address a couple of security holes. That changed when SnapchatDB! posted users' partially obscured phone numbers, reportedly to raise awareness. That database leak prompted the startup to acknowledge the privacy breach, and, apparently, to get into the lobbyist game. According to The Hill, the company just hired Washington firm Heather Podesta + Partners to familiarize policymakers with how the app works, as the database leak led to calls for an FTC investigation. If nothing else, Snapchat seems to have landed a powerful ally in the political arena -- after all, Podesta was once described as "the number one person you need to know in Obama's Washington."
Snapchat acknowledges hack, updated app coming that lets users opt-out of Find Friends
After a quiet couple of days, the Snapchat team has acknowledged a leak in which information for 4.6 million of its users hit the internet. SnapchatDB! posted partially-obscured phone numbers and usernames for many members on New Year's Eve, data it obtained through a security hole the photo sharing service was notified about months ago, but had apparently been slow to fix. In its response, Snapchat says it's pushing an updated version of its app soon that will let users opt-out of the "Find Friends" feature (after verifying the phone number) that required their stored numbers so others could easily... find them. Other changes it says it's made include the rate limiting suggested by security researchers last week and other unspecified restrictions. There's very little there about the users and nothing for those who saw their information leaked; if you use Snapchat, you can find out whether your name is on the list by clicking here.
