SharePlay arrives, Android Dev Summit wraps, Snap and TikTok go to Congress – TechCrunch

• Google held its annual Android Dev Summit this week, the place it introduced a sequence of updates for builders. The summit included over 30 Technical Talks to assist builders construct apps that run throughout units and be taught in regards to the newest in developer instruments.
• Google introduced the 12L, an OS designed for big screens, together with a set of instruments, on the Dev Summit occasion.
• The corporate additionally launched the primary alpha of Compose Material 3, which gives “Materials Design 3 styled parts and theme, enabling Materials You personalization options like dynamic shade.” Google additionally launched the first beta model of Jetpack Compose 1.1, which has options like “stretch overscroll for Android 12, improved touch-target sizing, experimental lazy format animations,” and others. And Compose for Put on OS is now in developer preview.

Augmented Actuality

• Snapchat rolled out Halloween AR Lenses, together with these for locating a Halloween costume via AR in partnership with Walmart, a Halloween World Lens, one with The House Depot’s 12-foot Skeletons, a reworking “Werewolf Lens,” a Lens for adorning your property in AR, a spooky trend Lens, and others with sweet manufacturers like Mars-Wrigley, Skittles, Starburst and Reese’s.

Fintech

• Robinhood reported a revenue miss for its third-quarter earnings, sending the inventory down 8% in after-hours buying and selling on Tuesday. The corporate reported complete internet income at $365 million, versus the $431.5 million Wall Road anticipated. Revenues had been up 35% 12 months over 12 months however had been beneath the second quarter’s income of $565 million.

Social

• Instagram will now allow all customers to share hyperlinks of their Instagram Tales by way of the brand new Hyperlink Stickers, making the ultimate transfer away from the “swipe as much as learn” gesture. The function was beforehand restricted to pick creators.
• TikTok is testing a new direct tipping feature with choose creators. The function lets followers tip favourite creators outdoors of TikTok LIVE streams the place gifting is already obtainable.
• TikTok brings its Video Package function to desktop, internet and consoles, along with its earlier help for cellular apps. The expansion will permit skilled creators and others to make use of quite a lot of enhancing and collaboration instruments to make their TikTok movies, which they will then publish instantly utilizing the “Share to TikTok” performance offered by the SDK. Early adopters embody Clipchamp, Combo, Grabyo, Kapwing, Mobcrush and LG U+.
• Twitter’s subscription service Blue provides a “Labs” function that gives early entry to instruments Twitter is contemplating for the premium service. The first two Labs features include the flexibility to pin favourite DM conversations on iOS to the highest of your DM inbox and help for longer video uploads (as much as 10 minutes.) on desktop.
• Twitter mentioned it added 5 million customers in its third quarter, to succeed in common monetizable DAUs (its personal metric) of 221 million, up 13% year-over-year. Income elevated 37% to $1.28 billion, as the corporate famous Apple’s privateness modifications with ATT solely had a “modest influence” on its enterprise.
• Snapchat now has 100 million MAUs in India, and is partnering with Flipkart and Android smartphone distributors to extend adoption.
• Fb reported a miss on income, citing Apple’s privateness modifications as one trigger, forward of its large announcement a couple of shift to concentrate on its metaverse and VR merchandise and a rebranding of the corporate to “Meta.” Fb reported $29 billion in complete income and earnings per share of $3.22, calculated on a diluted foundation. Buyers had anticipated revenues of $29.58 billion and earnings per share of $3.19.

Messaging

Streaming & Leisure

• Spotify says its service is now used more by U.S. podcast listeners than Apple Podcasts. The corporate made the announcement throughout its Q3 earnings, citing its personal inside information and Edison Analysis (the place it’s a consumer). It didn’t say what number of podcast listeners it had, however famous MAUs total grew 19% year-over-year to succeed in 381 million within the quarter, up from 365 million final 12 months. Premium subscribers additionally grew 19% to succeed in 172 million, up from 165 million final 12 months. Spotify income was $2.9 billion within the quarter, up 27% year-over-year, with advert gross sales rising 75% to succeed in $374 million, on the prime finish of its steerage.
• Clubhouse added a brand new Pinned Hyperlinks function that enables room creators and moderators to share URLs on the prime of the room’s pages, just like how Twitter Areas customers can add tweets to their stay audio classes.
• Amazon is engaged on a Clubhouse competitor codenamed Venture Mic, The Verge reported. The brand new app would let anybody make and distribute stay radio exhibits that embody music, which customers can hearken to via Audible, Amazon Music, Twitch and Alexa units.

Relationship

• Match-owned courting app Hinge introduces a brand new “Voice Prompts” function that offers customers a brand new method to work together, by answering a immediate via a 30-second recording. The corporate hopes the voice function will give customers a peek into somebody’s persona and trace at what a primary date could be like.
• Chinese language courting app Lesdo, designed for lesbian girls, introduced it was shutting down. This particular area of interest of on-line courting has did not scale and make a revenue within the nation, regardless of a possible viewers of 10 million in China. Contributing to the issue of scale is a hostile atmosphere for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, as Beijing has pressured charities to not work with queer activists and WeChat deactivated queer teams’ public accounts, Protocol reported.
• Tinder continued to steer the courting app market with the best variety of paid subscribers, adopted by Match.com, based on new information shared by Bloomberg’s Second Measure.

Gaming

• Google Stadia rolls out a free, 30-minute game trial to woo individuals to its service. The choice is being made obtainable on its unique title Hi there Engineer as a take a look at, however Google confirmed it might develop the function to different video games within the subsequent couple of months.
• Amazon Luna’s sport streaming service introduced plans so as to add new titles in November, including Carrion, Gris and Mortal Shell: Enhanced Version on the Luna+ Channel, and PHOGS! on the Household Channel. It additionally not too long ago rolled out Alien Isolation, Amnesia: Rebirth, Far Cry 6, Olija, Riders Republic and others.

Information & Studying

• Apple Information expanded its native information protection to Charlotte, Miami and Washington, D.C., giving customers entry to quite a few publications corresponding to Axios Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer, Eater Miami, the Miami Herald, DCist, Washingtonian, The Washington Put up and others. The corporate additionally mentioned it’s increasing Fitness+ and its Apple One Premier subscription bundle to 17 extra nations on November 3.

Well being & Health

• Apple rolled out support for COVID-19 vaccination playing cards and take a look at leads to Pockets with the discharge of iOS 15.1. Vaccination and take a look at consequence data are downloaded in a verifiable format that’s digitally signed by a vaccine or take a look at consequence supplier, Apple says.

Authorities & Coverage

• This week, reps from TikTok, Snap and YouTube confronted Congress to speak about how their apps are addressing children and on-line security because the U.S. considers laws that might require tech corporations to supply a safer atmosphere for teenagers on-line. One of many highlights from the listening to was listening to senators try to get the companies on the record as as to if or not they help particular laws, just like the upcoming COPPA revamp, which solely TikTok absolutely mentioned “sure” to. When requested in regards to the KIDS Act, which might forestall manipulative advertising (like undisclosed influencer advertising), there was much less help. Corporations mentioned they might be glad to “look” on the particulars as if the Act was new, and never one thing that had already been round for some time.
• TikTok dodged questions about its plans for biometric information assortment throughout its first-ever Senate listening to. In an update to the company’s U.S. privacy policy in June, TikTok added a brand new part that famous the app “could acquire biometric identifiers and biometric data” from its customers’ content material, together with issues like “faceprints and voiceprints.” The corporate was questioned by a number of lawmakers on this matter throughout a listening to performed by the Senate Subcommittee on Client Safety, Product Security, and Knowledge Safety, which was focused on social media’s detrimental impacts on youngsters and youths.
• The lawmakers also asked YouTube and Snap to defend their apps’ age rankings on the app shops, the place they had been generally rated 13 and up or 17 and up, relying on the platform. Snap was additionally pressed on whether or not its content material was even acceptable for youthful teenagers, given the app’s Uncover web page contained content material that Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) deemed “wildly inappropriate” for a kid, like “suggestions for…an invitation to play a web-based sexualized online game that’s marketed itself to people who find themselves 18 and up; recommendations on, quote, ‘why you shouldn’t go to bars alone;’ notices for video video games which might be rated for ages 17 and up; and articles about porn stars,” he mentioned.
• The senators additionally requested TikTok, Snap and YouTube how they handled consuming dysfunction content material, after Fb whistleblower Frances Haugen‘s doc leaks uncovered Fb’s information that Instagram might be harmful for teenage ladies with physique picture points.
• In non-hearing information, Apple is “very doubtless” going to face a DOJ antitrust lawsuit, The Information reported this week, citing sources with information of the matter.

Safety & Privateness

• Malware-laden “Squid Sport”-themed apps have been found within the Google Play Retailer, together with an app for Squid Sport wallpaper that contaminated telephones with Joker malware, permitting hackers to enroll the consumer for premium providers they revenue from.

? Barcelona-based cellular keyboard software program maker Fleksy raised $1.6 million in Sequence A led by Spanish asset administration agency Inveready. The funds can be used to assist the corporate pivot to B2B for its white-label SDK for iOS and Android.

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