This week on Beer With Geeks, Tim, Frank, Damon and Dan are LIVE from Union Station Brewery in Providence, RI after a day at Rhode Island Comic Con. The guys recap their day at the Con, including meeting Cyborg and almost meeting Wonder Woman and Jimmy Olsen. Cheers!
Twitter Just Copied Snapchat's Least Interesting Feature
You know how Twitter's biggest problem is how hard it is to follow people?
Yeah, me neither. Well, they fixed it anyway. QR Codes. Yippee.
Instagram Allows Links, Tags, and Boomerangs in Stories
Instagram looks to be differentiating themselves from Snapchat a bit more. Finally being able to share URLs is a big one. I hope we can finally say goodbye to "Link in Bio!"
“Starting today the company will let creators add URL links to their stories that viewers can navigate to without leaving Instagram, add the ability for users to be “@ mentioned” in someone’s story, and add the ability to add a Boomerang to your story without having to go create one in the separate Boomerang app.”
Snapchat Will Sell Its Spectacles at Pop-Up Vending Machines
Because Snap Inc. never does anything the conventional way. The machines will be called Snapbots and you can check their online map to see if there will be one near you.
Each Snapbot vending machine will have motion sensors that turn on its circular screen when someone steps into view. The screen will show footage of video recordings from the eyewear, which can record 10-second clips that sync with the Snapchat app.
Could the "Mac" Make a Comeback?
This post from iOS developer Marc Palmer proposes a theory that makes a whole lot of sense to me: what if the Mac Pro and the iMac lines merge? Right now there are MacBooks and MacBook Pros. There is a Mac Pro, but nothing simply called Mac. It would seem consistent with Apple tradition to have a Mac and Mac Pro (both all-in-one machines), in addition to the MacBook and MacBook Pro.
“Consumers just need to pick laptop or desktop, and regular or Pro. Every product contains all the parts you need, the original Macintosh ethos.”
I really like this idea. It feels right. It would simplify the product line significantly, and it would bring things back to the original 2x2 grid Steve Jobs introduced when he returned to Apple in the late 90s.
This New Apple Watch Band Adds Cameras for $249
The strap is called CMRA (get it? Camera?) and adds a 2MP selfie camera and an 8MP forward-facing camera. I don't know why you'd want to turn your Apple Watch into a Galaxy Gear, but hey. Whatever you're into.
Twitter is Shutting Down Vine
This is a huge shift. And potentially a sign of re-shuffled priorities at Twitter. Earlier this week, despite a positive earnings report, they also announced a layoff of 9% of their staff. Their rumored struggle to sell company is most definitely a motivating factor here. Maybe they'll be investing more in live video via Periscope and their partnerships with organizations like the NFL? We'll see soon.
Expect to hear more about this on an upcoming episode of The Marketers Next Door.
“Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we’ll be discontinuing the mobile app. Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your Vines today. You will be notified before we make any changes to the app or website.”