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  • Snapchat Launches ChatGPT-Based My AI

    Snapchat Launches ChatGPT-Based My AI

    Snap is the latest to jump on the ChatGPT bandwagon, launching My AI to Snapchat+ subscribers.

    ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, being one of the first major AIs to gain widespread acceptance. Microsoft is incorporating a new and improved version in Bing, and now Snap is using it as the basis of My AI.

    The company announced the news in a blog post:

    Today we’re launching My AI, a new chatbot running the latest version of OpenAI’s GPT technology that we’ve customized for Snapchat. My AI is available as an experimental feature for Snapchat+ subscribers, rolling out this week.

    My AI can recommend birthday gift ideas for your BFF, plan a hiking trip for a long weekend, suggest a recipe for dinner, or even write a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed pal. Make My AI your own by giving it a name and customizing the wallpaper for your Chat.

    Snap also included a caution regarding AI, and its many deficiencies, in an effort to help temper expectations:

    As with all AI-powered chatbots, My AI is prone to hallucination and can be tricked into saying just about anything. Please be aware of its many deficiencies and sorry in advance! All conversations with My AI will be stored and may be reviewed to improve the product experience. Please do not share any secrets with My AI and do not rely on it for advice.

    My AI is only available to Snapchat+ paid subscribers for the time being, and the company encourages users to report any issues.

  • Ubuntu Flavors Drop OOTB Flatpak Support

    Ubuntu Flavors Drop OOTB Flatpak Support

    Ubuntu has made yet another controversial decision, dropping out-of-the-box (OOTB) support for Flatpak apps.

    Flatpak is one of the newer methods of packaging Linux applications, one that is distro agnostic. Regardless of whether a user is on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora, openSUSE, Slackware, or any of the others, as long as they have the Flatpak backend installed, any and all Flatpaks will work on their distro of choice.

    Flatpaks directly compete with Snaps, Ubuntu’s own attempt to build a distro-agnostic packaging format. Unfortunately for Ubuntu, Snaps are not nearly as popular as Flatpaks. In fact, while some distributions may offer both package managers OOTB few, if any, offer Snaps but not Flatpak.

    It appears Ubuntu plans to be the first, announcing its decision to drop OOTB support for Flatpaks in the upcoming 23.04 Lunar Lobster release.

    Philipp Kewisch, Canonical Community Engineering Manager, broke the news:

    As part of our combined efforts, the Ubuntu flavors have made a joint decision to adjust some of the default packages on Ubuntu: Going forward, the Flatpak package as well as the packages to integrate Flatpak into the respective software center will no longer be installed by default in the next release due in April 2023, Lunar Lobster. Users who have used Flatpak will not be affected on upgrade, as flavors are including a special migration that takes this into account. Those who haven’t interacted with Flatpak will be presented with software from the Ubuntu repositories and the Snap Store.

    Kewisch makes clear that the update will not delete Flatpak from existing installations, and the package format will still be available for users that want to install it manually. Nonetheless, the decision to remove OOTB support is in-line with the company’s belief that Flatpak doesn’t properly fit in with the “Ubuntu experience.”

    We think this will improve the out-of-the-box Ubuntu experience for new users while respecting how existing users personalize their own experiences. However, we don’t want this to come as a surprise. If you have comments specific to this change you are welcome to respond here on discourse.

    There are a number of reasons Snaps are not as popular as Flatpaks, among users and distro maintainers. One of the big ones is the fact that Snaps can only be installed via Ubuntu’s Snap Store. As a result, while the apps themselves may still be open source, the store they are available in is not.

    Another reason many users don’t like Snaps is because of performance. Compared to Flatpaks and native packages, many snaps are notoriously slow to start for the first time. In fact, Canonical’s own Snap Advocate, Alan Pope, left the company and created an app to help users migrate their Snaps to Flatpaks.

    In recent years, Ubuntu has come under increased criticism for being so focused on the server and IoT market that it is no longer the best distro for desktop users, a distinction it held for years.

    This latest decision is sure to add fuel to that fire.

  • Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap is cutting back its cloud spending, reducing how much it pays both Google Cloud and AWS.

    Snap relies on both cloud providers to power its operations. Like many tech companies, however, Snap is looking to cut costs and operate more efficiently. According to Business Insider, CFO Derek Andersen said the company had identified its cloud contracts as an area to cut back, with cloud expenditures second only to employee pay in cost.

    As a result, the company has “restructured and renewed to achieve lower pricing and better ongoing leverage in those relationships,” Andersen said.

    There was likely quite a bit of room for negotiation, with the company signing a five-year, $2 billion deal with Google in 2017. Similarly, the company had signed a $1 billion deal with AWS that lasted through December 2021.

    “We’ve focused intently on efficient unit-cost management by engineering our products efficiently, and by migrating among cloud services and products to drive down our unit costs,” Andersen said.

    The efforts appear to be paying off. While Andersen did not say exactly how much the company had reduced its cloud costs, he did say that infrastructure cost per daily user had dropped from $2.78 two years ago to $2.31 today.

    Snap’s actions illustrate the dilemma many companies now face. The pandemic helped fuel a record-breaking rush to adopt cloud services in an effort to better support remote and hybrid work. The pandemic also helped drive record sales for many tech companies. As the pandemic has waned, however, many companies are now paying for massive cloud contracts at a time when business is nowhere near as profitable as it was a year ago.

    While the cloud segment has been relatively insulated from the economic downturn, that could quickly change as more companies follow Snap’s lead.

  • Snap to Require Employees In-Office in February

    Snap to Require Employees In-Office in February

    Snap appears to be doing an about-face on remote work, requiring the majority of employees in-office in February.

    Like many tech companies, Snap has embraced remote work since early in the pandemic. The company even announced it was closing its San Francisco offices as a result of remote work. The company now appears to be reversing course, informing employees they will be transitioning to an 80/20 hybrid model, with 80% of employees working from the office.

    “After working remotely for so long, we’re excited to get everyone back together next year with our new 80/20 hybrid model,” the company spokesperson told Reuters.

    The news marks a major blow to remote work, given Snap’s early support of it.

  • Snap CEO the Latest to Slam the Metaverse

    Snap CEO the Latest to Slam the Metaverse

    Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is the latest CEO to voice criticism of Meta’s vision of the metaverse.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is virtual reality’s biggest fan and is driving his company to create the metaverse, investing billions to do so. Many of the tech industry’s most influential CEOs, however, are not sold on the idea and Spiegel is one of them.

    “The metaverse is ‘living inside of a computer.’ The last thing I want to do when I get home from work during a long day is live inside of a computer,” Spiegel said, according to Business Insider.

    Spiegel’s remarks illustrate the challenges Meta has moving forward. Many of the people who have the disposable income to purchase the necessary equipment to use the metaverse are the very people who have no desire to use it. It’s little wonder that Meta is turning to Microsoft in an effort to more closely tie the metaverse to business use.

  • Snap Closing Its San Francisco Offices Amid the Move to Remote Work

    Snap Closing Its San Francisco Offices Amid the Move to Remote Work

    Snap’s latest move is bad news for San Francisco as the company is closing its 33,000-square-foot offices.

    Like many companies, Snap is adjusting to post-pandemic norms. The has announced it will shut down its San Francisco office, according to Bloomberg, thanks to an increasing reliance on remote work.

    “Our San Francisco location was lightly used by team members following our move to flexible work,” the company told Bloomberg.

    Snap had already laid off 20% of its staff as a result of slower-than-anticipated growth and announced plans to restructure in an effort to spur growth and execute its strategic priorities.

    While the move is sure to help Snap, it’s bad news for San Francisco at a time when the city is trying to revitalize its office sector and lure companies back.

  • Snap Laying Off 20% of Its Staff Amid ‘Business Restructuring’

    Snap Laying Off 20% of Its Staff Amid ‘Business Restructuring’

    Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has informed employees the company will be laying off approximately 20% of its staff.

    Like many companies, Snap is experiencing slower growth than expected as a result of the economic downturn.

    The investments we have made in our business to-date assumed a higher rate of revenue growth based on our vast opportunity and our proven history of execution, including 2x growth in the size of the Snapchat community and 10x growth in trailing twelve month revenue since our IPO in 2017.

    Despite the company’s best efforts to insulate itself, Spiegel says it must cut costs to avoid significant losses.

    Unfortunately, given our current lower rate of revenue growth, it has become clear that we must reduce our cost structure to avoid incurring significant ongoing losses. While we have built substantial capital reserves, and have made extensive efforts to avoid reductions in the size of our team by reducing spend in other areas, we must now face the consequences of our lower revenue growth and adapt to the market environment.

    Spiegel says the company will restructure to focus three strategic priorities, including community growth, revenue growth, and augmented reality. As part of this restructuring, the company will shed roughly 20% of its workforce across nearly all teams. Spiegel hopes this will be the only layoff necessary.

    As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by approximately 20%. The scale of these changes vary from team to team, depending upon the level of prioritization and investment needed to execute against our strategic priorities. The extent of this reduction should substantially reduce the risk of ever having to do this again, while balancing our desire to invest in our long term future and reaccelerate our revenue growth. Overall, the size of our team will remain larger than it was at this time last year.

  • Netflix Taps Snap Exec to Run Its Ad Business

    Netflix Taps Snap Exec to Run Its Ad Business

    As Netflix rolls out an ad-supported tier, the company has poached a top exec from Snap to take the lead.

    Jeremi Gorman was Snap’s Chief Business Officer and ran the platform’s ad business. According to The Verge, Gorman is leaving Snap to help run Netflix’s ad-based endeavors.

    “Jeremi’s deep experience in running ad businesses and Peter’s background in leading ad sales teams together will be key as we expand membership options for consumers through a new ad-supported offering,” Netflix COO Greg Peters said in a statement.

    Netflix was long-rumored to be working on an ad-supported plan as the company looked to revive its subscriber growth. The company reported its first subscriber loss in nearly a decade in 2022, adding further impetus to the need for a cheaper, ad-supported plan.

    After rumors it would tap Google or NBCUniversal to help it deploy its ad program, Netflix ultimately turned to Microsoft to assist it.

    “Microsoft has the proven ability to support all our advertising needs as we work together to build a new ad-supported offering,” Peters wrote at the time. “More importantly, Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time on both the technology and sales side, as well as strong privacy protections for our members.”

    With the hiring of Gorman, Netflix’s plans are coming into focus more and more.

  • Reddit Is Going Public

    Reddit Is Going Public

    After months of speculation and preparation, Reddit has filed to go public.

    Reddit has been in the news quite a bit over the last year, establishing itself as the dark horse among social media platforms. While Twitter, Facebook, and Snap have published their growth rates and user numbers for some time, Reddit just started doing so in late 2020. When it did, the company surprised the industry with a growth ratethat put its competitors to shame.

    Reddit has since been preparing to go public, hiring its first CFO and completing another round of funding that brought its valuation to $10 billion.

    The company has now revealed that it has filed paperwork with the SEC to go public.

    Reddit, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ”SEC”) relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.

    We are in a quiet period, and for regulatory reasons, we cannot say anything further.

  • Facebook, Google, Snap and Others Bypassing Apple’s Privacy Features

    Facebook, Google, Snap and Others Bypassing Apple’s Privacy Features

    New reports are demonstrating that some of the biggest iOS app makers are bypassing Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy settings.

    Apple introduced ATT in an effort to provide users more control over their data, forcing companies to ask for permission before tracking their activity across websites and services. Theoretically, if a user asks an app not to track them, the app is supposed to respect the user’s wishes.

    Unfortunately, it appears some of the biggest platforms are ignoring users’ wishes and tracking them anyway. Facebook (no real surprise there), Google (again, no big surprise), Snap and others are using a loophole to get around Apple’s requirements.

    According to AppleInsider, the loophole involves the definition of “linking.” Apple’s ATT guidelines say that companies cannot track users and link “user or device data” to apps and services. The guidelines, however, do not specifically spell out what’s involved in “linking.” Companies are using this loophole to collect data, data that can then be used however they want at a later date.

    It’s unclear whether Apple is intentionally turning a blind eye to this behavior, or has simply not decided on an appropriate response yet. The company has previously warned that companies trying to skirt or bypass ATT would risk being banned from the App Store. At the same time, Cupertino’s silence is leaving many to wonder just how much Apple knows and/or is willing to tolerate.

    Hopefully the company cracks down on this behavior and reaffirms users’ right to control their own data.

  • Reddit Hires Drew Vollero As First CFO On Road To IPO

    Reddit Hires Drew Vollero As First CFO On Road To IPO

    Reddit has hired Andrew (Drew) Vollero as its first CFO as the company prepares to go public.

    Reddit has been steadily working towards an IPO, recently becoming more transparent about its user base. In December, the company reported it had 52 million daily users in October. Previously, the company had only reported its monthly user base.

    The company is now taking the next step, hiring Vollero to help it prepare to go public. Vollero comes from Allied Universal, the largest US security and facility services firm. Prior to his work at Allied Universal, Vollero was Snap’s first CFO during its IPO.

    “Drew is an industry thought leader, who brings a track record of building a global finance organization for high growth companies,” said Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit. “He will be a tremendous addition to our Executive Team, as Reddit continues accelerating our business and user growth.”

    Reddit is much smaller than its social media rivals, but its growth rate far exceeds them. This makes it an attractive option for advertisers, and could set it up for a public offering sooner rather than later.

  • Reddit Reveals It Has 52 Million Daily Users

    Reddit Reveals It Has 52 Million Daily Users

    Reddit has reported it has 52 million daily users for October, shining a light on data it has never before released.

    Traditionally, Reddit has only reported its monthly active users, coming in at 430 million a year ago. That represented a 30% uptick, year-over-year. Now, however, the company told the Wall Street Journal it has 52 million daily users.

    “We’re sharing [daily active users] for the first time as a more accurate reflection of our user growth and to be more in-line with industry reporting,” said Jen Wong, Reddit COO. “We’re focused on daily usership and increasing this number as we continue to grow our community and scale our advertising business.”

    Although its daily user count it much smaller, Reddit’s growth rate far surpasses that of its rivals, coming it at 44% year-over-year. In contrast, according to their latest quarterly reports, Facebook’s growth rate came in at 12%, Snap at 18% and Twitter at 29%.

    Reddit’s ad revenue grew by 83% year-over-year in the third quarter. It’s a safe bet advertisers will continue to flock to the platform with the release of these numbers.

  • Verishop CEO On Competing With Amazon: “It’s Not a Zero Sum Game”

    Verishop CEO On Competing With Amazon: “It’s Not a Zero Sum Game”

    “The market narrative is always it’s a zero-sum game,” says Imran Khan, co-founder and CEO of Verishop, a new Amazon competitor launching soon. “You are coming in and it’s Verishop versus Amazon or Snap versus Facebook. Those are great stories, but ultimately I fundamentally believe that all of us are on the right side of the history in a sense. Not one company will take everything. It’s just impossible for one company to solve every problem.”

    Imran Khan, co-founder and CEO of Verishop, discusses how the Verishop shopping platform can compete and win market share from Amazon and others in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:

    There’s a Lot of Opportunity to Innovate in Ecommerce

    Ecommerce is now only 9 percent of the overall retail market. I believe that over the next decade 30-40 percent of all retail will be online. There are actually not that many consumer choices when you look for buying branded products, having a better experience, or having a better way to discover products. We think there’s a lot of opportunity to innovate. In markets like China, for example, where 25 percent of the market is ecommerce there are many more players in China compared to the US. So I think that’s a better way to bring joy in the consumer mind when they’re trying to buy things.

    In my time at Snap I noticed that millennials like to do more research before they buy something. They also care about responsibility in terms of shopping. They care about economy and sustainability. If you as a consumer, for example, want to buy sustainable products where do you really go? So we have a lot of different ways of discovering products. On our platform, we’ll have around 200 different attributes that consumers can use to find products. I’m really excited to bring in a new way of shopping to consumers. The market is very large and I think it can accommodate a lot of players.

    As Ecommerce Grows Not One Company Can Solve Everything

    I really admire Amazon and I’m a shareholder of Amazon personally through my fund. However, I think as ecommerce goes from 10 percent to 40 percent, not one company can solve everything. Amazon is also a juggernaut. They do software, they do a lot of different things. Again, I really admire the company but there are a lot of parts of ecommerce that are not being addressed by existing players. I think we can bring that. For example, discovery, we know that because ecommerce is still very much intent based I think we can give consumers a lot of different ways to discover new products.

    The key thing to keep in mind is the time spent on mobile device is only going to grow. The market narrative is always it’s a zero-sum game. You are coming in and it’s Verishop versus Amazon or Snap versus Facebook. Those are great stories, but ultimately I fundamentally believe that all of us are on the right side of the history in a sense. People are spending more and more time digitally and as people spend more time digitally there will be a lot more new businesses. Not one company will take everything. It’s just impossible for one company to solve every problem. Facebook does a great job with Instagram and Snap has done a great job with camera. I think one will be bigger and the other smaller, but only time will tell. But I think both can co-exist very well.

    Verishop to Focus on Trust

    We are going to launch in late June or early July. You will see our commitment in four areas. Number one is trust. Most of the ecommerce players are marketplaces. When you’re in a marketplace where anybody can go list something or anybody can post something the platform is prone to counterfeit and fraud. We saw that with eBay we saw that with Facebook with the Russians and we saw that with Talbot in China. What we’re doing is we’re acquiring all the product directly from the brands by guaranteeing that everything you’re buying is real.

    Trust is going to become an important topic on the internet. Over the last 25 years, the internet was built on the premise of an open platform and we saw that when everything is open and there are no rules it brings chaos. We solve that at Verishop by sourcing all of the products that we are sourcing directly from the brands to ensure that they are real.

    The second key thing (that distinguishes) the Verishop platform is discovering new products. Again, ecommerce is very much intent-based, so we are giving consumers more choices to discover products through a lot of different ways that you will see. Our third focus is we’re going to continue to make a big commitment on convenience. I know Amazon and other companies do this it but we’re going to continue to do so by offering free shipping, free return, all those kind of things. We’re excited and it’s just the beginning. It takes a long time to build a business and hopefully we’ll continue to bring new products and new innovation to the platform.

    Verishop CEO Imran Khan On Competing With Amazon: “It’s Not a Zero Sum Game”
  • Verizon and Snap Partner to Deliver Augmented Reality Tools

    Verizon and Snap Partner to Deliver Augmented Reality Tools

    According to a press release, Verizon and Snap, Inc., the creator of Snapchat, have teamed up to create new augmented reality (AR) tools and experiences.

    The deal gives Snap access to 5G test equipment in Verizon’s labs, which the company can use to create and test boundary-pushing AR experiences that take full advantage of 5G speeds. Snap will also have its software preloaded on some Verizon 5G phones. This will likely lead to a large influx of new customers for Snap, and help it cement its spot in the AR race. Verizon, in turn, will have premium sponsorship placements in Snap Originals.

    “5G will change the way people live, work and play and we’re partnering with leading companies like Snap Inc. to create unique experiences and new offerings,” said Frank Boulben, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Products, Verizon Consumer Group. “Our strategy is to partner with the best brands to ensure our customers have exclusive access to cutting edge technology and services. Our 5G Ultra Wideband technology should change the way mobile users forever experience places and events, evolving the way they see the world.”

    “Major advances in high-bandwidth experiences are fueling the future of augmented reality,” said Jared Grusd, Chief Strategy Officer, Snap Inc. “We are thrilled to partner with Verizon to move the industry forward through the development of creative and innovative 5G experiences on Snapchat.”

    Snap will also benefit from the many live events Verizon sponsors and hosts, providing AR experiences and introducing countless event-goers to the benefits of AR. Verizon alluded to the possibility by highlighting the potential “opportunities to experience live events in new ways through Snapchat.”

    This new partnership highlights the importance of the technology to old and new companies alike.

  • Groupon’s Snap Changes Direction

    Groupon’s Snap Changes Direction

    Back in 2014, Groupon launched an app called Snap, giving users cash back on certain products they buy at grocery stores. The concept was that you would go grocery shopping, then find participating items in the app, scan your receipts, and get cash back on applicable items.

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard much about Snap, but Groupon announced some major changes in an email to users.

    Beginning on March 1, Snap will start including Groupon’s inventory of roughly 70,000 digital offers at retailers in the U.S. and Canada.

    The app is getting a fundamental change in its functionality. It’s moving from product-specific promotions to retailer-specific ones, and it’s dropping the cash back feature, which was essentially the whole point of its existence in the first place.

    Customers who have an existing cash balance of $20 or more will be able to request a check. If it’s less than $20, on March 1, user will not be entitled to request a check, Groupon says, citing terms of the cash-back program. These users will, however, be getting an equivalent amount in promotional “Groupon Bucks” (rounded up to the nearest $5). These will expire in September.

    Image via Groupon

  • Facebook May Not Let You Edit Article Headlines Anymore So That ‘Publishers’ Content Is Not Misrepresented’

    Though it’s not an entirely new phenomenon, headline skimming has most certainly increased in the social media era. Who the hell has time to read every article someone posts on Facebook? Most of the time, it’s sufficient to read the headline, check out the brief article preview description, look at the attached image and move on. Even if you aren’t trying to be a headline skimmer, your brain is going to pick up bits and pieces of what you see.

    And since many of us get the majority of our news from Facebook, this can be a problem. Especially considering Facebook lets you edit articles’ headlines and preview descriptions.

    Here’s what I’m talking about.

    Take this article from Business Insider with the headline “How Mark Zuckerberg helps his friend, the CEO of $10 billion Dropbox.” Other than the creepy photo of Zuck, not a real showstopper of a headline.

    Screen Shot 2015-07-14 at 2.51.22 PM

    Now, here’s what I can do with that article.

    Screen Shot 2015-07-14 at 2.52.38 PM

    Basically, Facebook lets people edit the headlines surrounding article links they post because Facebook is not always 100% accurate when it comes to auto-generating them. But if someone wants to pull something and misrepresent articles’ content, it’s that easy.

    That could all be changing, however. Facebook says it’s looking into changing this feature because its “automatic rendering tech” has improved over the years. Here’s what a spokesperson told The Huffington Post:

    We’ve improved our automatic rendering technology so that most of the time, the link sharing preview does generate a title and description that accurately reflect what people want to share. As a result, we’re considering changing this feature to better align with how people share links today and to help ensure that publishers’ content is not misrepresented.

    HuffPo points to a real-life example of this, when actor/comedian D.L. Hughley shared an article that had its headline altered. The original article, a HuffPo story titled “Bristol Palin Announces She’s Pregnant”, had been altered to read “Bristol Palin Announces She’s Pregnant By A Black Man”. This led to some really quality Facebook posts, as you can imagine.

    The feature allowing for headline editing is useful. Especially when you really want to share something but Facebook won’t display everything properly. But it does have the ability to be abused. Easily. Hopefully Facebook can find a way to solve the latter while keeping some of the editing functionality intact.

  • Farm Bill Passes Senate; Cost is Nearly $1 Trillion

    Tuesday, the United States Senate voted 68 to 32 in favor of a new five-year farm bill, following 3 years of highly contested arguments and political maneuvers attempting to sway the bill in favor of a particular political party. The bill will now be sent to President Obama, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

    The 949 page bill outlines provisions for food and farming for the next 5 years in the United States, with all of the subsidies and payments totaling $956 billion. While the costs for the farm bill seem outrageously expensive, it is estimated that the new bill will save $16.6 billion over the next 10 years.

    Debbie Stabenow (D – Mich.) has pointed out that the Department of Agriculture is ahead of the curve in Washington when it comes to saving money, stating that “We are the only part of the federal government to produce savings in our own areas of jurisdiction, and we eliminated about a hundred different programs or authorizations that . . . no longer made sense… And so I would challenge my colleagues — if they did what we did, we’d have a balanced budget.” Despite the potential savings, however, many people still hold complaints about the substance of the bill.

    For conservatives, the biggest complaint seems to be that not enough money was slashed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; a.k.a. food stamps). The farm bill that passed on Tuesday cuts $8.4 billion from SNAP over the next 10 years, mainly by eliminating loopholes which allowed unqualified people to receive assistance and by creating firmer regulations for who qualifies for the program. This reduction is significantly less than the $40 billion most conservatives wanted cut from the program. SNAP benefits are given to more than 47 million Americans, and 1 in every 4 children receive benefits from the program.

    While conservatives wanted even more money cut from SNAP, many liberals are upset that any money at all was cut from the program: “Only in Washington could a final bill that doubles the already egregious cuts to hungry families while somehow creating less total savings than originally proposed be called progress,” stated Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY. However, many are happy that the new farm bill does double the amount of money given to families to spend on nutritionally sound food at farmers’ markets (who also saw a four-fold increase in their subsidies).

    Besides SNAP benefits, the bill focuses on several big issues to agriculture. Direct subsidy payments to farmers have ceased and instead have been replaced with increase insurance coverage. Direct payments currently cost the US $4.5 billion per year. Now, farmers will only be able to receive money only if they have suffered a crop loss of some sort. All subsidies to farmers are now also tied to efforts toward soil conservation; those who decide to farm virgin soil will not receive the same amount of subsidies as those who are farming old land or are attempting to revitalize the soil through conservation efforts.

    Unfortunately, however, the bill does not do enough to ensure that subsidies go to those who need them most. Farmers who make up to $900,000 qualify for subsidies, making many wonder how much the government pays to those who are already wealthy. Along with this, the bill does nothing to curtail the fact that 4% of agribusinesses received 74% of subsidies last year (companies like Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, and Riceland Foods).

    Other provisions in the bill include price safety nets to dairy farmers, bringing cotton production into compliance with WTO guidelines, continued subsidies for corn, and research into hemp production in 10 different states.

    Even though the bill’s cost is massive, agriculture is proving more and more important to the United States economy in recent years. As it currently stands, approximately 16 million jobs in the US depend on agriculture and farming. Since 2000, agriculture exports from the United States have tripled, with each $1 billion in exports accounting for 8,400 new American jobs.

    Image via YouTube

  • Now Articles Can Get More Facebook Visibility

    Facebook announced that it has updated how it ranks stories in the News Feed to surface what it deems to be more relevant news, as well as what your friends have to say about it.

    Specifically, Facebook says it is paying closer attention to what makes for high quality content, and how often articles are clicked on from the News Feed on mobile. There’s good news for publishers in that they’re going to start showing more links to articles, especially on mobile, where nearly half of Facebook users are accessing the social network exclusively.

    “Why are we doing this? Our surveys show that on average people prefer links to high quality articles about current events, their favorite sports team or shared interests, to the latest meme,” says Facebook software engineer Varun Kacholia in a blog post. “Starting soon, we’ll be doing a better job of distinguishing between a high quality article on a website versus a meme photo hosted somewhere other than Facebook when people click on those stories on mobile. This means that high quality articles you or others read may show up a bit more prominently in your News Feed, and meme photos may show up a bit less prominently.”

    “To complement people’s interest in articles, we recently began looking at ways to show people additional articles similar to ones they had just read,” Kacholia adds. “Soon, after you click on a link to an article, you may see up to three related articles directly below the News Feed post to help you discover more content you may find interesting.”

    Here’s what that looks like:

    Facebook articles

    Earlier this year, Facebook introduced the concept of “story bumping” to the News Feed algorithm. This is when Facebook “bumps” up a story in the News Feed because it’s getting a lot of likes and comments.

    Facebook is now updating bumping to highlight stories with new comments. So now, you’re more likely to revisit a story that you saw before if your friends have commented on it.

    “Our testing has shown that doing this in moderation for just a small number of stories can lead to more conversations between people and their friends on all types of content,” says Kacholia.

    Facebook recently told publishers that posting more frequently increases referral traffic by over 80%.This was based on testing with 29 partner media sites.

    An October Pew Research Center study found that half of U.S. Facebook users use the social network to get news.

    Image: Facebook

  • Here’s How Multitasking Works On The Xbox One

    With Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new way to multitask called Snap. In short, you could have two apps running simultaneously at once while you could choose which app got to take up more of the screen. Since the Xbox One’s OS is based heavily on Windows 8, the same functionality is present on the console as well. That’s all well and good, but how does it work on a game console?

    In a new video released today, Yusuf Mehdi from the Xbox team shows off Snap for the Xbox One. While playing games, you can use Kinect to say “Xbox Snap” and then say the name of the app you want to launch. The game will pause and a side window will open with the app you requested. From there, you can go back to the game with the side window still open. The example below shows Mehdi playing Forza Motorsport 5 while watching ESPN in the Snap window.

    With Snap, Microsoft may have a really unique feature on its hands that helps the Xbox One to differentiate itself from the PS4. I can’t imagine playing a game while watching TV at the same time, but using Internet Explorer in a Snap window to look up a game guide while playing a game could prove useful.

    So, what about the PS4? While it doesn’t feature multitasking on the same level as the Xbox One, it does have its own enhancements. According to Engadget, you can pause your game, open up another app and then go back to the game by simply double-tapping the PS Home button. Doing so will immediately take you back to the last open app. This can be used to jump between any two active applications. It’s not as nice as Snap, but PlayStation fans will certainly appreciate it after years of dealing with the PS3’s utter lack of multitasking capabilities.

    [Image: xbox/YouTube]