Snapchat Introduces New AR Lenses, Platform Features, and Spectacles Capabilities | Small Business Trends

November 20, 2024November 19, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Snapchat has unveiled a series of new Lenses, platform features, and tools aimed at enhancing augmented reality (AR) experiences for developers and users alike. The updates are part of the Snap OS v5.58 release, which introduces innovative capabilities for Spectacles, Snap’s AR-enabled smart glasses, along with expanded tools for developers to create and experiment with AR applications.

New Lenses: Piano Tutor and Ball Game

Snapchat’s new Lenses demonstrate the power of the Spectacles camera and SnapML, Snap’s machine learning technology.

Piano Tutor Lens: Designed to bring a personal piano instructor to users, this Lens uses custom machine learning models to identify and track a variety of pianos. It overlays notes onto the keys in real-time, helping users familiarize themselves with the keyboard layout and practice coordination. The Lens also evaluates performance, providing real-time feedback for continuous improvement.

Snap to lay off ‘approximately’ 10% of its staff | BBC

February 6, 2024February 5, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Social media giant Snap, which operates Snapchat, has announced plans to cut “approximately” 10% of its staff.

The firm said in November 2023 it had 5,000 employees, suggesting around 500 people are facing redundancy.

It comes a day before Snap reports its fourth-quarter results – having reported a net loss of $368m (£294m) in the previous quarter in October 2023.

Snapchat said the move would “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration”.

“We are focused on supporting our departing team members and we are very grateful for their hard work and many contributions to Snap,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

Snapchat’s AI chatbot is now free for all global users, says the AI will later ‘Snap’ you back | TechCrunch

April 20, 2023April 19, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Snapchat’s AI chatbot is now opening up to a global audience, the company announced today at its Snap Partner Summit. Initially launched in February, the feature originally allowed Snapchat’s paid subscribers to chat with an AI chatbot powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology directly in its app. Now it will be available for free. To date, users have sent nearly 2 million messages per day using the chatbot, Snap noted. With today’s global expansion, the feature is also being upgraded with new functionality, including the ability to add My AI to group chats, get recommendations for places on Snap Map and Lenses, and share Snaps with My AI and receive chat replies.

Snapchat Is Shutting Down Snapcash, Its Peer-to-Peer Payment Service | Digital Trends

July 30, 2018July 29, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Snapchat’s woes show no sign of ending, and the latest casualty in the company is Snapcash, the peer-to-peer payment service. It’s likely that you’ve never heard of — much less used — the service, which makes its shuttering less of a surprise.

Part of Snapcash’s problem is that it wasn’t always used for the most innocent of purposes. Rather than splitting bills or sending back some money for the pizza you stole from your roommate, Snapcash tended to be used to pay adult entertainers for content on Snapchat. In short, it was probably more bane than boon to Snapchat proper.

If Instagram Becomes Snapchat, Who Will Be Instagram? | Inc.com

May 18, 2017May 17, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when Instagram was an app people used to make their photos look good. A retro wash of sepia here, a studied overexposure there, and, voilà, you could fool your friends into thinking you had an artist’s eye.

That was before the advent of Snapchat. For the past few quarters, Instagram has been sprinting with its hair on fire away from the idea that a good photo is one that looks like one a professional might have taken. Its only goal, seemingly, has been to make sure anything people like doing on Snapchat they’re able to do on Instagram, whether that’s marking up photos with drawings and stickers, publishing slideshow-like “Stories” that disappear after a day, or navigating between parts of the app by swiping around randomly. As of Tuesday, the cloning is complete, with Instagram adding face filters that allow users to alter their own appearances with augmented reality overlays.

Snapchat shares to begin trading on NYSE | Business Insider

March 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Snap Inc. will make its debut as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning.

The parent company of Snapchat priced an initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 apiece. That raised $3.4 billion for the company and some investors, and gives Snap a valuation of nearly $24 billion.

The stock is currently indicated to open at between $22 and $24 a share, according to price indications at 10:15 a.m. E.T.

9 Digital Marketing Stats You Need to See From This Week | Adweek

November 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a fine week of digital marketing stats, so check out the nine data points below that got our attention:

1. Instagram-Snapchat face off

Adweek commissioned a survey from Survata that asked 511 Instagram and Snapchat users ages 13 to 34 how they feel about the apps and their impressions of the ads. Two of the more fascinating findings: 26 percent of respondents remembered seeing specific Snapchat ads, while 37 percent remembered seeing specific Instagram ads.