Twitter calls out disturbing new TikTok Holocaust trend
TikTok users have been dressing up as Holocaust victims as part of a semi-viral trend. Unsurprisingly, The Auschwitz Memorial Museum has asked for it to stop. TikTok has been through the ringer recently. In recent months it’s faced accusations of Chinese spyware, criticisms of deep fake investment, and Trump has...
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Instagram introduces QR codes to individual profiles
The social media giant is launching QR codes globally, allowing consumers to engage with retailers and other physical businesses contactlessly. Instagram has rolled out yet another update to its mobile app, this time offering a universal QR code that can be used to quickly access individual profiles. Any supporting third-party...
Triller: the app well placed to become TikTok’s main rival
Yet another app has joined the race to becoming Gen Z's new favourite video-sharing platform as the White House moves to ban TikTok. Facing a potential ban in the US due to various security and privacy concerns, TikTok is fighting for its life and, as a result, millions of its...
Is Instagram ‘Reels’ a genuine threat to TikTok?
With TikTok edging closer to possible elimination in the US market, Instagram has decided to launch its own short-bite video platform ‘Reels’. But is it good enough to rival TikTok? Last week Instagram rolled out its newest feature ‘Reels’ across 50 countries, with the intention of gaining a lucrative slice...
Google transforms recycled bottles into Pixel phone cases
In its quest to build more sustainable infrastructure, Google has released a series of phone cases made from recycled plastic for the Pixel 4a. It’s becoming common knowledge that the amount of waste in landfill sites is growing every year, and proprietors of annually renewing tech must take part of...
Microsoft offers TikTok US lifeline with potential deal
Microsoft is in advanced discussions over a potential TikTok purchase in the US, as President Trump looks to address the platform’s privacy concerns. After TikTok’s meteoric rise during lockdown saw it become the most downloaded app of 2020, parent company ByteDance and host-nation China were dragged through the mud in...
Twitter’s new audio feature will transform it, for better or worse
Heated political discussion is no longer confined to your phone’s keyboard, as Twitter begins to test out new audio tweet features for iOS. You only need to browse Twitter for five minutes to notice that it’s a very political space where anyone can argue via aggressive tweeting and reactionary gifs. This defining quality is somewhat of a double-edged sword. While it’s useful to keep informed via other perspectives outside of your...
Huawei trumps Samsung as top smartphone vendor this quarter
Thanks to a Covid-19 slump from Samsung, China’s smartphone giant Huawei has shipped more handsets than any other vendor in the last quarter. Huawei’s long harboured ambition to trump Samsung to the title of biggest smartphone seller has finally come to fruition, according to a new report from analyst firm Canalys. Like most industries, smartphone manufacturing and sales have been altered drastically by circumstantial conditions imposed by...
Instagram’s shopping feature is looking to be ‘the new mall’
As fashion and beauty turns to tech to stay afloat during the Coronavirus pandemic, online-platform shopping features are set to become 'the new mall.' Though the thought of returning to a mall in the middle of a global pandemic might seem unusual to most, many are finding themselves longing for the familiar hustle and bustle of weaving through hordes of people in search of a single t-shirt. However, if you...
Instagram rolls out ‘Personal Fundraisers’ to support small businesses
In response to the economic fallout caused by Covid-19, Instagram has released a crowdfunding feature to keep small businesses afloat. Instagram pumping out updates has become one of the constants of 2020, but the latest feature is far from just another quirky AR addition. Parent company Facebook has already played host to thousands of independent crowdfunding projects in wake of the pandemic, and the next logical step is for Instagram to...
