Apps

Instagram is creating a Twitter competitor

Almost ready to launch

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After Twitter made controversial decision after controversial decision over the past few months, several companies have tried their hand at creating an alternative to the social media platform. Mastodon and Bluesky (which was co-created with Jack Dorsey himself) are already emerging as options for disgruntled users. Now, Meta and Instagram are reportedly working on its own competitor to the controversial platform.

Meta’s plans to fight against Twitter have been known for a while. Months ago, Instagram introduced Notes, a subtle feature that puts a 60-character status update on your profile. Despite the newness of the feature, it only received tepid reception among Instagram users.

Now, Meta and Instagram are planning a full-fledged app to compete against Twitter. According to Lia Haberman, a professor of social media marketing, the company is almost ready to launch the new app for its users.

The app, currently unnamed, looks similar to Twitter, based on a single marketing image leaked by Haberman. Users can “tweet” in threads similar to Instagram’s commenting system. Posts are limited to a sizable 500 characters, too.

Since it’s connected to Instagram, the app will allow users to carry over their profiles from one to the other — usernames and all. Plus, it will eventually connect with other apps like Mastodon, allowing users to manage followers from both on a single app.

Currently, Instagram has no timeframe for launching the app. All we know is that it has a few codenames including P92 and Barcelona.

SEE ALSO: Twitter Blue now allows you to post 2-hour videos

Apps

Reddit might force third-party apps to close

One developer is being charged US$ 20 million

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Though the platform works differently, Reddit is much like other social media platforms. For one, it relies on users signing up for the service to interact with one another through threads. However, Reddit is also similar by offering its API to third parties. If you’re not happy with using the original website or app, developers can create apps tailored to optimize the experience. Unfortunately, those might soon go away.

Recently, Reddit announced a round of changes coming to its API rules. Starting June 19, the platform will charge third parties for access to their API. In a nutshell, any developer who wants to continue offering a tailored Reddit experience must pay up to access the website.

According to the company, the changes are a result of emerging AI technologies which leverage Reddit for language learning. Naturally, the company isn’t happy with being used for free, resulting in a paid scheme coming soon.

Unfortunately, the pricing scheme isn’t affordable for smaller developers who just want to offer a cleaner experience of the website. Apollo, one of the most popular third-party alternatives to Reddit’s main app, recently announced that Reddit is charging US$ 20 million per year to keep the app running as is. Christian Selig, the app’s developer, confirms that the figure is just too much.

Other apps have not disclosed their discussions with the platform. However, their users have already lamented the impending doom of third-party apps and their involvement with the platform as a whole.

For their part, Reddit says that Selig’s figure only reflects a standard rate, rather than a specialized one as discussed with Apollo. The company remains adamant that it wants to be equitable and civil towards third-party apps.

SEE ALSO: Reddit acquires Dubsmash

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Apple Music Classical is now on Android

Before an iPad app can come out

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Apple Music Classical app

A few months ago, Apple released Apple Music Classical. Though it caters only a specific genre, the app made a lot of waves because of what its existence implies for the future of music streaming. Now, if you’re a classical fan but living on Android, the new app is now available from the Play Store.

As long as you subscribe to Apple Music, you can download and install Apple Music Classical to make the most out of Apple’s tailored algorithm. While the app won’t offer anything new in terms of content, it boasts of a better algorithm to sort out the exact performance you want of a musical piece.

The app allows users to search based on a lot of different parameters including composer, performance date, and venue, among others. Besides the advanced algorithm, the app also offers high-fidelity audio for the discerning classical fan. While the regular app already offers the latter, Apple Music can also benefit from an advanced algorithm to help curate its mountain of content.

Now, the same experience is available for Android users. Of note, the Android version arrives before an optimized version for the iPad and the Mac. However, since Primephonic (the base app underneath Apple Music Classical) is already available on Android, it should be a no-brainer that it comes as easily to Android.

SEE ALSO: Why is Apple Music Classical a big deal?

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Microsoft Teams can now summarize meetings using AI

No more catching up

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Have you ever had a meeting that could have been an email? We all have. Now, Microsoft is adding something new to your lexicon of corporate exasperation: meetings that could have been an Intelligent Recap.

Today, Microsoft Teams has released Intelligent Recap as a generally available feature for users. The new feature uses artificial intelligence to compress a meeting down to minutes, recommended tasks, and notes. Oh, and it’s all generated by AI, too. It won’t need another person to manually take down minutes and take notes for those who want to catch up.

For those who still want to watch a video of the meeting, Teams will also automatically add in tabs on the video to indicate who talks when. The app will eventually add in a way to organize a video according to chapters. The organization tool will separate chunks based on topic, rather than only by speaker.

The feature is now available in English. Microsoft is also working on other languages for the future.

Meetings are part and parcel of today’s corporate world. However, not everyone always has the time to attend every meeting. The ability to catch up to meetings in only a few minutes is an invaluable tool when you’d rather focus on tasks.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft is planning an Xbox store for mobile

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