Telegram Adds Stories Feature in July CEO Pavel Durov Responds to User Demands

Telegram to Introduce Stories Feature in July

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced today that the messaging app is adding Stories in early July. Durov says users have been asking for the feature for years, noting that more than half of all feature requests that Telegram receives are related to Stories. The company was initially against adding Stories because they “are already everywhere,” but wanted to listen to its users, Durov says.

of Telegram’s Stories Feature

After years of user demand, Telegram is set to launch its own take on Stories feature in early July. With more than half of all feature requests being related to Stories, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov acknowledged the growing popularity and decided to introduce the feature. Initially reluctant due to the ubiquity of Stories across various platforms, Telegram took a user-centric approach and ultimately embraced the idea.

This latest addition to the messaging app will allow users to have full control over who can view their stories. Whether it’s visible to everyone, only contacts, a select few, or a list of close friends, users can determine the audience for each of their stories. The stories will appear in an expandable section at the top of the chat list, making them easily accessible.

Telegram’s Stories will offer various customization options for users. Captions and links can be added to stories, and it will be possible to tag other individuals. Notably, the feature allows simultaneous use of front and rear cameras, enabling users to create engaging content reminiscent of the popular BeReal style.

Furthermore, Telegram provides flexibility in story duration. Users can choose to have their stories expire in six, 12, 24, or 48 hours. Alternatively, stories can be permanently displayed on their profile page, similar to Instagram’s Story highlights. This addition is seen as a way to make Telegram profiles more informative and vibrant.

Encouraging and Boosting Exposure

The introduction of Stories on Telegram offers users a new way to engage with each other. By saving stories to their profile pages, users can explore more content from close contacts and discover additional information about users they connect with in groups or channel comments. Moreover, channels will benefit from increased exposure and subscribers. Telegram plans to launch the ability to repost messages from channels to stories, making content go viral more easily.

Early July Launch and Telegram’s Vision

After internal testing, even the skeptics within the Telegram team started appreciating the Stories feature. The company now considers it an essential part of the platform. As the feature enters the final testing phase, Telegram expects Stories to become available to all users in early July. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov believes that this addition will herald a new era for the messenger and help Telegram become a more social platform.

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Decentralized Social Networking App Damus to Be Removed from App Store Over Apples Payment Rules

Decentralized Social Networking App Damus Removed from Apple App Store Due to Payment Rules

Damus, a decentralized social networking app backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, will be removed from the App Store due to Apple’s strict payment rules. Apple had threatened to remove Damus earlier this month over the app’s tips feature, claiming that it could be used by content creators to sell digital content on the platform.

Complying with Apple’s Payment Rules

The tech giant has a long history of prohibiting developers from selling additional in-app content unless the transactions go through Apple, which takes a 30% cut. To avoid a ban, the team behind Damus had to tweak the app’s tipping feature, which is made possible by way of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. The company previously explained in a tweet that it had to remove the tips button from posts, and was only allowed to permit tips on profiles.

Looks like we are getting removed from the appstore even after updating our app to make it clear that no digital content is getting unlocked when users are tipped. Users are only ever tipped after posts are made, the idea that content is being sold is nonsense. We will be filing… pic.twitter.com/Su945kE37v

— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) June 26, 2023

App Removal Despite Compliance

Despite the changes, Damus revealed on Monday that its app will be removed from the App Store. The company shared a screenshot of Apple’s review notes, which state that the app’s tips feature still does not comply with its guidelines. The tech giant wrote that “although tips or donations may be optional, if they are connected to or associated with receiving digital content, they must use in-app purchase in accordance” with its guidelines.

A spokesperson for Apple told AsumeTech in an email that the tech giant rejected the app upon receiving Damus’ latest submission, noting that the issues it had previously outlined were unresolved.

Fighting Apple’s Decision

Damus plans to file an appeal to fight Apple’s decision.

“Looks like we are getting removed from the App Store even after updating our app to make it clear that no digital content is getting unlocked when users are tipped,” Damus wrote in a tweet. “Users are only ever tipped after posts are made, the idea that content is being sold is nonsense. We will be filing an appeal as this guideline is clearly being abused and misapplied.”

Tips aren’t unlocking content, @Apple https://t.co/4OFHMmI7tm

— jack (@jack) June 26, 2023

The Promise of Damus

Damus hit the App Store in February and was one of many Twitter rivals to emerge following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social network, which had driven Twitter users to try out decentralized social networking services, like Mastodon.

The app’s promise is an open social network without a central authority that makes decisions about the network’s content or who’s allowed to participate, as Facebook or Twitter do. Damus has end-to-end encrypted messaging, and does not require users to sign up with a phone number, email, or name because of how the Nostr works.

Past Issues with Apple

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that Damus has run into issues with Apple. Damus faced some issues when going through the app review process due to its decentralized nature, as Apple had kept asking the app to follow the same rules as any other social network, such as providing a way for users to flag objectionable content and having a policy that makes it clear that abuse is not allowed.

The company previously said the app had been rejected repeatedly, despite making changes to adhere to the tech giant’s guidelines. That changed in February, when the app was finally approved.

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ThoughtSpot Acquires Mode Analytics for $200 Million to Expand AI-Powered Analytics Platform

ThoughtSpot to Acquire Mode Analytics, Expanding AI-Powered Analytics Platform

ThoughtSpot, an AI-powered analytics platform last valued at $4.5 billion, today announced that it’s entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mode Analytics, a business intelligence startup, for $200 million in cash and stock.

The acquisition of Mode Analytics will make it a wholly-owned subsidiary of ThoughtSpot once the deal closes later this year. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and the approval of Mode’s shareholders, marking ThoughtSpot’s third-ever acquisition.

ThoughtSpot’s Growth Strategy

This acquisition follows ThoughtSpot’s previous purchases of SQL-based analytics firm SeekWell in March 2021 and data integration company Diyotta in May of the same year. The acquisition is fueled by ThoughtSpot’s substantial funding, which amounted to over $663 million as of August 2019.

ThoughtSpot CEO Sudheesh Nair believes that the acquisition will strengthen the company’s generative AI apps, double its customer base, and expand its annual recurring revenue to over $150 million.

“With this acquisition, we’re giving both data teams and business users the tools they need to efficiently and quickly turn data into insights and those insights into actions,” Nair said in a press release.

About Mode Analytics

Mode Analytics, based in San Francisco, was founded in 2013 by Derek Steer, Benn Stancil, and Josh Ferguson. The three co-founders previously worked at Yammer, where they built custom data analytics tools for the Yammer platform. Mode Analytics saw the opportunity to provide business intelligence and big data analytics capabilities to help data scientists enhance decision-making.

The company raised $81 million in venture capital and built a customer base that covered over 50% of the Forbes 500, including brands like Anheuser-Busch, Zillow, Lyft, Bloomberg, Capital One, VMware, and Conde Nast.

“At Mode, we’ve always focused on helping data analysts and worked hard to remove the frustrations that interfered with their day-to-day workflows,” said Benn Stancil, Mode’s CTO. “By providing data teams with an integrated, code-first experience, we’ve enabled our customers to move far more quickly and find much more value in their data than they previously could.”

Enhancing ThoughtSpot’s Platform

ThoughtSpot, based in Mountain View, California, was founded in 2012 by a team of engineers with backgrounds in companies like Google and Oracle. The company’s platform allows non-technical users to conduct data analyses using tools that monitor information for changing patterns and trends.

The acquisition of Mode Analytics brings a complementary product set to ThoughtSpot. It enables new ways for ThoughtSpot customers to provide value to data teams, such as creating analytics applications and visualized data in Mode that can be accessed through ThoughtSpot’s dashboards.

ThoughtSpot’s CEO, Sudheesh Nair, envisions rethinking business intelligence to maximize value from investments in the modern data stack. The acquisition aims to revolutionize the data visualization tools market, which has been dominated by solutions like Tableau, by providing code-free options for business users and code-first capabilities for analytics engineers.

Consolidation in the Big Data Analytics Sector

ThoughtSpot’s acquisition of Mode Analytics is part of a broader trend of consolidation in the big data analytics sector. This follows Databricks’ acquisition of MosaicML for $1.3 billion and Snowflake’s acquisition of Neeva, a firm focused on AI-powered search.

These acquisitions suggest that the sector is preparing for tough macroeconomic conditions and seeking to strengthen their offerings through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

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Netflix Drops $9.99 CAD Basic Plan in Canada Leaving Gap in Pricing Tiers

Netflix Removes Basic $9.99 CAD Plan for New Subscribers in Canada

Netflix has quietly killed the $9.99 CAD per month basic plan in Canada for new subscribers, as first noted by the Canadian publication BlogTo. This simplifies the streaming company’s offering but leaves a big gap between the ad-supported plan and the standard plan

The company’s plans still start at $5.99 CAD per month with the recently introduced ad-supported plan, which offers most of the Netflix catalog with support for 1080p HD streaming. If users want to get rid of ads and enable downloads, they will have to shell out $16.99 CAD per month for the Standard plan.

As a reminder, the Basic plan offered ad-free streaming, but it was limited to 720p and one concurrent stream. People who are currently paying for the Basic plan will be able to continue with the plan till they cancel the account.

“The Basic plan is no longer available for new or rejoining members. If you are currently on the Basic plan, you can remain on this plan until you change plans or cancel your account,” the company said on its support page.

Impact on Other Markets

We have reached out to Netflix to understand if the company plans to make similar decisions in other markets, and we’ll update the story if the company comments on the matter. In the U.S., Netflix already hides the Basic plan when you try to create a new account. You have to click on “See all plans” to display it.

Here’s what it looks like in the U.S. (green arrows added for emphasis):

Expansion of Ad-Supported Plans

Canada was one of the first markets to get ad-supported plans last year followed by launches in other markets like the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Korea. In April, Netflix bumped up the benefits of the ad-supported plan to enable Full HD streaming and support for two concurrent streams.

Last month, the company said that it has attracted more than 5 million users across the world for its ad-based plans. Notably, the streaming giant has yet to launch this tier in many countries. Analyst reports have estimated that Netflix will earn more than $1.9 billion in ad revenues next year.

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Mass Extinction of Bees in the US Caused by Parasitic Mite: Scientists Issue Alarming Findings

Mass Extinction of Bees in the US Linked to Parasitic Mite

Scientists have announced that the cause of the mass extinction of bees in the US is a type of mite called Parasitiformes.

The Alarming Disappearance of US Honey Bees

About 50 percent of US honey bees will disappear in 2022, according to the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. This extinction is the second largest bee extinction in the United States in history.

A Troubling Number for Pollination Needs

“This is a very worrying number, especially at a time when we need more hives to meet the pollination needs of plants in the United States,” said Jeff Bates, president of Apimondia International Beekeepers Association.

High Bee Losses In Recent Years

The organization’s data show that bee losses in 2022 were about 48 percent of the total bee population, higher than the 12-year average of 39.6 percent. These losses can be compared with the figures for 2020 and 2021, when 50.8 percent of bee colonies died out.

And University of Maryland researcher Natalie Steinhauer points out that bee numbers are still relatively stable because beekeepers make up for the shortage by finding or buying new queens. Of course, this is exhausting and costly work, and it greatly affects the state of the beekeeping industry.

The Culprit: Varroa Destructor

The main cause of bee deaths, she says, is a type of parasitic mite called Varroa destructor, which infects hives and carries many viruses.

Contributing Factors

Climate change and the widespread use of pesticides are among the other causes of bee extinction.

The Importance of Honey Bees

It should be noted that honey bees are important to the world’s agricultural sector, as they regularly pollinate more than 100 crops that people use for food, including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus fruits and melons.

Source: TASS

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The Best Seats for Passengers Afraid of Flying: British Airways Pilots Identify Turbulence Patterns

Identifying Turbulence on Flights: Best Seats for Anxious Passengers

British Airways pilots have identified turbulence on all flights and have identified the best seats for passengers who are afraid of flying and are afraid of impact.

Main Tourist Destinations and Turbulence

According to the Daily Mail newspaper, turbulence is most often recorded in the main tourist destinations in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.

European flights experience turbulence when flying over the Alps to Switzerland and Austria. Similarly, flights to Japan and Australia shake during certain parts of the journey.

Checking Turbulence Forecast

The newspaper suggests that travelers can check the flight forecast before their trip on websites like “turbli.com”. This site scans the sky 36 hours before a flight, studies the possibility of storms, and determines whether takeoffs and landings will be smooth.

Seat Placement and Passenger Experience

Passengers report feeling more vibration at the tail of the plane when seated in the center. However, experts argue that the difference is insignificant, particularly on larger aircraft like the Boeing Dreamliner and Airbus A380.

Rising Turbulence and Future Expectations

Turbulence has increased by 55% from 1979 to 2020, attributed to climate change. It is predicted to become more frequent, intense, and severe in the future.

British Airways pilot Steve Allwright assures passengers that modern aircraft are highly durable and pilots are prepared for turbulence. He likens plane shaking to bumps on a road, emphasizing that it may be annoying but ultimately safe.

Turbulence Types

Pilots distinguish two types of turbulence. The first is caused by strong ground winds and low cloud gusts, usually occurring during the first and last 30 minutes of a flight.

The second type, known as “clear air” turbulence, occurs above clouds when there are sudden changes in wind speed at high altitudes. It is most commonly experienced over mountains and oceans such as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Source: News

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Google Announces New Features for Chrome on iOS: Lens Support Mini Google Maps and More

Google Chrome on iOS to Integrate Lens Support

Google has recently announced that Chrome on iOS will be receiving new features, the most prominent being built-in Lens support. This update will allow users to search using their device’s camera. While Chrome on iOS already has the capability to use Lens by long-pressing an image, the upcoming update will enable users to search using new pictures they take or existing images in their camera roll.

The integration of Google Lens into Chrome on iOS is expected to roll out in the next few months. Google Lens, a visual search tool, enables users to search using images and perform tasks such as identifying plants and translating languages in real time.

Direct Access to Map View in Chrome on iOS

Alongside the Lens integration, Google also announced a convenient feature for Chrome users on iOS. When viewing an address within Chrome, there will no longer be a need to switch to a different app to look it up on a map. By pressing and holding a detected address, users will now have the option to view it on a mini Google Maps within Chrome itself.

Easier Event Creation with Google Calendar

Another new addition to Chrome on iOS is the ability to create Google Calendar events directly within the browser. Previously, users had to switch between apps or manually copy information to create calendar events. With this update, users can simply press and hold a detected date and select the option to add it to their Google Calendar. Chrome will automatically generate a calendar event with important details like time, location, and description.

Enhanced Translation Capabilities

Google’s blog post also highlighted an improvement in Chrome’s translation feature. Users now have the option to translate specific portions of a webpage by highlighting the text and selecting the Google Translate option. Chrome’s AI models have become more proficient at detecting a webpage’s language and providing translation suggestions. This feature comes in handy for situations like visiting a museum in a foreign country where the website is in a language the user doesn’t understand. Chrome will automatically offer to translate the page into the user’s preferred language.

With these updates, Google aims to enhance the user experience on Chrome for iOS by offering seamless integration of Lens, improved map access, quicker event creation, and smoother translation capabilities. These features are expected to roll out in the coming months, providing users with more convenience and efficiency while browsing.

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