L’Oréal rolls out a line of ‘virtual makeup’ Selfie filters have improved immensely over the past several years, but companies on the forefront of the tech see plenty of room to grow. The cosmetics world has seen some rapid change in the past several years as makeup has proven particularly ripe for […]

Watch the trailer for ‘First Person,’ a climate-focused series shot on Snapchat Spectacles Snapchat is about to launch “First Person,” the first of its original series to be shot on Snapchat Spectacles. The idea of filming a documentary using AR-centric eyewear might sound gimmicky, but “First Person” is tackling a weighty topic: […]

7 investors discuss augmented reality and VR startup opportunities in 2020 For all of the investors preaching that augmented reality technology will likely be the successor to the modern smartphone, today, most venture capitalists are still quite wary to back AR plays. The reasons are plentiful, but all tend to circle around […]

Temporal raises .75M for its microservices orchestration platform Temporal, a Seattle-based startup that is building an open-source, stateful microservices orchestration platform, today announced that it has raised an $18.75 million Series A round led by Sequoia Ventures. Existing investors Addition Ventures and Amplify Partners also joined, together with new investor Madrona Venture […]

Snapchat launches its TikTok rival, Sounds on Snapchat Snapchat this summer announced it would soon release a new music-powered feature that would allow users to set their Snaps to music. Today, the company made good on that promise with the launch of “Sounds on Snapchat” on iOS, a feature that lets users […]

Snapchat among first to leverage iPhone 12 Pro’s LiDAR Scanner for AR Apple introduced its latest flagship iPhone models, the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, at its iPhone event on Tuesday. Among other things, the devices sport a new LiDAR Scanner designed to allow for more immersive augmented reality (AR) […]

Steps from the House Judiciary Committee are too little, too late when it comes to big tech The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has finally released its omnibus report  on its investigation into the monopoly powers held by Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook and its findings will do nothing to stem the power […]

Snap announced its latest slate of Originals programming Snap, the social media platform for Gen Z, launched its latest slate of Snap Originals today, in a sign that not every media company has failed to capture the imagination of an audience with short form content. Even as Quibi’s billion dollar gambit continues […]

Palantir’s concentrated governance is great for execs, but what about shareholders? A few days ago I wrote down a few notes making a bullish case for Palantir, searching to find good news amidst the company’s huge historical deficits. Heading into the next phase of Palantir’s march to the public markets, I was […]

Snapchat had a big August amid TikTok uncertainty The continual uncertainty around TikTok’s future may have provided a big boost to Snapchat in August. Or maybe it was just the Disney eyes filter that went viral. In any event, preliminary estimates from app store intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicate that Snapchat’s mobile […]