Clubhouse

A woman enjoying some audio. Perhaps social audio, such as Clubhouse, or perhaps just music. Photo by Blaz Erzetic on Unsplash Social audio is probably the hottest startup space right now. Just ask anyone begging for a Clubhouse invite. But why? The answer, according to analyst Jeremiah Owyang, is that audio is the ‘Goldilocks medium:’ not too much, not too little, but just right. “What we found is during the quarantine is that text messaging just doesn’t give us the emotion and the nuance that the human condition requires, especially during isolation,” Owyang told me recently on the TechFirst podcast. “On the flip side — aside from this amazing show — Zoom calls and video shows are just too taxing on people.” We’ve all been on the Zoom call where we’re mostly looking at our own faces, just to ensure that veggies from lunch aren’t still between our teeth. And we’ve also been on Twitter doom-scrolling thousands of tweets wondering why we followed all the people we did.  » Read More

Clubhouse, the invite-only conversation app that has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity during the pandemic, has gotten a privacy-friendly update. Following numerous complaints about the app’s aggressive push to access its users’ contacts, Clubhouse now lets users invite their friends without having to open up their address book. The update follows multiple reports about privacy issues with the app, which was especially hungry for users’ contacts, forcing them to give the app access if they wanted to invite others. (Currently, people can only join the app if they have an invitation.) But when users granted that access, they were encouraged to invite more of their contacts, told how many of their contacts’ contacts were already on the app, told who in their address book was already signed up, and told when one of their contacts joined the app — all while encouraging them to start a private room to welcome them. This could be a great feature for people who want to see which of their friends are on the platform and connect with them.  » Read More

Oman banned the Clubhouse voice chat app saying it lacks the proper permit to operate, with some activists raising concerns that it’s an act censorship, Reuters said. The Oman Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said that telecom applications operating in the country must obtain a permit from the authority, adding that Oman ‘prohibits the use of many encrypted VoIP applications without an official license’. Advertisements The Omani Association for Human Rights said in a statement that the Omani government, with this ban, replicates China, which banned the app. last month, adding that the application was being used by many Omanis ‘as a space to freely express their opinions’. Clubhouse, which is currently available only on iOS, has grown in popularity among social media apps, especially after Telsa’s CEO Elon Musk said he will take a break from Twitter and switch to the voice-chat app. According to some reports, the app. has been criticized for the lack of powerful moderation tools, which has led to some anti-Semitic ideas and helped spread misinformation about the deadly virus “COVID-19”.  » Read More

Throughout her 40-year worklife, Charlotte Donavanik has not once turned down an opportunity. She loves and embraces challenges.Early last year, on reaching retirement age, she was approached by Thippaporn Ahriyavraromp, the youngest daughter of Dhanin Cheara­vanont, Thailand's richest person and senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, to join DTGO Corporation as an adviser for marketing and branding. DTGO was founded by Ms Thippaporn in 1993. It is a holding company with various businesses including property development, commerce and technology, design and construction, finance and investment, plus entertainment and communications. "Every job depends on how much we pay attention to it. Everything is possible," she says. "I've never turned down job offers or assignments. I never think about which jobs have value and which don't. Every job has value which we can create." After graduating in accounting, Ms Charlotte worked with Pricewaterhouse as an auditor for five years. She then moved to Citibank, where she worked in various areas, including loans, marketing, risk management, collection and also set up a call centre,  » Read More

About a month ago, a hot new social media app took Japan by storm. Its name was Crabhouse, and it let you enter a virtual room – dare we say “clubhouse” – full of crabs. By tapping individual crustaceans, users can learn facts about these fascinating animals or simply what’s on their minds. We too joined the rapidly growing ranks of Crabhouse members, and learned firsthand why it had gotten over 150,000 downloads and nearly 2,000 five-star reviews on the App Store. However, on Feb 22, the Crabhouse trend hit a major speed bump, as announced in a distressed tweet by the developer who goes by the name “Gai.” ▼ “The Crabhouse update was rejected by the App Store! ‘The name is confusing’ was the reason! LOL But there are already other apps that go beyond that by having the exact same name as Clubhouse, so why is mine the ‘confusing’ one? How do I overturn this?! Engineers, help!” SoraNews24 also looked into the matter and discovered that indeed there is another social media app called Clubhouse that seems to have developed a bit of a following.  » Read More

When a piece of digital art sells for $69. million, more than has ever been paid for works by Paul Gauguin or Salvador Dali, and makes its creator the third most expensive living artist in the world, one can’t help but take notice and ask: “What is going on?” The latest craze around nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, may feel a bit bubblicious, but it’s yet another sign that the digital age is now fully upon us. In this Breaking Analysis we want to take a look at some of the trends that may have observers and investors scratching their heads, but we think still offer insight to the future — and possibly some opportunities for young investors. And we’ll briefly touch on how these trends may relate to enterprise tech. Beeple is now the hottest artist on the planet That’s Beeple‘s Twitter profile picture on the inset in the picture above. His name is Mike Winkelmann. He’s actually a normal-looking dude, but that’s the picture he chose for his Twitter.  » Read More

Clubhouse — the new social media platform based on live audio conversations — began as a space dominated by Silicon Valley and tech influencers. But it has steadily grown over the last few months into a broader platform that now hosts everyone from U.S. billionaires to Chinese dissidents. Talks by Bill Gates and Elon Musk have captured the attention of many, and the app now boasts 10 million global installs. Amid the buzz, the space has reminded us of the internet’s original promise in terms of collaboration and community. But it’s also showing us the depressing limitations of social media as we currently use it.You can only join Clubhouse if you are invited, and it is all based on phone contacts, grounding it in real-life relationships — at least to start.Clubhouse looks and feels completely different from other social media platforms since there is little text, no pictures (apart from profile pictures, which are optional) and no videos.What remains is something in between a phone call and a webinar,  » Read More

New York Times NBA reporter Marc Stein may no longer have the television outlet that he once did with ESPN. But he’s created a new outlet for himself that allows him to share his reporting and insight with fans, and it might be something that catches on throughout the sports media industry. As reported by Axios Sports’ Kendall Baker, Stein is partnering up with Locker Room to produce live audio content for users that’s more interactive and immediate. Social audio! “Fans have been calling into radio shows forever, but this is a totally new genre,” Stein told Baker. “The host and the audience have never been able to hang out like this without being rushed. I see it as the old ESPN.com chats of yesteryear springing back to life in audio form.” "I don't think that anybody out there thinks that Blake Griffin is this team's last move." On his "Stein Line Live" Locker Room debut, @TheSteinLine discusses whether or not the Brooklyn Nets are the clear favorite to win the NBA championship this year.  » Read More

Illustration: Davide Barco for LEVELOver the past few months, the popularity of Clubhouse, the invite-only, live-audio app, has reached a fever pitch, exploding to 2 million users and reaching a $1 billion valuation in January. The social media platform has proven to be a thriving microcosm for a certain set of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and celebrity influencers, like Elon Musk.But long before Musk arrived on the scene, as Keith Nelson Jr writes in LEVEL, Black power and influence was at work and held an outsized role in getting Clubhouse off the ground. “Clubhouse is just the newest game in a sport that Black people have long dominated while simultaneously having their contributions ignored or stolen: social media,” Nelson argues.While the social-chat platform has “spurred Black unity” and created a space that encourages a certain level of candor (room-recording is not allowed), it has also “open the doors for racist and sexist speech and behavior to ferment virtually unchecked,” Nelson writes.  » Read More

If you feel like there are so many new apps and trends circulating the internet these days and you just simply can’t keep up, then you’re not alone and also you’re in luck — we’re here to break it all down for you. First there was TikTok and then Clubhouse, but now there’s another new app that should be on your radar too: Dispo. Dispo is a new app by Viner-turned-YouTube star David Dobrik. If you’re been online lately, then you’ve probably noticed that pictures taken on disposable cameras are making a comeback and quite literally taking over social media. Recently, some of your favorite celebs have been uploading their disposable camera pics to Instagram, and some, like Tana Mongeau(@tanatookthese) and David Dobrik (@davidsdisposable), have even created second accounts dedicated solely to these types of photos. You might even remember the iconic disposable camera photos thatFrank Ocean took at the Met Gala in 2018.Everyone wants these retro '90s vibe photos, but disposable cameras are getting more and more expensive. Not to mention,  » Read More