Clubhouse

Parler, a social network adopted by the far right and recently kicked off AWS for its userbase’s habit of advocating violence, is back online. The restoration questions the notion that “big tech” can take and keep an unwanted presence offline, but Parler’s return is not quite a triumph, and its new CEO doesn’t suggest much of a change in philosophy. Users can now log in to Parler on the web, but when they do they will find that all their old posts and content have been removed. It’s unclear whether this was a consequence of the hurried exit from AWS last month, a scorched-earth policy regarding the content that got the site in hot water in the first place or for some other reason. Fortunately someone had the presence of mind to make a backup, though not with the intention of restoring it. @donk_enby scraped millions of posts and media files from the site for posterity, something that has already borne fruit as researchers have used the files to show, for example, where certain users were on the day of the Capitol riots. (She is currently pointing out various problems with the new Parler’s web rollout.) The new site is…

Dispo is a new photo-sharing app that elicits the feelings associated with using a disposable camera. Can it be the new Instagram?The app launched last year on Product Hunt. But it is its newly released version that has got Twitter and the tech world talking this weekend.Related | Google Photos Gets A New Video EditorThere has not been a ton of innovation in the world of social apps lately. And there certainly has not been many social apps that actually were launched and survived more than a few weeks. Clubhouse being the exception, of course, but that is because it brings a whole new world with audio conversations.And then there is Dispo. Originally called Disposable, the app aimed to be an alternative to Instagram that lets you create and share photos that elicit nostalgic feelings associated with using a disposable camera. This intention is found deep into the app’s design that is meant to imitate the delayed gratification of getting a photo developed before being able to view and share it.Yes, that is right. On the contrary to modern social media, Dispo is betting on not satisfying your instant need for gratification. After taking your snaps on the app, you have…

Clubhouse: The Exclusive Social Network Connecting Egyptians at Home and Abroad On Thursday morning, a daily Egypt ‘room’ on Clubhouse rocketed to 2,000 listeners, sparking joy and amazement among the Egyptian speakers in the room. “I was honestly shocked and amazed. For a few seconds I wasn’t able to understand what was going on but the group of amazing people who were co-moderating did great job and handled it in the best way,” says Sherin Ewase, an Egyptian Clubhouse user who regularly schedules and moderates rooms for Egyptian users. The room quickly shifted to discussions about Egyptian culture, food and travel destinations, with non-Egyptians invited to ask questions about visiting Egypt, Egyptian music and opportunities to live and work in Egypt. Clubhouse is a social media application that recently hit the Egyptian market and is currently only available on Apple devices. The app, which is currently invitation-only, allows both friends and strangers to connect in ‘rooms’ and ‘clubs’ to listen in on various topics initiated by moderators and their guests. Anyone who enters a room can ‘raise their hand’ to be invited to the ‘stage’ to speak alongside the moderators and guests. For Sherin, Clubhouse provides an opportunity for Egyptians…

ADA price – Attention Litecoin (LTC) Users Who Missed the Q&A Between ClubHouse App and Charlie Lee Litecoin users have lot of questions to ask Charlie like What other projects are they working on? Partnerships in the pipeline? PayPal – what does it involve? Mass rollout? Does he still own Litecoin? Long term future for Litecoin? 5, 10 year plans? LTC has a value because people are deciding that it has a value.  Also, it’s on all sorts of exchanges and it survived 9 years with 0 downtime. However, the only question that remains in the ecosystem seems to be when moon sir? ADVERTISEMENT Users are willing to know more about MingleJingle the Monero sub-address proposal for Litecoin.  On which lightning wallet is supporting Litecoin today? How to crowd source Litecoin Lightning into the Litewallet? Which exchanges will support MWEB on Litecoin? Several other similar questions on Litecoin has been answered in the Litecoin Q&A with Charlie Lee.  However, this was a Clubhouse only invite event.  For clarity, Clubhouse app is a space for casual, drop-in audio conversations. They are currently in private beta.  Users are downloading the app to join the waitlist. For users who were not able to…

Clubhouse has been garnering hype through its high-profile discussions and a drop-in approach to audio chat, but there are also concerns the Chinese government might eavesdrop on nationals who got the app before it was banned in the country. The developers are promising to protect those users who got through, however. Alpha Exploration told Stanford's Internet Observatory that it's tightening security measures, including blocks preventing Clubhouse apps from "transmitting pings" to Chinese servers. In theory, Chinese spies will have harder time tracing app activity.The upgrades also include "additional encryption." Alpha Exploration expected the changes to take effect over a 72-hour period, with a third-party firm auditing the changes.Users were concerned that Chinese officials could legally obtain any recorded conversations passing through servers in the country. While only a handful of iOS users are believed to use Clubhouse in China, they may be prime targets for spying — the Chinese government has eagerly cracked down on services that could help dissidents coordinate in secret, such as VPNs.The new measures might be crucial to Clubhouse's growth. If it's going to grow past its invitation-only focus and launch on other platforms, Alpha Exploration will have to persuade users that it's truly private and…

Many photographers have had the same reaction that I did upon hearing about yet another new social media app hitting the radar: a yawn and a roll of the eyes. We have seen countless apps and image-sharing sites emerge with fanfare and then fail to gain traction in the crowded sphere of social media, and we feel pressed to carve out time for the platforms that we already use. So why should any photographer devote more precious time to an app that doesn’t even include any images? The short answer is because Clubhouse is poised to be a true disrupter, an app that could usher in a whole new era of social media. If that answer is provocative enough to make you want to try it, then stop reading this article right now and waste no time in finding a friend who can give you an invite. Otherwise, read on to find out why Clubhouse is turning the social media world on its ear—quite literally. What is Clubhouse? You know an app is breaking new ground when it can make one of the oldest forms of communication seem new again. Talking to people seems almost archaic these days, as we…

All good things must come to an end—or at least become the subject of a scoldy Poynter article and a prominent New York Times tech reporter compiling a list of "issues and incidents." In this case, the target is Clubhouse, a nascent audio-only conversation app that's part-chatroom, part–conference panel, part–good happy hour, the kind where you leave feeling like your subway fare wasn't wasted. The Poynter piece levies complaints and concerns at the app, including that "Clubhouse's design inherently excludes people with certain disabilities" by making "zero affordances" for those who are deaf or hearing-impaired. (Unfortunately, it's fairly impractical to make real-time audio apps both accessible and enjoyable to deaf people.) But Poynter quickly moves on to its more central concern, which is that the app poses a problem for fact-checkers since it "doesn't keep old posts or audio files and doesn't allow users to record conversations." In fact, "there is no way to prove that someone said anything controversial at all," the article notes, citing Grit Daily's Olivia Smith. This seems like it would be bad for snitches and media industry narcs, of which there are many, but actually quite good for reducing the reach of misinformation, slurs, or controversial statements. Unlike Twitter and…

Since Tesla founder Elon Musk’s recent Clubhouse appearance broke the start-up’s 5,000-person limit per room, the invite-only Silicon Valley darling is making a name for itself and is well on its way to becoming mainstream. The Andreessen Horowitz-backed audio social platform Clubhouse has gone from a small community of beta testers last March to a growing network of two million people. Only a year old, the start-up was recently valued at $1 billion. While the app is still in beta and requires an invite to join, it’s gotten a bit less exclusive as word has spread among early adopters, with about 3.4 million downloads to date. The company said it plans to open the app to anyone who wants to join “soon.” Recent Posts

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President  Xi Jinping spoke by phone late Wednesday, the first call between the two since Biden’s November victory in the U.S. presidential election. Biden “affirmed his priorities of protecting the American people’s security, prosperity, health, and way of life, and preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a readout provided by the White House. The two leaders also discussed the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and the possibility of Washington and Beijing pursuing what the White House described as the possibility of pursuing “practical, results-oriented engagements” on arms control. But officials said Biden also held firm on several key areas of contention. “President Biden underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan,” the readout said. Chinese state television said President Xi told Biden that bilateral cooperation is the only choice to resolve and manage their differences.  Xi called for various one-on-one dialogue mechanisms to resume to avoid any sort of misunderstandings. The television report also said Xi told Biden he hopes the U.S. will act “cautiously” with respect to such…

Microsoft Corp approached Pinterest Inc in recent months about a potential deal to acquire the $51 billion social media company, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the matter.The negotiations were currently not active, according to the report. A general shift to virtual interactions leading to increased engagement on social media platforms benefited Pinterest as well, with its monthly active users jumping 37% to 459 million in the fourth quarter.The company said it added a record 100 million monthly active users in 2020.Pinterest's shares have risen over seven times from its pandemic-low in March last year. Pinteret had previously signaled it wants to remain an independent company, the FT said.The social media company generates revenue by placing advertisements next to the Pins, or posts, uploaded on the site by users.A deal between the two companies would also have tested the Biden administration's appetite for allowing powerful technology companies to strike deals, according to the FT.Both companies did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin