Social Networks

The bio reads, “Just a cobra visiting and seeing the sites of Grand Prairie and North Texas.”A photo of a West African Banded Cobra for reference. (Grand Prairie Police)GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Remember the venomous West African Banded Cobra that went missing in North Texas last week?Well, it’s still on the loose and now, it is apparently taking to Twitter and Facebook to share its adventures as search efforts continue.The snake’s username is “Grand Prairie Cobra” and its Twitter bio reads, “Just a cobra visiting and seeing the sites of Grand Prairie and North Texas.”Granted, this social media account isn’t actually run by the snake, but the user behind it is getting creative with its Twitter posts.So much so that the snake’s profile has over 5,300 followers and counting. Whether it’s slithering through the grass or creeping on other critters, you’ll probably get a laugh as you scroll through the Tweets.AdAccording to Grand Prairie police, the snake went missing around 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 3. from a residence in the 1800 block of Cherry Street.Animal services, the owner of the snake, and a venomous snake apprehension professional searched inside and outside of its home but weren’t able to track it…

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)-owned online wallet Payit has entered a partnership with digital support services provider PLATX Omni Channel Conversational Commerce in order to offer a new solution for UAE-headquartered merchants. The two firms said they’ll enable UAE’s merchants to obtain customer payments through the widely-used social messaging app WhatsApp. The service will require merchants to share their WhatsApp-enabled mobile phone numbers with their clients. A chatbot will then walk clients through the payments process, and merchants will be able to get real-time payment confirmation. This will reportedly be the very first WhatsApp-enabled B2C retail payment service to be introduced in the Middle East. The only other WhatsApp-based payment service in the region is PayBot. The chatbot app is used to support mobile bill payments as well as recharges. Ramana Kumar, CEO of FAB subsidiary Magnati, stated: “The solution was designed in line with our robust multi-level encryption to ensure all transactions are secure. At Payit, we continue to introduce such innovative solutions to support our merchant partners especially in the SME segment with robust, cost effective seamless digital checkout experience as well as expand upon payit’s many services to provide a comprehensive digital wallet that serves our customers’…

After years of searching for relevance, Splitgate has finally built a following of players by relaunching the game with the selling point of being a PvP title crossing Halo and Portal. Since its original release as Splitgate: Arena Warfare back in May 2019, the first-person shooter hasn’t had the type of popularity developer 1047 Games had in mind. The game had an incredibly small player base and up until July of 2021, the average player count for Splitgate was only around 300 at a time on Steam. The game had toiled away in relative obscurity, up until recently. On July 27, the game was relaunched simply as ‘Splitgate’, dropping the sub-title and adding console play, and since then has exploded in popularity. Some of Twitch’s biggest streamers like xQc have begun playing the game, giving a platform to its unique gameplay mechanics that combine elements of both popular FPS’s in Halo and Portal. 1047 GamesSplitgate recieved a “re-release” and is now topping the Steam charts. Splitgate goes viral on Twitch and Steam Splitgate has become one of the most played games on Steam, averaging roughly 55k players since the game was re-released on July 27. While the new version of…

Oct. 11, 1937 —July 22, 2021 (age 83) STRUTHERS — JoAnn Rotz, 83, died July 22 at her daughter's home in Brecksville. JoAnn was born Oct. 11, 1937 in Youngstown, daughter of Joseph and Bertha (Thomas) Jarko. JoAnn treasured spending time with her daughters, grandchildren and neighbors. She worked at General Electric for 30 years, retiring in 1998. She looked forward to monthly lunches with lady friends from General Electric. She took pride in her yard, garden and flowers. She enjoyed feeding squirrels and birds and cherished watching them from her picture window.  JoAnn enjoyed craft shows and festivals, the Oktoberfest, Christmas in the Woods, Canfield Fair and Kraynaks. She loved Facebook and Snapchat and enjoyed sharing that with her grandchildren. JoAnn hosted a Christmas Eve celebration at home for 40 years,  serving traditional Italian and Slovak dishes. She thoroughly enjoyed sitting on her front porch and playing games on the computer.   She is survived by daughters Roxann (Jon) Carroll of Lake City, Pa., Rose (Dr. Kenneth) Jenkins of Brecksville and Terry Rotz of Struthers; a brother, Gary (Socorro) West of Niles; and grandchildren Chadd Stephenson, William Stephenson, Rachael Jenkins, Sarah Jenkins, Kenny Jenkins, Jessica Jenkins, Marsha Drabenstadt and William Drabenstadt.    In addition to her parents and husband (Frank…

Four English golf courses look set to have hundreds of homes built on their land. Widnes Golf Club hopes to convert its 18-hole golf course into a nine-hole facility with a new clubhouse and greenkeeping facilities, with the other nine holes turned into more than 230 homes. A similar proposal was rejected earlier this year by its council, after the club said it needed to sell the nine holes to Anwyl Homes in order to secure its future, as declining membership had left it with financial issues. Planning officers rejected the scheme as they said it would leave Widnes in the ‘highly unusual’ situation of no longer having an 18-hole course. A new planning application, however, sees a reduction in the proposed number of homes from 249 to 233, additional green space, more trees planted and enhancements to the redeveloped golf course, plus Widnes Golf Club has said it will invest in the nearby 18-hole Blundells Hill Golf Club in Rainhill in order to make improvements. The combined membership would have the potential to play at both courses and developers said the plans would ensure the future of both locations.  » Read More

BOTH TikTok and WhatsApp are set to trial and launch view-once, automatically deleting videos. TikTok Stories will allow users to share content with their followers for 24 hours, after which the content will be deleted, and the latest version of WhatsApp will give users the option to send photos and videos that can only be viewed by the recipient once. The feature will warn users to "only send photos or videos with View Once media enabled to trusted individuals". We have some amazing photographers in Gwent – as the pictures on the South Wales Argus Camera Club show. Are you a photographer keen to show off your skills? Click here to tell us a bit about yourself and show off some of your best snaps, and we’ll share them with our readers. The companies have said the changes are being brought about to keep users' data more secure. But with this latest evolution happening across multiple social media platforms, are you sure you’re engaging with your apps safely? As part of its advice on keeping your mobile phone secure, Uswitch.com has pulled together five useful strategies for staying safe on social media.  1. Update your apps regularly When you’ve got many…

TikTok's latest feature is similar to something you've seen before, but with a twist. By Taylor Kamnetz Culver City, California – TikTok is trying out a new "stories" feature in efforts to become the best and most-encompassing version of itself. TikTok is testing out a new "stories" feature similar to that of Snapchat and Instagram.  © IMAGO / ANP Though many other social media platforms have either tried or successfully added a "stories" feature to their app, TikTok appears to be making up for time lost.The new feature, simply called "TikTok Stories," was first spotted by Twitter user and social media commentator Matt Navarra on August 4. The app's latest update appears to work similarly to Snapchat's story feature that Instagram later copied. TikTok Stories lives in its own slide-over sidebar within the app, where users will be able to view stories posted by accounts they follow for 24 hours, when they will be automatically deleted. Those who share stories have the option to delete them from their account prior to auto-deletion.Just like on Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok users will be able to reply or react to stories they view, and can easily watch anyone's stories by simply tapping on their profile…

Included in the new programming the deal brings to Snapchat will be popular shows Bondi Rescue (Totem), MasterChef Australia (Banijay) and Shark Tank Australia (Little Dot).The Snapchat Discover feed is essentially a means for publishers and brands to connect with audiences who are able to subscribe to particular channels and watch content from publishing partners.In Australia, Snapchat has 6.3 million monthly active users, according to a March 2021 study by Social Media Statistics Australia and according to Snapchat, the platform reaches 90 per cent of 13-24 years olds and 75 per cent of 13-34 years old in Australia.The new content deals is likely part of a strategy to keep younger audiences on the platform as TikTok continues to push into the mainstream.Ms Carter said these new partnerships will help accelerate growth in Snapchat’s Australia audience,“The continued commitment and investment in local content will only help accelerate that and really demonstrate our investment in this market and the importance of the Australian market,” she said.“It reflects our understanding of how talented and creative Australian businesses could be, both from a commercial perspective, but also in terms of the way that they are producing content for the soundtrack generation.“I’m confident that more…

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/82/b3/kyle-larson-080821-getty-ftr_1pqbuktzgray91k66p191nhbd5.jpg?t=742294619&w=500&quality=80 Not even the recent road track success of Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. could overcome Kyle Larson's sustained brilliance in 2021. The Hendrick Motorsports driver won for the fifth time this year in the NASCAR Cup Series, finishing ahead of second-place Elliott and third-place Truex on Sunday. Larson took the lead from pit road on Lap 65 and never let it go. Credit to Elliott, though; he managed to fight from the rear for his second-place finish after he was hit with an L1 penalty prior to the race. Larson's win is good news for Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick, who finished eighth and 10th, respectively. They're the last two drivers in the projected NASCAR Cup playoff field. A first-time winner this season would knock Reddick, then Harvick out of the playoff running.Sporting News tracked live updates and highlights from NASCAR's race at Watkins Glen on Sunday. Follow for complete results from the Go Bowling at The Glen road race: MORE: Watch NASCAR racing live with fuboTV (7-day free trial)NASCAR at Watkins Glen live updates, highlights(All times Eastern)5:14 p.m.: For the fifth time this year, Kyle Larson is your winner. Your top 10:Kyle LarsonChase ElliottMartin Truex Jr.Kyle BuschDenny HamlinWilliam…

Piers Corbyn speaks to YouTubers posing as investors Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter for FREE now Invalid emailWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More infoMs Quigley-Jones, founder of Digital Voices and the recently launched Creator Voices, shared just what was driving her unprecedented success. Digital Voices was able to triple its staff, go international and work with the likes of Rolls-Royce in less than three years.Digital Voices was founded in 2018 to help influencers, content creators and digital entrepreneurs optimise their marketing and brands.Proving that entrepreneurship is not a straight and narrow path, Ms Quigley-Jones had one of the most varied educational and career paths before beginning Digital Voices.Growing up in Kuwait, she found a passion to humanise the region, and went on to research and publish pieces on child torture in Syria and interned in Washington on foreign policy and the Middle East.Ms Quigley-Jones was then awarded the Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard where she graduated with a Master’s degree…