Social Networks

Joby Aviation’s prototype craft flying in a promotional video.Screenshot: Joby Aviation (Fair Use)Time and time again, tech companies have promised a future where commuters will be able to zip around in the flying cars from The Jetsons. And time and time again, that just hasn’t happened.That’s because the practical engineering challenges are immense—building small, electrically powered vertical take-off and landing, or VTOL, aircraft would require a massive leap in technology over helicopters. It’s also because many of the business models proposed so far, such as Uber’s now-former “aerial ridesharing” unit Uber Elevate, have been patently ridiculous concepts amounting to not much more than speculative futurism. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is nonetheless taking a big bet that the era of the flying taxi is coming in the foreseeable future, according to Axios.According to Axios, Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Reinvent Technology Partners reached a deal on Wednesday to buy Joby Aviation, the company that bought up Uber Elevate, in a deal that values the firm at $6.6 billion. (An SPAC is a corporate entity with no commercial operations formed for the specific purpose of acquiring private firms.)Uber is an investor in Joby, and the company already has…

25 February 2021 Available to stream from your Apple TV, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and Roku Lockdown life has been tough on most of us, but for Kat & Kat this time was used to create a comedy TV show phenomenon. Written, produced and directed by the leading stars Kat Ronson and Katerina Robinson, ג€˜Ladsג€™ is a 6-part comedy series based on the stereotype of men in our society, due to be released on Vimeo on Demand on 2nd April. Hailed as the 21st century ג€˜Kevin & Perryג€™ duo, this mockumentary follows two teenage boys from East London; ג€˜Daveג€™ (played by Ronson) who has anger issues, and ג€˜Charlieג€™ (played by Robinson) whoג€™s mum still chooses what clothes to wear. The series highlights typical bloke behaviour in classic scenarios, creating belly-chuckling moments. Filmed mostly in their flat and based on improvisation and comedy genius, the series idea was born from their hugely popular Instagram clips, some would say this is the new age of comedy. The raw and quality comedy content really brings to light todayג€™s sexualisation, in a shrewd and rib-tickling way. The observational comedy on male dynamics brings a tongue and cheek tone to the series. Men…

Snapchat came into our lives 10 years ago. Since then, an entire generation grew up in a world where filters and selfies ruled. Snapchat came into our lives 10 years ago. Since then, an entire generation grew up in a world where filters and selfies ruled. “It lightens your eyes, makes your lips bigger, makes your jaw like skinner, makes you tanner,” said Aidan Walters, who underwent surgery when he turned 18 years old. He wanted to look a little more like his “filtered” self. “I went and got like my lips filled, shots of Botox in my jaw,” he said, describing the surgical procedure. “So, I had a skinnier jawline. I got Botox on my eyebrows to make them raised more." Doctors at the Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery Center of Columbus say there’s nothing wrong with wanting a better version of yourself. But Dr. Robert Houser said he’s seeing a growing trend of patients coming in with surgical requests that go a little beyond the norm. “Oftentimes, it was a significantly smaller nose or significantly larger eyes or a completely different jawline,” Dr. Houser explained. “You don’t really want a nose that’s that small you won’t be able to…

PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. Learn more. The upcoming Super Follow system takes a page from Patreon, and is part of Twitter's efforts to make revenue outside of simply serving digital ads. (Credit: Twitter) Twitter is working on a way for you to make money off your tweets. During an investors’ event on Thursday, the company unveiled “Super Follow,” an account subscription system that’ll let users charge followers for monthly access to exclusive content.The company is basically taking a page from Patreon or OnlyFans. For example, if you’re an artist or actor, you can use the Super Follow system to charge willing followers $4.99 per month for access to private tweets containing songs or video trailers. Credit: Twitter Twitter’s chief design officer, Dantley Davis, said the Super Follow system will enable content creators on the platform to receive funding from their loyal fans.  » Read More

by: Greg Bock Posted: Feb 25, 2021 / 05:30 PM EST / Updated: Feb 25, 2021 / 05:30 PM EST CLEARFIELD, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Clearfield County teenager is accused of using a female’s Snapchat to lure a man to an ambush robbery.  Clayton Brown, 19, of Woodland, and four juveniles took part in the ruse and robbery on Industrial Park Road in Clearfield at just before 8 p.m. on Feb. 19, according to the charges filed by Lawrence Township police.  Brown and one of the juveniles set up the victim for the ambush and when the target of the robbery arrived and was dropped off by two friends, Brown and the juveniles ran out of the darkness and assaulted him.  One of the juveniles is accused of running up to the man and punching him before tackling him against a vehicle. The man tried to get away, but each time he tried, the group tackled him. One juvenile is accused of hitting the man with a metal rod while another is accused of holding a butterfly knife to the back of the man’s head.   Police said the man had his pockets emptied by two of the juveniles before they all ran to a Jeep that was hidden. The man’s shoes were also taken and when…

The rapid advance of Lens Studio as a platform for easily developing augmented reality experiences is just one indicator that immersive computing is becoming the norm.But one layer above the technology tools are the users, the real stars of any platform. Without passionate users, your platform is really just a great idea without the footprint of real-world usage and momentum. That's part of why we decided to begin looking closer at some of the people who are driving the most mainstream version of AR forward via mobile apps.• Don't Miss: Bernie Sanders Presidential Inauguration Freezing Moment Spawns Meme-Worthy Snapchat LensFirst up is Audrey Spencer, a prolific Snapchat Lens creator (you can follow her on Snapchat here) who began years ago as a casual user, and ended up developing some of the most engaging AR experiences on the app. That experience has led Spencer to begin investigating taking her work to the next level by learning to develop experiences in the world of Unity. Image via Audrey Spencer In addition to Spencer's work in smartphone-based AR, she's also currently working with San Francisco-based AR startup Kura Technologies as its lead industrial designer. If you're looking to get a peek into one…

Crime and CourtsHe allegedly admitted to making comments on Snapchat that included "bringing a gun to school and shoot a list of kids." Written By: Mitchell Republic | Feb 25th 2021 - 3pm. × PARKSTON — An 18-year-old student at Parkston School District was arrested and has been charged for allegedly saying on social media that he would bring a gun to school and "I have a list of who's gonna f------ die." Ragen Weber, of Parkston, originally was facing the charge of making a terrorist threat, a Class 5 felony, according to recently filed court documents in Hutchinson County. However, Hutchinson County State's Attorney Glenn Roth told the Mitchell Republic on Thursday afternoon the charge would be amended to disturbance of a school as a misdemeanor. Court documents say Parkston Principal Eric Norden contacted the police department at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30. He told an officer that there was a Snapchat message from Weber that stated he planned to bring a gun to school on Monday. The officer called Weber's mom and dad and asked them down to the police department. The officer asked Weber if he was 18 and he said yes, and he then allegedly…

We have learned a lot from a year of living most of our lives online. We’ve gone back and forth between treating the internet like a virtual town square on Twitter, revisiting our teenage archives on Tumblr, finding new identities on TikTok, and abandoning old ones on Instagram. Unshockingly, last year’s “top” memes reflect the breadth of this range. From World War III memes in January to coronavirus memes in March to memes about Grimes and Elon Musk’s newborn being some kind of cyberpunk Messiah in May, all struck a chaotic, filthy, and dystopic chord — but they were still funny. For a moment, no matter how bad things were, you could still laugh. That didn’t hold in June, when Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country. Suddenly, pastel backgrounds and girl-boss slogans stepped in, promoting antiracism as if it were a brand — or worse, a part of our brands. These disgraceful actions eventually got to the point of memeifying Breonna Taylor, showing the power of memes to steer us totally wrong.Memes are just repetition, but that has a power of its own. A meme groups a few words, images, videos, or sounds, and as more people replicate it…

Guys, I’m doomed! It’s only been a few months since I have purged the Instagram app from my life because of how it was taking it over. I had a serious addiction and I knew it was just time to let it go. But now, there’s Clubhouse. Clubhouse is going to be the new Instagram. And the way they’ve set it up, people are clamoring to get on it. Which means, so am I! It’s like that popular Christmas toy that’s manufactured in small quantities to purposely make it difficult to get, thus increasing the demand.As if Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Facebook weren’t enough, Clubhouse is on the rise. It launched last summer, allowing just over a thousand users, most of whom were Uber-hip Silicon Valley workers and Venture capitalists. The app is unique from other social networking apps because it’s closed and hierarchical, meaning users must be invited by someone already on the app in order to access content. As users can only invite two people to join the app, it is pretty exclusive.Access to Clubhouse gives you the opportunity to participate in and watch casual,  » Read More

When Airdrie's MacKenzie Murphy was in grade 5, she experienced bullying for the first time. Starting as jokes and teasing that, at first, felt harmless, but as the internet came into fruition, things began to escalate. Murphy had an account on Tumblr, a social media platform where users share written blogs and photos of their own, or repost other users' content to share with their followers, much like retweeting someone on Twitter. Within Tumblr, there's a function where someone can ask another user a question and remain completely anonymous. It was through these anonymous online questions, most of Mackenzie's bullying occurred, mainly about mental health. "I got told a lot to just 'turn off the computer' which, yeah, it can be a really good tool to just step away from the situation." says Murphy, "But, to tell a kid that they're not allowed on the internet or shouldn't be on the internet because they're being bullied and they're the victims, isn't the answer." Murphy did end up stepping away from the internet to "shut off" the bullies because it had gotten so out of hand and so hurtful, MacKenzie had attempted to take her own life as a result. Bullying often has a domino effect where those…