SnapChat

The Lens Studio community, now made up of more than 200,000 creators, has generated some impressive augmented reality effects in the last few years. Amazingly, the groundbreaking Lenses for Snapchat continue to come, often from the internal AR team at Snap.Take, for instance, Cartoon 3D Style, which generated approximately 2.8 billion engagements on Snapchat within its first week.Don't Miss: Snap Adds Upper Garment Segmentation, Multiple Object Detection, & More with Lens Studio 4.1 The latest AR magic trick to arrive on Snapchat (iOS or Android) from Snap's AR team is the appropriately-named Magic Karaoke. Or maybe you've seen it referred to as the "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" filter.Like Cartoon 3D Style, the Magic Karaoke Lens works with the real-time camera feed from either the selfie or rear-facing cameras or images from your camera roll. Unfiltered video. Images by Tommy Palladino/Next Reality Instead of morphing human faces into Pixar cartoon characters, Magic Karaoke turns Snapchat into a puppeteer, with any face it identifies becoming virtual singing puppets. In fact, karaoke is an inaccurate term, as what's really going on here is lip-synching for the deep fake era.Based on the song selected, Magic Karaoke orchestrates the facial movements in time with the lyrics of the…

A model and social media influencer is awaiting sentence after her bank account was used for the transfer of crime proceeds from an invoice payment scam. Karine Lawani (22), a psychology student, with an address at Foxborough Road, Lucan, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to money-laundering after “naively” offering help to a man on Snapchat who needed an account. Det Garda John Saunderson told Dublin District Court that €5,430 was transferred into Lawani’s Permanent TSB bank account on February 11th last year. A Waterford-based firm had earlier received an email purporting to be from a supplier seeking payment of an invoice. The firm transferred the money as instructed and on the same date there were two withdrawals from Lawani’s account. Gardaí obtained CCTV evidence showing an “unknown male withdrawing €1,500 from the account” at an ATM in the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. Lawani took out €3,200 from a bank machine on Dublin’s O’Connell Street. Two days later €700 was withdrawn. Snapchat messageDet Garda Saunderson said Lawani was arrested and interviewed in January. She claimed she saw a Snapchat message from a man looking for a Permanent TSB account so he could receive a payment from someone else with an account with…

Forget what you thought about Snapchat, the app is growing faster than it has in years, now counting over 293 million daily active users.Just a couple of years ago, it looked like it could have been the end.Related | Instagram Now Automatically Translates Texts In Stories In 90 LanguagesIn 2018, Snapchat was not doing well. Following a disastrous redesign, its stock price bottomed out under $5 as users and advertisers were questioning the very survival of the app.But nowadays, things are looking drastically different for Snapchat. Its user base is growing faster than it has ever done since it went public back in 2017. Snap said the app added over 13 million daily users during the second quarter, a 23% increase year on year. Snapchat now counts over 293 million daily active users, which means 120 million more than it did this time four years ago (173M.) As a comparison, Twitter reported 206 million active daily users for the same time period.But it’s not just user growth for Snapchat. The company also reported a 116% increase in revenue, bringing its total to $982 million, making Snapchat one of the fastest-growing social media companies.Snapchat continues to build its growth around a passion…

Social media firms Twitter and Snap are continuing to add users even as pandemic restrictions ease.Snapchat's number of daily users topped 293 million in the three months to the end of June, beating analysts' expectations.And Twitter reported it passed the 200 million mark for daily active users who view adverts on its platform in the same period, up 11% year-on-year.Both California-based companies also saw revenues increase.Snap owns the mobile app Snapchat, best known for its video and photo "stories" that disappear after 24 hours. The firm reported revenues more than doubling to $982m (£713m)."Our second-quarter results reflect the broad-based strength of our business, as we grew both revenue and daily active users at the highest rates we have achieved in the past four years," Snap boss Evan Spiegel said.The company was, however, still $152m in the red, down from $326m in net losses for the same period in 2020.Meanwhile, micro-blogging site Twitter said sales rose 74% year-on-year to $1.19bn, generating a profit of $65.7m for the company.This is the first time Twitter's advertising revenues have passed the $1bn mark. The firm said it had invested in making advertising campaigns easier to buy into for small and medium-sized businesses."As we enter…

A Chicago man accused of planning to kill a witness in a murder case will remain behind bars without bail, a judge ruled Saturday. Andres Giler, 20, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 20-year-old Sebastian Serrano, who was found dead on Christmas Day with gunshot wounds to the chest, back, arms and legs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. On Dec. 30, Giler allegedly messaged Antonio Reyes on Snapchat to tell him Serrano was dead. Giler, who was arrested Thursday, confessed that he helped plan the murder of Serrano, who was serving as a witness against Reyes. His partner, the alleged gunman, has not yet been charged. Andres Giler has been charged with first-degree murder. (Shutterstock) Last summer, then-17-year-old Reyes allegedly murdered a man because he was upset about his breakout, according to police. After the split, Reyes told his ex that he was going “to go kill a King right now,” referring to a local gang, the Sun-Times reported at the time. Luis Davalos-Garcia, 26, was shot in the right temple and chin and transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Reyes has also been tied to a Thanksgiving shooting that left a…

A West Humboldt Park man accused of killing a witness set to testify in a murder case was denied bail during a hearing broadcast on YouTube on Saturday. Andres Giler, 20, of the 4000 block of West Division Street, was charged with first-degree murder that occurred on Christmas Day 2020 in the 3300 block of 52nd Street, police said. The victim, Sebastian Serrano, was shot multiple times and pronounced dead. Prosecutors said Giler initially asked a 13-year-old boy to do the killing, but when he backed out, Giler did the slaying himself. Prosecutors also said Giler is currently on parole for a felony offense and was captured on video surveillance carrying out the fatal shooting. Giler also was conversing with the victim through Snapchat and was on the phone with the victim at the time of the shooting. Cellphone towers also placed Giler in the area at the time of the brutal crime, prosecutors said. On Dec. 30, Giler sent a Snapchat message to Antonio Reyes referring to the victim by his street name and told Reyes he was dead, prosecutors said. Reyes is currently facing a murder case, and Serrano was a witness in that case. Before the judge…

She allegedly posted the video that she took while on duty to Snapchat for others to see. She was charged in May and arrested on Friday. She has ...

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In today’s top retail news, both Snapchat and Twitter reported strong quarterly earnings as the social media companies try to insert themselves more into the world of commerce, while Harley-Davidson takes a major step in its own digital aspirations. Also, Taboola is acquiring eCommerce platform Connexity, and Skechers executives say they are “cautiously optimistic” about the back-to-school shopping season. Snapchat, Twitter Gains Reflect Social Media’s Growing Commerce Ambitions Both Twitter and Snapchat reported their strongest growth in years, narrowing losses, major advances to their active user counts and ambitions to do more with their social media platforms to insert them into the world of commerce this week. Snapchat has definitively set its sights on social commerce, releasing TrueSize technology and expanding Snap Scan into food and fashion. And Twitter, coming off its biggest growth spurt in seven years after its latest earnings update, is also eyeing plans to expand its offering more directly into the world of commerce with a Tip Jar and Super Follows, among other features. Digitally Connected Bikers Drive Harley’s New D2C Sales Effort With the pandemic starting to appear in the rearview mirror, Harley-Davidson is taking a bold step toward meeting customers where they are by selling nearly…

Crime and CourtsSnapchat is one of the most popular apps to communicate with hundreds of friends who at any given moment can be found on the app's Snap Map. Written By: Kevin Wallevand | 9:57 pm, Jul. 21, 2021 FARGO-MOORHEAD — Yvonnah, Ben, and Madelyn are getting ready for fall college classes. They just finished at Fargo South High School, and like most of their friends, use SnapChat. "It has always been a thing to see how many people are on your Snap Map or how many you have on Snapchat," said Madelyn. "It is sometimes like a gloating thing." Snapchat is one of the most popular apps to communicate with hundreds of friends who at any given moment can be found on the app's Snap Map. "I use it to see if someone is at the place I am at," said Ben. "I was at the fair, and I was wondering if there was anyone here that I know." "I have always heard, 'Don't have it on,'" said Madelyn. "We have always had that talk to turn it off and not leaving it on for certain people, because it is scary it is to let anyone random know where…