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Snap tethers Snapchat to Unity's growing ecosystem of game and ad technologies. Snap (NYSE:SNAP), the parent company of Snapchat, recently partnered with Unity Software (NYSE:U) to bolster its ad and game platforms. Snap will integrate Unity's game engine -- which powers over half of the world's mobile, PC, and console games --- into its Snap Kit SDK (software development kit) for developers. It will add support for Snapchat's Bitmojis, which allow users to play as their virtual avatars, next year. Snap will also integrate the Unity Ads platform, which lets developers insert ads into their games and apps, into the Snap Kit's Audience Network, which allows Snap's advertisers to purchase ads on third-party apps and websites. Let's dig deeper and see how this deal could benefit both companies. Image source: Getty Images. The story thus far... Unity's Create Solutions platform provides cross-platform rendering, lighting, physics, sound, animation, and user interface tools for developers. Bundling those tools has made it easier to create games, since developers previously created those features individually for different platforms -- which was an expensive, buggy, and time-consuming process. Popular video games like Super Mario Run, Among Us, and Monument Valley were all built with Unity. Unity's…

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become. In this Love Letter To A Record series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.Cry Club’s Heather Riley – 100 gecs’ ‘1000 gecsNot to sound dramatic, but the first time I listened to this album, I genuinely cried. I’ve you’ve come into contact with anything by 100 gecs, I maaaaaaybe sound a little crazy right now (totally fair) but the impact this strange, noisy, glitchy album had on me was ridiculous. I had my first taste on Snapchat of all places, mindlessly tapping through Vice’s snapchat stories in June 2019…

NewsThe case against a former Nebraska school superintendent accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student is advancing through the court system.Former superintendent’s child abuse case advances to district courtSEWARD, NE — The case against a former Nebraska school superintendent accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student is advancing through the court system.Court documents say 56-year-old Tim DeWaard waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. His case was bound over to district court.DeWaard is the former superintendent at Centennial Public Schools in Utica. The Seward County Sheriff’s Office arrested him in July on suspicion of child abuse and third-degree sexual assault. The county attorney chose to only charge him with intentional child abuse not resulting in serious injury, a Class IIIA felony.The alleged victim told investigators that DeWaard asked him to send shirtless photos over Snapchat. The teenager said DeWaard would have him sit on his lap and touched his inner thigh while in his locked office.DeWaard is scheduled to appear for his arraignment on January 4. He is currently free on bond.

You’re stuck with Fleets, and maybe that’s not all badImage: TwitterDo you remember the internet before Stories?When Snapchat introduced Stories in 2014, the format was novel but niche: It provided a new way to view pictures and video by tapping back and forth in full screen, an experience that fit smartphones better than anything that had come before it. Now, it feels like “Stories” are showing up everywhere.In the six years since the format’s debut, it’s been adopted at an astonishing rate in almost every popular app, from Instagram to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google results, and beyond. The Stories format is now owned by nobody, transcending its creator entirely to become even more important: a user experience (UX) pattern easily adopted by anyone for visual content.There are endless jokes and memes about what the next app to get the Stories treatment will be: Microsoft Excel, Visual Studio Code, maybe even your next calculator. Those jokes, however, reveal something bigger — Stories have become a universally understood format. If you see a round avatar with a thin colorful line around it, you know what it means: Tap here to see photos, videos, and an experience that will fill your smartphone display…

Twitter has long been a social media platform where people can be vocal about their opinions and engage in open dialogue. Apart from screenshotting a tweet and posting the image, there has been no official way to share a tweet to Snapchat until now. Twitter users can now easily share a public tweet as a sticker in a Snap Story and still utilise the camera and other features that Snapchat offers. Viewers of the Story can also easily be linked to the original tweet by pressing on it. The 6 Easy Steps: Courtesy of Twitter 1.       Tap the share icon on the public tweet. (Note: A protected tweet cannot be shared.) 2.       Tap the Snapchat icon on the bottom horizontal scroll of icons. 3.       If you’re signed into the Snapchat app on your device and not in the middle of creating a Snap, the Snapchat app will open directly to the Camera and the tweet you want to share will appear on top of the Camera as an immovable sticker. If you want to use a Lens, tap the screen to activate the Lens Carousel. 4.       Once you take your Snap (as a video or a photo), you can pinch to move and resize the tweet sticker. More…

In Augmented Reality News December 15, 2020 – 8th Wall, the augmented reality (AR) platform that makes it easy to build frictionless AR content for the mobile web (WebAR), has recently announced that with the new iOS 14.3 update, WebAR experiences now work in all major iOS apps, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger, LinkedIn, and Chrome.According to the company, 8th Wall WebAR already has a reach of roughly 2.9 billion Android and iOS devices and offers the least amount of friction for users to engage with augmented reality experiences via their smartphone devices. While iPhone users were previously well-supported in Safari and in apps like Twitter and Slack, which use SFSafariViewController web views, the latest iOS update now lets brands meet iPhone audiences wherever users spend their screen time, in all of their favorite apps.With iOS 14.3, applications that use WKWebView can now run 8th Wall WebAR experiences. This includes the most popular social media apps, but it also means that iPhone users can experience WebAR content within any iOS app or even in the browser of their choice. The update removes even more friction to access AR experiences, according to 8th Wall, allowing users to get directly to an AR…

A 40-year-old woman was allegedly caught taking photographs in court yesterday and sending them to a family member by Snapchat.Judge Olann Kelleher referred to the matter from the bench at Courtroom 1 in the Anglesea Street courthouse in Cork yesterday.“It is a matter for the state if they want to do something about taking photos in court,” Judge Kelleher said.Shoplifting chargesAmanda Sheehan faced sentencing for multiple charges of shoplifting yesterday.Sergeant John Kelleher said the case was in court yesterday for the accused to pay compensation to the stores before she was sentenced.However, her solicitor, Diarmuid Kelleher, said the defence was looking for a further adjournment as she did not have the compensation available yet.A total of €280 is due to be paid.Amanda Sheehan with an address at a flat in Ivy House, Wellington Road, Cork, was convicted of stealing €80 worth of cosmetics from Boots on Half Moon Street, Cork, on August 23, 2019.She also stole €43 worth of goods from Debenham’s on October 8 last year.In a series of shoplifting incidents earlier in 2019 she was caught stealing at Lidl on Cornmarket Street, Penney’s and Eason’s on Patrick Street and Dunnes in Ballyvolane.She was also searched at the Bridewell…

Some automakers have used augmented reality on the Snapchat messaging app to place virtual vehicles in front of people while they peer at their phones. But these experiences, which re-create walk-arounds and allow users to check out vehicle interiors in some cases, are just product introductions. What if the Snapchat user could go further? Shane Dwyer, Snap Inc.'s U.S. head of automotive, dreams of a day when users will be able to shop for vehicles within the app. He believes the app is just scratching the surface of what augmented reality can do in the auto space. Dwyer foresees a day when someone will be able to configure models on the app. Maybe they'll be able to change paint colors, try out different wheel options or skim through trim levels before hitting a "shop" button that directs them to a dealership with that vehicle. The store could then contact that user and offer to drop the vehicle off for a test drive. Of course, this scenario isn't a reality just yet, but it illustrates the possibilities. "I think those are sort of the paths that we're seeing the business move in right now," Dwyer told Automotive News. "I think we're…

December 14, 2020 by Kristina Monllos For years, direct-to-consumer brands have been aware that they’re too reliant on Facebook, but reluctant to truly diversify their media mix as the platform has been critical in helping them hit their goals. That’s started to change this year, according to media buyers, who say conversations about diversification accelerated in mid-to-late 2020 with marketers asking to move ad dollars from Facebook to platforms like Snapchat, TikTok and Pinterest as well as streaming video platforms like Hulu.  “Diversification away from Facebook is the biggest conversation I’m having,” said Jeromy Sonne, managing director of Moonshine Marketing. “While it’s still the biggest and everyone will still use it, brands no longer trust it enough to go all in on Facebook.”  Reasons vary as to why marketers are changing their tune. One major factor is cost, according to buyers, who say that CPMs on Facebook have been between $14-$17 in recent months compared to between $3-$5 on Snapchat or TikTok. Another big problem, according to buyers, has been inconsistency with the backend with Facebook’s Ads Manager breaking or not working on multiple occasions as well as accounts erroneously banned at random.  “This summer, with Facebook Ads Manager being…

"Cheer" star Jerry Harris, who was arrested in September on a federal child pornography charge, faces seven additional counts.Prosecutors charged the 21-year-old Thursday with receiving and attempting to receive child pornography, using the internet to "persuade, induce, and entice" a minor, and traveling from Texas to Florida "for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct" with a minor, according to an indictment.Harris was also charged with four counts of using, persuading, inducing, and enticing a minor "to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct."Attorneys for Harris could not immediately be reached Saturday. In September, his spokesperson released a statement denying the allegations.“We categorically dispute the claims made against Jerry Harris, which are alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager,” the statement said.The indictment involves four alleged victims in Florida, Illinois and Texas and says that the acts took place between August 2017 and August 2020. The victims are not named in the complaint because they are minors.Jerry Harris attends the Build Series to discuss "Cheer" on Jan. 29, 2020 in New York City.Jim Spellman / Getty Images fileAttorneys for two of the victims released a statement on the…