Snap says its $400M deal with Perplexity ‘amicably ended’
The deal, announced last November, would have seen Perplexity’s AI search engine integrated directly into Snapchat.
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Tome, another Goodreads book-tracker rival, shuts down
Built on the back of the sizable and influential BookTok community — creators who discuss and review books on TikTok — the app offered readers a place to chronicle and rate their books, get recommendations, and even add photos of things like favorite quotes or memes, or share playlists that match the book’s vibes.
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Bumble is getting rid of the swipe, CEO says
Based on Whitney Wolfe Herd’s past comments about Bumble’s new direction, the company is expected to lean into AI — Bumble is even working on an AI dating assistant called Bee, and the CEO has made many comments over the years about how AI will be “a supercharger to love and relationships.”
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TikTok launches an ad-free subscription plan in the UK
Users who sign up for the plan won’t see ads on TikTok, and their data won’t be used for advertising purposes.
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Finally, texts between Android and iPhone users can be end-to-end encrypted
Google had urged Apple for years to support RCS texting to make communication between each company’s devices more seamless.
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TikTok now wants to be the place you book the trip you just saw on TikTok
TikTok is systematically converting its discovery engine into a transaction layer, which both deepens user retention and opens entirely new revenue streams for its new owners.
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Threads tests a Meta AI integration that works similarly to Grok
The feature is designed to help people get real-time context about trends and breaking stories, as well as receive recommendations, all within conversations.
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Indigo brings the open social web to one app
Indigo’s new social app lets you cross-post to the open social web, including Mastodon and Bluesky, and browse a unified timeline.
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Instagram’s new ‘Instants’ feature combines elements from Snapchat and BeReal
The feature lets users share disappearing photos with their close friends or mutual followers that can be viewed only once and remain available for 24 hours.
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X launches a History tab for bookmarks, likes, videos, and articles
X’s new History tab combines bookmarks, likes, watched videos, and read articles into a single place, expanding the app’s role as a save-it-for-later tool.
