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Weekly News For You To Stay Updated With The App Industry
This week’s edition of The Weekly News Wr(app) is just a glimpse into what’s going on in the world of apps and the tech industry. News about Google, Instagram, Twitter continue to hit news spaces as usual.
But the most alarming news may be Netflix’s announcement to remove the Marvel shows from its collection (okay, maybe we’re overreacting).
Read on to find out more about that story plus many others:
1. YouTube Planning to Revamp its Interface in 2022
The official YouTube blog published a post furnishing us with what its new design will look like. The plans include adding updates to the Library and Live sections, as well as a special focus on Shorts.
Neal Mohan, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, said that they’re “Building on a feature we introduced last year that lets you remix audio from videos across YouTube, we’ll introduce new capabilities that empower creators to express themselves even more - new video effects, editing tools, and more.”
For viewers, the video streaming app is planning to release a feature that will allow users to read and comment on videos while watching YouTube videos on TV.
The year 2022 will be an important year for those at YouTube.
Source: https://bit.ly/3JukX0g
2. Asian Shopping Apps including India’s Meesho dominates Downloads
Three Asian shopping apps, namely, Shein, Shopee, and Meesho have knocked off Amazon’s top spot from the Latin American and Asian markets.
Data from Apptopia shows that Shein topped the worldwide download lists with 211 million downloads, followed by Shein at 193 million downloads, and Meesho at 162 million downloads (most of which was from India).
A behemoth company like Amazon may or may not be worried about these numbers, but it must’ve definitely raised their eyebrows.
Source: https://bit.ly/3GJZb6Z
3. Google launches Android 13 Developer Preview
The first glimpse of Android 13 is here with Google releasing its first developer preview. The new features from Android 13 include “upgraded theming options and privacy features, new language controls, and, plenty of back-end updates”.
Android 12 focused heavily on Material You themes but Android 13 is “expanding the dynamic app icons to all apps rather than just Google’s”.
Also “new Wi-Fi permission will allow apps to discover and connect to Wi-Fi points without needing location permissions, and language preferences will now have the option of being set on a per-app basis (handy for multilingual users)”.
Google expects Android 13 to be stable by July before it officially launches later in 2022.
Source: https://bit.ly/3BjHNox
4. Google sues Korean Regulators over a $173 Million Fine
Every week, we have news about either Google or Apple getting fined for some bad policy or the other. This time, however, Google is counterattacking with a legal suit against the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).
Google says that they want a $173 million fine overturned because its practice of forcing OEMs to adopt its own Android mobile operating system, while shunning modified versions of Android, has led to greater innovation and success for Korean OEMs.
Huh?
Sounds bizarre because forcing manufacturers to use only one version leads not to innovation but to the greater market dominance of a single player.
The stance Google is taking is not surprising. But the outcome of the case will be seen with the trial to begin on February 25th, 2022.
Source: https://bit.ly/3JuGYfe
5. Moj and MX TakaTak are Now One
Two of India’s biggest short video apps have entered into a strategic partnership in a deal that is reportedly valued at $900 million.
Moj and MX TakaTak are looking to leverage the popularity of short-form videos and the traditional long-form video formats to create India’s largest online short video platform. The two apps have a combined 100 million creators and 300 million monthly active users.
Both the apps are currently operating as separate entities and may continue to do so in the near future. The decision on who absorbs who is still pending.
For now, users of both apps can expect no change.
Source: https://tcrn.ch/36eOOvk
6. Protect Yourself Online: A Safer Internet Day Initiative
Did you know that February 8th is Safer Internet Day (SID)? It began in 2004 in the EU and is now celebrated by around 200 countries.
People in 2004 were wary of the internet since the world wide web was still in its infancy. In 2022, however, we can’t live without the internet, and we’ve become more callous than our predecessors.
So spreading awareness to protect yourself online is a no-brainer. Today’s teenagers probably need to be educated more than ever.
What do you do to be safe on the internet? A few simple steps include: never sharing your credentials with anyone, updating your password regularly, and reporting unscrupulous fellows online.
Hope you stay safe online.
Source: https://bit.ly/3uMzlNj
7. Instagram Boosting its Security Options for Users
Following Safer Internet Day on February 8th, Instagram is adding more tools for users to keep their accounts safe and maintain more control over their activity.
The feature is called, “Your Activity”, which is currently in its testing phase. The “Your Activity” feature will allow users to do is bulk delete posts, comments, and likes and even filter interactions by date or by keyword.
In case you get locked out of your account, you can have your friend verify your identity and let you back in.
We’re all in if this means greater security for us.
Source: https://bit.ly/3Bnt2B9
8. All The Marvel Shows from Netflix will Disappear by March
If you haven’t watched any of the Marvel shows on Netflix, or want to re-watch them, better do it before February the 28th. After that, it won’t be available on Netflix.
This finally signals the termination of the partnership between Marvel and Netflix, which started in 2012.
Fans loved the adaptation of characters like Daredevil and Jessica Jones on screen, and these were genuinely enjoyable shows. The depiction of the villain Kingpin brought much acclaim and showed what a supervillain can look like. Not to forget the tortured Frank Castle as “The Punisher” who dished out his own memorable performances in Daredevil and his own show.
No one knows what will happen to these shows once it leaves Netflix. It may appear somewhere or else, or it may disappear forever (it should come up somewhere though).
Source: https://bit.ly/3uW6JkR
9. Twitter testing a Feature of Direct DMs from Tweets
Twitter users may soon be able to send DMs directly from Tweets, with the hope that will encourage more conversations.
But New York public defender believes that this will lead to more online harassment. She said that “one extra step of having to go to someone's profile to send a DM cuts back on harassment”.
That may be true, because how many use DMs to “start a conversation”?
Source: https://bit.ly/3BovjM5
