Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook is no stranger to billion dollar acquisitions, it already spent a $1 billion to acquire Instagram. If the latest from The Wall Street Journal is to be believed, the world’s largest social network put an offer of $3 billion in cash to acquire Snapchat, only to be rejected. This basically means that the folks at Snapchat believe their company is worth more than what Facebook put on the table, it hasn’t been said if Snapchat came back with a counteroffer that’s in line with their expectations.

Snapchat currently touts over 100 millions users who send more than 350 million self-destructing snaps every day. The Journal says that CEO Evan Spiegel isn’t considering being acquired at this point in time, and that he won’t seriously consider it at least until next year. Apparently he’s hoping that the continued growth will push Snapchat’s valuation even higher. Snapchat’s meteoric growth as certainly caught Facebook’s attention. The social network tried to offer similar features to its users under Facebook Poke, but ever since its launch late last year, it hasn’t seem to have dented Snapchat’s user base in any major way. It obviously can’t be said for sure if Facebook will continue aggressively bidding for the company that’s already rejected an offer worth three Instagrams.

Snapchat Turned Down $3 Billion In Cash From Facebook [Report] original content from Ubergizmo.

Snapchat rolled out a new feature just a few weeks ago that allows its users to tell a story with their snaps rather than just using it to show off just a single image for a pre-determined amount of time. Hopefully the story Snapchat users send to one another won’t involve anything incriminating considering unopened snaps can apparently be seized by local law enforcement. (more…)

Snapchat Obligated To Hand Over Unopened ‘Snaps’ To Police original content from Ubergizmo.

Already wildly popular amongst younger users, picture sharing app Snapchat is launching the next phase of its app today, and for the first time it’s bringing a feature to its iOS and Android apps at the same time. Snapchat’s claim to fame has always been that it shares images or short videos from one person to another, that disappear after viewing instead of living on in infamy (our early Tweets are a constant source of embarrassment). Now, the new Stories feature gives each user a feed similar to those on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr that all of their friends (instead of just one) can check out, but with a familiar hook — the Snaps disappear after 24 hours. Another interesting element is that, like Path, it also displays a list of who viewed each Snap.

In a blog post, the company touts the ephemeral nature of the feature, noting that “The end of your Story today is the beginning of your Story tomorrow.” To some, the service’s reputation is only for how it helps the Anthony Weiners of the world, but the introduction of Stories may change that — and introduce more competition for other social networks where users are wary of how long even casual posts could live to haunt them. The feature hasn’t popped up on either app store yet, for now you can check after the break for a few videos showing the stories users might tell — if they were in one of those bands the young folks are listening to.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Snapchat Blog

There seems little doubt that much of the Galaxy Gear’s success or failure will hinge on the selection of apps that arrive on smartwatch. Samsung is making a strong push for third-party software (even in the face of limited device storage), courting a big cross section of developers at places like Path and eBay for its wearable. Popular messaging app Snapchat will also be hitting the device in the form of Snapchat Micro. As you’d expect, the app harnesses the Gear’s 1.9-megapixel camera to send self-destructing images. The company’s founder told Techcrunch, “Our team is constantly looking at ways to reduce the time between our experience of a moment and our ability to share it.” Walking around with a camera on your wrist is certainly one way to go about it.

Filed under: Wearables, Software, Samsung

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Via: Techcrunch

Remember the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch unveiled a week ago?

Snapchat certainly does, and the ephemeral messaging app has released an app specifically for the wrist-worn gadget. Called Snapchat Micro, the app lets users send snaps directly from their wrists.

Users can take a picture with the Galaxy Gear’s 1.4-megapixel camera, which is capable of taking 10-second 720p videos. Perfect for Snapchat’s 10-second video limit, AMIRITE?

Within the Snapchat Micro app, users can take a picture, choose a time limit, and decide which friends to send the image to. If you’d like to add a drawing or a caption, the snap will automatically be open on your Galaxy Note phone waiting for your creative additions.

“Our team is constantly looking at ways to reduce the time between our experience of a moment and our ability to share it,” said Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel. “The Snapchat Micro app is an experiment we’re really excited about.”

Snapchat is one of around 70 apps that will be available on the Galaxy Gear smartwatch at launch.