Snap has updated its Lens Studio platform so artists and developers can create custom Lenses.
Snapchat’s maker has created two templates, Full Body Triggers, and Full Body Attachments, which will raise various effects supported by what the user is doing inside the frame, as a tutorial video explains. These include toggling virtual objects, playing short pieces of animation, and particle bursts.

The new templates, meanwhile, can monitor 18 points including the user’s knees and ankles.
There’s a clear application for these new developer tools: dance videos. The genre has always been popular across various social platforms including YouTube and Instagram.
TikTok’s monumental rise, however, and therefore the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has forced many to remain indoors and find new ways to entertain themselves, has encouraged people to make even more body, grooving clips.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that Snapchat wants to support the trend with a new artist and developer tools.
If you don’t want to download and learn Lens Studio, fear not: Snapchat has already released four creator-made Lenses — Star Burst, Be You, Alone, and Be Happy, that you simply can try immediately within the app.

Apple took to its developer website to announce a variety of the latest initiatives, services, and tools for developers today. Most of what the corporate listed are evolutions of the quality offerings it promotes at its ongoing developer conference.

Apple came under attack after it rejected a bug-fix update to the email app Hey, which is formed by Basecamp. Apple told the app’s developers that the app would need to incorporate Apple’s own system for in-app purchases or risk being delisted.
The CTO of Basecamp took to Twitter with an impassioned thread accusing Apple of criminal behavior for insisting on a cut of the app’s revenues.

The tweet thread sparked an excellent deal of dialogue, not only about Apple’s take of app revenues but also about the company’s failure to be transparent and consistent about App Store guidelines.
Developers will surely be glad to listen to the change regarding updates that are composed of bug fixes.
The remainder of Apple’s statement seems to suggest that the corporate is opening up new avenues of dialogue with developers about App Store review guidelines and specific judgments Apple makes supported them.

What will appear as if it is unclear, though?
Equally, unclear is whether it’ll cause any actual changes in policy or enforcement.

More details will likely come because the changes roll out later within the summer, except, for now, Apple is especially just telling developers that it’s listening.
Last week, Apple SVP Phil Schiller gave an interview during which he defended Apple’s guidelines and said there would be no changes to the particular policies in response to the complaints about Hey’s situation.
However, Apple nonetheless approved the Hey app in any case, after Basecamp submitted a version of the app that followed Apple’s guidelines in a minimal way.
The dispute is probably going to continue.
The other new initiatives, services, and tools that Apple mentioned in its article today include evidence of Clips and Widgets, access to new or expanded APIs and frameworks like ARKit, a replacement Store Kit tool for helping developers plan out monetization, details about the Xcode redesign, new capabilities in Swift UI, expanded features for Catalyst, and knowledge on new privacy requirements.

Ever wish you’ll just record your voice and share that audio as a tweet?

Good news! If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, that wish just came true. Twitter announced on Wednesday that it’s rolling out a replacement audio record feature to iOS users.

Starting today, some iOS users will notice a little sound wave icon when composing a tweet. A user simply must click thereon icon and that they are going to be ready to record their voice and post the audio embedded in their tweet.
This new Twitter feature will record up to 140 seconds of audio per tweet. If you re-evaluate that allotted time, the app will keep recording and automatically hack the segments into threaded tweets.

Your audience will view these audio tweets on their timeline even as if it had been the other tweet. The audio seems like an embedded video with a start and pause option. Twitter inserts a picture together with your account avatar as a visible.
The rollout will continue over the subsequent few weeks until everyone used Twitter for iOS has to access the feature.

Continuing its long and storied history of lifting designs and features from competitors, Facebook today announced an upcoming change to Messenger that simultaneously feels both long overdue and rushed in response to the pandemic.

Say hello to Messenger Rooms, a tile-view video chat experience that will delay to 50 participants.
Importantly, consistent with an emailed handout, you are doing not need a Facebook account to hitch a Messenger Room. Of course, your friends that do not have Facebook accounts likely do not have them for a reason, but we understand what Zuckerberg and Co. are going for here.
You can start and share rooms on Facebook through News Feed, Groups, and Events, so it is easy for people to drop in.

Soon we’ll add ways to make rooms from Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, and Portal, too.
Also, of note, you do not get to download anything to hitch a Messenger Room.

We’re sure nobody will zoom, er, excuse us, Facebook bomb any of those calls.
As to once you are going to be ready to use this exciting new feature within the world of videoconferencing? Soon, probably.
Consistent with the handout, « Messenger Rooms is rolling call at some countries in the week and can expand to the remainder of the planet in the coming weeks.

Malicious actors are now targeting users with fake Zoom meeting emails to steal their personal information and login credentials, consistent with email cybersecurity firm Abormal Security.
This particular phishing scheme uncovered by Abnormal Security weaponizes many people’s fear of losing their jobs thanks to the economic downturn during the coronavirus pandemic.

To date, quite 26 million people within the U.S. have filed for unemployment since the pandemic began
The email contains a Zoom meeting invitation link, which is really the hacker’s phishing site designed to mimic the design of Zoom’s login page.

Actually, clicking the meeting link forwards the target to a page hosted at the URL “zoom-emergency.myftp.org.”
“When the victim reads the e-mail they’re going to panic, click on the phishing link, and hurriedly plan to log into this fake meeting,” explains Abnormal Security’s report.

“Instead, their credentials are going to be stolen by the attacker.”
Zoom has experienced tremendous growth since the start of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. With several countries instituting lockdowns, quarantines, and stay-at-home orders, many businesses have transitioned their employees to work-from-home arrangements.
Readers should take care when clicking links in an email that needs login credentials.

Always double-check the sender’s email address and therefore the attached link.
If you receive an email link purporting to be from Zoom or the other website for that matter, don’t click! Just type out the official URL for that website within the browser yourself.
Zoom may have fixed many of its own security issues, but it’ll never be resistant to hackers trying to trick the company’s users.

If you follow an account with an outsized audience, you’ll now be ready to see right each post where the creator of the account is based and therefore the country where the bulk of their followers are based.
Facebook is piloting the feature within the U.S., starting with Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts based outside the country that reach large audiences primarily located within the U.S.

These changes are a part of our broader efforts to guard elections and increase transparency on Facebook and Instagram so people can make more informed decisions about the posts they read, trust and share, » the corporate shared during a blog post.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the feature was originally introduced back in 2018 on both platforms.
Meanwhile, on Instagram, the « About this Account » feature allows users to ascertain additional information about popular accounts, including the country the account holder is predicated in, alongside date joined, former usernames, ads they’re running, and more.
But so far, that information was only accessible on the particular Facebook Page or Instagram profile.