Techmeme
December 19, 2016, 7:30 PM

Top News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Messenger debuts group video chat supporting 6 users on a split screen who can utilize selfie masks and up to 50 voice/text secondary participants  —  Teen app sensation Houseparty will get some competition as Facebook Messenger islaunching its own split-screen group video chat feature.
Daniel Terdiman / Fast Company:
Mark Zuckerberg talks about progress and challenges building his home assistant Jarvis, a project he's spent 100-150 hours on this year  —  Facebook's CEO still loves to code.  Here's an exclusive peek at his new project, which plays music, makes toast, and occasionally annoys his wife.
Chris Pereira / GameSpot:
Nintendo says no plans to launch additional content for Super Mario Run as Nintendo stock falls steeply amid user complaints about the game's business model  —  What you see is what you get.  —  Nintendo's stock price dropped again on Monday, and it apparently won't be getting a boost …
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:
Messaging app Kik adds the ability to video call with up to six people  —  In an update of the chat app Kik, starting today users can now make video calls with up to six people.  —  Facebook Messenger also added group video chat today.  —  “Video chat was the number-one feature you requested …
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
Twitter updates search results so tweets are displayed by relevance, not in reverse chronological order  —  Twitter is updating its search results so that tweets are now going to ranked based on relevance instead of by timeline, bringing it in line with what users had experienced on their timeline for the past ten months.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Airbnb is building a flight-booking tool, which is in early development but will likely debut before the firm IPOs  —  Airbnb Inc. is developing a service for booking air travel as the home-rental startup looks to compete with Priceline Group Inc. and Expedia Inc. for more of people's online travel spending.
New York Times:
Unlike Instagram and Twitter, Snapchat does little to cater to celebrities' specific needs, which helps to keep posts authentic  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The musician Jay Sean has visited the headquarters of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.  Instagram has reached out to tutor him on the best time to post photos for maximum impact.
Alastair Sharp / Reuters:
BlackBerry to spend $75M on Ottawa-based autos hub over several years, doubling down on its BlackBerry QNX subsidiary  —  Canada's BlackBerry Ltd plans to invest C$100 million ($75 million) in a new autonomous vehicle-testing hub over several years, the company's chief executive said on Monday …

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Earlier Picks

Cliff Taylor / The Irish Times: