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How Social Media Can Help During Tragedy; Google's New Gadgets
6 Oct, 2017 / 11:53 AM / OMNES News

Source: https://www.recode.net/

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Plus, Facebook and Twitter will testify about Russian meddling, and the world’s first Lego restaurant.

Snapchat has become the perfect tool for understanding recent tragedies like the mass shooting in Las Vegas, the Mexico City earthquake and widespread destruction from major hurricanes. A recently added feature, Snap Maps, has proven to be an intimate way to view major news events in real time. The flip side: “Social media has become totally weaponized,” Recodeexecutive editor Kara Swisher said at a conference yesterday, and tech companies like Google and Facebook must act soon to prevent misinformation experts from swarming news events. [Mike Murphy / Quartz]

Lawmakers fear that future U.S. elections are at risk from Russian interference, and Facebook and Twitter have agreed to answer tough questions in public testimony on Nov. 1, as part of a congressional probe; Google has also been invited to testify. Recode’s frequently updated storystream will help you stay current with this ongoing story. [Tony Romm / Recode]

Hardware is no longer a hobby for Google, which unveiled a lot of new devices yesterday, many of which are in direct competition with products by Apple and Amazon. The Verge livebloggedthe launch event, and has early some impressions of the new Pixel 2 smartphone, an AI-enhanced Google Clips camera, two new smart speakers and Pixel Buds, Google’s answer to Apple’s AirPods. For some reason, this chart displaying U.S. market share of Google’s Pixel platform didn’t make it onto the big screen at the event. [Dieter Bohn / The Verge]

Sonos also wants to play — the company revealed an updated wireless speaker, the $199 Sonos One, outfitted with far-field microphones that allow it to work with digital assistants, including Amazon’s Alexa. [Chris Welch / The Verge]

Google is paying publishers working on “Stamp,” its version of Snapchat's Discover and Instagram’s Stories The new mobile format could debut this month for some users; participating publishers include Time Inc, Mashable, CNN and the Washington Post. [Peter Kafka / Recode]