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An Anonymous Coward writes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37460682

On Saturday, Snap released some limited information about how the glasses will work. Footage will be recorded in a new, circular format which can be viewed in any orientation, the company said. The battery on the device will last around a day. A light on the front of the device will indicate to people nearby when the glasses are recording.

Prior to confirmation from Snap about the product, news website Business Insider published a promotional video it found on YouTube showing the product. The video has since been taken down. Spectacles will remind many of Google Glass, an ill-fated attempt by the search giant to create smart glasses.

Additional reporting: http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-glasses-2016-9

Also from the same submitter:

http://www.pcmag.com/news/348126/register-to-vote-now-via-snapchat US Snapchat users who are eligible to vote may now register using the app.

"Our country's democracy thrives on participation. But you can't participate unless you register to vote," a Snapchat spokesman told Mashable. "We hope this effort amplifies our community's voice come November."

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

takyon writes:

Hot on the heels of Snapchat/Snap Inc, Intel is teaming up with Luxottica to release smartglasses for athletes:

The new glasses, dubbed "Radar Pace", will be sold on the Oakley.com website and in some stores of the Californian brand that Luxottica acquired in 2007. The glasses can create a personalized training programme for athletes by interpreting data in real time.

Also at CNET.

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

A judge in the U.S. state of Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit against Snapchat Inc. (also known as Snap, Inc.) regarding its eponymous photo and video sharing app. The plaintiffs, who were injured in a two-car crash, claimed that the driver of the other car, in the words of CBS News,

The judge cited (Wikipedia link added by submitter)

As reported by WGCL-TV, a CBS affiliate in Atlanta, a motion filed by the company (PDF) asserted that the driver whose car collided with the plaintiffs' car "was not using the Snapchat application at the time of the collision" (quoted from the court filing, with emphasis removed).

Additional coverage:

• CBS Local Media
• Associated Press via WYFF-TV
• Associated Press via Insurance Journal (different AP story)
• WHJL-TV and Associated Press

Related stories:
The Company Formerly Known as Snapchat may be Worth $25 Billion
Goodbye Snapchat, Hello Snap Inc

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Snap Inc., the maker of the Snapchat messaging app, has valued itself at between $19.5 to $22.3 billion. If that seems outrageous, note that it's actually less than previously expected:

The company, which filed for an initial public offering earlier this month, was widely expected to be valued at between $20 billion and $25 billion. However it said on Thursday it was targeting a valuation between $19.5 billion and $22.3 billion, ahead of an investor roadshow due to start on Monday in London.

The lower valuation range reflected initial investor feedback, as well as Snap's aim to ensure there is sufficient demand for shares of the company that it trades up on its first day in public market.

Investors have been poring over the filing for Snap's upcoming IPO to assess whether the still-unprofitable company will be the next Facebook Inc, which has figured out how to make money from its social media platform, or if it will be more like Twitter Inc, which is struggling to achieve the same goal.

You want to be a Facebook, not a Twitter.

S-1/A for Snap Inc.

Previously: Goodbye Snapchat, Hello Snap Inc
The Company Formerly Known as Snapchat may be Worth $25 Billion
Lawsuit Against Snapchat Dismissed

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

The company behind Snapchat is trading sharply higher in its Wall Street debut, proof, at least for a day, that there's investor demand for young but still unproven tech companies. Shares of Snap Inc. jumped $8.21, or 48 percent, to $25.21 a share in afternoon trading on Thursday. The company had priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 each on Wednesday. That was above the expected range of $14 to $16.

Snap's IPO was one of the most anticipated for a technology company since Twitter's in 2013. That, in turn, had created the biggest stir since Facebook made its debut on Wall Street in 2012. Twitter is now valued at $11 billion, while Facebook is $395 billion. Snap's pricing valued the Los Angeles company at $24 billion.

https://phys.org/news/2017-03-snapchat-parent-rockets-higher-wall_1.html

Additional coverage can be found at ABC News

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Shares in Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. have plummeted in value by almost a quarter – to the tune of $6 billion. The drop comes after the first earnings report since the company went public showed a slowdown in user growth and revenue.

On Tuesday, the company posted a $2.2 billion loss in the first quarter, much of which was tied to compensation following the company’s IPO in March. After adjusting for the expected expenses, losses of $188.2 million were reported – greater than analysts anticipated.

The company’s stock dropped 23 percent in after-hours trading following the report, wiping a staggering $6 billion off the company’s value, according to Reuters.

Source: RT

Q1: 05-08-17 Earnings Summary via Seeking Alpha

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Despite disappointing results for its first (test?) run, Snap(chat) has released a second generation of its Spectacles wearable camera:

Snap today released the next generation of Spectacles, its wearable camera, with new features for taking photos and water resistance. The sunglasses, which have the same striking form as the first-generation model, have been slimmed down and now come in three jewel tones: onyx (black), ruby (red), and sapphire (blue). They're available to order starting today at Spectacles.com for $150 — $20 more than the previous model.

If you've followed the story of Spectacles so far, you know that the first version proved to be a costly misstep for Snap Inc. Although reviewers were generally impressed with their whimsical design, Snap made far more units than the 150,000 or so that it ultimately sold. The company wrote down nearly $40 million in merchandise, and laid off about a dozen people.

Even worse, from the company's perspective, is that people who bought Spectacles didn't use them for very long. According to Business Insider, less than half of users continued to use Spectacles a month after buying them. They were presented as the future of communication, but the first iteration of Spectacles felt more like a toy — a relatively cheap novelty that people used a handful of times before stuffing into a drawer.

Also at TechCrunch, The Guardian, Adweek, and Macworld.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The company formerly known as Snapchat is launching new styles for its wearable camera glasses:

If the main hangup that's kept you from purchasing Snap's Spectacles has been their design, two new models that the company is introducing today might eliminate those hesitations. Snap has just announced the new Veronica and Nico styles of Spectacles 2. They contain all the same features and recording quality improvements as the model first introduced in April, but this time inside a more traditional look. It maybe won't be quite so obvious that you're wearing Spectacles anymore.

The new models of Spectacles are also different in a couple of other ways: they've got polarized lenses, and they come with a nondescript, black "semi-soft" case instead of the bright yellow hard case you get with the original Spectacles 2. Both the Veronica and Nico styles are available starting today for $199 in "limited quantities" at launch. This fall, they'll also be sold at select Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus stores in the US and a variety of retailers in Europe. And like before, Snap's partner Lensabl will let customers order prescription lenses for their glasses. Both models are only available in black for the time being.

Snap says that since the introduction of Spectacles 2, users have been posting, on average, 40 percent more photos and videos captured with the glasses. The company has also made it easier to share that content on other platforms outside Snapchat by adding automatic camera roll saves and by allowing users to export video in more conventional square and horizontal formats.

Check the article for several images of models looking cheerful while wearing the device.

Also at Engadget and TechCrunch.

Previously: Snapchat's Spectacles: A Bad Idea in Hindsight
Snapchat Takes a Second Shot at Wearable Camera "Spectacles"

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Snapchat's PR firm sues influencer for not promoting Spectacles on Instagram

Influencer marketing could get a lot more accountable if Snapchat's PR firm wins this lawsuit. Snapchat hoped that social media stars promoting v2 of its Spectacles camera sunglasses on its biggest competitor could boost interest after it only sold 220,000 of v1 and had to take a $40 million write-off. Instead, Snap comes off looking a little desperate to make Spectacles seem cool.

Snap Inc. commissioned its public relations firm PR Consulting (real imaginative) to buy it an influencer marketing campaign on Instagram. The firm struck a deal with Grown-ish actor Luka Sabbat after he was seen cavorting with Kourtney Kardashian. Sabbat got paid $45,000 up front with the promise of another $15,000 to post himself donning Spectacles on Instagram.

He was contracted to make one Instagram feed post and three Stories posts with him wearing Specs, plus be photographed wearing them in public at Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks. He was supposed to add swipe-up-to-buy links to two of those Story posts, get all the posts pre-approved with PRC, and send it analytics metrics about their performance.

But Sabbat skipped out on two of the Stories, one of the swipe-ups, the photo shoots, the pre-approvals and the analytics. So as Variety's Gene Maddaus first reported, PRC is suing Sabbat to recoup the $45,000 it already paid plus another $45,000 in damages.

The lawsuit might give Spectacles more exposure than Mr. Sabbat would have.

Also at Business Insider, Engadget, and Entrepreneur.

Previously: Snapchat's Spectacles: A Bad Idea in Hindsight
Snapchat Takes a Second Shot at Wearable Camera "Spectacles"
Snap Gives Spectacles a Face Lift to Look More Like Traditional Sunglasses

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Snap announces Spectacles 3 with an updated design and a second HD camera

Snap today announced Spectacles 3, a redesigned version of its augmented reality sunglasses with a sleek new design and an added HD camera to create depth perception. The glasses, which the company has positioned as a limited release, represent Snap's latest effort to build a new computing platform centered on the face. They will go on sale on Spectacles.com in November for $380.

That makes them more than twice as expensive as last year's model, which cost $150. Snap executives say the higher-end version is meant to appeal to a smaller group of "fashion-forward" creative types. It may also be designed to recoup more of its manufacturing costs for the famously money-losing product; Snapchat wrote down nearly $40 million in costs associated with the first version of the glasses after wildly overestimating demand.

The high price of Spectacles 3 will likely limit their appeal, particularly among the high school and college-age students who make up Snapchat's core user base. A Snap spokesperson said this year's model represented a necessary investment in the platform. The company has to figure out a way to do AR computing right, the logic goes, before it can do it cheaply.

Not quite VR180 given the 1216×1216 video.

Previously: Snapchat's Spectacles: A Bad Idea in Hindsight
Snapchat Takes a Second Shot at Wearable Camera "Spectacles"
Snap Gives Spectacles a Face Lift to Look More Like Traditional Sunglasses
Instagram "Influencer" Sued for $90,000 for Not Sufficiently Sporting Snapchat's Spectacles
Snap Will Reportedly Release AR-Enabled Spectacles With Dual Cameras

Original Submission