Tag Archive for ‘Sarah Perez’

Sarah Perez, reporting for TechCrunch:

Meta first announced earlier this fall it would shut down access to the Instagram Basic Display API, on December 4, 2024, which is what had allowed third-party consumer apps to connect with their users’ Instagram accounts to access content like the user’s profile, images, videos, and albums.

Developers were asked to switch to the Instagram API instead to avoid disruption to their services, but as Day One notes, those new APIs only work for Instagram business accounts — not personal accounts. They also don’t provide the functionality that Day One had previously required to import Instagram content into its journals.

As a result, Day One users will no longer be able to automatically import their content from Instagram going forward, though their existing journal entries with Instagram photos will remain accessible.

Just in case you needed another reason to stop using Meta’s services.

➝ Source: techcrunch.com

Sarah Perez, reporting for TechCrunch:

WordPress.com sites now have an easier way to integrate with the Fediverse, including Mastodon. Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr and other web publishing tools, is the new owner of the ActivityPub for WordPress plugin and has also recruited its developer to come work for the company, according to Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg.

I’m pretty happy about this news.

➝ Source: techcrunch.com

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

Tumblr will add support for ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social networking protocol that today is powering social networking software like Twitter alternative Mastodon, the Instagram-like Pixelfed, video streaming service PeerTube, and others. The news was revealed in response to a Twitter user’s complaint about Mastodon’s complexities. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg — whose company acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019 — suggested the user “come to Tumblr” as the site would soon “add activitypub for interconnect.”

The folks at Flickr are considering it, too.

ActivityPub presents an opportunity for us to have the social web I’ve always wanted — you pick and choose the type of social networks you want to use — whether that be a focus on photos, video, short messages, general purpose, etc. — and mix and match them as you please. And all of it would be tied together by a common protocol.

If I want to share short messages and photos, I can use Mastodon and Pixelfed. If you would rather publish video and have a more general purpose social experience, you can use PeerTube and Tumblr. And we can follow the components of our social lives through the interface that we prefer.

It’s exciting.

➝ Source: techcrunch.com

Sarah Perez, reporting for TechCrunch:

Media software maker Plex is preparing to take on The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video Channels, possibly as soon as this year. The company is in discussions with rights holders and content providers, with a focus on bringing free, ad-supported movies to the Plex platform – similar to how The Roku Channel got its start. It’s also talking to premium networks and content providers about offering their programming and subscriptions through Plex.

Although I’d prefer they focus their efforts on improving the music playback experience on iOS, I certainly won’t mind having access to more content. Especially since it will be available through a media application that I already use — if it’s not in YouTube, Plex, or the TV app, I’m probably not watching it.

Overcast has been my podcast client of choice since it first launched over three-and-a-half years ago. But after I moved all of my media to Plex, I never looked back. It’s an incredibly robust piece of software that I’m currently using to record over-the-air television, back up my photos, and host my movie, TV show, and music libraries.

I’ll certainly have to wait and see how the feature is implemented, but I’m open to the idea of dropping Overcast and moving my podcast playback to Plex as well. Having all of my media in one place that’s accessible from all of my devices sounds like a dream. Overcast is great, but having access to my podcasts on my Apple TV might be too good to pass up.

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

Earlier this year, Apple promised it would clean up its iOS App Store by removing outdated, abandoned apps, including those that no longer meet current guidelines or don’t function as intended. That great App Store purge now appears to be underway, according to new data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower. The company found that app removals increased by 238 percent in October 2016, with mobile games seeing the most deletions.

It’s now far less likely that you’ll encounter broken apps when browsing the App Store. And that sounds great to me.

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

With the introduction of iOS 10, Apple will finally allow users to delete the pre-installed apps – like Compass, Stocks, Tips, Maps, Watch, and more – from their smartphones and tablets. But there’s one app that you won’t need to remove: Game Center. Apple confirms that Game Center will continue as a service, but it will no longer be available as a standalone application on their devices.

From what I gather, Game Center leaderboards, friends, and challenges will still be available. But developers will have to build those views into their application rather than users having an all-encompassing app for those interactions.

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

Apple today launched a new plan to boost subscribers to its streaming music service and competitor to Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal and others. It’s introducing an Apple Music student plan which will discount the service by 50 percent for those who are enrolled in an eligible college or university.

That means in the U.S., where an individual membership to Apple Music costs $9.99 per month, the student membership will be $4.99 per month instead.

Get them into the service while they’re young and they’ll become subscribers for life.