Snapchat

Facebook's history of attempts to acquire and/or overcome Snapchat have reportedly appeared in a file created by Snap called "Project Voldemort." Neither of the companies have made this document official, and all sources have remained anonymous in their efforts to make this document known. The files paint Facebook as the enemy of the modern world courtesy of a character from J.K. Rowling's global blockbuster book series: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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Snapchat today announced the addition of a new 3D camera mode for its mobile app. With this, you can create 3D snaps and send them to your friends, who can interact with them regardless of the phone they're using. In its unending battle against Instagram, Snapchat needs all the help it can get, and lately it's been looking to 3D for an edge.

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A potential new Snapchat alternative app "Threads" was tipped in-the-making at Facebook and Instagram. The app seems to be part of Mark Zuckerberg's vision for a private messaging tie between each of the company's main social ecosystems. That'd likely include account connections between Facebook and Instagram, but mention of WhatsApp integration was notably absent from report details.

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Snap today announced the third iteration of Spectacles and it seems this new pair is coming with quite a few changes. For starters, there are now two cameras on Spectacles - one beside each lens. As you might imagine, this allows you to capture 3D content and also lets you give your videos an augmented reality flair as well.

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The brands Google, Apple, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Amazon are all on the list. In the F-Secure Data Discovery Portal, you'll be shown the ways and means with which you'll learn all the data these major internet-centric companies have on you - and what you'll be able to do with this knowledge now that it's yours once more. Ever wonder how many recordings of your voice Amazon keeps? Now you can hear yourself in each file, one by one.

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Almost a month ago to the day, Snapchat rolled out Snap Games. The feature is pretty self-explanatory from the name alone, as it focuses on small games that can be played with friends from within the Snapchat app. At the time of its reveal, Snapchat announced the first six titles slated for Snap Games, and today one of those titles, Zynga's Tiny Royale, is going live.

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This week a report cited multiple sources from Snapchat describing the non-private nature of the apps' back end. Both iPhone (iOS) and Android versions of the app notwithstanding, Snapchat user data (including Snaps) are accessible with a tool called SnapLion. The SnapLion software is supposedly only accessible by Snapchat employees - but as the rules of the internet state: If it's data that exists, it can be shared.

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Snapchat's claim to fame has always been its privacy feature, automatically deleting so-called ephemeral messages or after a period of time. Ironically, the social network's biggest criticisms have also been on its privacy practices. Now former employees are coming out, anonymously, of course, to reveal that the company hasn't exactly been exercising due diligence in making sure that a special tool primarily used for law enforcement and fighting abuse isn't being abused by employees themselves to spy on Snapchat users.

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Instagram announced the death of another feature this week, not long after rumors surfaced of the axing of public likes. This is just the latest in a line of changes for Instagram, an app and company that's coming closer and closer to its parent company, Facebook. I quit using Facebook a few months ago for all but the rarest family communication - is it time I gave Instagram the boot as well? NOTE: If it weren't clear already, the opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily shared by SlashGear or associated entities.

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There's a Snapchat update for Android devices this week, and it's supposed to revolutionize the way Android users Snap. Snapchat said "To Android. Love, Snapchat" on Twitter today, adding, "Enjoy the new, faster Snapchat, rebuilt just for Android." But they've not really fixed a whole lot of anything.

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For months now, we've been hearing rumors which claimed that Snapchat would soon turn to gaming in its never-ending quest to attract new users away from the likes of Facebook and Instagram. For a while, it seemed like those rumors weren't really going anywhere, but today that all changed. At the Snap Partner Summit today, the company officially unveiled Snap Games.

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For a while now, it's been rumored that Snapchat is looking to implement gaming in some form. While it might be a little strange to think of Snapchat branching out into gaming, it isn't that odd. After all, Snapchat's biggest competitor, Facebook, has been focusing on games with Messenger, so Snapchat may be looking to implement games of its own to even the field. Today, we're learning that the launch of Snapchat games might be right around the corner.

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