• Epic Games Sweetens Deal For 'Unreal Engine Marketplace'
    Epic Games plans to take a smaller cut of sales made through its Unreal Engine Marketplace. The marketplace is “where creators like digital artists, sound designers and programmers can sell products that game developers can use in their own projects,” Engadget notes. “Going forward, creators will now get to keep 88 percent of their product sales as opposed to the 70 percent they were taking previously.”
  • Hinge Using Machine Learning To Match Singles
    Hinge’s latest matchmaking feature, “Most Compatible,” uses machine learning to figure out the tastes of individual users, The Verge reports. “It primarily relies on the Gale-Shapley algorithm to determine every user’s perfect match,” it writes. “The idea is that, essentially, there is a user out there who is most likely to like you and you’re most likely to also like.”
  • Twitter Testing 'Promoted Trend Spotlight' Ads
    Twitter is testing Promoted Trend Spotlight ads, TechCrunch reports. “These put a big visual banner equipped with a GIF or image background atop Explore for the first two times you visit that day before settling back into the Trends list, with the first batch coming from Disney in the U.S.,” it writes.
  • Facebook Closes Privacy Loophole
    Facebook recently closed a loophole that lets third parties discover the names of users in “closed” Facebook groups, CNBC reports. “A Chrome extension that was made specifically for marketers to harvest this information en masse was also shut down prior to Facebook’s move,” it writes. “The privacy issue comes at a time when Facebook is trying to re-position itself as a gathering place for friends, family and those with common problems and interests.”
  • Facebook Defends Publishers Of False Information
    With its crackdown on “fake news,” why doesn’t Facebook block Infowars and its never-ending string of wild conspiracy stories? As BuzzFeed reports, Facebook Head of News Feed John Hegeman said this week that publishing false information doesn't violate the company’s community standards.
  • Apple Updating MacBook Pros
    Among other new features, Apple is boosting its MacBook Pros with faster, newer processors, The Verge reports. Of course, “The updates won’t fully address all of the concerns that have surrounded the MacBook Pro lineup in recent months,” it writes. Yet, “At least one complaint can be laid to rest for the time being: the processor options are no longer woefully out of date.”
  • New Law Prohibits Drivers From Even Touching Their Phones
    The Atlantic considers the implications of a “hands-free” law that just went into effect in Georgia. “Texting while driving has been prohibited [in Georgia] since 2010, but the new law, HB 673 or the ‘Hands-Free Law,’ goes much further,” it writes. “It appears to prohibit drivers from physically contacting the device under almost any circumstances unless legally parked.”  
  • Instagram Adds 'Questions' Sticker
    Instagram is adding a questions sticker to encourage more interaction between users of its Stories feature. “Instagram says it’s ‘a way to start conversations during moments when you don’t necessarily have a photo or video to share,’” The Verge writes. “In other words, it’s a way to ensure that people continue posting even if they have totally run out of content ideas.”
  • Facebook Readying Video Shows
    Facebook just announced some new video shows coming to its Watch platform. “The first slate of showsthat will debut next week come from a mix of local, national and social publishers, including ATTN:, CNN, Fox News, Mic, Quartz, Bloomberg, and Univision,” Axios writes. “By the end of the summer,the company says that it will have roughly 20 different news partners as a part of its news push.”
  • Reconsidering Facebook's Origins
    Wired takes a walk down memory lane with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s other co-founders. “The whole enterprise began as something of a lark, it was an un-corporation, an excuse for a summer of beer pong and code sprints,” it writes. “Indeed, Zuckerberg’s first business cards read, ‘I’m CEO … bitch.’”  
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