From the boring to the boorish, Facebook knows that its Live video content could use some refining. For that reason, the social giant just added some additional caveats to its developer policy, including a warning not to broadcast images -- be they static, animated, or looping -- on Live, or live-stream polls associated with unmoving or ambient broadcasts.

Tencent just put another $90 million in mobile gaming startup Pocket Gems -- an interesting development because the Chinese tech giant is expected to give the US-based Pocket Gems a foothold in a market overflowing with opportunity.

Last month, after Amazon outbid Twitter for streaming rights to some NFL games, we thought the social network's season was toast. Proving us wrong, Twitter and the NFL just announced a multiyear partnership, which seems to encompass everything except full-length games. Per the content-sharing pact, the pair is inviting brands to advertise on "official" NFL content created specifically for Twitter's unique platform.

Surprising no one, Snap's first earnings report is eliciting mixed feelings from analysts and company watchers. Among other issues, Jessica Liu, senior analyst at Forrester, believes that the "camera company" has yet to prove itself in the key areas of ad tracking and measurement.

Pinterest this week is rolling out new object-detection capabilities to its Lens beta, including the ability to read QR Codes with Lens. "Now, people can tap the Lens icon in the Pinterest app and hover over any QR Code to discover more ideas and information," a company spokeswoman told me on Tuesday.

Catching Apple asleep at the wheel, smart speakers are becoming the next big thing in consumer gadgetry. Year-over-year, in fact, the number of U.S. consumers using voice-activated assistant devices is up 128.9%, according to a new report from eMarketer. Meanwhile, Apple's smart speaker remains in the development stages.

Brands are spending more on iOS, while performance marketers are becoming more efficient with their spending on Android, new research from Fiksu suggests.

During the second half of 2016, the number of U.S. households relying solely on mobile phones surpassed those with landlines, according to fresh findings from the Centers for Disease Control.

Consumers can't enough of their apps -- and, as illustrated by a new report from App Annie, there are many ways to measure their mobile obsession. Last year, total time spent on apps approached one trillion hours -- with global users spending an average of two to three hours per day with the software, the app tracker finds.

What do you want first, Apple fans -- the good news or the bad news? Getting the bad stuff out of the way, the tech titan sold fewer iPhones during its fiscal second quarter compared to the same period last year.