Snapchat Firm Unveils Platform Plan To Take On Google and Apple (theguardian.com) 10
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Snap, the company behind Snapchat, has revealed plans for a fully fledged digital platform taking on not only Facebook but also Google and Apple. The company is launching an app store, expanding its games platform and offering the facility for external developers to upload machine-learning models to build augmented reality experiences. It is allowing other apps to integrate its camera software for the first time, and incorporating businesses into its maps alongside users' friends.
The features announced by Snap at its annual developer summit, held virtually last week, are the early stage of that revolution. One series of tools, called Scan, let users identify plants, trees and dogs by pointing their camera at them. A planned integration with Yuka, a dieting app, will offer a similar function for packaged foods. Another new product lets developers build their own AI filters for cameras. Initially, the tool will probably be used to generate ever more inventive lenses for the company's messaging product -- examples already include a filter that turns a video into the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and a simple hand-tracking tool that places stars at your fingertips. [T]he goal is that eventually creativity will expand to include utility.
In Snap's vision of the future, its camera platform replaces the home screen of a smartphone or the newsfeed of Facebook as the default starting point from where all other tasks begin. New AR technology is one way to achieve that, but another is getting more apps into the camera, and its camera in more apps. The latter is achieved by CameraKit, which lets other applications replace their default camera with Snapchat's. The idea is that there is mutual benefit: the app doesn't have to build a fully featured camera function if it just wants to include the ability to take or send photos, while Snapchat's camera platform becomes increasingly valuable to developers who might be on the fence about whether to build features for it. For the former, Snap launched Minis, a feature that allows for micro-apps to be embedded within SnapChat, which can be opened without installation.
The features announced by Snap at its annual developer summit, held virtually last week, are the early stage of that revolution. One series of tools, called Scan, let users identify plants, trees and dogs by pointing their camera at them. A planned integration with Yuka, a dieting app, will offer a similar function for packaged foods. Another new product lets developers build their own AI filters for cameras. Initially, the tool will probably be used to generate ever more inventive lenses for the company's messaging product -- examples already include a filter that turns a video into the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and a simple hand-tracking tool that places stars at your fingertips. [T]he goal is that eventually creativity will expand to include utility.
In Snap's vision of the future, its camera platform replaces the home screen of a smartphone or the newsfeed of Facebook as the default starting point from where all other tasks begin. New AR technology is one way to achieve that, but another is getting more apps into the camera, and its camera in more apps. The latter is achieved by CameraKit, which lets other applications replace their default camera with Snapchat's. The idea is that there is mutual benefit: the app doesn't have to build a fully featured camera function if it just wants to include the ability to take or send photos, while Snapchat's camera platform becomes increasingly valuable to developers who might be on the fence about whether to build features for it. For the former, Snap launched Minis, a feature that allows for micro-apps to be embedded within SnapChat, which can be opened without installation.
Hell to the No (Score:3)
another is getting more apps into the camera, and its camera in more apps.
First off, where is that "apps in the apps for more apps" guy.
Secondly, I think most App developers by now have learned the high, high cost of embedding something from a large company like Facebook in your app. Would you like an app 10x its normal size? Would you love for your app to be collecting hella large amounts of metadata you had no idea it was collecting (and sending?)? No?
This thing just has so many red flags n it as an app developer.
What did everyone expect (Score:2)
I just want the easiest path (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
We used to have that. Sorta do still, kind of, on BSD. Linux is moving away from that.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, yes, actually I am.
I can configure BSD as a server, firewall or desk/laptop, (OK, for the latter you have to start getting careful about selecting your hardware, and many people seem to avoid that pain and go for Macbooks), and it just...works.
Sure, it's far from perfect, and the fucking drooling "evangelists" (that plague all platforms) who claim there are "literally no" security holes, bugs etc. are full of shit, but its fine.
You know that many server uptime records are held by BSD, right?
Doing everything isn't a vision (Score:2)
Only Elon Musk can pull that such a stunt.
Although he at least has a vision of 'taking people somewhere'.