Snapchat "Groups" enables group messaging

Via Dennizn

The makers of Snapchat, Snap Inc., announced on Tuesday a variety of new features, including a new group chat feature.

"Groups" is allows users to send pictures, video and text in a group of up to 16 people at a time.

MacRumors explains that just like Snapchat's normal Stories section, messages are deleted after 24 hours. Messages can be replayed just once by each participant and if it's opened after 24 hours, it's gone for good.

Snapchat gave the how-to rundown on their site:

"Groups can be created while sending a Snap, or when you’re making a new Chat. When your friends are present in a Group Chat, we show their name at the bottom of the Chat. Simply tap their name to start a 1:1 Chat, and then easily return to the Group in one swipe! We call this Quick Chat, and it’s the fastest way to keep the conversation going with one friend without spamming the entire Group."

All of the group members are listed at the bottom of each group chat, and are emphasized with color when said group member is currently in the group. To have a quick one-on one discussion with a group member, simply click on a person's name to start a "Quick Chat" then swipe back to return to the larger group.

Via TechCrunch

TechCrunch explains that all the rest of Snapchat's new features such as Bitmoji, vote and video notes, stickers, etc. are are all available in Groups.

It's been an exciting year for Snap Inc. What began as a self-destructing picture sharing app in 2012 has grown into a viable tech company projected to generate more than $935 million this year alone.

The company filed for an initial public offering in November of this year with a projected valuation between $25 billion to $35 billion.

Although at the core Snapchat claims to be simply "a camera company," the company continues to add innovative new features as it grows into a more mature messaging platform. Originally dubbed a "millenial sexting app," Snapchat has come a long way.

New Emojis Promote Gender Equality

Apple has added hundreds of new emojis to their lineup. Image: Mashable. 

Monday brought the newest wave of  politically correct emojis as Apple rolled out their iOS 10.2 software update for the iPhone.

TechCrunch highlights female occupations.

Various tech companies and organizations have made efforts to develop emoji that are more gender, race and ethnic inclusive to cater to and represent a broader range of people, activities and interests.

Time Magazine reports that back in May of this year a group of Google employees proposed a new set of "gender-diverse" emoji, followed by Facebook's new Messenger options in June.

Their proposal suggested adding the new female emoji to "better reflect the pivotal roles women play in the world."

Google reported that Unicode Emoji Subcommittee agreed in July to add 11 new professional emoji, in both male and female options and with all the skin tones.  Google indicated the proposed emoji could be "included in future platform versions" and they arrived last week with the new Android 7.1.1 rollout.

Apple's emojis have had skin modifying options since early 2015 but this week's update features "more diverse characters and new professions"  like teacher, scientist and firefighter, (with both male and female options) as well as more updates for the people-themed emojis, for the first time including a pregnant woman.

Whether on Apple or Android platforms, one can now send texts that feature female farmers, mechanics, scientists, chefs, teachers, welders and more- in an accurate skin tone and hair color.

Google celebrated the move toward gender equality in its July announcement: "We hope these updates help make emoji just a little more representative of the millions of people around the 🌎 who use them.".

For a complete list of all the new emojis and changes, check out the Emojipedia.

Via Google blog.

Finals? Ehhh

I'm not sure I understand the fuss everyone makes about finals week. Oh boo hoo we have tests! For me the worst part of this semester was the week before finals week, aka end of course projects are due week. 

I love being an elementary ed major. exhibit a:

I kinda thought this past week was fun! No class, just a week to take a handful of tests. Okay I'm sure my gpa could probably use some more stress about finals week but at least my mental health has never been better! This week I slept in, went hot tubbing, met a celebrity crush of mine, had lunch with jen (that i made!! bragging bragging!!) went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, had chipotle, got free krispy kreme doughnuts (three different times...oops), and don't even get me started on my time spent in the hbll.

not finals week:

finals week: 

The library is so social during finals week! And when you see your friends or even a friend of a friend of a friend you should always stop and chat for a few minutes because you're just exhaauuusted from how hard you've been studying and your brain needs a break. Right? Also a boy came up to me and gave me his number so that rocked. 

Okay actually lets take a tangent here so I can ramble. As flattering as it is to have a boy give you his number, it poses so many problems. First of all, what the heck am I supposed to do with it? Text him something along the lines of, 

"Hey!... this is that girl whose number you gave yours to on the fourth floor of the library... at BYU. What's up?"

Yeah no potential for awkward there. Also what if I can't even remember what he looks like? When this boy walked over to me in the library my inner, smarter, self reminded me to pay close attention to what he looked like but I was so flustered that all I remember is dark hair. That's it. Now I have to be cautious not to be overly flirty while texting him because what if he ends up being 5 foot 2? Haha ugh life is hard sometimes. 

Anyways, if Jen looks guilty in this picture, it is because she is buying her textbook a few hours before her exam. Whatever. Happens to the best of us!

Finals week, I think I love you.

What I Learned in School Today...

So if you didn't know, and I won't be offended if you didn't, I'm a TESOL minor! Aka teaching english as a second langage. So I'm taking this classes called Intro to the English Language and below is a legimate assignment. Enjoy.

This is Sydney Walton. 

            Friends often joke that my roommate Sydney speaks a different language. After thoughtful consideration and learning about the ways that English words form, I have come to the conclusion that she is indeed speaking English; Sydney is so far advanced that she has crossed a threshold and is merely coming up with new words to contribute to the greater English language.  First she started with the simple abbreviation, or in her mind, abbrev. By clipping a word it becomes shorter and easier to say. Sydney hind clipped the word “perfect” and now instead utilizes “perf.” Additionally, “totally” was much too inconvenient to use on a regular basis and now has been replaced by the word “totes” by applying the same hind clipping. “Obvi” integrates these same ideas, stemming from the word “obviously.” A particularly advanced word in Sydney’s vocabulary is “cray cray” because it utilizes two different types, shortening and then reduplication. First she hind clips the word “crazy” to become “cray” and then reduplicates and it becomes “cray cray.” To describe boys that she has feelings of infatuation for, Sydney calls them her “crushy.” By employing backformation, she took the noun “crush” as in ‘I have a crush on him’ and added the suffix “y” to make another noun, this one describing the person, not the emotion. By hind clipping and then combining, the word “jellyfish” was created, but not referring to the sea creature. First it was the word “jealous” which was then hind clipped to become “jelly” which then was put in front of “fish” to create the final product. Correspondingly, “fun” became “funnel cakes” but skipped the clipping step. "Zerts” is a word that describes any food eaten before or after the designated meal. The word “appetizer” was fore clipped, giving us “zer.” The word “dssert” was hind clipped, leaving us with “sert.” By combining these two, we have “zerts.” Lastly, if our date with our “crushy” to go get “zerts” goes well enough to make our roommates “jellyfish” it is time to have a “DTR.” This stands for ‘Define the Relationship.’ However, it is an acronym because it is pronounced /ditur/.  As her vocabulary continues to expand I would hope that those who assume abbreviations are associated with unintellingence, would think twice.

Yes, I shared this video as apart of my presentation. Oh and yes. I got an A.