Over the years, Facebook and Twitter have worked hard to turn their platforms into specially honed places for news: Facebook has spent years tweaking its News Feed to provide the right balance of personal content and that of brands or publishers, while Twitter is always coming up with new features and tools for media (Curator being one recent addition). It seems all that preening has been put to good use, as a new report from Pew Research Center shows that people use Twitter and Facebook for news now more than ever. In the report, which surveyed a sample of 2,035 adults,…
This story continues at The Next Web
British Gas-owned Hive has today revealed a new smart thermostat for UK homes that has oft-requested features like a multi-zoning option and a heating boost. The most striking thing about the Hive Active Heating 2 though is its mirror finish design. If you were put off the first model because you thought it looked dull (it really did), the second version is a huge improvement, thanks largely to a collaboration with designer Yves Béhar, who had a hand in the design of the Jawbone UP bands and Jambox, among other things. Along with a single middle control for scrolling between options, there are a few…
This story continues at The Next Web
In yet another announcement addressed to the wider Reddit community, new CEO and cofounder Steve Huffman, also known as /u/spez, will host an AMA on Thursday to present an institutionalized Content Policy for users. Huffman wrote: Neither Alexis nor I created reddit to be a bastion of free speech, but rather as a place where open and honest discussion can happen: These are very complicated issues, and we are putting a lot of thought into it. It’s something we’ve been thinking about for quite some time. We haven’t had the tools to enforce policy, but now we’re building those tools…
This story continues at The Next Web
Koombea, a Web and mobile development company specializing in Slack integration, has launched a public beta of Convergely, a suite of productivity tools designed to enhance Slack.com, the team communication app. Convergely gives Slack a range of new functions including time-zone responsive message scheduling, an auto-responder system, the ability to annotate and send images, task assignment and a group polling feature. Users can get started with Convergely by integrating the app to their Slack accounts. “Integrations are so important overall for Slack that they’re the biggest differentiator between the free and the paid tier,” said Jonathan Tarud, Koombea CEO. “There are things people are really…
This story continues at The Next Web