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Twitter Acquires Podcasting Company ‘Breaker’ for Twitter Spaces

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter has acquired a social broadcasting app called Breaker and its team to help build Twitter Spaces, a new product in beta that lets users chat in real time with voice.

On January 15, 2021, Breaker will shut down for good. Up until that point, Breaker users will be able to export their OPML file to transfer their subscriptions to another podcasting app. Breaker recommends apps like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or Castro as an alternative. For those hosting a podcast on Breaker, these can be transferred elsewhere via the RSS feed.

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Cash Your Stimulus Check Using This New ‘Venmo’ Feature

Andrew Orr ·

Venmo has added a new check-cashing feature to its app rolling out to select users on Monday. It can be used to cash printed, payroll, and U.S. government checks. The company is also waiving its 1% fee for stimulus checks for a limited time.

To be eligible to use Cash a Check, Venmo customers will need to have either Direct Deposit or a Venmo Debit Card enabled on their account, location services turned on, and a verified email address.

Customers who gain access to the feature will then be able take a picture of their endorsed check and send it to the Venmo app to review, much like they would if cashing a check in a mobile banking app.

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New Weekly Fitness+ Series and Apple Music Playlists Now Live

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has added a number of “goal-setting workouts’ to Fitness+, MacRumors reported. It’s part of a new weekly series designed to help users stay motivated and on track with their training. More Music playlists have been added too.

A new introductory video can be found on the main Fitness+ page in the Fitness app, where trainer Kim highlights what’s new in the subscription service this week and points users to the new Ring in the New Year Limited Edition Activity Challenge that can be found on their Apple Watch… In the video, Kim picks out two workouts in particular that offer goal-setting motivations, including a 20-minute strength workout and a 10-minute HIIT workout, and should help users bag the Ring in the New Year Challenge award, which can be earned by closing all three rings for seven days in a row.

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Ex-Apple Employees' Lidar Startup to Get Major Cash Injection

Charlotte Henry ·

A Lidar sensor startup founded by two former Apple engineers, set for a $200 million investment by a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, Bloomberg News reported. The firm is also set to go public via a reverse merger.

Aeva — a company that’s yet to turn a profit — is valued at about $3 billion, the startup’s chief executive officer, Soroush Salehian, said in an interview. Aeva plans to use the extra cash to meet demand from consumer device companies and speed up some of its technological achievement milestones, he said. “We are seeing interest from a number of new customers, from auto and industrial and consumer applications,” Salehian said, adding the company is working on applications for mobile phones, tablets and consumer health. Salehian, who helped develop the Apple Watch during his almost five years as a product manager at the tech giant, says Aeva has an edge in consumer devices because its tech can be fit onto a chip small enough for tablets and smartphones, as well as the bulkier boxes used for automotive lidar.