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Bloomicon  /  Shutterstock.com YouTube is opening its  mobile live-streaming  feature to creators with, at least, 10,000 subscribers and has added a “Super Chat” feature that monetizes the live-stream chat function. According to the announcement, live streams will include the same features as regular YouTube videos — they will be searchable; listed in video recommendations and playlists; and, protected from unauthorized use. YouTube’s live streams also come with the new “Super Chat” monetization tool, allowing viewers to pay for more prominent messaging: “It lets any fan watching a live stream stand out from the crowd and get a creator’s attention by purchasing chat messages that are highlighted in bright colors and stay pinned to the top of the chat window for up to five hours.” YouTube shared the following GIF, showing how to start live streaming using the “”Capture” button built into the YouTube app, and included an example of a “Super Chat” message (the chat...

Facebook Back in the '90s, before memes were really a thing, it was kind of a meme to pass around pictures of Bill Gates as a Borg — the cyborg baddies of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame. If you're not a "Star Trek," fan, trust me, it's a sick own. Before the Borg attacked, they would issue their famous warning: "Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile." It was a warning that resonated with the tech industry of the day. Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft became known as a company that would win at any cost. From productivity apps to web browsers, any competitor Microsoft couldn't simply buy it would crush by making a new, competing product and win by selling to its huge existing customer base. Now we're starting to see history repeat itself, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stepped in to the role once occupied by Gates. Consider Facebook's reaction to Snapc...

Snapchat owner Snap Inc shot the opening salvo in its $3 billion initial public offering on Thursday, outlining aggressive expansion plans but offering new investors no say on how the company is run and no promise of profits. Snap's publication on Thursday of its IPO registration document sets the stage for its upcoming marketing campaign to convince investors to look past its widening losses and the firm grip of its founders, and focus on its rapid growth of active users. The number of Snap's daily active users grew to an average of 158 million at the end of December, up 48 percent year-on-year, Snap revealed. However, its net loss widened to $514.6 million in 2016 from $372.9 million the year before. While Snap will have time to polish its marketing pitch in the run-up to the IPO planned for March, some analysts were taken aback that the company was just beginning to reap cash from its product. "What surprises me the most is that it is still very early days when it c...