One Year In, What Does Snap Need to Do to Move the Needle?
More innovation will be the key to Snap’s survival, according to Mashable business reporter Kerry Flynn.
“They need to prove that they’re ahead of the curve,” she told Cheddar Friday, the one-year anniversary of the company’s IPO.
Her comments came on the same day that Cheddar’s Alex Heath broke the news that Snap is working on a [Spectacles “2.0”](https://cheddar.com/videos/exclusive-snap-to-release-new-spectacles-this-year) that could roll out later this year and be followed by a third version in 2019.
The news may be surprising, considering the original Spectacles didn’t quite make a splash the company hoped. Only 150,000 pieces were sold, leaving hundreds of thousands of glasses gathering dust in warehouses and resulting in a $40 million loss.
The second version, Cheddar has learned, will be available in new colors and have some minor updates. The third version will have two cameras to allow for greater depth in videos. It could cost $300, more than double the current option’s price.
But [Flynn doesn’t think these new products will do much to draw in new users](https://mashable.com/2018/03/02/snapchat-spectacles-2/#H8hIBXeKsiqA) or bring back ones that left.
“Maybe for some top creators...maybe like the GoPro audience we’ve seen before. But is that enough to really move the needle for Snapchat? I don’t think so.”
But the one thing Snap has going for it, Flynn says, is holding on its key teenage audience.
“When it comes to the teens and also the 18-24 audience, Snapchat does perform better,” she said. “That audience is so craved for advertisers.” And if the app can continue to hold on to those users, she said, it will stand strong.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/snaps-year-in-review).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
