O'Dimeji Blog

Snap Inc. filed to go public today, and part of the paperwork involved in setting up its initial public offering includes visual descriptions of how the Snapchat app actually works. This is neat development, if only because Snap has long prized its obtuse design as a hip badge of honor for younger smartphone owners. Now, these illustrations are offering a fascinating inside look at how every facet of Snapchat is built and to what end. It will surely be useful for the many Wall Street investors who have likely never used Snapchat and would be incapable of wrapping their heads around it even if they tried. For all the flak CEO Evan Spiegel and crew have gotten over the years for “bad design” or “crappy UI,” these descriptions also make clear that every part of the app has a distinct purpose and every screen a carefully constructed layout. Here, for instance, is how Snapchat constructs its home screen, which notably was the first mainstream social app to open straight into a came...

Acer announced its 37.5-inch XR342CQK curved monitor this past June, and today the company confirmed that it’s now available in the US for $1,299.99. It’s okay if you can’t source that jumble of letters and numbers back to a specific product. Here’s a spec reminder: 2,300R curvature 21:9 ratio 3,440 x 1,600 QHD resolution Up to 75Hz refresh rate that works with AMD FreeSync Up to 5ms response time HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 inputs Four USB 3.0 ports and one USB-C Stereo seven-watt speakers Acer’s release follows the curved screen bonanza that was CES this year. As  The Verge ’s own Vlad Savov wrote, displays stood out this year, especially considering that most every company is buying into the idea that gamers want a curved display. Go ahead and treat yourself, Vlad also says. The XR342CQK is definitely one of the larger gaming monitors we’ve seen, as well as one of the more expensive.

Five years after the launch of Snapchat, Snap is planning to go public. The company filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange today, picking the ticker symbol “SNAP.” The company hopes to raise $3 billion and says it has 158 million daily active users. The IPO would reportedly value the company above $20 billion. The filing comes at an exciting but challenging time for Snap. The company — originally named Snapchat — has declared its intentions to become “a camera company,” rather than just an app developer. And it’s already found some success with Spectacles, its fun pair of video-recording sunglasses. SNAP IS LOSING A LOT OF MONEY The company says its advertising business is growing quickly. It reported $58.7 million in revenue for 2015, and grew that to $404.5 million in 2016. Along with that strong revenue growth, however, its losses also swelled. Snapchat lost $372.9 million in 2015 and $514.6 million this past year, more than its total revenu...