How Instagram is reshaping the restaurant scene →

I wrote about my favorite trend of the year: entrepreneurs designing restaurants with Instagram in mind.

The most striking thing about Bellota may be the custom lamps at its 25-seat bar, which let patrons adjust the lighting in order to get the perfect shot. “I’m probably the most avid Instagram user of the group, so I kept bringing it up,” says Ryan McIlwraith, Bellota’s chef. He wanted the lighting to do justice to the restaurant’s tapas plates and signature paellas. “It turned out these lamps we got were just perfect for it,” he says. The lamps can be tilted or turned 180 degrees, and the light’s intensity can be adjusted up and down. An “advanced feature” allows patrons to rest their phones on the lamp’s neck so as to take a selfie. 

Google introduces the feed, a personalized stream of news on iOS and Android →

I wrote about the introduction of the Google feed to Android and iOS. The lack of video is strange, I think:

The most surprising thing about the Google feed, at least at launch, is how little video it contains. At a time when its peers are racing to cram as much video in their feeds as possible, Google’s is still mostly a text-based affair. When YouTube cards appear, videos won’t play within the feed — tapping kicks you out to the app or to a mobile-web version of the video. The cards are formatted in such a way that it’s easy to miss that they’re even videos. It’s all surprisingly clumsy.

Facebook is building a Houseparty clone for live group video chat →

SCOOP:

Facebook is building a standalone app that incorporates ideas from Houseparty, the group video chat app that rose from the ashes of Meerkat, The Verge has learned. The app, which has the working name Bonfire, was recently demonstrated for employees. It is being targeted for a fall release, according to a person familiar with the matter. “We don’t have anything to share at this time,” a Facebook spokeswoman said.

Instagram tests favorites, a major rethinking of private sharing →

I got an exclusive early look at favorites, Instagram's new approach to integrating public and private forms of sharing:

Instagram is betting it can make its take on the friends list more successful by simplifying it. Unlike Facebook, you’ll have a single list to manage. Unlike Twitter, the list is private. And unlike any I’ve seen, Instagram’s list has visual flair. The green “favorites” badge is a small thing, but it signals your affection to the friends of yours who see it, in a way that I suspect will build a sense of intimacy. Seeing a favorites post nestled in among all the other posts in your feed feels like a bonus.

No one is building the smart speaker we actually want →

Few things I've written this year have drawn as much reader commentary as this editorial about the sad state of the smart speaker market:

After moving into my new place a few months ago, I was determined to put a smart speaker in every room of the house. And yet the more I looked into my options, the more helpless I felt. None of the speakers on the market do what I want them to do. And it's unclear when the speakers I do want are coming to market — what they'll cost when they arrive.