Snow was started by Naver, the Korean firm behind popular messaging app Line, and it had proven popular in Japan, Korea, China and other markets in Asia thanks to a focus on localized filters, stickers and features. Not to mention Snapchat’s famous lack of effort in Asian markets.

The Snow app has changed significantly since we last wrote about it, however. It’s no longer a Snap clone.

A major updated that dropped last week removed Snow’s user-to-user communication features and turned it into a dedicated selfie camera app. Without chat, the app doubles down on filters, stickers, augmented reality (AR), and other selfie-related features to make photos and other media that can be exported to social networks or chat groups.

Snow users can now, for example, record a video set to music from artists that include Charlie Puth. There’s the usual array of photo filters, alongside a GIF maker and Instagram-like Boomerang feature.

It is also aiming to build partnerships and localize its service in China. Outside of Snow, Snow Corp also owns camera apps Foodie and B612, which it acquired from Line, so they may also be pushed in China as standalone apps, although the tech behind them is also shared with the core Snow app.

A Snow representative told TechCrunch that the app now has over 200 million downloads on iOS and Android. The company doesn’t break out specific data for each market, but it said that China is its largest market. In January 2017, we reported that Snow had 40-50 million monthly active users but there’s no further update on the MAU front for now.

SoftBank — and this is SoftBank Group not the Vision Fund — and Sequoia have bought up 20 percent of the shares of Snow’s China business unit via this deal. Line is among Snow’s other backers, via two investments.

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Source: Techcrunch

The post Selfie app raises $50M from SoftBank and Sequoia China appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It is just the second time in living memory that snow has fallen, with the last occasion being in February 1979.

The pictures were taken by amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata in the small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra, Algeria, yesterday afternoon.

He captured the amazing moment snow fell on the red sand dunes in the world’s largest hot desert.
Snow was last seen in Ain Sefra, which is known as ‘The Gateway to the Desert’, on February 18, 1979 – when the snow storm lasted just half an hour.

This time the snow stayed for a day in the town, which is around 1,000 metres above sea level and surrounded by the Atlas Mountains.

Karim said: ‘Everyone was stunned to see snow falling in the dessert, it is such a rare occurrence.

‘It looked amazing as the snow settled on the sand and made a great set of photos.

‘The snow stayed for about a day and has now melted away.’

The Sahara Desert covers most of Northern Africa and it has gone through shifts in temperature and moisture over the past few hundred thousand years.

Although the Sahara is very dry today, it is expected to become green again in about 15,000 years.

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Source: Daily Mail

The post Snow falls on Sahara desert for first time in 37 years appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.