Here's what you may have missed in social media and technology this week:
- Sensor-Powered Seatbelt Could Save the Lives of Sleepy Drivers - Developed by the Biomechanics Institute (IBV) in Valencia, Spain, the Heart and Respiration In-Car Embedded Non-Intrusive Sensors (Harken) system works by measuring the heart rate (via seatbelt sensors) and respiratory pace (via seat cover sensors) of the driver.
- Snapchat-Like App Bolt Leaked on Instagram - Some Android users are seeing a banner ad inside Instagram for the company’s new “one tap photo messaging app” Bolt. A few Android users (including one in India) have uploaded the Bolt ads to Twitter, but thus far Instagram has not responded to requests for comment.
- Pinterest shares diversity numbers: 40% female, 50% Caucasian - The figures were shared by Pinterest engineer Tracy Chou, who called for greater transparency last year about the proportion of women tech employees in the industry. Since then, a number of major companies have piled on to share their diversity figures, including Google, Facebook and Twitter.
- Users Average 40 Minutes Daily on Facebook - Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday that users of the social network in the U.S. average 40 minutes daily, with some 20 percent of that usage time on mobile.
- WWF’s Brilliant Snapchat Campaign - WWF used SnapChat by sharing ‘selfies’ of endangered animals such as tigers, polar bears, dolphins and others under the hashtag #LastSelfie. These images lasted for 10 seconds and before they disappeared, users had to either share, donate or adopt the animal or help in any other way which they could. These images cannot be saved and are clicked from real life moments creating emotional impact in the minds of the viewers.
- Ford's Former Social Media Chief Takes Agency Role - Scott Monty, who left the Ford Motor Co. two months ago after a five-year run that made him one of the best known social media figures in the corporate world, has a new gig. The marketing veteran next week will join Shift Communications as evp of strategy.
And here is some great stuff from some fellow bloggers:
