The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Captcha FAIL: Researchers Crack the Web’s Most Popular Turing Test”. Pete Pachal says, “Captcha is the the gold standard for Turing tests on the web: Whenever an online form wants to check if you’re a human being and not a spambot, it asks you to decipher one or two distorted words, presented as images. But what if there was a way for machines to defeat it?That’s exactly what researchers at Vicarious AI say they’ve done. In trying to develop a machine that thinks like a human — a multi-decade project — the... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “The Beginner’s Guide to Google+”. Ryan Lytle says, “When Google+ entered the social space in 2011, it was met largely with skepticism. Joining a crowded field with platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, many users questioned the need for another social network.But roughly two years later, Google+ has established itself as the second-largest social media site in the world and boasts a monthly active user base of 235 million. And some of the products that Google built into the platform, such as Hangouts and Communities, along... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Facebook Reportedly Offered $1 Billion to Acquire Snapchat”. Adario Strange says, “Investor worries regarding the growing number of potentially overfunded tech companiesseemed to have died down in recent months, but new information surrounding popular appSnapchat could renew talk of a tech bubble.Facebook offered $1 billion in a bid to acquire photo-sharing app Snapchat, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources briefed on the matter. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel reportedly turned down the offer, although sources did not specify... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “MMS Could Be the Next Big Mobile Marketing Channel”. Todd Wasserman says, “”Mobile advertising” usually conjures up images of banner ads or maybe native advertising, but a few firms think the future is in the humble text message.Brands including Ikea, Kellogg, Bloomingdales, Starbucks and TV networks ABC, Fox and CBS have launched marketing outreach programs designed for SMS and MMS. The latter is seen by some as an opportunity for multimedia ads, including video. In a vote of confidence for the latter, Chicago’s Iris... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Twitter Will Price IPO at $17 to $20 per Share”. Seth Fiegerman says, “Twitter plans to offer 70 million shares priced between $17 and $20 when it goes public in the coming weeks, which means the company may raise as much as $1.4 billion in its initial offering.The company revealed the share price and volume in an update to its S-1 filed with the SEC on Thursday afternoon, which also announced that it has been approved to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Twitter had previously announced that it was seeking to raise $1 billion in its... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Study: 30% of Americans Get Their News on Facebook”. Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai says, “A new study reveals that 30% of Americans get their news on Facebook, and suggests that the social network drives people to media sites who may not have otherwise done so. Of that 30%, more than half — 78% — said they click on news links to media sites after initially logging on for unrelated reasons, such as checking out friends’ pictures or updating their statuses. In fact, only 16% of Facebook users say that getting news is the primary... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “65% of Time Spent on Social Networks Happens on Mobile”. Zoe Fox says, “Mobile devices have changed the way we consume all sorts of online content. We now spend more time looking at photos, using maps, playing games, checking the weather and social networking on mobile phones rather than desktop computers.Desktop is still king for some activities, such as e-commerce and getting entertainment news. Statista‘s chart, which uses ComScore data, shows the breakdown between desktop and mobile consumption for 10 different types of content“. 65%... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Here’s What Instagram Ads Will Look Like”. Seth Fiegerman says, “Instagram offered a first glimpse at what its ads will look like in a blog post Thursday.The sample ad, which you can see below, will resemble a typical image or video shared on the social network except it will include a Sponsored label in the top right corner and offer users the option to hide it from their stream“. Here’s What Instagram Ads Will Look Like Mashable.com  [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Google Tests Banner-Like Ads in Search Results”. Seth Fiegerman says, “A select few Google users may notice a something new: a large banner-like advertisement at the top of the search results page.Synrgy, a digital marketing startup, spotted a “sponsored” photo of Southwest Airlines at the top of the page after searching for “Southwest Airlines.”“. Google Tests Banner-Like Ads in Search Results Mashable.com  [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Pinterest Now Worth $3.8 Billion”. Todd Wasserman says, “Pinterest’s valuation is closing in on $4 billion after its latest funding round of $225 million, according to a report.AllThingsD cites “several sources” in a report on the funding, which is led by late-stage investor Fidelity Investments. Just eight months ago, Pinterest was valued at $2 billion to $2.5 billion. The latest round is aimed at helping Pinterest expand internationally. The social network had 24.9 million monthly unique users in September, according... [...]