Please, somebody save the Yo app before it dies

"Yo," I said to my colleague Kim Bhasin shortly after I joined The Huffington Post in 2014.

His eyes widened along with his smile as he asked me, "Do you have the Yo app?" 

I didn't. Despite joining HuffPost as a tech reporter, I hadn't heard of Yo, an app that only let users say "yo" to each another and had climbed toward the top of Apple's App Store, obviously. Kim was quick to point out the hypocrisy, but to be fair (to myself), I had fallen into the job, and Yo might have been my common way of greeting people at age 22 (and still to this day), but it wasn't an app on my iPhone — until a couple minutes after that exchange.  Read more...

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Elon Musk's flamethrower may be a bad idea, but it's perfectly legal

Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work.

Generally, flamethrowers are legal. 

Just as Elon Musk has incited enthusiasm, discourse, and frustration about the realities of colonizing Mars, he has successfully done something similar for flamethrowers. His tunneling company, The Boring Company, sold 20,000 flamethrowers this week and is now sold out of the $500 flame igniters. 

SEE ALSO: Someone is already trying to stop sales of Elon Musk's flamethrower

A flamethrower generally refers to a stream of fire emitted from some sort of torch-like contraption — not actual balls of fire being hurled or thrown into the air. Elon Musk's flamethrower, for instance, produces a stream of fire that looks to be a foot or so in length — although flamethrowers can certainly produce longer flames. Read more...

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Snapchat opens Snap Store in app. Yes, there's a Streaks hat.

The kids love Snapchat. Now, the kids — or anyone really — can show that to the world and also help boost Snap Inc.'s financials with the launch of the Snap Store. 

Snap's new store is accessible in the Snapchat app via a Snapcode or by using the search bar. Users can swipe up on each item to purchase directly in the app. 

SEE ALSO: Even Twitter is trying to be like camera-friendly Snapchat now

This isn't the first time Snapchat has offered its customers swag and not so coincidentally brought in revenue that isn't from digital ad sales. Snap has sold beach towels, official plushies, a backpack, and playing cards — just to name a few — on Amazon. Snap also sells Spectacles, its video camera sunglasses, which it incidentally made too many of and is now trying to sell via digital ads and give away to creators.  Read more...

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Bitcoin drops below $9,000 on (potentially) bad news from India

After several short-lived drops under $10,000, it looks like the price of Bitcoin finally yielded under pressure. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is currently trading at $8,947, down 11 percent in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap. 

The trigger for the price drop is likely the news from India, where finance minister Arun Jaitley expressed a largely negative view towards cryptocurrencies in his 2018 budget speech. 

SEE ALSO: A little-known token may be fueling Bitcoin's rise. Critics say it's a scam.

“The Government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system,” Jaitley said according to Fortune.  Read more...

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Telegram's back in the App Store, but was porn to blame for its removal?

Messaging app Telegram mysteriously vanished from the App Store on Thursday because "inappropriate content was made available to our users" according to the company's CEO Paval Durov.

In response to a Twitter user, Durov tweeted that the company was "alerted by Apple" and as a result of the unspecified "inappropriate content," both the Telegram app and Telegram X (a faster, more reliable version) were removed from the App Store.

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp just fixed a huge problem with its Android app

Durov said both apps would return to the App Store after "we have protections in place." The apps returned to the App Store on Thursday afternoon. Read more...

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Yamaha developed an AI system that translates a dancer’s motion into music

Yamaha Corporation has created an AI-powered system that uses sensors to capture the movements of a dancer's body and translate them into piano keystrokes. This new system was showcased at a concert that took place in the Tokyo University of the Arts, featuring the famous dancer, Kaiji Moriyama, accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Scharoun Ensemble. Read more...

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Enormous pin screen wall morphs into any human face

'MegaFaces' is a kinetic facade that can morph into any human face. The giant pin screen is controlled via 11,000 mechanical actuators that protrude 6 feet outside the facade, create the 3D shapes. Read more...

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