Tech News Today 1769

Instagram is ripping off Snapchat again with what it's calling "face filters." It works just as it does on Snapchat: Open the app, hold your phone up, and in selfie camera mode you'll be able to choose things like a golden wreath, ears, and nose from a koala bear or bunny rabbit. These work with one or two faces at a time.

HTC introduced its next major flagship smartphone, the HTC U11, with some very unique features, including dual-wake words with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa onboard, as well as a squeezable frame around the lower half of the phone for shortcut actions.

For the 10th time since last September, Facebook is admitting to overstating how many people are seeing or interacting with the ads it's serving. The advertisers were charged for clicks to their websites on video carousel ads by smartphone web users -- but in these instances, users didn't actually click through. The error was happening for a year before it was found by Facebook and fixed.

Plus, Apple's worldwide developer conference might have some new laptop hardware announcements, the first Amazon-powered Fire TV is unveiled, Mark Cuban wants you to check out his hoverboard, and Kurt Wagner from Recode discusses Biz Stone's return to Twitter.

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Links

• Instagram is ripping off Snapchat again -- with new face filters
• Want Google? Say "Ok Google." Want Alexa? Say "Alexa." This $650 phone has both.
• The Google Assistant is reportedly coming to iPhones
• Apple Plans Laptop Upgrades to Take on Microsoft
• Google's AI division got some UK health care data it shouldn't have
• Stone is re-joining to help build back Twitter’s culture.
• What’s Happening with Me
• Mark Cuban is making a "hoverboard" scooter and it'll cost $1,300