RIP texting

Good morning! The birds are chirping, the coffee is brewing, and you’re reading this digest. Bliss. 

Here’s some news: 

📹 X has added a live video function to spaces.

🚗 Ford is giving away free Tesla charger adaptors to EV users until July. 

📔 Google is bringing Stack Overflow’s knowledge base to Gemini. 

💻 Lenovo has revealed the first-ever laptop with a fully transparent display.

Most messaging apps follow the same formula: primary communication is done through text, with the addition of emojis and features built to delight, like GIFs and reactions. Every now and then, though, you get something new, like Yolk.fm. 

Yolk.fm is a messaging app that flips the genre on its head by leaving out one notable feature: texting. It ditches the keyboard entirely to adopt a more play-orientated approach to communication. 

Instead of texting, it relies entirely on stickers and not the ones you find on WhatsApp or iMessage. The app uses three different, on-device AI models to enable you to point your camera at anything and stickerize it. Stickerize your dog, a pizza slice, or the Empire State Building — the world is your sticky oyster. 

To get started, you need to invite three friends. After all, what’s a social app without friends? From there, you can chat by snapping whatever catches your attention and turning it into a live sticker. Your friends can react with their own stickers, which will then appear on your profile, and you can even sticker-bomb other profiles if you’re feeling particularly mischievous. 

Social media is a hard nut to crack, and it's made harder because our attention spans are decreasing. The makers behind Yolk understand this and are hoping they can carve out a piece of the pie by expanding to other channels and using influencers to find their audience. 

Can Yolk succeed where others have failed? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, though – they will have fun while trying.

• CleanAppsNow is a Mac app for uninstalling apps and any leftovers they leave behind.
• Summarize.ing uses AI to summarize YouTube videos while highlighting insights.
• Therapeze is a note-taking app that is designed specifically for therapy patients.

• Noor is a team collaboration app designed for uninterrupted deep-focus work.
• Bootstrap is a financial management system built specifically for startups.
• Blobr is an AI-powered assistant that’s connected to your business tools.