Facebook debuts mobile-optimized Instant Articles

Facebook this week introduced a new feature on mobile that improves the load times of articles on users’ news feeds. By hosting articles from certain publications directly on Facebook, Facebook can accelerate the load times of content and also add new interactive features like videos, timelines, and infographics. The New York Times and National Geographic are some of the first partners to use Facebook’s instant articles feature, but many more are expected to follow in the coming months.

Verizon Got Mail

Verizon this week announced the acquisition of AOL for $4.4 billion. AOL in recent years has transitioned its business model to be more focused on content generation, with acquisitions like the Huffington Post and advertising revenue from new advertising networks and platforms that support ads across desktop and mobile. Verizon is doubling down on its content business after its Sugarstring experiment last year, and now controls some of the web’s most popular content ecosystems and advertising platforms.

Google Fit gets in shape—circles, that is

In an effort to compete with the activity-tracking features on Apple Watch, Google Fit this week introduced new features that make step counting and calories burned more accessible to users on their Android lock screens and Android Wear watch faces. The ring-style visualization adds new utility to Google Fit, which Google hopes will become a centralized hub of fitness and activity information for Android users around the world.

Sunrise for Meet-lovers

Following its recent acquisition by Microsoft, popular calendar app Sunrise added a new feature that makes it easier than ever for users to set up one-on-one meetings—no matter what app they’re using. The feature, called “Meet,” comes in the form of an iOS keyboard extension that allows users to select available times for a meeting and paste a link into whatever application they might be using—from Messages to Mail and anything in between. The other party can then load a web page and select a time that works best for them, and the calendar event is added automatically to both users’ schedules.

Designing for Apple Watch—free white paper

And finally, Punchkick this week published a new white paper about designing for Apple Watch, looking at the unique considerations that designers and brands need to make to be effective on Apple’s newest wearable.