Geek Beat: Amazon Go, Live Video & Emoji

This week’s “Geek Beat” segment was a mixed plate of tech news, including Amazon’s new brick-and-mortar “Go” concept store, Twitter’s live video offering, and the latest batch of new emoji.

Amazon, which has been credited with killing off more than its fair share of physical stores, is now making headlines for setting up its own. “Amazon Go” is “a new kind of store with no checkout required.” All you need is the app, and you’re able to enter the store, grab what you want, and leave, no checkout lines (or chatty cashiers) required.

Meanwhile, the “live video” wars are heating up. On the heels of Instagram unveiling and promoting its “Live Instagram Stories,” Twitter introduced the ability to go live directly in the Twitter app. (Previously, you had to use Periscope, a separate live streaming app that Twitter acquired last year.) Where does that leave Snapchat, the young and hip app that mostly confounds anyone over 25?

Finally, we talked about the latest batch of emoji coming out for iPhone users with iOS 10.2. (The new emoji are technically already available on Android, except almost no Android phone has the latest version of the operating system.) There’s a lot of good stuff, including more gender diversity and food items like bacon. But the new symbol that will probably see the most use in Hawaii is the “call me hand,” which obviously looks more like a hang-ten shaka.