Rare tropical system could form off Florida’s Atlantic coastConstruction on Little Pine Island Bridge continues
Rare tropical system could form off Florida’s Atlantic coast It’s unusual for a June storm to develop in the Atlantic and make landfall from the east.
MATLACHA Construction on Little Pine Island Bridge continues If you’re taking a trip to Matlacha this week, you might begin to see some traffic back ups.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO deputies investigating attempted carjacking The Lee County Sheriffs office is investigating a scene they say was an attempted carjacking.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Road rage and drug trafficking This weeks segment of WINK neighborhood watch features road rage, drones, and drugs.
NORTH FORT MYERS Tommy Bohanon Foundation Youth Football Camp kicks kids off to good start School’s out for summer, but on Saturday morning, more than 300 kids learned what it takes to be a football player at the annual Tommy Bohanon Foundation Youth Football Camp.
NORTH NAPLES Water contaminating some Southwest Florida gas tanks With the record amount of rain we received, some people in Southwest Florida have struggled with an issue that isn’t visible to the eye, like street flooding.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: A bit drier today; not a bad day to head out on the boat A great day to celebrate dad. Drier weather with temps topping out in the low 90s under mostly cloudy skies.
NAPLES FC Naples debuts club name, crest and colors FC Naples, the USL League One soccer club, debuted its name, crest and colors Saturday morning.
NAPLES Fire rescue exhibit gives children firefighter experience Children learned how to put out fires from real-life firefighters and got tips on how to stay under the flames with the help of Tank the K9.
PORT CHARLOTTE New video: Search continues for Metro Diner tip jar thief Someone stole a tip jar meant to help a mom with her baby in the NICU. Now, the restaurant is asking for help finding the guy who did it.
FORT MYERS Right lane cleared on Edison Bridge after hit-and-run crash The Fort Myers police department has confirmed this is a hit-and-run crash, and there are no reported injuries at this time.
CAPE CORAL The Weather Authority’s Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt speaks at Cape Coral Hurricane Expo Meet Matt Devitt, pick up a WINK Hurricane Guide and rain gauge at the Cape Coral Hurricane Expo.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Scattered storms, mostly cloudy skies, below averages temperatures Signs of improvement in your weekend weather forecast, but some lingering tropical moisture means scattered storms.
FORT MYERS Businesses struggling to stay open in downtown Fort Myers Snowbird season is over, traffic is a mess from the Caloosahatchee Bridge closure and the new parking system isn’t exactly perfect in downtown Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS BEACH New numbers show open hotel rooms in parts of Lee County are low Lee County released new data this week on how different areas in the county are bouncing back after Ian by looking at how many hotels have reopened since the storm.
Rare tropical system could form off Florida’s Atlantic coast It’s unusual for a June storm to develop in the Atlantic and make landfall from the east.
MATLACHA Construction on Little Pine Island Bridge continues If you’re taking a trip to Matlacha this week, you might begin to see some traffic back ups.
LEHIGH ACRES LCSO deputies investigating attempted carjacking The Lee County Sheriffs office is investigating a scene they say was an attempted carjacking.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Road rage and drug trafficking This weeks segment of WINK neighborhood watch features road rage, drones, and drugs.
NORTH FORT MYERS Tommy Bohanon Foundation Youth Football Camp kicks kids off to good start School’s out for summer, but on Saturday morning, more than 300 kids learned what it takes to be a football player at the annual Tommy Bohanon Foundation Youth Football Camp.
NORTH NAPLES Water contaminating some Southwest Florida gas tanks With the record amount of rain we received, some people in Southwest Florida have struggled with an issue that isn’t visible to the eye, like street flooding.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: A bit drier today; not a bad day to head out on the boat A great day to celebrate dad. Drier weather with temps topping out in the low 90s under mostly cloudy skies.
NAPLES FC Naples debuts club name, crest and colors FC Naples, the USL League One soccer club, debuted its name, crest and colors Saturday morning.
NAPLES Fire rescue exhibit gives children firefighter experience Children learned how to put out fires from real-life firefighters and got tips on how to stay under the flames with the help of Tank the K9.
PORT CHARLOTTE New video: Search continues for Metro Diner tip jar thief Someone stole a tip jar meant to help a mom with her baby in the NICU. Now, the restaurant is asking for help finding the guy who did it.
FORT MYERS Right lane cleared on Edison Bridge after hit-and-run crash The Fort Myers police department has confirmed this is a hit-and-run crash, and there are no reported injuries at this time.
CAPE CORAL The Weather Authority’s Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt speaks at Cape Coral Hurricane Expo Meet Matt Devitt, pick up a WINK Hurricane Guide and rain gauge at the Cape Coral Hurricane Expo.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Weather Authority: Scattered storms, mostly cloudy skies, below averages temperatures Signs of improvement in your weekend weather forecast, but some lingering tropical moisture means scattered storms.
FORT MYERS Businesses struggling to stay open in downtown Fort Myers Snowbird season is over, traffic is a mess from the Caloosahatchee Bridge closure and the new parking system isn’t exactly perfect in downtown Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS BEACH New numbers show open hotel rooms in parts of Lee County are low Lee County released new data this week on how different areas in the county are bouncing back after Ian by looking at how many hotels have reopened since the storm.
MGN NEW YORK (AP) The company behind the popular messaging app Snapchat is expected to start trading Thursday after a better-than-expected stock offering. Snap Inc. passed its first major test on Wall Street on Wednesday as it priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 each. That is above the expected range of $14 to $16 and values the Los Angeles company at $24 billion. Snap’s IPO is one of the most anticipated for a technology company since Twitter’s stock market debut in 2013. Co-founders Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy will retain controlling power over all matters at Snap; the Class A stock being sold in the IPO has no voting power. Snap is getting the ticker symbol “SNAP” on the New York Stock Exchange. Prospects for Snap For Snap, which started its official bid to go public last Halloween, the looming question now is whether investors are in for a trick or a treat. Snap’s Snapchat app is best known for disappearing messages and quirky facial filters for jazzing up selfies. It’s popular with teenagers and younger millennials. While Facebook launched in the era of desktop computers and Twitter in text-based mobile, Snapchat jumped straight to photos and videos. In a sense, it’s ahead of the game. But its user growth has slowed down in recent months. Blame Facebook. Growth slowed to a crawl since Facebook’s Instagram cloned Snapchat’s “stories” in August. With the feature, photos and videos shared by users play in a loop for 24 hours, then disappear. The feature helped Snapchat recover from stagnant growth before, but now it’s no longer unique to Snapchat. After adding 36 million daily active users during the first half of last year, Snapchat picked up just 15 million in the second half. The number of people downloading Instagram’s app has been accelerating during the past six months, suggesting a gradual shift away from the Snapchat app, based on an analysis financial advice site ValuePenguin did of activity in Apple’s app store. While the higher-than-expected pricing looks good for Snap, its troubles aren’t over. “What that number means for the longer term – very little,” said Chi-Hua Chien, managing partner at Goodwater Capital who originated the VC firm Accel Partners’ investment in Facebook and later invested in Twitter while at another firm. Twitter, for example, shot up nearly 73 percent on its first trading day and now trades well below its IPO price. Facebook, meanwhile, saw its stock decline sharply for a few months after going public. Now, it’s trading more than three times its IPO price, near a record high. Time is limited Snapchat started 2017 with 158 million daily active users, most of whom are people in their teens, 20s and early 30s. But many of them are finding Snapchat harder to fit in with daily life. Evan Rodriguez, a 20-year old student at Abilene Christian University in Texas, used to send snaps of funny stuff he saw throughout the day, just as his friends did. For instance, he might take video of a friend walking across campus and send it via Snapchat – “Hey, I see you!” But something about the whole thing “just became cumbersome,” Rodriguez said. “It was like one more thing to do.” Celia Schlekewey, a 20-year-old University of Washington student who also works at a small business, liked the fact that when she first joined, it was “all just about sending pictures to your friends.” Over time, the stories feature became a “big deal,” and keeping up with friends and famous people became time-consuming. “It got to the point that if I wanted to keep up with everyone’s story, I’d have to sit on my phone and watch it for 25 minutes,” she said. Easing this feeling of pressure will be key for Snapchat, especially if it wants to attract older users. They might not have as much time – or might not feel like spending that time on social media – as their young millennial counterparts. Snapchat’s identity Since Snapchat was never about typing, the phone’s camera is already its main focus. In fact, CEO Evan Spiegel has taken to calling it a “camera company,” and this is how the company describes itself in its IPO documents. That doesn’t necessarily just mean that Snap wants to make cameras, though last year it launched Spectacles, actual physical sunglasses that snap photos for you. Snapchat is more about image-based communication, said Chien of Goodwater Capital. Open the app, and you open a camera. Turn the camera to selfie mode, and you get a bunch of filters to overlay on your face. Because the images you send eventually disappear, there’s less pressure to put forward your best self. Snapchat has often drawn comparisons to both Twitter, which also faces stagnant growth, and Facebook, whose users are highly engaged, just like Snapchat’s. Ultimately, Snap doesn’t have to be like either to succeed and can forge its own path and identity. LaVon Murphy, 45, a photographer in Portland, Oregon, uses Facebook to keep up with friends, Instagram to express herself through pictures and Twitter to keep up with the news. She added Snapchat recently to stay in touch with her 17-year-old son. “I don’t really understand why he and his friends use the app so extensively, but I am trying to keep up,” she said. “It allows me to be silly and show a silly side of myself to my son and it allows him to be silly with me.” Snap just needs millions more like Murphy willing to make time for yet another social network.