Myspace, that ancient social networking dinosaur, is back with a new coat of paint. And get ready for this: it looks kind of neat. The new format has some pretty clear Pinterest and Tumblr influence, and also looks like it’ll be doubling down on the music aspect of the Myspace world, maybe giving Spotify’s social aspects a little competition. Maybe. More »
Call it a hunch, but we suspect that at least a few of you picked up an iPhone 5 today, or at least made the leap to iOS 6. If you’re in either position, you may be wondering just what apps to feed Apple’s flagship (or that fresh new firmware) once it’s ready to go. We’ve got a quick-hit list of titles that have been updated to take advantage of the tall display and new OS that go beyond Apple’s own work. The biggest upgrades of the lot come from keynote darling CNN as well as Flipboard: both have done more than add extra columns on the iPhone 5, offering an interface you won’t see on any mere 3.5-inch iPhone. Some bread-and-butter apps have made the launch week cut as well, such as Facebook and Twitter.
There’s even more if you’re willing to dig deep. Third-party Twitter client Tweetbot beat the official app to the punch by days, and we’ve likewise spotted updates to Evernote, its rival Remember the Milk and Yelp. We know some apps aren’t fully iPhone 5- or iOS 6-native — Instagram, for example, and most anything from Google — but it’s apparent that the holdouts are increasingly the exception, rather than the rule. Did you catch any other noteworthy apps that received a boost in recent hours? Let fellow owners know in the comments.
CNN – App Store
Evernote – App Store
Facebook – App Store
Flipboard – App Store
Kindle – App Store
Pulse – App Store
Remember the Milk – App Store
Tweetbot – App Store
Twitter – App Store
Yelp – App Store
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
iPhone 5 / iOS 6 app update roundup: new versions for a taller world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Earlier this year, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, a body whose decisions impact Facebook’s policies in Europe at large, made several recommendations to bring the website in line with regional privacy laws, calling for greater transparency on how users’ data is handled and more user control over settings, among other things. The DPC just officially announced that Zuckerberg et al. have for the most part adjusted its policies accordingly. The biggest change involves the facial recognition feature, which attempts to identify Facebook friends in photos and suggest their names for tagging. The social network turned off this functionality for new users in the EU — and it will be shutting it down entirely by October 15th. It’s not like Ireland, home to Facebook’s European HQ, is the first to give the site flack about such features: Germany was having none of it when the site introduced facial recognition last summer.
Filed under: Internet
Facebook shutting down facial recognition in the EU, gets stamp of approval from Ireland DPC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Facebook has already been making its mea culpas for the state of its main Android app, and it’s showing further atonement through an Android-first update to its Facebook Messenger companion release. The new app is imbued with a “more conversational” (if fairly familiar-looking) bubble-driven layout for chats. Likewise, it’s easier to see if a conversation is needed in the first place: a friend status list is always available with a swipe, while fresh support for texting directly from Messenger can keep the discussion flowing when SMS comes into play. Android users can get the Messenger upgrade today, with promise of an iOS equivalent soon. The regular Android app is getting an update as well, although we wouldn’t cry with joy just yet: it’s more of a parallel to the Messenger update than the speed-up that some of us crave.
Update: The company’s Christian Legnitto has posted a lengthy explanation that the Messenger rework and the core Facebook update (already available) are part of a new strategy that brings Android and iOS updates at regular intervals, rather than waiting solely for major features. If all goes well, the social network can provide speed upgrades and bug fixes at a much quicker pace.
Update 2: And the hits just keep on coming — although today is mostly about Android, Facebook has tweaked its main app’s iOS version (App Store) for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 support.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Facebook revamps Messenger for Android with friendlier chats, teases core app update soon (update 2: iOS refresh as well) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Twitter’s iPad app is sometimes the neglected stepchild of its mobile app family: newer features usually come to the Android and iPhone versions first and are handed down to the iPad later, if they come at all. The company is making amends for that in style with a major update to the iPad version as of today. Whether you like them or not, expanded tweets are now baked in and will optionally show some photos, videos and web links within the timeline rather than disrupting the entire experience. The Connect, Discover and Me sections we’ve seen elsewhere also come to the tablet-tuned app, albeit at the expense of more quickly finding direct messages and lists.
You’ll soon notice a much more visual spin on people’s profiles, regardless of whether or not Apple’s slate factors into the daily routine. Both the Twitter site as well as the official Android and iOS apps now show a header photo behind the bio to provide a little more color than avatars and background pictures can manage. If you’re on one of the mobile platforms, you’ll also see a photo stream in the profile that will help relive memories without hunting down individual tweets. The phone and tablet makeovers require an update to shine, so hit the relevant source link if you’re ready for a prettier (if not always more functional) social experience.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Mobile
Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header photos and image streams originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Twitter for iPad has been given a significant refresh, with v5.0 ditching the sliding panels of the previous version, and instead opting for a more oversized replica of the iPhone app. The new microblogging client – which is still a free download – was pushed to the App Store today, pulling the tablet software more in keeping with the web version.
The newly refreshed app also includes new profiles, with header photos. Photo streams have also been added to profiles and events, as per the web-based version, and Twitter says there have been other unspecified tweaks, bugfixes and improvements along the way too.
Twitter has been tightening the reins on apps for its service in recent months, leaving third-party developers equal parts frustrated and concerned as their flexibility is minimized and users are pushed toward the official apps. This new version for iPad seems, at first glance, like a mixed bag UI-wise.
The iPhone-style layout works in portrait orientation, but is less successful in landscape, where the column of tweets is merely centered onscreen and no extra information is shown. However, the extra photo integration does seem useful, reducing the number of taps needed to browse through a user’s gallery.
You can download Twitter for iPad from the App Store [iTunes link]. Update: More info at the Twitter blog.
[via Steve Troughton-Smith]
Twitter for iPad v5.0 gets big (and not quite perfect) UI refresh is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Despite a fashionably late entrance to the social networking party 12 months ago, Google+ is already able to claim 400 million users and 100 million monthly active users across both the website and the mobile apps. That compares to just 250 million total users back in June, suggesting the service is growing faster than ever. Revealing the figures as part of his announcement of Google’s latest corporate acquisition, a victorious Vic Gundotra said that his team “couldn’t have imagined that so many people would join” within a year of G+ going public.
Filed under: Internet
Google+ has 400 million members, a quarter of whom are active each month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 04:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Shazam doesn’t want to let GetGlue control all our couch potato time — it just rolled out an upgrade to its TV component that lets the mobile app provide social sharing, soundtrack and trivia details for nearly any TV show in the US, not just those deemed worthy of special attention. The app mirrors the program it’s looking at — we’ll see stats instead of IMDb if we’re watching hockey, for example. Whether or not attention is locked on the bigger screen in the living room, Shazam’s little screen is making Facebook more a centerpiece of the experience. Media mavens can comment on friends’ tagging habits and post their own tags to their Facebook timelines for all to see. The wider universe of TV shows should be available today, although we’ll have to wait for an update in the “coming weeks” to broadcast our tastes in media with the rest of the world.
Continue reading Shazam now rides shotgun with any TV show in the US, gets cozier with Facebook
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Software, HD
Shazam now rides shotgun with any TV show in the US, gets cozier with Facebook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
It’s time to get real about Google+ and their user base – it’s been right around a year now since Google’s social network opened its doors to let the sun shine in, and with the numbers they’re posting today, they appear to be doing pretty ok. Though they’re still nowhere near what Facebook has on their own top network in the universe, Google+ is working with 400,000,000 users signed up since the start. The message comes from Google’s own Vic Gundotra who also notes that they’ve just cross the 100,000,000 monthly users active on Google+ mark – that’s for both plus.google.com and the mobile app at once.
If you’re not part of the Google+ party, you’ll be able to jump in on the fun in just a moment if you’ve already got a Gmail account. Google has made it above and beyond easy to integrate your Google experience from top to bottom – the same login works for a wide variety of environments including YouTube and Google Drive as well as Google+ and Gmail, if you want.
This news also comes with the one-two punch that is Google’s purchase of Nik Software for Google+. This announcement has Snapseed in the mix for Google in the very near future, this almost certainly a reaction to Facebook’s final purchase of Instagram. You’ll be rolling around in photo effects like you’ve never before imagined – very soon!
Check out SlashGear’s own Google+ account to see updated photo sets and event collections in a format only that social network can offer. Circle us and join in on the fun!
[via Google+]
Google+ social network ranks grows to 400m with 100m monthly active users is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google has snapped up Instagram-rival Snapseed, part of the apps and services portfolio of Nik Software, with the team responsible for the photo editing app apparently being integrated into Google+. Terms of the deal have not been announced, but according to insiders it’s Snapseed – currently available for iOS, PC and Mac, and with an Android version in the pipeline too – that was the main target, The Verge reports, rather than the company’s other image processing software.
Google+ already has a reasonably comprehensive photo editing toolkit, added back in October 2011, and the search giant has been tweaking its photo sharing tools since then, including adding a meme-creation wizard earlier this year. It also has a useful auto-upload system tied into the mobile apps, which automatically sends photos and video taken on a user’s smartphone or tablet up to a gallery – initially private – on the social site.
“For nearly 17 years, we’ve been guided by our motto, “photography first”, as we worked to build world class digital image editing tools” Nik Software’s Laurie Rubin wrote in a statement today. “We’ve always aspired to share our passion for photography with everyone, and with Google’s support we hope to be able to help many millions more people create awesome pictures.”
Whether this developer acquisition marks Google’s greater intentions to the mobile photography segment remains to be seen, though it’s worth noting that rivals and Android OEMs alike haven’t been standing still in the segment. Facebook snatched up Instagram for $1bn earlier this year, and Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Camera, an Android-based point-and-shoot which prioritizes instant sharing of newly-shot media.
Google grabs Snapseed for Google+ Instagram retort is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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