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Skype is getting a major redesign with Snapchat-like features

Cody Lee ∙ June 1, 2017

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled a major redesign for its Skype video conferencing app. Rebuilt from the ground up, the company says the new app vastly improves the ways you can connect with your favorite people, putting chat front and center.

Early reactions to the new design have pointed out that the interface has kind of a Snapchat vibe. Group chats are more lively, expressive and personalized, and there's a new Stories-like Highlights section that allows you to share a photo or video.

Highlights can be decorated with emojis and text, and they remain available for a full week instead of the usual 24 hours. They can be viewed by anyone who follows you on Skype, or you can choose to send your Highlights to a specific group or user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU9w41tPXyc

Other new features include Facebook-like reactions to Highlights and chats, in-video chat overlays for emojis, text, stickers and photos, and the addition of smart assistant Cortana. Skype is also adding bots from Bing, Expedia, YouTube and others.

The Skype update hits Android first, later today, iOS within the next few weeks, and Mac and Windows devices within the next few months.

Source: Skype

Apple expected to increase Intel LTE chip orders as fight with Qualcomm grows

Cody Lee ∙ June 1, 2017

Apple is expected to up its LTE chip orders from Intel as it looks to distance itself from Qualcomm, reports DigiTimes. Despite inferior performance, Intel has gone from supplying around 30% of iPhone 7 baseband chips in 2016 to 50% in 2017. And experts say it could be supplying over 70% of the baseband products for iPhones by 2018.

Earlier this year, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm in a California district court for charging unfair prices to license its tech. Qualcomm has since countersued Apple, and withheld around $1 billion in royalty rebates from the iPhone-maker as retaliation for its participation in a Korean Fair Trade Commission investigation.

Given the nature of this feud, don't be surprised to see Apple work to dramatically reduce its reliance on Qualcomm over the next several months. The company recently hired Esin Terzioglu, Qualcomm's VP of Engineering, to head up a new chip project. It's believed they are developing their own, in-house baseband modems.

Source: DigiTimes

Plex app gets live TV support and DVR enhancements

Cody Lee ∙ June 1, 2017

Plex on Thursday announced that they're rolling out support for live TV to their various Plex apps. They're starting with Android TV and iOS, and say updates for other platforms like tvOS will follow suit.

The live TV feature is built right into the Media Server, so you'll be able to stream everything from game shows to sporting events in real time, from pretty much anywhere in the world.

The app is also getting other improvements: in-app DVR management, meaning you can now browse the program guide and manage recordings directly from within the app, and expanded tuner support. Last September Plex announced support for the HDHomeRun tuner line, and now it's opening up to tuners from Hauppauge, AVerMedia and many more.

Plex Live TV and DVR are available immediately for Plex Pass users only. The service costs $5 per month, $40 per year, or $120 for life (20% off for a limited time). It's a bit pricey, but it's definitely worth looking into if you're thinking about cutting the cord.

Source: Plex

Twelve South’s BookArc stand for Apple notebooks now available in Space Gray

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 1, 2017

Twelve South just launched a new Space Gray color option for its popular BookArc stand for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro on Thursday.

It's intended to look great with the OEM Space Gray color Apple offers for its MacBook with Retina display and 2016 MacBook Pro (with or without the Touch Bar), and it joins the classic silver finish, made to match the standard aluminum finish of the previous generation MacBook Pro, along with other notebooks in Apple's lineup.

Apple: App Store developers earned over $70 billion in revenue since debut

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 1, 2017

Apple announced Thursday morning that developers all over the world for its platform have generated over $70 billion in total revenue, a new record since the launch of the App Store almost nine years ago in 2008.

The number 70 appears to be Apple’s lucky number this year, as app downloads have also soared 70% in the last 12 months, illustrating interest in numerous new app titles that took the App Store by storm.

DetailedCellularUsage reveals hidden items in your iPhone’s cellular usage report

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 30, 2023

Cellular data is one of those things we seem to always use regularly, but fail to keep track of as efficiently as we could. This becomes a problem when you swear your data provider is over-charging you for your data usage.

A new free jailbreak tweak called DetailedCellularUsage by TheComputerWhisperer helps reveal some of the gray areas where iOS uses your cellular data and doesn’t report it in the Settings app.

Apple’s begun manufacturing its Siri speaker ahead of WWDC

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 31, 2017

Apple has started manufacturing its Siri speaker ahead of the WWDC keynote next week.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has learned from people familiar with the matter that the new smart home appliance won't be ready to ship until later in the year. However, Apple could debut the gadget during next Monday's keynote presentation at WWDC.

People who have seen it told Bloomberg that the product won't have a touchscreen, unlike what KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo speculated.

Taipei-based AirPods manufacturer Inventec has been tapped as the sole manufacturer of the Siri speaker. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple employees have been secretly testing the device in their homes for several months.

The forthcoming Siri gadget reached an advanced prototype stage late last year.

Apple is reportedly seeking to differentiate the Siri speaker from Amazon Echo and Google Home by offering virtual surround sound technology, Apple Music and other integrations.

The Siri speaker would also act as a HomeKit hub to let users remotely control smart home appliances such as lights, door locks and window blinds, a feature that currently requires either a fourth-generation Apple TV or an iPad.

Here's an excerpt form the article:

Along with generating virtual surround sound, the speakers being tested are louder and reproduce sound more crisply than rival offerings, sources in the know said.

Apple has also considered including sensors that measure a room’s acoustics and automatically adjust audio levels during use, one of the people said.

“This will be a platform for developing Apple’s services,” says Gene Munster of Loup Ventures.

Gurman speculated the Siri device could be tucked into Apple’s $11 billion “Other Products” category along with other devices like Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods and Beats accessories.

Apple declined to comment.

Siri speaker mockup via iFunnyVlogger on Twitter.

Apple is giving away popular platformer Chameleon Run via Apple Store app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Chameleon Run, the popular auto runner by developer Noodlecake Studios, is now available at no charge for the next two weeks but only through the official Apple Store app.

On App Store, the game currently sells for $0.99.

If you haven't had a chance to grab Chameleon Run back in February when Apple featured it on App Store as part of its weekly Free App of the Week promotion, download the official Apple Store app now to claim your free copy of this awesome platformer with a colorful twist.

This promotion will expire on June 15, 2017.

Featuring smooth execution, this fast-paced auto runner requires you to switch your character's color to match the ground as you run and jump from platform to platform.

The game's expertly crafted levels “will have you running back for more”.

Chameleon Run features pixel-perfect physics, simple two-button controls, fun jumping mechanics with special moves (i.e. “double jump”, “head jump” and so forth), non-linear levels with three special objectives in each one and other perks.

It plays especially well on the fourth-generation Apple TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrIAedC-wJY

To claim your free copy of Chameleon Run, first download the official Apple Store app.

Next, launch the Apple Store app and tap the Discover tab at the bottom. Scroll halfway down until you spot the Chameleon Run offer, then tap “Download now for free”.

You should see an overlay offering basic information about the game.

Tap the blue Download Now For Free button at the bottom to continue.

You'll be asked if you'd like to finish redeeming your gift in App Store. Hit Continue to bring up the game's App Store page, then hit Redeem to claim your free copy of Chameleon Run. Once you've successfully redeemed the promo code, hit Done.

The game should begin downloading to your device. Chameleon Run supports iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV. As always, you can use the App Store's Purchased section to re-download the game to your Apple TV and other iOS devices using the same Apple ID.

Keep in mind that you must use the Apple Store app in order to grab this freebie. On App Store, Chameleon Run is currently 99 cents after a fifty percent discount, valid for one week only.

Here’s what people are mainly using their smart speakers for

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 20, 2024

Smart speakers such as Amazon's Echo, Google's Home (and, soon, Apple's alleged standalone Siri device) allow users to get answers in the more comfortable settings of their homes.

As these things are always listening, there's no need to press a button or pull a phone out of your pocket. But what exactly are people using Amazon Echo and other smart speakers for?

A ComScore study, charted by Statista, says the most common use case is asking basic questions with 60 percent of US smart speaker owners using their device for simple requests, followed by weather queries (57 percent), playing music (54 percent), setting timers/alarms (41 percent), creating reminders/to-dos (39 percent) and more.

In what's bound to be disappointing to Amazon, the study found that very few users of smart speakers use them to order goods or services online, with just 8 percent of US smart speaker owners using their device to order food/services and 11 percent ordering products online.

According to a May research conducted by digital agency Stone Temple, providing answers to basic questions actually is not Alexa’s strong suit.

Amazon's digital assistant powering the Echo family of devices was able to answer just 20.7 percent of the 5,000 questions asked as part of the experiment.

Siri performed similar to Alexa.

Amazon said today that Echo owners and iOS customers who use the mobile Alexa app or the Amazon shopping app can now enable integration with iCloud Calendar.

Speaking of which, the comScore study found that less than one-third of smart speaker owners in the US (27 percent) use their device to find what's on their calendar for the day or add new appointments to the calendar hands-free.

Elgato debuts Eve Degree HomeKit sensor [video review]

Andrew O'Hara ∙ May 31, 2017

Elgato has released the newest edition to their already impressive HomeKit lineup of Eve products, Eve Degree. The Eve Degree is a HomeKit temperature and humidity sensor that connects over Bluetooth Low Energy. It has a new aluminum enclosure, a much better look than the similar Eve Room and Eve Weather, with a large readable screen on the front for glanceable information.

Easily manage all your YouTube notifications via all-new Activity tab

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 31, 2017

Google is rolling out a small update to its mobile YouTube app for iPhone and iPad, bringing out an all-new Activity tab where you can easily find and control all of your notifications.

Now you can see your notifications, opt-out of receiving alerts from specific accounts and more—all in one central place just a tap away no matter where you happen to be in the app.

The new tab joins the app's existing tabs: Home, Trending, Subscriptions and Library.

Before today, accessing notifications was a multi-tap affair: you were required to tap your profile picture in the app's top-right corner, then hit Notifications (see the screenshot below).

Functionally, nothing has changed drastically—the new Activity section still shows notifications from your favorite accounts in the order they were received.

The old way of managing your YouTube notifications was a multi-tap affair.

Tapping the three dots next to a notification allows you to hide that particular notification, just like before, as well as elect to turn off all future notifications for that account and more.

Tapping the option See All Settings takes you to settings where you can turn notifications on or off for any recommended videos, choose whether you'd like to be notified about activity on your comments or others' videos, select how you'd like to be notified and more.

The new Activity tab requires YouTube for iOS version 12.20 or later.

Grab YouTube for iOS for free form App Store.

Twitter’s inbox now separates out messages from people you don’t follow

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 31, 2017

Twitter is rolling out a new inbox section which it says is designed to separate direct messages from people you do and don’t follow, making it easier to accept or delete unsolicited chats.

“If you’ve opted-in to get Direct Messages from anyone, messages from people you don’t follow will go into Requests in the Messages tab,” wrote the company in a tweet yesterday.

New group chats you’re added to by people you don’t follow will also appear in Requests.

Upon entering the chat, you'll be asked to either Delete or Accept the message. Accepting the chat moves it to your inbox, allowing you to continue the conversation with that person.

“Please note that they will not know you have seen the message until you have accepted their request,” said Twitter. All media will be hidden prior to accepting the message.

If you wish to view any hidden media, tap the View Media option.

https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/869608493548011520

Conversely, deleting the message removes it from the inbox although that account is still able to message you in the future unless you block or report it. These new features are available on the mobile Twitter app for iOS and Android and on twitter.com.

TUTORIAL: How to find Messenger chats you didn't know existed

Facebook-owned Messenger introduced a similar feature back in October 2015, replacing the “Other” inbox with a Message Requests section that brought all the messages from people you’re not friends with on Facebook in one central place, separate from your regular chats.

Grab Twitter for iOS for free from App Store.