Facebook gains food/ticket ordering, collated friends’ recommendations for restaurants

Facebook today announced a new update for its iPhone and iPad mobile app focused on discovering new things in the world around you, deciding what to do or where to go and connecting with local businesses in easier and faster ways.

For starters, the app will now automatically collate recommendations for restaurants that your friends post on the service, identify posts asking for recommendations using artificial intelligence and even help you make reservations or appointments from within the app.

Google’s iOS keyboard gains 3D Touch trackpad, new themes, iOS 10 emojis & more

Google's Gboard keyboard for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch was bumped to version 1.2 on the App Store this morning, gaining a few new features such as more than a dozen new themes, support for trackpad-like functionality on 3D Touch devices akin to the stock QuickType keyboard, the ability to search and share your contacts without leaving the conversation and support for the new iOS 10 emojis.

WSJ: e-ink keyboards will be a standard feature on 2018 MacBooks

Following The Guardian's report, based on a verified post on Reddit alleging that Apple recently met with representatives from Australian startup Sonder Design to discuss using its dynamic keyboard technology in a future Magic Keyboard, The Wall Street Journal has corroborated that such talks took place on October 11 in China.

However, Sonder CEO Francisco Serra-Martin denied in a press release that the meeting took place. Be that as it may, WSJ claims that the new dynamic keyboards will be a standard feature on next-generation MacBook laptops, which Apple is aiming to launch in 2018.

Deck out your iPhone’s respring screen with Springy

Everyone who’s used a jailbroken iPhone before knows what the respring screen looks like. It displays a black screen with a white Apple logo if you have a black device, or a white screen with a black logo if you have a white device. On the other hand, if you’re jailbroken, then why have the same old screen everyone else has? You can customize it!

A new free jailbreak tweak called Springy is going to give you more options to go down this road if you like customization.

Get your green thumb on with Flower Power by Parrot

Flower Power, an iOS app that promises to help you get the best out of your favorite indoor or outdoor plant, has undergone a major face lift this August. The app, developed by Parrot SA has been around since 2013, but both looks and functions have been overhauled in-depth recently. While the app is and has always been free, it requires a hefty upfront investment for the wireless plant monitor itself to supply the app with critical data. So let’s posit you want your beloved indoor plant to live up to its maximum potential - Should you pounce for it?

Report: Apple planning to hold new Mac event October 27

Apple will introduce new Macs at an event on October 27, reports Recode. Citing sources familiar with the company's plans, the outlet says that the event will likely take place at or near Apple's Cupertino campus, rather than its typical venue in San Francisco.

Recode doesn't specify exactly which Mac products we'll see, but most of Apple's laptop and desktop lines are due for an update. A report from Japanese blog Mac Otakara yesterday called for new 13" and 15" MacBook Pro models, and a refreshed 13-inch Air.

Your Stories to begin appearing in Instagram’s Explore tab beginning today

After launching Snapchat-esque Stories two and a half months ago, Instagram today started promoting these auto-dissapearing slideshows within the app's popular Explore tab.

Instagram's been surfacing recommended Stories in the Explore tab for a subset of its users since August. Today, Recommended Stories in Explore has officially started rolling out to everyone.

“Starting today, you’ll begin to see Instagram Stories on Explore,” announced the Facebook-owned service in a blog post Tuesday.

Facebook enhances 360-degree photos with initial viewport selection, album support & more

Facebook yesterday announced some overdue new features designed to elevate the user experience when it comes to posting 360-degree photos, which you have been able to upload to the service since June 2016.

Initially, the experience with these panoramic photos left a lot to be desired: you couldn't upload them to albums nor could you select the area in a 360-degree picture for others to see in their feed.

Both of these omissions have been addressed in the latest version of Facebook for mobile and desktop, the social networking behemoth has confirmed.

Jet black and micro-abrasions: how iPhone 7 holds up a month later

Now that I've been using my jet black iPhone 7 for a little over a month, I figured it'd be depressing interesting to look at the state of that high-gloss finish and see how it's fared over that short period of time.

In previous years, this was not even a concern, but the fragility of the new jet black finish has been under scrutiny since day one, especially as Apple itself noted that jet black devices would be prone to micro-abrasions.

Tim Cook was included in the list of potential VP candidates for Clinton campaign

Was Apple's boss Tim Cook really considered as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton? WikiLeaks recently dumped another trove of emails and one of the messages detailing the inner workings of the Clinton campaign specifically mention Cook as an early possibility for the Vice President of the U.S.

Cook's name was included in the list with other potential VP candidates like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg.