You’ve received a Photoshop file (.PSD) that you need to look at, but you don’t have Photoshop. Here are three free ways you can view PSD files on Mac.
Apps
Gmail for iOS gets Material Design overhaul with new features
The Internet giant Google on Tuesday released a major refresh of its mobile Gmail app, which has now adopted the company's Material Design guidelines as part of a larger effort to make G Suite look and act like a family of tightly integrated products.
You can now play Fortnite with MFi controllers
Fortnite hit App Store in April 2018 and now this tremendously popular free-to-play battle royale title can be played with any MFi-certified controller.
AirBuddy brings proper AirPods support to the Mac
If you’ve ever used Apple’s AirPods with your iPhone or iPad before, then you already know about the seamless pairing experience that's made possible by the Apple-exclusive W1 chip. Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t polished this experience on macOS just yet, and the AirPods experience on the Mac feels the same as any other Bluetooth-enabled device.
To say Apple left Mac users hanging in this respect would be an understatement, but third-party app developers have taken notice of this macOS-centric niche and now appear to be coming to our rescue.
Track and maintain positive habits in your life with the free Habit app
Maintaining positive habits is hard, whether it be your daily yoga meditation, remembering to drink more water, reading at least a book per month or not using technology before nap time.
Thankfully, App Store has many apps that help you become a better version of yourself, and today we're spotlighting a free habit tracker for iPhone.
Apple’s Entrepreneur Camp launches today
Announced at the end of November 2018, Apple's Entrepreneur Camp initiative for female coders and entrepreneurs has launched today.
Developers have earned $120 billion since App Store’s 2008 debut
App Store was opened on July 10, 2008, with an initial 500 apps available. Between its launch more than a decade ago and today, it's earned Apple's developers an unbelievable $120 billion in revenue, the Cupertino giant revealed in a press release Monday.
Glitch Art Studio, LazyHabit, Brut. and other apps to check out this weekend
This week's edition of our Apps of the Week roundup includes a glitchy photo editor, a healthy habit-forming coach and a video clip curator. And as always, we've selected two great new games for you to check out.
Enjoy a fuller Home screen experience with Fullboard
Apple designed the iOS Home screen such that you could scroll through pages of app icons, but there’s always been a single row of non-scrollable, static app icons near the bottom of the display, more commonly referred to as the Dock.
Love it or hate it, the Dock is a staple in Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems, but a new free jailbreak tweak called Fullboard by iOS developer Heft Johnson lets you nix it entirely, instead transforming the full height of the Home screen into a scrollable interface.
The best free apps for creating animated GIFs on iPhone
There are GIFs everywhere. We see them, save them, and share them from Facebook, Twitter, and even those we receive in Messages or Mail. So, if you want to have some fun, make something memorable, or just get creative with your photos and videos, why not make a GIF of your own?
These are the best free apps for creating animated GIFs on iPhone.
NYT: Facebook to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger chats
Facebook is reportedly planning to integrate chats from its three major properties: WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.
This was reported Friday by The New York Times. A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the report's findings via a written statement to the newspaper.
The different chats should be merged sometime in 2020.
According to sources, Facebook's boss and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently summoned WhatsApp employees to announce the merging of the company's messagings services.
They balked at the plan, the article reads:
On December 7, employees gathered around microphones at WhatsApp’s offices to ask Mr. Zuckerberg why he was so invested in merging the services. Some said his answers were vague and meandering. Several WhatsApp employees have left or plan to leave because of Mr. Zuckerberg’s plans, the people said.
If Facebook proceeds with the plan, customers will be able to start a chat with another user irrespective of whether they're on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram. As an example, a Messenger user could start chatting with a friend of Instagram, or vice versa. In another instance, a WhatsApp user would be able to chat directly with a contact on Instagram.
From the article:
By stitching the apps’ infrastructure together, Mr. Zuckerberg wants to increase the utility of the social network, keeping its billions of users highly engaged inside its ecosystem. If people turn more regularly to Facebook-owned properties for texting, they may forgo rival messaging services, such as those from Apple and Google, said the people, who declined to be identified because the moves are confidential.
Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp will remain separate apps: the company will not merge them into a unified mega-app for chatting.
This integration would include end-to-end encryption to protect communications as the messages are transmitted between the three different chat services.
It was however unclear at post time how this would work in practice considering that people go by their real name on Facebook versus the anonymity that Instagram and WhatsApp provide.
Today, WhatsApp requires people to register only a phone number to sign up for the service. By contrast, Facebook and Facebook Messenger ask users to provide their real identities. Matching Facebook and Instagram users to their WhatsApp handles could give pause to those who prefer keeping their use of each app compartmentalized.
Is this a good idea, do you think?
Let us know in the comments!
Twitter is testing a new tag to help you distinguish genuine accounts from copycats
In another attempt to nuke fake news out of orbit and help you distinguish the real Elon Musk or Donald Trump from their false copies, Twitter is testing a new "Original Tweeter" tag.
The company yesterday confirmed the test to TechCrunch, saying that the new label has rolled out to a “small percentage” of iOS and Android users across multiple markets.
Sara Haider, Twitter’s Director of Product Management, said:
Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. As part of this work, we’re exploring adding more context to discussions by highlighting relevant replies—like those from the original tweeter.
Not only does this new feature make it easier to distinguish the person who started a thread, it also helps curb certain types of abuse on the platform.
Accounts masquerading as other Twitter users has been an annoying problem for sure. That being said, any effort to curb this kind of behavior deserves a thumbs-up, wouldn't you agree?
Just be careful not to confuse the new "Original Tweeter" tag with Twitter's existing blue verified badge which lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic.
As you probably know, Twitter's somehow managed to botch the roll-out of verified badges.
At first, the little blue badge was exclusive to celebrities and well-known users with millions of followers. But when the company expanded the program beyond public figures, it found itself in trouble after it verified accounts belonging to conspiracy theorists and Neo nazi groups.
Because of those woes and missteps, the company's verified account program is currently on hold and not accepting any new requests at this time.
On a related noted, we reported yesterday that Twitter's Night Mode, which enables a darkened interface, might soon introduce a pure black setting following user complaints that the app's Night Mode theme was too blue-ish and not dark or black enough.
So, has this new "Original Tweeter" tag appeared for you yet?
Let us know by leaving a comment down below.