Tag: feature

Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Facebook has killed one of its oldest features, the “ticker, ” that let you see at a glance what your friends were doing or sharing. First launched in 2011 , it used to appear to the right of your news feed (on the web app) showing likes, comments and other friend activities. As TechCrunch noticed, Facebook’s help community had been posting about the ticker’s disappearance, when a verified employee chimed in to see that “this feature is no longer available.” Facebook hasn’t explained exactly why it chopped the ticker, though we’ve reached out for comment. The social network is generally ruthless with features that don’t increase user engagement, and by extension, ad revenue. It’s hard to remember now, but Facebook’s feeds used to display posts in chronological order, much like Twitter ( mostly ) still does. The algorithmic feed, launched in 2011 eliminated date-ordered posts, surfacing what it thinks is more relevant information, instead. Facebook-owned Instagram made the same change early last year. The ticker was introduced along with the algorithmic feed, so that you could still monitor your friends’ activities in real time. Though often called the “creeper” feed, it didn’t really do anything that the news feed didn’t before. The algorithmic feed is ostensibly good for users, but like any algorithm, it can be gamed. That has become especially apparent with Facebook over the 18 months, when Russian operators bought ads in an attempt to influence US election results. They correctly surmised that discord increases engagement, and paid for posts that played social factions off against each other. As a result, at least 126 million Americans were exposed to articles that likely influenced election results to some degree. Via: TechCrunch Source: Facebook

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Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 experiment: Running apps in tabs

When it comes to multitasking, few UI upgrades were as helpful as browser tabs. Instead of juggling dozens of windows on your computer, they let you place multiple websites in a single pane. It’s the sort of thing we take for granted today — especially if you don’t remember the pre-tab dark ages. With its latest feature in Windows 10, currently dubbed “Sets, ” Microsoft has taken some major cues from what browser makers learned years ago. Basically, it lets you group together Windows apps in tabs. That might sound simplistic, but Sets (which isn’t the final name yet) could fundamentally change the way we work in Microsoft’s OS. If you’ve seen the way the Edge browser handles tabs, you’ve already got a handle on Sets. You open a new tab within a window by clicking the plus button in the title bar. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a landing page listing your most frequently used apps, recent documents and a search bar for local files and the web. As you’d expect, whatever you end up opening appears right alongside the original app you were using. So, if you started with a Word document, you could easily have a Powerpoint file, web pages and your Mail app sitting alongside it. It feels similar to how Chromebooks handle multitasking, an OS that has an interface almost entirely made up of browser tabs. Conceptually, Sets goes hand-in-hand with the upcoming Windows Timeline , which lets you jump backwards to continue working on past projects. While the two features were conceived separately, according to Microsoft, they could make for a powerful combination. It’s easier for the OS to tell that a collection of tabs within a single window are related to one project, which in turn makes it simpler for Timeline to get you back up and running. Additionally, Windows will also be able to open up the Set you typically use with a particular document. While Sets might seem like an obvious UI evolution for Windows, it’s still a significant move for Microsoft. For one, it marks the biggest change we’ve seen to the title bar since Windows 95. Even the drastic UI overhaul in Windows 8 didn’t affect that much. Perhaps that’s why Microsoft is clearly positioning it as an experiment. Initially, only a handful of Windows Insider participants will get access to it. The company will also perform a controlled study on how people use the feature. While Microsoft says everyone in the Insider Program will eventually have access, it’ll likely be a while before that happens. Initially, Sets will work with Universal Windows apps like Mail, Calendar and Edge. After that, the company will work on bringing simpler apps like Notepad onboard, and it’s also developing a Sets-compatible version of office. Supporting more complex apps, like Photoshop and Premiere, will take even longer. And if none of this sounds compelling, you’ll also be able to turn off Sets (or whatever it ends up being called) in your Control Panel. Microsoft also plans to offer granular control for the feature, allowing you to turn it off for specific apps. What’s most interesting about Sets is how Microsoft is carefully rolling it out. Unlike Windows 8, which dramatically killed off the Start Menu and replaced it with something slower and clunkier, the company is taking care not to disrupt how we normally work in its OS. It’s a humbling admission by Microsoft that it might not always know what’s best for its users. But this time, at least, it’s prepared to learn.

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Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 experiment: Running apps in tabs

Delta to offer free in-flight use of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage

 Starting October 1, passengers on most Delta will have free access to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage. To access the feature, a passenger will have to log into Delta’s in-flight wifi portal powered by Gogo. This is first time an airline has offered such a service throughout its fleet. Traditional SMS messages will not work. Only the aforementioned mobile messaging services… Read More

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Delta to offer free in-flight use of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage

Remove unused apps in iOS 11 without losing your data

Of the many apps you likely have on your iPhone or iPad right now, how many do you actually use regularly? Chances are that you have at least a few that you’re keeping merely because they have data you don’t want to lose. Well, all that is about to change: iOS 11 will allow you to delete apps, but retain their settings and data. Cydia Geeks first spotted the feature that Apple calls “offloading, ” and it’s great news for people who are constantly struggling with storage space on their phones . The current “Storage & iCloud Usage” option within the iPhone’s settings will be renamed “iPhone Storage” in iOS 11. (Presumably, if you’re working on an iPad, it will be called “iPad Storage.) Within that menu is an innocuous-looking option called “Offload Unused Apps, ” with an Enable option. Apple’s menu description says, “Automatically offload unused apps when you’re low on storage. Your documents & data will be saved.” What’s more, it appears you can choose individual apps to offload if you don’t want to depend on Apple to automatically manage the process for you. Choosing the “Offload App” option for an individual app does the following, according to Apple: “This will free up storage used by the app, but keep its documents and data. Reinstalling the app will place back your data if the app is still available in the App Store.” It’s worth noting that many apps, such as Google Drive, Facebook and Twitter, already store data in the cloud, so it’s easy to delete and reinstall them as needed. But for any apps that you must keep to avoid losing data (such as games), offloading could be just what people with storage issues are looking for. Indeed, this feature could entirely break us of the habit of keeping apps around just in case we need them one day. Via: 9to5Mac Source: Cydia Geeks

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Remove unused apps in iOS 11 without losing your data

Signal tries its hand at encrypted video and voice calling

Open Whisper Systems’ Signal app is no longer limited to keeping text chats out of the wrong hands . A beta version of the Android app now includes experimental support for video and voice calling. Both sides of a conversation will have to switch the features on in settings for this to work, but you’re otherwise free to talk knowing that encryption should prevent eavesdropping. It’s not certain when the feature will be available to every Signal user, although the phrasing of the update suggests that it’s more a matter of “when” than “if.” And iPhone owners won’t be left out — OWS has mentioned that video and voice will be available in an upcoming iOS beta release. Via: Android Police , TechCrunch Source: Google Play

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Signal tries its hand at encrypted video and voice calling

Apple releases iOS 10.2 and its companion TV app

Apple is making good on its promise of giving you a unified video streaming experience . The company has released iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1, both of which include the company’s centerpiece TV app. So long as a given service supports the feature, you no longer have to jump into and out of apps to catch up on your viewing — you can resume your favorite show or check out recommendations from a single place. Netflix isn’t included in TV at the moment, alas, but this and the recently launched single sign-on should save you a lot of hassle. The iOS update isn’t just a one-trick pony, of course. It includes a slew of new emoji , including a face palm, a gorilla (read: Harambe) and female equivalents for most job emoji. And of course, there are numerous subtler tweaks. You’ll see improved music controls with quicker access to your queue and shuffling, better stabilization and improved frame rates for Live Photos, a dedicated News app section for saved articles and notifications for smart home devices like smoke detectors and door sensors. Combine these with general fixes (there’s a significant upgrade to Bluetooth performance, for example) and you’ll definitely want to upgrade — if just to see Apple fulfill one of its big end-of-year promises . Source: MacRumors

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Apple releases iOS 10.2 and its companion TV app

Apple releases iOS 10.1, adds Portrait mode to the iPhone 7 Plus

The Portrait mode for Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus has been in the works for months, and now it’s ready for the masses… sort of. 7 Plus users running beta software have been able to shoot photos full of artificial bokeh for over a month now, but Apple just pushed out its iOS 10.1 update and Portrait mode came along for the ride. Now, here’s the thing: even though you don’t need to be enrolled in the iOS beta program to use the feature anymore, the feature itself still isn’t completely done. Once the update is installed, the camera app asks if you’d like to “try the beta” when you swipe into the new Portrait position. Our professional recommendation? Dive right in. Portrait mode might not be completely complete, but it’s still capable of producing seriously nice headshots. In case you missed it the first time around, the feature uses the iPhone 7 Plus’s two cameras in tandem — the primary 12-megapixel sensor captures the image as normal, but the second, wide-angle sensor is used to determine how far away the subject is. All of that data gets mashed up into a nine -layer depth map, providing the context needed to artfully blur out backgrounds while keeping faces and subjects closer to the phone remain crisp and intact. Apple’s goal was to build a dead-simple photography experience that yields pictures that look like they were shot on expensive SLR cameras, and for the most part, Apple’s work is very impressive. This photo represents well the sort of quality you can expect out of Portrait mode: the focus stays locked on the face and hands, and the windows in the background are blurred pretty dramatically. Thanks to that nine-layer depth map, you can see areas where blurring is very subtle, like the top of the subject’s head and the bottom of her scarf. You don’t need to take photos of people to get some mileage out of Portrait mode, either. Have cats prancing around? Or a sweet new mug you need to share? In my experience, as long as you’re within proper range (the app tells you when you are) and there’s enough contrast between the foreground and background, you’ll get that pleasant background blurring. It’s when you’re in well-lit environments with lots of similar colors that Portrait mode seems to have trouble — that’s often when you’ll see edges blurred when they shouldn’t be. Just check out this photo of a cactus precariously perched on a railing. The camera didn’t have trouble differentiating between the cool blue of the pot and the trees in the background, but it obviously had trouble telling where the cactus ended and the trees began. These disappointments are rare, though, and will probably get ironed out as people continue to put Portrait mode through its paces. Most of the big problems have been solved — now Apple just has to focus on the fine-tuning (which is obviously easier said than done). At this point, Portrait mode is still far from perfect, but there’s a lot to like about just how simple it is to use. It’s fast, it’s impressive and it’s only going to get better with time. Interested in taking it for a spin? Jump into your iPhone 7 Plus’s settings and mash that software update button — it’ll show up sooner or later.

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Apple releases iOS 10.1, adds Portrait mode to the iPhone 7 Plus

Talkshow offers the ability to host your own AMAs

A few months ago, a messaging app called Talkshow debuted with an interesting premise: all of your conversations on it are public. Everyone can “listen in” on the chatrooms you create, sort of like podcasting but in text form. One of the ways it differentiated itself from Twitter is that strangers can’t just butt into the discussions — they have to be invited. Otherwise, they could only offer canned responses. Now, however, outsiders can participate in a more engaged way, thanks to a new feature called Q&A. Michael Sippey, one of Talkshow’s co-founders, says that the feature was born out of users holding impromptu Ask Me Anything sessions. But the only way for the audience to chime in was to be promoted to co-host, where they can say anything they want. They could then be removed from the discussion, but adding and removing these guests can be a hassle. The new feature, however, lets viewers submit questions and/or responses, which the host can review before allowing them through. It’s like a moderated comments section, but in real-time. The Q&A feature is entirely opt-in, and is something that a host can toggle on or off. The default prompt is “Ask anything, ” but you can customize it to whatever you like, such as “What’s your favorite Pokémon” or “What’s on your holiday wishlist.” Hosts and co-hosts can see all Q&A submissions, but only the host can decide what to publish. If a submission is accepted, the person who sent it in will get a push notification. You can then end the Q&A at any time during the conversation. “It’s audience engagement, but more controlled, ” says Sippey. “It keeps the host in control of the show.” He envisions that the feature will be used in AMAs of course, but he also foresees people using it for interviews or audience polling. “It’s a way to get feedback.” “It’s going really well, ” Sippey says about Talkshow’s progress since its launch. “People who are sticking around are really enjoying it.” When asked about the rise of public chat apps — Public is another one that debuted recently — he attributes the popularity to a general hole in the market. “Twitter is not great at ongoing conversation; the timeline is a very difficult place to navigate a particular topic, ” he says. “Facebook is mostly for friends and family, not for public conversations.” An app like Talkshow, however, fills that void. “If people are good at it, it can be entertaining content.” Right now Talkshow is sort of a mix of media — journalists have used it for event liveblogs — as well as community discussions around topics such as Pokémon Go. “Sometimes they’re not producing it for anybody but themselves.” “Is it media? Or is it a chat product?” he queries rhetorically. “We’re straddling that boundary right now.”

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Talkshow offers the ability to host your own AMAs