Facebook debuts anonymous and selective login features
Facebook is upping their privacy options for users that don’t feel comfortable logging into the social network for everything. Let’s take a look at some of the new features Facebook is rolling out.
Anonymous Login
When users download an app, much of the time, there is a “login with Facebook” option. But wait, I just downloaded this app… I don’t even know if I like it, let alone trust it. Why should I give them my personal information already?
Facebook now has you covered, if you run into this problem frequently. Once users learn more about the app they’re using, they will have the ability to share more information, if need be. Facebook are currently testing out the new login procedures with a few select developers for now, but will likely roll it out to everyone in the near future.
Take a look at the short walkthrough for Anonymous Login:
Revamped Facebook Login
When an application would like to use your Facebook information, you’ve never really had a choice to what the can or cannot access. With this new Login feature, users can now alter what exactly the app has access to. You don’t want the app to have access to your friends list? Simply uncheck it from the list… it’s that easy!
Here’s another short walkthrough video explaining a bit more:
Users should begin seeing changes as Facebook moves forward with the new Login features.
Source: Facebook
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Google Play Games updates with updated Slide-Out navigation bar and other Tweaks [Download]
Happy Google update Wednesday folks. Looks like Google is updating a couple apps today and Google Play Games is one of them. The new update moves the app to version 1.6.o7 and brings in a little redesign. The redesign should look a bit more familiar to many as it looks like the Play Store slide-out navigation bar. Complete with profile pic. (Old menu in the image to the left.)
You will also start receiving notifications for gifts and requests from your friends. Finally, so you don’t get all lost and confused, they have changed the label “Matches” to “Inbox”. Google also finishes the update off with stating ‘stability, improvements and bug fixes.’
As always, the update is rolling out everyone via the Play Store. However, if you don’t happen to see the update yet and can’t contain yourself, you can always pick up the apk at Gappsearly.com.
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U.K. iTunes Radio Competitor Bloom.fm Shutting Down After Being Blocked From iAd [iOS Blog]
London-based streaming music service Bloom.fm is shutting down following the withdrawal of its main investment partner, TNT, a Russian television channel. TNT withdrew its funding following an organizational change, said VentureBeat.
In a blog post, the Bloom.fm team said the withdrawal of funding was a surprise and that the company has no time to find new investment.
We’ll keep this short because we’re pretty shell-shocked.
It’s game over for Bloom.fm.
Our investor, who’s been along for the ride since day one, has unexpectedly pulled our funding.
It’s come so out of the blue that we don’t have time to find new investment. So, with enormous regret, we have to shut up shop.
This is a poetically crappy turn of events as our young business was showing real promise. Our apps and web player are looking super-nice and we had 1,158,914 registered users in a little over a year. Yep.
A massive thanks to everyone that helped us get this far. We’re absolutely gutted. But it’s been a real pleasure.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Bloom.fm had been blocked from using Apple’s iAd advertising service to gain new users because it competed too closely with Apple’s own iTunes Radio service, which is preparing to launch in the United Kingdom.
It’s unclear whether the iAd blocking had anything to do with the removal of funding, but it was likely a blow to the company regardless.
Apple Hires Former NV Energy VP to Serve as Renewable Energy Manager [Mac Blog]
Apple hired former NV Energy VP Bobby Hollis as its Senior Renewable Energy Manager earlier this month, according to Hollis’s LinkedIn page. Hollis spent five years at electric company NV Energy in Nevada, where he served as the Vice President of Renewable Energy and Origination.
According to Mike Taylor, Director of Research at the Solar Electric Power Association, Hollis also served on the association’s board before leaving NV Energy and was recently named one of Las Vegas’s 40 Under Forty business leaders.
“A VP at a large utility is a pretty big position. His capabilities and experience is greater than the title at apple would belie. He was on our association’s board before leaving NVE.”
Hollis’s duties at NV Energy included leading renewable energy efforts and creating energy supply contracts the company. It’s possible he worked on contracts with Apple while still serving as VP of NV Energy, as Apple and the electric company have partnered up to build a solar panel farm next to Apple’s Reno data center. The solar array, which will generate approximately 18–20 megawatts of power, is expected to be completed sometime next year.
Renewable energy is a key part of Apple’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact. All of the company’s data centers run on 100% renewable energy, as do 75% of its corporate facilities. Greenpeace featured Apple as a “Green Energy Innovator” back in early April as a result of its renewable energy policies.
Apple recently overhauled its Environmental Responsibility website and introduced a new “Better” video explaining its commitment to environmentally friendly values. The company also hired former EPA chief Lisa Jackson as its vice president of environmental initiatives back in May of 2013.
Photographer uses drone to create military-style landscapes of America
Tomas van Houtryve is a photographer with an eye for reframing perspectives — particularly those we’re more used to seeing in modern conflict. The image above is taken from a 16-page photo essay featured in April’s Harper’s Magazine (incidentally, the magazine’s longest photo essay ever). Van Houtryve attached a camera to a small drone “bought on Amazon,” (he doesn’t specify which) and crossed America shooting above weddings, prayer gatherings and funerals — locations van Houtryve solemnly points out are frequent targets during foreign military drone attacks. The essay’s name — Blue Sky Days — was inspired by one such event. “I no longer love blue skies,” is the quote van Houtryve uses on the web page outlining the project. The words come from Zubair Rehman, whose mother was killed by a military drone attack in Pakistan in 2012. “In fact, I now prefer gray skies. The drones do not fly when the skies are gray.”
Source: Tomas Van Houtryve, Harper’s (subscription required)
Windows Phone 8.1’s new apps let you make reading lists and bite-sized movies
The perks for Windows Phone 8.1′s early users just keep on coming. Microsoft has posted versions of two desktop Windows 8.1 apps, Movie Moments and Reading List, that are built solely for its new mobile OS. Reading List is arguably the bigger of the two releases — you can now save articles on your Windows Phone to digest them later on any synced device, whether it’s the handset or your PC at home. Like its full-size counterpart, the mobile app both highlights articles in its Live Tile and lets you pin favorite reading categories to your home screen.
Movie Moments is a tad more straightforward. The app lets you distill recorded videos down to minute-long clips with captions and your choice of soundtrack. After that, it’s just a matter of sharing the resulting masterpiece to Facebook or OneDrive. It’s doubtful that the tool will replace Instagram or Vine in your life, but it may be handy if you’d like to have a little more control over your short-form movie projects.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft
Windows will let you search your computer using everyday language
If you’ve ever searched a computer’s apps or settings, you know how frustrating it can be to guess the keywords you’ll need to get a result — why can’t you just say what you want and let the PC figure it out? Microsoft must have asked itself that same question, as it’s rolling out an update to Windows 8.1 that introduces natural language searches for common tasks. You only have to phrase your statement in a way that a human could understand to get useful links. Gripe that “my screen is too bright,” for example, and you’ll get a shortcut to the display settings. The new search feature won’t help you find everything you’d want, but it could save you precious time when it reaches Windows systems this week.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: Bing Search Blog
Nanowires three atoms wide could lead to paper-thin gadgets
What’s that odd shape, you ask? That’s the world’s thinnest nanowire — and it could be the key to a future wave of flexible devices. In blasting single-layered, semiconducting materials with an electron beam, Vanderbilt University student Junhao Lin has created wires that measure just three atoms wide while remaining strong and very bendy. Since there are already transistors and memory gates made out of the same material, Lin envisions circuits and whole devices that are paper-thin, yet can stand up to abuse; in the long run, he envisions rollable tablets and TVs that could fit in your pocket. The technique could help produce 3D circuitry, too. We’re still a long way from either of those becoming practical realities, but the discovery at least shows that they’re technically possible.
Filed under: Wearables, Science
Via: Computerworld
Pebble app updated, brings much needed performance improvements
A quick performance update to the Android’s Pebble app is beginning to push out today. It offers better in app load times and responsiveness, improved Bluetooth connectivity, and the ability to connect to a Pebble when there is no Internet connection.
We normally wouldn’t write about such a small update to an app, but if you’ve ever used the Pebble app store, you’d know that it’s like pulling teeth. For the few minutes we’ve used the updated app store, we haven’t seen the usual 30 second load times to view new watch faces, which is a big step in the right direction. This is a nice update, so go ahead and download it!
Here’s the full changelog to version 2.0.15:
- Improved overall stability
- Improved performance in app load times and responsiveness
- Improved Bluetooth connection reliability, especially for sports and fitness applications
- Support for selecting a Pebble from multiple paired Pebbles
- Ability to connect to a Pebble when there is no internet connection
- Added notifications for firmware updates (when app is foregrounded)
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Google releases standalone apps for Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Up until today, Google Drive would be the go-to app to find anything stored in the cloud. Editing documents has always been pretty difficult through the app, and that’s why Google has just released Google Docs and Google Sheets as standalone apps.
These work just like you would imagine. They’re the mobile-friendly version of desktop site, and neither of them are really sacrificing any functionality when it comes to the new apps. They even come with Offline Mode, much like we’ve seen in Google Drive.
Drive will also begin to prompt users to download the respective apps if they try to do any editing from Drive. So, to save yourself some trouble, get to downloading!
Google also note that a standalone Google Slides app is on its way.
Hit the download links below!
Source: Google Drive
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