IFTTT Launches Trio of New Apps Alongside a Rebrand of Original iOS App [iOS Blog]
Popular web service IFTTT today announced the introduction of three new apps – Do Button, Do Note, and Do Camera – to coincide with the rebranding of the original IFTTT iOS app into IF. The company says these events mark its “transition from a standalone service into a true product company.”
IFTTT hopes to empower its users with the introduction of the series of “Do” apps, allowing them more control over their favorite products and applications by presenting a detailed and customizable set of tools “to pick and choose the features they use most often and turn them into their own, personalized, one-tap app.”
“IFTTT’s mission has always been to empower people with creative control over the services and devices they use every day,” said Linden Tibbets, co-founder and CEO at IFTTT. “Our latest product, Do, introduces a simpler and more personal type of Recipe – one that runs with just a tap of a button.”
The new Do series continues IFTTT’s “If this, then that” functionality with “Recipes,” which require a “Channel” (an app) and “Title” (a command) to bring deep customization into each of the three apps. Do Button, for example, showcases “lightning fast access” to customized Recipes created by each user, courtesy of a widget available to install in the iOS Notification Center. Recipes can include anything from custom Nest settings to interacting with a set of Philips Hue bulbs.
Do Camera follows in the vein of instant connectivity to various services within one app, allowing users to create Recipes that upload photos to specific Facebook albums or even match the colors of a photo to a room’s Hue lighting. Same goes for Do Note, which allows instant note-taking to control apps like Twitter, Evernote, and Mail.
These new apps debut alongside IFTTT’s rebrand into IF, the company saying the two announcements pivot it from being a single-product focused business and pushes it into the future with multiple products and services, “with more on the way.”
Do Button [Direct Link], Do Camera [Direct Link], and Do Note [Direct Link], alongside the new IF app [Direct Link], can be downloaded from the App Store for free.
‘Alto’s Adventure’ Now Available on App Store for iPhone and iPad [iOS Blog]
Snowman on Thursday released its highly-anticipated title Alto’s Adventure [Direct Link] on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Alto’s Adventure is a beautiful endless runner featuring physics-based gameplay, procedurally generated terrain based on real-world snowboarding, fully dynamic lighting, dynamic weather effects, six unique snowboarders and more. The game departs from the freemium model with a $1.99 price tag and no in-app purchases.
“Join Alto and his friends as they embark on an endless snowboarding odyssey. Journey across the beautiful alpine hills of their native wilderness, through neighbouring villages, ancient woodlands, and long-abandoned ruins. Along the way you’ll rescue runaway llamas, grind rooftops, leap over terrifying chasms and outwit the mountain elders – all while braving the ever changing elements and passage of time upon the mountain.”
Alto’s Adventure is easy to learn with a one-button trick system, enabling you to control your snowboarder through ever-changing mountains and valleys amid thunderstorms, blizzards, fog, rainbows, shooting stars and more. You can test your skills with over 180 handcrafted goals or challenge friends on Game Center, competing for the best high score, best distance and best trick combo. You can also plug in your headphones and listen to handcrafted audio as you drift through the peaks and valleys.
Alto’s Adventure is $1.99 on the App Store with universal support for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app includes iCloud support that, for example, enables you to play the game on your iPhone and pick up where you left off on your iPad. The game is optimized for the latest devices, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2.
Epic Games head believes VR will ‘change the world’
Tim Sweeney knows the video game industry. He started Epic Games, the studio behind huge franchises like Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, and Infinity Blade, and the widely used game development software, Unreal Engine. He’s hailed as a founding father of the modern gaming industry, having started Epic Games in 1991 while still in college, and he’s a technical genius with keen business sense. So when he says virtual reality is going to change the world, we’re listening.
“There are some amazing things happening in VR right now, and a lot of them haven’t seen the light of day publicly at all,” Sweeney said during a phone interview this week. “But next year is going to just be a watershed time for VR.”
It’s about time, too — Oculus Rift, the headset that spawned the tech world’s current infatuation with virtual reality, was first announced in 2012 and has yet to launch a final product or even establish a release date. In 2014, Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion, a move that did nothing to dampen industry anticipation. Other major companies have jumped aboard the virtual reality train since 2012, including Samsung, Valve, Google, Microsoft and Sony.
At Sundance this year, virtual reality stole the show with a flight simulator, a 360-degree monster film and a bunch of new movie, documentary and video game announcements.
Regarding the potential impact of virtual reality, Sweeney sees the landscape clearly:
“It’s going to change the world. The hardware is going to double in quality every few years for another decade, to the point where, 10 years from now, it’s going to be hard to tell the difference between virtual reality and the real world.”
Sweeney predicts that this next year will be crucial for virtual reality, and he’s not the only one.
At CES in January, Oculus Product VP Nate Mitchell told Engadget that 2015 would be a “big year for VR.” Michael Abrash, VR Lead at Valve (the company behind Half-Life, Portal and game-distribution service Steam), had the following prediction in January 2014: “A great VR system at a consumer price in 2015 is more than just possible — it’s sitting there waiting to happen. And it will happen, if not in 2015, then soon after.”
With all of these people pointing to the same timeline, we’re ready for a huge year in VR — or at least a release date, ahem, Oculus.
Filed under: Gaming
Moto-a-gogo: the beefy Moto Maxx will launch in India
While nothing is yet official, the Droid MAXX is quickly moving into focus.
In the past few weeks, Motorola has been making some impressive headlines. There’s the decision to release the Nexus 6 in China as the Moto X Pro, CEO Rick Osterloh’s recent Twitter defensive against Apple’s Jony Ive, and now another piece of news: the formerly Verizon-only Droid Turbo smartphone may be set for imminent release in India under the name Moto Maxx.
As per a recent tweet, Indian shopping site Flipkart teased a new “turbocharged” Motorola device, complete with Ballistic Nylon, a hallmark of the Droid Turbo:
There's a Moto beast coming your way… exclusively on Flipkart. Stay tuned for more details. #MotoOnFlipkart pic.twitter.com/9FHIoJOEZH
— Flipkart (@Flipkart) February 19, 2015
The Droid Turbo was one of the three flagship devices Motorola released last year, alongside the Moto X (2014 Edition) and the Nexus 6. It was released internationally under the name “Moto Maxx” and featured a 5.2 inch 2560X1440 AMOLED display, Snapdragon 805 CPU, 64GB of on-board storage, 3GB of RAM, and an impressive 20.7 megapixel rear camera and 3900 mAh battery, not to mention the premium materials used in its construction, one option being the aforementioned ballistic nylon.
Motorola will inevitably be spilling the official beans in the near future, but for now all those readers located in India who are interested in familiarizing themselves with the potential progenitor of the Maxx should make sure to look at our Turbo coverage:
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Interested?
HTC Butterfly 3 with a 2K display launching in the second half of 2015; Unnamed HTC tablet launching by Q3
A leak from yesterday gave us some details of the HTC Butterfly 3 smartphone. The revelation claimed that the smartphone would feature a 5.2 inch WQHD display, but nothing apart from that. An update from the same source mentions that the handset will in fact launch in the second half of the year and not during the MWC 2015 as originally predicted.
The same source goes onto say that HTC’s rumored tablet will launch by Q2 or Q3 of 2015. Previous reports have mentioned that this tablet would be based off the Nexus 9.
From what we know so far, the Butterfly 3 will feature a 5.2 inch Quad HD display. The rest of the specs sheet is still a mystery at this point.
The tablet on the other hand should be very identical to the Nexus 9 as far as the hardware and design are concerned. It will be interesting to see if HTC will have a new custom UI for large screened devices as we haven’t seen a tablet optimized version of the Sense UI since the HTC Flyer and the Jetstream.
Source: @upleaks – Twitter
Come comment on this article: HTC Butterfly 3 with a 2K display launching in the second half of 2015; Unnamed HTC tablet launching by Q3
Accessory of the Day: Flat and colorful MicroUSB cable, $8.30
This 8.5 inch flat cable is easy to manage and works with any MicroUSB compatible device. With fun colors to choose from, this would be a great pick-up for kids, teens, or anyone looking for a fun and easily-organized additional charging option. Grab one for just $8.30!
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Photoshop Celebrates 25th Anniversary With ‘Top 25 Under 25’ Artist Showcase [Mac Blog]
Popular image editing tool Adobe Photoshop turns 25 years old today and plans to celebrate by showcasing a collection of artists, all under 25, who use its comprehensive suite of tools in new and unique ways.
Released on February 19, 1990 with a handful of basic editing features, the software has seen massive updates and overhauls throughout the years, with over a dozen major installments to its software since its first launch.
As pointed out by Adobe, the company’s continued success in the ever-changing modern world is its “constantly evolving capabilities” that allows its software to be used for everything from coffee mug design to the artwork of a Hollywood blockbuster.
“For 25 years, Photoshop has inspired artists and designers to craft images of stunning beauty and reality-bending creativity,” said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe president and chief executive officer. “From desktop publishing, to fashion photography, movie production, website design, mobile app creation and now 3D Printing, Photoshop continues to redefine industries and creative possibilities. And today that Photoshop magic is available to millions of new users, thanks to Adobe Creative Cloud.”
Adobe launched a new TV spot for the 25th anniversary, as well, called “Dream On,” which it plans to air during The Academy Awards this Sunday. With the Hollywood production theme, the ad includes references to movies like Gone Girl, Avatar, and How To Train Your Dragon 2, and the occasions where each film used Photoshop in the process of the movie’s production.
In honor of the occasion, the company is holding a “Top 25 Under 25″ artist showcase, with hopefuls uploading their artwork to Behance and using the tag “Ps25Under25″ to submit themselves for the top spots. The winning 25 artists in the end will take over Photoshop’s Instagram, each given a two week hold over the account, to showcase their work for the world to see. The celebration starts today with artist Fredy Santiago – a 24-year-old Mexican-American artist from California – already uploading some of his work to the social network.
IFTTT launches new Do Button, Do Camera and Do Note apps, rebrands original app to simply ‘IF’
IFTTT, always the tinkerer’s dream, is making some big changes today with the launch of a new set of apps and a rebranding of its main app. The three new apps, called Do Button, Do Camera and Do Note, are meant to be specialized single-use apps — accompanied by widgets — that are simpler to set up and can tie into your favorite products and apps to perform a single action very well.
Google Updates ‘Inbox’ App With iPad Support [iOS Blog]
Google on Thursday quietly released an update for Inbox by Gmail [Direct Link] with universal support for iPad, as spotted by TechCrunch. The latest version of the app should be rolling out on the App Store in the United States and elsewhere today, transforming the previously iPhone-only software into a universal iOS app. Version 1.2 also includes an assortment of bug fixes and performance improvements.
The update arrives a few days after Google quietly removed Sparrow from the App Store on iOS and Mac to focus its efforts on Inbox by Gmail. Released on an invite-only basis last fall ahead of a wider rollout in the ensuing months, Inbox by Gmail is essentially the marriage of Gmail, Google Now and Material Design, providing Gmail users with a modern interface for effectively managing their email.
Inbox by Gmail [Direct Link] is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
How cable networks speed up shows to squeeze in more ads
If you’re still watching cable (and apparently we’re not), it turns out that channels like TBS and TNT are now speeding up syndicated programs, classics films and other shows by as much as 7 percent. The trend was noticed by Snopes and others, thanks to a user called ITClassics who compared the same episodes as aired now and years ago. A Seinfeld episode that originally ran 25 minutes was nearly 22 after the process, letting the broadcaster fit in about six extra spots. As the WSJ pointed out, ads now run an average of 15.8 minutes per hour on cable, and one unnamed cable exec said that “it’s a way to keep the revenue from going down as much as the ratings.”
As we’ve reported before, cable and premium channels are losing viewership to Netflix and other less aggravating forms of content delivery. In order to make up for the lost revenue, TNT et. al. are speeding up syndicated shows like Seinfeld and Friends in a way that’s not too noticeable, letting them fit in a few more ads per half hour. They’re also irritating classic movie lovers by speeding up titles like the Wizard of Oz and King Kong (1933), giving the big ape a less menacing growl. The stations might be squeezing out a few more bucks, but as some Redditors pointed out, they’re probably turning even more folks away from cable.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Snopes, ITClassics (YouTube)
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