Taco Bell now delivers ‘food’ to your door
When you don’t really feel like getting off the couch to make a run for the border, but you’re still thinking outside the bun, Taco Bell will now bring its fast food delicacies to you. So long as you live in certain areas, of course. The chain has teamed up with DoorDash, a company that handles food orders and deliveries, to drop off its waffle tacos and A.M. Crunchwraps at your door in select areas. Those locales include over 90 cities and more than 200 participating locations in and around LA, San Francisco and Dallas. Sorry, East Coast. DoorDash’s service allows you to order a meal through its iOS and Android apps, or on the web if you happen to be near a computer. Taco Bell says it has already been testing the delivery option and has plans to take it nationwide in the future. Of course, the restaurant isn’t the first to offer to bring you burritos and tacos, but it never hurts to have options. There’s no word on how long you’ll have to wait during the prime hours to Live Más of 12 AM to 4 AM.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Yahoo/AP
Uber wants to suggest pickup points to speed up your trip
If you use Uber, you know that there’s a delicate art to choosing pickup points: drop the pin in the wrong spot and your driver could spend ages trying to reach you. You’re about to get some useful pointers, though. TechCrunch has learned that the ridesharing company is testing “suggested pickup points” that should start your trip faster and save some frustration. The experiment doesn’t account for your destination, but it does avoid common pitfalls — it’ll ask you to go to a corner if you can’t get a ride in the middle of the block, or suggest you wait at a main road instead of a side street. There’s no word on whether or not you’ll see this feature on a regular basis, but it’s big enough that it may be more a question of “when” than “if.”
Filed under: Transportation, Internet
Source: TechCrunch
Sony launches Live Screen Streaming app for Xperia smartphones and tablets
Sony has just launched a brand new application called “Live Screen Streaming”on the Play Store, that’s exclusively available to all Xperia smartphone and tablet owners. The app does exactly what it says on the tin; it allows users to stream their screen in real-time.
Live Screen Streaming is predominantly aimed at the mobile gaming market and enables its users to broadcast their gaming sessions directly to YouTube or Twitch. Users also have the ability to save any gameplay footage to their device for uploading at a future date.
Check it out in the screenshots below:
If this sounds like an app you’d like to get your hands on and you own an Xperia smartphone or tablet, simply hit the Play Store link below to start downloading it. Alternatively, you can scan the QR code to instantly initiate the installation process.
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Google Maps for iOS can share places on Facebook
There might be a time when you quickly need to share your location on Facebook to make sure at least one person knows where you are. If that ever happens, you can just fire up Google Maps on an iPhone or an iPad, drop a pin and share your info from within the app, now that it’s been updated with the feature. The latest version’s also useful if you’re friends with someone who always seems to get lost, since it comes with the ability to share via FB’s Messenger app, as well. Plus, it brings a better Transit view to the platform with more route choices and real-time arrival info, just like the one already available on Android. Finally, you get a brand new image gallery when you update. That will make it easy to look at user-uploaded photos on Maps, which you can use to cross-reference places you’ve never visited in the past.
Filed under: Misc, Mobile, Apple, Google
Source: iTunes
Microsoft’s latest app experiment helps you get friends together
Microsoft’s Garage team has tried to solve many everyday problems with its experimental mobile software, but it’s now tackling one of the most common: how do you get your friends together for a night on the town? The group’s new Tossup app for Android and iPhone gives you a simpler, shared experience for deciding on where you’re going, when, and who’s coming. You only have to ask your friends for a vote, and Tossup will automatically plug your decisions into your calendar. Is this a one-trick pony? You bet — but that might be all you need if you don’t want to set up a Facebook event (or juggle multiple conversations) just to head out for Korean barbecue.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: App Store, Google Play
Prepare to be inundated with Happy Birthday tweets
Do you enjoy getting a truckload of birthday wishes on Facebook each year? Well, prepare for the same thing to happen via Twitter. The 140-character social network now allows you to add your birthday to your profile, letting the masses know the proper 24-hour period to ping you with a celebratory GIF. Adding that bit of info is optional, of course, and you’ll be able to configure the settings so that it only appears for the folks who you really want to be informed. And yes, you can leave out the year so the internet won’t know exactly how old you are. The new addition is said to be available “starting today,” so if you’re not seeing it now, you should be shortly.
[Image credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Twitter
Bing Maps adds trip-planning tools and easy access to reviews
If you prefer Bing Maps as your go-to navigation tool, the software’s preview version received a big redesign. Focused primarily on helping you plan trips, a load of new features aim to make it easier to search, view and share multiple destinations easily. Bing Maps Preview will pull in reviews and photos from Yelp in its search results, so you’ll have quick access to suggestions when traveling in an unfamiliar locale. When it comes to planning an evening out, for example, there’s a new card-based format to keep each stop a few taps away. For those entries, hours, useful details and similar options nearby are all included. Bing also employs predictive routing to help you determine the best time to head, showing you what traffic would be like for a specific time of day.
There’s also an Along the Route feature that displays restaurants, hotels and more on the path you’re looking to travel, serving up suggestions when you need to pull over and refuel. What’s more, you can get a closer look with updated Streetside views, save destinations to My Places for later viewing and easily share travel plans with others. The load of new tools is available through the Bing Maps Preview on the desktop now, and updates are said to be on the way to Bing Maps mobile apps.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Bing Blogs
Amazon’s Cloud Drive storage service gets dedicated mobile apps
While Amazon already offered mobile apps for sorting your photos and music parked in its Cloud Drive repository, there wasn’t an option for getting at all of your stored files. Late last week, a dedicated Cloud Drive app for iOS arrived in the iTunes App Store, joining both Android and Amazon versions that debuted in late June — all three of which rolled out rather quietly. Similar to the Dropbox app, the mobile software allows you to organize and access photos, videos, documents, spereadsheets and other files you’ve stored in Cloud Drive. As you might expect, you can also preview images (no editing abilities), PDFs and other documents from within before sharing in another app, with a link or as an email attachment. And yes, you can use the app to play videos and music stored in Amazon’s cloud, too. Until now, desktop apps for PC and Mac offered the only direct access to Cloud Drive as a whole, and mobile devices could only leverage those media-specific apps.
If you’re in need of a refresher, there’s not free tier for the service, only a 3-month trial at no cost. From there, unlimited photo storage will set you back $12 a year while $60 per year secures the Unlimited Everything plan. Of course, Prime and Fire device owners get the unlimited photo storage option for free.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Amazon
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Amazon, Google Play, iOS
Thomas’s Musical Day for Percy app free this week, courtesy of Google
Google made a promise to give us a free weekly app from the Family section of the Play Store soon after it was introduced. So far they have done great and users have been freely enjoying apps they would normally have to pay for. It may be exclusive to the Family app selection for now, but we are glad Google is at least running these promotions, which is not customary behavior from the Search Giant.
Regardless, it’s another week and the kiddos need to play something that is both entertaining and educational. This week’s free app is Thomas’s Musical Day for Percy. It normally costs $4.99, so this is no cheap giveaway!
The game revolves around Thomas trying to find great sounds to put together a musical show for Percy, who’s whistle broke. It’s more like an interactive story, which is what developer Speakaboos is all about. They mix reading, music and story-telling to help your kids improve the skills they need to advance in their education.
It’s a good app and your kids will likely find it amusing. I know I used to find this cartoon amusing when I was a kid… mostly because it was so surreal. Either way, you can go straight to the download link and install the app on your Android device or you can simply head to the Family section of the Play Store and click on the green banner that reads “Free App of the Week”.
These will continue to change every week, so make sure to sign up for your free apps as soon as possible. And stay tuned to see which application Google will be giving us next. Hopefully one day they can take this offers outside just the Family section. It would be a hit!
Toronto Transit adding e-ticket option via new TTConnect app
Just in time for the Pan Am games slated to open later this month in Toronto, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is releasing a paperless, e-ticket option so riders can use their smartphones instead of carrying around paper tickets. Two different types of passes will be available, single day passes and group day passes. Once purchased and activated, riders will be able to show their pass using a new TTConnect app that is getting ready to roll out.
TTC says e-tickets will be available for purchase using a desktop browser and visiting a special site that will be made available or by using the forthcoming TTConnect app. Users will have to create an account and can then proceed to buy passes. The passes are good for one day, but can be purchased ahead of time and not activated until a user is ready.
Once activated, users will have to show an image of the ticket on their smartphone using the TTConnect app to drivers when hopping on. TTC says drivers may ask riders to validate the purchase by tapping on the image of the pass on their device which is supposed to trigger a change in the color of the pass.
The TTConnect app will be available for both Android and iOS devices when released.
source: Toronto Transit Commission
via: MobileSyrup
Come comment on this article: Toronto Transit adding e-ticket option via new TTConnect app
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