Tinder takes on Snapchat with self-destructing photo feature Moments
Tinder figured out a way to make casual, location-based hookups a little less creepy. But apparently connecting you with someone 30 feet away who just happens to like the cut of your jib isn’t enough. Now the service is getting in to the so-called “ephemeral photo” game. Moments is a new feature being added to the matchmaking app for posting self-destructing photos. But this isn’t exactly a Snapchat killer. The idea is less about sharing photos of your private parts and more about letting your matches get to know you a bit better. When you view your matches you’ll see a new button allowing you to share a photo, then people either swipe left or right for “like” or “nope,” just like they do with a person’s profile photo. Plus, rather than a matter of seconds, images survive in Moments for a full 24 hours. (Oh, and you’re sending them to all your matches… not just the ones that happen to enjoy the fine art of sexting.)
The moments you share allow people to get to know you a little better, but also allow you to see who is really interested. Maybe that cute blonde that popped up on your commute one morning isn’t one for instigating conversation, but she might like every photo of your cat to express her interest. You aren’t limited to straight snapshots either. You can scribble all over your pics with the integrated drawing tools to add a bit of whimsy, add text or an Instagram-esque filter. For Tinder it’s about moving beyond just dating and becoming more of a true social network. There are additional features on deck too that are designed to ensure that Tinder isn’t viewed as just a hookup app. Though the company is being pretty guarded about the details at the moment. The update with Moments is available now if you hit your app store of choice.
Filed under: Software
Source: Tinder, TechCrunch
Canon serves up its own cloud-based image repository
We’re shooting images with DLSRs, point-and-shoots, GoPros and smartphone cameras these days, so keeping all of those snaps in one place can be a chore. Looking to help ease the workflow, Canon has introduced irista: its own cloud-based storage service for wrangling all of those photos in a similar fashion as Dropbox’s Carousel. As you might expect, the interface is driven by search and tag features alongside a customizable timeline and tiled UI. Details like lens type, location and more can be tacked on to each image for easy sorting. There aren’t any dedicated mobile apps, but you can automatically sync files with a desktop app, manually through a web interface and directly from both Facebook and Flickr libraries. In terms of space, you’ll get 10GB for free — which can fill up quickly if you’re taking a ton of photographs at larger sizes. 50GB and 100GB tiers are available too, at £4.49/€4.99 per month (£45.00/€49.00 per year) and £9.99/€10.99 per month (£99.00/€109.00 per year) respectively. In comparison with Dropbox, that’s 8GB more space before shelling out funds, but it’s 5GB less than Google Drive’s no-cost option.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Canon
Source: irista
MADFINGER Games Polishes Up Samurai II: Vengeance, and Puts it on Sale for 4th Anniversary
MADFINGER Games, the gaming developers behind the Shadowgun and Dead Trigger series, has taken a classic of theirs and polished it up for their 4th anniversary. Many of you probably spent countless hours playing Samurai II: Vengeance when it first hit back in 2011. Back then it was a big thing, especially on Tegra powered devices and the all important Xperia Play device. This week MADFINGER Games is celebrating their 4th year of creating and offering games to end users. This means it is sale time. But instead of just dropping prices on a title or two, MADFINGER opted to go one step further and enhance them too.
The polished up Samurai II: Vengeance brings in a slew of changes for Android users everywhere.
- Improved handling
- Optimized performance for lower-end devices
- More intense gameplay experience
- Deeper immersion due graphical optimization
- Cloud backup for gameplay data and achievements across multiple platforms
- New gamepads supports
- And support for the newest devices on the market
Oh, and they did put it on sale too, just for good measure. Today through Saturday June 7th, you can grab Samurai II: Vengeance for just $0.99 vs the normal $2.99 price tag. Stay tuned though, MADFINGER has plenty more in store for all the current players and future gamers out there. On June 12th there will be a big update for Shadowgun, and we assume a sale too, but we don’t know how long that one will go on for. In the 4th anniversary video below, they also mention a big update coming for Dead Trigger 2.
These updates, and I assume sales, are also hitting iOS as well. So if you have both breeds in your home, you best get to downloading.
Learn more at Madfingergames.com/anniversary
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Sainsbury’s teams up with Google to stop you wasting food
It turns out that us Brits are a wasteful bunch. Studies suggest we’re throwing out as much as £60 worth of food and drink each month when we could be putting it to better use. Instead of trying to convince you to head over to one of its stores to replenish your supplies, Sainsbury’s has teamed up with Google to create a tool that provides suggestions on how to use the food you’d otherwise be chucking out. It’s called Food Rescue, and Google plays a small but vital role in proceedings by lending the same voice-recognition tech that powers its search engine to the supermarket’s new mobile and online tool. When you visit the website, you can say (or type) what foodstuffs you have an it’ll find a range of recipes that use those ingredients. In a bid to get more people involved, the supermarket chain will record the weight of food rescued and calculate the money saved in each recipe. That information will then be added to a real-time leaderboard of top ‘rescuers’ across the UK. You say tomato, I say tomato, it’ll still work the whole thing out.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Sainsbury’s
Source: Sainsbury’s Food Rescue
Argue about the offside rule in Portuguese with Rosetta Stone’s Futebol app
We’re big fans of Football English Soccerball, but even we aren’t hardcore enough to be able to discuss the technicalities of the game in Portuguese. Thankfully, and just in time for the World Cup, Rosetta Stone (amongst others) is unveiling a Futebol Edition of its travel app, helping you to say escanteio (corner kick), un meio-campista (midfielder) and por favor, queremos saber onde fica o estádio (excuse me, we’re looking for the stadium). The app, which is available for free on iOS and Android will give you tips on navigating public transport, but since all of the data is offline, it won’t rinse your data connection as it does so. We’ve tried the app and it’s missing a few practical phrases (o árbitro é um bastardo) but otherwise it’s golden.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Apple, Google
Source: Rosetta Stone (App Store), Rosetta Stone (Google Play)
Take a sunny Street View tour of Brazil’s World Cup stadiums
If heading out to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil weighed too heavy on your wallet, Google’s latest Maps update might help you experience some of the fútbol magic from the comfort of your own home. With the tournament just days away, the search giant is kicking things off a little early by adding all 12 of Brazil’s World Cup stadiums, including the revamped Maracanã, and the vibrantly-colored boulevards that surround them to Street View. For those who managed to grab a ticket, Google’s also made sure to update its mobile app with transit data in each of the host cities, as well as indoor maps and turn-by-turn navigation (perfect for those embarking on a dream road trip). If that wasn’t enough, Maps now includes Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, letting you explore Latin America whenever the feeling takes you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Google Lat Long
Source: Google Maps
Google Hangouts Update Rolling Out Adds Individual Contact Notification Tones and More [APK Download]
It is Wednesday and what would a Wednesday be without some updates to Google apps. Before we get tot he hangouts update, you should know that the Play Store also picked up a small bump. Moving from v4.8.19 to v4.8.20. We linked the download in the original post for you guys. As for the Hangouts update, it gets a boost to v2.1.223. That is slightly up from the previous 2.1.100 update that went out nearly a month ago. Wow, time flies. In terms of version numbers, it isn’t huge, but the additions in the update are pretty important to plenty of people out there.
Probably the single great addition in this update is the ability to set up per-contact notification tones. Not just for messages, but also for calls. Having a unified message tone was one killer that I know drove me insane. Now you can set your wife to one tone and your brother to another and know who hit you up without even looking.
The update also brings in a “Hidden Contacts” list that you can access via the settings in Hangouts. If you want to hide a contact from your conversations list, long press on them and a pop up will appear that will let you hide them. Useful if your contact list is ginormous and you don’t talk to most of them.
There are a few other details in the update like keyboard indicator to switch between number pad and a full keyboard and a unified SMS block list. All good thing to finally have in an integrated messaging solution like Hangouts.
As always, the download is available for you to pick up and install at your leisure.
Google Hangouts v2.1.233 APK download
Source: Android Police
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The man behind Words with Friends is creating a VR game, partnering with Oculus
It looks like dogfighting in spaceships isn’t the only virtual reality experience being co-published by Oculus VR. The creative lead behind mobile hit Words with Friends, Paul Bettner, has a new studio, and that studio is creating a “made-only-for-VR game” named Lucky’s Tale. No, not “Luckey’s Tale,” like the last name of Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, but some other Lucky. Besides, Palmer’s already living his tale, right? Very little info about the game exists thus far; it’s a third-person platforming game, apparently, which the PR (adorably) describes as, “unconventional for a VR title.” Fact! We’re gonna check it out next week at E3 in person, but there isn’t even a single screenshot to share of the game in action.
Bettner’s new game studio, Playful Corp., is “comprised of the core team of developers that created the highly successful game Words With Friends.” Bettner and co. are no doubt using some of that Zynga money they earned back in 2010 when their last studio, Newtoy, was purchased by Zynga (thus forming “Zynga with Friends”). The Bettner pedigree beyond Words with Friends goes back far further, to Microsoft-owned Ensemble Studios, the company behind Age of Empires. Post-Ensemble, Bettner’s had a history of exploring new formats. Newtoy struck it big with mobile gaming, and his new company took a chance last year on the OUYA. Now, virtual reality.
This isn’t Oculus VR’s first publishing deal with a third-party game studio. EVE Online creators CCP are working with Oculus on EVE Valkyrie, the aforementioned dogfighting game. Unlike Valkyrie, which is also headed to Sony’s VR headset, Lucky’s Tale is supposedly “developed exclusively for the Oculus Rift platform.”
Correction: The post originally had Playful’s game as, “Lucky’s Dream,” though it’s called, “Lucky’s Tale.” Sorry about that!
Xbox One getting Twitter, Vine, and HBO Go by year’s end
There you were, using your Xbox One, thinking how much you’d like to watch a variety of six second video clips. Right? Maybe? Okay, maybe you were using your Xbox One, thinking how much you’d like to see a list of what’s trending on Twitter? Alright, let’s stop kidding ourselves: there’s a high likelihood no one is doing those things, but Microsoft is answering the non-existent call regardless and adding both services to the Xbox One. Those are just two of the 45 new apps heading to Xbox One, including the long-promised HBO Go app, Comedy Central, Watch ABC and more. Moreover, the “most popular experiences” are scheduled to launch “by the end of this holiday season.” Head below for the full, lengthy list of new apps and a video showing off Twitter integration. Spoilers: it’s pretty silly!
- Antena 3. Xbox One: ES
- ChiliTV. Xbox One: IT
- Comedy Central. Xbox One: US
- Crunchyroll. Xbox One: AU, AT, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, MX, NZ, UK, US
- ENCORE Play. Xbox One: US
- EPIX. Xbox One: US
- Filmbox Live. Xbox 360: AR, AU, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, GR, HK, HU, IN, IE, IL, IT, JP, MX, NL, NZ, NO, PL, PT, RU, SA, SG, SK, ZA, KR, ES, SE, CH, TW, TR, AE, UK, US
- Fox Play. Xbox One: MX, BR. Xbox 360: MX, BR, AR, CO, CH
- Frightflix. Xbox One: US
- FXNOW. Xbox 360: US
- Gol TV. Xbox One: ES
- GoPro. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR
- HBO GO. Xbox One: US: Xbox 360: MX, BR, AR, CO, CH
- iHeartRadio. Xbox One: US
- Infinity. Xbox One: IT
- IVI. Xbox 360: RU
- KDrama. Xbox One: AU, AT, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, MX, NZ, UK, US. Xbox 360: AR, AU, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, GR, HK, HU, IN, IE, IL, IT, MX, NL, NZ, NO, PL, PT, RU, SA, SG, SK, ZA, ES, SE, CH, TW, TR, AE, UK, US
- maxdome. Xbox One: AT, DE
- MLG. Xbox One: US, UK, CA, AU
- MOVIEPLEX Play. Xbox One: US
- MTV. Xbox One: US
- NBA. Xbox One: AT, AU, BR, CA, FR, DE, IE, IT, MX, ES, NZ, UK, US
- NHL. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR. Xbox 360: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, JP, AU, BR, NL, SE, RU, TW, PL, IN, HK, TR, BE, AT, NZ, SA, AR, NO, CH, SG, ZA, IR, DK, CO, CL, FI, CZ, HU, IL, GR, PT, SK
- Now TV. Xbox One: UK
- Picturebox. Xbox 360: UK
- Popcornflix. Xbox One: US
- ShowTime Anytime. Xbox 360: US
- Sky News. Xbox One: UK, IE, US, CA. Xbox 360: UK, IE, US, CA
- Sky Online. Xbox One: IT
- STARZ Play. Xbox One: US
- STV. Xbox 360: UK
- Syfy Now. Xbox One: US
- Target Ticket. Xbox One: US
- TuneIn. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR
- TV2. Xbox 360: DK
- Twitter. Xbox One: US
- USA Now. Xbox One: US
- VEO. Xbox One: MX. Xbox 360: MX
- Vevo. Xbox One: CA, US, AU, FR, DE, IR, BR,ES, IT, UK, NZ
- VH1. Xbox One: US
- Vine. Xbox One: US
- WATCH ABC. Xbox 360: US
- WATCH Disney Channel. Xbox 360: US
- WATCH Disney Junior. Xbox 360: US
- WATCH Disney XD. Xbox 360: US
- Watchever. Xbox One: DE
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Create your own ‘Toy Story’ sequel with free tools from Pixar
Renderman is the in-house software that Pixar uses to produce its amazing animated films, oh, and Cars. The studio charges a pretty penny to license it out to its rivals, but doesn’t feel that hobbyists and students should cough up those same fees. That’s why it’s going to give the full version of Renderman v.19 away for free when it launches at SIGGRAPH in August. Unlike other trial versions of high-end software, the company isn’t hobbling the tool, instead, it’s just trusting you to use it for non-commercial purposes only. Who knows, maybe you’ll spend the next year building up a showreel that’ll swing you a job over at Emeryville — wouldn’t that be the dream, eh?
Filed under: Software
Source: Pixar
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