China’s Alibaba bets $215 million on chat app Tango
Facebook has made it a pretty darn good time to be a messaging app maker — just ask Tango. It’s received $280 million in funding including $215 million from Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, which is looking to bolster its forces against competitor Tencent. That gives it a minority interest in the video chat app, which has 70 million active users and 200 million in total. Tango has also stretched out recently with a social platform SDK for other apps that makes it easier for users to invite friends, for instance. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba could go public as soon as next month and its investment means Tango could be worth as much as $2 billion. We’ll write a witty conclusion in a second, but first we’re going to go learn some coding.
Update: Alibaba led a $280 million investment round, but only bet $215 million of its own cash. The post has been updated to reflect that.
Filed under: Software
Source: Tango
Google Keyboard’s autocorrect gets better if you let it mine your data
Keyboard software updates for Android, or any other mobile device, are relatively unexciting because… well, you know, keyboards. But, if you happen to have opted for Google’s particular stock version by way of the Play Store, you’re about to get a better autocorrect experience. A new update that’s currently rolling out introduces the option for Personalized Suggestions, meaning the app can mine data from any other Google service you use to better serve your swift typing needs. Don’t worry, all that info is apparently stored locally on your phone. And it’s not like you’ll have to dig through menu options to find this particular setting, either. Google’s put it front and center so the first time you fire up the keyboard post-update, a helpful alert message will appear above the keys to make sure you know the deal. You can always turn it off, however, and return to a life less finely autocorrected. The choice is yours: one path leads to unintentional humor and the other to accuracy.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Droid-Life
Source: Google Play
Google Keyboard Updates to v3.0 with Enhancements and Personalization [APK Download]
Hey, is today Wednesday? Oh, it is. Google must be pushing out a bunch of app updates. We just picked up an update for Google Keyboard that moves it version 3.0.19373. That is a whole number improvement over the previous 2.0v. The update offers up a few little tweaks to the keyboard like an “ABC” button when you are in the Emoji tab to help make it crystal clear that that is how you get back to the regular keyboard mode. Apparently the Keyboard icon wasn’t enough. Image on the left is the new keyboard.
There is also a new settings icon when you long press on the mic key.
The big update comes in the form of Personalized Suggestions. When you first load up the new install you you are presented with a screen that tells you “Personalization is on. Touch for Info.” The info screen lets you know that the new Google Keyboard now uses data from your other Google suite of apps in help improve your suggestions and corrections. The data is supposedly store on your phone and not in the servers. This option is set to “On” by default, so if you aren’t a fan of it you will need to head into the keyboard settings to disable it.
You can kick back and wait for the update to reach your device through the Play Store if you want. It is rolling out oin the typical staged roll out fashion. If you are impatient and want to grab it now, head over to Gappsearly and pick it up.
Via Droid-Life
New Cloak app helps you hide from ‘that guy’
There are a plethora of geo-location-based apps that make it incredibly convenient to do friendly things, like chat with nearby peers about local hotspots or meet up with a coworker on the fly. A new iOS app called Cloak, however, utilizes services from Foursquare and Instagram for a more anti-social purpose. The brainchild of Brian Moore and former Buzzfeed director creative director Chris Baker, Cloak identifies the location of friends (read: those you’d rather not bump into) based upon their latest check-in. While perusing the map, you can choose to “flag” certain undesirables, like exes or annoying third-wheels, to be notified when they wander within a preset distance of your personal bubble. Or you could, ya know, skip town altogether just to be safe.
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: The Washington Post, Cloak
Flappy Bird’s coming back, but you probably don’t care
This is the digital age of ADD, people, so let’s be real about one thing: most of you probably don’t care about the disappearance of Flappy Bird anymore, nor the fact that it’s coming back. But for those of you that do still wish to tap that bird’s flapping wings once more past Nintendo-ish green pipes, there’s a ray of light ahead. Turns out, creator Dong Nguyen wants to see his mobile game return to the iOS and Android platforms that sent buckets of cash and internet vitriol his quiet way. Nguyen tweeted the news out, but didn’t indicate when Flappy Bird would return as a downloadable free-to-play game on the App Store, saying only that it wouldn’t be soon. Which is even more reason to believe that when it does comeback for a second act, most of you will have moved on to some other fad or meme, or dogecoin-branded dating sim. The Horror!
[Image credit: Getty]
@painfullpacman Yes. But not soon.
– Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) March 19, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Software, Mobile
Via: Yahoo
Android 4.4 Update Rolling Out for Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Z1 & Z1 Compact
I knew an update for some Sony Xperia devices couldn’t be to far off. This morning Sony announced that the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact will all be getting Android 4.4. Check out some of the details that you can expect in the release beyond the obvious 4.4 KitKat OS :
- Google’s Android 4.4; KitKat as standard – bringing performance & UI optimisation…
- We’ve added our tweaked Status Bar and Quick Settings… now more intuitive and customisable (and pretty easy on the eye)… cleaned up to ensure you only get the notifications you really need
- If you’ve got a Sony PlayStation 4, you might recognize our new user interface – we’ve added the same sleek launch animation and livewallpaper across the lock and home screens
- We’re also uplifting Sony’s entire native app portfolio to the latest versions – bringing tweaked / improved / current experiences for (to name but a few): Messaging, MyXperia, Smart Connect, Small apps, TrackID, TrackID TV, Sony Select, Smart Social Camera and…
- Sony’s Media apps: WALKMAN, Album and Movies, with Sony Entertainment Network cloud service integration* – a more converged and full Sony entertainment experience – Sony Entertainment Network & PlayMemories integration with a more intuitive UI, better download speeds, and more!
- Our unique custom interface experience: “Xperia Themes”, with downloadable UI packs from Sony Select – skin up to 280 assets across your Xperia smartphone with a variety of styles, and more to follow soon…
The update is available, but time and availability per market and carriers will be the deciding factor on when you actually see it become available.
Source: Sony Mobile
Using the PlayStation 4’s virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus (update: now with video!)
The cat’s out of the bag and … uh, on our head? Okay, we can do better than that, but what we’re trying to say is that we just used Sony’s new Playstation 4 virtual reality headset: Project Morpheus. You already know the specs and all that good stuff, we’re here to tell you what it’s like using the still-in-prototype-form virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4. Good news: it’s pretty great! Surprise!
Join us below for a closer look.
Project Morpheus, right now, is a little uncomfortable. In so many words, it feels like a prototype still. As a demo man fit the headset on my generously-sized noggin, he tightened a variety of different adjustments: one that tightened the whole unit on my head, another that brought the display portion forward toward my eyes. When you initially put it on, there’s a gap between where you’re looking and below — certainly not a great way to create immersion. Thankfully, that gap closed easily in the two different demos we tried (“The Deep” and “The Castle” — both of which were more tech demo than game).
I’d love to say it was a sweat-free experience; between gesticulating with PlayStation Move controllers as hands and being surrounded by hundreds of GDC attendees waiting for their chance to try Morpheus, I was relatively moist by the time I’d cut up the dummy model in The Castle with a virtual sword. While uncomfortable, I can get over that — the issue is that it makes the optics fog up and that’s no good at all. Part of the unit’s design is based around keeping players cool, so you should expect a better experience as Morpheus goes from prototype to reality.
So, games! What’s it like using Morpheus to play games? It’s pretty neat! Well, that’s to say, “It’s a lot like playing games in the Oculus Rift headset, especially the newer versions of the Rift.” In The Deep, I took a trip to the bottom of the ocean in a metal cage; when I bent down, my in-game knees bent (as tracked by the PlayStation Camera). When I looked up, my perspective turned skyward and the lamp mounted to my virtual head followed (the lighting was perhaps the most impressive part, with cage bars occluding properly and all).
In The Castle, I picked up two PlayStation Move controllers to act as hands, which enabled me to bend over, pick up a sword and take a dummy down a few notches. If I moved back a few steps, my in-game avatar moved back a few steps. One major change in Morpheus compared with other VR headsets is full-body tracking, which does legitimately add to the immersion effect.
It’s not all virtual reality rainbows and dreams, of course. There are still some pretty major issues to overcome in Project Morpheus. Vision blur, for instance, is a much bigger problem on Morpheus than on Crystal Cove/Rift DK2. The screen resolution is also clearly not as high as DK2, making everything a bit muddier, visually speaking. Right now, well ahead of launch (Sony’s not even talking about what the final product will be just yet, nonetheless giving it a launch window), Project Morpheus is both extremely promising and clearly not ready for primetime. But it’s close!
To put it frankly, we’re extremely excited to see what the next few years means for the entire medium of VR, not to mention the efforts of major players like Sony, Valve and Oculus. Morpheus is the second major entry in the field, and, well, that’s really thrilling! In case it weren’t already clear, this is the week that virtual reality officially goes big.
Burger King gets appy with new mobile payment product
Burger King, the perennial Pepsi to McDonald’s Coke, is technologizing with a mobile app. But before you get out the pitchforks and cry “diabetes! laziness! obesity!,” it’s important we mention that this app, set to launch in limited locations next month with a nationwide rollout shortly after, is not like Seamless. That is, you can’t order Burger King for delivery — not yet, anyway.
As Bloomberg reports, this Burger King mobile app comes by way of Tillster, a company dedicated to facilitating digital ordering for big name fast food clients like KFC, Subway and Pizza Hut. The app’s more a virtual wallet than anything at this point, letting users pay for orders by adding funds to a virtual card. Although, the company has stated there’s potential for new features to be added at a later date, like placing an order for pick-up (yes, really). As a mobile payment option, the BK app’s not all that compelling of an idea, until you factor in the accessible nutritional information and coupon offers for discounted meals and items. You know, a little incentive for the young’uns that eat Burger King; a little something to make that value menu even cheaper, if that’s even possible.
[Image credit: Getty]
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Source: Bloomberg
Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 now available by subscription for $19, headed to OS X and more
Unreal Engine 3 set the standard for games last generation, powering breakout franchises like Gears of War and Mass Effect. We don’t know if Unreal Engine 4 will have the same impact, but today’s move by Epic Games to massively democratize this game engine is certainly a step in the right direction. Today, Unreal Engine 4 is going subscription: For $19/month you get, “access to everything, including the Unreal Editor in ready-to-run form, and the engine’s complete C++ source code hosted on GitHub for collaborative development.” That’s according to Epic Games head Tim Sweeney, who spoke at a GDC event this morning. Any game published commercially must also pay 5 percent of gross profit to Epic (which could get lucrative very quickly for Epic). It’s a move aimed directly at the evolving world of contemporary game development, where indie hit-makers like Jonathan Blow take the stage at Sony’s PlayStation 4 unveiling in place of triple-A studios. We were shown a simple Flappy Bird clone for iOS, for instance, as an example of the flexibility of UE4 (the demon lord seen above is an example of the other end of the engine).
Beyond the subscription service and full access to the source code (which is a big move unto itself), Unreal Engine 4 is getting OS X support. There’s also evidence in the source code that Epic’s working on Oculus Rift, Linux, Steam Machines and HTML5 support. But we already kinda knew all that, right? So we asked Tim Sweeney for a deeper dive into today’s news and what it means for Epic Games as both a game engine maker and a game studio. Head below for the full video!
KitKat now rolling out to Sony’s Xperia Z Ultra, Z1 and Z1 Compact
An Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Xperia Z Ultra, Z1 and Z1 Compact is rolling out as of today, Sony’s announced. In addition to what the newer OS version itself brings, Sony’s folded in some tweaks of its own, like a reworked status bar and quick-settings menu, a couple of PS4-inspired UI elements and updated forms of Sony’s stock and media apps. While KitKat might be ready for this trio of devices, remember that availability depends on where you live and what carrier your handset may be bound to, so don’t bet on a notification popping up this very afternoon. Sony confirmed back in November that the Xperia Z, ZL, ZR and Tablet Z, too, were eligible for a KitKat update, but they’ll have to wait until at least “mid-Q2″ for their snacks. In better news, the Xperia T2 Ultra, E1 and M2 have been added to that exclusive list, though we can’t give you even vague timelines for when these updates might be available just yet.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Sony
Via: Android Central
Source: Sony
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