Facebook is continuing to fine-tune and adapt its Messenger mobile apps (iOS/Android), today pushing live updates which include a potentially disruptive feature: voice messages. The iOS and Android Messenger apps (which will be available later today) have been outfitted with a new option alongside the photo and camera buttons, offering a ‘Record’ toggle that can be pushed and held to record voice messages. (via Facebook launches voice in iOS and Android Messenger apps, tests VoIP calling in Canada - The Next Web)
I’m gonna spam you all with the most annoying voice messages.
Now that about 45 percent of adults in the United States own smartphones, citizens are constantly equipped with an Internet connection, GPS functionality and a digital camera. Governments are taking advantage of that fact by using apps to ease the burden of providing services to residents.Turns out government can be kinda cool sometimes! Check out the infographic here.
Ever use an app created by a federal, state or local government?
If you haven’t seen it yet, the new iOS news app Circa is really cool — incremental news for those of you using your phones and stuff — but it’s missing something: Numbers and blurbs. As an experiment for kicks, here’s what that would look like.
Creator of “Girls Around Me” app defends itself: In case you haven’t heard about it, the iOS app tracks where women have recently checked in on Foursquare or Facebook — well, until recently, when Foursquare took away the app’s API access as it received bad press due to allegations it encouraged stalking. The creator of the app, i-Free Innovations, defended its work: ”It is impossible to search for a particular person in this app, or track his/her location. The app just allows the user to browse the venues nearby, as if you passed by and looked in the window.” The Russian firm says that the app has been downloaded 70,000 times since December. What do you think? Creepy or overblown?
Speaking to Jim Kent, one of the Luxembourg-based programmers behind the app, he told The Next Web about the inspiration behind creating the app: We created this free app because we love to communicate and we believe in freedom of expression. We had already been working on an app, called Zapon, that is able to identify interests that were trending in the mobile environment but after tracking social media usage by protesters in the Arab Spring and more recently with #OWS, we realised the functionality was perfect for protests and dedicated the app for the mobilisation of protesters around the world. Within 1 day of launching, the app gained over 2,000 registered users from around the world. Protests were created in Greece and the US, and a campaign was launching calling for the release of Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who was sentenced to 15 days in military prison, pending investigation. (via Protest4: A mobile app for connecting activists - The Next Web)
Really cool idea — and one that’s always needed a centralized approach. Not bad.
We’re releasing it now because it’s done.Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor • Explaining why the company is finally releasing their iPad app now, a full year and a half after the release of the iPad, and (reportedly) months after the developer finally completed it. (He quit and the app got leaked months ago.) Anyway … the Facebook app just hit the App Store. We just installed it ourselves. Check it out!
That’s why it’s only natural that today’s more tech-savvy educators are recognising the potential of using games as a teaching device in their classrooms.Ntombezinhle Modiselle, a South African teacher • Defending the use of technology in the classroom. This teacher is trying to recognize the fact that “today’s learners are the gamer generation.” We kinda think that the Atlanta teacher using “Angry Birds” to teach velocity and acceleration might be taking it a little far, though. What’s next, urban planning through “SimCity”? (OK, OK, you’re right, that’s actually a good idea) World War II history through “Call of Duty”? Statistics through one of the “Final Fantasy” games? source (via • follow)
Apple just killed so many startups/apps.
Even though we’re not Chinese, we’re doing our part by throwing up a link to it. The app, which features information about China, news, video and other things which are probably full of propaganda, is available from the App Store. Hopefully they’ll notice we did their bidding and consider a diplomatic treaty with the site. (via The Next Web)
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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Developers have told us that they’d like more guidance from us about the best opportunities to build on Twitter. More specifically, developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no.Twitter platform team leader Ryan Sarver • Revealing that the company, which built itself on the back of third-party clients, will no longer allow new ones to crop up. However, the ones there can still operate – well, that is, as long as they uphold high standards set by the company. Hear that? That’s the chirp of a bird that got really arrogant after it learned how to fly. We’re sorry – third-party clients basically built this platform and for Twitter to change the game now seems completely uncool. source (via • follow)
So, look, the idea sounds cool. And we admit to be looking forward to checking it out. But at the same time, we totally understand why some developers might be freaking out. If the app store is successful at changing the behavior of Apple’s biggest die-hards, it could turn consumers used to spending $20-30 on a program into people who routinely complain that an app costs more than $2. But if this thing is a hit, just think of the scale it could have! So, as you browse through the 1,000+ apps on the store today, keep that in mind before you go too crazy. source
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