Sometimes timing creeps up on you and you have to move things back. It’s an ugly reality for hardware creators, but it happens. Today, Oculus announced that its Touch controllers will be shipping in the second half of 2016 instead of immediately with the Rift, which is still coming in Q1 2016 with preorders coming “soon.” Oculus founder Palmer Luckey tweeted a link to a blog… Read More
Sometimes timing creeps up on you and you have to move things back. It’s an ugly reality for hardware creators, but it happens. Today, Oculus announced that its Touch controllers will be shipping in the second half of 2016 instead of immediately with the Rift, which is still coming in Q1 2016 with preorders coming “soon.” Oculus founder Palmer Luckey tweeted a link to a blog… Read More
All of the chatter about virtual reality shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Over the years, we’ve been forcing our way to get closer and closer to content of all types. For example, before anyone ever sat to watch a movie we’d hang out at a playhouse to watch a live show. The people who actually enjoyed sitting in the back were few and far between. They were probably there… Read More
There’s a funny Facebook glitch telling people they’ve been friends on Facebook for 46 years, even though Facebook has only been around since 2004. My good friend, who hasn’t even been alive for 46 years, sent the following screenshot to me: She texted me, “46 years ago?!?! Fb you crazy! Trying to make me feel old, they are succeeding.” Anyway, this appears to be… Read More
Free Basics, a Facebook program that gives free access to certain Internet services, has been shut down in Egypt. The news comes the week after India’s telecom regulator ordered the suspension of Free Basics as it prepares to hold public hearings on net neutrality. Read More
Despite rebranding its free Internet.org ‘walled garden’ of apps plan in India under the new name of “Free Basics,” Facebook remains in direct violation of an open internet. Facebook’s first attempt with Indian carrier Airtel was rolled-back soon after its release in April thanks to huge public outrage on social media, ironically. Read More
During all of Twitter’s changes this year, one move stuck out as quite significant…its Chief Communications Officer Gabriel Stricker announced that he was leaving the company. A “shift in strategy” is the way the story went. Before Twitter, Stricker held down the role of “Director of Global Communications & Public Affairs” at Google. We’ve… Read More
Twitter has hired Jeffrey Siminoff to replace Janet Van Huysse as the company’s new vice president of diversity and inclusion. The news was announced on, yep, Twitter, by its head of human resources, Brian Schipper. Siminoff, who starts in January, seems like a great fit for this role. He’s joining Twitter from Apple, where he was the director of worldwide inclusion and… Read More
More consumers were unwrapping new “phablet” devices this holiday season, according to a report out this afternoon from Flurry. The big-screened form factor, whose name is a mashup of “phone” and “tablet,” accounted for 27 percent of a new device activations in the week leading up to Christmas – a doubling of its share from the year prior, and up from… Read More
The subject of contention is Free Basics, Facebook and Internet.org‘s app that offers free data access but only to a limited section of the Internet. Free Basics is available in roughly 35 countries through Facebook’s partnerships with mobile carriers who see it as a way to persuade people to buy data plans. But Facebook’s control over the technical guidelines for what… Read More
A good handful of apps have emerged to expand the capabilities of Live Photos introduced in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, including a tool to turn Live Photos into GIFs, a Live Photo editor called Alive and another app known as Lively. A fourth option from an indie student developer is Live Studio which – though a slightly less-polished app overall – offers a few unique tricks… Read More
Remember when kids just peered out at the stars, trying to spot the lights of Santa’s sleigh (or Rudolph’s shiny nose)? Well, those days are long gone. Santa tracking once again has received its annual digital upgrade. Today, Microsoft and NORAD begin tracking Santa along with Google, on its own just-launched Santa Tracker website. Google’s site this year offers a… Read More
On the day before Christmas, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey took to Twitter to amp folks up about what’s to come sometime in Q1 next year, the consumer version of the Rift. There are tons of questions around the product itself including guesses on how Oculus will actually execute the distribution of the Rift. The original founder of the company has continued to support the original mission… Read More
Free Basics, a service by Facebook initiative Internet.org, is having a rough week in India. First, an email campaign by the social media network was criticized for being heavy-handed and misleading. Now the Times of India reports that Reliance Communications, one of Facebook’s partners, has agreed to temporarily halt Free Basics on its network after receiving a request from the… Read More
One of the most asked questions about the Oculus Rift is “when are we getting them?” and the founder of the company continues to update those who are waiting patiently. According to a series of tweets from Palmer Luckey, the Rift is on-target to ship in Q1. @PalmerLuckey Preorders are coming soon after new year. Enjoy a stress-free holiday, we won't launch preorders… Read More
One of the most asked questions about the Oculus Rift is “when are we getting them?” and the founder of the company continues to update those who are waiting patiently. According to a series of tweets from Palmer Luckey, the Rift is on-target to ship in Q1. @PalmerLuckey Preorders are coming soon after new year. Enjoy a stress-free holiday, we won't launch preorders… Read More
It seems like 2015 was the year of the “emoji.” I mean, a damn emoji was the “word of the year.” This year is ending with a massive bang on the App Store thanks to Kim Kardashian and her…assets. Fire up the App Store on your devices and here’s what you’ll see for the top paid app: The app, KIMOJI, costs $1.99. What do you get? Well, emojis having to… Read More
There are a number of holiday app sales now running as mobile developers slash prices in hopes of reaching potential customers who will soon be unwrapping smartphones for Christmas. But one of the better promotions, starting today, is called “App Santa” and involves a group of indie developers behind some of the most popular applications on the iOS and Mac App Stores. The group,… Read More
Right before the holidays, Instagram snuck in an update for its most second-most popular spun-out app, Boomerang. The app currently sits in the top 250 on the App Store’s free apps. The changes, although subtle, will probably make its users super happy. The premise of the app is to make little clipped-together videos, similar to an animated GIF or an Apple Live Photo. It feeds into… Read More
Google confirmed this morning it’s now testing a new way to sign into your Google account without having to type in a password. Instead, those who have been invited to try this new method of logging in authenticate by responding to a notification sent to their smartphone. The idea is similar to Yahoo’s recently launched “Account Key,” which also offers a… Read More
We’ve gotten a fair bit of play out of Google’s latest $35 Chromecast leading up to the holidays. The games are pretty fun, and you can’t beat it for the price. In time for said holidays, a few more games are being shoved out to keep your family yelling at the screen. Angry Birds Friends and Driver Speedboat Paradise are two of the titles, created just for Chromecast,… Read More
We’ve gotten a fair bit of play out of Google’s latest $35 Chromecast leading up to the holidays. The games are pretty fun, and you can’t beat it for the price. In time for said holidays, a few more games are being shoved out to keep your family yelling at the screen. Angry Birds Friends and Driver Speedboat Paradise are two of the titles, created just for Chromecast,… Read More
Google is bringing its Spotlight Stories – immersive, 360-degree animated videos meant to introduce a new form of storytelling – to YouTube, the company announced this morning. The first story to arrive is a holiday film called “Special Delivery,” from Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations. This movie will now be viewable on the YouTube app on many Android… Read More
Apple has submitted a formal statement to the bill committee working on a new complex and controversial surveillance law in the U.K., The Guardian reports. The submission was just released, and Apple is staying on course when it comes to privacy, saying that government backdoors could be used by anyone and weaken the security of hundreds of millions of devices. Read More
Google and Ford are planning to develop and build self-driving vehicles together in a joint venture and will announce the deal at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, says a report in Yahoo Autos. The partnership would represent a major collaboration between two of the biggest names in the tech and automotive industries. Read More
