Tinder's Swipe the Vote gives users political 'match' in US presidential campaign

WASHINGTON DC - Tinder made a name for itself by getting users to "swipe" right or left to find a date. Now it wants to use that idea in the US presidential campaign.

The mobile dating app on Wednesday launched a feature called "Swipe the Vote" that allows users to respond to questions and find a political "match."

Questions include "Keep same-sex marriage legal?" and "Drill for oil and gas in the US?" and users are asked to swipe right or left depending on their answer.

The feature, developed with the nonprofit group Rock the Vote, aims to boost political engagement among young Americans and help them learn more about key issues. Those who want more information can tap on a question and see the details.

"Once you've swiped through ten of the hottest issues, you'll be matched with the candidate who best matches your views," Tinder said on its blog.

"We'll also show you how you compare with other candidates, too! From there, you can share who you matched with on social and -- most importantly -- easily register to vote with Rock the Vote."

The launch comes as some grassroots political activists, notably young women, are reportedly using Tinder to send messages to their matches promoting candidates such as Democrat Bernie Sanders or Republican Marco Rubio, who has now suspended his campaign.

"We've been amazed by the amount of users expressing their political views with matches during this presidential campaign," Tinder said on its blog.

"That's why we decided to build Swipe the Vote."

source: interaksyon.com

APP SOUND | Music handpan opens limitless possibilities, say creators

A small handpan that offers a wide range of musical possibilities to users has been devised by Barcelona-based performers. Reuters’ Jim Drury reports.

This is the Oval, an electronic handpan developed by these Barcelona-based researchers. The digital percussion instrument has just eight notes, but connected to an App via smartphone or tablet it allows professional musicians and beginners to create a wide array of sonic styles.

“The Oval is a digital interface that controls music. It has eight pads sensitive to pressure at multiple points. We can do an XY track as if it was a touch screen so that we can identify different moves of a finger and identify patterns. Not only intensity, but also where you press and how you move your fingers across the pad. That makes the sound that comes out of it more expressive as it gives the sound different layers of samples. So the final sounds will depend on where you place your fingers and how you move them on the Oval,” OVAL Co-creator Alex Posada saying.

It has a comparable shape to other handpan instruments and is played in a similar way, but co-creator David Goldschmidt says the app connection makes it superior.

“It’s not an acoustical sound that you can get with a metal instrument. But, it brings you to a different level. It has a much, much, much bigger variety of sounds and diversity of things you can do. It’s a new path in the music world,” OVAL creator David Goldschmidt saying.

Its open source hardware controller allows users free creative rein.

“The app needs the instrument and the instrument needs the app. The complete Oval is composed by the control interface – the physical part – and the app. The two together make the global instrument. Through the control instrument you can express what you want and the sound is created through the app. The sound does not come from the instrument itself, it comes from the phone. So you connect to a sound system through headphones or a cable and then you are able to intensify it and listen to what you are creating,” Posada saying.

Crowdfunding pledgers can buy an Oval for 399 euros, two thirds of its eventual retail price. The ongoing campaign raised 100,000 euros in its first three days… music to the ears of its creators.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft to buy German start-up behind Wunderlist app — report

FRANKFURT, Germany — Microsoft has agreed to acquire 6Wunderkinder GmbH, a Berlin-based startup behind the Wunderlist to-do list app, for between $100-200 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Quoting a person familiar with the deal, the daily said the purchase was part of Microsoft’s drive to enhance its line of mobile apps.

In March, Microsoft acquired the Californian start-up LiveLoop and its app which allows multiple users to collaborate on PowerPoint presentations simultaneously.

6Wunderkinder was not immediately available to comment on Tuesday.

Created in 2010, Wunderlist allows users to create lists to manage tasks on many devices, mobile as well as desktop.

source: interaksyon.com

SoftBank invests $250 million in Southeast Asian taxi-hailing app GrabTaxi

SINGAPORE — Japanese telecoms firm SoftBank Corp has pumped in $250 million to become the top investor in Southeast Asian mobile taxi-booking application GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd, its biggest investment in a Southeast Asian Internet firm.

GrabTaxi, which allows customers to order cabs closest to their location by mobile phone, operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. In a statement, the two companies said the funding will be used to accelerate the app’s expansion in the region.

The investment in GrabTaxi comes about a month after SoftBank and its billionaire CEO and founder Masayoshi Son announced a $627 million funding into online marketplace Snapdeal as part of a plan to put $10 billion into India’s booming online retail market.

SoftBank also said in October it will lead a $210 million investment round with existing investors in India’s ANI Technologies, which owns a mobile application for taxi bookings.

The Japanese firm is the largest investor in recently listed Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Including the SoftBank investment, GrabTaxi has raised $340 million in funding. The statement did not specify how much of GrabTaxi SoftBank will own.

Other investors in GrabTaxi, which was developed by two Harvard Business School graduates and launched in Malaysia in 2012 as MyTeksi, include a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] and U.S. investor Tiger Global Management. The app competes with Rocket Internet’s Easy Taxi as well as Uber’s better known app.

Taxi-hailing apps have become popular in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, one of the most expensive places in the world to own a private car.

Finding a cab during peak hours and during frequent tropical downpours can be difficult in the city-state, which last month said it planned to start regulating third-party taxi booking services for the first time.

Heavy traffic in cities such as Manila and Jakarta also makes finding taxis tough.

Those troubles are benefitting apps such as GrabTaxi. Over the past year, the number of users of the mobile app has jumped six-fold to about half a million and taxi drivers in its network have grown four-fold to 60,000, according to the company.

source: interaksyon.com

Smartphone app helps non-Arabic speaking Muslims read the Qur’an

A smartphone application translates the Qur’an (Koran) from Arabic to Bahasa Indonesia by scanning through codes at the bottom of each line, a technology that aims to encourage a younger generation of non-Arabic speakers to become more familiar with Islam’s holy book. Reuters Jim Drury has more.


It’s the Islamic month of Ramadan and millions of Muslims are spending their time in prayer and reflection. But in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Islamic nation – some Muslims struggle to read in Arabic.

So inventor Syarief Niskala created this smart phone app that allows non-Arabic speaking Muslims to read the Koran.

“We don’t need to translate, nor go to the library. We can learn anywhere from a gadget that we carry everywhere. As I learned from the research, the gadget that is closest to us is a smart phone….Based on that I invented this application for smart phones which we always have close, so can always be read and heard.” ‘Smartquran’ application inventer Syarief Niskala said in Bahasa.

The app is used in conjunction with a specially printed Qur’an, costing 17 dollars, that contains a series of QR codes. Once registered, users scan their phone over codes positioned on each page. Bahasa Indonesia translations appear in seconds.

Commentary from Qur’an experts and verse-by-verse histories are also offered. Perhaps predictably, opinion was split along age lines in this Jakarta mosque.

“There are comments on the verses and translations too, all features that make it easy for us to learn and understand,” Worshipper Riska Suci Utari said in Bahasa

“Although our era is now advanced technologically, older people like me who cannot understand how to use these applications and gadgets, find it easier to read or recite with a real Koran,” worshipper Fadli said also in Bahasa.

But with millions of smart phone users in Indonesia, Niskala believes his app can help a new generation of Muslims stay in touch with their religion.

source: interaksyon.com

Single-message app ‘Yo’ is what’s up with investors

SAN FRANCISCO — A messaging app that allows users to send the word “Yo” to friends has discovered newfound fame and fortune.

San Francisco-based startup Yo, which got its start in Tel Aviv and moved to California after becoming a hit in Israel, boasted new backers on Friday as reports estimated its value as high as $10 million.

Yo raised $1.5 million in an initial round of funding that included backing from Betaworks and Mashable founder Pete Cashmore, according to co-founder and chief executive Or Arbel.

“The value of this round goes far beyond the dollar amount that we received,” Arbel said in a release.

“Bringing such incredibly smart, talented, and experienced people into the Yo team at this stage is an incredible advantage that will allow us to accelerate the growth and provide more and better value to our users.”

Betaworks explained in an online post that it was pumping cash into Yo due, in part, to a fascination with the potential of simple tools for single word smartphone notifications such as “yes” or “no.”

The Yo app has been woven into communications at Betaworks, according to founder and chief executive John Borthwick.

“We Yo with co-workers alerting them that a meeting is starting; I Yo with my wife as a ‘hi’ during a busy day,” Borthwick said in an online post announcing the investment.

“I Yo with friends, without any more expectation or need than a Yo back.”

US media reports indicated that backers included founders of China-based Tencent, but Yo did not disclose the entire list of investors.

The app lets users say “Yo” to their friends, sending them a text notification accompanied by a recorded voice shouting the greeting. Arbel has insisted the deceptively simple app has a lot of potential.

“People think it’s just an app that says ‘Yo.’ But it’s really not,” Arbel told The New York Times.

“We like to call it context-based messaging. You understand by the context what is being said.”

Convinced his app has big prospects in line, he left his job as chief technology officer of stock trading platform Stox, which he helped launch last year, and moved from Tel Aviv to San Francisco to focus on Yo.

Arbel said the app could allow newspapers and blogs to notify subscribers that a new article has been published or posted, using a Yo.

Yo took advantage of World Cup frenzy by letting users sign up to get Yo notifications when goals were scored.

Reviews on Apple’s App Store were positive, but some veered into sarcasm.

“Yo cured my cancer! Yo ended world hunger, Yo also helped me find the women of my dreams because when I yo’d her for the first time she asked me if I wanted to mate and produce spawns, yo is the reason I live and the reason I wake up in the morning,” read a review featured along with a description at the App Store on Friday.

Applications available free for iOS or Android powered devices have reportedly been downloaded more than two million times and is used to fire off “yo” a similar number of times daily.

“Yo has been pushing forward at a rapid pace, focusing both on user acquisition and developing an API for businesses, brands, and other apps,” Arbel said.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple allows ‘approved’ virtual currencies in Apps

Apple Inc will let software developers include virtual-currency transactions in their applications, paving the way for new forms of money to appear on iPhones and iPads.

“Apps may facilitate transmission of approved virtual currencies provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions,” Apple said in an update to its App Store review guidelines. (r.reuters.com/rys79v)

Apple did not provide details on the approved virtual currencies.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet did not immediately respond to an email seeking more information.

Virtual currencies are not backed by any government or central bank and are bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control.

Several U.S. state regulators are looking to toughen rules on the use of the controversial cryptocurrency and have over the last few months warned investors to consider the risks associated with virtual currencies before trading in them.

Last week, satellite TV operator Dish Network said it would accept bitcoin payments from customers from the third quarter, joining companies such as Overstock.com Inc and Zynga Inc in accepting the digital currency.

source: interaksyon.com

New app sheds virtual weight so faces look slimmer on ‘selfies’

TORONTO — A new app that lets users shed virtual weight so their faces look skinnier on “selfie” photos is raising concerns about health and body-image issues.

SkinneePix, for iPhone and Android devices, can trim from five to 15 pounds (2-6 kg) of virtual fat for a slimmer selfie look.



“Cameras add additional weight to photos and when you’re taking a selfie you’re also dealing with bad lighting, angles, close-ups and a lot of other factors that make people complain that the photo isn’t an accurate representation of themselves,” said Susan Green, co-founder of the Phoenix-based company Pretty Smart Women that created the app.

It was originally designed to help overweight adults show a leaner version of themselves, but Robin J Phillips, the other co-founder, said the app has also motivated people to lose weight.

“It’s a good reminder to get off the couch, turn the TV off, and go for a walk,” she said.

But some critics fear the $1.99 app, which only works on single head shots, could encourage an unhealthy body image.

Lauren Dickson, a social worker in the eating disorders and addiction clinic at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said the app is one of many factors that could contribute towards a young adult developing an eating disorder.

“The media obviously has some effect on people developing eating disorders, but it’s not the only variable. It’s one of many factors,” she said in an interview.

“The majority of young girls wouldn’t develop an eating disorder because of an app like this, but some might be more vulnerable and it could contribute,” Dickson added.

Green said the virtual weight loss in the app is capped at 15 pounds and the app focuses only on the face and not the entire body.

“We definitely understand that people can have body image problems and we’re not trying to contribute to that in any way,” she said.

“I think if someone who is very thin uses it and goes straight for 15 (pounds), then that’s probably not the best thing, but they could also do that in Photoshop,” Green added.

Other apps can also add or remove weight, including one called FatBooth.

source: interaksyon.com

Hearing-aid apps pump up the volume, double as headphones

TORONTO — New smartphone apps that link to hearing aids are helping people with impaired hearing to pump up the volume on their devices or to use them as headphones to stream phone calls, YouTube videos and music.

About 36 million American adults have some hearing loss, according to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. But only a fifth of people who could benefit from a hearing aid wear one.

“People will always need really good hearing aids, but moving forward, what will differentiate competitors will be connectivity (to smartphones), and it will need apps,” Lars Viksmoen, chief executive of GN ReSound, a maker of hearing aids based in Denmark, said in a telephone interview.

The company’s new, free app, ReSound Smart for the iPhone, turns hearing aids into headphones and allows users to remotely configure settings on their aids – such as volume, treble and bass. It also remembers particular settings for different venues.

“Let’s say you’re in a place you go to all the time, such as a coffee shop. You can make an adjustment and then it will geotag your location, so the next time you walk in, it will remember your settings,” said Laurel Christensen, the company’s chief audiology officer.

In noisy locations, a selection on the app can convert the iPhone into a microphone, streaming conversation into the hearing aids for better clarity. It also helps people find their aids, if they misplace them.

“As you walk around your house, the signal bars get stronger as you get closer to them, and it’s like a game of hot and cold,” Christensen said.

The company produces hearing aids, called ReSound LiNX, that cost around $6000 for a pair and can be used with or without an iPhone.

“I think we’re going to see an explosion in this area because of baby boomers. They’re into technology and they want to be connected,” she said.

Other apps connect hearing aids to smartphones through an intermediary device, including miniTek Remote App for Android which links to Siemens’ line of hearing aids via a streamer.

Steve Aiken, associate professor of audiology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, said the apps were beneficial as they link hearing aids to other technology already integrated into people’s lives.

Still, there are some risks, he said.

“One is that people could damage their hearing further if they adjust the settings incorrectly. And the other is that they miss out on the benefits if they’re not configured properly because it takes people’s brains a while to acclimatize to sounds they haven’t heard in a long time,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Candy Crush, Vine, Snapchat among top smartphone apps of 2013

TORONTO — Snapchat, Vine, and Candy Crush Saga earned coveted spots on smartphones this year, making them among the most downloaded apps of the year.

There are more than a million apps on Apple Inc’s App Store and Google Inc’s Play store, the two dominant marketplaces for apps, which see billions of downloads each year.

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This year, the most downloaded apps were new takes on communication, gaming, and entertainment, according to mobile app experts.

“2013 was a really interesting year in terms of maturation, milestones and new trends,” said Craig Palli, chief strategy officer at Fiksu, a mobile marketing company based in Boston.

“The most downloaded apps were in familiar categories, but offered new twists,” he added.

While old favorites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter — available for iPhone, Android and other devices – continued to be popular ways of communicating with friends, Snapchat eclipsed them in downloads in 2013, becoming the sixth most downloaded free app of the year on the App Store, according to Apple.

“Snapchat went from being a niche app to achieving much more critical mass, so much so that Facebook was reportedly willing to spend billions of dollars to acquire the company,” said Palli.

With Snapchat, users can send photos and videos that disappear shortly after they are viewed.

Launched in 2011, the app’s user base continued to grow rapidly in 2013, with over 13 million people using the app in October, according to the latest available estimates from global information and measurement company Nielsen. In December alone, over 400 million pieces of content were shared through the app, according to Snapchat, based in Venice, CA.

Vine, a video sharing app released earlier this year by microblogging company Twitter Inc, was the fourth most downloaded free app in 2013. The app, for iPhone, Android and other devices, allows users to share videos under six seconds in length. Nielsen estimates over 6 million people in the US were using the app in October of this year.

Snapchat and Vine fall into a category that mobile analytics firm Flurry calls camera-enhanced messaging, which they said grew eightfold in 2013.

“The communications category underwent phenomenal growth this year. Messaging apps like Snapchat, Line, Kakao (KakaoTalk) and WeChat are all exploding and becoming bigger than the carriers in their home countries in terms of users,” said Simon Khalaf, chief executive of San Francisco-based company Flurry.

Crushing Saga

Games were another popular category, with Candy Crush Saga for iPhone, Android and Kindle Fire securing its position as the top downloaded free app, and as the top revenue grossing app. It has been downloaded over 500 million times since its launch last year, according to its creator King, based in the UK. Nielsen estimates that over 20 million people in the US were playing the game in October of this year.

In the entertainment category, Pandora continued to be the leading way to stream music and was the ninth most downloaded, and third top grossing, app in 2013.

“Clearly the device has swallowed radio,” said Palli. “Despite the new entrants, Pandora remains the dominant player in the space,” he added.

But the biggest trend of 2013, according to Palli, is the emergence of apps as a way to control companion devices, which he believes will continue to grow in 2014.

On Christmas Day, apps that pair with devices were among some of the top downloaded apps on the App Store.

The Fitbit app, for iPhone and Android, pairs with an electronic wristband to track metrics such as steps taken, distance traveled, and calories burned. It was the 16th most downloaded app on December 25, according to Palli, who monitored the Apple rankings.

Other apps that pair with devices, such as Chromecast, UP by Jawbone, and GoPro were also among the top downloads that day.

Khalaf predicts that apps for televisions will be the trend to watch for 2014.

“I think 2014 could be the year the TV industry gets disrupted by mobile,” said Khalaf.

“If you think about it, every American spends $100+ dollars per month on a service that is not personalized and not mobile. It’s an area that’s ripe for disruption and I think someone will come up with new content, maybe a new device and more importantly a better business model.”

source: interaksyon.com

Smart releases new app for Web surfing

MANILA, Philippines — Smart Communications, Inc. has released a new mobile apps that gives users mobile access to social networking applications even without Wi-Fi access.

“PowerApp is the world’s first mobile Internet storefront which gives users the ability to access their favorite mobile apps and sites without the need for a Wi-Fi connection, making the experience truly mobile,” Smart said in a press release.

Available applications that can be viewed through PowerApp are Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Path, and Waze.

The service, according to Smart, will be made available until January 15, 2014 to prepaid and postpaid subscribers of Smart and Talk ‘N Text.

Aside from the social media use, PowerApp also offers other bundles such as Email, Chat, and Photo packages.

Android users can download the application via Google Play and register for the Free Social Package, originally priced at P20 for one day (Social20) or P10 for 3 hours (Social10).

iOS and feature phone users can also text FREE SOCIAL to 5555 (for Smart Prepaid, Postpaid, Infinity and Talk ‘N Text) 9990 (for Smart Freedom Plan subscribers) or 7577 (for Smart Postpaid All-In users) to avail of the promotion.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook is top smartphone app in Philippines, Nielsen says

MANILA – Facebook is the most engaging smartphone application or "app" in the Philippines, according to Nielsen, affirming the social network's popularity among Filipinos online as well as the revenue potential for the country's telecom companies.

Citing the results of the Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights, the multinational consumer research company said Facebook was tops in three of the four Southeast Asian countries included in the study. Apart from the Philippines, the study also covered Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Indonesia and Malaysia were the two other markets that ranked Facebook as the most engaging smartphone app, while Thailand considered the social network app only second next to Line, a Japanese messaging app.

Apart from Facebook, other smartphone apps among the top 10 in the four markets were Google Play Store, YouTube and Line.

Among the four countries, the Philippines was the only place where Skype and Vibr – both Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) apps – figured among the top 10 apps. Microblogging app Twitter was among the top 10 apps in only one of the four countries – Indonesia


The ranking combined app penetration with average time spent per month. The study used a smartphone metering technology across Android, Blackberry and Symbian operating systems, but Nielsen didn't indicate the size of its sample, only to say it maintains opt-in panels in the markets covered.

On average, people from the four Southeast Asian countries spent 45 minutes a day using smartphone apps. Filipinos spent slightly less than that at 41 minutes, while Malaysians led the pack with 66 minutes a day.

“The importance and influence of apps within today’s highly-competitive mobile market has soared in recent years,” said Sagar Phadke, Nielsen director for Telecom and Technology Practice in Southeast Asia, North Asia and Pacific.

“Smartphone users in Asia are highly engaged in apps usage, and the app user base in Asia is growing rapidly, presenting huge opportunities for brand marketers to leverage apps to build lasting connections with consumers,” Phadke said.

Last year, mobile browsing revenues grew by double-digits, making it one of the drivers of an otherwise mature Philippine telecom market – a feat both Smart and Globe attributed to the increasing penetration of smartphones and aggressive rollout of promotional mobile data plans.

Smart parent firm PLDT closed the first six months of this year with a two percent in revenues to P81.1 billion from P79.7 billion last year. Globe ended the same period with a nine percent increase in revenues to P44.5 billion from P40.8 billion a year ago.

source: interaksyon.com

Over a hundred billion apps will be downloaded from app stores in 2013 — Gartner

MANILA, Philippines — The mobile ‘app’ ecosystem will see strong growth in 2013 as research firm Gartner predicts that more than 100 billion apps will be downloaded from various app stores this year, up 60 percent from last year’s figures.

Majority of these apps will be free, the Gartner report said, but paid downloads will also see a surge this year as 9 billion paid apps will be installed on modern smartphones by the end of 2013.

“Free apps currently account for about 60 percent and 80 percent of the total available apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play, respectively,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner. “iOS and Android app stores combined are forecast to account for 90 percent of global downloads in 2017. These app stores are still increasingly active due to richer ecosystems and large and very active developer communities.

Both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store celebrated 50 billion downloads from their respective mobile storefronts this year, with Apple reporting as much as 800 apps being installed on iOS devices every second.

Android currently holds a majority share of the market with three in four smartphones around the world bearing Google’s mobile operating system. Apple, on the other hand, as a 13.2-percent share of the smartphone pie.

Other app stores available today include Amazon’s app store, BlackBerry World, and the Microsoft Windows Phone Store, all of which have marginal shares in the overall app store market.

Gartner said they see no signs of app movement slowing down in the next few years, but will see a gradual tapering of growth by 2017.

“We expect average monthly downloads per iOS device to decline from 4.9 in 2013 to 3.9 in 2017, while average monthly downloads per Android device will decline from 6.2 in 2013 to 5.8 in 2017. This relates back to the overall trend of users using the same apps more often rather than downloading new ones,” the research firm explained.

Despite this, revenues from these app downloads will still see marked increase in the coming years, with in-app purchases seeing a jump from 17 percent of the total $26 billion in 2013 to as high as 48 percent after four years.

Research shows that IAP contributes to a significant amount of Apple’s App Store revenue from iPhones worldwide. Other platforms have not reached such high levels as the iPhone, but analysts expect they will also see IAP contributions increase in the future.

“We see that users are not put off by the fact that they have already paid for an app, and are willing to spend more if they are happy with the experience,” Blau added. “As a result, we believe that IAP is a promising and sustainable monetization method because it encourages performance-based purchasing; that is, users only pay when they are happy with the experience, and developers have to work hard to earn the revenue through good design and performance.”

source: interaksyon.com

Girl aged 12 commits suicide after cyber bullying

WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old Florida girl who suffered months of ruthless cyberbullying from other girls committed suicide this week, authorities say.

Rebecca Ann Sedwick of the town of Lakeland in central Florida jumped from a platform at an abandoned cement plant near her home on Monday, according to the Polk County sheriff's office.

Her death is the latest in an apparently growing phenomenon of youths driven to taking their own lives after suffering cruel treatment online via text and photo messaging applications.

More than a dozen girls have been identified as possibly involved in the bullying of Sedwick, Polk County sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference Thursday.

The bullying apparently started with a dispute over a boy that Sedwick had dated for a while, the New York Times reported.

According to her mother Tricia Norman, Sedwick received text messages that said things like "You're ugly", "Why are you still alive?" and "Go kill yourself."

Judd, the sheriff, said the girl was "absolutely terrorized on social media."

At one point, the mother had pulled her daughter out of school and transferred her to another, closed down the girl's Facebook page and took away her cellphone.

Things seems to be getting better and Rebecca's spirits seemed to be lifting at her new school.

But she also secretly signed on to new apps such as a cellphone message application called Kik Messenger and the bullying resumed, the Times said.

In Kik Messenger, Sedwick had changed her user name to "That Dead Girl," the Times said.

source: interaksyon.com

Saudi ban affected 10 million users; Viber eyeing a workaround

MANILA, Philippines — Popular instant messaging application Viber said it is coming up with a workaround to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the Saudi Arabian government on its service last month.

Talmon Marco, Viber chief executive, revealed that they are working around the clock to “circumvent the restrictions” and make the chat and calling application available again to users in Saudi Arabia as he expressed frustration regarding the situation.

“We’re frustrated, we have 10 million users or so in Saudi Arabia,” Marco said during a press conference announcing the partnership between the Cyprus-based technology startup and local operator Globe Telecom. “They are taking advantage of a vulnerability in Google Play to block Viber download in most Android phones.”

It will be remembered that Viber was recently banned by Saudi Arabia’s telecom regulator for not adhering to the agency’s strict but vague regulations, and for competing with duly licensed telecom companies.

A good number of Overseas Filipino Workers vented disappointment with the ban, saying Viber was one of their limited ways to keep in touch with relatives back in the Philippines.

Marco said usage of the app dropped considerably in Saudi Arabia following the ban, but has not affected usage in the Philippines as much.

To go around the restriction, the Viber top executive said users are sideloading the app to their phones and using an encrypted connection to continue using the app.

“We are very close to solving this on iOS,” Marco added, without giving any specifics. Unlike Android, Apple apps could only be downloaded and installed through the dedicated app store.

He did not disclose if they are negotiating with the Saudi Arabian regulator to lift the ban, or if they are working with the government to meet its demands in order for the application to be available again in the Middle Eastern country.

But he stressed that their company slogan, “Connect. Freely.” stands as more than just a marketing statement to promote their free services.

“It means users can communicate with friends and relatives free of charge, but it also means that they are able to connect with their loved ones without restrictions,” Marco explained.

“And what the Saudi government has done … it’s a sad day for the people of Saudi Arabia,” he added.

Marco is in the Philippines to promote a new partnership with Globe Telecom that would allow Viber users in the Philippines to use the service free of charge when they subscribe to the telco’s Unli25 unlimited call and text service for one day.

The operator has also launched Viber-only plans, where subscribers can use the app on an unlimited basis for just P10 a day or P30 for five days.

The executive said this is their way of saying that it is time to upgrade voice and SMS, an old telco service which has changed very little since being launched more than two decades ago.

Currently, Marco disclosed, the service has about 6.1 million users in the Philippines and has been growing steadily despite competition from other Asian-based messaging services.

source: interaksyon.com

The car is the next major tech platform — GM

BOSTON — The car is the next great proving ground for communications technology, General Motors Co Chief Executive Dan Akerson said late this week.

The automobile will become a major platform for tech “and one with far better battery life than an iPhone,” he said in prepared remarks to the Chief Executives’ Club of Boston.

Developing better in-car technology is critical for automakers like GM to attract younger, tech-savvy buyers. If they can pull it off, the companies will generate new sources of revenue and boost profit margins. One approach may be for GM to sell advertising within the car itself, Akerson said last month.

In mid-2014, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, teaming up with AT&T Inc, will start selling vehicles embedded with 4G LTE mobile broadband, a wireless connection that allows for faster flow of data that GM says would allow passengers in the backseat to watch streaming video.

Akerson, a former top executive with telecommunications companies MCI, Nextel and XO Communications, said automakers have no choice as the average U.S. consumer is spending more than 2-1/2 hours a day on their smartphones and tablets. That tops the 16 hours each week spent in cars as drivers or passengers.

“Marry the two and you have a megatrend that we intend to harness for competitive advantage,” he said.

Akerson cited a J.D. Power study that found more than two-thirds of new car buyers own a smartphone, and for 80 percent of them connectivity strongly influences which car they buy.

Moreover, it’s not just American consumers who want that, he said, citing similar studies in China, the world’s largest auto market.

He said drivers want hands-free calling, navigation and automatic crash warning, in that order. He called those “the bread and butter” of the company’s in-vehicle OnStar service that connects drivers to live operators for directions or emergency help. OnStar has more than 6 million subscribers.

As for why consumers with smartphones would want such services, Akerson said GM’s features will be integrated to prevent distracted driving.

However, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report on Wednesday saying that hands-free technology in cars actually increases driver distraction. AAA urged the auto industry to consider disabling certain functions of voice-to-text technologies, such as using social media or interacting with email, so they are inoperable while the vehicle is in motion.

Citi analyst Itay Michaeli has estimated that OnStar generates about $1.5 billion in annual revenue for GM and the unit is worth between $5 billion and $7 billion as a whole.

Akerson said installing 3G Wi-Fi in vehicles only scratches the surface of what’s possible.

“Imagine that your vehicle can predict that it needs a new battery and then automatically schedules a visit to your dealer before it dies on the (Massachusetts) Pike in rush hour,” he said.

“How cool would it be to have your car automatically call Dunkin’ Donuts when you’re a mile away, so your coffee and cruller are ready and paid for when you pull up?” Akerson added.

Some services will need far more bandwidth and much higher download speeds, which 4G LTE will allow, he said. “We’re going to turn millions of our cars and trucks into nodes on the Internet through the industry’s largest global deployment of 4G LTE.”

The tech features will just be the beginning as GM needs to entice thousands of code writers to come up with apps for its cars, he said. That approach made Apple and Android dominant in their field, and Akerson said he hopes a GM App Shop someday will be just as popular.

source: interaksyon.com

5 Things We'd Change About Facebook Mobile

At the beginning of this year, Facebook overtook Google Maps as the most-used mobile app in the U.S. The social network giant also recently introduced a controversial new mobile interface, Facebook Home. Earlier this week, Home hit 1 million downloads. Love it or hate it (or both), Facebook is a cornerstone of the mobile experience.

But being in the spotlight means taking your share of criticism. And if the Facebook app represents our smartphone-centric lives ... well, it has a few issues. None of them are deal breakers, but Mashable loves to tinker. Read on to see our list of things we would change about the Facebook app.

1. Embrace Line Wrap

 

Facebook frequently truncates the longer titles of shared content in its mobile News Feed. Instead of making reasonable space for posts that need a little more explanation, Facebook disregards the practically ancient technology of line wrapping in favor of this lazy shortcut. Abbreviating your friends' posts not only makes them instantly less appealing — it makes Facebook's mobile experience noticeably inferior to Facebook on the desktop.

2. Chat Head Support Outside the iOS App

 

When Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook Home for Android, he also showed how chat heads would work — namely, across all apps. Playing a game or scrolling through Instagram? Chat heads can pop in and make communication more fluid.




On iOS, however, the little chat bubbles are strictly confined to the Facebook app, and mostly serve to crowd the screen and obscure posts. Alleviating this problem and mimicking Android seems against Apple's modus operandi, but it's something we'd like to see.

3. Load Links Faster in Safari

 

If you're running the Facebook app on iOS, you're used to staring at a blank white screen bordered by indifferent blue as Facebook struggles to connect with Safari. It is a cruel screen, and we'd prefer never to see it again.

4. Smoother Gestures on Pictures

 

Facebook's photo viewing has grown more beautiful and intuitive over time. But we still accidentally close photos on a regular basis, and the "double-tap to like" feature from Instagram would be a welcome addition now that the two networks are so intertwined.

5. Faster, Faster, Faster

 

The perennial truth of the Facebook app: it could stand to be faster. We want to see what friends are up to, but we get tired of sitting at the top the news feed watching a wheel spin. Don't tempt us with the promise of new posts if you can't deliver, Facebook. Increased speed across the entire app would be appreciated.


source: mashable.com

Amazon launches Android app store in China

SHANGHAI — Amazon.com Inc launched an Android application store that offers paid apps in China, beating Google Inc, as the online retailer seeks to increase the amount of digital content it offers in the world’s largest mobile phone market.

Amazon, which opened its Kindle e-book store in China in December, launched its Android app store over the weekend for China users to download both free and paid apps, Amazon China spokesman Billy Huang said on Monday.

Google’s official app store only offers free apps in China. Google China declined to comment for this story. Android is Google’s open source mobile operating system.

Amazon’s app store must compete with hundreds of local rivals offering paid and free apps, some of them pirated, and users often worry about malware when downloading from these sites.

Amazon is the first Western technology company to offer a platform for paid Android apps in China and Huang said the company was working with software developers to increase the number of apps on offer.

Amazon China cornered less than three percent of China’s booming 169 billion yuan ($27 billion) business-to-consumer e-commerce market in the fourth quarter last year.

The launch of the app store and the Kindle e-book store in China paves the way for Amazon to offer a range of devices including the standard Kindle e-reader and the Kindle Fire.

Huang declined to comment on the Kindle’s release date in China

source: interaksyon.com

Home monitoring gear and app for remote viewing from any mobile device

Y-cam Solutions Ltd recently announced the Y-cam HomeMonitor app for Apple and Android devices, allowing users to watch live or recorded events from their HomeMonitor cloud camera directly on their mobile device.

Launched in early January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Y-cam HomeMonitor is the latest Wi-Fi video monitor service that makes it easier for people to monitor their home, loved ones and belongings from any device, anywhere. Uniquely, HomeMonitor is the only web video monitoring service that allows users to record footage from their cameras online for free, with no monthly subscription required.

The Y-cam HomeMonitor app mirrors the features available from the web dashboard, allowing users to control their HomeMonitor system and interact with multiple cameras at once. Users can either watch live footage or an archive of recorded clips, which are recorded when movement is detected such as from a front door, driveway, child’s room, etc.



Similar to accessing the HomeMonitor system online, the app provides alerts customizable to the user’s preferences. The app is suitable for iPhone and iPad screens, automatically readjusting to the screen of the device it is used on to maximize the viewing area. The iOS version of the app is available now, and the Android version will be available beginning in March.

HomeMonitor is the first-ever wireless video monitoring service offering both indoor and outdoor cameras that are Wi-Fi enabled and provides true cloud-based viewing and recording. HomeMonitor Indoor and HomeMonitor Outdoor both come standard with the HomeMonitor free service package which includes 7 days of rolling free online cloud storage and unlimited email alerts. An optional upgrade package is available to increase storage time for a low yearly fee.

The Y-cam HomeMonitor App is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with iOS 5.1 or later.

The Y-cam HomeMonitor app can be downloaded from Apple iTunes, while the complete HomeMonitor device is availabe at www.homemonitoronline.com.

source: interaksyon.com

Flipboard launches new edition, lets readers create magazines

Social magazine app Flipboard launched on Tuesday one of its biggest overhauls to date allowing readers to create and share their own magazines in a bid to keep growing in popularity.

The app is letting readers customize their own content around topics, events, and personal interests that can be shared with others.

It also partnered with Etsy, the online bazaar for handmade goods, allowing users to shop from Flipboard.

“It’s the largest thing we have ever done,” said Flipboard co-founder and CEO Mike McCue about the new edition.

“We want to allow people to curate the content they love.”

Flipboard is the latest social media company trying to entice people with the lure of creating and sharing interests along the same lines as fast-growing online scrapbook Pinterest, which lets people “pin” items on a virtual bulletin board.

Even Facebook changed its popular newsfeed in March giving more prominence to photos and videos in an effort to make the social network more of a personalized newspaper.

With more than 50 million downloads, Flipboard is a popular app among people who use it as a one-stop place for reading a variety of articles from different sources. It makes money by sharing revenue with its partners who sell ads on Flipboard.

But publishers are also keeping a close eye on the start up. Conde Nast, for instance, which is a partner of Flipboard pulled back the reins with some of its titles – The New Yorker and Wired – in order to keep guard over its content. Flipboard users will see an excerpted summary sending readers to the New Yorker and Wired websites.

Flipboard launched in July 2010 with much fan fair because of the clean and refined way it presented articles. Users choose from publishing sources ranging from The New York Times to Vanity Fair mixing stories with feeds from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The content is then formatted into one easy-to-read publication with ads that are similar to those found in the pages of glossy titles.

The Palo Alto, California-based company raised $60.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer, Index Ventures, and Insight Venture Partners and investors like Ashton Kutcher.

source: interaksyon.com