Android – Social Media SEO

Android Creator Andy Rubin Launches the “Essential” Phone: Specs and Release Date

Fahad Saleem — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:52:12 +0000

The creator of Android, Andy Rubin, has designed and developed a new phone, called the “Essential Phone”, which costs about $699, and has some of the most unique and tantalizing features. The Essential Phone has edge-to-edge display, a uniquely designed front facing camera, and a highly thin bezel design.

Essential phone is based on the idea of minimalism. The phone doesn’t even have a logo on it.

Essential processor is Qualcomm 835, with 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

Essential Android phone is made up of titanium and ceramic.

Essential phone will come with a slew of accessories which you’ll have to buy apart from the phone. The company wants to make an ecosystem around the new phone. Essential will come with a magnetic connector and wireless data transfer feature. The company will also ship a 360-degree camera that could get be put on the top of the phone. This camera would cost an extra 50 bucks.

You can also buy a charging dock for Essential.

Essential does not have any headphone jack, which means Andy Rubin at least agrees with Apple when it comes to headphone jacks.

Andy Rubin will soon reveal the Essential Android phone to the world. There is no confirmed release data of Essential phone yet, but experts think that it’d be in July.

You Can Now Doodle on Facebook Photos Before Uploading: Here’s How

Fahad Saleem — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 19:56:23 +0000

Photo upload has been one feature which has constantly been updated by Facebook; thanks to the ever growing competition between photo sharing apps and social media platforms. Facebook has always proved to be not-so-late at catching up a feature whenever it seemed like capturing the attention of social media users, even if that meant buying some apps out (yes, you guessed it right, we are referring to WhatsApp!).

There are enough photo sharing outlets, both on iOS and Android to draw people away from Facebook when it comes to sharing their images online, and as it happens, Facebook cannot afford to ignore them.

In a recent update, which many are saying inspired from Snapchat, Facebook has announced to roll out a new future for photo uploads. It allows you to doodle on Facebook photos. The new feature will allow users to

Draw shapes on photos.

Sketch a picture and add them to photos. Or,

Scribble on faces/things in images they would share on Facebook.

The feature will be available for both iOS and Android versions of Facebook app. The how-to-doodle-on-Facebook-photos is pretty simple and only needs following few steps:

Upload the photo as you always did on Facebook.

Tap ‘Edit’ button when it appears after the loading.

Choose ‘Doodle’ as your editing tool.

There you are; set to doodle on Facebook photos.

Just choose color of the drawing

Move finger up and down on right hand side.

Set size of the mark that you’d like your pen to have

Tap the color bar and drag your finger to the left.

That’s it. Go on, doodle on Facebook photos and make your fun sharing moments more fun!

Yahoo’s New Livetext App Lets You Do Audio-Free Video Messaging With Style

Fahad Saleem — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 11:33:14 +0000

Yahoo has launched a new messaging app “Livetext”, which has some pretty unique features promising to give your daily chatting experience a new vibe. Livetext superimposes text on videos, but there is no sound involved. So for example, if you are hiking somewhere, you can quickly send the video of yours with a text on it saying “enjoying a hike” or something like that. Yahoo will launch Livetext for iOS and Android.

In an introduction session with media, Yahoo’s executive showed a demo of the app. In order to communicate with your friends and family on Livetext, you will need to be “friends” with them. You can start the session and start sending faces, expressions with your texts written on them. There are a lot of emojis, colors, expressions, edits available natively in the app.

The only novel feature of Livetext is that, unlike other video messaging apps, it has no sound. This decreases stress and increases the usability of the app, as most of the people want to communicate along with doing their routine tasks. Using Livetext, you can start a session and share your environment, make expressions, do texting without saying anything. This becomes nifty when you are in office or a classroom.

Download Livetext for iPhone

Facebook Announces Save Links for Reading Later Feature for Mobile and Web

Fahad Saleem — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 03:17:40 +0000

Facebook has announced a new feature which would allow you to save links for later read while scrolling your news feed. This feature is called “Save”. Facebook will launch it for Android, iOS and Web. The company acquired a read-it-later startup “Spool” a couple of years ago, and the reason for the deal is now evident.

Currently, Pocket, Instapaper and EverNote are some of the best apps and tools for saving links for later reads. Facebook’s Save option will not save the entire article and cache the content like these tools do. Save will only save the links, and you will need an internet connection to load the articles and content for later reads. But we can expect things to get improved by the time.

A feature such as Save was much needed on Facebook. Our Facebook news feeds are inundated with a myriad of links, news, interesting long reads, which we tend to miss in the rush of a moment. You can now save these links on the go and read them at night or whenever you get free.

Facebook’s Save option will be available with every story, in the form of a little bookmark type button. You can also save a link by tapping the little drop down option. All the saved links will be accessible from the “More” options menu on the mobile and the left side detailed options pane for the web.

How to Send Funny GIFs Directly from Imgur in Facebook Messenger in Android, iPhone

Fahad Saleem — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 18:32:32 +0000

Imgur has introduced a new feature in its Android and iOS app using which you can send reaction GIFs from Imgur directly in Facebook Messenger. This really spice up things; you can post funny, interesting GIFs in chats. A GIF can sum up all the reaction and feeling during an online chat. The process is really simple. All you need is the Imgur app, and the Facebook Messenger app.

Just launch Facebook messenger app and tap the ‘More’ icon from the middle right corner of the chat screen.

You will see a list of apps which allows sending GIFs in Facebook Messenger. Imgur is now in this list. Tap Imgur, and you will see different categories like “Happy”, “Angry”, Nope”. You can tap any category, see and choose thousands of GIFs. You can also put a keyword in the search bar above to search the GIFs. For example, you can put “WTF” in the search bar to get interesting and funny GIFs depicting hilarious surprise reactions. You can also shake your device to get a random GIF.

Once the GIF is selected, just tap “Send” and it will be sent. The recipient of this GIF could see this image even without the Imgur app.

Enjoy

Instagram Updates is Search and Explore Features

Fahad Saleem — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 14:50:10 +0000

Instagram has announced some new changes to its search and explore features. The Facebook’s owned social media service has added search based on hashtags and trends. You can now search for all the happenings around a trending event by clicking on its hashtags. Instagram has also added a new search feature using which you could search for the most famous accounts, posts and trends. You can now just search with easy phrases of your interest like “best ancient places”, “best food items this summer” to search the most famous related content on Instagram.

The updated search feature will also let the users to search the photos of their famous places just about anywhere on the world. If you are planning a vacation to a far off place, you can just type the location’s name in the search field and Instagram will show you its alluring photos. You can also narrow down you search based on people, interest, tags and location.

Instagram’s new search updates are now available in the updated versions of its iOS and Android app.

Google Launches Unsend Email Feature in Gmail to Undo a Sent Email

Fahad Saleem — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:50:22 +0000

Google has launched a new feature which will let you unsend a sent mail if you have second thoughts about the mail you just sent. You will have around 5-30 seconds to undo a sent email. This feature is now live for Gmail app in Android, and the search engine giant says that soon it will be available for Gmail web.

The Undo send feature was already there for Google Labs, but it is now available for “Inbox” app of Gmail in Android. You can also turn on this feature by going to the Settings page within Gmail and navigate to the General tab. Here, you will see “Enable Undo Send” option. You will have the option to choose between different time options under which you could take back the sent email. You have 5, 10, 20 and 30 seconds time windows. If you want to use this feature, choosing the maximum time windows, which is 30 seconds in this case, would be the best option.

If you are not seeing this option when you go to settings, don’t worry; Google says that the new unsend email feature will start rolling out within this week for all Android and web users.

Samsung’s Game Recorder + App Lets you Record Screen While Playing any Game on Android Phone

Fahad Saleem — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:16:08 +0000

Samsung has launched a great new app that will be useful and nifty for millions of Android users. Samsung’s new Game Recorder + app lets you record your screen while playing any game. So next time you make new records on Candy Crush, you won’t need to make empty claims as you will have a video proof to brag about it in your friends. Game Recorder + also gives an opportunity to add a video commentary by turning on your front facing camera and mic.

Once installed, the app gives a floating option on your screen using which, you can turn on the camera, recording and mic anytime you want in any game you play. You can record the screen while adding the video using your camera. It will also record your voice. So the game recorder + is pretty much a powerful experience recorder which will track and record your whole game play experience.

The app is available for download for free from Samsung’s app store in Samsung’s Galaxy devices. The app supports Jelly Beans and above. You can download Game Recorder + in Samsung S3, S4, S5, S6, all Note devices and many more Samsung flagship devices.

Facebook Launches Moments App for iOS, Android for Better Photo Sharing

Fahad Saleem — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 13:03:25 +0000

Facebook has launched a new app for photo sharing called “Moments”. This time, Facebook is more focused on saving the countless photos that are saved in your phone. The app will allow you to quickly share your friends’ photos with them. Moments app scans through the saved photos in the camera roll, and automatically suggests the people who are in the photo in the form of tags. So if you are sifting through your photos using the Moments app; it will scan the photos and suggest the name of a friend who is in the photo along with an option to share that photo with him/her.

You can quickly press the Sync option and the photo will be shared with the friend. But, this could only happen if that user is also using the Moments app. If not, the app will send a notification to the friend in the Facebook Messenger app, alerting that there is a new photo you want to share with him.

There are literally hundreds of photo apps out there, but what makes Moments unique is its ability to detect faces, and options of sharing them quickly. This would really increase the interaction. We all have hundreds of photos in our camera rolls which are lying there unshared because we are too lazy to do the whole process, tagging manually.

Download Moments for iOS and Android

BitTorrent’s Bleep Messaging App Offers End to End, P2P, Serverless Encryption for Free

Fahad Saleem — Thu, 14 May 2015 15:12:22 +0000

BitTorrent has launched a new messaging app which will provide end-to-end, peer-to-peer encryption and security over your messages. The app is called ‘Bleep’ and it is now available for free for iOS, Windows, Android, and Mac. BitTorrent. The best feature which could make this app stand out among the hundreds of messaging apps is its ability to operate without any central server or Cloud. BitTorrent claims that the messages sent or received via Bleep will not be saved on the Cloud or at the servers, so no third party could hack and read your messages.

Bleep has a ‘Whisper’ feature which lets you send self-destructible messages. A ‘whisper’ will be deleted as soon as it is read.

Bleep supports end to end encryption, which, surprisingly, is not supported by iMessage, WhatsApp or Viber. You can also make secure Voice Calls using Bleep.

Download Bleep By BitTorrent

Facebook ‘Instant Articles’: Buzzfeed, New York Times Start Publishing Exclusive Content on Facebook

Fahad Saleem — Wed, 13 May 2015 17:15:10 +0000

Facebook has finally started its exclusive publishing program called ‘Instant Articles’ from today. Major publishers like Buzzfeed, The New York Times, NBC, National Geographic will start posting exclusive content on their Facebook pages.

In the start, Facebook’s iOS app will load the instant articles for its users. An Android app is in the making for instant articles.
The New York Times announced that it is going in the Facebook’s publishers program with ‘open eyes’. He was pointing out towards the skepticism regarding the threats to advertisers from the latest Facebook program.

Buzzfeed President said that instead of dictating its terms, Facebook is offering complete customization, even ‘sponsored articles’; so there is nothing to worry about.

Facebook will give full control over presentation, look and feel of their content. It will give 100% revenue for the publishers. There is also an option for covert the articles for the Facebook’s forgotten ‘Paper’ app for iOS.

Sources suggest that although the pace of acceptance of instant articles program is slow, it will gain popularity in the coming months.

Nintendo To Launch 5 New Mobile Games in 2017

Fahad Saleem — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:25:05 +0000

Nintendo has finally announced what we all were waiting for. The game giant will launch its own mobile games. Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, said that his company will launch 5 new mobile games in March, 2017. While the date of the games arrival is too late, still, it’s a great news for the Nintendo game fans as they will get their hands on some exciting new games on Android and iOS.

Recently, Nintendo struck a deal with the Japanese game, mobile and e-commerce giant ‘DeNA’. The deal has played a key role in Nintendo’s decision to go mobile. Last year, Nintendo categorically said that it has no plans whatsoever to launch mobile games.

Iwata said that with the increasing growth of smartphones around the world, it is but natural for Nintendo to tap into this area. He said that all of the upcoming 5 titles will be hits. These games will feature famous Nintendo characters and plots.

Iwata teased what could be the game-changing innovation by Nintendo. He said that Nintendo is working on multi-device membership service which will connect platforms like Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PCs, mobiles and consoles. This would revolutionize the gaming industry as fans will be able to play games across different platforms in complete collaborative, real-time environments.

Nintendo is scaling up its business big time. This week, it announced a new partnership with Universal Parks & Resorts after which fans will get Nintendo systems and games in the famous Theme Parks.

Google Launches ‘Collections’ in Google Plus To Compete With Pinterest

Fahad Saleem — Tue, 05 May 2015 15:32:47 +0000

Google has launched a new Pinterest-like social media feature called ‘Google+ Collections’, which will allow its users to make separate collections of images and other items related to different topics. Google suffered a complete failure in its social media endeavors in the past. Orkut, Google+ didn’t come up to the expectations of the users and failed to garner any visible user base. But the search engine giant is still clinging to its efforts.

A Google+ Collection will be a complete platform in itself. You can post status updates, links, videos, images and much more. You can create a Google+ Collection from the Google+ main home page. You can set the visibility settings according to your choice. A collection could only be viewed by a people to whom you have given access. You can create a collection and dedicate it to a specific topic of your interest like cooking, photography, stickers, coins, breads, cars etc. You will get a separate ‘collections’ section on your Google+ profile.

Google+ collections feature is now rolling out for Web and Android app for Google+. The iOs users will have to wait a little to get Google Collections.

Instagram Introduces Emojis in Hashtags and Three New Filters

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 19:17:43 +0000

Emoji Hashtags

Instagram has updated the iOS and Android app and finally the emojis feature is added for hashtags that means you can now write hashtags in Instagram with emojis and search the posts based on emojis. Moreover, Instagram has also given three new filters for the Instagram users in the new update.

In a statement, Instagram said that emojis are becoming the cardinal part of the social media messaging and interaction around the web. The new emoji support for hashtags in Instagram will give the users the ability to write emojis in hashtags and search by typing emoji in the explore page of the app.

Three New Instagram Filters

Instagram has given three news filters in its new app for Android and iOS. These filters are Reyes, Juno and Lark. Reyes filter gives a hazy, old type vintage look to your photos. Lark adds bluish green tone whereas the Juno filter will add tints and tones in different colors.

The new updates will start rolling out for Instagram users around the world within this week.

Updated Instagram Icons and Commenting

It appears Instagram also updated icons for likes and added one for comments. When you click on the comment icon it now jumps to the comment section. It seems they did this to take up less space…Users probably won’t even notice a change.

You Can Now Send Direct Messages To Anyone on Twitter Without Following

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:35:04 +0000

Twitter has announced that it is going to roll out a new feature which will allow the users to send DM (Direct Message) to anyone. Before this feature, the sender and receiver were required to follow each other in order to exchange direct messages.

Twitter is drastically introducing new features to cheer up the angry investors, who are not happy with Twitter’s user growth. Twitter recently launched retweet with comments feature. It launched a ‘while you were away’ feature that updates you with all the important happenings around the world when you sign-in your Twitter account after a number of days.

Twitter has around 288 million monthly active users. These minute changes may improve the user experience for the current Twitter users, but it would not increase the user base of the blue bird. The company must devise a new strategy around its mobile apps for Android and iOS to see some big changes that could affect the revenues and market growth. Twitter is not the top choice of the advertisers because of its small user growth. Facebook, on the other hand has a massive user base, the majority of which comprises of teens.

Twitter announced the new feature to send DMs to anyone back in 2013, rolled it out for a selected number of users then rolled back. But today, the company published blog post announcing the DM for all feature. You will start seeing this feature in the upcoming app updates very soon.

WhatsApp To Launch Google Drive Backup Feature

Fahad Saleem — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 19:53:16 +0000

WhatsApp is going to launch a new feature which will let you save and backup the complete WhatsApp data in Google Drive. The famous news source Android Police has said that WhatsApp is testing a new feature, version 2.12.45. Currently, this version is not launched, but many developers have seen the latest upcoming version having string that point towards a confirmed WhatsApp backup feature.

WhatsApp is making a lot more new updates to its interface and functionality. The app just went through a material design update. A few week ago, WhatsApp calling feature was launched. Now, the famous messaging app used by billions daily will get a Google Drive backup feature.

It is startling to note that Facebook’s WhatsApp will use Google’s Cloud service has its backup repo, because Facebook and Google are tough competitors.

The source gave some screenshots which clearly show a backup feature. You could easily give your gmail id and select the time span for which you want your WhatsApp data to be backed up. You could choose from daily, weekly and monthly backup plans.

The new WhatsApp backup feature will help people getting a secure backup all the time on the Cloud because millions of people use WhatsApp to communicate and one could recover data now with the use of this feature just in case.

Google’s New Feature Makes Finding New, Useful Android Apps Easy

Fahad Saleem — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:47:57 +0000

Google has launched an amazing feature using which Android users can discover useful new apps based on search. The feature is launched for the Android app developers to beef up the app install ads and promotions. But if you are an Android user, you can get the best app install suggestions from Google.

Literally thousands of Android apps are launched daily on the Play Store. One cannot keep track of everything. And frankly, apps can make our lives easier. There is an app for everything. Google wants to make content discovery easy for its users.

Suppose you go to Google to search for tricks to make a perfect sandwich. Apart from the results related to content, Google will now suggest you apps that have your related answer. For example, it could suggest you the Daily Mail or Buzzfeed app; after installing the app, your will be directed to the article having the answer to your question.

This process is called app indexing. Back in 2013, Google launched it, but it was pretty useless because all the apps that were shown or suggested were those which were already installed in the user’s phone. Now, you will get the app that are not installed on your phone.

Google is taking these steps to increase its mobile grasp. This is in an effort to tackle its competitors like Facebook. Google’s new feature is basically for the app developers. App developers could now use this feature to showcase their apps in front of thousands and thousands of Googlers.

You can read in detail about the new feature on the official Google’s announcement.

Imoji App Gives You 3 Million Hilarious Emojis and Stickers from Real Photos in All Apps

Fahad Saleem — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 17:41:33 +0000

Messaging and interaction becomes fun, lively and speedy with emojis and stickers. The trend of using emojis, GIF and stickers in our messages is becoming quickly common, thanks to the nirvana and fun they provide. You must have heard of Imoji, an Android and iOS app that lets you use emojis in your messages. Well, guess what! Imoji has announced that it will roll out its SDK for third party app development, which will let you send emojis stickers in your favorite social media apps like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter. The company has around 3 million stickers and emojis in its database. You can search these stickers based on the feelings, reactions.

Imoji’s also lets you create funny stickers from real life images. So you can create hilarious stickers, emojis out of the friends’ images or your own images from the camera roll of your phone.

More than 3 million stickers and emojis at your disposal will make your messaging way more interesting. Imoji is also a partner of Facebook’s Messenger platform, a program which now lets third parties to make apps for Facebook Messenger. Flesky, the famous emoji keyboard is also partnering with Imojis to make a complete emojis keyboard out of this great app.

Apple Watch Crushes Android Smartwatch on Its First Day

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:41:54 +0000

Apple Watch has crushed Android Wear sales with huge margins. On the very first day, Apple Watch got 1 million orders, which are more than the Android Watch order recorded in a complete year. More users are going for the cheapest version of Apple Watch. Around 957,000 placed the order for an Apple Watch on Friday.

According to a report from the USA Today, around 62% of the total Apple Watch orders are for the low-priced Sports version of the Apple Watch. It is also startling to note that more people opted for two versions of Apple Watch.

It can be easily said that Apple Watch is going to break all the records. In just one day, the orders have touched 1 million, and we can safely assume that these orders will increase in the coming days.

Unlike iPhones, Apple Watches will not be available from the Apple Stores. Users are pre-ordering the gears and they will get it after a month. Apple has not officially released the data regarding its Apple Watch sales.

Facebook Testing WhatsApp Integration in its Mobile Apps

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 16:41:49 +0000

Facebook is reportedly testing a WhatsApp integration in its Facebook app for Android. Facebook acquired WhatsApp, the most famous messaging app used by millions of users worldwide over a year ago. The social media juggernaut wants to create an ecosystem and platform of all its apps. It has Instagram and Facebook Messenger under its belt which can dwarf any other app in the world. When WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook, it was expected that the company will integrate it, and now it’s happening.

WhatsApp integration with Facebook will be a dream come true for the social media fans. You could also be able to send Facebook videos to your WhatsApp contacts, a feature wanted by billions of users around the world now.

Many news sources reported that a number of Facebook app for Android users spotted a ‘Send’ button with a WhatsApp sign in it. The button was placed on the right side of the images/video and other shareable content. The option was later removed, but that is the sign that the testing is in progress and WhatsApp integration in Facebook would be revealed pretty soon.

OnePlus Official ROM OxygenOS Now Available For Download

Fahad Saleem — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 12:52:16 +0000

OnePlus, the famous company which launched the beautiful OnePlus One phone has finally launched its own mobile operating system ROM OxygenOS to compete Google’s native Android. OxygenOS is another flavor of Android, with more beautiful customized and essentially useful features. OnePlus was promising a new Android based OS for months. Two deadlines passed but the new OS didn’t land. But finally, OxygenOS is now available for download.

Based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OxygenOS has its own file manager, gestures, design and notification system. OnePlus has released this operating system to make an ecosystem around its devices. OnePlus users will get all the apps and services of this mobile OS pre-installed in their devices.

OnePlus faced issues in the development and launch its OxygenOS because Cyanogen, the organization behind CyanogenMod had given right for a custom Android based OS to another vendor in China. But it seems that OnePlus has sorted out the problem.

OxygenOS is another ROM for OnePlus One phone, but it’s good to see that the new addition of ROM is coming straight from the source.

Download Oxygen OS

Run Android Apps in Windows, Mac and Linux Using Google’s New ARC Tool

Fahad Saleem — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 13:33:09 +0000

Google has announced a new tool that will let the Android developers to run the Android apps in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The tool is called App Runtime for Chrome (ARC). This is a huge step by Google because currently, the developers had to use Android emulators like BlueStacks to run the apps. ARC will allow the developers to run and test any Android app directly in Google Chrome.

The news was first reported by Ars Technia. The ARC Welder in the new app lets the developers to convert any .apk file in the system and run it directly in the computer. This process is called ‘mobile to desktop’ conversion. The latest step from Google will boost the Android app development and speed up the development process.

One drawback of the new tool is that it does not support the Android 5.0 Lollipop version and only run apps that are developed for Android KitKat. Google may resolve this problem in the upcoming versions of the tool. Google’s new tool also supports all the Google services, Google Cloud, app patches and Google+ social media platform. This is also a great feature as most of the developers need the Cloud and social functionality to test any Android app in their computer or the testing environment.

Microsoft is about to release its Windows 10 platform. This OS will support one-in-all feature, where all the apps would run in the same style for mobile, desktop and tablet. Couple this with Google’s new tool, the app developers in the coming days would be able to produce responsive designs and apps from their Windows computer and all the problems regarding cross-platform development will be solved.

Facebook Goes After Snapchat and Vine With Its New Riff App for 20 Second Videos

Fahad Saleem — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 18:02:28 +0000

Facebook has launched an app for iOS and Android which allows you to make 20 second quick videos and share them with your friends. The is a clear effort to go after Vine and Snapchat, which are also based on the same idea. The new app is called Riff. But Riff has something more interesting which could imbibe attention of millennials and give Vine a run for its money. Riff works on an editable model, which means that your friends could add more clips upon your posted video. So for example, if you have posted a 10 seconds clip in the morning on anything, your friends could add some related clips on the same topic.

Josh Miller from Facebook’s creative labs says that the idea of this video apps was first generated from last year’s viral ‘Ice Bucket’ Challenge. Facebook saw a huge influx of videos and noted that people are more interested in watching and sharing short videos instead of photos. Facebook is also beefing up its video ads business. It recently launched a feature which will let the publishers to embed Facebook video. It is taking on Vine, Google’s Youtube and Snapchat with these endeavors.

You can also embed your videos with a single Riff video to make them longer. So if your friend has posted a 20 second Riff video, you can extend it and add up your own 20 second video to make it a ‘story’, just like the stories feature in Snapchat.

Facebook says that it would soon allow embedding Riff videos outside of Facebook on different platforms.

You can download Riff for iOS and Android.

Facebook Launches Scrapbook for Better Photo Management

Fahad Saleem — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 13:08:09 +0000

Facebook has announced a new feature called ‘Scrapbook’ which will let people organize photos of their babies, toddlers, pets at one place in a form of collection. The Scrapbook feature will start rolling out for Facebook iOS, Android and Desktop apps in the US very soon.

You must have seen people frantically sharing and inundating Facebook news feeds with baby photos. If the baby pooped, they will post a photo; if the baby said something silly, there will be a photo. If you are like me, who hates the constant influx of baby photos on Facebook, this feature would help you tell Facebook to hide Scrapbooks. On the other hand, this feature is the best for parents who faced problems while searching, organizing and adding all their baby life in the form of photos at once place. Scrapbook will let parents make a photo story of their child on Facebook.

You will be able to create Scrapbook in Facebook by going in the About tab of Facebook, Family And Relationships tab and here, you will see an option to create a Scrapbook from scratch. You can share a Scrapbook with your partner/wife so that he/she will be able to tag the photos of the baby, add photos, edit settings and much more.

Facebook will also give a ‘subscribe’ option for those who want to stay updated with any Scrapbook. So for example if parents have made a Scrapbook for their cute little baby, the grandparents of the baby could subscribe the Scrapbook on Facebook. Any photo update will be notified to the parents on their Facebook profile.

Slack Confirms Its Servers Are Hacked

Fahad Saleem — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 18:00:09 +0000

Slack, the most famous communication app that is raising millions in venture funding has announced that its database servers have been hacked. The company’s statement confirmed that hackers were able to beach in the app’s servers. However, the statement didn’t confirm that the encrypted passwords were compromised or not.

“We were recently able to confirm that there was unauthorized access to a Slack database storing user profile information. We have since blocked this unauthorized access and made additional changes to our technical infrastructure to prevent future incidents,” said the Slack’s statement.

Slack has been hailed as the best communication app for iOS and Android which could be used by companies, co-working environments and anyone for productivity.

Unfortunately, several sources have confirmed that Slack security systems are not that state of the art. It still uses the central server where all the information about users like passwords, usernames, Skype, phone numbers, are saved. The passwords are encrypted with one way authentication. It is also being said that Slack server saves all the chats and no encryption is used for chats whatsoever. Slack is yet to shed light on the cause of this attack and what information was leaked.

Slack has added two-factor authentication after the attack, but the users will have to open their profile first, toggle the two factor authentication on and then use it with their phone number.

Facebook Phone App: A Threat to Carrier Service Providers?

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 16:13:28 +0000

Last night, some Facebook users spotted a mysterious notification and sign about a new app called ‘Phone’ in Facebook for mobile apps in Android. Facebook immediately took it off from the interface, but a number of users took screen shots of this app notification. The Phone app allegedly is being made by Facebook which will let the users to make calls to numbers. In the description written in the leaked app description, it says that Phone app will also let you see from where the calls are coming from and you could block the numbers as you please.

This is a huge news. A free Facebook phone app could mean a massive dent to phone carrier services providers. Facebook acquired WhatsApp and turned it into a billion dollar business. It also rolled out calling feature in WhatsApp for Android. The latest Phone app could be announced anytime soon.

Facebook already has a voice and video calling feature in its social platform, both for mobile and desktop. Then why is the new Phone app coming to the scene? The answer lies in another speculation, which seems close to reality. Facebook wants to make a bridge between carriers and users. So when a Phone app comes for Facebook, you could quickly make calls from your Facebook interface. The calls will be routed through carriers, but extra features like blocking, texting and VOIP calls will be given by Facebook. This could turn out to be a huge business for Facebook.

LinkedIn Launches Android App for Searching Jobs

Fahad Saleem — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 21:55:41 +0000

LinkedIn has launched its Android app which will let the users search jobs easily. The professional networking platform already launched an iOS app a few months ago. The new LinkedIn Android app has a clean, fluid interface with side tabs and a few buttons. The interface is more or less than same as the iOS app.

LinkedIn also published some interesting stats with its job app launch. According to these stats, iPhone users are in majority in New York and California, whereas Android wins in states like Wisconsin, Georgia and Florida. iPhone users search a lot for jobs whereas Android users like sending invites.

LinkedIn also talked about the job field searched and applied to by the users. iPhone users are always more interested in graphics designing jobs and healthcare field whereas the Android users mostly apple for web development and programming jobs.

The new app will help the company to expand its user base across the globe as 85% if the mobile phones market is dominate by Android. People in the emerging markets use LinkedIn to search jobs and network professionally. The company is also planning to monetize with ads and other sources of revenue in the coming days.

You can download the LinkedIn app for free from the Google Play Store.

Google Working on NFC, Biometric Payment Method ‘Android Pay’

Fahad Saleem — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:09:42 +0000

Google has announced that it is working on a new mobile payment system ‘Android Pay’ which will help the developers and companies to build different secure payment methods. Speaking in the Mobile World Congress, Google’s Product chief, Sundar Pichai said that Android Pay will not be a device or an ecosystem, it will be an API layer using which, companies and developers across the globe can get benefits.

The battle of payment systems is heating up. After Apple Pay, a number of tech giants have landed the payments domain.

Android Pay will open many domains for the payment industry but with a lot of security threats. Android has been a victim of a plethora of hack attacks because of its open source nature. Apple, on the other hand crafts its products and services in an ecosystem which makes it much secure as compared to other platforms.

Pichai said that Google Wallet will continue to be a separate service. It will not be merged with Android Pay. He said that Android Pay will start from NFC and the company will extend this service to hardware, biometric systems in the future. He dodged the question about the competition of Google and Samsung as Samsung has given NFC payment option in its recently launched Samsung Galaxy S6. Google’s executive said that Samsung and Google continue to work together or a number of projects.

Apple Pay still has the edge in the payments race. Although Google has been working in the payments domain since 2011, it was a bit late as compared to Apple. Apple Pay has already started rolling out in the market and there are many stores accepting the service as a valid payment method.

Huawaei and LG Launch Stunning Android Watches in MWC

Fahad Saleem — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 20:03:05 +0000

Huawei and LG have released Android watches in the mega event Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. While both the companies have come up with extraordinary devices, Huawei’s Android Watch seems to have stolen the show. LG’s Urbane Android Wear is rolled out in two versions. The first one is the most basic version of Android Wear which has the same features as given in the Google’s Android Wear. The advanced version of LG’s Android Watch has a 4G chip and high-end features. You can make calls and send messages from it without even linking it to your smartphone.

Huawei Android Watch Features

Huawei’s Android watch is made out of Sapphire Glass. The best thing about this app is its perfect design and watch-link features. Android watches before this were awkward in shapes. People wanted something they could wear like a normal watch, having features of a smart watch. Huawei’s Android watch has 1.4-inch 400 x 400 OLED display. It is supporting 286 pixels per inch, a smart bezels ration and size.

LG Urbane Android Wear Features

On the other hand, LG’s Urbane watch has a feature which no other watch has ever supportive: LTE. LG Urbane watch is powered by LG’s own OS. The company says that it was not comfortable with Google’s OS for wearable devices as the company wants to craft the user experience completely according to the users’ needs. Google OS posed a lot of limitations.

LG watch is preloaded with health features like tracking during hiking, running, swimming and workouts. Its LTE feature will allow you to receive calls, make calls, send messages, talk in a walkie-talkie- style on the go, and much more. LG Urbane has also NFC feature using which you can pay through your watch on the shops.

Xiaomi Lands in the US: Should Apple Be Worried ?

Fahad Saleem — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 21:52:10 +0000

Perhaps the most anticipated tech news of year 2015 has just broke out: Xiaomi, the Chinese tech giant which has outpaced Samsung in China and Asia has announced that it is coming to the US. The bells have finally rung for Apple, Xiaomi’s biggest potential competitor. However, Xiaomi made it clear that the company will not sell cell phones and TVs in the US. It will start with small gadgets like headphones, low priced fitness bands and accessories.

Xiaomi showcased an event in the US today and said that the company will launch an online store in the US later this year. Hugo Barra, the vice president of Xiaomi and the only man because of which the company went up in the software and hardware domain accepted that Xiaomi will have to go through a lot to challenge Apple on its turf.

Barra is the man behind Android. When He left Google and joined Xiaomi, which was almost nothing at that time (2013), experts were skeptical about the sensibility of Barra’s decision. But within 2 years, Barra’s experience, talent and skills made Xiaomi the juggernaut of cellphone sales in Asia. It’s perfect Apple like hardware and Android like software has imbibed millions of users across the world.

Back in China, Xiaomi business has surged with huge success. It sold 150,000 phones in 10 minutes, shipped 940,000 devices each day in the busy season. But Xiaomi is not even close to Apple when it comes to the US market.

Xiaomi said in a statement that it has no plans to launch its phones in the US for now. It is in talks with the US authorities regarding NFC payment regulations. The move is seen as an attempt to enter the US market and increase adaptation and learn business dynamics of the local market. If Xiaomi could deliver quality products in affordable prices, it could give a tough time to Apple.