If rumors prove true, Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram may soon include the ability to take and share short videos, similar to how Vine works. Following the company’s release of a hashtag feature and the rollout of its new iPhone and Android features, Facebook has scheduled a product launch event for Thursday in Menlo Park. “A small team has been working on a big idea,” reads the invitation. “Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.” Continue reading Mysterious Facebook Press Event to Unveil Instagram Video?

Apple has created software specifications that it hopes will encourage developers to build game controllers for its computers and mobile devices including iPads, iPhones and iPod touches. The company says the specs are designed to ensure that controllers “have consistent sets of control elements that both players and game designers can rely on.” According to the document, “Controllers must enhance gameplay — they must not be required.” Continue reading Apple Plans Support for Third-Party MFi Game Controllers

Apple opened its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco yesterday with a 2-hour keynote address that re-emphasized the company’s coolness factor, its ability to innovate and a return to a focus on design. Apple introduced its much anticipated iTunes Radio music service, new MacBook Airs with improved battery life, a super-fast cylindrical Mac Pro, the Jony Ive-designed iOS 7 with redesigned icons and distinct functional layers, and a new Mac operating system dubbed “Mavericks.” Continue reading WWDC: Apple Unveils New iOS, Cylindrical Mac Pro and More

At its annual developers conference in San Francisco today, Apple is expected to unveil its ad-supported streaming music service. The company is also expected to introduce new Mac notebooks and a redesigned iOS featuring a simpler interface. Apple’s new Internet radio service will compete with online music services such as Pandora, Rdio and Spotify. The move into streaming music could also help it compete with rival Google, which has been successful with robust Internet services. Continue reading Apple Expected to Unveil New Streaming Music Service Today

As the $66 billion videogame industry continues its transition toward mobile and social games, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is failing to attract some of the industry’s new rising stars. The show, which kicks off tomorrow in Los Angeles, will continue its focus on console games and, as a result, is not expected to draw developers who identify with a broader landscape of games for smartphones, tablets and other devices. Continue reading E3: With Focus on Consoles, is Gaming Confab Out of Touch?

Samsung won a largely unexpected legal victory against Apple yesterday that could potentially stop the sale of early model iPhones and iPads. The U.S. International Trade Commission, which has jurisdiction over certain trade practices, ruled that Apple violated a Samsung patent related to tech used to send data over wireless networks. Devices in question include the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G, iPad 2 3G and iPad 3 (the more current iPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPad were unaffected). Continue reading ITC Ruling Favors Samsung, Could Impact Apple Products

Mozilla is teaming up with major phone manufacturers as part of a plan to offer sub-$50 smartphones in emerging markets. The company is looking at international regions with growth potential as the global market for smartphones continues to take off. Mozilla is also pushing for more mobile devices to run its Firefox operating system, which it is pitching as an alternative to dominant systems from Google and Apple. Continue reading Mozilla Planning Affordable Smartphones for Firefox Adoption

Pandora is launching a new Facebook application called the Pandora Timeline App that integrates its mobile applications and website so that users can easily share their favorite music and discover new artists that are popular with their friends. The app has been updated with the new Facebook feature for iPhone and Android users. Users can customize which music they opt to share and can specify which categories (listening activity, likes and follows) to share. Continue reading Pandora Timeline App Hopes to Leverage Mobile and Social

The Android version of the Google Drive mobile app has been updated to include a number of new features, including the ability to scan receipts, business cards and other documents with your camera phone and save them in the cloud via Drive. In addition to the ability to scan documents, the update uses an optical technology in order to search the stored images. And according to Google, a new grid view makes it easier to find files. Continue reading Google Drive Update: Mobile Android App Features Scanning

Elevatr is a new mobile app from 23-year old CEO David Spiro and New York-based app development agency Fueled. The free iOS app is designed to help entrepreneurs keep track of their concepts and develop effective models, in hopes of turning innovative ideas into practical business plans. Elevatr is basically a note-taking app that makes a traditional business plan accessible for concept development on mobile devices. Continue reading Map Out Your Startup Business Plan with Elevatr Mobile App

ABC will upgrade its app for iPhones and iPads this week with a “live” button that will allow viewers in the New York and Philadelphia areas to live-stream local ABC programming. The live stream, which will also be offered via ABC-owned stations in six other cities this summer, will be made available only to cable and satellite subscribers. ABC is in talks with 200 affiliates to offer “live” in their markets as well. Continue reading ABC App to Offer Live Streams of TV Shows for Subscribers

Pixtr is a new iPhone app that creates subtle changes to facial features of people in photographs, serving almost like an airbrush tool to manipulate mild imperfections. “It uses facial recognition software to scan the photo and make minor adjustments like slimming a nose or a jawline, trimming eyebrows, correcting camera distortion,” reports Business Insider. “It takes into account things like sex, hair color, age.” Continue reading Pixtr App Uses Facial Recognition to Make You Look Better

Many companies plan to lower costs by encouraging employees to bring their own electronic devices to work. Gartner released a study that predicts the number of workers using mobile apps in the workplace will double by 2015. “BYOD strategies are the most radical change to the economics and the culture of client computing in business in decades,” claims David Willis, VP and analyst at Gartner. “The benefits of BYOD include creating new mobile workforce opportunities, increasing employee satisfaction, and reducing or avoiding costs.” Continue reading BYOD: Companies Encourage Employees to Bring Their Own

IBM Research now claims the world’s smallest movie with “A Boy and His Atom.” The 60-second movie — certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest stop-motion film — shows the story of a boy comprised of individual atoms who befriends an atom and interacts with it while playing on a trampoline made of atoms. It illustrates how scientists at IBM’s Almaden Research Lab can precisely move and manipulate individual atoms. Continue reading IBM Releases Smallest Stop-Motion Film in Cinema History

Tech evangelist Robert Scoble spent two weeks evaluating Google Glass, during which he delivered five speeches while wearing the device, passed through airports four times, and let hundreds of people try it out. He wrote that he had “barely taken it off since getting it other than to sleep.” Scoble offers high praise for the device’s potential, and suggests its adoption depends largely on the product’s eventual price. He says that if Larry Page can get it down to $200, he’ll have a “major hit” on his hands. Continue reading Scoble Praises Google Glass: Says Device is Life-Changing