FTC finalizes charges against Snapchat for not protecting user data

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Remember when we realized that all those Snapchat “snaps” that were supposed to disappear could be accessed by just looking at the app’s directory on your phone via a third-party app? If you were upset, you weren’t alone. Turns out FTC was a bit miffed as well. Today the FTC finalized charges against Snapchat for deceiving customers about the disappearing nature of messages sent through the service. If the messages are still retrievable, they aren’t really disappearing now are they? The FTC goes on to say, “Snapchat also deceived consumers over the amount of personal data it collected and the…



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China’s Christmas present to Google? Blocking Gmail

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Gmail has been completely blocked in China, following six months of disruption by government censors. Google’s Transparency Report reveals Gmail traffic in China dropping like a stone on December 25th. The Chinese government has not claimed responsibility for the sudden drop in Gmail traffic from the country but a Google spokesperson told Reuters: “We’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end.” Anti-censorship group GreatFire.org says large numbers of Gmail addresses were cut off in China on Friday. Unsurprisingly, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told Reuters that she did not know anything about Gmail being blocked. During the summer,…



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FlashChat: Easy, fast, anonymous chat with the people around you

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Anonymous chat apps are all well and good, but without some way to make sure you have something in common, chatting with strangers quickly loses its appeal. That’s where FlashChat comes in. It lets you communicate with people on the same Wi-Fi network as you, anonymously. Whether you’re in an office, university campus, stadium, shop, airport, or anywhere else, you can have fun talking to new people who are close by. Getting set up is a breeze – you just open the app, choose a username and chat right away to other people on the same network. FlashChat is all…



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Samsung’s Look At Me app for Android helps kids with autism make eye contact

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Those who live with autism often have trouble making eye contact with others and perceiving emotions in others. A new app from Samsung might help children develop these skills — and make it fun too. Dubbed ‘Look At Me‘, the new app for Android uses smartphones’ cameras to help kids learn to read people’s moods, remember faces and express themselves with facial expressions and poses. It also gamifies these activities with interactive missions and a point system, and can be completed over a week with 15-20 minutes of play daily. The app is geared towards helping children with autism to…



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Rediscover the power of the mixtape with Tapely

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A personalized playlist is a great way to let someone know how you feel, and it’s easy to make one online with the vast range of Web-based music services. Tapely takes things a step further, letting you customize a mixtape to set the mood and share them with anyone. Tapely can pull in music from YouTube and SoundCloud for you to preview and queue up. Once you’ve collated your favorite tracks, you can name your mixtape, add a background image from Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, your desktop or by searching the Web, and then choose your fonts and colors. When your…



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Samsung is pulling the plug on its ChatOn messaging service

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Even though it has signed up over 100 million users since its 2011 launch, Samsung’s free messaging app ChatOn has failed to catch on around the globe. As a result, the company is shutting down the service on February 1, 2015, worldwide but not in the US, reports Engadget. Samsung told South Korean media outlet Yonhap News that the move is a reaction to “changing demands in the market,” and that the company will focus on health and mobile commerce instead. A recent survey showed that users spent only six seconds per month on ChatOn, as opposed to 11 hours…



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Bing Search apps updated for iPhone and iPad with a new look

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Search engine Bing has refreshed its apps for iPhone and iPad, with a revised home screen that looks better and simplifies navigation to view trending content. The iPhone app now has a cleaner layout on the home screen, with the search bar in the center, and a content tab at the bottom, which displays local weather, news headlines and trending images when swiped up. Users can also tap on the home screen and swipe through a selection of images to set as the app background. The iPad app brings widget support so you can see trending stories and the image…



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Follower counts plummet after Instagram deletes millions of spam accounts, vain users outraged

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After Instagram made good on its promise to remove scores of spam accounts from its service, many users noticed that they lost large swathes of followers — from a handful to a few million. Saddeningly, many users are having trouble dealing with the loss and are in a row over the issue. The Verge reports that Instagram said it would remove accounts that didn’t fall in line with its Community Guidelines, which includes refraining from spamming users in comments. Users were notified that they might notice drops in their follower counts, but it’s apparent from comments made on Instagram’s own…



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Deezer can now show you the lyrics as you listen to music

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Streaming music service Deezer has added a new feature today that lets you read the lyrics along with songs as you listen to them. While this feature has been available in the past as an add-on to Spotify via the likes of TuneWiki (which shut down last year) and MusiXmatch, this is the first time we’re aware of a service building it in natively. It’s a move that makes sense. Every time I forget that it’s ‘A bronzed moth dies easily’, not ‘I bronze my thighs easily’ in the Manic Street Preachers’ ‘Removables’, there’s a button to press for instant…



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ChatGrape launches iOS app as it prepares to take on messaging juggernauts

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The business chat space is heating up right now. Slack’s explosive growth in popularity just shows how prime the space is for disruption, but it’s not the only company making waves in the business messaging space. ChatGrape, a European startup, hopes to take on heavyweights like Slack, HipChat and Flowdock with its own spin on business chat. The company is relatively new — only founded in January 2014 — but said it looked at the market and “realized that all the existing tools really are just better looking versions of a 20 year old IRC chat standard, with very little…



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Fiverr Android update lets sellers deliver projects through the app

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Fiverr, the creative and professional service market place, has updated its Android app to allow sellers to create, deliver and edit projects – which the service calls Gigs – on their mobile device. When it originally launched in March, the Fiverr Android app was geared towards buyers. The new version allows sellers to edit, update and respond to orders directly from the app. Fiverr says 30 percent of its community is made up of sellers. As well as creating, editing and delivering Gigs via the app, sellers can now view pending and cleared payments and withdraw their earnings directly to…



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Sony reveals clip-on unit to turn any eyewear into Google Glass-style smart glasses

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Sony has unveiled a new clip-on display unit that will attach to the frame of any eyewear and transform it into a pair of smart glasses in the mode of Google Glass. The accessory incorporates a control board with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi along with a compass, accelerometer and touch sensors. It’s powered by an ARM Cortex-A7 processor and shows information via a 640×400 OLED micro-display. As with Google Glass, the display hovers in front of your eye. Sony says it’ll offer a field of view equivalent to a 16 inch display placed 2 meters in front of you. The whole…



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Facebook now automatically makes your photos better

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Robots are better at basically everything, right? Facebook seems to think so and has a new feature released today that automatically enhances the photos you upload to the social network. Most people need help with their photos, so Facebook’s new tool automatically improves a photo’s brightness and attempts to make it look clearer without any input from you. Facebook is so sure that you’ll prefer its enhancements that you’ll need to tap the wand every time you start to post a photo to stop the network from “improving” your images if you don’t like them. It doesn’t look like there’s…



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Google Authenticator for iOS gets Material Design update

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Google’s two-factor authentication app for iOS got a big update today that brings Material Design to the app for the first time, along with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support. The app update features an overhauled design, bringing it in line with Google’s other Material Design style apps on iOS. It also now shows which website generated a verification code (a feature that was sorely missing before) and fully supports Apple’s new iPhones. Users can also provide anonymous feedback to Google via a link in the app. Authenticator now separates the two-factor code into two groups of three numbers for…



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Leave virtual notes around the world with Space Tag for iOS

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Israeli startup Shopcloud has just launched its latest app that lets users create digital notes with photos and leave them around the world for others to find. It’s kind of like graffiti minus the vandalism. With Space Tag, users can snap a photo and add a note to create a post; they can then share it on social networks, or simply leave it on Space Tag universe for others to stumble upon when they visit the same location. Space Tag users can scan an area they’re visiting with a smartphone, and the app reveals virtual green dots that indicate all…



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Google Wallet now lets iOS users split the check

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After introducing recurring bank transfers and low balance alerts in its mobile apps, Google Wallet now lets iOS users split payments, reports Engadget. With the latest version of Google Wallet for iOS devices, you can just enter the amount you want to split and then list your contacts and their shares of the total. The app will then send a request to each user to settle up with you, with an optional reminder of the event or purchase that was spent on. This update also brings Touch ID support for logins, as well as the ability to see your loyalty…



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StuffGenie makes it easy to put your items into storage and get them anytime

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Everyone has too much stuff, right? Most of the time it’s too good to throw away, but there’s nowhere to keep it and sending things to storage is a hassle. StuffGenie, a new Hong Kong based company is hoping to bring that process into the smartphone age. The service allows you to order containers for your items, which are shipped to you overnight. Once packed, you add a title, description and upload pictures of your stuff online before sending them back. The company then puts your goods into humidity-controlled storage and you’re able to request items back from the company…



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Long-distance carsharing service Carpooling partners with Uber to boost its US launch today

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European ridesharing platform Carpooling.com has launched in the US, using the slightly shorter name Carpooling. The service allows users across America to travel together over long distances and split the costs of trips. With the Carpooling iOS and Android apps, users can post available seats when planning a trip, or search for a ride to join. Once you’ve found fellow passengers going in your direction, you can travel with them to save money and reduce your carbon footprint. Carpooling is also tying up with Uber in the US to provide door-to-door travel services: passengers can choose to be picked up…



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