Facebook Messenger testing voice-to-text conversions

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Facebook is testing a new feature as part of its Messenger app that allows you to automatically convert voice messages into text. David Marcus, vice president of Messaging at Facebook, announced the tests in a post on the social network. “We already offer a feature that enables people to send voice clips to their friends without having to type out the text. Today we are starting to roll out a small test that helps people read the voice clips they receive instead of having to play them out loud,” Marcus wrote. He added that the test is only running at…



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This is what Google’s new Calendar app for iOS looks like

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Back in November last year, Google ushered in a fully revamped calendar app for Android devices with a promise of one day bringing the changes across to the iOS version too. Now, it appears that new version is nearly ready for the prime time, as one tipster has leaked us screenshots of how the new app currently looks. Just like the Android version, the iOS update seems like it’ll be adding photos and map info straight to your calendar, and the whole thing has been overhauled in the visual department. We’ll have to wait for a full release to find…



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Spotify gets a fresh lick of paint and new features on Windows Phone

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Spotify has today announced an update for its Windows Phone app that brings a new darker look to the music streaming service. Available to download now for Windows Phone 8 (or higher) users, there’s a darker overall theme, revamped typography and some smooth new rounded icons. The company said it isn’t just aesthetics behind the dark look – it allows content to ‘pop’, “just like in a cinema when you dim the lights.” Apart from the new look, Spotify has also added the ‘Your Music‘ and new ‘Browse’ features, first seen on other platforms in the second half of last…



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Uber’s Travis Kalanick promises 50,000 European jobs in 2015 if regulators play nice

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Speaking at this year’s DLD Conference in Munich, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick struck a conciliatory tone and promised the company would deliver 50,000 European jobs in 2015 if regulators and governments work with it. Uber has just partnered with Boston to share data and technology and Kalanick indicated hew wants to forge similar agreements in Europe. He said: “We want to make 2015 the year we establish a new partnership with EU cities. We want to promote core city functions through partnerships on data and technology.” He continued: “By the end of 2015, if we make these partnerships happen, we’ll…



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UK police arrest suspected Lizard Squad member over PlayStation and Xbox Live attacks

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Lizard Squad, the group that claimed responsibility for taking down the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live over Christmas, have been pursued relentlessly by law enforcement authorities ever since. UK police have made their latest arrest of a man they claim is a member of the group today. The operation focused on the denial of service attack of #Playstation #Xbox systems & ‘swatting’ offences in #USA #DDOSattack #psndown — SEROCU (@SouthEastROCU) January 16, 2015 The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) announced the arrest on its newly-created Twitter account. It cooperated with the FBI in the arrest of an 18-year-old…



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ClassDojo now helps teachers, parents and students communicate better

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ClassDojo, a teaching aid platform designed for use in schools, has today updated its core offering to include a range of new features and the ability to keep parents better informed of progress. Fully overhauled, the platform now provides a specifically tailored view for teachers, students and parents. For example, parents can view their child’s progress and message with teachers, teachers get a different view of their students progress (and contact with parents), and kids just get to track how well they are doing. As well as allowing text-based messaging between parents and teachers, the app also supports sending photo…



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Super-simple podcasting app Opinion comes to the iPad

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We were impressed when the oddly-named Opinion landed on the iPhone, with a simple approach to recording and editing podcasts on the go. Now, it’s gained iPad support. As with the iPhone version, Opinion for iPad lets you record snippets of audio and easily edit and rearrange them. It won’t let you get into layering in music and effects but as a mobile audio editing interface it’s better than anything else I’ve tried, allowing you to quickly get your recordings ready to share with the world. If you’re itching to get into podcasting this is a great first step. ➤…



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Google updates Maps mobile apps, brings direction sharing and better restaurant search

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Google just updated its Maps apps for iOS and Android, adding some neat new features to make them more useful when navigating around cities. The Android app now allows you to share directions via the system Share menu. So when you look up a destination, you can tap the menu button to send turn-by-turn textual directions to a contact via SMS or any other app. It also displays your Google contacts when you look up addresses. Both the iOS and Android app also have a new filter to help users look up restaurants by cuisine. In addition, iOS users can…



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Rdio brings its music streaming service to India

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Already available in 60 countries, Rdio has just launched in India. The streaming service offers more than 32 million songs in 43 languages, the largest catalog ever available in the country. Available via desktop browsers, Windows and on Android, iOS and Windows Phone, Rdio offers a programmed radio experience for free, and an on-demand subscription service with access to its entire library of music without ads, for $2 (Rs. 120) per month. The service features a wide range of tunes from Indian and international artists, as well as Bollywood movie soundtracks. Users can listen to stations based on artists, genres…



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Starlike app reveals your friends’ favorites

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Tired of your own social feeds? Wondering what your contacts are reading? AOL’s new app, Starlike, pulls all your contacts’ favorited tweets and liked items on Facebook and LinkedIn to give you a whole new stream of content to pore over. Once you’ve signed in with your social account, you’ll get a stream of your contacts’ favorite posts. From there you can fave, like and share them as well as Starlike items to keep in the app to read later. If you don’t like what you see from any user, simply tap their profile picture to mute their faved items.…



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