OpenStreetMap just got a big boost thanks to Maps.me

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Russian internet company Mail.ru Group has announced that its Maps.me mapping app has been open-sourced, making it available for developers to freely embed maps in their own apps. Based on data from OpenStreetMap (OSM), Maps.me offers fully offline navigation, which the company says makes it ideal for use by humanitarian groups, activists and volunteers in rural areas of disasters or political conflict. Often, these are the least mapped areas of the world, and those with the worst infrastructure for providing connectivity; the company says OSM’s crowdsourced approach make it ideal for these under served places. And now that it’s open source, humanitarian organizations can modify…

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Foursquare now lets you make OpenTable reservations without leaving the app

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Foursquare has partnered with OpenTable since 2012 to make restaurant reservation times available for viewing, but today a small update will now allow users to book tables straight within the app. Before, when there were OpenTable options on a Foursquare listing, you were redirected to the mobile Web or another app. With today’s update, users can browse availability and reserve a table without leaving Foursquare. The app pulls in your name and phone number from your the Foursquare account to make booking fast and easy. Foursquare says the integration is powered by Button, a mobile startup that allows different apps to connect…

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BBC iPlayer starts move away from Flash for all devices

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The BBC is trialing delivering its streaming iPlayer services via an HTML5-based player, rather than the Flash player it has been using across many devices. The organisation has already been using HTML5 for streaming to iOS devices, but desktop users still got a Flash player by default. This is now changing though as the company reassesses the position that the benefits of Flash outweigh the move to HTML5. “We’ve been regularly evaluating the features offered by the most popular web browsers and we’re now confident we can achieve the playback quality you’d expect from the BBC without using a third-party…

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Comcast launches Watchable, its free cross-platform on-demand video service

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Comcast has launched Watchable, an ad-supported on-demand video service with over 150 shows spanning roughly 30 channels for the Web, iOS devices and the company’s X1 set-top box. The free service features content from the likes of Vice, BuzzFeed, GoPro, Fast Company, Machinima, Mashable, Mic Media, The Onion, Red Bull, Tastemade and Vox — many of which have never been traditionally distributed on TV networks. Watchable is available on the Web, iOS devices as well as Comcast’s X1 set-top box for TVs Will that be enough to help Comcast steal views away from YouTube and Facebook? Only time will tell.…

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ModiFace launches Shift photo editor for iOS as an art and teaching app

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ModiFace, which specializes in virtual and augmented reality for mobile apps, has launched Shift, a new photo effects app for the iPhone and iPad. The company, widely known for its apps targeting the beauty industry, is now using the photo-editing technology it developed to give users new ways to create distinctive visuals. Just upload an image from your photo album or take one directly in the app. Shift offers several overlay designs that you can use to create visual effects. After that, you can adjust the image’s brightness, contrast, color and detail. Once an image is finalized, it can be saved or shared to…

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Google Photos gets collaborative shared albums

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Screen Shot 2015-09-29 at 17.39.23
The rumors were true; Google Photos is getting a big update today. At its Nexus event today, Google announced the ability to share photo albums. The feature allows friends and families to collaborate on photo albums. Users can subscribe to albums and receive notifications anyone adds an image to the album. You can also send out invites for collaboration, as you would with Google Docs. Google’s also added the ability to label people on your albums. These labels can be customized too, so you can call your friends and families by nicknames if you prefer, such as ‘crazy uncle’ or…

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Google Play Music gets a $14.99 family plan

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At its Nexus event today, Google announced a new family plan for Google Play Music. As with Apple Music, it will support up to 6 family members, and will cost $14.99 a month. The service works across everyone’s devices in the household. Developing…








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OS X El Capitan review: The rock-solid update Yosemite (and iOS) needed

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Tomorrow, you’ll be prompted to update your Macbook or iMac from OS X Yosemite to El Capitan. An iterative update compared to Yosemite’s massive overhaul, El Cap still packs some solid features and performance upgrades I think you’ll be happy with. It also works seamlessly with iOS — something that may be more of an attractive reason to upgrade. Metal Apple’s graphics technology, first introduced at WWDC 2014, was originally seeded to boost iOS gaming. It’s now made its way to the Mac, and Apple says it will improve rendering times up to 50 percent across the board. Gaming or not,…

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Now you can use Skype on your Android Wear smartwatch

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Screen Shot 2015-09-29 at 13.41.35
Skype has released an update that allows you to make and receive calls and messages directly from an Android Wear device. The updated app lets you read and reply to new messages on your wrist using the voice-to-text feature, pre-written replies and even emoji by drawing on the watch face. You can take calls from your watch too, but it will transfer them to your phone so you have to connect a headset or speaker if you want to stay handsfree. Skype singled out the Moto 360, ASUS ZenWatch, LG Watch Urbane and the Huawei Watch as devices that are…

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