Mastodon servers are federated, similar to the way email is federated. While thousands of users hang out and talk about software development on Mastodon.technology, they can also follow and interact with cat lovers over on Toot.cat, the same way Gmail users can exchange messages with Outlook users. Continue reading Mastodon, the Twitter alternative, surpasses 2 million users
When the iPhone originally launched, it didn’t come with Apple Music. It didn’t even come with a “Music” app. That was years later. Early adopters who can remember that far back will tell you that it came with an iPod app. Which makes sense. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, the anticipation building up to the event was that Apple put a phone … Continue reading Apple Music: What’s in a Name? A Whole Damn Lot
With Apple about to enter its space, Spotify is hunkering down and spending money to shore itself up with the purchase of Seed Scientific. With a client list that included Audi, Unilever, the UN and Beats (pre-Apple buyout, Seed Scientific is an analytics company that will delve into how bands, listeners and brands interact with Spotify — and only Spotify. Possible uses for the data include … Continue reading Streaming Heats Up: Spotify Buys Big Data Firm Seed Scientific
In a post on its developer blog, Twitter announced it’s doing away with its 140 character limit on direct messages. The change will take place in July. The change in policy is speculated to be prompted by increasing competition from Facebook, which beefed up its own messaging capabilities. Twitter’s added changes to its DM functionality by allowing group messaging as well as allowing any user to … Continue reading Twitter Wants to be Your New Messaging App
Apple’s unveiled the possibility that ad blockers would be coming to mobile Safari, iOS’ browser, keeping with their WWDC keynote theme of advocating for consumer privacy. While ad-blockers are now fixtures on the browsers of power users, they’re not as widely used on mobile device — and until this year’s WWDC, they were unheard of on iPhones and iPad that weren’t jail broken. The new … Continue reading New iOS Developer Guidelines Point to Ad Blockers on Apple’s iPhones and iPads
Google previewed what next year’s devices are going to bring at its annual developer get-together, Google I/O. Though the company’s plate is full of projects like Chrome and the Chrome operating system, the keynote announcements concentrated on its most visible ecosystem — Android. Google Photos — Available now on Android, iOS and the web, Google Photos offers unlimited free storage for photos up to 16MP and … Continue reading Google I/O Roundup: Google Photos, Android Pay, Android M and More
The Periscope’s been praised for simplifying lifestreaming and for the two months it’s been out on on the iPhone, the internet’s discovered people really want to know what’s in a stranger’s refrigerator (sriracha and a distinct inability to cook, in my case) and a new and exciting way to get free cable (or at least, free pay-per-view). Android users can finally get in on the Perscoping … Continue reading Periscope makes its debut on Android
Despite purchasing Waze, Google hasn’t integrated traffic avoidance or warnings about potential road tie-ups into its official map app — until now. Google Maps now provides warnings about traffic and road conditions on primary and alternative routes before directions are given. In addition, the app will also let you know about traffic that’s ahead of them, how much time it will take to clear the … Continue reading Traffic Alerts, Alternate Routes are Live on Google Maps
Starbucks and tech. The two go together like cold pizza and bachelors. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, who did he prank call? There you go. But in this case, that association is not as great as the press makes it out to be. Take the news from Starbucks that criminals have been exploiting its rewards program and mobile phone app by ordering up gift … Continue reading Starbucks App Hacked
Secret was one of the first anonymous social networking apps that rode a wave popularity a year or two ago with Yik Yak, Whisper and others. But Secret’s secret was that it couldn’t sustain its growth after an initial rush of publicity and users. Today, the company’s CEO David Byttow announced that the company would be closing shop and try to find new jobs for … Continue reading Secret Winding Down Operations, Looks to Return Funding to Investors
