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Google unveils new features and tools to support local news
Google has unveiled new tools and features for both readers and reporters designed to aid local news organizations.
Facebook may combine your News Feed and Stories into one carousel
It looks like Facebook may be testing a way to combine your News Feed and Stories into one swipeable, hybrid carousel. On Twitter this morning, Jane Manchun Wong -- a software engineer who's spotted changes like Twitter's "subscribe to conversation" button -- reported that Facebook is demoing the new format. The GIF Wong shared shows her News Feed in a Stories-like carousel.
Snapchat launches its first Lens that reacts to sound
Snapchat has quite a few intriguing Lenses you can play with, including its body-tracking ones that can follow you around and its majestic sky whale Lens that uses sky segmentation technology. Now, it has rolled out the first ever Lens that reacts not just to what it sees, but also to what it hears. The ephemeral messaging app has just added the first Lens that reacts to sound to its carousel. It's a cute animal mask overlay for your face, with ears that pulse and glow and eyes that move based on the sounds it hears. While perhaps not as awe-inspiring as the sky whale, Snapchat says it's just the first of many: the company plans to launch more Lenses that react to sounds over the coming weeks.
Google's speeding up mobile web search results for all sites
The time you spend waiting for mobile search results to load is about to drop drastically. Google announced on Tuesday that it is expanding the scope of its Accelerated Mobile Pages program to include non-publishing websites.
Everything you love will die, especially in tech
A little over a year ago, Microsoft bought beloved calendar app Sunrise. For the past 14 months or so, things have been more or less business as usual ... at least for customers. But this week, the other shoe finally dropped: Aug. 31st will be the last day Sunrise exists as a standalone app. Sure, you could use Outlook, which by now shares some of the same DNA, but it'll never be the same. Indeed, some of us here at Engadget are pretty heartbroken about it. Which got us thinking about all of the other apps and services we loved and relied on that ended up being unceremoniously shuttered.
Dropbox is killing its Carousel and Mailbox apps
Dropbox expanded its product lineup significantly last year with the launch of its Carousel photo management product and its acquisition of the formerly-excellent Mailbox email app that originally launched for the iPhone. Unfortunately, both products are dead: the company just announced it is putting both Carousel and Mailbox out to pasture soon because it is focusing more on the collaboration and sharing features (like the new Paper app) that we've heard so much about in recent months. Mailbox will shut down on February 26th of next year, while Carousel will follow a few months later on March 31st.
Dropbox's Carousel app now frees up phone storage for you
Let's say you're about to shoot a video of your child's first steps. You launch the camera app on your phone and you're all set to hit record... but wait, what's this? A message pops up on your phone that says there's not enough available storage. Frantically, you head back to your camera roll, delete a bunch of photos you hope you won't need and rush back to the camera app, praying that you made enough room to capture Junior's momentous occasion. It's a situation that's all too familiar for those of us with limited space on our phones. Fortunately, however, there might be a solution to that, courtesy of a new feature arriving on Dropbox's Carousel app starting today: the ability to free up space on your phone with just a single tap.
Dropbox's Carousel will offer to delete local photos you've backed up
The photo backup features in mobile apps like Dropbox's Carousel and Google+ are there partly to take the load off of your phone -- you don't have to keep every shot close at hand. Wouldn't it be nice if the software got rid of local images when they're merely taking up space? Apparently, it will soon. Dropbox is giving some Carousel users a "sneak peek" at a feature that offers to scrap local photos (after they've been backed up, of course) when your device storage is almost full. It's a simple gesture, but it could save you some time; you won't have to fret over which pictures to delete just to make sure you can snap a few new ones. We've reached out to Dropbox to get an inkling of when this feature will be available to everyone, and we'll let you know if it can provide a timetable.
Dropbox Carousel comes to iPad and web today, Android tablets soon
Ever since the first cloud storage services hit the web, they've been a prime destination for thousands upon thousands of uploaded photos. Unfortunately, many of those services don't have polished user interfaces that allow for easy viewing and sharing -- unless you're just a big fan of file manager-esque folders and list views. In April, Dropbox debuted Carousel, an app that seeks to solve that problem by grouping your images together by date and letting you scroll through endless years of photos and sharing your favorites with friends and family. The service was only offered on iPhones and Android smartphones until today, when Dropbox announced that it's now available for iPads and the web, with support for Android tablets coming in the coming weeks.
Dropbox bolsters Carousel, eyes collaborative docs with startup purchases
Dropbox just debuted its Carousel photo management app last week, and it's already making strides to boost the software's storage chops. Today, the cloud-minded outfit acquired Loom: a photo storage service that became a popular alternative to Everpix and Apple's iCloud Photo Stream. The snapshot organizer provides users with the ability to automatically upload images from multiple sources (or folders) to a single repository, accessible from both mobile devices and a desktop browser. Of course, it synced over cellular and not just WiFi as well. Loom allows better organization and sharing than the first iteration of Carousel does, too. Dropbox's increased emphasis on captured imagery is already quite clear, but the company has other plans too.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for April 9, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Dropbox launches Carousel and expands Dropbox for Business
Dropbox wants to be the go-to source for sharing videos and photos online, and their new app seeks to make that familiar task even easier. Today the company launched Carousel, a fast new photo and video sharing app that allows users to quickly sort and find visual media files in their archives. Rather than having to search through folders for the image you want Carousel allows you to quickly view the files themselves. Images stored via Carousel can be shared a number of ways, whether the recipient has Dropbox or not, including via email or even a phone number. Carousel can store as many files as you have space for with your Dropbox plan. Here's Carousel's launch video, which makes some intriguing promises regarding the speed of pulling up and finding media. You can download the iOS app here. The company also announced that its enterprise-styled Dropbox for Business service is now open to all users. According to Dropbox, the service allows users to link their personal and business accounts to be managed in one neat area. Users with the service are given two separate folders, one for personal use and one for work. This lets you quickly and easily switch between your personal and work files on any of your mobile devices. Below is a video Dropbox produced to explain all the benefits of Dropbox for Business. The news comes alongside the announcement that the company now has 275 million users, up from 200 million this past November.
Dropbox's Carousel organizes your lifelong memories in one app
It's not every day that a company shows off literal vacation slides as part of a press event, but Dropbox did it today as a way to introduce Carousel. It's an app for both iOS and Android that takes your photos from your Dropbox account and organizes them by time, date and event, and any new photos that you take on your phone will automatically backup to the cloud. You'll also be able to not only share all of your precious memories with family and friends, those same people can return the favor and share some of their pics and vids so you can add it to your personal deck of digital slides. The new app will be available on both platforms today for free. When we asked company reps about desktop and other mobile platforms, we were told that Dropbox is a multi-platform service, hinting that we can expect expansion further down the road without actually giving a specific time frame.
Google brings carousel layout to local search results on the desktop
Google users may have already spotted the carousel design on search results while browsing on Nexus slates or the iPad, but, as of today, you can also expect this layout to show up on the desktop version of the site. Essentially, this new feature blends results in a much sleeker way, allowing you to view what you're looking for (hotels, bars, etc.) in more presentable fashion and in congregation with Google Maps. The only caveat is that it's only available in the US and in English at the moment, however the search giant did say we can expect "more features and languages over time."
Adobe Carousel rebranded as Revel, 'additional photography solutions' promised
It's just been a few months since it was announced, but Adobe's Carousel photo service / app has now already seen its first big change. The company announced last night that Adobe Carousel is now known as Adobe Revel, a name that it says is designed to better accommodate "additional photography solutions" and other new functionality it has planned for the platform. Alongside the name change comes version 1.1 of the Revel app, which addresses a number of minor issues, and adds photo sharing with Flickr, as well as the ability to automatically import photos from your iPhone or iPad's Camera Roll.
Adobe rolls out cloud-based Carousel photo service for Apple devices
Looking for another way to store your photos that doesn't involve a shoebox in your closet or a hard drive on your desk? Then you now also have Adobe's new cloud-based Carousel service to consider, which will initially come in the form of apps for iOS and Mac OS X Lion later this month (support for Windows and Android is apparently coming next year). The real selling point here is that your photos are instantly synced across said devices (and you can edit them on each), although that convenience comes at a cost -- the apps themselves are free but you'll be charged $60 a year or $6 per month until January, and $100 a year or $10 a month after that. Video is after the break.
Adobe Carousel uploads, syncs photos with Apple devices
Adobe plans to launch a new app and service for Apple devices called Carousel. The service will allow users to automatically upload, store, and sync photos from multiple devices, create galleries, and perform non-destructive editing on photos by keeping originals stored on Adobe's servers. With the exception of the non-destructive editing feature, Carousel sounds similar to Apple's existing MobileMe Gallery and pending iCloud Photo Stream features. Crave reports that the service has some potentially hamstringing restrictions as well: users are limited to only five Carousels and can share each with only four other people, viewing Carousels requires downloading the app first, and the service only works on iPads, iPhone 3GS or later, the fourth-generation iPod touch, and Macs running OS X Lion. Windows and Android users need not apply, at least for now. Since this is Adobe, the service also comes with a hefty price tag. After a 30-day free trial, the service costs US$5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. After January, however, the price will rise to $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Granted, that is for "unlimited" photo storage, while iCloud's free Photo Stream will store only your latest 1000 photos. However, even as someone with close to 100 GB of photos lurking on the various hard drives scattered through my house, Carousel's limited audience and high price has put me off. Professional photographers with huge libraries might want to give Carousel a go, but beyond that it's hard to see the service gaining much traction. Carousel should be available in the App Store later this month. Once it's available, we'll take a look at it and see if it lives up to its price.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Carousel
Carousel from Mobelux isn't the first Instagram client for the Mac, but it is one of the most elegant. The program culls your Instagram feed and streams these images to your desktop in a gorgeous UI that resembles an old-fashioned photo album. Three buttons along the bottom toggle your view among current favorites, your feed and your photos. On each image, you select a person's avatar to see their profile, like the image by clicking on a heart or add a comment by clicking on the word bubble. You can save images by dragging them to iPhoto or saving through the drop-down menu. Carousel features a number of keyboard shortcuts that expands usability of the app, but you can only view pictures, not upload them from your Mac. You also can't search for other Instagram users, photos or tags at this point, which is a drawback. You'll have to do this all from your iPhone. You also can't resize the window below a certain point, which means it takes up a good chunk of smaller screens, such as on a MacBook Air. But, Carousal does a brilliant job at displaying the best that Instagram has to offer. It reminds me that I clearly don't use the app enough, and it's amazing to go through the popular feed and see the gorgeous photography people have shot using Instagram. Carousel is US$4.99 through the Mac App Store or Mobelux's website. They also have a free 15-day trial through the website.
The WoW Player's Guide to Star Trek Online
Massively has been covering Star Trek Online extensively, and we've complied a guide for all the WoW players out there looking to get into the game. As a WoW player, you'll find numerous similarities and be comfortable with the controls overall. Nothing is too terrible different from WoW, especially if you're used to vehicle combat, and players transitioning to the game (even for a quick evaluation) should have an easy time. Read on for the WoW Player's Guide to Star Trek Online, and don't forget to check out Massively's Star Trek Online page for everything related to STO.
