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Brazil freezes Facebook funds over WhatsApp evidence spat
A Brazilian court has frozen 19.5-million reals ($6-million) of Facebook's cash after the social network's messaging service, WhatsApp, failed to hand over data as part of a criminal investigation. Reuters reports that Brazilian law enforcement sought access to messages that could link drug smugglers from a number of recent raids. The court targeted Facebook Inc, as WhatsApp doesn't have any financial operations in the country.
Apple beefs up Messages with a slew of new features
Apple announced at its WWDC keynote today that it is drastically changing the way its Messages app operates. Don't worry -- that's a good thing. Users will now be able to add a bunch more context to their conversations beyond colorful language.
OS X update fixed 'simple' bug that could leak your iMessages
Researchers explained one large security hole in Apple's iMessage app that received a patch last month, but until now we didn't have details on another vulnerability fixed at the same time. By tricking users into clicking a specially-crafted link, hackers could gain access to the usually encrypted communications in OS X El Capitan's Messages. "You don't need a graduate degree in mathematics to exploit it, nor does it require advanced knowledge of memory management, shellcode or ROP chains," according to security researchers at Bishop Fox -- just knowledge of basic JavaScript.
Twitter adds DM share button to iOS and Android
If you're a fan of secretly sharing tweets with your friends via DM, today's your lucky day. The Twitter apps for iOS and Android are being updated with a dedicated Message button for quicker sharing.
Some iOS 9.3 users can't visit web links
As important an update as iOS 9.3 may be, it's clear that Apple still has to work out a few kinks. Some users are reporting that they can't open web links after the upgrade, whether it's in official apps (such as Mail, Messages and Safari) or, in some cases, third-party apps like Chrome. If you're affected, tapping a link either does nothing or triggers nasty crashes and freezes. Some users report having success by using other apps, toggling JavaScript off and on or uninstalling apps that use Safari extensions, but there don't appear any surefire fixes.
Send Facebook messages directly to businesses from ads
If you want contact someone running a Facebook Page, you can head over to that profile or rely on post comments. Now, the social network allows you to send messages directly to those businesses as soon as you see an ad. Page owners can opt for an ad's call to action to be a Send Message button that would allow you, a prospective customer, to contact them directly for more information. The feature also lets businesses and page admins respond directly (read: privately) to any comments left on a page. When they do, a note will appear in the thread letting other visitors know they're in contact.
Apple offers a quick workaround for nasty iOS messaging bug
We already know Apple is working on a fix for a recently discovered texting bug that can render your Messages app useless (and in some cases even reboot your phone), but now there's a faster solution for anyone affected. You just need to use Siri to read your unread messages and send a dictated reply, according to a support document Apple posted yesterday. After that, you'll be able to open the Messages app once again and delete the malicious thread. The messaging bug was originally uncovered by Reddit users, and it involves sending a note with a series of Unicode characters through any iPhone messaging app. Of course, this workaround is only a fix for people who already received one of the tainted messages -- you'll have to turn off notification previews for apps if you want to stay completely safe. It's unclear when Apple will deliver an update to solve the issue, but given how easy the bug is to exploit, we figure it's coming soon.
Xbox One April update arrives without voice messaging
We hope you weren't banking on the Xbox One's promised voice messaging feature to set up matches and gloat over victories. Microsoft has released the console's April update, but voice messaging has been yanked from the finished release (it's still available to preview users) due to "feedback" from testers -- in other words, it's just not ready for prime time. Dedicated party chat servers will have to wait, too. While there are still some useful additions, such as detailed achievement notifications, game hub links and wider access to the "What's On" hub, you'll likely have to wait at least a month for the upgrade's former tentpole feature.
Xbox One is finally getting voice messages
Among the many improvements of moving to a new console generation, the Xbox One left a few features from the Xbox 360 behind. Now, Microsoft is testing a preview for its April update that brings back one of the most requested features: voice messages. As annoying as voicemail can be on a phone, simply saying a quick message while trying to coordinate a raid in Destiny can often be faster than typing it with a controller or even the SmartGlass app. One more bonus? The voice messages will work across Xbox One and Xbox 360. The software update with the feature is already available to preview members, check after the break for more details and a demo video.
Group Text+ and Email+: New from developer Contrast
Developer Contrast today delivered two new iOS apps to the App Store, Group Text+ (US$1.99 during launch) and Email+ ($2.99). The idea behind these new apps? In the case of Group Text+, making it fast and easy to send SMS or iMessage texts to a group of recipients. For Email+, it's all about sending emails quickly to groups with a few taps. Both apps are equally happy to be used on an iPhone or iPad. The apps look identical -- in fact, Contrast originally set out to put both functions, email and group texts, into one app. The company quickly found out that doing so added a lot of unnecessary complexity to the code and the user interface, so they split the functionality into two separate apps. Before you do anything in either app, you'll want to add contacts, which is done by giving Group Text+ and Email+ access to your Contacts. You can then pick and choose; I chose just my fellow TUAWers for testing purposes. If they have a photo associated with their contact card, it appears in a circular button in a list of contacts. Now comes the fun part! To prepare a message to send, you can start by tapping on one or more of those contact buttons to select the recipient(s). Next, attach an image if you want. Contrast did the entire world a favor by adding a GIF button that links to a number of animated GIFs from Giphy. You can, of course, add photos that you've taken. Once you've added an image, you can add text. There are preset buttons in Group Text+ for sending your current location, the contents of your clipboard, and text snippets like "Where are you?", "I'm on my way" and "I'm running late." If you want to create your own text snippets, one edit button at the top of the Group Text+ not only lets you add or delete text, but also gives you access for editing your contacts. The app is indeed fast once everything is set up -- I sent fellow TUAWer Dave Caolo my current location (right behind my desk, where I always am...) with four taps, and annoyed the team with a stream of GIFs just as quickly. One iOS 8 feature that I really like with both of these apps is that they can be used as extensions from the share sheet in other apps. This makes it drop-dead simple to send a group or several individuals in your contact list a Safari URL, for example. Both apps, which will be available as an app bundle for $3.99 in the near future, make sending out messages to groups fast and easy. You can choose Email+ if you'd like to avoid sending texts, Group Text+ if that's the way you roll, or both for whatever suits the occasion. Contrast, which also produces apps like Launch Center Pro and Perfect Weather, continues to lead the way in terms of easy-to-use app user interfaces.
Whatsapp's read receipts finally work the way you thought they did
Chances are, you've been interpreting Whatsapp wrong this entire time. Most people look at their sent messages, see those double green checkmarks, and assume those missives have been read by their recipients. Not quite! Those only indicate that they've reached the pal in question, but the Facebook subsidiary finally changed those checks to work the way you thought they did. According to a newly updated tidbit in Whatsapp's FAQ, you'll be greeted by a pair of blue checkmarks on your message when the recipient finally gets around to opening it. It's a minor, if terribly useful addition to the mix -- now that that's out of the way, the team might want to spend a little team seeing how it can make the service a bit more secure.
Printer for self-destructing photos brings Snapchat to real life
Normally, you print things out to get a permanent copy. Not with Diego Trujillo Pisanty's new printer, however. His This Tape Will Self-Destruct art project coats its printouts (in this case, Cold War pictures) with glycerol and potassium salt, triggering an exothermic reaction that burns the paper within moments after you read it. Think of it as a real-world Snapchat where photos literally disappear in a puff of smoke.
A Swiss designer built a machine that sends messages by balloon
The practice of sending messages in bottles (or other floating vessels) has been used to determine the flow of oceans and relay military information. Of course, folks also use the method to serendipitously send correspondence to whoever should stumble upon it. The same principle applied to a contest that designer David Colombini entered as a young lad. With the goal of seeing whose balloon would travel farthest, he and other children released them, and Colombini's made it from Switzerland to Austria. Now, he's made Attachment: a student project that accepts messages from a website, attaches them to biodegradable balloons and floats them off "haphazardly to a potential recipient."
iOS 8 is here! Read our complete guide to Apple's new mobile OS
Over the past several weeks, TUAW bloggers have been trying out all of the new features in iOS 8 to see how they work and how they'll make your mobile life easier. Now that iOS 8 is officially available, here's a list of all of our detailed write-ups of the new features. While you're waiting for iOS 8 to download and install on your favorite device, take some time to read through our guide to most of the top new features of the mobile operating system. We felt it was a much better idea to give you bite-sized and palatable chunks rather than a 21,000-word review of everything in the new OS. Feel free to bookmark this page for future reference, and be sure to share it with your iPhone-toting friends. We'll be adding more individual feature reviews shortly. Upgrading A list of which iPhones, iPods, and iPads are eligible to upgrade to iOS 8 PSA: Do not upgrade to iCloud Drive during iOS 8 installation PSA: iOS 8 is going to make your iPhone 4s a good bit slower Warning: Dropbox isn't playing well with iOS 8 Photos iOS 8 Photos app: Smart suggestions and searching iOS 8 Camera app: Smart Composition iOS 8 Camera app: Smart Adjustments iOS 8 Camera app: Time-Lapse iOS 8 Camera app: Photo filters and editing You have to delete your photos twice in iOS 8 Messages A new iOS 8 Messages app feature: Audio messages iOS 8 Messages app feature: Video messages iOS 8 Messages app feature: Sending and sharing your location Mail iOS 8 Mail: Drafts and notifications iOS 8 Mail: New swipe gestures General iOS 8's Favorites & Recents: A fast way to get in touch iOS 8: Hey Siri! Setting up two-step verification for Apple ID and iCloud security A look at iOS 8's new QuickType feature The iOS 8 Health app: What can you do with it today?
iOS 8 Messages app feature: Sending and sharing your location
iOS 8 is getting closer every day. For those of us who have been using the developer betas for the past several months, it's been fun to see the glitches being worked out, watch performance getting better, and to start making use of the new features. Over the past several days we've looked at the new iOS 8 Messages app features, which include both audio and video messages that you can record and send with simple gestures. Now let's look at another feature of Messages -- the ability to share your location with others. When you're in a conversation with one or more people in iOS 8 Messages, you may decide to share your location. It's fast and easy to do! At the top of the conversation screen, just to the right of the name or address of the person or group you're conversing with, you'll find a Details link. Tap on it, and part way down on the Details page you'll find two more links -- Send My Current Location and Share My Location. The first time you tap one of these, you'll be asked if you wish to allow Messages to access your location while you use the app. You'll have to tap Allow in order to send your location. Tapping Send My Current Location sends a short visual message showing a thumbnail map with a pin highlighting your current whereabouts. The recipient can tap on that thumbnail to open Maps and view more detailed information about the location or get directions to there. Share My Location is a bit different. Tapping on this link displays a pop-up with four different choices: Share for One Hour, Share Until End of Day, Share Indefinitely, or Cancel. What's nice about this is that you can share your location for a very short amount of time -- perfect for those situations where you want someone to join you, but not necessarily to know where you are all the time -- or share your location all the time. The latter situation might be useful for parents who want a location for their kids at all times. Before you use Share My Location, you'll need to enable the capability in Settings > iCloud > Share My Location. Now when you choose Share My Location, no message is actually sent. Instead, if the recipient of your message taps the Details link, they see a map showing a little face icon at your location. Think of it as "Find My Friends", but through Messages -- an app that most people use. Sending your location to a friend using an iOS 7 device works as well -- they'll receive the same map thumbnail along with the nifty link to the Maps app. However, on a Mac running OS X Mavericks, they'll see just the thumbnail map with a pin in it. It's even more strange in OS X Yosemite Developer Beta 7 -- it sends a contact card with your location and does not display the map. I guess that's why they call it a beta...
iOS 8 Messages app feature: Video messages
Yesterday we showed you one of the fun new features of the iOS 8 Messages app -- Audio messages. But did you know that iOS 8 also brings you video messages? It's even more fun, and potentially more useful. To quickly send a fast video message to a friend or associate, launch the Messages app and tap the New Message button. On the left side of the edit field where you normally enter your text message -- and on the opposite side from the microphone button we talked about yesterday -- you'll find a camera button. First, add a recipient to the "To:" field at the top of the message. Now all you need to do is tap and hold that camera button. Initially, the Messages app assumes that you wish to send a message from yourself, so it uses the front-facing camera. As with the regular Camera app, there's a button shaped like a camera with a pair of circling arrows in it -- tap that to switch to the rear-facing camera instead. Similar the Audio message feature, a quarter-circle user interface appears in the lower left corner of the Messages app. On it are three buttons -- a red one that you tap to start and stop recording your video, a camera button if you just want to take a still shot instead, and an X button for canceling the entire process. When you're done recording your video, you can either tap the play button that replaces the record button to review what you've just done, tap the X to delete the recorded video, or use that arrow button to send it to your recipient. In order to keep from filling up your iPhone or iPad with these little videos and audio snippets, the Messages app deletes them from the sender's phone after a preset amount of time. If you wish to keep the video or audio snippet, there's a small "Keep" link that appears below your sent video that makes sure it doesn't disappear. Note that if you'd prefer to save the video (either as a sender or recipient), you can just tap and hold the video snippet to make a pop-up menu appear, then select Save. That stores the video in the Photos app. So, do the video messages show up on iOS 7 devices, and are they viewable? The answer to both questions is yes. iOS 7 users will need to wait until they upgrade to iOS 8 before they'll be able to swap obnoxious video messages with you with a few taps. Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW over the next few weeks as we dive deep into the new features of iOS 8.
A new iOS 8 Messages app feature: Audio messages
One of the features you're going to love in iOS 8 will keep you from doing a lot of typing or dictation to get your messages across, and that's the new audio messages capability in the Messages app. After launching the new Messages app and tapping the New Message button, the first obvious sign that something is new is the little microphone button next to where you'd normally type in your text. You still have the microphone key on the keyboard for doing Siri dictation of messages, but this is different -- it's what you'll use to record and send an audio message. To record and send one of these messages really takes only a thumb or one finger. Tap and hold the microphone button to record the message, then swipe up to send it to your recipient. These gestures are done in a semi-circular interface that appears on the screen (see screenshot at right). If you want to listen to the message before it's sent, all you need to do is tap on the Play button that appears in that circle, and you'll hear what you just recorded. At this point, there's no way to edit the messages -- if you goof up while recording, your only recourse is to delete the recording by tapping an X in the interface, then re-recording the message. Once you receive an audio message, listening to it is a piece of cake -- you just tap on the play button in the message bubble to have it played back. Recipients also get a "raise to listen" option, where raising the phone to your ear will play back the audio message. In testing, the audio messages were perfectly playable on iOS 7 devices, so if your friends or loved ones are a bit hesitant to upgrade their devices, that shouldn't be an issue. Of course, they won't be able to respond to you with an audio message until they update to iOS 8... Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW over the next few weeks as we cover many of the new features of iOS 8.
iOS 8 real time voice-to-text feature looks incredible
One of the downsides of using iOS' dictation feature for taking notes is having to wait until your note is done to see that your message was accurately transcribed. While iOS 7 features real-time transcription in Siri, the feature has yet to make it to iOS messaging. That's going to change with iOS 8. In the recently released Beta 4 for iOS 8, Apple debuted its new voice-to-text feature that allows you to see your message in real time as it's being transcribed. You can see the feature below in this video from MacRumors. Overall, this should lead to an easier to use and less frustrating dictation experience on iOS devices. Fewer errors means less time spent on editing your messages, one of the few things that currently makes dictation slower than typing on your phone. With Apple's push for CarPlay ramping up as more cars become compatible, improving voice dictation for messaging could help the company out in the long run, especially as more states outlaw texting while driving.
OS X Yosemite will let you answer calls to your iPhone from your Mac
As part of OS X Yosemite's focus on creating a more seamless experience between your Mac and iOS devices, Apple's updating iMessage to keep conversations going. Now, it's not just instant messages from other Apple devices that show up on the desktop app, but also texts and multimedia that've been sent from other platforms (texts from your friends' Android devices, for example). Oh, and you can now make and take regular phone calls from your Mac when your iPhone is in range. As part of the new "Handoff" feature that means your computer and iDevice know exactly what the other is doing, a call to your phone will trigger a pop-up asking if you want to answer right from your computer. It works the other way around, as well, so you can make calls without touching your phone. And, what better way to show off the new feature than to call Dr. Dre live on stage? Show-offs.
Mac 101: Send a message with a screen grab quickly through OS X Notification Center
OS X's Notification Center is great for receiving incoming alerts, but you also can use the panel to compose a quick message and send it via the Messages app. Even more useful is the ability to add a screen grab right along with your text, making it perfect for those "you gotta see this" moments. To use Notification Center to pen quick messages, you need to enable the feature by opening System Preferences > Notifications and then selecting the "Share Button" option in the left-hand column. Make sure the checkbox next to "Show share button in Notification Center" is selected as shown above. Once the share button option is enabled, you can open Notification Center by clicking on the icon in the top right-hand corner of the menu bar. You now should see a box at the top with the label "Messages" as shown below. If you don't see the Messages option, you may have to drag down on the Notifications pane, which is the same gesture you use to expose the "Do Not Disturb" option in OS X. When you see the Messages icon, you can click on it to open a small message composition box where you can enter the recipient's contact information and your message. The contact information is pulled from your OS X address book so you can easily type in a few letters of a person's name and OS X will list the compatible address book entries. Just click on the address book entry you want to use. Type in your message, and when you have finished composing it, you can send it along by clicking the "Send" button. One useful option in this quick messaging is the ability to add a screen grab to an outgoing message. Follow the steps above to create a new message, add a recipient and type in your text. Before you hit send, right-click (or control-click, or two-finger click on a trackpad) on the text entry box to open the contextual menu. At the bottom of this contextual menu is an option to "Capture Selection From Screen," which provides you with the ability to select a region of your screen that you want to embed into your message. To add the screen grab, just select the "Capture Selection From Screen" option, use the crosshairs to select the area you want to capture and wait a few seconds for OS X to do its thing. Depending on what you are capturing, you may have to size up the windows in advance so your content appears on the screen when notifications is open, Once you select the region of the screen you want to capture, the screen grab will appear in your message and you can send it along by pressing the send button.
