profiles
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Facebook's 'Professional Mode' lets creators monetize their own profile page
Facebook has launched a new professional mode for profiles that will let eligible creators earn money without the need to create a separate Page.
A security breach opened up access to a genealogy site’s DNA profiles
A security breach changed the permission settings on millions of profiles in GEDmatch, a DNA database used by genealogists.
Amazon Prime Video finally offers user profiles worldwide
Amazon Prime Video is finally adding user profiles to accounts worldwide.
Amazon Prime Video finally introduces viewer profiles
It might have taken years, but Amazon Prime Video is finally ready to offer something you might take for granted on Netflix and other services: multiple profiles for a single account. NDTV and XDA have noticed that you can now add five additional profiles to your Prime Video account on top of a primary default profile, including Kid's Profiles that restrict content to material suitable for children 12 and under. You no longer have to juggle your recommendations with those of your partner, or worry that your young ones will watch Hunters.
The FBI plans more social media surveillance
The FBI wants to gather more information from social media. Today, it issued a call for contracts for a new social media monitoring tool. According to a request-for-proposals (RFP), it's looking for an "early alerting tool" that would help it monitor terrorist groups, domestic threats, criminal activity and the like.
Twitter tweaks profiles in iOS app to emphasize names and bios
If you've glanced at your Twitter profile lately and noticed your follower number has shrunk (in terms of text size, at least), you're probably not just seeing things. That's because Twitter has tweaked how profiles appear in its iOS app to place more focus on names and bios. A spokesperson told Engadget the company reduced the font size and spacing on details such as follower and followed account numbers, locations, join dates, birthdays and mutual follows.
Hulu is finally rolling out individual streaming profiles (updated)
Sharing a streaming service account is convenient, but it also runs the risk of jacking up your queued shows and movies or those important recommendations. To help keep your personal list in order, Hulu is rolling out profiles for its subscribers. The new feature will allow you to divide your account with up to six different profiles that display a personalized masthead, home page, recommendations and Watchlist. In other words, one person's obsession with the likes of The Mindy Project won't wreck suggested options for someone who's more into shows like Designated Survivor.
Lyft's answer to rideshare safety is befriending your driver
While Uber is doing its best to make sure passengers feel safe with its drivers, Lyft just wants us all to be friends. Next week a new "Lyft profiles" feature is coming to the app that the company hopes will "humanize" the "ride experience," sparking conversations and connecting passengers and drivers in more meaningful ways.
Twitter profiles on Android look much better now
Twitter's mobile app has seen a fair bit of newness as of late, and its latest tweak brings the Android version's profile pages in line with iOS'. What's so different? Let's start at the top. Header images and avatar photos have gotten a bump in size for starters, and, what's more, the bio has its own bit of screen real-estate now instead of being a swipe to the left. Rather than only the three most recent tweets showing, now you can scroll through an infinite amount of a user's 140-character updates too -- same goes for photos and favorites.
Enter our 'In The City' sweepstakes and we'll fly you to NYC for Expand!
So there's this free Engadget Expand shindig happening November 7-8 at the Javits Center in New York City that you've probably heard about. We've announced a bunch of exciting speakers, including RJD2 and Arati Prabhakar (who heads up DARPA), and plenty more will be added soon. You're super pumped and can't wait to experience the future of technology, but don't live anywhere near NYC. What's someone like yourself to do?
Netflix for Android update brings support for individual profiles and queues, better search
Netflix rolled out support for multiple individual streaming profiles within a single account a few months ago, but until now its Android app has been among the platforms that still didn't recognize them. The new version 3.1.0 update rolling out tonight changes that, finally letting people filter out queues and suggestions from others using the same account like family members, significant others or annoying roommates. In our use it doesn't pop up the profile switcher by default, but it's accessible after selecting the current profile under the slide-out menu from the left (shown after the break). According to the changelog this new version also brings an enhanced search, with support for people and related titles. The latest version of the app should be available on Google Play now, but you'll still have to hit YouTube for the latest House of Cards trailer. Update: A post on Google+ points out that the new Android app also implements the Restricted Profiles feature from Jelly Bean. That means you can disable profile switching from the owner's profile, useful for keeping kids locked to their age-appropriate content (especially when streaming to the TV via Chromecast, for example) and not mucking up your carefully selected Being Human (UK) with Being Human (US).
Not every headshot will make it to PlayStation 4 profile pics
Oh, cruel fate! The PlayStation Camera – previously known as the PlayStation Eye – can't be used to create a PlayStation Network profile picture for the next-gen PlayStation 4. Although having your real name displayed is happening, the only way to pull real-world photos of yourself for the profile pic is through Facebook integration. We speculate it has to do with Facebook's anatomical detecting algorithms. For those who don't have a Facebook account (or don't want to use it), they'll have a selection of Sony avatars available, like things are now for PlayStation 3 and Vita. Also, if somebody wants to be your PSN friend, searching by your real name (even if you've selected to use your real name) won't be an option. To find you, they'll need your PSN ID. So, please try to keep it simple. You know who you are, xXxZOMGPUPPAYZxXx. [Image: Brian A Jackson via Shutterstock]
Netflix individual profile rollout brings up to five unique experiences per account
Netflix is finally ready to deliver individual profiles for its streaming service, meant to satisfy households with shared accounts by providing everyone their own settings, viewing history and (where available) queue. Profiles are coming to all Netflix regions starting today, but may take a couple of weeks to appear on every account as they roll out gradually. Device support will also take some time to hit everywhere even though most clients (the PS3 is shown above) are ready for profiles today. Two platforms not yet sorted are Android and the Nintendo Wii, where support will arrive "later in the fall" and in mid-August, respectively. Once the new feature is available however, it should be easy for users to access and setup, as we learned from Chief Produce Officer Neil Hunt that focusing on ease of use was the company's main priority. We've also had a chance to check it out ourselves, check after the break for a few more details and quick video preview.%Gallery-195163%
Facebook introduces verified Pages and Profiles
Taking a page out of the book of other social networks, Facebook is now making it possible to verify celebs and other high-profile people and companies. The feature, which consists of a small blue checkmark sitting next to their name, extends to Pages and Profiles of popular individuals and businesses, as a way to limit the confusion a reader may experience when trying to filter between real and fake accounts. It appears that Facebook is taking upon itself the duty of deciding who to verify, but it's still a good way to ensure that your favorite Engadget Facebook Page is manned by -- you know -- actual Engadget editors (nudge nudge, Mark!).
Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013
The current leader in subscription video streaming is Netflix, and today at its Las Vegas hotel suite we saw some of the technology it's planning to stay a step ahead of the competition this year. First up was one of the most widely requested features -- the ability to set up individual profiles for different family members, complete with their own queues and recommendations. The profiles can be set up on device or on the Netflix site, with toggles for a preference to its Just for Kids menu UI, as well as asking a bit about your preferred movies to seed initial recommendations. We also got an eyeful of the new "Super HD" 1080p streaming, and although network issues kept us from getting a true gauge of the quality, we did confirm that the new max bitrates are well above the old "X-High" standards. Another thing we confirmed? That Cablevision and Google Fiber aren't the only US ISPs on its Open Connect list -- check the site to see if yours is.There was also a screen in the Samsung booth showing "early results" of their combined work on 4K video, but since it wasn't actually streaming there's not much to see. Netflix was even showing off 3D streaming, and although we weren't able to confirm the type of compression being used (top/bottom, side by side or something else) we did watch it and it was mostly clear with only a few hints of ghosting. There are apparently several dozen 3D titles available to start, although customer reaction may dictate when/if more are added. The second screen experience we've seen on the PS3 was also shown working with Samsung TVs, in much the same manner. One thing that could make it better however, is the DIAL multiscreen initiative it's pushing with YouTube. If picked up as a standard, it would let you automatically launch these streaming services on a mobile device, and make them start playing on compatible TVs without having to launch the app on the TV first. Not enough good news? Netflix also announced a launch date for another original series, Hemlock Grove, which hits April 19th (trailer after the break), and dropped the news that we'll be getting 14 new eps of Arrested Development in May. We expect to hear a bit more about all of that later in 2013, but if you want a preview of the features we saw then just check out the gallery.
Amazon unveils Kindle FreeTime, gives kids their own space to play
Amazon just solved one of the bigger dilemmas for parents buying that new Kindle Fire HD -- how to keep the kids in a safe zone for content. It's introducing Kindle FreeTime, a special mode that makes it easier for younguns to navigate while letting the adults create separate profiles dictating what children can access and for how long. The filters are separated by media type, and Amazon even turns the background from black to blue to reassure parents by the glow of the screen on Junior's face. We'd call the parental control a long overdue feature, although we're sure Amazon also sees it as a chance to scoop up an extra Kindle Fire sale or two among families.%Gallery-164595% Follow the Amazon liveblog here!
A look at Apple's "all-star" executives
Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, and Steve Jobs are big names at Apple. These top executives are known around the technology industry and around the world for their operational excellence, marketing know-how, design genius and powerful reality distortion fields. While these four men often get credit for much of Apple's success, the company boasts an enviable collection of talented "chiefs" and senior vice presidents who help carve its skyward path. A new gallery from CNN Money takes a brief look at eleven of Apple's all-stars. For avid fans of Apple, some of the names mentioned in CNN Money's gallery may be familiar. But if you don't recognize names like Craig Federighi, Scott Forstall, Bob Mansfield, Ron Johnson, Peter Oppenheimer, Bruce Sewell, Jeff Williams, Eddy Cue, Katie Cotton, Dr. Guy "Bud" Tribble, or Greg Joswiak, this may be a good opportunity to brush up on the men and women who help shape one of the world's most successful companies.
Exchange users on iOS 4 need an updated config profile
The path to ActiveSync nirvana for iPhone 4/iOS 4 users has not run all that smooth over the past couple of weeks. There were dramatic slowdowns for Google Apps and Exchange users who tried to synchronize calendar and mail data, although matters improved after the first day or two. Worse, some Exchange administrators noticed a drag on their servers associated with the influx of iOS 4 devices. Not so hot. Good news, though: Apple has a suggested solution for these issues, and all it requires is downloading a new Exchange/ActiveSync configuration profile to your device (or, in the case of corporate deployments, scores of devices) and installing it. The new profile doesn't do much except extend the timeouts for contacting Exchange servers, but in this case that should get the job done. If you've experienced this issue (or tried the fixed profile), let us know. [hat tips to Engadget, Macworld]
WoW.com Profiles now support European characters
It took quite a bit longer than we'd expected, but it's here: WoW.com Profiles now have EU support. The app, add-on, and site itself have been updated to be able to keep track of European characters once they've been added to your account on the site, and you do that just as you see above. When you search for a character, you'll be given an option between searching the US and EU Armories. Choose the appropriate region and you're good to go.New and current users alike will probably want to get their hands on the latest version of our tracker package, which you can find in your WoW.com Profile settings page, along with your unique add-on key. If you're new to using the profiles portion of our site (as most of you in the EU are, I would assume), check out our Help page should you run into any issues. It will walk you through what profiles and the addon can do, and has solutions for most of the common problems. If you run into any problems those pages can't help you with, please let us know!
Wowhead releases character profiler
Wowhead has been promising a profiler system for quite some time (it's been under development for over two years, according to the site), and now it's finally here. Wowhead's profiler has pretty much every feature you might want from a modern profiling site, and fits right in to the excellent Wowhead interface. Armory import, 3D character view, gear sets, gear scores, upgrade search - it's all there. You can save your characters however you want, link them to your friends, check puggies, and so forth. It's just gone public, so bugs are to be expected. Report them to Wowhead if you find them; the Wowhead team is very responsive. New features are also in development, such as embeddable 3D widgets of your characters, or automatic comparison between items in the site database and a profile of your choice.
