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Epic accuses Apple of flouting court order by charging for external links on iOS apps
Epic Games has already accused Apple of "malicious compliance" with the EU's new competition laws, and now it's making the same allegation stateside.
Reddit makes easier to share and view linked posts on social media sites
Admitting that "we didn't make it easy to" share posts on other social media platforms, Reddit has announced that it's rolling out new features to do just that.
Google Drive security update could leave some file links broken
Google will add a resource key to Drive links generated for sharing.
Android 12 will force apps through the official share menu
With Android 12, Google will stop third-party apps from replacing the stock share dialog.
Facebook blocks users from sharing news links in Australia
Politicians are set to vote on a bill that would force tech giants to pay for content.
WhatsApp was exposing users' phone numbers in Google search
WhatsApp claims it fixed an issue that was showing users’ phone numbers in Google search results.
Firefox makes it easier to send links between VR and desktop
Firefox is making it a little easier to bounce between VR and real life. In a new update for Reality, Firefox has introduced the ability to send videos and tabs straight to your VR headset from your phone or desktop, and vice versa -- you'll be able to send tabs straight to your phone or desktop to access as soon as you take your headset off.
Instagram Direct doesn't care about your photo orientation
Instagram Direct debuted in 2013 as a way to send photos and videos, well, directly to your friends on the photo sharing service. The Facebook-owned company has added more features to the system over the intervening years, like threaded messaging, disappearing messages and live video. Instagram Direct's latest update adds two more features aimed at creating a more robust messaging service: non-square images and links.
Instagram adds Boomerang clips, mentions and links to Stories
Instagram has been making regular tweaks to its Stories feature since it debuted a few months ago. Today, the social network is adding a trio of tools to the collection of photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. First, you can now choose to use Boomerang to capture clips for Stories. All you have to do is swipe right from your feed to access the Stories camera. Under the record button there will be an option for Boomerang mode. Once selected, simply tap record to shoot the short burst of photos that will play forward and backward in your Story.
Facebook's Instant Articles are heading to its Messenger app
Facebook's fast-loading news stories have been around for a while now, but soon they'll make their way to the company's standalone chat app. Instant Articles will son be available inside Messenger. When someone shares a link with you, a lightning bolt icon will let you know that it's available as one of the quick-to-load stories. This means you won't have to wait for it to appear like a regular ol' web article. There are ads inside the Instant Articles and those will make the trip over to Messenger as well.
Ambush a friend's browser with this crazy Chrome extension
There's an insane new Chrome extension called "Shove" that we're sure nobody's going to misuse. As spotted by Wired, it lets you drop a web page onto your friend's browser, and vice-versa. Unlike skeevier apps like Peeple, however, it's strictly opt-in. Once both parties agree, they can open up links in each others' browsers anytime (seriously, there are no limitations) whether you want to see men in belted sweaters or not. Putting aside the off-the-charts security risks, I tried it with my UK colleague Matt Brian and it definitely works as advertised -- not only does it open a page up immediately, but it puts it front and center as the active tab.
Pocket invites you to try beta features, starting with recommendations
On the heels of last month's collaboration with Mozilla, Pocket has even more tools for you to try. In fact, the save-it-for-later repository wants you to test new features before they officially arrive in the app or on the web. Pocket's Beta Channel will give you a look at what the company has been working on and the chance to offer feedback. The program is available for Android, iOS and web versions of the software and there's already a new feature to put through its paces. First up for eager testers: recommendations. The tool puts a second feed next to the list of items you've chosen to stash, pulling in "top content from the billions of items saved to Pocket." The app then makes selections for you based on your reading habits so that the chances of you missing something good are drastically reduced. Recommendations is just the first feature that's coming to beta testers, so if you opt in, expect to see more new items soon.
Take-Two registers '2K Golf Links' domains
EA's Tiger Woods series may have some competition. It would appear Take-Two is preparing to tee off with a golf series of its own, Internet sleuth supererogatory discovered. A pair of Take-Two domain registrations for "Links2KGolf.com" and "2KGolfLinks.com" were recently made through a third-party company called Network Solutions. Now Take-Two could be making a brand-new series or the publisher may have acquired the rights to the Links series from Microsoft – supererogatory thinks it's the latter. We've followed up with Take-Two and Microsoft for clarification and will update this post accordingly.
Shifting Perspectives: Spring cleaning
Every week (sort of), WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. This Tuesday, the bookmarks folder gets the root cellar treatment. I've been away from the game since the holidays due to what I will politely refer to as technical difficulties. (I have a variety of impolite terms for it too, but this is a family blog.) During that time, I've watched the game from the sidelines and have grown bored enough to do some maintenance on stuff that usually gets ignored until I'm rooting through it in a hurry. Add-ons were updated, dead blog links were sent to their folder, interesting ones were added, and then I turned to my collection of bookmarks in order to prune there as well. I have a pretty sizable cache of druid or druid-related links that's grown over the years, and a lot of them are still pretty interesting. In the absence of the ability to talk about what's actually happening in the game with any fluency, I thought it might make a decent stopgap Shifting. This is a selection that's kept me absorbed for many an hour on a snowy weekend, and it ranges from comparisons between druid and warrior tanks in the classic game to where you fall on a healer's priority list when you're a jackass.
Twitter simplifies search for Android, iOS and mobile web users
Today, Twitter announced an update for its search features for Android, iOS and mobile web. Furthering the company's efforts for a more uniform user experience, the new updated adds a search button to the iPhone app, bringing it up to speed with its Android and iPad counterparts. Across the board users will be treated to improved search results for photos, tweets and accounts, along with a preview section for the Discover tab that takes a peek at the latest trends and activity. Wondering how all this magic works? Twitter's Engineering blog describes the process by which pieces of content are ranked and scored based on factors like "burstiness" to account for recent interest spikes. As for the Connect tab, it now defaults to Interactions, which displays new followers, mentions and retweets. However, if you're not looking to keep track of who quoted your recent product placement rant, you can change your settings to Mentions only. Finally, and perhaps our most favorite new addition is a change to how Twitter's mobile implementations handle links. You can now click a URL directly from your timeline without having to open the related tweet. The mobile site is already sporting the latest updates, but you'll need to update your iOS and Android (it's a manual update, thanks to a change in permissions) apps at their respective stores.
The Nexus Telegraph: A WildStar community roundup
Let's talk about WildStar. Do you want to? I'd reckon you do, considering that you're reading this now. A lot of people want to talk about it, after it showed up more or less from nowhere with a striking look, spectacular setting, and the promise of several interesting gameplay systems, all from a studio that looked from the outside to have been catatonic before this came riding onto the scene. The point is that WildStar is kind of a big deal. It's novel, it's exciting, and it's as different a take on the science-fiction genre as you could ask to have. Unfortunately, it's also still not released. But we've had a year of solid information to chew on, and as a result I'm happy to present the first installment of Massively's new column, The Nexus Telegraph. This week we're going to kick things off with a look at some important links, just to start things from a solid foundation... albeit a smaller one.
Ask Massively: Rules, sources, and buy-to-play MMOs
There are 4,001 words in the Massively style guide. The abbreviated version of the style guide. And that's without counting a few hundred emails detailing other rules that our writers must follow, plus English grammar and syntax, plus hand-me-downs from Captain Joystiq and peevish precepts imposed by a mean ol' editor-in-chief. Rules help us deliver a consistent product to you, the readership, and when we don't, you notice. Gamers follow a set of rules, too, when it comes to judging games. Indie games are judged less harshly than blockbuster developers. Overhyped games are held to a higher standard. Games with subs are cut less slack than freemium titles. You might not have codified all these little rules into a 4,001-word document, but they're rattling around your brain making decisions for you all the same. So let's talk about rules and how they apply to Massively's sources and buy-to-play MMOs like Guild Wars 2.
Google+ offers custom URLs for verified accounts, other profiles to come 'over time'
Do you happen to be David Beckham or Toyota? Well, congratulations -- you now have a Google+ vanity URL. The rest of us looking for the football star or car manufacturer need only type "google.com/+davidbeckham" or "google.com/+toyota" to reach those respective pages, enabling easy access to that must-see picture in front of a private jet, or a vehicle recall notice. Sadly, you're probably not eligible for a custom shortcut of your own -- here's the word from Google: At first, we're introducing custom URLs to a limited number of verified profiles and pages. But over time we plan to offer custom URLs to many more brands and individuals, so please stay tuned! So, for now, you better get comfy with "plus.google.com/108326689306432447266," or whatever the good Goog has granted.
Facebook's new Recommendations Bar pops up, just wants to be liked
Facebook's Recommendations Box sits passively on many websites, allowing us to engage or ignore as we see fit. But too much of the latter option has led to something slightly different: the new Recommendations Bar -- a pop-up variant which, when integrated by your favorite page, plugs site-specific links based on your friends' thumbs and shares. The Bar is similar to the in-house recommendation pop-ups we're all familiar with, but adds a like button for posting the current page to your timeline. It shouts much louder than the Box, so it's no surprise that in early tests the new plug-in produced a three-fold increase in click-throughs. In this case, privacy wasn't an afterthought -- Bar integration, like the Box, is at the site's discretion and sharing pages is very much on your terms. Just try not to accidently hit that like button during your daily scan of Bieber's homepage.
Apple rejects iBook with links to Amazon's store
This is just one specific case out of the many, many organizations and individuals publishing content on Apple's iBookstore, but it's an interesting call by Apple nevertheless. Seth Godin tried to publish a book of his through Apple's iBooks, but the content was rejected by Apple's system. Not because it was offensive in some way, but simply because it contained links to Amazon's booksore. These weren't even links to Godin's books -- they were simply links to reference books, but because they went out to a competing service, Apple pulled the plug. Before anyone starts yelling about censorship, keep in mind that this is Apple's playground, and it can take its ball home whenever it wants, no matter how inane the reason. But this reason seems particularly inane -- Apple can't really be worried about one link in a ebook promoting a competitor's sales, right? Not to mention that the book in question was a hardcover copy, and unless I'm mistaken, wasn't even sold on Apple's iBooks store anyway. Apple's staked a claim to be at the center of technology and creativity, and of course it's done plenty to cement a spot for itself there. But education and information are a key part of creativity, and if Apple is openly choosing to shut down certain purchases on its stores just for the petty reason of trying to keep one or two sales away from a (sort of) competitor, that's a mistake. [via AppAdvice]
