filters
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Facebook goes full Snapchat with filters and vanishing messages
Facebook has "borrowed" a lot of ideas from Snapchat lately, including the concept for Instagram Stories and Facebook Live selfie filters. In perhaps its most audacious move yet, the social network has started testing a new camera that lets you take selfies and videos with filters, effects and masks, which you can then share with friends in your News Feed. If nobody replies within 24 hours, they'll disappear.
Prisma's arty photo filters now work offline
There's a lot going on behind the curtain with Prisma, the app that turns your banal photos into Lichtenstein- or Van Gogh-esque artworks. The app actually sends your cat photo to its servers where a neural network does the complex transformation. Starting soon, that will no longer be necessary, though. "We have managed to implement neural networks to smartphones, which means users will no longer need an internet connection to turn their photos into art pieces," the company says. Only half of Prisma's styles will be available offline at first (16 total), but others will be added in the "near future."
Sky's adult broadband filters now on by default for new customers
Over the past year and a half, Sky has slowly rolled out adult broadband filters in a bid to help families "protect" younger members of the household from inappropriate content. A number of existing customers were the first to be asked whether they'd like to enable the company's "Broadband Shield," but as promised, those protections are rolling out to all new subscribers. As of today, Broadband Shield will be "automatically switched on the moment a new customer activates their Sky Broadband."
Snapchat's 'face-swap' now taps into your existing photos
Snapchat has scrapped its pay-to-replay feature, meaning repeat views of temporary videos and photos is now a free, one-time-only deal. Far, far more importantly, you can now swap your face with any visage that Snapchat auto-detects on your photo roll: no more attempting to awkwardly position your buddy in a photo, or point your phone at a laptop or magazine. Sure you can still do that, but why would you? The results are equal parts stupid and magical. Game changer.
Facebook nabs face-swapping app Masquerade to take on Snapchat
The face-swapping filter on Snapchat is getting plenty of use as of late, and Facebook is joining the fray as well. Zuckerberg & Co. bought the popular app Masquerade (MSQRD) that offers a similar feature. Masquerade's CEO Eugene Nevgen confirmed the move in a blog post, explaining that the company is going to "join forces with Facebook and bring the technology to even more people." Financial details weren't disclosed for the transaction that brings Facebook the technology to apply filters to videos.
Gmail can scan images to stop confidential data being leaked
Businesses do a lot to secure their operations, but often it just takes one rogue employee to send themselves confidential files and they're doomed. Google launched its Data Loss Prevention (DLP) service to help companies avoid such a calamity, and now it's getting even more powers to avoid data losses. With the update, Gmail will be able to scan documents with optical character recognition to make sure attached images don't contain sensitive information like social security numbers or passwords.
Snapchat lenses help you celebrate your birthday (or a pal's)
Social networks have made it way easier to remember friends' birthdays, and now they're trying to help us create less boring greetings. Facebook, for instance, just launched 15-second birthday videos, and now Snapchat has introduced a pair of "birthday party" lenses in its latest update. The first one works on your own special day, and let's you post confetti-laced greetings to friends or your own timeline (above). The other one works on a pal's birthday, and lets you double-tap to add a cake emoji to any greeting you send their way. The update should arrive today, but if you still find those too impersonal, you could always splurge on another new Snapchat feature: Custom geofilters.
Snapchat goes after the sports crowd with live score filters
If there's one key area where Snapchat could step its game up, it would be sports. And it looks like the social app's already doing something about that. According to TechCrunch, Snapchat has started rolling out a set of new geofilters called Live Score, which let users inside NBA arenas share pictures and videos with real-time score overlays. The feature's also said to work with "some other matches," but it's not clear what these are -- NFL or MLS, maybe? Either way, be sure to try it next time you're at a live sporting event.
Snapchat closes its lens filter store despite decent sales
You probably wouldn't give up hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue a month, but then you're not Snapchat. The social app will close down its popular lens store this Friday after opening it just a couple of months ago. As a reminder, with the camera in selfie mode, you can add a variety of free or 99 cent filters that make you a snowball target (above) or let you puke out rainbows, for example. The company will let you keep the lenses you've already bought, of course, and will eventually offer many of the paid lenses for free.
Sky to turn porn filters on for all new broadband customers
Soon, Sky's home broadband will come with its adult content blocker switched on by default. From the moment a new package is "activated," subscribers will find that the company's Broadband Shield is enabled with child-friendly settings. That means only sites suitable for 13-year-olds or younger will be accessible before 9pm, followed by anything compatible with its 18-rating thereafter. To change or turn off these settings, you'll need to dive into your MySky account and set your preferences manually.
Giphy Cam finally lets you make GIFs from videos
Giphy Cam, the app that lets you become a master GIFs-man (or woman, it doesn't discriminate) has just released its first major update. Before, users were only able to create GIFs using the native camera, either capturing 10 second full-motion clips or 5-shot bursts that are then stitched-together. Now users can import photos and videos from their camera rolls. What's more, people are able to trim their clips, apply more than one filter to the GIF and add text, giving their creations even more personality. Giphy Cam is still only available on iOS devices with no mention of when it'll cross platforms. In the meantime, Android users will have to rely on the Giphy bank of pre-made GIFs to express their animated points.
The makers of VSCO Cam unveil an Instagram-like app for GIF making
Let's face it: GIFs continue to be a popular way of expressing yourself, no matter how you'd argue the word is pronounced. There are a number of apps that'll help you make your own animations, and now the folks behind VSCO Cam are joining the fray, too. The company built DSCO: an iOS app that lets you easily capture a few seconds worth of footage to create the moving image. If you're familiar with VSCO, you know that its mobile photography app allows you to apply a number of presets to achieve the look you're after before beaming them to a social network, posting them to the company's own portal or just saving them to view later. The same is true with DSCO. Once you have the video, you can employ a number of filters, including a collection of presets developed alongside MTV and others, to put the finishing touches on that all-important GIF. You can then send it to the aforementioned spots for sharing or safe keeping. The app is a free download, but like we've already mentioned, it's only available on iOS.
Snapchat videos get slow-motion, fast-forward and rewind filters
Snapchat's focus of late has been on showcasing mainstream content, while simultaneously continuing to enhance its core business: quick-and-dirty pictures and videos. To make those even more entertaining, the Snapchat apps for iOS and Android are now getting slow-motion, fast-forward and rewind filters, which the startup is calling Speed Modifiers. Once you record a clip, all you have to do is swipe to try each one of them out. In addition to that, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users are getting something a little extra, with the application now supporting Apple's 3D Touch feature. Force pressing your home screen's Snapchat icon will give you easy access to two options: Chat With and Add Friends, both self-explanatory. It'll be interesting to see how creative people's snaps get with the new filters.
Giphy Cam wants to be the Instagram of GIFs
Everybody loves a good animated GIF but they're just such a pain to create from a mobile device. Or rather, they were a pain to create on mobile devices now that Giphy's new mobile camera app is available. The Giphy Cam is a free iOS app that allows users to create and share animated gifs as easily they do overproduced shots of their lunches.
Snapseed 2 delivers new tools and non-destructive photo edits
It's been a while since Google nabbed Snapseed developer Nik Software, and after a handful of updates, the second version of the photo-editing app is rolling out. There are a load of new features for both iOS and Android, including non-destructive editing. Thanks to Stacks, you can undo and re-edit any image, in addition to copying tweaks from one photo to another -- a feature we've seen in Adobe's iOS software. As far as added tools are concerned, Lens Blur, Tonal Contrast, Perspective Transform, and Spot Healing bring handy desktop editing to mobile. There's a new Brush tool too, allowing edits to be applied to only a certain part of an image. Last but certainly not least, a redesigned UI provides a major aesthetic upgrade over previous versions. If your trusty device hasn't alerted you to the update yet, or you're looking to try it for the first time, the latest version of the free app is available at Google Play and iTunes.
VSCO Cam adds batch editing for your mobile snapshots
Adobe delivered the ability to copy and paste edits to multiple images in Lightroom for iOS last month, and now you can do the same with VSCO Cam. With version 4.1 for iOS and 3.2 for Android, the preset-driven app adds a tool that will allow you place edits on multiple shots in your library with a few simple taps. If you're looking to give a dozen images from last weekend the same treatment, this is sure to make the task much easier. And if you mess up, there's a handy undo button to avoid any permanent blunders. Of course, VSCO Cam is free to use (unless you want to buy more presets, natch), while the aforementioned Adobe option requires a Creative Cloud subscription. Both the iOS and Android updates are available in iTunes and Google Play now, if you're feelin' the itch to take 'em a spin.
Sky will soon switch on adult broadband filters for indecisive customers
As part of David Cameron's plan to protect young internet users, broadband providers have been forced to offer an "unavoidable choice." This impels new subscribers to decide whether they want to enable or disable blocks on adult content. However, UK consumers have already highlighted their dislike for such filters, with only one in every seven customers letting the big four UK ISPs guard them from porn and the darker parts of the internet. One of those major providers, Sky, saw just eight percent of customers enable the option before July 2013, but that statistic could change drastically as part of new measures announced today.
The Daily Grind: Would you like community filters in your MMO?
I was browsing the Elite: Dangerous forums the other day when I came upon this ad for a PvE-only private group. It's a good idea in theory, as it's a way for a large, dedicated community to insulate themselves from griefers and other undesirables while still playing an online multiplayer title. I'm not sure if the functionality is a net positive for games with player-run economies and the like, but it's an interesting option for developers to consider going forward. What do you think, Massively readers? Would you like similarly large-scale ignore options and community filters in your MMO? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Instagram gives you more control over your photo filters
Instagram's photography thrives on filters, so it's only fair that you get as much control over those filters as possible, right? The developers clearly think so. An update rolling out today to Instagram's Android and iOS apps lets you reorganize and hide filters; if you're obsessed with Sutro's vignettes, you can bump it to the front. Each filter icon also shows a blurred preview of the effect on your photo, giving you a better sense of what will happen if you tap a given icon. There are five new filters (Aden, Crema, Ludwig, Perpetua and Slumber) available today as well, so you'll have plenty of excuses to check out the new interface when it reaches your phone.
Hangouts eavesdrops on your chats to offer 'smart suggestions'
Google's Hangouts is gaining a handy, but slightly creepy new feature today. The popular chat app will now act as a digital spy-slash-valet by eavesdropping on your conversations to offer "smart suggestions." For instance, if a pal asks "where are you?" it'll immediately prompt you to share your location, then open a map so you can pin it precisely. It'll also try to help if it detects certain other phrases in a conversation using artificial intelligence tech that Google recently purchased from a company called Emu. Google said the suggestions are "the start of something new," which may not reassure folks already concerned that it's a tad too invasive already. To be fair, though, it's not far from how Google currently monitors email and searches to deliver targeted ads.
