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Google's defense against anti-trust claims: 'we're open'
Google has a response for the European Commission's anti-trust allegations. In a lengthy blog post, the tech juggernaut addressed the EC's concerns point by point. That starts with the EC's stance that Android isn't in competition with Apple's iOS mobile operating system, and Google citing the Commission's own research that 89 percent of survey respondents feel that the two are competitors. That last bit is a recurring theme, with Google pointing toward the survey responses for the EC's stance on Android's "stable and consistent framework" across devices as well. In perhaps the most poignant response, Google made a GIF that illustrates how many apps are typically pre-installed/bundled on Android devices versus the competition -- something the EC directly called out. By Mountain View's count, of the Samsung Galaxy S7 with Android 6.0.1's 38 pre-installed apps, only 11 were from Google. Contrast that with 39 out of 47 on the Lumia 550 from Microsoft and 39 out of 39 from Apple on the iPhone 7 running iOS 10.0.2. "Android hasn't hurt competition, it's expanded it," Google's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker said in a statement. "Android is the most flexibe mobile platform out there, balancing the needs of thousands of manufacturers and operators, millions of app developers and more than a billion consumers. "Upsetting this balance would raise prices and hamper innovation, choice and competition. That wouldn't just be a bad outcome for us. It would be a bad outcome for the entire ecosystem, and -- most critically -- for consumers." And with that, the battle moves onward. Maybe the EC's stance won't leak ahead of the next round. Maybe.
Vevo lets you make GIFs from its massive music video library
Vevo just launched a new feature that should help it drive visitors to its recently-redesigned website: a GIF maker. Yes, one thing we can all agree on is that we all love GIFs, and Vevo is making it far easier to mine its massive music video library and turn them into short, shareable clips. The feature will initially launch on the web only, but Vevo says it'll come to its apps down the line.
Search for classic GIFs in the Internet Archive's new collection
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Internet Archive has created a special treat for its visitors: an utterly enormous number of GIFs culled from the original social network, GeoCities. Fittingly, the new collection is dubbed the Geocities Animated Gif Search Engine or GifCities for short. It features a whopping 4,500,000 animated GIFs from the classic internet era of the mid '90s. Even though Yahoo shut down the service in 2009, each of these GIFs links back to its originating page via the Wayback Machine -- just as with the National Archive's collection.
Giphy's GIF service has over 100 million users every day
It won't shock you to hear that GIF hosts like Giphy and Gfycat are thriving in an era where there's a new meme every minute. But just how well are they doing? Supremely well, according to Giphy. It just posted its first "State of the GIF" report, revealing that it has over 100 million active daily users. Yes, that's daily and not monthly. That amounts to over 1 billion GIFs served per day, and more than 2 million hours of viewing time. So what's the trick to getting that many viewers?
US National Archives gets into the historical GIF game
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) serves as America's historian, cataloging and preserving the nation's most precious documents, audio and video recordings. On Thursday, NARA announced that it had launched a Giphy channel with more than 150 animations to help showcase its vast trove of video content. The administration plans to expand upon that figure with an eclectic mix of classic footage. via GIPHY What's more, every GIF automatically links back to the archive's website which includes additional information on the significance of the piece. The Bugs Bunny gif above, for example, is actually from short titled "Uncle Sam Speaks" and is actually a compilation of savings bond promotions.
NFL could fine its own teams for social media posts
Sports reputation as being DVR-proof has led some leagues to try and tightly control how and where their highlights show up online. While the NBA is relatively loose about allowing its clips on YouTube or Twitter, the NFL has gone after websites for posting video or GIFs before, and the Olympics banned outlets from posting GIFs this summer. Now, a leaked memo obtained by TheMMQB and Mashable reveals how the NFL can go after its own teams for posts by their social media accounts. Now, teams can be fined for exceeding the limits on video and any moving content (read: GIFs) posted during the 60 minutes before a game or during the game.
Giphy Cam finally arrives on Android
After 14 months of breathless waiting, Android users can finally experience the Instagram of GIFs. Giphy released its Giphy Cam app to the Play store on Thursday. The app allows you to record GIFs, apply various filters and fades, as well as overlay text and emoji. Unfortunately, the Android version doesn't currently appear to be able to import video and generate GIFs from that source, as the iOS version can. However a Giphy rep did explain that the Android version should be getting camera roll import as well as the AR capabilities announced for iOS this morning, in coming the months.
New 'Shovel Knight' expansion haunts the chapel next spring
One of the best throwback games in recent memory is definitely Shovel Knight from developer Yacht Club Games. Last September (it's been that long?), the team dropped the free "Plague of Shadows" expansion for all platforms. This year, we have word of when the next add-on will release. "Specter of Torment" will come out sometime next spring, according to a tweet from Yacht Club. Not much else is known at the moment, but the team did offer a huge update back in June all about new protagonist Specter Knight -- wall climb! Dash slash!
Creating and sharing GIFs with Giphy Capture is dead simple
While we might not be able to agree on the correct pronunciation of "GIF" (hint: it's the one that doesn't sound like the peanut butter brand chosen by choosy moms), we can find some common ground on the animated image format's utility. Giphy, the internet's preeminent GIF repository, has dabbled with custom-GIF tools before, but its GIF Maker is a web app and is pretty basic in terms of functionality. With the latest version of Giphy Capture, the outfit is looking to streamline the creation process from any video source and add a few bits that it didn't have prior.
Tinder says GIFs and emoji lead to better connections
Who knew that the secret to successful online dating lay in GIFs? The next time you find yourself spending an hour coming up with the perfect greeting and introduction on Tinder, stop and find a GIF instead. According to Tinder's research, GIF messages are 30 percent more likely to receive a response than non-GIF ones.
Google's iOS GIF keyboard now supports more languages
GBoard, Google's kooky iOS keyboard that lets you push GIFs and emoji to your friends is getting a multilingual update. Starting today, the service will now work in French, German, Italian and Spanish as well as Portuguese and its Brazilian dialect. If that list includes your native tongue, you don't even need to do anything as GBoard should detect your phone's default language and switch to it. The update also adds smart GIF suggestions, so if you type out a recognizable keyword, such as party, then party-themed GIFs will be but a single tap away. Oh, and if GBoard's standard light theme doesn't go with your apps, no worries, as it now has a dark option to remain en vogue.
Twitter ups its GIF size limit to 15MB for the web
Finally, you won't ever have to tweet unsatisfying GIFs that end too soon. The social network has upped its GIF size limit to 15MB, three times larger than its old 5MB limit. Twitter quietly updated its FAQ with the change -- a welcome one for those who'd rather watch moving images than videos, we're sure -- where it also dropped the bad news: You're still stuck with posting files 5MB and below if you tweet on mobile. You can only post monster files if you access Twitter.com on the web. It's still a start, though, and there might come a time when you can tweet video-length GIFs even from your phone or through Tweetdeck.
Google's GIF-searching Gboard app is now available in the UK
Although Google often includes the UK in launch plans for a new product, its new web-searching and GIF-finding Gboard extension wasn't one of them. But now that the app has been out for roughly a month, Google has had more enough time to get it ready for the British public. That's right, Google's slick third-party keyboard is now available to download in the UK.
Giphy Keys for iOS puts GIFs at your fingertips
After Apple allowed third-parties to create custom keyboards for iOS, a flood of apps tried to make typing easier or add a way to send GIFs with only a few taps. Now Giphy, already a popular destination for the internet's favorite image format, is jumping into the animated image sending fray on iOS with its Giphy Keys app. But, there's a twist.
Twitter launches GIF search for a more animated timeline
After testing the feature with select users a few weeks ago, Twitter has officially announced that starting today searchable GIFs will be rolling out over the coming weeks to iOS, Android and twitter.com. The animated images will be searchable via keywords or by browsing categories from within the status-update window. Just click on the new GIF button.
Twitter needs searchable GIFs for fun and profit
This week, a group of Android users noticed a new feature in the Twitter app: a GIF button that can be used to search through trending GIFs to drop into status updates. As you'd expect, the internet lost its collective mind. Twitter is the unofficial home of GIFs. Whether you're sharing a quick moment in time or trying to make a point without words, bite-size animated images are a perfect match for the social network's dynamic timeline.
Tinder adds GIF support to show matches what you really mean
It doesn't seem like Tinder's done anything with Tappy, the photo messaging app it acquired last year, but the hook-up application has added a new feature that takes advantage of the internet's favorite image format: GIFs. Thanks to a partnership with Giphy, now you have the option of sending GIFs to your potential mate. More than that, you can "like" a message to indicate, well, that you were into what the person on the other side was layin' down. There's a video of it all in action below, wherein you'll find a guy whose spelling and grammar are somehow more questionable than his choice in haircuts.
PopKey's keyboard now adds GIFs to Twitter and Slack
After Apple added third-party keyboard support to iOS, developers were quick to whip up keyboards that made adding a GIF to iMessages a breeze. Now PopKey for iOS is adding the ability to drop GIFs on Twitter, Slack, GroupMe and others directly from its keyboard. If you love adding GIFs to most of your communication services, it might be worth checking out.
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.
ICYMI: Insect robot for kids, paralysis fixed and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-184110{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-184110, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-184110{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-184110").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: We are covering the drone guideline news from the FAA the only way we know how: With some silly videos and real ones as well, like the Google X drone delivery test video -- all to warn you all that UAV regulations are finally coming. A new Kickstarter for a toy insect robot comes with origami-like assembly, to teach kids about coding and engineering. And scientists at Ohio's Case Western Reserve University have electronically bridged a gap between a paralyzed person's spinal column and arms using brain wave sensors, in effect letting him use his arms once again.
