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Parties for Secret users get you spilling the beans in real life
Part of the allure of Secret's app is supposed to be the anonymity; you can confess your innermost thoughts without facing any accusing fingers. However, people are now using Secret as a launching pad for parties where the very point is to confide in others you can see across the table. As Recode notes from first-hand experience, it's like seeing the app unfold in real life. Rather than make small talk, guests share their sincerest feelings about family and relationships -- you may find more about a stranger in a few hours than you would by following them on Facebook for a year. Even meeting up is dependent on revealing interesting tidbits, so you end up breaking the ice before you know anyone's names.
Brazilian judge tells Apple and Google to pull Secret from people's devices
Secret's app is ostensibly meant for office gossip and getting transgressions out of your system, but it has also been abused by bullies wanting to intimidate and shame others. Well, one Brazilian judge is fed up with that misuse -- enough so that he's ordering Apple and Google to remove Secret not just from their respective local app stores, but from people's devices. Microsoft also has to yank Cryptic, an equivalent Windows Phone app. If the companies don't take action within 10 days, they face fines of 20,000 Reals ($8,876) per day. That's a drop in the bucket given their massive revenue streams, but it's reasonable to say that they'd rather not pay that much just to keep one title available in one country.
Send a message that's impossible to screenshot with Zeph
While Snapchat popularized the idea of sending photos that disappear after a quick view, sometimes you might need to just send a quick message to someone without a visual that you don't want the receiver holding on to. Enter Zeph. A free app for iPhone requiring iOS 7.0 or later, Zeph has pioneered a unique way to send messages to friends that not only disappear, but are impossible to screenshot. Everything about Zeph is extremely easy to use, right from the start. Signing up simply requires a username and password, just like logging in would. The only extra step is to follow up with your mobile phone number for verification and to check for any contacts already on Zeph. After logging in, the app displays a list of contacts who have messaged you. Though the color scheme is blue and white, Snapchat is no doubt the inspiration behind the design. If you have an unread message, tap the contact read it. I received an automatic greeting from "Teamzeph." It's in the way you read the messages where Zeph really works its magic, or perhaps rather in the way Zeph displays them. The team at Zeph calls it "rolling glow technology." When you view a message, only a small part of it is shown at once, about the length of a word or two. The rest of the message will gradually fade in as the previous parts fade out and disappear entirely. Imagine you wrote a message in invisible ink, shined a black light on it to reveal the words and then slowly moved your hand (and thus the light) across the length of the message. That's the illusion of this rolling glow technology. When the message is completely gone, you have two options at the bottom: replay or reply. The replay button disappears a few seconds after the message does, so you have to act fast if you want to see it a second time. If you decide to replay, you won't be able to do so again for the same message. Two strikes and you're out. Tapping the reply button slides the keyboard in and allows you 160 characters to type out a response, the standard amount for an SMS text message and 20 more than a tweet. Composing a new message works the same way, but is done so instead through the top right button above your main list of messages. To send messages on Zeph, it does require that you have friends or family already using the app. Sending invites through the app should help out with that, but they have to join to view your messages or respond to them. A tad bare bones for now, Zeph is teeming with the potential for even more powerful features. Snapchat does offer the ability to just text chat with friends without sending any photos, but the problem with the app as a whole is that it's relatively easy to screenshot and keep pictures and messages. Zeph fixes Snapchat's problem in a simple, yet elegant manner that's totally fool-proof in my experience.
Email app lets you 'leak' your secrets without owning up to them
"I drank all the coffee on purpose, so you'd have make a new batch." That's the first missive I received from Leak, an anonymous email service, which is -- so far -- not as barbed (or arguably, as interesting) as what Secret's social stream has offered up. However, the web-based Leak requires no sort of registration. You type in your pent-up resentment, shy confession and send it to away. There's no reply option, you're just sending an anonymous message from the internet ether, tagged with your relationship to the sender: friend, co-worker, family, friend of a friend or simply, most mysteriously, "someone."
Yo and the app hype machine
Yo is a notifications app where all it does is send the word "Yo" to your friends. That's it. Just "Yo." Of course, silly single-purpose apps like these are a dime a dozen -- remember those fart apps of old? -- but the thing that sets Yo apart is that it's actually attracted a whole lot of attention. More than a million dollars' worth, in fact. Yep, this seemingly frivolous app has recently raised around $1.5 million in funding, giving it a valuation close to $10 million. It's also apparently been downloaded more than 2 million times since its tongue-in-cheek April Fools' Day debut. Crazy? Well, yes, perhaps. But it's not entirely unusual. In case you need a refresher (and probably a laugh or two), here's a look at some of the more overhyped apps in the past few years. Have any other ideas? Leave a comment and let us know of any apps we've missed.
Secret widens its anonymous network to include your Facebook friends too
When Secret first launched earlier this year, the only subscribers who could see your anonymous missives on the app were folks who were somehow connected to your phone's address book -- they were either your friends, friends of friends or friends of friends of friends (you get the idea). Now, however, Secret has loosened that restriction just a touch with the introduction of Facebook login support. Now if you sign up with Facebook on the app, you'll be able to spill your secrets to all your Facebook friends who are also on Secret. Of course, the company promises that no personal information is ever shared and you'll still be completely anonymous. On the one hand, this lets those of us who have more friends on Facebook than on our phone's address book see more Friend posts on Secret. On the other, it does give us a tiny bit of the creeps. Thankfully, the feature is completely optional, so you don't have to participate if you don't want to.
Secret's new Dens will keep your confessions within company walls
When you spill your guts on Secret, that post is sent anonymously to a network based on the people on your phone's contacts list, and if it gets enough hearts, it might even go viral and spread out to the rest of the world. But say you want to post an inside joke that only your co-workers might understand, or maybe a secret lunch tip that you'd only want people in your college to know about. Well, you just might be able to do so thanks to a new feature that the folks over at Secret are testing called Secret Dens. A "den" can be an organization like a company or a school, and anything that you post to that den will be strictly confined to those walls -- no outside sharing allowed.
Psst, Secret's anonymous sharing app finally arrives on Android
Up until now, Android users had to stew in envy as their iOS colleagues delighted in juicy rumors and salacious stories revealed on Secret, an app that lets you share confidential information under the veil of anonymity. Other anonymous sharing apps, like Whisper, exist on Android already of course, but few have had the clout that Secret has, especially in Silicon Valley. Thankfully, however, Android users can now jump on the Secret bandwagon, as the app is finally available on Android starting today. And that's not all. As a special treat for waiting so patiently, Android users are getting an exclusive feature -- two streams instead of one. That's right, only the Android app will let you view either a Friends stream, which includes posts from Friends or Friends of Friends (the people in your phone's contacts list plus the folks in their contacts lists), or an Explore stream, which casts a far wider net.
Apple's heart rate monitoring headphones were a hoax
Remember a couple of days ago when the internet was going all frothy-mouthed over a rumor that Apple would be releasing new EarPods with iBeacon integration and built-in heart rate sensors? Well, turns out to have been a rather poorly thought out joke -- one that just happened to jibe with past rumors. The source of the supposed leak came clean about the hoax and apologized for, well, everything. For putting it out there in the first place, for failing to correct sites that reported it as fact, for failing to reach out to people who contacted him to confirm his story -- basically for letting the entire thing spiral out of control.
Twitter's working on a 'Whisper mode' to make conversations private
When sharing gossip on Twitter, there's always that moment when you have to boldly announce that the conversation will have to continue over DM. Sadly, as well as killing the mood, it means that group discussions get broken up in favor of individual messages behind the veil. It's a problem that Twitter boss Dick Costolo is aware of, and told Bloomberg that the company would look to build a "whisper mode" that lets you grab whole conversations with friends (plural) and make them private at the push of a button. Naturally, an off-hand by a CEO can't be taken as gospel, and we don't know if this is instead of, or beside, the long-mooted private messaging app that would break out Twitter DMs to another platform. Given the rise in real-time messaging platforms like WhatsApp and the anonymity afforded by apps like Secret, however, it looks as if Twitter's going to muscle up so that we never again have to type "Let's take this to DM, k?" ever again.
Secret's anonymous confession box comes to the UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ
Ever wanted to tell the world that you stuck your genitals into a bowl of jam (or vegemite) without compromising your reputation? Secret, the app that lets you anonymously bare your soul to the world has landed in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. While you're likely to see the odd eye-rolling confession of sexual misconduct, Secret was also the venue that first broke the story that Google's Vic Gundotra was leaving the company. At least when you're caught using the app, you can say that you're hunting around for more of the latter, not contributing that time you were seen doing something unspeakable to a toasted sandwich.
Daily Roundup: Samsung Gear 2 review, allure of the anonymous internet and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Shh, it's a Secret: The allure of the anonymous internet
"I'm terrified I might not actually be all that smart." "Made a batch of Jello just to stick my dick in it. No regrets." "I like taking the ferry because I get to drink in public legally." This is just a small sampling of posts I've recently seen on Secret, an anonymous-sharing app that's part of a new trend in Silicon Valley. It's a little like Whisper, a competing app that's been around since 2012, except that instead of letting you broadcast your anonymous missives to the world, posts on Secret are limited to a network of friends based on your phone's address book.
Surgeon Simulator fans crack ARG, unlock alien surgery mission
Surgeon Simulator 2013's best-kept secret has been unearthed by enterprising fans, revealing a bonus in-game mission in which players perform zero-gravity surgery on an alien being. The not-entirely-realistic sim title includes a variety of outlandish challenges, ranging from brain surgery in the back of a moving ambulance to a heart transplant for Team Fortress 2's Heavy character. The alien surgery mission, however, was hidden behind several layers of secrecy, requiring players to solve an ARG before revealing an access code. Fans ended up brute-forcing the solution, circumventing the ARG's final challenges. The video above shows how to access the mission, and gives details on how to perform its required "gobbleshaft transplant." What's a gobbleshaft? You're the surgeon -- you figure it out.
The Daily Grind: What out-of-the-way secrets have you found?
We all know that the cardinal rule of exploration in any video game is to check under every waterfall for a secret passage. That's a given. But true exploration shouldn't stop with a wet dip and a slow-motion hair flip as we emerge sparkling into the sun. Developers have been hiding funny or interesting little secrets in out-of-the-way spots for years -- and MMOs are a prime example of this. I recently read a piece on Warhammer Online that reminded me how the developers used to watch beta testers do all sorts of acrobatics to get to hard-to-reach locations in the game. Instead of stopping them from doing so, the devs put special bosses or other secrets in these locations to reward exploration. I'm sure you've discovered many secrets when you've gone off the beaten path in MMOs. I, for one, would love to hear about them. Share, please? 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!
Anomaly Korea creators tease secret game, which you can preorder now
The last time we spoke with the guys from 11 Bit Studios (right before Anomaly Warzone Korea landed), they had plenty of plans for a huge desktop game they were working on (to be available for PC, Mac and Linux). And now, it appears they've announced the title ... sort of. They haven't actually said what the game is, but they have released this secret game page, that features a very short teaser trailer hinting at what they're working on. "Hinting" is about right -- there's really nothing to see, except for some troops rolling up on a weird object that seems to be alien and dangerous in some way. That's it. But if that has somehow convinced you, then we have even more news: You can preorder this secret game, sight unseen, right now. That's right -- for just US$7.49 (half off from $14.99 at the moment), you can preorder a game you know practically nothing about, and you'll get access to the game's multiplayer beta, a full copy of the game when it arrives and even an "extra gaming gift" from 11 Bit Studios. So a secret gift in a preorder for a secret game? Apparently. The game itself will be announced in full on February 28, but the sale will be over then, and the price will go back up to $14.99. So basically, they're asking you to bet $7 on whether the game will be good or not. 11 Bit is the studio behind the great (award-winning) Anomaly Korea titles, and the excellent Funky Smugglers, so hey, tossing in the $7 for whatever else you get is probably not a bad deal at all. We'll keep an eye out for just what the secret announcement is on the 28th, and let you know then.
AMD accuses former staff of giving 100,000 secret documents to NVIDIA
AMD is suing four ex-employees for allegedly taking thousands of confidential documents with them when they left the company and went to work for NVIDIA. A complaint filed to the District Court of Massachusetts reveals that AMD's former VP of Strategic Development Robert Feldstein, who was instrumental in designing graphics chips for early Xbox 360 consoles and the Wii, is among the defendants. He's accused of playing a role in the electronic transfer of over 100,000 files containing "trade secret materials relating to developing technology." AMD claims it has "forensically-recovered data" to show that external storage devices were used in the days prior to Feldstein's departure, and also that he and another senior exec, Richard Hagen, actively recruited the two other defendants to join them at NVIDIA, in violation of agreements they had signed. Of course, this is just AMD's side of the story. The company told us in a statement that it intends to "aggressively protect" its trade secrets through this litigation, so the rest will just have to play out in court.
Bungie's Destiny was teased way back in Halo 3: ODST
Bungie's Destiny has existed in one form or another since at least 2009, a new discovery in Halo 3: ODST indicates. The above image shows a poster found in ODST, which portrays a planet within close proximity to a large white sphere, with the message "DESTINY AWAITS" scrawled above. The similarities between this image and the recently leaked Destiny concept art is undeniable, especially the title screen-esque image obtained by IGN.Former Bungie employee and Halo series level designer Vic Deleon has confirmed the connection, exclaiming that the secret had "FINALLY BEEN FOUND!" on Twitter. In light of these events, we've decided to dig even further into the annals of Halo lore by running the entirety of Halo: The Fall of Reach through an anagram construction algorithm and seeing what we come up with. Should that prove fruitless, we'll start decompiling the code for Pathways into Darkness.
Check out this Minecraft easter egg in Borderlands 2
This video shows you how to reach a hidden Minecraft-inspired area in Borderlands 2, which includes Creepers and familiar blocks just begging to be broken. Be warned: the video includes minor spoilers for the game (and a lot of awesome).
Nexus Q app throws in voice-powered Magic 8 Ball mode
No stranger to throwing in some extra, if not-that-functional, additions to its products, Google's new audio orb packs its own Easter egg -- a Magic 8 Ball mode. Tapping the Nexus Q's image in its companion Android app will throw up a new screen, offering voice input to take your existential questions. Replies are certainly of the Magic 8 Ball caliber, although there's no accelerometer-based shaker -- at least not yet.
