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Threads begins testing swipe gestures to help train the For You algorithm
Threads has begun testing swipe gestures to help users improve the algorithm that populates the For You feed. The feature is currently only available to a limited number of people.
TikTok-owner Bytedance reveals its first smartphone
The rumored smartphone by TikTok's owner ByteDance is now available. The Nut Jianguo Pro 3 is ByteDance's first smartphone. It's a continuation of work by the Chinese phone maker Smartisan (which partially explains the name), and it's being released under the Smartisan brand.
Tinder’s ‘Swipe Night’ show lets users swipe to control the plot
Tinder is about to modernize the choose-your-own-adventure plot. Today, the company confirmed rumors that it's launching an original show, Swipe Night. In true Tinder style, you'll watch on your phone and decide how the story unfolds by swiping left or right at key points. Your decisions may improve your dating matches.
Google brings AMP-powered search to Google Images
Google wants to make it easier for users to search for content through Google Images. To do so, it's rolling out a new, AMP-powered Swipe to Visit feature. When you select an image, you'll see a preview of the website header at the bottom of the screen. You can keep scrolling through Google Images, or swipe up on the preview to load the AMP (accelerated mobile pages) version of the site.
Google's swipeable Wear OS Tiles offer info at a glance
Swiping is one of the easiest and most intuitive gestures in the touchscreen armory, especially when you've got limited space. Google clearly gets that, having added swiping to Google Fit and Google Assistant on Wear OS smartwatches. Now, it's announcing Tiles, a new quick-access interface for more watch functions.
Facebook may combine your News Feed and Stories into one carousel
It looks like Facebook may be testing a way to combine your News Feed and Stories into one swipeable, hybrid carousel. On Twitter this morning, Jane Manchun Wong -- a software engineer who's spotted changes like Twitter's "subscribe to conversation" button -- reported that Facebook is demoing the new format. The GIF Wong shared shows her News Feed in a Stories-like carousel.
YouTube adds swipe-based navigation on your phone
Mobile navigation is all about the swipe these days, and now even YouTube is joining in. The platform has started rolling out an update for iOS devices, giving users a way to view the next video in the list by swiping left or right. Swipe forward to view the next recommended video and backward if you want to resume watching the previous one -- according to TechCrunch, the previous video will even start playing where you left off. And, yes, it works in portrait and landscape fullscreen modes.
Facebook's Dating feature aims to prevent harassment and dick pics
Where will you meet your next bae? If Facebook has anything to do with it, it'll be through its new dating feature, which it's now testing in Colombia. Announced back in May at the F8 developer's conference, Facebook wants to help its 200 million+ single users find more meaningful, deeper connections – and given its monopoly in online social interactions, it's pretty well-placed to do that.
Tinder's new matchmaking service is just for college students
Today, Tinder introduced a new matchmaking service aimed at students attending a four-year college or university. Called Tinder U, it is primarily a dating service, but can also be used to find new friends, a study partner and more. You must have a .edu email address from an accredited university and be located on campus when you sign up for Tinder. Once you restart the Tinder app, you'll be logged into Tinder U automatically according to TechCrunch. The swipe mechanics are the same as the regular app.
Choose your own swipe actions with the latest Gmail for Android
While swipe gestures to deal with your email have been around for some time, Gmail for Android just made them even better. If you're running the latest version of the Gmail app (8.5.20) on your phone, you'll now be able to customize the swipe actions instead of just use the default settings. We've confirmed the new functionality, which was originally spotted by Android Police and reported by 9to5Google.
The Morning After: Thursday, February 16 2017
Welcome to the return of iPhone rumors. It's already that wonderful time of the year as leaks, rumors and supply chain-side intel offer a glimpse into what Apple's cooking. Or not. Global gaming show E3 is starting sooner this year, with Xbox set to reveal its new console on the weekend before it begins. And like Pokémon? How about more of 'em?
Tinder's premium Boost feature is rolling out worldwide
Tinder's latest idea to monetize its mobile matching service is rolling out worldwide, as users outside of Australia and the UK will be able to Boost to the top of nearby dater's queues. Getting Tinder to put its thumb on the algorithm is free once a week as a part of the variably-priced Plus subscription, or it can be purchased individually. Either way, it lasts just 30 minutes, so Pokémon Go players can just treat it like a lucky egg -- the company says it can result in as much as a 10x increase in profile views.
Tinder: one in five Brits swiped right to learn more about Brexit
Despite its reputation as a dating app for millenials, Tinder often uses its powers for good. In the US, it's already helped Americans find their presidential match and learn more about the dangers of STDs. But in the UK, over the past three weeks, Tinder has been educating users about tomorrow's EU referendum -- commonly known as the Brexit vote -- and it's had quite the effect.
Five more must craft neutral Hearthstone cards
It turns out that people get oddly passionate about card lists, which is honestly a pretty great sign for Hearthstone. The first list we dropped two weeks ago was met with agreement, and also a lot of 'where is this card?!', despite warnings that there would be more to come. There was also some disagreement with the Wild Pyromancer choice, but I'm hoping that Amaz and his skilled use of the fiery minion at Dreamhack Summer has opened some eyes. It's incredibly powerful with the right complements. This week we'll take a look at another five sub-epic cards no one should be without. The only ranking to the list is mana cost, so we're not saying that one's more important than another. That decision is up to you and what decks you want to play.
BlackBerry's latest software update turns smartphones into radios
If you own a BlackBerry Z30, Q10 or Q5, then your smartphone can suddenly do a neat little trick. The company's latest software update enables those devices to become FM radios, letting you stage an impromptu dance party without a data connection. Version 10.2.1 also brings a series of minor, but welcome, tweaks to the platform, including a new screen for answering calls, SMS groups, offline reading mode and picture passwords. The update is making its way to all BlackBerry 10 handsets from today, including the Porsche P'9982, for all you fancy-dans out there. Update: BlackBerry hasn't publicly announced that BB 10.2.1-enabled Android APK installation from the file manager, so we've been waiting for an official confirmation before making it public. However, several of you have been in touch to say that this feature is working on your handsets.
Opera's iPad browser loses navigation buttons, gains lockscreen music controls
Since its launch in September, Opera's iPad-centric browser Coast has struggled to remain as visible as some of its more popular mobile apps. In an attempt to breathe some life into the app, the company today dropped a new update that introduces a number of new customization, navigation and media features that set it apart from Apple and Google's browser offerings. In version 2.0, Opera has ditched the familiar forward and back buttons in favor of the gestures it supported at launch, so expect your swiping finger to get more of a workout. The app now lets you set wallpapers using images from your Photo Roll and gives you the option to select which apps to open PDF files in, whether it be iBooks, Dropbox or another PDF-compatible app. Coast now also features its own media player, which is capable of handling music playback from the iPad lockscreen. The new update is said to make browsing speedier and more secure than before -- very helpful if you need to make a quick escape from some of the nastier corners of the internet.
Swipe captions across your iOS images with Swipe
Yesterday, a surprising little app crossed my desk. Swipe for iPhone and iPad (US$1.99, universal) enables you to add text and captions to your iOS photos by swiping your finger across any photo. For two bucks, it's a great idea and a nice app to do something different and useful. It offers a pleasing selection of fonts and controls as well as a wide range of sharing features. It's one of those apps where you use it and go, "Oh yeah!" The learning curve is miniscule minuscule tiny; the design is strong; and the utility is immediate. That said, the app has room for improvement. I'd love if the app would provide a little more visual feedback about where the swipe was added. Just some sort of ant-track ghost would really help. Also, I kept wanting to immediately reswipe and couldn't. As is, if you tap after your swipe, you interact with a text field overlay, rather than re-drawing your line. I'd much prefer to get my line right and only add text after confirming that. It would be lovely too if you could manually rotate lines after adding them. You can easily drag them around the screen but I kept trying to two-finger-rotate their angles and did not succeed. Those are minor quibbles. I like the app a lot exactly as it is. I found myself captioning tons of pictures, and there were a couple of clever features (specifically the snap-to-grid option and reset buttons) that won my heart. The app is simple and does what it promises.
Gmail 4.2.1 for Android adds easier resizing, swipe features and more
That leaked Gmail APK we peeked at a month or so ago turned out to be right on the money. Google has just released version 4.2.1 of the Gmail app for Android, which does indeed add pinch-to-zoom on individual messages and swipe (left or right) to delete or archive. There are a couple of features we didn't see in the initial leak though, which are the ability to "auto-fit" a message to your phone's screen and a new thumbnail view of attached images -- you can then tap a thumbnail for a swipeable gallery. If still pictures aren't your bag, it's finally possible to attach phone-captured videos to an email as well. This version of Gmail is only available for phones with Android 4.0 or higher however, so older devices might be out of luck. If your device qualifies, you can download the new version of Gmail right now from the Google Play store.
SwiftKey Flow keyboard takes the fight to Swype with predictive gestures (video)
SwiftKey must be keen to finish its bout with Swype, as it just went for the knockout. It's launching SwiftKey Flow, an extension of its Android keyboard that blends SwiftKey's familiar word prediction with the hold-and-swipe gestures we most commonly associate with the company's arch-rival. Speed-minded typists now just have to glide across the virtual keys and let go as soon as Flow makes a correct guess. They don't have to pick a typing mode and stick with it, either, as both gestures and the usual taps will work at the same time. Prospective testers will want to sign up today for the SwiftKey Flow beta starting in the next few weeks. Everyone else, though, might want to watch from the bleachers -- the new parallels between SwiftKey and Swype just made this fight infinitely more entertaining.
CyanogenMod code fixed to prevent unlock gestures from being logged locally on handsets
If you're one of the root-and-ROM brigade, it's also likely that you have a keen eye on what goes on under the hood of your mobile OS. It might, then, come as a surprise to users of CyanogenMod, that a line of code could have been logging your phone-unlock gestures and patterns. Gabriel Castro, a developer involved in the project, was surprised to spot the rogue logging, that seems to have been part of an update regarding grid sizes for screen locks in August. While there is no serious compromise to users (gaining access to the log file would involve a lot of work, and direct access to the phone) it will certainly be considered an unwelcome addition by many, and a reminder that open-source relies heavily on trust. The issue has been resolved in an update, so if you're at all unsettled at the thought, perhaps now is the time to get the latest build.
