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Messaging app Viber launches Public Chats for listening in on celebrity conversations

Nov18
by on November 18, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web

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Mobile messaging and VoIP app Viber today announced a new Public Chats beta feature that will allow public figures and companies to share group discussions with fans. At a launch event, Viber CEO Talmon Marco described Public Chats as a social experiment. The feature, which goes live for users at midnight GMT on Wednesday, is intended to satisfy our morbid curiosity about what other people are chatting about. Users won’t be able to contribute to public chats, but Viber does plan to enable user comments in the future.                        Viber will feature…

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Apple launches WatchKit dev tools ahead of Apple Watch release

Nov18
by on November 18, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, Product Updates

Apple has today announced the launch of its software development tools for developers to build apps for the upcoming Apple Watch. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing said: “With the iOS 8.2 beta SDK, developers can now start using WatchKit to create breakthrough new apps, Glances and actionable notifications designed for the innovative Apple Watch interface and work with new technologies such as Force Touch, Digital Crown and Taptic Engine.” The tools will allow developers to build apps ready for the launch of the device next year, and the iOS 8.2 SDK beta that includes WatchKit is available to…

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Google launches Android Auto API for developers to bring their apps to your car

Nov18
by on November 18, 2014 at 6:39 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Back at Google I/O in June, Google announced it was working on an Android platform to challenge Apple’s CarPlay – Android Auto. Today it is releasing the API to the public so developers cans start working on extending their apps. The extensions let users have a car-optimized Android experience, using the vehicle’s own hardware setup and voice recognition. The post notes the Auto API is standardized such that coders won’t have to worry much about the differences between vehicle hardware when creating their software. Android Auto currently supports only supports audio and messaging apps, but more app categories will be supported in the…

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Facebook launches Groups app to streamline online gatherings on mobile

Nov18
by on November 18, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Product Launches, Social Media

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Facebook’s Creative Labs loves creating new apps. From Slingshot, to Paper, to Rooms, the team seems to be pumping out new apps every time we turn around. The latest to come from the potentially over-caffeinated team is for fans of Facebook’s Groups feature. Starting today, Facebook Groups gets its very own app. The Groups app is available for iOS and Android and streamlines the UI of the Facebook feature on mobile. Facebook says that 700 million people interact with a Facebook group every month. With that in mind, the Creative Labs team wanted to build something to make the mobile experience…

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Twitter opens its archive of every public tweet ever sent

Nov18
by on November 18, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, archive, Around the Web, Insider, Product Updates, public tweets, Search

Twitter has announced via its engineering blog that it’s making its entire public tweet archive searchable to everyone. Previously it had only made the archive accessible to select partners. From today, Twitter’s search engine will index roughly half a trillion tweets. It promises it will serve up queries with an average latency of under 100ms. The move means historic tweets will now be accessible to everyone through Twitter’s public search. ➤ Building A Complete Tweet Index [Twitter] Feature image: Shutterstock

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