Items tagged with App
Microsoft started talking up the Your Phone app that lets you share content and control some phone functions between your PC and smartphone last summer. Now that the app is available for users, a new feature is rolling out that is only currently supported on a handful of devices. The feature is called Phone Screen and lets you mirror the screen of your supported smartphone to the Your Phone app on the PC. When the feature is active, users can interact with the apps on their computer screen using the mouse and keyboard. To access the functionality, PC users do need to be running the latest Windows 10 19H1 Preview Build (18335 or higher), you must be on the Surface Go, and using a small subset...
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Privacy is a big deal for many people around the world and many of the devices that we use do a poor jobs of protecting our data. Amazon, for instance, has been in hot water for sharing Alexa data and voice recordings with other users by mistake. Major tech firms have been caught up in privacy issues, particularly Facebook, with privacy violations that could result in record-breaking FTC fines. A report has now surfaced that many major companies with iPhone app are using a service that records every swipe and tap that the user makes without first asking for permission. Among the apps allegedly recording your interactions with them are apps from Hotels.com, Singapore Airlines, and Abercrombie...
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Anyone who was ever tired to buy prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses online knows that it's hard to find something that looks good on your face without having the frames in your hands. A new app from Warby Parker is using augmented reality to solve the dilemma of trying on glasses without actually having the frames there to put on your dome. AR certainly hasn't taken off like Apple or Snap hoped with its Spectacles, but this virtual try-on feature in the updated Warby Parker app is very cool. The app uses AR to overlay glasses in whatever frame style you choose on your face. Warby Parker has offered a successful in-home try on feature where they send up to five frames to your home for you to...
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Facebook just can't put itself in a good light lately. A new report has shined a bright light on a Facebook policy that was paying people to install something called the Facebook Research VPN. Facebook allegedly paid teens and and adult users to install the VPN, which allowed the company to collect all the user's phone and web activity at all times. Facebook had a similar app called Onavo Protect that was banned by Apple last summer. The new Facebook Research VPN app is said to potentially violate Apple privacy policy, and was available for Android devices as well. Facebook admitted to TechCrunch that it was running the research program and had since 2016. The social network was paying...
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Google Maps has been steadily adding new features to the app to give more functionality and match other offerings like Waze. One of the latest features that Google Maps added was speed limit indicators, but the catch was that initially those were only available in the San Francisco Bay area and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It appears that Google is now rolling the speed limit indicators out to other parts of the country. Reports from three different areas indicate that the speed limits were live on Google Maps. The three regions include New York City, Los Angeles, and Minnesota. There has been no official comment from Google on when the speed limits will roll out to other areas. With no Maps updates...
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Google is facing a serious issue with privacy and malicious apps on the Google Play store for Android users. The company recently kicked 85 apps that were malware-laden off the Play Store, and has now announced that the removal process for any apps that ask for SMS or Call Log permissions is beginning for developers who fail to follow specific steps. The policy change was announced last year, and Google has reportedly been reminding devs of the change. Removals for violation of the policy will begin in the next few weeks. Android users who have been using an alternative dialer or messaging app could be impacted. The reason for the policy change is that call and SMS log permissions have been abused...
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TiVo fans will be getting a new app later in 2019 that will expand the capabilities of its ecosystem. At CES 2019 TiVo showed off new apps for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku devices that will allow users with TiVo boxes to view live and recorded content on multiple TVs in their home. The cool part about that feature is that it uses the customer's existing hardware and doesn't require them to purchase additional TiVo set-top boxes, like the recently announced Bolt, or the currently available TiVo Mini. TiVo has stated that it expects to launch the apps during Q2 and Q3 of 2019. The first app to launch will be for Fire TV users, the Roku app will come next, with the Apple TV app being last. The way...
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The Weather Channel is one of the the most watched channels on TV and and its app is widely used to gather weather information for cities all around the country. The app claims to have 45 million active monthly users, and the city attorney for Los Angeles filed a lawsuit this week alleging that the app had deceptively collected, shared, and profited from location information on millions of American consumers. According to the lawsuit, the Weather Company, the company behind the app, had unfairly manipulated users into turning on location tracking by suggesting that the location data would only be used to localize weather reports. However, the company also used the data that it gathered for...
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If you thought that the iOS ecosystem was completely safe from scammy apps and malware, you would be wrong. Apple's App Store certainly has fewer incidences of scammy apps being put up for download by users than Google Play does because Apple checks apps out before they can be offered on the App Store. Apple is now dealing with scammy apps that made it through review and leveraged the Touch ID platform to try and trick users into making payments they didn't want to authorize. Two apps were doing this with one called "Fitness Balance" and the other called "Calories Tracker." Both apps used the same tactic to steal money; they would claim that the user needed to place their finger on the Touch...
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Apple has announced a strategic partnership with Salesforce that will combine iOS and the Salesforce customer relationship management platform to bring new features to business users. The two companies are working together to bring Salesforce developers a new Salesforce Mobile SDK for iOS and a new iOS App Development course available via a free, web-based learning platform Salesforce calls Trailhead. Apple CEO Tim Cook notes that the new SDK and native Salesforce apps along with iOS on Apple device will give developers the tools they need to deliver better customer experiences. Salesforce plans to completely redesign its mobile app in cooperation with Apple to add capabilities like Siri...
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Hurricane Florence is expected to hit the East Coast of the United States at the end of this week. People are preparing for the hurricane’s landfall in a variety of ways, including downloading useful apps. One of the most popular apps is Zello, an app that allows people to use their phones as a two-way radio. Zello is a free app that is available in the App Store and Google Play. It is available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry devices as well as PC’s with the Zello for Windows PC program. Users are able to create their own channels with up to 2500 members or connect with existing ones. People can search for specific topics like Hurricane Florence and join related channels....
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Love or hate Apple there is no denying that the company is a behemoth and it is the most valuable company in the world right now. While sales of smartphones have sagged globally because people are holding onto their devices for long and computer sales sag for the same reasons, Apple continues to grow. Much of that growth is laid at the feet of the booming app ecosystem and the fact that Apple takes a 30% cut of sales and subscriptions from the App Store, with that cut decreasing to 15% after the first year of a subscription. Netflix is running an experiment with its iOS app that is specifically meant to save it from Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions. As it stands now, any iOS user who downloads...
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Microsoft seems intent on allowing you to access all the things from your Android device on your Windows computer. The biggest of these features has been the much talked about Your Phone app that is in testing and will be part of Redstone 5 build 1809. Your Phone will mirror content like recent Android photos over to your desktop to prevent users from having to email images to themselves. Eventually, it will allow users to text and answer calls directly on the PC. As Windows and Android users are waiting to get full Your Phone availability, Microsoft is also talking up another way to share between your Android device and your PC or Mac in the form of a new feature coming for Skype. The Skype...
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Google Maps is widely used all around the world and it has recently been pumped full of new features, like personalized recommendations. Google is adding another feature that at first glance might seem silly. This feature sends details on how much battery charge is left on your smartphone when you share your location with someone. Why would they care how much battery life is left on your device? Parents who have kids share their location with them during transit times to and from school or a friend's home will find the battery life feature useful. A parent would be more at ease if a child shares their location data showing that their battery is at 5 percent, which would give them a...
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