This Messaging App Will Force You To Be Brutally Honest

This Messaging App Will Force You To Be Brutally Honest

Karyne Levy
Business Insider 

The beauty of texting is that you can rework what you want to say. If you type out a sentence and notice a mistake, it's easy to fix it before you send it out. Even better, if you need to compose yourself before sending out the message at all, there's time. You don't have to hit send until your text is perfect.
Some messaging apps, such as BBM, let you unsend a message after you send it. And iMessages shows your companion a set of ellipses, letting him or her know that a thought is incoming.
But a new Android app called Beam Messenger takes the notion of "real time" to a whole new level. Your companion sees your message as you're typing it. Letter by letter. Typo by typo. Thought by thought.



Buzzfeed calls it "terrifyingly transparent." Others agree.
"There's an appeal to non-transparency when it comes to our communications," writes The Atlantic's Megan Garber. "Humans tend to be indecisive and deliberate in pretty much equal measure; messages that don't send until you actually send them suit this tendency."
And although that might be true, there's something refreshing about an app that forces you to be honest. Or at least forces you to be on your best behavior.
No more crafting the perfect sentence in the middle of an argument. No more hiding the fact that you're a terrible speller.

In a world where, as Garber points out, texting is more popular than making calls, having a real-time way to send texts that's truly real time is a nice change of pace. If only to know what's hiding behind the other side of the ellipses.
You can download Beam Messenger on Google Play here. According to Beam Messenger's website, it's coming soon for iOS.

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The Prynt Case Turns Your Smartphone Into A Polaroid Camera

The Prynt Case Turns Your Smartphone Into A Polaroid Camera

Kyle Russell

TechCrunch 

Hot off of their HAXLR8R demo day presentation last week, hardware startup Prynt was nice enough to drop by TechCrunch HQ to show off the latest prototypes of their smartphones cases, which contain built-in printers so you can instantly get a copy of that selfie with your best friends.
The small French startup has been working on turning your smartphone into a miniature Polaroid camera since January. They’ve spent much of that time visiting Shenzen to source parts and iterating on a simple design that sends a photo to the case over Bluetooth and then prints it by heating paper filled with ink.

The current version takes about 50 seconds from photo to printed paper and can only hold one piece of paper at a time. But the planned consumer version will hold 10-30 sheets of paper and take fewer than 30 seconds to print thanks to better hardware integration and a direct physical connection between the phone and case.

Prynt CEO Clément Perrot says that the case will only cost $99 when first made available via a Kickstarter early next year and will be able to support flagship phones with ~4.x-inch screens. They’re currently working on a mount that will also account for phablets like the Galaxy Note or iPhone 6 Plus.

One neat feature that could help the Prynt case gain traction is an augmented reality feature built into the company’s camera app. When you take a photo with Prynt’s app, it actually records a video of the moments around when you clicked the button and sends it to the cloud. When you hold up the physical photo to your phone’s camera with the app open, it is overlaid with a Play button that shows that video in place of the picture itself.

It’s like Snapchat but with a physical token that gives you permission to see videos. In order to make it even more secure, the company is looking into tricks like hiding pixels in images that would prevent them from being copied, so a photo of the photo wouldn’t bring up the play button in the app.
It’s really nifty to see in person, and in the longer run Prynt is looking at ways they could let you print a photo of one thing — say, your cat — and show a video of something else when it’s held to the app.

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U.S. government warns on bug in Apple's iOS software

U.S. government warns on bug in Apple's iOS software

Reuters 

The U.S. government warned iPhone and iPad users on Thursday to be on the alert for hackers who may exploit a vulnerability in Apple Inc's iOS operating system that would enable them to steal sensitive data.

There was the potential for hacks using a newly identified technique known as the "Masque Attack," the government said in an online bulletin from the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Teams.
The network security company, FireEye Inc (FEYE.O), disclosed the vulnerability behind the "Masque Attack" earlier this week, saying it had been exploited to launch a campaign dubbed "WireLurker" and that more attacks could follow.

Hackers could potentially steal login credentials, access sensitive data stored on iOS devices and remotely monitor activity on those devices, the government said.
Such attacks could be avoided if iPad and iPhone users only installed apps from Apple's App Store or from their own organizations, it said.

Users should not click "Install" from pop-ups when surfing the web. If iOS flashes a warning that says "Untrusted App Developer," users should click on "Don't Trust" and immediately uninstall the app, the bulletin said.

Representatives of Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Twitter reveals improvements to rein in Facebook's lead

Twitter reveals improvements to rein in Facebook's lead

Chris Johnston

The Guardian

Twitter has revealed a number of planned improvements in a bid to rein in Facebook’s lead in the social media battleground.
One of the most significant could be imminent changes to direct messages, which will allow users to share and discuss tweets privately, said Kevin Weil, vice-president of product, at the company’s first financial analyst day in San Francisco.
The chief executive, Dick Costolo, said: “I strongly believe private messaging virality is important to our long-term growth”, in a reference to content that goes viral.
The move comes after Facebook’s recent controversial introduction of a separate Messenger app which mobile users of the social network have been forced to use to communicate privately with other members.
Weil also said that Twitter users would be able to upload video in addition to short, looping Vine clips by next summer: “You should be able to record, edit and share your own videos natively on Twitter.”

Instant timeline

Twitter said that the site needed to ensure new users understood how to use it. An upcoming “instant timeline” will offer content without making them search Twitter for individual users to follow.
“We’re exploring ways to surface relevant tweets so the content that is interesting to you is easy to discover … while still preserving the real-time nature of the platform that makes Twitter special,” Weil said.
Twitter has 284 million users, compared with Facebook’s 1.3 billion, and has been searching for ways to drive growth and keep users more active on the site. The company said last month that timeline views per user - a key measure of engagement - fell by 7% globally in the third quarter.
It would be possible to roughly double the number of Twitter users to more than 550m in the “intermediate term”, with a longer term goal of 1billion-plus, executives said.

“Consumption-first experience”

Anthony Noto, Twitter’s new chief financial officer, was not concerned that the number of posts on Twitter has remained flat at about 500m a day. The company wanted to get people to read more, rather than post more: “We really need to build a consumption-first experience.”
One of his slides read: “We believe we have the best aggregated content on one platform in the world - much of which is unique, appeals to everyone, and is relevant on a daily basis … There are a number of potential growth drivers that, in combination, if all executed successfully, could drive over $11bn in revenue.”
Twitter said it had about 60,000 advertisers, while more than 9m small and medium-sized businesses had a presence on the service.
However, analysts were reserving judgment on the ambitious growth plans. Richard Greenfield, of BTIG Research, said: “The question becomes, ‘will the product innovations drive a significantly larger user base and greater engagement/time spent with the product?’ Time will tell.”
The company also said it would focus on building the fastest app, increasing speeds on Wi-Fi connections by 50%, with a 60% increase on mobile networks.

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 Taylor Swift Says Her Dream Collaborator Is Vance Joy

GETTY IMAGES

Taylor Swift revealed her dream concert guests, and one of them is Vance Joy! In an interview withTime, she says that, along with Iggy Azalea and Haim, her dream stage collaboration is the guy who just so happens to be joining her 1989 tour.

"The things that I try to really focus on when bringing out people as surprise guests is what do my fans really want to see, what would they lose their minds over?" she said.

"Not to show too many of my cards here — but I have probably 10 guests that I’m thinking about that would be amazing."

Since the "Shake It Off" singer knows how to get what she wants, we wouldn't be surprised if she makes her other dream collaborations a reality. And for those Swifties who can't make it to her concerts, a studio duet would also be super-cool!

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Zayn Malik Did the Most Adorable Thing For A Fan:

Zayn Malik may be the shyest member of One Direction, but he still has an amazingly big heart! The singer showed how much he cares about a Directioner named Bella Marie Yallop, who recently lost her mother to cancer, by recording her a supportive video.

Her father posted a message on Facebook asking for a message from her favorite member, Zayn, as a present for her sixth birthday.

Taylor Swift revealed her dream concert guests, and one of them is Vance Joy! In an interview withTime, she says that, along with Iggy Azalea and Haim, her dream stage collaboration is the guy who just so happens to be joining her 1989 tour.

"The things that I try to really focus on when bringing out people as surprise guests is what do my fans really want to see, what would they lose their minds over?" she said.

Since he's been feeling ill lately — and even skipped out on 1D's EMAs acceptance speech — we think it's adorable that he took the time to make her day. How cute!

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Taylor Swift Calls Spotify a Liar

GETTY IMAGES

Taylor Swift's decision to pull all her songs off Spotify caused major controversy, and now her people are calling out the founder of the music streaming service, Daniel Ek. After he wrote a post claiming that the "Shake It Off" singer would have gained about $6 million if she kept her songs on the site, David Borchetta says they haven't received nearly as much.

The Big Machine record label exec said that she only got $500,000 from the site.

Maybe this explains why Taylor totally slammed Spotify when justifying her decision? She recently told Time again that she doesn't think it's a good model.

"I think that people should feel that there is a value to what musicians have created, and that’s that," she said.

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Justin Bieber Unfollow Selena Gomez on Instagram to Win Her Back?

Justin Bieber's decision to unfollow Selena Gomez on Instagram was pretty jaw-dropping, but it might be part of a big plan to win her back! According to Hollywood Life, the singer wants to woo his on-again, off-again girlfriend by completely ignoring her and making her jealous.

“Justin is under the assumption that if he completely ignores Selena and blows her off, she will come running," their source said.

"So far, nothing else has worked — sending flowers, trying to be ultra sweet, and going to Bible study. It’s like the more he tries to impress Selena, the more she avoids him."

“So he figured he would go back to what has worked in the past — ignore her, flirt with hot girls and act like he doesn’t care. That’s the real reason he stopped following her on Instagram."

We heard that the "Boyfriend" singer was planning an elaborate gesture to win her back, but we guess that wasn't working! Still, that response sounds like his old behavior, which made Selena get fed up with him in the first place. We're not so sure ignoring her is going to win her back!

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Actress who played voice of teenage Elsa in 'Frozen' reportedly paid $926.20

Actress who played voice of teenage Elsa in 'Frozen' reportedly paid $926.20

FoxNews.com

FOX News

The actress who played the voice of teenage Elsa in "Frozen" was reportedly paid less than $1,000 for her work in the film.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Spencer Lacey Ganus was only paid $926.20 for her small role in the Disney film which grossed more than $1.2 billion, making Ganus' portion of the profits a mere .000077%.
The 15-year-old actress was only guaranteed a one-day payment for the few lines she recorded as the teenage Elsa, TMZ reports, a character mainly voiced by Idina Menzel.

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One Direction Announces One-Hour Holiday TV Special

The One Direction guys may not be doing another 1D Day this year, but they're doing the next best thing — a one-hour holiday TV special on NBC!

The guys recently announced the news on Twitter writing:

This will be the first time the band has ever had a US network TV special, and Fans couldn't be more excited! Not only will they be divulging new secrets about their upcoming album Four, but they'll be revealing exclusive details about their lives, too!

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Taylor Swift Opens Up About About Life In The Past Two Years.

Taylor Swift Opens Up About About Life In The Past Two Years.

The 24-year-old entertainer recently reflected on how much she has learned about life in the past two years.

“I didn’t realize that being in love with your life can be just as wonderful as being in love with another person. Every relationship takes work and effort, and when I put that work and effort into my friends, family, and fans… my life changed completely. I started making choices based on what I wanted, and didn’t feel like I needed to justify them,” Taylor shared to Buzzfeed.

She added, “At 24 I decided that my life is enough for me, and I stopped looking for some other piece to complete it. I also learned how to needlepoint ironic cross-stitches of rap lyrics and gave them to my friends as presents. I’ll let you decide which is the more important revelation.”

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EA is bringing some big-name games to PlayStation Now

EA is bringing some big-name games to PlayStation Now

Edgar Alvarez

Engadget 

Sony's game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, has taken big leaps since being introduced earlier this year. However, the platform still lacks a bit when it comes to the amount, and quality, of content it offers access to. Starting next month, though, PlayStation Now is adding some big games to its library, thanks to a new deal from Sony and EA. Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 2, Mirror's Edge and NBA Jam On Fire Edition are all coming to the service on December 2nd, which is great news for those of you with a PS3, PS4, PS Vita, PS TV or a compatible Sony TV. You'll be able to rent any one of these for as little as $1 per week, though there will be other pricing tiers available -- just in case you'd like to keep them longer.
PlayStation

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