Referred to as “Glassware”, Google Glass apps are coming together as part of a storm for Explorer users. Starting with delivering CNN breaking news alerts, then Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook posts, along with Evernote reminders and articles from Elle Magazine. The New York Times and Path were the only two Glassware apps available for the headset, until now. The apps will roll-out soon, and with thousands of others in development for the public Google Glass launch next year.
Via: Twitter, Evernote, The New York Times
At least “forever” what we think Adobe’s new arrangement refers to. From now on, Photoshop and the rest of the Creative Suite are now only available through subscriptions, which start at $20 a month for individual apps, or $50 a month for the entire Creative Suite, which is now actually called the Creative Cloud — standalone copies of the original Creative Cloud apps that are still available for sale will no longer be updated, all in the effort to reduce piracy.
It’s been a glaring omission from Gmail for the longest time: why could you just create a calendar event using the times specified inside of an email? Well, now it’s possible. Starting this just week for those using US English, Google is rolling out a Gmail web update that automatically underlines dates and times; clicking on said link will produce a pop-up box that allows you to create or edit an event, with those times already inserted into the listing for you. It’s the little stuff that count.
It turns out Google just keeps dominating the news streams, but most if not all the news is actually pretty good. In this case, it’s Google Keep, the very simple yet powerful and colorful note-taking app available for desktop and Android. The web app for Chrome simply opens a standalone window where you can add notes, to-do lists, photos, and anything else for later on Keep. Offline support also comes along for the ride, so your Android phone can take you notes wherever you need to go. Google has to add more features to Keep in the future, but for now, it’s pretty great.
The long list of developer innovations for the Google Glass dev program is growing. From rooting, to a lockscreen, and now a new app that allows you to — wait for it — wink to take a photo. Google Glass user and developer Mike DiGiovanni created and app called ”Winky.” Once activated and calibrated, a simple wink of the eye allows you to capture a still of whatever you’re looking at, in high contrast to pressing the camera button or making a gesture on the Glass touchpad; DiGiovanni says that the aforementioned solution, “takes you out of the moment. Currently, the app only exists as source code, to protect users’ persona info, so if you happen to have Glass, you’ll need to compile and run the app as an APK first.
There’s a catch, actually. In order to use Skype online, you’ll have to make the jump to Outlook.com. A lot fo users seem to love the service, but as a Gmail diehard, I’ll be staying put. It’s also important to know that it still is in beta, a plug-in is needed to bridge Skype and Outlook.com together, and the service rolls out in the UK today, with the US and Germany following in the “coming weeks”. Browser compatibility is the base standard, of course: the most recent versions of Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox.
One of the slickest apps of them all, Google Now, has jumped ship from being an Android 4.1+ exclusive and is now available for iPhone and iPad, from the App Store. Despite the transition, Google Now still retains most of its native features, except newer ones, like boarding passes, events, Fandango, concerts, research topics, nearby events, and a few more. It sounds like a lot is missing, but once it’s linked to your Google account, that’s where the magic begins.
In what can only be described as “knowing who’s boss”, Google has made a small change to their Play Store policy: you may not update an app’s APK binary code without delivering it through the Play Store itself. This is something nearly all of the apps on the Play Store do, but a small red flag was raised when Facebook performed a side-update, which users would have no control over denying it; so Google has changed its policy. Seems right, actually.
The celebrities that have been praising Twitter’s new #Music app weren’t kidding: it’s seriosuly awesome. Starting off as simple iTunes Previews, Twitter users with Spotify or Rdio accounts (with more services being added in the future) will be able to stream, search, tweet about, and discover new songs based on what they’re interested in, find, or what others are listening to. And it’s all incorporated into an amazing UI on iOS or on the web. It completely is free to use (unless of course you have a Spotify or Rdio account which you’re paying for) and with the power of tweets and charts, will help you better understand and enjoy the music you already listen to.
