Popular photo filter app Prisma has been updated with an in-app store for users to download additional filters for free.
The photo app uses the predictive analyses of neural network technology to achieve its stylistic interpretations, which typically makes them more unique than standard photo filters.
Prisma says the new store will bring even more originality to users' pictures, with the promise of new styles being added to the store every week, and possibly every day further down the line.
Users will also be able to rate and share individual filter styles in the near future, according to Prisma. In addition, users can now delete filters they don't like from the 44 styles that come with the app.
According to The Next Web, Prisma has also developed a desktop app that allows users to create their own unique styles by adjusting a series of parameters. The company is still refining the tool, which takes a while to process images and doesn't yet say what each slider control adjusts, but a preview is offered before the image is uploaded and processed.
Currently the filter creator is only available to the most active users, but Prisma plans on bringing it to mobile and more users soon.
Prisma is a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]
Spotify is prepping the launch of a lossless audio version of its streaming service, according to The Verge. The new subscription tier is said to be called Spotify Hi-Fi and will offer higher bandwidth lossless audio quality to members.
Currently, Tidal is the only major music streaming service to offer an optional "lossless" audio tier, although other, lesser known lossless services do exist.
Tidal says tracks heard through its "CD quality" lossless service aren't compressed, so users are said to hear the music the way the artists intended – though whether one can tell the difference between compressed and uncompressed tracks can depend on the listener. What Spotify defines as lossless remains to be seen.
Spotify began testing the service with a small group of users on Tuesday, according to reports, offering the tier for $5 to $10 above the $10 per month price of a standard Spotify subscription.
However, users who received the invitation to sign up for the Hi-Fi service either got an error message or were told the service was unavailable in their area at the time.
A Tidal HiFi subscription costs $19.99. Apple Music streams at a bitrate of 256Kbps, while Spotify's current Premium tier streams at a maximum 320Kbps.
Apple tonight debuted an ad for its Home app on the Home app webpage on its site, showing off what users can with the HomeKit ecosystem. The ad is not yet on Apple's YouTube page, and is only available on Apple's website.
The ad depicts a woman who uses the Home app to get through the day. When she wakes up, she tells Siri good morning, prompting Siri to tell the woman that her home is ready for the day, turning on the lights and opening the window shades. She then opens the Home app and clicks on the "Breakfast Time" scene, which turns on her coffee maker via an iHome SmartPlug and adjusts the temperature via a Honeywell smart thermostat.
Once she's ready for the day, she leaves home and clicks the "Lock Up" scene in the Home app, which turns everything in her house off and locks the door. Hours later, she returns home and clicks the "I'm Home" scene, which turns everything back on and unlocks the door. She heads to her Apple TV and uses the Siri Remote to declare that it's "movie time," which prompts the Home app to dim the lights and close the window shades.
Finally, she clicks the "Lights Out" scene, which turns everything off other than a small lamp next to her bed so that she can read a book on her iPad. Eventually, she clicks the "Good Night" scene to turn off the lamp and go to sleep.
In addition to the new ad, Apple has refreshed its Home webpage with new verbiage. The new copy appears to be less flowery and more direct and focused on app functionality. For instance, the accessories section of the webpage is now titled "One app for all your home accessories" rather than "So many accessories. One easy way to control them." Some lines in the descriptions have also been removed.
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell recently sat down with TechCrunch for an interview discussing the future of the Oculus Rift, where he said that while Mac support is something the company would like to implement, it's not currently in the works.
According to Mitchell, while Mac support is "near-and-dear" to his heart, Oculus is "just not quite there yet." Mac integration is, in fact, so far off that it's not even on the Oculus roadmap for the next six months.
"We do want to do OS X (macOS) support for Rift, it's not something that's currently on the roadmap for-- I can even say-- the next six months," Mitchell tells me. "We will continue to revisit it, the real challenge for us is just how much we invest into that space because it does require a lot of our time and energy to get it right and to deliver a great experience."
Early versions of the Oculus Rift did work with some higher-end Mac machines, but during the product's development period, Oculus was forced to drop Mac support. Mac development was put on hold in order to focus on "delivering a high quality consumer-level VR experience," on Windows machines with more robust hardware.
Last year, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey made headlines when he said the Oculus Rift wouldn't offer Mac support until Apple releases a "good computer." He said Oculus Rift support was ultimately "up to Apple," and that the company needed to "prioritize higher-end GPUs."
Hardware requirements for the Rift became less stringent in October thanks to software advancements and will now run on any machine equipped with an Nvidia 960 or greater, an Intel i3-6100 or greater, or an AMD FX4350 or greater. With the changes, some Macs, including the latest MacBook Pro, could potentially work with the Rift, but Oculus isn't yet prepared to delve into Mac development.
Starting today, Oculus is dropping the price of the Rift and Touch controllers by $100, dropping the price to $598 for both products, a much more affordable price point. Individually, the Rift is now priced at $499 and the Touch controllers are now priced at $99.
Apple today updated its official list of vintage and obsolete products to add the second-generation Apple TV, originally released in 2010.
The second-generation Apple TV was the first Apple TV that featured a black body and an aluminum Apple Remote, an updated look compared to the silver and white Apple TV that was originally released in 2007.
Apple sold the second-generation Apple TV from September of 2010 until 2012, which is when the company released the third-generation Apple TV with an A5 chip and support for 1080p content.
The second-generation Apple TV is now classified as "vintage" in the United States and Turkey and "obsolete" in the rest of the world. Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago, while obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago.
Both classifications essentially mean Apple is no longer providing hardware service for the device except in Turkey and California, where local statutes require that Apple continue to provide service and parts for a longer period of time.
Camera-focused company Snap is said to have worked on a drone that would connect to the iOS and Android Snapchat app and let users take photos and videos from aerial angles, according to sources speaking with The New York Times. Details about the drone and any of its other capabilities remain under wraps, but the work is said to help Snap "bolster" its repositioning and rebranding as a modern-day camera company.
In a separate report by TechCrunch, Snap is believed to also have investigated and built a 360-degree camera, going so far as to bring in a camera developer with expertise in the field to hone in on the best hardware options for such a product. The 360-degree camera project is said to be in the "early phases." For both projects, sources mentioned that it remains unclear if consumer-ready versions will ever hit the market, or how much they might cost.
The question driving Snap’s hardware ambitions is: What can’t your phone camera do? It can’t take first-person, hands-free video, so Snap built Spectacles. It can’t fly. And it can’t capture what’s around you in all directions at once. People often stick their camera phones in the air and do a slow pan to show off where they are. A 360 camera could do a much better job of making friends feel like they’re there with you.
The company is said to have a specific strategy for mergers and acquisitions that uses new startups to "gather information" about technologies it lacks expertise in, sometimes acquiring the companies and sometimes not. An example is given describing when Snap met with drone startup Lily before the latter company eventually shut down, and now rumors suggesting Snap's entry into the drone market have begun circling.
Snap has previously met with startups with the implication that it might acquire them, when in reality it’s goal has been to gather information about new markets and technologies where it could compete, according to one source familiar with Snap’s M&A procedures.
In some cases, it has made acquisitions after these meetings. But in other cases, “they talked to a bunch of people and got them to tell them a bunch of stuff. Snap shows a little bit of leg and tries to be flirty to see what they can get” the source said.
Additionally, it was reported that Snap has "preliminarily discussed" other consumer products that would enhance its mobile app, including a durable GoPro-like camera, and another that would let users take 3D images.
The reports of new products from Snap follow the launch of its Spectacles sunglasses, which let users take 10-second videos from a camera mounted within a pair of glasses, providing freedom of movement with their hands. According to TechCrunch's sources, the company is pursuing work on a second version of Spectacles, but the lack of "meaningful revenue" from the first iteration may pause those plans.
Market watchers are paying close attention to Snap today, as the company gets ready for the debut of its initial public offering on the U.S. stock market later in the afternoon.
Apple has enabled carrier billing in Austria for Drei customers, Italy for Three customers, and Singapore for M1 Limited customers, expanding upon the feature's existing availability among select carriers in Belgium, Germany, Japan, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The payment method enables customers to pay for iTunes content, App Store apps, iBooks, and Apple Music subscriptions without needing a credit or debit card, or even a bank account. Instead, purchases are added to a customer's mobile phone bill and paid off at the end of the month.
Twitter today announced a list of new features for the web and mobile that plan to leverage the company's learning technology to drastically reduce harassment on the service.
The updates will place more tools in the hands of the users to "control your experience," and overall Twitter said it intends to be more vocal and "communicate more clearly" about the actions it takes in the realm of online safety.
The company's first step is an overall boost to its learning algorithms that it says can detect when accounts are violating the Twitter Rules repeatedly, or otherwise engaging in abusive behavior, and take actions prior to even getting a digital abuse report from other Twitter users. Abusive accounts will then face repercussions, "such as allowing only their followers to see their Tweets."
Our platform supports the freedom to share any viewpoint, but if an account continues to repeatedly violate the Twitter Rules, we will consider taking further action.
We aim to only act on accounts when we’re confident, based on our algorithms, that their behavior is abusive. Since these tools are new we will sometimes make mistakes, but know that we are actively working to improve and iterate on them everyday.
In terms of tools, users will now have even more filtering options for notifications so that basic "egg" accounts with a profile photo, and those with an unverified email address or phone number, can all be filtered out completely. Expanding on the mute feature implemented last November, users will be able to more easily gain access to mute words or entire conversations right from the Twitter timeline. A length of time can now be selected as well, so content can be muted for one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely.
After negative press surrounded Twitter for its inaction towards anti-harassment measures on the site, the company noted in its blog post that a big point moving forward will be "continuing to improve the transparency and openness of our reporting process." So on a big scale the company plans to be more consistent with its safety feature rollouts, and on a small scale it said that users will be notified more often about Tweets and accounts they've reported, from the moment the report comes in to the measures Twitter takes in dealing with the situation.
The report updates will be visible in the Notifications tab on Twitter.com and the Twitter iOS app. The company admitted that the process towards a more widespread sense of safety on the social network isn't easy, and referenced the mistakes it's made in the past, like when it decided to turn off notifications every time users are added to a list. At the time, users pointed out how oddly anti-safe that move was, which placed them even more in the dark about who was interacting with their Twitter profile.
We’re learning a lot as we continue our work to make Twitter safer – not just from the changes we ship but also from the mistakes we make, and of course, from feedback you share.
Online safety has become a big concern for many social networks. Besides Twitter, Instagram has updated its app to let users moderate keywords that appear in the comments of their posts, as well as turn comments off completely. Facebook today also announced a suite of new suicide prevention tools aimed at leveraging AI systems and contacting at-risk users based on their actions within comments, posts, and Facebook Live videos.
Today's updates follow safety tweaks introduced by Twitter in February where it updated how users report abusive Tweets, prevented the creation of new abusive accounts, created safer search results, collapsed "low-quality" Tweets in conversations, and reduced notifications from conversations initiated by blocked or muted users. The new updates will be rolling out globally in the coming days and weeks.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Target this week instructed its stores to return a number of iPhone SE models to Apple by today, March 1, according to a company memo obtained by MacRumors.
iPhone SE devices that are to be returned include six unlocked 16GB and 64GB models in Gold, Silver, Rose Gold, and Space Gray, and two Sprint models.
An anonymous employee informed us that her Target store had not received iPhone SE stock since before the iPhone 7 was announced in September 2016.
While there are many possible reasons for Target to send back iPhone SE stock, such as poor sales of select models, the move comes just days or weeks before Apple's rumored March event, where a 128GB iPhone SE may be announced. However, no other hardware changes have been rumored.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said an iPhone SE refresh is unlikely in the first half of this year, so fans of Apple's lower-priced smartphone shouldn't set their hopes too high about a second-generation model yet. The original iPhone SE, which starts at $399, was introduced in March 2016.
Even without a full refresh, one possible scenario is that Apple could begin selling the iPhone SE in 32GB and 128GB capacities, doubling the storage space of the current 16GB and 64GB models, going forward.
Google has integrated Google Keep notes into Google Docs, allowing users of the Google Keep iOS app to drag-and-drop their notes directly into online documents.
With Google Keep for iOS, users can input notes, lists, photos, and voice memos, set reminders about notes, and organize their note collections with labels and colors.
While in Docs on the web, users can now access the Keep notepad via the Tools menu. The new integration means users can copy their Keep notes into Docs and create new Keep notes right from inside Docs (accessed via the web, not through the Docs app), after which they will sync back to the Keep iOS app.
Google has offered some tips on making the most of the new feature:
Here are a few ways you can now work better with the integration between Keep and Docs:
Drag your notes from Keep directly into your work documents
Easily search your notes in Keep while in Docs to find the information you need to complete your project
Add a new note in the Keep notepad or select text from inside of your document and easily add it to a new note (just right click and select “Save to Keep notepad”). When you open that note in Keep, we’ll include a link back to the source document so you can always refer back to it.
Google Keep is a free download for iPhone and iPad available from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Apple today posted a limited-time promotion on its Japanese site for its "New Life" campaign, which allows customers using certain company-issued credit cards to receive cashback and other benefits on Apple Pay purchases and store rewards.
As noted by Japanese blog Ata Distance, the Apple Pay promotion runs between March 1 and April 30 and takes in app purchases and online services including Japan Taxi, Toho Cinemas, Demae-Can, Jalan, Minne, Base, and Giftee. The available online rewards range from coupons to free shipping on orders, while purchases from brick-and-mortar convenience stores are also touting similar benefits.
As part of its "New Life" campaign, Apple has added more firms to its list of participating card issuers: APLUS, EPOS, JACCS, Cedyna, POCKETCARD and Life all now offer some sort of reward as part of the promotion. UCS integration has also been confirmed but a timeline for activation has not been announced.
Apple Pay debuted in the Japanese market last October following the release of iOS 10.1, making it available for use at all locations that accept the Suica prepaid money card, QuicPay, or iD. Apple Pay in Japan also works with credit and debit cards issued by American Express, JCB, Mastercard, Aeon Financial, Orico, Credit Saison, SoftBank, d Card, View Card, MUFG Card, and more.
Reliable mobile phone leaker Evan Blass this morning posted what looks like an official press image of the Galaxy S8, Samsung's first flagship phone of 2017.
Coming on the back of last year's Note7 debacle, the S8 represents a hopeful comeback for Samsung's smartphone business and is likely to be the biggest rival to Apple's radically redesigned "iPhone 8" expected to launch later this year.
The single rendered image appears to confirm the expected new minimal-bezel design and the absence of a home button on the front of the handset, with the larger edge-to-edge curved OLED display showing launch icons in the bottom corners of the screen.
On the right side of the handset is a power button, with those on the left side likely to be volume controls and a separate button to activate Bixby, Samsung's new virtual assistant, developed by the original creators of Siri.
It's unclear from the picture which model is shown, but the available display sizes of its Quad HD+ Super AMOLED panel will reportedly be 5.8 inches and 6.2 inches (the latter being for the S8 "Plus", according to Blass). The screen also teases the Galaxy S8 launch date of March 29, as confirmed by Samsung during its relatively low-profile appearance at the Mobile World Congress.
Further spec details have yet to be officially confirmed, but the S8 is expected to feature the Exynos 9 Series 8895 processor, Samsung's first chip built on 10-nanometer FinFET process technology, along with USB-C, wireless charging, iris scanning, a fingerprint sensor on the back, 4GB of RAM and at least 64GB of internal storage, with a 12 megapixel rear camera and an 8 megapixel front camera also in the offing.
Apple is widely expected to use Samsung-made AMOLED display technology in at least one of three possible iPhones to be released this year. Compared to LCD screens, OLED displays are thinner, lighter, and offer more flexibility, making modifications to a phone's form factor and geometry easier to undertake.
Added to these advantages are several performance gains over LCD panels, due to the fact that each sub-pixel in an OLED display is individually directly powered, which typically results in better color accuracy, image contrast accuracy, and screen uniformity.
With an edge-to-edge design, the "iPhone 8" is said to be similar in size to the 4.7-inch iPhone, but with a display the size of the 5.5-inch iPhone. Rumors suggest it will feature a 5.8-inch display with 5.15 inches of usable area, with the rest given over to a "function area" for virtual buttons. Other rumored features include a glass body, iris scanning and some form of wireless charging. Apple is expected to release its new iPhone line-up in the fall.
Update 3/2:BGR has posted images of a S8 handset powered on, calling the glass-backed device "a wonderfully sleek design" despite the fact that it retains a headphone jack.
Facebook tonight launched its Facebook Video app for the fourth-generation, tvOS-based Apple TV. The app allows users to watch videos from friends, liked pages, top live videos and more.
Videos are split into six channels: Shared by Friends, Following, Recommended for You, Top Live Videos, Saved Videos and Recently Watched. Following contains videos by both friends and liked pages while Shared by Friends only lists videos from friends.
The app is more robust than Facebook's fullscreen video mode on the web or iOS, which only lists select recommendations and autoplays the next video in the recommendation queue.
Earlier this month, Facebook's VP of Partnerships said the app would not feature ads at launch and will require a Facebook account to use. Facebook is also reportedly in discussions with media companies to license long-form "premium" content to bolster its video selection.
The app is not a standalone app. Instead, it's built into Facebook for iOS. Apple TV users will access the video app while iOS users will only be able to access the standard Facebook app.
Verizon today announced a new promotion that’s designed to encourage its customers to sign up for both Verizon Wireless cellular service and Verizon Fios internet and TV plans.
Verizon Fios customers who activate a new service on Verizon Unlimited will receive $250 in bill credits (applied as a $10 discount over 25 months), while Verizon Wireless customers can get a $250 Verizon Wireless gift card when signing up for a qualifying Triple Play Fios TV, internet, and phone package with a two-year agreement.
New customers can take advantage of both of the offers simultaneously for a total of $500 back during the promotion period.
Verizon's Triple Play Fios plans start at $80 per month for 150/150Mb/s internet, phone, and custom TV package. Verizon’s new Unlimited cellular plan is priced at $80 per month for a single user.
YouTube today officially announced its new streaming television service, YouTube TV, reports Recode. Priced at $35 per month, YouTube TV features access to ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and approximately 30 major cable channels, with television content available alongside YouTube's own video content.
Separate from YouTube Red, the new TV service will be available as a standalone app that's launching later this year. While it will be available on laptops and TVs through Chromecast, YouTube TV is said to be focused on a "mobile first" experience, with YouTube expecting most users to watch on smartphones and tablets.
At launch, available channels will be limited to cable networks owned by companies that also own broadcast networks, but that could change in the future.
One thing that distinguishes YouTube TV from its competitors is that while it will feature cable networks owned by companies that also own broadcast networks -- so it will offer both ESPN and ABC, both owned by Disney -- it doesn't feature any networks owned by programmers that operate exclusively on pay TV, like Viacom, AMC or Time Warner.
YouTube TV features include cloud DVR options with unlimited storage space, an AI-powered recommendation system, and service that scales reliably for no launch-time outages.
At $35 per month, YouTube TV is at the price point Apple hoped to achieve when it was working on its own now-shelved television streaming service. It's also a price point that's competitive with offerings like DirecTV Now, Sling TV, and PlayStation Vue.
YouTube has been working on a streaming television service for more than two years, and while it was originally rumored to be called "Unplugged," the company appears to have gone with a simpler name. Compared to competing TV services, YouTube TV could potentially have an edge given its impressive existing user base.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal suggested people around the world are watching more than 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day.
Apple today shared a new video that's part of its latest iPad Pro advertising campaign, highlighting the Apple Pencil and the ability to sign documents right on the tablet without the need to print them.
The 16-second video, like previous videos in the campaign, is based on a tweet that an actual Twitter user shared on the social network. While a real tweet is used, an actress plays the part of the Twitter user.
Don't print. With iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, you can just sign and send out that secret new job offer!
Apple's newest iPad Pro ad campaign comes as the company is rumored to be preparing to introduce an updated iPad Pro lineup. A flagship 10.5-inch iPad Pro with an upgraded processor and edge-to-edge display is rumored to be in the works alongside refreshed 9.7, 12.9, and perhaps 7.9-inch tablets.
According to Apple's System Status page, a small number of users are having ongoing issues with some iCloud services, including iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, iCloud Notes, iCloud Web Apps, iWork for iCloud, and Photos.
Apple says less than 0.04 percent of users are affected by the iCloud problems, with those users experiencing "slower than normal performance." The iCloud slowdowns may be due to an Amazon Web Services outage that is affecting multiple websites and web services this morning.
Over the weekend, Apple updated the look of its System Status page, and the company now provides additional information on individual services that are experiencing problems. Prior to the update, Apple used a status bar at the bottom of the page to relay problems, but now each service can be clicked for an individual report that better outlines what's going on.
The page also provides a better look at past incidents that have since been resolved. It is not clear when today's iCloud problems will clear up, but customers experiencing issues should keep an eye on the System Status page for updates.
Update: Additional services are experiencing issues, including Apple Music, the App Store, Apple TV, and more.
Update 2: The Amazon Web Services outage has ended and Apple's System Status page now suggests all Apple services are functioning as normal.
During a Q&A session at today's shareholder meeting held at Apple's Cupertino campus, Apple CEO Tim Cook reassured investors that Apple is still very much focused on its professional customers and has plans to "do more" in the pro area.
"You will see us do more in the pro area," Cook said. "The pro area is very important to us. The creative area is very important to us in particular."
Cook's comments were directed towards the Mac, Apple Watch, services, and iPad, but may reassure those who are worried that Apple is abandoning its desktop Mac lineup, especially the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro has not been updated since December of 2013, going more than 1,100 days without a refresh.
Other desktop Macs have also gone more than a year without an update. The iMac last saw a refresh in October of 2015, more than 500 days ago, while the Mac mini was last updated in October of 2014, over 860 days ago.
"Don't think something we've done or something that we're doing that isn't visible yet is a signal that our priorities are elsewhere," Cook also told investors.
There have been no hints that a Mac mini or Mac Pro refresh is on the horizon, but Apple is rumored to be planning to introduce new iMacs in 2017, perhaps as early as March. Future iMacs are expected to be updated with USB-C ports and AMD graphics chips.
At the meeting, Cook was also questioned about a potential convergence between the Mac and iPad lines, in the form of a touchscreen Mac. While Cook said he didn't want to comment on future product plans, he again reiterated that he sees the iPad and the Mac as two separate product lines that serve different purposes.
"Expect us to do more and more where people will view it as a laptop replacement, but not a Mac replacement - the Mac does so much more," he said. "To merge these worlds, you would lose the simplicity of one, and the power of the other."
Much of the rest of the shareholder meeting consisted of voting on several proposals and reiterating information that was previously shared during Apple's January earnings call. While no shareholder proposals passed - including those calling for increased diversity and more transparency about donations - Apple reelected its board of directors, approved board compensation, and approved Ernst and Young as the company's accounting firm.
Apple today updated its official list of 
Twitter today 
Target this week instructed its stores to return a number of iPhone SE models to Apple by today, March 1, according to a company memo obtained by MacRumors.
During a Q&A session at today's shareholder meeting held at Apple's Cupertino campus, Apple CEO Tim Cook reassured investors that Apple is still very much focused on its 
