Giddy-up – how to stream the Melbourne Cup online

UPDATED - 2016 edition

It’s that time of the year again, in which the entire nation stops to huddle around an office TV with bad reception to watch the Melbourne Cup.

If that (highly likely) scenario doesn’t appeal to you, there are now online streaming alternatives that can make the ‘race that stops the nation’ a much less painful experience – well, for you, not so much the glue factory-destined horses.

Thanks to the Seven’s commitment to live streaming, you now can stream the Melbourne Cup from the comfort of your browser window via the network’s Plus7 streaming service.

Alternatively, you can get a great quality stream from Seven’s other streaming service, 7Live.

If you’re planning on watching the Melbourne Cup from a tablet or smartphone, the Plus7 app will be streaming the race for the second time ever, and is available for iOS and Android devices.

• Seven will be live streaming all of its channels from December 1

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Here are the emojis coming with iOS 10.2, including an astronaut emoji 🎉

 Apple dropped the first beta for iOS 10.2 today. And it comes with the latest update in emoji innovation. You may have noticed that Apple already redesigned most of the core emojis and added new gender and race options with iOS 10. But the company didn’t stop there. With iOS 10.2, Apple is adding full Unicode 9.0 support. Given that hundreds of millions of people use Apple-flavored… Read More

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When President Obama leaves office, his @Potus tweets leave with him

 When President Obama turns over the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he’ll also handing over a number of high profile social media accounts. Eight days ahead of the election, the White House is outlining how the transfer of social power will go when the commander-in-chief steps aside early next year. The President’s Twitter account, for one, will be getting a fresh start of… Read More

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Sheriff’s department denies surveilling Standing Rock protesters via Facebook check-ins

 Like wildfire, the latest viral protest spreading across the internet involves Facebook users checking in at Standing Rock, ND en masse to “confuse” and “overwhelm” law enforcement authorities seeking to disrupt ongoing protests against the proposed path of an oil pipeline. The viral Facebook post claims that the local sheriff’s department in Morton County is… Read More

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Standing Rock pipeline protest absent from Facebook Trends

 A massive social media protest is exploding on Facebook, not Twitter for a change, yet Facebook’s dehumanized Trending system is failing to pick it up. People around the country are checking in to Facebook at the Standing Rock Native American Reservation in an effort to supposedly hinder local Morton County police from targeting protesters there in person to fight an oil pipeline… Read More

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Play My Way app aims to turn kids’ love of mobile devices on its head

 Parents despairing of ever being able to separate their offspring from the mobile devices glued to their fingertips might be interested in an app called Play My Way that’s being built by a startup from Lebanon and designed to interrupt other apps with a little worthy educational content. Read More http://ift.tt/2e67898

Pre-Black Friday deals: Sony PS4, cheap laptops, games and more

The internet company that powers Netflix and Google just got acquired

Two of the biggest providers of internet pipes are coming together in a massive deal in the world of the internet’s infrastructure, with CenturyLink having snapped up Level 3 Communications in a $34 billion (around £28 billion, AU$45 billion) cash and stock deal.

Level 3 operates not just in the US but also Western Europe and Asia, and it pipes the likes of Netflix and Apple’s media content, plus Google’s traffic, across the internet. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter next year, subject to the usual regulatory approval, and CenturyLink shareholders will then own 51% of the outfit.

Combining with this other internet giant will increase the size of CenturyLink’s network by some 200,000 miles of fibre, around a sixth of which will be subsea connections linking up multiple continents around the globe.

The addition of Level 3’s network will mean coverage across over 60 countries for the new operation, and CenturyLink noted that this will bring major benefits to its plentiful enterprise customer base.

Speeding ahead  

And the coming together will mean greater opportunities to further invest in broadband infrastructure, which will in the end mean faster connections for consumers and small businesses alike.

Glen Post, CEO and president of CenturyLink, commented: "The digital economy relies on broadband connectivity, and together with Level 3 we will have one of the most robust fibre network and high-speed data services companies in the world.”

He added: "This transaction furthers our commitment to providing our customers with the network to improve their lives and strengthen their businesses. It is this focus on providing fibre connectivity that will continue to distinguish CenturyLink from our competitors.”

So, smoother Netflix streaming for all is on the cards? Well, we can certainly hope that this will have a generally positive impact in all sorts of online spheres, so some should feel the benefit eventually, even if it’s only in keeping abreast of increasingly demanding streaming needs in terms of bandwidth.

• Check here for the best business broadband deals currently available

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Giphy is offering Vines another place to call home

Fans of Vine might still be mourning the loss of their favourite short-form video platform, but Giphy has revealed a new tool that might bring them comfort and solace. 

Last week Twitter announced that it was planning to do some weeding and as a result couldn’t allow Vine to continue looping any longer. The video platform had only been around three years, but in this short time it managed to amass a sizable user base with a talent for creating viral 5 second comedy pieces. 

As small comfort, Twitter announced that Vines already uploaded wouldn’t be going anywhere and would be accessible and downloadable via the Vine website. 

Never let go

Now, Giphy is offering another way to let the loop live on with its new Giphy Loves Vine tool. The tool will allow anyone with a Giphy account to transfer their entire Vine library from the Vine website and convert them into infinitely looping and shareable GIFs.

Of course, a great deal of the appeal of Vines is their sound which GIFs unfortunately don’t offer. To access the original Vine, sound and all, users simply have to click on the source for the GIF which will direct them to its place on the official Vine website. 

Giphy has made the entire process incredibly simple; to transfer your Vine library simply visit the Giphy Loves Vine site, log in to your Giphy account, copy and paste the URL of your Vine profile and Giphy will do the rest for you. 

Each Giphy account can only import one Vine library but for users with multiple Vine accounts, Giphy will be able to help if you contact them. 

• Prisma for iPhone now lets you make arty videos

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Vine founders’ Hype app blends live video into a rich multimedia mix

 Does the world need another live video app? Meerkat’s demise might suggest not, but that hasn’t stopped Vine’s co-founders from screwing their courage to the sticking place and stepping into a highly contested space with the launch of an iOS app called Hype — days after Twitter announced it would be shuttering their looping video app, apparently without even doing them… Read More

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Choosing the right broadband deal just became much easier

New rules ensuring that broadband advertising is made much clearer price-wise, and ISPs are less likely to confuse consumers with tricks like separating out line rental costs, come into play as of today.

The Advertising Standards Authority’s new regulations mean that going forward, the price for a broadband package must show the monthly cost including all elements – as mentioned, that means no more hiding line rental charges at the bottom of an ad or in small print – and all up-front costs as well.

In other words, you’ll know exactly what you’ll be paying. The ASA is also insisting that ‘greater prominence’ should be given to up-front fees, like installation charges or activation fees. And that the contract length should also be presented with greater prominence, as well as the price of the deal beyond any discount period.

Confusion reigns 

As the ASA said back in May, previous practices have confused consumers and made it difficult for them to compare and contrast different broadband deals. Indeed, in a survey the organisation carried out, 81% of respondents failed to calculate the correct cost of a broadband contract from the details given in a sample advert.

Adverts which flaunt these newly imposed standards risk getting hit with the ban stick.

Chief Executive of the ASA, Guy Parker, commented: “Broadband is a service we all take for granted. That’s why some people can get frustrated when they sign-up to a package after seeing an ad, only to find their bills are higher than expected.

“From today, we expect to see a change in how broadband providers advertise their prices. The effect should be a real positive difference in how consumers understand and engage with ads for broadband services.”

• Here’s another way to find the best business broadband deals currently available

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LG OLED 4K TV - Perfect Black creates Perfect Colour

LG’s latest range of premium OLED 4K TVs can change the face of your home entertainment system and offers one of the best quality screens in the market.

The organic self-emitting pixels offer the deepest levels of black, bringing the richest colours to life along with a huge range of contrast. 

The OLED 4K range includes the B6, C6, E6 and G6 models, which all offer incredible picture quality, a beautiful sleek design and fantastic audio courtesy of Harman / Kardon.

Only LG TVs support Dolby Vision HDR to give you an experience you’ve never seen before in your home.

Dolby Vision is the same technology you’ve probably seen in the cinema and will give you the best picture quality with incredible brightness, colours and contrast.

The C6 OLED 4K model is exclusive to Currys; it comes in 55” and 65” screen sizes and features a stunning curved design.

Between now and March 2017, it comes with a 12 month subscription to Sky Q with the original bundle included. That means you’ll have access to channels like Sky Atlantic, Comedy Central, Sky 1 and MTV.

Sky Q allows you to not only record more TV than ever before with its new 2TB box, but also watch in multiple rooms around your home with Sky Multiscreen.

Ultra HD with Sky also means you can make the most of your brand new LG TV with 4K picture on selected shows and events, such as 124 Premier League matches, over 70 movies on demand and 30 hours of stunning documentary footage.

Head over to Currys PC World now to learn more about the stunning LG OLED 4K TV range, and take advantage of the 12 months Sky Q offer just in time for Christmas. Plus, all LG OLED 4K TVs from Currys come with a 5 year guarantee included.

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Encore wants to make it easy to book a musician or band for your event

 Encore, a U.K. startup and graduate of Entrepreneur First, is another example of a company attempting to disrupt the traditional agency model. Read More http://ift.tt/2eLfsiq

20 best horror movies on Netflix UK: scary movies for Halloween

There's nothing better than watching a decent horror movie. A horror movie that forces you to sleep with the light on after watching it. A horror movie that latches onto your deepest, primal fears, pokes and prods at your psyche, strangles you with fear and raises your heart rate to palpitation levels. These types of horror movies are rare, and that is what makes them so special.

The following is a hand-picked list of the best horror movies on Netflix you should - no, need to - watch over Halloween that are available on the service in the UK. They are the titles on Netflix that will induce fear but as you will see, fear takes different forms. Sometimes it's foreboding, sometimes it's mixed with comedy, other times it's bloody and brutal.

And then there's that other fear: the fear that you have missed off some damn good movies from a list. If that's the case, then let us know in the comments below.

• Best Netflix TV Shows
• Best Amazon Prime Instant Video TV Shows
• Best Now TV Shows

The Babadook's horror, a brilliant debut by director Jennifer Kent, lies in its subtlety. The plot revolving around a creepy bedtime book is secondary to the fraught relationship between widowed Amelia (Essie Davis) and her six-year-old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). It plays on the usual fear-inducing tropes but the real horror of the movie is seeing a family in grief and the devastating sadness that accompanies this.

Director James Wan cut his teeth - and many other limbs - with Saw, which is fun but forgettable. Insidious feels like a much more grown up horror movie, that eschews blood for Poltergeist-style japes. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are husband and wife who are looking after their coma-induced son. Some great cinematography makes up for a plot that does annoyingly veer into supernatural territory near the end. Despite this, there's a lot of fun to be had.

As remakes go, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is up there with the best. A brilliant turn from a haunted Donald Pleasence means that even if the McCarthy era paranoia from the original is missing, and small town America has been replaced by San Francisco, there's still plenty of terror to get your teeth into. And it looks amazing, too - thanks to cinematography from Michael Chapman, the man who also lensed Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

One of the most overlooked horror movies of all time, this is a wonderful hidden slice of '70s horror. Shot through a dream-like lens, the movie follows a group of mates looking to find solace for their friend Jessica, who has just been released from a clinic. After a road trip they end up shacking up in an empty house that comes complete with a stranger called Emily. Full of subtle scares, marvellous missteps and lingering shots, Let's Scare Jessica To Death is a must watch.

Christopher Walken is superb in this tale of angels coming back to earth to collect a soul that belongs in heaven. Walken is no stranger to horror flicks - he also starred in the superb Dead Zone - but in the Prophecy he is an, er, revelation as the Angel Gabriel. Part action movie, part horror, part supernatural thriller, The Prophecy is no Oscar contender but it is a whole lot of fun.

With its myriad meta musings on the slasher genre and knowing nods to other horror movies, it is sometimes forgotten that at the heart of Scream is a damn good horror movie. Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson play against trope after trope in Scream and pretty much spell the plot out for you, but from the first scene to the last there's a real menace to the movie. The look of Ghostface may have entered parody thanks to Scary Movie but, nearly 20 years ago, the mask was the face of horror. Brilliant stuff.

The Sacrament is a movie that shines a light on the scary world of cults and enigmatic cult leaders. The story leans heavily on the real-life Jonestown Massacre, which saw cult leader Jim Jones lead his followers into mass suicide. Using the found footage formula that is baked into the horror genre, The Sacrament gives a brilliant first-hand account of what it is like when a paradise turns into a nightmare.

Yet another movie that is made 1,000 per cent better because Jeffrey Combs stars in it. Would You Rather has an interesting concept - the ultimate life or death game of 'would you rather' hosted by a sadistic aristocrat - that doesn't quite reach the heights it should but you will have a lot of fun watching it try. Definitely not one for the squeamish!

Forget the frankly terrible title, February is a sparse and suspenseful chiller that sees two school girls spend their winter break in a boarding school after their parents fail to pick them up. The soundtrack soars with synths, the visuals are gorgeous and the acting from Mad Men alumni Kiernan Shipka and Emma Roberts is sublime. It takes it’s time and is something of an odd watch but February is one of the best new horrors around.

This Netflix exclusive landed on the site a few days before Halloween and is a slow-burning delight. Made by director Osgood Perkins, who created the brilliant February which is also on this list and incidentally is the son of Psycho’s Anthony Perkins so has horror in his veins, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House is a tough watch as its pace is glacial but it fizzes with so much unease that it will leave you mesmerised.

How do you make a home invasion movie original? By making the protagonist deaf and unaware of what’s going until it’s nearly too late. That’s the premise of Hush and it breathes new life into the cat-and-mouse psychopath genre. Hush is another great movie from the Blumhouse lot - those who created Paranormal Activity - and is directed by Oculus’ helmer Mike Flanagan.

As remakes go, Let Me In is a rare beast that matches the original movie for tension and suspense. Director Matt Reeves ports this vampire story from the cold of Stockholm to New Mexico, telling the tale of a 12-year-old kid who gets one-up on the bullies by befriending a vampire. The 1980s setting adds to the unease, as does Reeves’ assured direction.

Director David Slade may have lost a bit of kudos by making a Twilight movie but his first proper stab at horror was a decent one. 30 Days of Night is a simple premise: vampires descend on an Alaskan town that suffers from total darkness for one month of the year and cause total carnage. Josh Hartnett is great as the grizzled resident who has to fight for his life.

An antidote to the Blair Witch style shaky cam found footage movies, Paranormal Activity managed to make CCTV footage scary, offering up a low-budget horror film that is genuinely unnerving. Although the franchise suffers, as many horror franchises do, from diminishing returns, the sequels are also worth a watch.

Nicolas Winding Refn may be getting all the plaudits for his super-stylish fashion-based horror flick The Neon Demon but Starry Eyes got in their first with its harrowing look at what can go wrong when you pursue fame. Pitch black in its tone and set to an unnerving score, Starry Eyes is a great but haunting watch.

The Beast Within is a nice slab of 80s horror that takes the idea of a teengaer suffering from growing pains to the extreme. Written by horror legend Tom Holland, the movie was a cult hit when first released - thanks to its rather decent practical effects - and stars RoboCop’s Ronny Cox.

The Duplass brothers are usually associated with comedy - their TV show Togetherness is well worth a watch - which makes their first foray into horror so surprising. Creep is a, well, creepy look at someone who answers an online ad to make a movie for a stranger’s unborn child. What ensues is, as you’d expect, not a movie for the child but something altogether more sinister.

It may have an age rating that says it’s family friendly, but The Others is nothing of the sort. It’s a creepy, brilliant horror starring Nicole Kidman as a religious mother who moves her family away from the city and to the country during World War II. If the words: “I am your daughter” don’t send shivers down your spine, then nothing will.

Before he was chosen to helm the rather brilliant Doctor Strange, director Scott Derrickson cut his tooth on this very effective horror. Based loosely on a true story, the film is set around a court case where a reverend is being charged for wrongful death after an exorcism goes wrong. The scares may be gore free, but there are no less chilling.

Scarecrows has one of our favourite-ever film premises. It is about a group of mercenaries who rob a bank, steal a plane and land in a field full of killer scarecrows. What ensues is complete and utter carnage. Scarecrows is a curio that was hard to find for a long time, but for some reason it’s cropped up on Netflix. If you want some old-fashioned horror mayhem, then this is for you.

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20 best horror movies on Netflix UK: scary movies for Halloween

There's nothing better than watching a decent horror movie. A horror movie that forces you to sleep with the light on after watching it. A horror movie that latches onto your deepest, primal fears, pokes and prods at your psyche, strangles you with fear and raises your heart rate to palpitation levels. These types of horror movies are rare, and that is what makes them so special.

The following is a hand-picked list of the best horror movies on Netflix you should - no, need to - watch over Halloween that are available on the service in the UK. They are the titles on Netflix that will induce fear but as you will see, fear takes different forms. Sometimes it's foreboding, sometimes it's mixed with comedy, other times it's bloody and brutal.

And then there's that other fear: the fear that you have missed off some damn good movies from a list. If that's the case, then let us know in the comments below.

• Best Netflix TV Shows
• Best Amazon Prime Instant Video TV Shows
• Best Now TV Shows

The Babadook's horror, a brilliant debut by director Jennifer Kent, lies in its subtlety. The plot revolving around a creepy bedtime book is secondary to the fraught relationship between widowed Amelia (Essie Davis) and her six-year-old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). It plays on the usual fear-inducing tropes but the real horror of the movie is seeing a family in grief and the devastating sadness that accompanies this.

Director James Wan cut his teeth - and many other limbs - with Saw, which is fun but forgettable. Insidious feels like a much more grown up horror movie, that eschews blood for Poltergeist-style japes. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are husband and wife who are looking after their coma-induced son. Some great cinematography makes up for a plot that does annoyingly veer into supernatural territory near the end. Despite this, there's a lot of fun to be had.

As remakes go, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is up there with the best. A brilliant turn from a haunted Donald Pleasence means that even if the McCarthy era paranoia from the original is missing, and small town America has been replaced by San Francisco, there's still plenty of terror to get your teeth into. And it looks amazing, too - thanks to cinematography from Michael Chapman, the man who also lensed Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

One of the most overlooked horror movies of all time, this is a wonderful hidden slice of '70s horror. Shot through a dream-like lens, the movie follows a group of mates looking to find solace for their friend Jessica, who has just been released from a clinic. After a road trip they end up shacking up in an empty house that comes complete with a stranger called Emily. Full of subtle scares, marvellous missteps and lingering shots, Let's Scare Jessica To Death is a must watch.

Christopher Walken is superb in this tale of angels coming back to earth to collect a soul that belongs in heaven. Walken is no stranger to horror flicks - he also starred in the superb Dead Zone - but in the Prophecy he is an, er, revelation as the Angel Gabriel. Part action movie, part horror, part supernatural thriller, The Prophecy is no Oscar contender but it is a whole lot of fun.

With its myriad meta musings on the slasher genre and knowing nods to other horror movies, it is sometimes forgotten that at the heart of Scream is a damn good horror movie. Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson play against trope after trope in Scream and pretty much spell the plot out for you, but from the first scene to the last there's a real menace to the movie. The look of Ghostface may have entered parody thanks to Scary Movie but, nearly 20 years ago, the mask was the face of horror. Brilliant stuff.

The Sacrament is a movie that shines a light on the scary world of cults and enigmatic cult leaders. The story leans heavily on the real-life Jonestown Massacre, which saw cult leader Jim Jones lead his followers into mass suicide. Using the found footage formula that is baked into the horror genre, The Sacrament gives a brilliant first-hand account of what it is like when a paradise turns into a nightmare.

Yet another movie that is made 1,000 per cent better because Jeffrey Combs stars in it. Would You Rather has an interesting concept - the ultimate life or death game of 'would you rather' hosted by a sadistic aristocrat - that doesn't quite reach the heights it should but you will have a lot of fun watching it try. Definitely not one for the squeamish!

Forget the frankly terrible title, February is a sparse and suspenseful chiller that sees two school girls spend their winter break in a boarding school after their parents fail to pick them up. The soundtrack soars with synths, the visuals are gorgeous and the acting from Mad Men alumni Kiernan Shipka and Emma Roberts is sublime. It takes it’s time and is something of an odd watch but February is one of the best new horrors around.

This Netflix exclusive landed on the site a few days before Halloween and is a slow-burning delight. Made by director Osgood Perkins, who created the brilliant February which is also on this list and incidentally is the son of Psycho’s Anthony Perkins so has horror in his veins, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House is a tough watch as its pace is glacial but it fizzes with so much unease that it will leave you mesmerised.

How do you make a home invasion movie original? By making the protagonist deaf and unaware of what’s going until it’s nearly too late. That’s the premise of Hush and it breathes new life into the cat-and-mouse psychopath genre. Hush is another great movie from the Blumhouse lot - those who created Paranormal Activity - and is directed by Oculus’ helmer Mike Flanagan.

As remakes go, Let Me In is a rare beast that matches the original movie for tension and suspense. Director Matt Reeves ports this vampire story from the cold of Stockholm to New Mexico, telling the tale of a 12-year-old kid who gets one-up on the bullies by befriending a vampire. The 1980s setting adds to the unease, as does Reeves’ assured direction.

Director David Slade may have lost a bit of kudos by making a Twilight movie but his first proper stab at horror was a decent one. 30 Days of Night is a simple premise: vampires descend on an Alaskan town that suffers from total darkness for one month of the year and cause total carnage. Josh Hartnett is great as the grizzled resident who has to fight for his life.

An antidote to the Blair Witch style shaky cam found footage movies, Paranormal Activity managed to make CCTV footage scary, offering up a low-budget horror film that is genuinely unnerving. Although the franchise suffers, as many horror franchises do, from diminishing returns, the sequels are also worth a watch.

Nicolas Winding Refn may be getting all the plaudits for his super-stylish fashion-based horror flick The Neon Demon but Starry Eyes got in their first with its harrowing look at what can go wrong when you pursue fame. Pitch black in its tone and set to an unnerving score, Starry Eyes is a great but haunting watch.

The Beast Within is a nice slab of 80s horror that takes the idea of a teengaer suffering from growing pains to the extreme. Written by horror legend Tom Holland, the movie was a cult hit when first released - thanks to its rather decent practical effects - and stars RoboCop’s Ronny Cox.

The Duplass brothers are usually associated with comedy - their TV show Togetherness is well worth a watch - which makes their first foray into horror so surprising. Creep is a, well, creepy look at someone who answers an online ad to make a movie for a stranger’s unborn child. What ensues is, as you’d expect, not a movie for the child but something altogether more sinister.

It may have an age rating that says it’s family friendly, but The Others is nothing of the sort. It’s a creepy, brilliant horror starring Nicole Kidman as a religious mother who moves her family away from the city and to the country during World War II. If the words: “I am your daughter” don’t send shivers down your spine, then nothing will.

Before he was chosen to helm the rather brilliant Doctor Strange, director Scott Derrickson cut his tooth on this very effective horror. Based loosely on a true story, the film is set around a court case where a reverend is being charged for wrongful death after an exorcism goes wrong. The scares may be gore free, but there are no less chilling.

Scarecrows has one of our favourite-ever film premises. It is about a group of mercenaries who rob a bank, steal a plane and land in a field full of killer scarecrows. What ensues is complete and utter carnage. Scarecrows is a curio that was hard to find for a long time, but for some reason it’s cropped up on Netflix. If you want some old-fashioned horror mayhem, then this is for you.

http://ift.tt/1ocV2kj

Let your Vines live on forever with this Giphy conversion tool

 The death of Vine was perhaps not entirely unexpected, but it’s sad nevertheless. Luckily, six-second videos are pretty easy to archive for posterity, and all-purpose GIF platform Giphy wants you to do just that. Read More

http://ift.tt/2dUSe5m

Facebook draws criticism for ‘ethnic affinity’ ad targeting

 ProPublica pointed to some potentially problematic Facebook ad capabilities today — specifically, the ability to include or exclude users from a given ad campaign based on their “ethnic affinity.” These capabilities have existed for a while (Facebook told ProPublica’s Julia Angwin and Terry Parris Jr. it began offering them within the past two years as part of its… Read More

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WhatsApp-Facebook privacy U-turn now being probed by EU data watchdog

 A seismic shift in privacy policy by messaging app WhatsApp this summer, when it said it would begin sharing user data with parent company Facebook including for ad targeting, has now attracted the attention of European’s data protection watchdog group, the Article 29 Working Party. Read More

http://ift.tt/2ej0ayB

Gfycat brings its higher quality GIFs and DIY creation tools to iMessage

 Gfycat, the startup that recently raised a whopping $10 million for its user-generated content platform that lets you creating silent, looping animations and videos, has now launched its first mobile app. Designed for iMessage, Gfycat lets you search for, send and create your own “Gfycat Loops,” which you can also augment with your own emojis and captions. There are already a number… Read More

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WhatsApp-Facebook privacy U-turn now being probed by EU data watchdog

 A seismic shift in privacy policy by messaging app WhatsApp this summer, when it said it would begin sharing user data with parent company Facebook including for ad targeting, has now attracted the attention of European’s data protection watchdog group, the Article 29 Working Party. Read More http://ift.tt/2ej0ayB

iOS 11: what we want to see

iOS 10 only recently landed in its finished form, but you can be sure that Apple is already hard at work on iOS 11, ready for a mid-2017 unveiling. 

So far little is known about the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, but there are a few rumored features and plenty more things we’re hoping to see. 

With that in mind we’ve collected all the news and rumors below, along with a wish list of what we’d hope are Apple’s top priorities.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next version of iOS
• When is it out? Probably a June announcement and a September launch
• What will it cost? Nothing!

iOS 11 release date

iOS 11 is likely quite a long way off, with an announcement at WWDC in June 2017 looking all but set in stone, given that it’s during this event that Apple typically unveils new versions of iOS.

However, it’s unlikely that iOS 11 will be finished by then, with betas (including a public one) likely to be made available soon after, and a final release probably in September 2017, alongside the iPhone 8.

Again, this is all based on past iOS releases rather than any news or rumors, but there’s no reason to think Apple will change its schedule.

iOS 11 news and rumors

One thing we’re expecting to see soon from iOS is a ‘Dark Mode’, which would make backgrounds black, so you don’t strain your eyes when using an iOS device at night or in other dim environments.

The real question is whether Dark Mode will arrive with iOS 11, or as part of an iOS 10 update, as resources for the feature have already been found within iOS 10, so it’s probably something that Apple plans to add imminently.

Of course, there’s already a Night Shift mode, but that’s a bit different, as it reduces the amount of blue light rather than making the display darker.

Apple is also said to be working on a new video sharing and editing app, similar to Snapchat. Supposedly this would include filters and the ability to draw on videos, and it may launch as a standalone app, rather than as an update to the camera app.

This wouldn’t necessarily be a part of iOS 11, but Apple is supposedly shooting for a 2017 launch, so it’s possible.

Apple is also apparently working on enhanced social features, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.

The company's tipped to make sharing and connectivity with contacts a system-wide feature as well, and may consolidate communications, so you can see all your SMS messages, emails and social network interactions with a given person on a single screen.

What we want to see

We don’t know much about iOS 11 yet, but we know what we want from it. Check out our wish list below and let us know if there’s anything you really want to see.

1. Customizable Control Center 

Control Center is a handy shortcut to a number of toggles, but it’s not customizable, meaning that for certain options, such as music controls, you must swipe to the second tab – an annoying extra step for anyone who listens to a lot of music on their device.

Worse, some actions, such as GPS, don’t have Control Center toggles at all, so we’d like to see the ability to customize both what options are displayed and which tab they appear on.

2. Always-on display 

Samsung impressed us with the always-on display of phones like the Galaxy S7 – giving you a constant clock and a window onto your notifications, and we’d like to see a similar option built into iOS 11.

Raise to wake makes it quicker than ever to view the lock screen, but if we just want to check the time we'd rather not have to even raise the phone, and an always-on display would be a solution.

3. Home screen widgets

Apple’s lock screen widgets are handy, and help stop the home screen getting too cluttered, but we’d still like the option to put widgets on our home screens.

It’s not just about having quick access to apps and information, but also about customizing devices to make them our own, whether that means having a big custom clock and weather forecast on our main home screen, an overview of upcoming calendar events, or whatever else.

4. Smarter Siri

Siri is getting better all the time, but there’s still room for improvement, especially as in many ways Google Assistant has it beat.

We’d especially like to see improvements to Siri’s context awareness – so for example reliably being able to answer follow-up questions without you having to clarify the subject again.

5. Grouped notifications

Everyone likes to be loved, and there's nothing better than your WhatsApp blowing up - until that is, you take a gander at your lock screen or notification bar. 

Currently, iOS seems unable to group messages from the same contact, or message group, together, giving you an almost never-ending stream of notifications. 

Come on Apple, give us "19 new messages from 2 chats" and the ability to expand to see more if we so desire. Pleeaassssseeeeee.

6. Clear all background apps

Being able to hop quickly between different apps is handy, but sometimes we like to clean up the multi-tasking panel and start fresh. Thing is, on iOS 10 that involves swiping each individual app to close it.

For iOS 11 we'd love to have a "clear all" option, allowing us to shut all the background apps with a simple tap of an icon.

7. Easy video resolution changes

iOS is often thought of as simple and intuitive, and for the most part it is, but glaring usability issues sometimes emerge, and one of those is the inability to change video resolution from the camera app.

Instead you have to dig down into the main settings screen, which takes time, isn’t intuitive at all and could leave some users unaware that it’s even an option.

This should be an easy fix, so hopefully with iOS 11 Apple will add a video resolution toggle to the camera app itself.

8. Improved Mail app

Apple's Mail app got a bit of love in the iOS 10 upgrade, but the new look isn't overly slick. Scrolling through an email conversation feels clunky, and rival apps such as Gmail feel better put together overall.

In iOS 11 we'd like to see a cleaner, slicker and more user friendly Mail app, and if Apple wants to take a few pointers from Google's Gmail offering we won't complain.

• After a new tablet? The iPad Pro 2 could be coming soon

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Uber loses employment tribunal in the UK

 Uber drivers are workers rather than self-employed contractors, according to a ruling by an employment tribunal in the UK. Read More http://ift.tt/2eMQigZ

Download of the day: Launchy

Facebook tests Snapchat-style camera special effects with ephemeral sharing

 Facebook is overhauling its in-app camera to embrace the next era of augmented reality visual communication pioneered by Snapchat. The new features include Snapchat-style animated selfie masks, overlaid graphics, and geofilters; Prisma-esque fine art-themed style transfer filters and some innovative new “reactive” filters that respond to your body’s movements. What Facebook… Read More

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Surge pricing comes to UberEATS

Uber has announced that the unpopular surge pricing model applied in the ride-hailing side of its business will now be introduced to its food delivery service, UberEATS, in a select number of cities. 

Uber revealed the news on a blog post on its website, where it said that the reason for its decision was simply a response to the growing popularity of the service and the demand being placed on it by the “tremendous appetite” of its customers. 

“In order to maintain the speed, reliability, and selection people have come to expect from Uber, we depend on having delivery partners available in the right places at the right times” wrote the company. As a result, it has to find a way to incentivise more drivers to come out to work when there’s a local shortage.

Supply and demand

Uber doesn’t use the exact phrase “surge pricing” in its post, instead saying that UberEATS customers will be asked to “pay more for delivery when they order from restaurants in areas where demand is high but delivery partners are scarce.”

The logic behind the timed price hikes is similar, though, and with surge pricing proving to be an effective method with its car drivers, it makes sense to introduce a similar model for delivery drivers.

Just like when ordering an Uber car, customers will be warned of the extra charge before they make their order. You’ll know if you have to pay extra to order from a certain restaurant as it’ll feature an arrow beneath its name. 

The exact charge appears above the menu, and as a separate line item before checkout and on the order receipt so it’ll be hard to deny you weren’t made adequately aware of being charged any extra. 

By doing this, Uber hopes it will be able to keep offering delivery from all of its restaurants even when it’s busy so that customers don’t have to miss out on the places they love most just because they’re ordering at a peak time. 

Uber says that the extra money will go “toward financial incentives for delivery partners as well as our other operational costs.”

State side

The new pricing model will be introduced to US cities Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, DC, Miami, and Atlanta first. It won’t be city-wide, instead only high-demand areas are likely to see it applied. Considering UberEATS is now in operation in 43 cities across the globe, it’s likely the price surges won’t be limited to US cities as it increases in popularity elsewhere. 

Though it’s unpopular, the surge pricing model is currently tolerated in the ride hailing service. It could, however, be under threat in London as an employment tribunal is due to rule on whether Uber’s drivers are self-employed or should be given basic employment rights by the company.

Uber is arguing that its drivers are self-employed and can choose to drive when and where they please, which is part of why the surge pricing model is so important; Uber can’t demand that its drivers come out so it has to find other ways to convince them.

If the tribunal finds that Uber drivers are actually workers, they’ll be entitled to certain rights under employment law such as sick pay and the national minimum wage which will have severe implications for Uber’s current business model. 

It could also have a knock-on effect with regards to the employment status of its UberEATS delivery drivers, who have already protested the company's treatment of them. 

• How to become an Uber driver

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Brexit hikes price of all Apple’s Macs in the UK by up to 25%

 More reasons to be miserable about the UK’s vote to leave the European Union: Apple has hiked the pound sterling price of Macs, old and new, by as much as 25 per cent to take account of currency fluctuations in the wake of the June referendum vote. Thanks #Brexit. Read More http://ift.tt/2eiid7K

Here’s why we need to act on DDoS, or face a dire future

Following the recent massive DDoS attacks powered by botnets which have hit the headlines, we’ve had another warning about the amount of potentially vulnerable devices out there which could be compromised and used in such assaults – and the worrying scale these numbers might reach in the future, unless we take action.

Security firm BullGuard scanned in excess of 100,000 IPs hunting for such vulnerable IoT devices (including the likes of security cameras, DVRs, routers and so forth), and managed a hit rate of 4.6%.

The company applied that to an estimate of the 4 billion connected devices currently out there, to work out a rough number of 185 million vulnerable devices which could be leveraged in Mirai-style botnet attacks.

Of course, the really worrying thing is when you extrapolate this using the typical figures expected for IoT gadget growth by the end of the decade – with analyst firms reckoning some 50 billion devices will be in play. That would mean something like 920 million vulnerable pieces of hardware, almost a billion-strong army of potential DDoS cannon fodder.

Back to basics 

As Paul Lipman, chief executive at BullGuard, observed, people need to “ensure that basic security measures are in place” with their devices, the main consideration in this case being that they must not be left on their default username and password settings (which is how these things are so easily hacked en masse).

Manufacturers need to play a role as well, of course, and figure out ways of ensuring that hardware isn’t left on default settings by users.

Or we could be in for a lot of trouble down the line, as these DDoS attacks are only going to get bigger. Recently, we’ve seen DDoS firepower to the tune of 799Gbps – that was one blast that hit French hosting provider OVH.com – and havoc was wreaked this time last week as many big websites went down due to a DNS service provider being hit by weighty DDoS blasts.

Perhaps the worst worrying news in recent times, though, is this week’s revelation that a freshly discovered amplification technique could lead to assaults reaching a truly frightening volume of 35Tbps or more.

Combine that sort of exploit with the explosive growth expected in the IoT, and you’ve got problems which could really lay waste to their victims – or indeed large chunks of the entire internet as we saw last week.

Via: SC Magazine

• Here’s the best antivirus software currently available for Windows and Mac

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Twitter plans to get up close and personal, surfacing content for your special interests

 In Twitter’s Q3 earnings call today, executives dodged a question from an analyst about whether the company could give details about any “big, revolutionary” product changes that might move the needle on Twitter’s sluggish growth. But they did open the curtains on what might be one of the “hundreds of small changes” it’s planning in coming… Read More

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Alphabet reports a strong third quarter despite free-falling advertising values

 Alphabet’s strategy of trying to stuff the difference between declining mobile advertising value with additional clicks appears to still be paying off as the company once again showed Wall Street that it can make a ton of money and continue to grow. Alphabet (we’re just gonna call it what it is because we’re talking about the core business: Google) reported earnings of $9.06… Read More

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Vine stars react to #RIPVine

 Broken hearts, blind rage, and calls to follow them on YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. That’s how Vine stars are coping with the news that Twitter will shut down the Vine app in the coming months. At least since Twitter will let people download their Vines, most of the content should wind up on its competitors. Click or scroll through our list of the best reactions from the top… Read More

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Founder’s comment on Vine shutting down? “Don’t sell your company!”

 Vine founder Rus Yusupov threw a ton of shade at Twitter with a tiny little tweet in reaction to the company saying Vine will be shut down soon: “Don’t sell your company!” TechCrunch has learned that Yusupov didn’t know about the impending death of Vine until we contacted him this morning. Don’t sell your company! — Rus (@rus) October 27, 2016 Yusupov… Read More

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Twitter is shutting down Vine

 With Twitter’s future still in question following failed attempts at finding an acquirer and the recently announced layoffs of nine percent of its workforce, the company today announced it’s shutting down its standalone short-form video app, Vine. According a post, nothing is changing immediately — the website and apps will remain online for the time being, and users will… Read More

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