You May No Longer Own Your Instagram Photos

If you live Britain, your Facebook and Instagram photos may now be free for the taking.

The U.K.’s Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act passed parliament and last week received Royal Assent to become a law, according to The Register.

“The Act,” explains The Register’s Andrew Orlowski, “contains changes to U.K. copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called ‘orphan works,’ by placing the work into what's known as ‘extended collective licensing" schemes.’”

Since the overwhelming majority of photos online do not have that identifying information, being neither marked nor retaining metadata in most cases, a company or individual can claim it as an orphan, after making a cursory search (technically a “diligent search”) to match the photo to an owner. They will subsequently be able to sublicense it.

So if you take a picture of, say a riot or a kitty, a media company can steal it, use it online and in print, sell subscriptions and advertising against it, then sell it multiple time to other media companies, without crediting you and without giving you one red pence.

Your only alternative to being the constant victim of legalized theft is to register every single photo. The problem with that, in addition to the cost in time lost, is that there is a grand total of one registry available that you can use, PLUS. The bill was rushed through at such speed and with so little comment that no other registry in the country was able to get themselves set up to accommodate the law.

Under British legal process, a law, once it has passed parliament, then receives Royal Assent and needs to be expressed in “statutory instruments.” That is to say, it needs to be turned into laws by the ministers of parliament. As Orlowski notes, however, parliament has not voted down a statutory instrument in the last 34 years.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act is likely to put British photographers, professional or otherwise, at a disadvantage compared to those outside the U.K. It is also possible that the courts will see a significant increase in lawsuits against those who take “orphaned” works, asserting that the “diligent search” was instead a cursory one.

The key may be whether the big companies that make off with what most other countries still consider private property make more money that way than the country as a whole loses from the law.

Additionally, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, whose signatories include most of the world’s countries, are required by law to recognize the makers’ rights of ownership for works such as posted photos in a way this new law skirts. How the Berne Union countries will respond to British products using photos obtained according to this new law is uncertain.

Police Shot as Italy gets new government

ROME — Two military police officers and a passer-by were shot and wounded on Sunday in a crowded square outside the office of Prime Minister Enrico Letta and near the presidential palace, where his new government was being sworn in.


The shooting was shown live by the state broadcaster RAI, which had a television crew in the square in front of Mr. Letta’s office, Palazzo Chigi, where the new ministers were to go after the swearing-in ceremony.

What was supposed to be a day of celebration, marking a government that took nine weeks after the elections to assemble, quickly turned into a national drama. The square in front of Palazzo Chigi was cordoned off, and ambulances and police cars blocked traffic in one of Rome’s busiest downtown areas. Inside the palace, the ceremony continued undisturbed, and most of the ministers were not told of the shooting, which occurred about half a mile away, until after the ceremony.

A man, identified as Luigi Preiti, who is unemployed and is from the Calabria region, was detained and accused of the shooting, the authorities said.

“I heard seven or eight shots,” said Enrica Agostini, a RAI reporter. “I was pushed back into Palazzo Chigi. The police was screaming, ‘It’s an attack, it’s an attack.’ ”

Doctors at Rome’s Umberto I Polyclinic said Sunday evening that one of the military police officers, Giuseppe Giangrande, was shot in the neck and was in critical condition after undergoing an operation. The bullet injured his spinal column, causing “important damage,” doctors said in a televised news conference, adding that they would not be able to discuss his prognosis for 72 hours.

The other officer, Francesco Negri, was shot in leg, but his injuries were not life-threatening, officials said. A woman who was passing by was also hit but was not seriously injured, according to news reports.

At a news conference, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said an investigation would be conducted, but that the shooting appeared to be an “isolated gesture.”

Mr. Alfano said it also appeared that Mr. Preiti had intended to commit suicide, but told officers that he had run out of bullets.

A prosecutor working on the investigation said that Mr. Preiti had intended to target politicians. “He’s a man full of problems who has lost his job, he’d lost everything, he’d had to move back home, he was desperate,” the prosecutor, Pierfilippo Laviani, told the news agency ANSA. Mr. Preiti had planned the attack 20 days ago, according to news media reports.

“He wanted to strike politicians, but when he couldn’t reach them, he shot the police,” Mr. Laviani said.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Letta met with his ministers for a cabinet meeting that had been scheduled beforehand. The new government will face a confidence vote in Parliament this week.

The former interior minister, Anna Maria Cancellieri, who was sworn in on Sunday as justice minister, told reporters that the shooting had been carried out “by someone who is unbalanced.”

The shooting rattled Italy, already unsettled by a period of instability after the inconclusive national elections, which hobbled efforts to form a government. It also brought back memories of the “years of lead,” the period of social and political turmoil in the 1970s and early 1980s marked by dozens of acts of terrorism that were carried out by left-wing and right-wing radicals.

In recent years, groups that modeled themselves after the Red Brigade terrorists of that time have carried out sporadic attacks and have killed two Italian labor reform specialists. And tax agency offices have been bombed, a protest against a fiscal system that many consider to be onerous. But there has been little social tension.

Baby Mugging Memes

Got some kids laying around? Just throw 'em in dishware and they'll keep for an extra few days.

"Baby mugging," the latest photo fad sweeping Instagram, has nothing to do with stealing kids' cookies, but is a goofy illusion that makes little ones look like they're peeking out of your favorite mug. The concept was created by blogger Illana Wiles of Mommy Shorts who snapped a pic of her baby, Harlow, in a black mug and posted it to her Instagram (@mommyshorts) earlier this week.

The deliciously adorable hashtag #babeinamug quickly started trending as creative parents worldwide hopped on the fad. And don't fret if you have no kids — dogs and older people fit just as snuggly in ceramic.

Pictorious Adds Branded Photo Challenges And Photo Showdown

Pictorious is a photo sharing startup that is faced with the unenviable task of crawling its way out of Instagram’s gigantic shadow. Today they’re releasing a bevy of updates to their iOS app, which will hopefully help it mount a better challenge against the photo sharing juggernaut.

Pictorious distinguishes itself as more than just an ill-advised Instagram clone with their photo challenges feature. Users can invite their friends to photo challenges on any given topic and earn points and rewards as they upvote or downvote pictures.

Today their update adds branded challenges to the mix, which can be used by companies to create photo challenges for their advertising campaigns. Pictorious has partnered with Popchips for the first of these branded ad campaigns, which challenges their users to build “artwork” with Popchips.

Full disclosure, we received several boxes of chips from Popchips to participate in this photo challenge. You can view my own handiwork below.

Another new feature is Photo Showdown, which you can use to vote between two randomly selected photos taken from a photo challenge. The more pictures you vote on, the more points you acquire. It’s addictive in a stupid way, but it really doesn’t accomplish anything. It wasn’t long before I was presented with two pictures that were both equally boring.

Despite the updates, Pictorious is still a little like what Instagram would be if all of your followers were complete strangers. Pictorious desperately needs a larger user base, and in spite of their best efforts, I’m pretty sure potato chips aren’t going to help them get there.

Tyson Follows Suarez On Twitter

Only on Twitter, folks. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

Luis Suarez, our antagonistic protagonist here, is something of a bad boy in the soccer world — that is, not necessarily known for his sportsmanship or sense of fair play. Suarez's latest misstep? Biting an opponent during his Liverpool squad's 2-2 draw with Chelsea over the weekend.

The bite, of course, drew all sorts of criticism and outrage. But it also gained Suarez a very famous new Twitter follower: ex-boxer Mike Tyson, a notorious biter in his own right.


Tyson famously took a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 fight (then last year tweeted a reference to the carnage while pimping Holyfield's barbecue sauce).

Media reports over the weekend said Tyson's follow came just minutes after Suarez's chomp. We haven't been able to confirm that, but the uncertainty does raise a juicy conspiracy theory: What if Tyson in fact followed Suarez just before the bite and recruited him into his carnivorous cabal? Now that'd be a meaty sports story, indeed.

iPhones Returned Due to Problems

Apple returned up to 8 million iPhones to Foxconn “due to appearance of substandard or dysfunctional problems.” This could cost Cupertino’s top manufacturer up to $1.6 billion, according to a report from China Business.

The report doesn’t mention specific problems with the handsets. Additionally, we don’t know which models were returned.

If the batch was made up of existing models, such as the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, this could eventually show up as a hole in Apple’s supply chain. However, if these defective models were in fact “iPhone 5S” models, Apple may be forced to delay the launch of its newest handset.

Foxconn reportedly began production of the iPhone 5S earlier this month. As of now, Apple is expected to announce the seventh-generation iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Durex Fundawear - The Technology

Put on a pair of these magic underpants called Fundawear, and you'll be able to feel your lover's touch from anywhere on the planet.

Fundaware is a clever combination of a smartphone app and tiny vibrating motors sewn into female lingerie and male underpants. It accomplishes the task of "transferring touch across vast distances," said the project's technical director, Ben Moir in a YouTube video:

Commissioned by the Australian division of condom company Durex, Fundaware uses tiny vibrating actuators similar to those that give your finger that buzzing "haptic feedback" on smartphones. The intensity of Fundawear's vibrations correspond to the movements of the person's finger touching the smartphone screen from afar.

Imagine the possibilities.

The project is in the experimental stage thus far, with the company's Facebook page inviting adventurous test subjects to get their hands on Fundaware by telling the company how their would use the product with their partners.

Is this teledildonic breakthrough the next step in sexting, or will it be too much of a tease to be worthwhile?

Larry Page Says Google Glass Runs on Android

Google’s CEO Larry Page revealed something during today’s earnings call that his company doesn’t seem to have actually spelled out before: Google Glass runs on Android. In response to a question about how much people can expect to see engagement increment with new products like Glass, he said that “obviously, Glass runs on Android, so [Android] has been pretty transportable across devices, and I think that will continue.”

Many have speculated that Google Glass would run on an Android-based OS, but to date, Google hasn’t come right out and said so. Recent reports suggested that it would be ore of a proprietary system separate from Android, but Page’s statement today seems to indicate that in fact it will at least be a version of Android.

And Android-based Glass, even if it’s a modified version of the original OS, is good news for developers, since it means they share at least a common language. That should make integration, at least between Glass and Android-powered smartphone apps easier. The comment about portability also strongly suggests that Android has the potential to power a range of devices in the future, including the smart watch it reportedly has in development.

Samsung Officially Announces Galaxy S4 in the U.S.

Samsung has officially announced its Android flagship, the Galaxy S 4, for the U.S.

One of the most powerful smartphones around is coming to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, U.S. Cellular, Cricket and C Spire in April.

It will also be available at the following retailers: Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile, Costco, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart.


Exact pricing and availability will be announced by carriers and retailers themselves in the coming weeks. AT&T, however, already put the Galaxy S 4 up for pre-order, with the shipping date being listed as April 30.

And in Canada, the Galaxy S 4 is available for pre-order at Rogers since Monday.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 has a 1.9Ghz quad-core processor, a 5-inch, full HD display, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera.

Twitter Donates Promoted Trend to 'One Boston'

Entertainers, athletes and ordinary citizens aren't the only ones aiding Boston residents after Monday afternoon's deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. Twitter lent a helping hand of its own on Tuesday in the form of a donated promoted trend on the microblogging network.

That's the #OneBoston hashtag you can see at the top of Twitter's list of worldwide trends.

The hashtag has been used as a rallying cray for support for the city since Monday's bombings. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino on Tuesday announced the formation of the The One Fund, a organization that takes donations and seeks "to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013."


Twitter's hope is that the promoted trend will increase the amount of eyeballs — and dollars — that go toward the newly established fund. It should also get more users around the world thinking of other ways to help the city and its residents.

The promoted trend is no small gesture, either. Brands are said to pay around $200,000 per day for a promoted trend.

Twitter announced the donation with this Tuesday afternoon tweet:

" We've provided the City of Boston the Promoted Trend today free of charge through Twitter Ads for Good. Learn more: http://bit.ly/171q0O9 "



Two bombs went off near the finish line of Monday's race, killing three people and injuring 176.

Since then, support for victims and survivors has poured in from all over. Hundreds of local residents offered couches, beds, showers and more in a stirring Google Doc. Cities including New York paid tribute with public displays. And the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated honors first responders to the attack.

Boston Marathon Blasts

BOSTON — A series of bombs exploded near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, leaving two people dead and more than two dozen injured, according to the Boston Police Department.
Multimedia

A third explosion was heard just before 4 p.m., about an hour after the first two blasts. The police were apparently aware of that device before the explosion occurred.

The Associated Press, citing an intelligence official, said that two other devices were found at the marathon and were being dismantled.

People were being cleared from an area near the Copley Plaza Hotel because a package was found on a footbridge nearby.

The blasts took place about four hours after the start of the men’s race, which meant that there were still several thousand runners yet to finish the race.

The Boston police confirmed they were looking into the explosions, but made no further comment. A senior United States government official said that the Boston police and the F.B.I. said they had received no reports in recent days about a threatened attack on the marathon and that there was no warning on Monday.

Several news outlets reported that a loud explosion was heard on the north side of Boylston Street, near a photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another explosion was heard several seconds later.

The Associated Press reported that authorities were helping injured runners leave the scene and that bloodied spectators were being carried to a medical tent that was being used for runners.

Eyewitnesses said the explosions were about 15 seconds apart. A few runners stopped and turned around after they heard the blasts. Some runners were seen crying and some said they saw limbs on the ground. Runners were directed to the runners’ meeting area and hotels several blocks away.

Bruce Mendelsohn, who was at a party in a building near the explosion, said on Twitter that he saw blood on the sidewalks and about a dozen casualties.

Authorities in large cities are typically on the highest level of alert for events like a marathon, said Anthony Roman, a security expert.

“It is quite the counterterrorism effort,” said Mr. Roman, who runs Roman & Associates, a New York firm.

For major events in New York and other large cities, Mr. Roman said the police would typically weld manhole covers shut, while also examining the entire route just before the race. They would also place snipers on rooftops, with helicopters overhead. Analytic cameras in the city would also be used, he said.

“They have all the analytic cameras in the city focusing on the race with their advanced software network, reading license plates,” Mr. Roman said.

The Boston Marathon is one of running’s most storied events, established in 1897 and one of the six World Marathon Majors. The event typically attracts an estimated 500,000 spectators and requires certain qualifying times for runners to compete.

The course winds throughout downtown Boston as well as several outlying cities, including Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley and Newton.

Unlike many sporting events that take place in closed arenas, marathons are known and heralded for their sprawl, allowing throngs of spectators to line the 26.2-mile course.

Within minutes of the explosions on Monday, social media and cable networks projected the images of gray smoke on Boylston Street, with emergency crews on the scene.

After the explosions, a spokesman for the New York Police Department said security was being increased at hotels and other prominent locations in New York. The Police Department has sent officials to Boston as well.

Foursquare Day 2013 Badge (4sqDay 2013)

It’s that time of the year again and the new 4sqDay 2013 badge is beginning to unlock in certain parts of the world.  The same rules apply as years past, simply check in anywhere on 4/16 to get the badge to unlock.  Hopefully a lot of you are planning meetups to interact with other Foursquare users in your area!  Happy 4sqDay everyone!


How to unlock? 

• Check-in anywhere on 4/16 to unlock the badge

Preview Badge

Unlock Message:

Happy 4sqDay! Find a new local business in Explore, and check in to show your support.

Daft Punk Pharell "Get Lucky" SNL Ad

Attendees of this year's Coachella music festival over the weekend got a sneak peek at Daft Punk's new music video for "Get Lucky," the first single from the group's upcoming studio album Random Access Memories.

The infectiously funky song features rapper Pharrell Williams on vocals — and, as you can see in the video, there's no shortage of glamour and sequins.


The teaser trailer was shown on the big screen during the festival, then once again during last night's episode of Saturday Night Live.

Random Access Memories, due to be released on May 21, will be the French electronic duo's fourth studio album. The Verge reports that nine additional artists will make appearances on the album, including The Strokes' Julian Casablancas and Animal Collective's Panda Bear.

Coachella is an annual music festival in Indio, Calif. This year's performers included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Modest Mouse, among others.

Check out the video for yourself.

P/S: For those attendees of Coachella music festival this year, you may unlock this Coachella Badge 2013 and add a badge into your Foursquare Badge Collection.

1. Like Coachella on Foursquare
2. Just check in at the Coachella Outdoor Theatre in Indio, CA on
April 12-14 2013 and April 19-21 2013

Sample Badge:

Psy - Gentleman M/V

Psy is back with a new catchy tune and silly dance.

On Saturday, 35-year-old pop star unveiled the video for "Gentleman," the follow up video to his smash hit "Gangnam Style" in, well, style. Psy premiered the music video at to a packed crowd at Seoul's World Cup Stadium. Another 160,000 people watched it online, according to Reuters.


Fans of "Gangnam," which has more than 1.5 billion hits on YouTube, will spot some familiar faces in the follow-up video. Psy's arch nemesis in the yellow suit, comedian Yoo Jae Suk, is back. As is the grooving elevator guy (entertainer/ entrepreneur Noh Hong Chul). This time around, Psy's shenanigans include yanking on the strings of bikini tops, pulling chairs from under women and taking a soccer ball away from small children.


The catchy song features the spoken hook "I'm a mother-father gentleman." And it wouldn't be a Psy video without a crazy dance a-la "Gangnam Style's" horse-riding. This time around, the signature move is some kind of subtle hip-sway/pelvic thrust.

It's too early to tell if lightning will strike twice for the Korean pop star, but "Gentleman" does feature Psy in some pretty outlandish outfits and his trademark shades. And the guy certainly knows how to make entertaining music videos.

Google - Inactive Account Manager

You've written your will. You've talked to your family about end-of-life care. But have you told Google what you want to happen to your Gmail or YouTube accounts?

That's the stated purpose behind a tool the search giant announced Thursday: Inactive Account Manager. (In a blog post, the company admitted it was "not a great name.") It covers all Google accounts, including Blogger, Drive, Google+ and Picasa.

Inactive Account Manager lets you set a "timeout period" of three, six, nine or 12 months. After that, Google will either delete your data or pass it on to a trusted friend or family member.

In case you just happen to be on extended (rather than permanent) vacation, the Account Manager will send a text to your cellphone and an email to a designated non-Google account before taking action.

"This new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife in a way that protects your privacy and security," writes Google product manager Andreas Tuerk.

Of course, it's hardly the first tool that lets you plan your digital afterlife; we've covered a number of services that deal in this morbid and necessary subject. But it does give Google a jump on Facebook, which has an afterlife policy (profiles are turned into "memorial" pages; family members can petition to take them down) but no tool to let users decide ahead of time.

Foursquare 6.0

Foursquare launched a major update to its iOS app Wednesday, now with more focus on what’s around you rather than who.

While the app is certainly all about checking in — and has a new larger check-in button front and center on the app’s home screen — it’s also about helping you find things to do around you. Whether you’re looking for a place to grab a cup of coffee, or trying to find out what club in town is the most popular, there’s a little something for everyone.

Using Foursquare religiously since its launch in 2009, I took version 6.0 out for a spin this afternoon to see just what the hype’s about.

When you launch Foursquare, you’re taken directly to an Explore page, where you can see at a glance which of your friends are located around you, what’s happening in the area, and what new businesses might have popped up since you've last been around.

All of that information is contained in a small widget at the top of the screen — you can scroll down to see friends worldwide — with a map behind it. Want to see what’s going on in map view? Tapping on the small map at the top of the page will bring up a full-screen version.

Friends are represented on the map with their profile pictures. Other places on the map, such as restaurants and bars, and noted by familiar location-specific icons — for instance, a bar has a picture of a martini glass. Tap on an icon and you can see that particular location’s rating, as well as its business type. Tap again and you're on that location's Foursquare page with photos, check-in info, tips and more at your fingertips.


At the top of the Explore page is a search box where you find something like a slice of pizza near you. Those results are then shown on a page similar to that initial launch page, with a list view of establishments meeting your search criteria below a map view of the same information. Once again, tapping on the small map will bring up a larger full-screen view.

In the case of search, however, that map information is more detailed, offering you not only the name and rating of a location, but also highlighting particular establishments where your friends have visited or left tips.

My search for pizza places immediately highlighted a nearby location where my friend Taylor had left a tip, and tapping around, I was able to find several more locations nearby that were frequented by my friends.

The whole experience is pretty snappy, and makes it easy to find a location near you that you know you'll enjoy, primarily because your friends are essentially recommending it to you on the fly.

You can also browse nearby locations by Best Nearby — Foursquare’s suggestions for what to do around you — by Specials, or by a particular type of location, for instance, coffee shops.


At its core, Foursquare is still the same app it was when it launched four years ago. If you want, you can still just use the app to check-in to locations and see what your friends are up to, now a little faster and on a much prettier interface.

Over the past four years, the app has evolved into a more feature-rich experience, however, one that can and should be used for a whole lot more.

Foursquare 6.0 is available now from Apple's App Store.

Malaysia General Election on May 5

Malaysia has announced that its much-anticipated general election will take place on May 5, in what is expected to be a key test for the country's longtime ruling coalition.

An election commission official Wednesday said campaigning for the polls will begin on April 20. Parties have already begun appealing to voters since Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament last week.

Mr. Razak's National Front coalition, which has been in power for 56 years, faces a tough challenge from the three-party coalition led by ex-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The opposition alliance took an unprecedented number of seats during the 2008 elections that saw the National Front lose its two-thirds majority for the first time.



The ruling coalition has attempted to recover its past levels of popular support by introducing a series of reforms to improve the economy and grant greater civil liberties.

The opposition has accused the government of authoritarianism and corruption. It has pledged to reverse some government policies that favor ethnic Malays.

Over 13 million Malaysians are eligible to vote cast votes in the election, which will fill 222 parliamentary seats and place representatives in 12 state legislatures.

iPad 5 Production

We may see a brand new iPad in just a few months.

DigiTimes reports that production for the next-generation tablet will begin between July and August of this year. In addition to the production timeline, the site claims sources within the Taiwan-based supply chain for the tablet have indicated that the iPad 5 will be both thinner and lighter than its predecessor and will have a slimmer bezel, similar to that found on the iPad mini.

Purported images of the iPad 5 appeared on the web in January of this year. Those images showed a 9.7-inch iPad with an almost identical look to the iPad mini. The device had little to no right or left bezels, with the only area around the screen being that require for the camera and home button.

At the time, the iPad 5 was reported to be released in October on this year, a timeline that seems to fall in line with a July or August manufacturing schedule.

Cher Is Dead ?

No, Cher fans, the singer and actress did not die. The Twitter hashtag "#nowthatchersdead" is meant to be read as "now Thatcher's dead" — not "now that Cher's dead."

Margaret Thatcher, the United Kingdom's former prime minister, died Monday at age 87 following a stroke. Website Is Thatcher Dead Yet? quickly reacted, encouraging people to reveal how they're celebrating the death via tweets with hashtag #nowthatchersdead.

The hashtag sparked confusion and humor about Cher, the 66-year-old who has amassed 1.4 million Twitter followers with her quirky and sometimes non-sensical tweets.

Other than promoting #nowthatchersdead, the Is Thatcher Dead Yet? site is prompting people to join Facebook parties related to Thatcher's death and listen to a Spotify playlist titled "Until Thatcher's Dead."

iOS 7 Concept

It has barely been six months since Apple released iOS 6, but that doesn't mean we can't start dreaming about what's to come in iOS 7.

A new concept video for iOS 7 will have you dreaming of all the possibilities for Apple's next operating system for iPhone and iPad. Federico Bianco, who created the video, demonstrates how Apple could add a dream list of new features into the existing OS without drastically overhauling its look and feel.

Bianco re-imagines the functionality for everything from the lock screen and settings options to the iBooks shelf and Mission Control. In the concept video, users can customize the lock screen so they can tap to make a call without swiping to unlock. You can also swipe across the top of the lock screen to turn on Wi-Fi or Airplane mode.

There are options to quickly reply to text messages, browse through all the app windows you have open and even close all open apps with one tap — an option that would no doubt save you time and battery life. Each of these features is designed to reduce whatever friction still remains in using Apple's mobile devices.

Apple traditionally unveils the latest mobile OS at its Worldwide Developers Conference each summer, though noted Apple blogger John Gruber recently said he's heard rumors that iOS 7 development is behind schedule and Apple is pulling engineers from other departments to work on it.

How do you like Bianco's ideas for iOS 7? What features and functions would you add?

Facebook Home

Facebook announced Thursday its big mobile plans for Android: Facebook Home. Although it will initially be available only on a few models, Facebook Home represents how Facebook wants to exist on Android phones.

If you're confused by Facebook Home or just want to get a better understanding of everything the new interface entails, we've got you covered.


At the Facebook Home event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg consistently referred to Home as "putting people first instead of apps."

To that end, Facebook Home isn't a new OS and it isn't a fork of Android, instead it is a new home screen and app launcher interface for Android that gives your Facebook notifications, news feed posts and messages more integration with the overall phone experience.

Facebook put together an ad showing off Facebook Home that shows the company's vision for how the product will fit with your mobile life.

While Facebook Home isn't an Android replacement, it does make some changes to the default Android look and feel.


When you turn on a phone running Facebook Home, the lock screen and the home screen default to something called Cover feed. Cover feed is a stream from your News Feed, putting the focus on what your friends are currently sharing — including photos, status updates and links.

You can flip through stories on the screen and double tap a story to like it. The idea behind Cover feed is to help surface the important updates from the people in your life — updates that might otherwise have missed.

Facebook will push notifications across Facebook Home too. These include updates from Facebook and other apps on your home screen. You can choose to move notifications away until you want to access them later or you can flick them away from view.


On the HTC First, all notifications for apps on your home screen will come through Facebook Home. For users that download Home for their existing Android device, only Facebook notifications will show up.

We're not sure how standard notifications will be handled within Home on devices such as the Galaxy S III and HTC One X — but we assume the drop-down notifications drawer will continue to exist within other apps.

One of the big features Facebook is touting is the new messaging component dubbed chat heads. Chat heads are persistent messages — all avatar based — that can appear on top of other apps.


This means if you get a text message while reading an article on the web, you can respond to that message in a pop-up, without having to navigate to the messages app. Plus, icons for chats can be moved around the screen for fast access to conversations that are ongoing.

Chat heads works with both SMS and Facebook Messenger messages.

While Facebook wants to focus less on other apps and more about making Facebook the center of your phone, Facebook Home will still have an app launcher.


Swiping up on your Facebook profile photo will open up the app launcher. In addition to having a full drawer of all your apps, you can also customize your favorite apps into their own areas and pages.

AT&T and HTC have put together some videos showing off how to use the new features of Facebook Home.

Facebook Home will be available on April 12 via download from Google Play. Out of the gate, Facebook Home will work on the HTC One, the HTC One X, the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy Note II and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4.


While Facebook Home won't feature ads — for now — it's inevitable that Sponsored Stories will find their way into cover feed.

Still, for users that fear Facebook Home will provide lots of data to Facebook about what you are doing and where you are, the company says it will not actively track a user's GPS location.

Facebook Phone - What to expect ?

Facebook is holding an event at its Menlo Park headquarters Thursday to show the world its “new home on Android.”

No one is certain what exactly Facebook’s “new home” will be, but we’ve got a few a few solid hints.

Although Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has always indicated — as recently as a few months ago — that a phone has “always been the wrong strategy” for Facebook, it looks like a phone may be just what we'll see the company announce on Thursday.

That "Facebook Phone" announcement, however, may not be what you think.


If the rumors are true, then Facebook will be announcing a phone called Facebook First, made by HTC.

HTC makes good hardware, which bodes well for an HTC Facebook Phone. That said, if you’re expecting top-of-the-line features like those found in company’s flagship handset, the HTC One, or fun software tricks like Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 –- you’re going to be disappointed.

Current rumors point the Facebook phone being a midrange smartphone with a 4.3-inch 720p display, 1GB of RAM, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and a 5-megapixel camera.

Alleged pictures of the phone posted on the Twitter account @evleaks appear to confirm that rumor, and show a handset with three physical buttons at the bottom of the screen.


If the phone is priced to match other midrange phones, that would make it considerably more affordable — if not free — for Facebook enthusiasts who want to buy one. An FCC filing also suggests that the phone will run on AT&T.


Software is really what will make the “Facebook Phone.” Rumors point to Facebook showing off an Android launcher that will boot your phone up to Facebook, and offer easy access to Facebook features throughout the operating system.

Photos of what may be the Facebook phone’s operating system surfaced Wednesday on 9to5Google. Those images show your Facebook profile picture replacing the lock button on the device, with an ever-changing news feed update at the top of the screen, keeping you up to date on what your friends are up to.

A check-in, photo, and status message button are present throughout the applications menu at the top of the screen, providing quick access to updating Facebook, no matter what you might be doing at the time.


While Facebook’s OS might debut on a specific HTC device, don’t expect that phone to be the only place you can get the “Facebook Phone” experience.

During that same interview where Zuckerberg said a Facebook phone was the wrong strategy for the company he also said "We want to build a system which is, as deeply as possible, integrated into every major device people want to use," so if the company does release phone, you can bet it doesn't want those features limited to just a single piece of hardware.

The company will likely make much of the same functionality available for other Android smartphone as well, downloadable and installable from Google Play.

What do you think Facebook will announce Thursday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to come back for our liveblog here at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT to catch all the action as it happens.

Malaysia General Election

The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, announced he would dissolve Parliament on Wednesday, launching a critical election campaign for his multiethnic coalition that has been in power since independence from Britain more than five decades ago.


After years of what amounted to one-party rule in Malaysia, the country’s opposition parties have been ascendant, challenging a system that is based on ethnicity. Chinese voters, who make up about one quarter of the country’s population of nearly 30 million, have abandoned the ruling coalition in large numbers. And the country’s main Malay ethnic group, which has dominated politics in the country for five decades, is divided.

Mr. Najib, who addressed the country on national television, sounded at times defensive in his remarks.

“Don’t gamble the future of your children and Malaysia,” he said, according to the Reuters news agency. “Think and contemplate because your vote will determine not only the future of the country but also your grandchildren.”

The elections will be the first electoral test for Mr. Najib who took office in 2009 from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the former prime minister who led the coalition during the last elections in 2008.

Mr. Najib has made several changes to what was a mildly authoritarian system. He announced the repeal of laws that allow for detention without trial and barred students from politics.

But daily newspapers and television channels, many of which have links to the country’s ruling parties, still have a paternalistic tone and have been criticized by the opposition for being cheerleaders for the government’s policies.

The front page of Wednesday’s New Straits Times, a leading English daily, had an article about the elections with a picture of Mr. Najib waving his index finger next to the headline, “Choose wisely.”

The opposition, led by Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, made major gains in the 2008 elections, winning control of a number of states and stripping the ruling coalition of the two-thirds supermajority majority in Parliament that allowed it to amend the constitution.

The exact timing of the election, which must be held within two months of the dissolution of Parliament, will not be known until the country’s Election Commission makes an announcement, possibly next week. Malaysian media have reported that they are likely to be held later this month. Elections for state legislatures will take place simultaneously with the elections for the federal Parliament.

iPhone Crash Issues

iOS hacks are nothing new, but there are ways to crash the system without complicated exploits or intimate programming knowledge. By taking advantage of weaknesses in Apple's endemic iMessage system, some lads of ill repute have discovered a way to spam users until their phones lock up. iMessage is a text messaging service for users of Macs, iPhones and iPads, although this behavior only poses a threat to iOS devices.

Information comes by way of a number of software experts active in the iOS development and hacking scenes. Griefers (online users who act within the rules to harass others) can develop a simple script to flood an iMessage inbox with a constant stream of nonsense messages.

Usually, this behavior just creates an incredible nuisance, since it clogs a user's device with nonstop notifications and resulting noises. However, even iMessage has limits. Some messages include unusual characters (such as complicated emoticons) that require a special kind of text rendering.

Spamming messages with these characters can cause a device to lock up from apoplectic processing. Even restarting the device may not help right away, since the messages will continue to come at a fast and furious pace, and the device must still render whatever came while the device was turned off. Even if the device does not freeze, receiving a massive amount of spam messages can be a colossal waste of valuable data plan money.

"What’s happening is a simple flood," Grant Paul, an iOS developer, told TNW. "Apple doesn’t seem to limit how fast messages can be sent, so the attacker is able to send thousands of messages very quickly."


Since the attack cannot permanently damage systems or steal any information, everyday users are unlikely to find themselves on the receiving end of unprovoked attacks. However, if you maintain a public profile or have recently angered someone, your tormentor may find that this is an easy way to pester you with little programming skill and almost no stakes.

Apple may address this problem and add some kind of anti-spam protections into iMessage, but until then, the most practical solution is to turn the program off altogether if you've been affected. If not, you probably don't have much to worry about, but keep an eye on who has your iMessage contact information.

April Fools' Joke by Google

First, Google pranked its users by claiming to shut down YouTube; then, the search giant introduced old-school "Treasure Maps." But its pièce de résistance for this year's April Fools' Day has got to be Google Nose.

Currently in beta, the new feature incorporates scents into Search. Google describes Nose as its "flagship olfactory knowledge feature enabling users to search for smells." To learn more, watch the semi-serious video, above.

Clicking the "Try Google Nose Beta" button on its landing site produces a random search term such as "diaper." On the right-hand side of the results page, there's a description of the term ("baby powder and poop") from the Google Aromabase, as well as the option to smell and share the scent. When users click on "smell," a pop-up prompts them to "Bring your nose as close as you can to the screen and press Enter." A progress bar then indicates that it is transmitting the scent.

Curious visitors can search for other aromas, ranging from the enticing (brownies smell like "fudgy chocolate deliciousness") to the repellent (a college dorm smells "sweaty, with scents of leftover pizza and burnt popcorn") and quirky (Grandpa's hat smells like "strong coffee and the forest"). Google Nose even emulates scents that users likely can't experience in real life, such as ghosts, which smell like "an eerily gassy smell of antiques and forgotten pasts."

What's more, the feature includes a SafeSearch "when you're wary of your query," and boasts a 15 million scentibyte database of smells from around the world, according to Nose's landing page. Those who want quick access to the database can select the "Nose Beta" tab in Search.

As Lena Carddeal, Google's user-experience designer, so succinctly puts it: "Until now, we couldn't always give user what they're looking for. Because sometimes, they're not looking at all."