Twitter’s video sharing social network Vine will no longer tolerate porn.
In a new blog post, the company claimed that it has no problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet — they just prefer not to be the source of it.
“As we’ve watched the community and your creativity grow and evolve, we’ve found that there’s a very small percentage of videos that are not a good fit for our community,” Vine wrote.
Findery, from inventor of Flickr Caterina Fake, is like Instagram for places, or maybe Foursquare for everywhere – even that street corner you like or the park bench you read on sometimes on Sundays.
Findery is a an iOS app and web site, and it lets you save pictures and make notes about places, and either share them with anyone, or just people you know, or even just yourself.
As laptop speakers go, those built into Apple’s MacBooks aren’t bad — particularly if you have a MacBook Pro. But they can be so much better. Plug Twelve South’s BassJump 2 into one of your USB ports and you have a mini sound-system that dramatically improves your MacBook’s audio performance.
Whether you’re listening to music, watching a movie, or just enjoying a podcast, the BassJump 2 subwoofer gives you significantly richer and fuller sound that you won’t believe is coming from your MacBook. There’s no need for expensive external speakers that take up too much room in your bag, or headphones that limit the experience to just one person.
The BassJump 2 is priced at $69.99, and Twelve South calls it “an essential road tool for listening to and editing tracks on the tour bus, hotel room or anyplace else your music takes you.” Now, I’m no musician or music producer — but I definitely agree.
Browsing the App Store can be a bit overwhelming. Which apps are new? Which ones are good? Are the paid ones worth paying for, or do they have a free, lite version that will work well enough?
Well, if you stop interrogating me for a second, hypothetical App Store shopper, I can tell you about this thing we do here.
Every week, we highlight some of the most interesting new apps and collect them here for your consideration. This time, our picks include a granular finance system, an especially informative compass, and a really complicated camera.
Here you go:
Nobody hopes for a war or a natural disaster or an alien invasion from beyond the stars, but they like to know that if any of those things do happen their family will all be on the same page about where to go and what to do.
Emergency Plan helps out by keeping meeting locations, contacts, and even basic medical information all in one place so nobody has to dig or guess about anything while they’re running in a zigzag fashion down Main Street to throw off the cybertanks’ laser-guided heat rays.
Or if there’s like a tornado or something. Either one.
Emergency Plan – Free | Another Cup of Coffee
I don’t know who makes these rules, but apparently, “society” wants men to wear clothes.
But how does one decide which clothes to wear? Dapper wants to help. It’s a shopping app that collects items from several different stores and arranges them into categories like office, casual and active. When you see something you like, you can add it to your “Daplist” or put it in your cart. You can swipe left on items you don’t like and banish them to the Phantom Zone.
You can create an account to purchase right from the app, or you can just be one of “those customers” and nose around with no intention to buy. That’s what I do.
Dapper – Free | Dapper Shopping, Inc.
You’ve probably seen the do-it-yourself, social media comics called Bitstrips in your Facebook feed at one time or another, and maybe you want to see more, or you’d like to find some that might actually be funny.
Best Strips for Bitstrips can help: it only posts strips that pass muster with the moderators. You can rate what’s there and even submit your own for consideration, if you’re feeling confident and/or brave.
Or you can just keep taking your chances with the ones in your feed, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Best Strips for Bitstrips – Free | Echo Bay Apps
GyroScan is a little intimidating.
It works a lot like the panorama function on your iPhone’s camera, but you can capture a complete 360-degree image either horizontally or vertically by spinning in a circle or rotating your phone up or down. When you look at the instructions, it all gets very technical, but once you work with it for a little while — and maybe rig something up to keep your phone still — you can get some really good results.
You can also scan in “stereo mode” and make 3D pictures, but that’s just showing off, GyroScan.
GyroScan – $0.99 | Intelligent Gadgets
Alright, so your iPhone already has a compass built right into it, but if you want a little more information in your orienteering, you might want to look into this app.
In addition to the standard “North is over there” bit, DueNorth will also give you your latitude and longitude, and plunking your finger down anywhere on the screen will tell you which direction and heading you’re prodding. Plus, the display has a Night Mode, so you can figure out how to get out of the woods without every bear in the vicinity knowing that you’re lost.
Mac game publisher Aspyr Media announced Thursday the release of the latest update of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the iOS port of the classic role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe.
The update is free and includes much-asked for support for Made-For-iPhone (MFi) controllers like the Steel Series Stratus, Moga Ace Power Controller, or the Logitech PowerShell. In addition, the team has added iCloud saves and new supported languages including English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
It’s not likely that anyone consistently takes pictures that look like one of the supervillains’ hideouts in the old Batman TV show, but even a slight tilt can make a photo look strange. Orient is an app that will eliminate your photography’s chronic case of the skews by using your iPhone’s gyroscope to ensure that every shot you take is level and straight.
You can choose from a bunch of aspect ratios, and then Orient works almost exactly like your regular Camera app, complete with Instagram-style filters.
Just, you know. Straighter.
Sometimes, you just gotta break something.
But you probably don’t want to break your own stuff, and people get mad when you smash up their things. This is where gaming often enters the picture: It’s an environment in which you can demolish the crap out of things with no consequences. And it’s even more satisfying when the things break realistically.
Smash Hit is a game about literally that, and it’s incredibly satisfying.
Compact Bluetooth speakers are one of the most useful electronic inventions since the MP3 player. Though smaller, more portable speakers are great on the go, but they lack the power often needed around the house or in the backyard. Cult of Mac Deals has a special edition Bluetooth speaker that doesn’t just sound great…it looks great, too.
Freaq n’ Fabulous is a re-envisioned version of Soundfreaq’s highly-praised, compact Bluetooth speaker, the Sound Step. This hi-fi speaker delivers crystal clear audio with its signature sound profile, crafted for natural bass response and vocal clarity. And you can get it for only $99 – 34% off the regular price – during this limited time offer from Cult of Mac Deals.
Amid a slew of weird design and censorship choices, Pictorl for iOS, Android and PC (!) has one standout feature that sits above the sea of confusion: a fantastic non-destructive editor that uses your online images as its source.
It’s also a rather beautiful app, presenting photos with almost no chrome or clutter.
AtmoBar is Mac app that works with the NetAtmo weather station you have in your back yard (or on your balcony, for city dwellers). It sits in your menubar and gives readouts and graphs with just a click.
It sure beats just looking out the window.