Earlier today it was revealed that Facebook was about to launch version 6.0 of its official iOS app, and now the update is available in the App Store. Facebook 6.0 brings Chat Heads from Facebook Home on Android, little chat bubbles that pop up whenever you get a new message in the Facebook app. There are also stickers, which are basically large emoticons you can send in messages.
On the iPad, Facebook has redesigned the news feed to make it better a better overall experience.
Loren Brichter is somewhat of a rockstar in the iOS app developer community. The Wall Street Journal has called him the “High Priest of App Design.” If you don’t know Brichter by name, you know him by his work: Tweetie and Letterpress.
Twitter bought Tweetie and turned it into the official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad. Letterpress is a hit word game Brichter created after he left Twitter. He also worked with a small team at Apple on the first iPhone back in 2006 and 2007. Now he’s helping out at Facebook.
Even though there are rumors that Facebook and Apple might be working to bring Facebook Home to iOS, it’s hard to believe Apple would give up so much control of iOS to Facebook.
For those craving for some Facebook Home action on iOS, there’s a new Facebook app update that will bring the most buzzed-about features of Facebook Home to your iPhone: “Chat Heads.”
After the successful announcement of Facebook Home for Android, the Menlo Park-based social networking giant is apparently in talks with Apple and Microsoft to bring the software to iOS and Windows Phone.
Facebooks’s director of product, Adam Mosseri, spoke with Bloomberg today about these talks. “We’ve shown them what we’ve built and we’re just in an ongoing conversation,” he said, making sure no one thinks anything is a done deal.
Steam! That’s what Steve Jobs would have had rocket from his ears when he heard about Facebook Home. We’ll explain why on our newest CultCast, but also covet aloud the one feature we hope Apple borrows for iOS. Plus, inside Leander Kahney’s Jony Ive book; Ron Johnson father of the Apple Store takes a boot to the rear; and we wrap with an all new Faves ‘N Raves, the segment where we pitch our favorite tech and apps then vote on which one’s best!
Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.
Click on through for the show notes.
I have done a lot writing in my day, and there are times when I want to just let the words fly freely faster than I can possibly type them. When I’ve worked on my talks for seminars or wanted to work out some thoughts on a major piece of writing, I have given the reins to Dragon Dictate.
This Cult of Mac Deals offer has a huge savings on Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac – which has been an indispensable tool for me as a writer. You can get it for only $100 – that’s 50% off the regular price!
WhatsApp has denied that it is holding sales talks with Google following reports that the company is on the verge of a $1 billion buyout. One source claimed last week that the hugely popular cross-platform messaging service has been in talks with Google for the last 4-5 weeks, but WhatsApp’s business development lead, Neeraj Arora, denies any discussions.
There are a couple of cross-platform messaging apps that will help you bridge the divide between your friends on iOS and Android, but over the last year, WhatsApp has become the most popular option, and it’s caught the attention of Google.
A new report claims that Google is in talks to buy WhatsApp for $1 billion, but the talks have been going on for four or five weeks and haven’t been finalized yet.
LockLauncher, a handy tweak that allows you to run apps from the lock screen on jailbroken iPhones, has today been updated to add support for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6. You can download it now from Cydia’s BigBoss repository.
Evernote Hello, the iPhone app that makes it easy to remember the people you meet, has been updated with a number of new features. The app now has a passcode lock option, making it more secure, and a number of improvements have been made to business card scanning, including the ability to control your camera’s flash.
Today Facebook unveiled “Home,” its new, immersive Android experience. HTC has partnered with Facebook to launch the HTC First, a smartphone designed from the ground up for Home. Other Android handset makers are in the pipeline to release Home-based devices down the road.
Home is a great idea for Facebook and Facebook lovers, and it will probably be very popular on Android after it becomes available next week. But don’t expect to get Facebook Home on your iPhone. Not in this lifetime.
Today Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled “Home,” his company’s new experience on Android devices. Rumors leading up to today’s event said that Facebook has been working on its own Android device in conjunction with HTC, and that has turned out to be true.
Zuckerberg started by explaining how modern smartphones are built around different apps that communicate with people, and that Facebook wants to switch that paradigm and focus on people first. Home allows you to quickly interact with your Facebook account anywhere from your device, including the lockscreen.
Rovio has today announced that it will be bringing the hugely popular Facebook game Angry Birds Friends to Android and iOS. The game is very similar to the rest of the titles in the Angry Birds series, only it has a strong focus on social gaming rather than playing alone.
I have done a lot writing in my day, and there are times when I want to just let the words fly freely faster than I can possibly type them. When I’ve worked on my talks for seminars or wanted to work out some thoughts on a major piece of writing, I have given the reins to Dragon Dictate.
This Cult of Mac Deals offer has a huge savings on Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac – which has been an indispensable tool for me as a writer. You can get it for only $100 – that’s 50% off the regular price!
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With this deal you can free up 100GB of space on your gadgets for just $29. That’s a savings of 88%!
In two days, Facebook will gather a bunch of people into a room and Mark Zuckerburg will tell them all about Facebook’s new smartphone. It’s made by HTC. It’s got a custom build of Android, and tons of Facebook integration. And it looks pretty boring.
Evleaks just posted a picture of what is probably Facebook’s smartphone. It’s called the HTC First, and it looks like millions of other Android handsets on the market. No details on the specs, but I’m sure Mark will give us an ear full on Thursday.
Source: Evleaks
I have done a lot writing in my day, and there are times when I want to just let the words fly freely faster than I can possibly type them. When I’ve worked on my talks for seminars or wanted to work out some thoughts on a major piece of writing, I have given the reins to Dragon Dictate.
This Cult of Mac Deals offer has a huge savings on Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac – which has been an indispensable tool for me as a writer. You can get it for only $100 – that’s 50% off the regular price!
There have been rumors for over a year that Facebook is trying to make its own smartphone to compete with the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3, but we haven’t had much reason to believe in them until now.
Facebook sent out invitations last night to an event on April 4th at its headquarters, where the company will allegedly unveil its own smartphone that was built in partnership with HTC.
While Google’s Android platform may be the biggest rival to iOS, the search giant is happy to support users who choose Apple’s device. In fact, thanks to apps like YouTube and Google Maps, Google is the App Store’s top publisher, beating Apple on its own turf.
Given the success of the original Plants vs. Zombies game, which first landed on iOS almost three years ago, I’m surprised we don’t already have a sequel. But there is one on the way. PopCap has announced that Plants vs. Zombies 2 will be launching early this summer.
Facebook has today rolled out its new VoIP calling feature to Messenger users in the United Kingdom, following its launch in the United States back in January. Available only on the iPhone, the feature allows users to make free voice calls to their Facebook friends over Wi-Fi and 3G.
I only really use Facebook for its messaging features; the last time I actually updated my status was February 2012. But the company is testing an annoying new feature which could persuade users like me to turn their back on it altogether. It wants to send you a push notification on your iOS devices that bugs you to post a new status update if you haven’t done so in a while.
Evernote Food, the iOS app for foodies that lets you keep a record of all the recipes and restaurants you want to remember, has received a major new update adding a number of neat new features. In addition to OpenTable reservations, users can now share recipes with their friends, enjoy better search results, and more.
Facebook has released an update to its iOS app that adds a few improvements, most notably the ability to change your cover photo. For some reason this feature has been missing all this time, and now it’s finally been implemented.
Group messaging has also been streamlined. Facebook says it takes fewer taps to start a group message, and it’s easier to name and find conversations in your inbox.
Source: App Store
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has replaced Tim Cook as the highest-rated CEO in tech, according to employee approval ratings on Glassdoor. Cook’s 97% approval rating from 2012 has dropped down to 93%, which takes him from first position all the way down to 18th. Zuckerberg now has an impressive 99% approval rating.
