Hipstamatic debuts iPad app for Oggl

Hipstamatic ports its photo-editing and sharing app to the iPad with new features to help you view photos, preview edits, and monitor feedback. Oggl comes with the new SurfMode that will let you view a moving mosaic of your photos if you flip your device sideways. It is available on the iPhone and iPad app but it will help turn your iPad into a digital photo frame of sorts. The app also lets you review individual shots better and see more photos at once.

Oggl also has a live preview of the “film” or “lens” you will use before you take a shot. A new notification ticker shows you the likes, shares, and favorites you received recently. And the app’s store for filters has been revamped as well.

Source: The Next Web

Apple TV sales push past $1 Billion in 2013, now Apple's fastest growing hardware

There may not have been much news about Apple TV, specially in Canada since newer US-only features haven't come across the border. The suprising news is that Apple TV sales in 2013 have pushed past $1 Billion making the diminuitive device Apple's fastest growing hardware. Not bad at all for a device that hasn't seen a physical refresh in close to three years.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook revealed as much during his company's annual shareholder meeting. He stated total sales of the Apple TV topped $1 billion in 2013. Priced at $99 each, that would mean sales were beyond 10 million for the year. Long acknowledged as a fringe product by Apple, Cook said that with these numbers, it's tough to continue to call the set-top box a "hobby" anymore.  

With new product categories in the pipeline for 2014 and expected updates to the popular iPhone and iPad line, it will be interesting to see where Apple will take Apple TV in terms of hardware, software, services and functionality.

Source: Appleinsider

BBM enables photo sharing in multi-person chats, larger file transfers in upcoming version

BlackBerry has been busy ramping up functionality of BlackBerry Messenger across various platforms. An upcoming version of the BlackBerry, iOS, Android and Windows Phone (coming soon) will have the ability for users to share photos in multi-person chats and users can now send or share files that are up to 16MB in size (currently 6MB) this means roughly 16 seconds of HD video, there will also be bigger emoticons. Exciting news for ardent users of BBM and great news for users who are considering BBM as their main cross platform messaging service.

Source: Engadget

Ford executive says connected cars crucial to solving gridlock

With the number of motorized vehicles in the world forecast to increase from 1 billion now to 2 billion to 4 billion by 2050, there is increased impetus to make vehicles more connected, according to Stephen Odell of Ford Motor. "If we do nothing we could end up with global gridlock," he said this week at a conference in Spain. "Cars are the smartphones of the future," Odell added. "There are many untapped opportunities for mobile to play a role in advanced automated driving." Ford was in the news recently for dropping Microsoft as the technology running its navigation and entertainment systems and choosing QNX which is owned by BlackBerry.

Source: CEA SmartBrief