SimpleNeat streamlines photo album creation and sharing

You and your loved ones have a ton of photos from the holidays that would be a shame not to share. However, instead of creating different albums, SimpleNeat will help you collate everything in one place. You can create an album, invite other people to add their photos, and then share it with anyone. You don’t even have to sign up to create an album and share the link.

But if you want to save the album links, you must sign up for the service. It has a Free, Event, and Pro account tiers that increase the length of time you can download the full-size images for free (after specified time, it will be $0.99 per photo). 

LG to let you chat with your smart home appliances with Line

LG has announced a collaboration with messaging service Line to allow smart home appliance users to chat with the company’s upcoming models. The Korean tech company calls it a Natural Language Processing feature and it integrates LG’s HomeChat service with Line to let users send commands to compatible appliances.

It currently only works in Korean and English and will let you message the next-gen LG refrigerator, washing machine, HOM-BOT SQUARE vacuum cleaner, and smart oven. You can send messages like “I’m going on vacation” and your appliance will reply, “Should I convert to vacation mode?” And when you affirm this, it will turn your ref’s power saving mode on; have your vacuum cleaner sweep the floors at a specified time; and even set the washing machine’s spin cycle.

Facebook updates Windows Phone app to add start screen notifications

Facebook has updated its beta app for Windows Phone to add a few new features. The social network added a second Live Tile to let you pin events, groups, chats, and the like on your home screen. Meanwhile, the primary tile can display updates from your friends directly on the start screen. If you use messaging feature on the app, you also now get stickers and emoticons to bug or amuse your friends with.

Mike Lazaridis abandons Blackberry buyout bid, sells $26 million worth of shares

Blackberry founder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has publicly abandoned his plan to buy the company formerly known as RIM. Lazaridis was the technology-focused CEO who wanted another chance to help out the iconic Canadian smartphone pioneer. When the company was put up for sale months ago, Lazaridis valiantly rallied investors to buy the company. Blackberry decided not to sell and is currently working to regain its foothold in the mobile industry.

Lazaridis also cashed in a portion of his Blackberry shares worth US $ 26 million.