WhatsApp introduces Voice Messages

WhatsApp now allows your lovely voice to be heard by your friends and loved ones with its new Voice Messages feature. The new voice recording function has been made available across WhatsApp’s different platforms, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Nokia. You can learn more about the features here or check the video above.  

Instagram update allows for video importing

Instagram 4.1 gives the photo- and video-sharing app an advantage over its competition by allowing users to upload previously saved videos instead of just using clips recorded on the app. You can select the 15 seconds from any clip you want and crop the video to fit into Instagram’s square form. 

For iOS users, there is also a new auto straightening feature for uploaded photos or you can use the straightening tool to correct imported pictures. While for Android users, Video on Instagram is finally available for those running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Kickstarter crosses over to Canada

Have a million dollar idea that won’t take off? Now, you can ask others to help you raise funds for your dream as Kickstarter makes its way to Canada, making it the second non-U.S. country to host Kickstarter projects after the United Kingdom. You can start creating your campaigns but the first Canadian projects won’t be up on the site until September 9. A major difference for the Canadian Kickstarter would be the payment processing fees, which you can read more about here.

Kickstarter is holding several workshops across Canada to give entrepreneurs tips and tricks on how to run successful campaigns. The first set to be held in Toronto and Montreal on Aug. 8, 9, 12, and 13 are already sold out but you can still sign up on their site to be put on the wait list.

SlideShow: HTC One Google Play Edition

I had the chance to check out a HTC One Google Play Edition briefly as well as compare it to my daily driver HTC One. Aside from the obvious difference that the Google Play version runs an unskinned version of Android's Jelly Bean 4.2.2 OS with no HTC Sense overlay whatsoever, the two devices are physically identical. Battery life on the Google Play Edition isn't as good as the regular HTC One and you apparently need to hack around to enable 4G-LTE which the regular version has working out of the box. The HTC One Google Play Edition, which will receive Android OS updates before other devices, isn't yet available to Canadians and costs $599.