Facebook to reportedly launch ‘Notify’ news app next week

Facebook is said to be taking on the likes of Apple’s News app with its own standalone news app next week. According to the Financial Times, Apple will be launching an app called Notify and they’ve partnered with the likes of CBS, The Washington Post, Comedy Central, CNN, and Vogue. Unlike other news apps, Notify will reportedly notify users when new stories develop instead of users having to go to the app to discover content. Facebook has been developing experiences and features to help bring news and media easier to its users, like Instant Articles. We have to wait and see if there’s any truth to the rumours and how this app would fare if it were to be unveiled in the coming week.

Source: Financial Times | Via: 9to5Mac

Evernote adds sketching capabilities to iOS app

Evernote is making it easier for users to doodle on their iPhones and iPads with the latest update. Users can now sketch within notes. There will be a new pen icon within a note that will open up a canvas for you where you can draw using either a stylus or your finger. There are even different pen types, tip sizes, and 10 different colours to choose from. After you’re done sketching it’ll be resized to fit into a note. You can come back and edit the sketch anytime by just tap on the sketch.

Users who have the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, or iPad Mini 4 also get split screen support from Evernote. The app also gets several bug fixes and improvements.

Source: Evernote | Via: SlashGear | Download: Apple App Store (Free)

Microsoft partners with Red Hat for hybrid cloud solutions

Microsoft and Red Hat are collaborating to bring customers more choice in hybrid cloud solutions. Announced earlier today, this is a surprising move since Red Hat and Microsoft have been bitter rivals in the past.

“This partnership is a powerful win for enterprises, ISVs and developers,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president for Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise division. “With this partnership, we are expanding our commitment to offering unmatched choice and flexibility in the cloud today, meeting customers where they are so they can do more with their hybrid cloud deployments — all while fulfilling the rigorous security and scalability requirements that enterprises demand.”

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Twitter drops stars for hearts

Changing a central item in an established app or service is a tricky thing to get into. Regardless, Twitter has done so with its “stars” and “favorite” option and replaces this with “hearts” and the term “like.” Their reason behind this is the heart is supposed to be a universal signal and it encompasses a greater range of emotion than a star. It would also help new users understand their service better since a heart is more understandable than a star. According to Twitter product manager Akarshan Kumar, “You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.” Although it would seem Twitter is falling behind its competitors as Tumblr and the like have been using hearts for a while and Facebook has been using the “like” term. The change will appear on Twitter.com, TweetDeck, Twitter for Windows 10, and also in Twitter's video looping app, Vine. What do you think? Do you approve of the change?

Source: Twitter | Via: Popular Science