Canadian Reviewer Weekly Roundup 10/04-10/10

Google updates Photos app for iOS, doesn’t bring Chromecast support yet

Instagram pins blame on Apple for its anti-nudity stance

Adobe releases new mobile apps, updates desktop offerings at MAX

Review: Apple iPad mini 4

Apple launches Apple Watch Hermès Edition starting at US $1100

Review: Google OnHub Wi-Fi Router

ASUS partners with Oculus, intros new gaming desktops

Roku releases OS 7 update and a new mobile app

Starbucks App brings mobile ordering and payments to Toronto iPhones on October 13

Meet the new Microsoft, a maker of premium hardware products

BBC and Yahoo partnership will bring 200 news video clips monthly to US and Canada

Masters of Code Hackathon Montreal

HP releases slew of new Windows 10 devices for the holidays

Print your own running shoes with adidas

Enhanced editions of all Harry Potter Books coming to iBooks for iOS devices

Best Buy brings together smart home and IOT partners

Logitech outs new z533 Multimedia Speakers

Facebook Messenger comes to the Apple Watch

Scotiabank becomes the first bank in Canada to offer a mobile wallet for credit and debit cards on both Android and BlackBerry devices

Review: Apple iPhone 6S

Overcast for iOS is now free

Review: Microsoft Office 2016

Apple disables News App in China

Apple seems to be taking a let’s not hurt our chances at earning tons from the cash cow that’s China but let’s also not let them take reigns of the content we share. The company is said to have disabled its News app in the country. China’s government has wide control over its information and the media so it looks like want to play to the hands of the Chinese government and at the same time not earn their wrath and have their access to the Chinese market cut off. Those in China who try to refresh the Apple News app only get an error message of “Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region.”

Some are expressing concern though about how Apple has disabled its app in the region. Larry Salibra, founder of Pay4Bugs, said in a post on Reddit: “They’re censoring news content that I downloaded and stored on my device purchased in the USA, before I even enter China just because my phone happens to connect to a Chinese signal floating over the border. On device censorship is much different than having your server blocked by the Great Firewall or not enabling a feature for customers with certain country iTunes account. That Apple has little choice doesn’t make it any less creepy or outrageous.”

Source: New York Times | Via: 9to5Mac

Layoffs might be in Twitter’s future

After assuming the post, Twitter’s returning CEO Jack Dorsey looks to be preparing for layoffs as early as October 13^th. The company won’t address these rumours but sources for both The New York Times and Recode say that there will be some people losing their jobs soon, as to how many these would be is yet to be determined.

Recode believes that these layoffs are part of an attempt to streamline a “bloated” engineering team. While the social network has been improving its bottom line, there’s supposedly a sense among insiders that the engineering team of the company is bigger than it should be when related to its growth. The company has doubled its workforce in the past couple of years even if they’ve added around 50 percent more users.

Source: Engadget

Review: Microsoft Office 2016

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It’s been a momentous year for Microsoft. Just look at all the notable and premium hardware they’ve released in the past week alone. Before that, they had major game releases on Xbox One (which is currently routing PS4 in terms of popularity and games worth playing).

Windows 10, which is a massive and major release for Microsoft, has received unprecedented adoption at 130 million installs in just eight weeks. What’s more, Office 2016 is out and available on both PCs and Macs plus there are very serviceable versions for iOS and Android as well. What does Office 2016 on Mac and PC have to offer?

Click to read more ...