Monday
Dec022013

Amazon CEO demos delivery drones, promises delivery within half an hour

 

In a recent interview for a 60 Minutes segment, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed off the Amazon Prime Air drone, which is said to deliver packages weighing up to five pounds to locations in a 10-mile radius of Amazon fulfillment centers within 30 minutes. Now, we just have to wait for the company to figure out regulations and how to prevent the packages from falling onto your head before this hopefully lands on our shores and change package delivery industry as we speak.

The service is expected to be in testing for a number of years before it will be deployed and only in arease that are close to an Amazon depot. The stroke of marketing genius here has to be credited to Bezos, who timed this 'announcement' right smack in the middle of the Black Friday sales spike, traditionally Amazon's busiest and most profitablet time.

Source: The Verge

Monday
Dec022013

WhatsApp Messenger refreshed with iOS 7 interface

One of the most popular apps on iOS finally got a nice visual and functional update. WhatsApp Messenger on iOS 7 now looks more in-tune with Apple's latest version of thei mobile OS. With a minimalistic new look that's streamlined and clean plus new features like broadcast lists, larger thumbnails, new notification alerts and sounds, and more. Avid iOS WhatsApp users can update now. Here's the link. Here's hoping more top-tier apps get with the program and update their look and feel to reflect the new OS.

Monday
Dec022013

Google hosts first telethon online via Hangouts

Google is using its video broadcasting service, Google+ Hangouts, on Giving Tuesday to host a “Hangout-a-thon” that aims to help connect people interested in making donations for a number of charitable causes. The event will have some notable personalities such as Chris Daughtry, Sophia Bush and Jennifer Garner and have 24 charitable organizations like Charity Water, Save the Children, UNICEF and Malala Fund involved. They are raising money for everything from providing disaster relief for the Philippines, improving clean water access, to getting rid of bullying.

The 12-hour event lets users donate directly to the organizations or provide support through “Shoppable Hangouts” where you can buy products during the event. There will also be a quick coding lesson sponsored by Girls Who Code, Code.org, and Code2040 to teach people about digital literacy.

Source: Tech Crunch

Monday
Dec022013

YouTube arrives on Nintendo 3DS, does not support 3D clips

Image courtesy of TechCrunch

If you’ve been lamenting the lack of YouTube on your Nintendo 3DS device, the wait is over as the YouTube app is finally available on the 3DS eShop. Ironically though, the video streaming app on the 3DS does not support 3D YouTube clips. The videos are streamed on the top screen and the bottom screen serves as a touchscreen control hub. You can also use the shoulder buttons to navigate, the directional pad to scroll, or the stylus to control everything.

Source: Tech Crunch