Dark Sky brings to-the-minute weather updates to new site

If you’re into weather forecasting, you might have heard of the handy Dark Sky app. Now, the Dark Sky Company is hoping to recreate that with a new website. The site will have the key features of the app and will show things like current temperature, weekly forecast, and to-the-minute rain forecast. According to Wired, the weather map shown is “situationally aware” and will change depending on what type of info is most relevant at the time. For example, it’ll show you the precipitation radar if it’s raining.

With the launch of darksky.net, the site Forecast.io will be shut down. The Forecast.io extension that developers can use will also be renamed to Dark Sky. The site is completely free and it looks like it’ll stay that way. It’s just meant to introduce users to what the app can do, which is available on Android and iOS.

Your tweets can now be over 140 characters

Twitter has released a much-awaited feature: longer tweets. There is still the 140-character limit but there are some parts of your tweet that won’t be counted. These include media attachments (GIFs, videos, images, and polls), quote tweets (except if you actually put the link on your own and not using the Twitter feature), and even usernames when replying to a tweet. For that last point, it doesn’t have to be just one user. If you reply to multiple people, their usernames won’t be counted as well.

Source: The Verge

Etsy to bring AI into its search with latest acquisition

Etsy’s looking to make the online shopping on its platform just a bit easier with its latest purchase. The design and craft marketplace bought Blackbird Technologies, a startup that specializes in developing algorithms that can help Etsy boost its search feature. The acquisition could bring things like natural language processing, analytics, and image recognition.

Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed but all members of the team (a lean 10 people) will be coming onboard to Etsy. And since Etsy will be using their tech, any clients they may have won’t get access to the API anymore. This new purchase can also help keep its competitors at bay and give a better experience for its shoppers.

Source: TechCrunch

Google to hold event on October 4, possibly to unveil new phones

Google has a big product launch coming up on October 4 and a teaser video that announces the event seems to suggest upcoming devices. As you see above, the clip shows a search bar morphing into a silhouette of a smartphone. What’s absent is the usual Nexus name but this seems to back the many reports from the past that Google plans to drop the Nexus name and exchange that with the G logo you also see in this video. Earlier this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said they wanted to be “more opinionated about the design of the phones” and they would “add more features on top of Android on Nexus phones.”

These upcoming Google devices have been called Pixel X and Pixel XL, two new smartphones that HTC will make with 5-inch and 5.5-inch models, respectively. Not much is known yet about these but we should hear more in the coming months.

Source: The Verge

Update on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 12:30PM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We're going to be live at the Canadian Google event on the 4th. This is apparently a huge Google announcement that might encompass new Google-made smartphones, tablets and the anticipated 4K Chromecast. Whooop!