The free messaging and call service (which was bought by Japanese Internet giant Rakuten for $900 million last spring) launched a new feature called Public Chats on Tuesday. Public Chats will let the Average Joe tap into multimedia conversations (including text, photos, audio, video, stickers and hyperlinks) happening between celebrities and public figures in real-time.
Buzzfeed reports that one of its journalists, Johana Bhuiyan, used Uber to travel to a meeting with Josh Mohrer last month. On arriving, he was waiting for her, then casually said "I was tracking you" as he pointed to his iPhone.me.
Active notifications are alerts that wearers can respond to directly from the watch screen. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says that Instagram Apple Watch notifications will let users see and like a photo or leave an emoji comment. Glances are another type of notification that just flash on the screen, like breaking news or appointment reminders. American Airlines (AAL) is going to show Glances for flight times and other travel updates.
Microsoft wants you to buy a Surface Pro 3 instead of an Apple MacBook Air, and it's putting its own spin on a favorite holiday song to convince you. Dubbed "Surface Pro 3 - Winter Wonderland," a video spot released on Sunday touts what Microsoft considers to be the tablet's most competitive features in a takeoff on the holiday classic "Winter Wonderland." The song definitely won't win a Grammy for best performance and may strike a lot of people as cheesy, so be forewarned before you watch the spot.
OS X Yosemite introduced Safari 8 and a flatter, more streamlined design. Jason Cipriani offered four tips for Safari 8 last month, and I have a quick fifth tip for you. As part of its embrace of sleek simplicity, Safari 8 does not by default show the full Web address for Web pages in its address bar. Instead, is shows only the domain name. If this lack of information bothers you or disrupts your workflow, there is an easy fix. you watch the spot.