Even though we presumed that all of the avenues for a popular IM app had already been explored, the guys at Snapchat had other ideas, and over the past couple of years, particularly among the younger, college-age generations, it has continued to thrive. With Facebook having already made the purchase of Instagram and, more recently, WhatsApp, it's clear that Mark Zuckerberg and his social company wants to flex its considerable clout in this industry and go head-to-head with a new app by the name of Bolt.
As part of its continuing effort to focus on user-experience and force the majority of mobile users of its service to download and install the official Messenger app, Facebook has reiterated the fact that the built-in chat and messaging functionality will soon disappear from the main Facebook app. The Palo Alto based social network has plied significant resources into developing and improving the Facebook mobile experience over the last twenty-four months, with the standalone Facebook Messenger app spearheading that internal initiative. Over the next few days users who still have access to the chat functionality within the main Facebook app will be receiving notifications to warn them of the impending change.
There's a new service in town that hopes to make our hotel room-buying experience a more informed affair, especially if functional Wi-Fi is high on your list of priorities.
Saving links to be read later may seem like a simple, forgettable feature but as apps like Instapaper and Pinboard have already proven that there's plenty of use for such a feature. Now, two years after buying Instapaper competitor Spool, Facebook has launched its very own read-it-later service.
Tesla has revealed some key details regarding its next-gen electric car, which will get a full-on showcasing in 2016 before hitting the sales channels at some point in 2017. Named the Model 3, it will cost around £30,000, or $35,000 for those in North America, and although we're accustomed to electric cars offering a fairly basic driving experience greatly inferior to that of a more traditional set-up, this environmentally-friendly beast will rival the likes of the 3 Series BMW for both style and, Tesla hopes, general performance.
If you're a user of Google's very efficient, feature-rich Gmail service, you mightn't know that, in actual fact, you have two different email addresses through which you can be reached. This ideal if, say, you wish to make two accounts for a specific site or service, but want all notifications and correspondence to be sent to the same inbox, and although many of you will already be aware of this little tip, it's still a useful one to know.
Google Now is still very much a work in progress, and even though it has evolved significantly since its introduction a couple of years ago, it's always going to have its imperfections. One such case is when, rather irritatingly, the voice recognition feature cannot properly comprehend what you're saying, and if you're asking a long question, having to repeat the entire speech becomes cumbersome even at the second time of asking. Now, though, thanks to an update, you can correct just the word that Google Now has failed to latch onto by using a simple command, and although it's rare for the polished service to mishear anything anyway, it's a good little tip to know.
Following on from the news that the TSA was banning air passengers from boarding flights with gadgets that were powered down or could not be turned on, the UK's Department for Transport has followed suit, with certain flights and routes set to enforce similar action on gadgets that appear not to be in use.
If you've been on an airplane in the last ten years, then the chances are you're already well aware of some of the rather overzealous restrictions that are being enforced upon air travellers. Mothers forced to prove that baby milk is indeed just that by drinking it is a story we've all heard before, but now it seems that the US Transportation Security Administration isn't content with just making sure liquids are as they appear, anymore.
Imagine the joy and unlimited amount of fun that comes attached to working for a company with the resources to not only research, but to design and develop pretty much whatever it wants? Apple, Google and Microsoft, amongst others, find themselves in that privileged position within the consumer technology industry, but it appears that Nissan is also living that dream if the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed showcase is anything to go by. Rather than go through the usual processes of designing and building a concept vehicle, Nissan has used the Gran Turismo 6 video game to tease petrol-heads with a new downloadable GT-R prototype, and then built it in real life.