Facebook's Messenger apps for Android and iOS make it easy to navigate between conversations, helps you keep in touch with your friends or heckle your enemies, and even lets you tag yourself or others in the conversation with hilarious nicknames to keep things interesting.
Encryption is on everyone's mind these days, from the FBI's battles in court with Apple to WhatsApp's recent announcement of end-to-end encryption for their one billion users. Now you can add Signal, whistleblower Edward Snowden's favorite messaging app, back to that whirlwind discussion.
YouTube's massive user base comprises almost one third of all people on the internet, and collectively, users spend well over 100 million hours on the site watching billions of videos each day. Add it all up, and this means that YouTube is viewed by more people than any U.S. cable network—making it by far the favorite "TV station" of the internet generation.
Snapchat began rolling out a massive update on March 29th, dubbed Chat 2.0, that gives users a plethora of new features, basically transforming Snapchat into an all-purpose messaging app.
Nobody's supposed to know where the Batcave is, but as most everyone thought, Batman's underground lair lied below the estate of his secret identity, Bruce Wayne, in Gotham City.
On Wednesday, Microsoft launched a chatbot on social media that learns from conversation, and trolls quickly taught it how to be a shameless, Nazi-loving bigot. Oh Internet, an opportunity for a Hitler joke never slips past you, does it?
Live streaming has emerged as a major part of the way people share information. With celebrities and news/media personalities utilizing mobile live streaming effectively to reach thousands, the appeal has bolstered the fortunes of Twitter's Periscope and Facebook's Live. Now, Google is ready to join the fray, and it's backed by its enormous YouTube property.
Google Maps, once considered superior to Apple Maps, has contributed to a terrible mistake for one woman. A group of demolition workers in Texas were using the service to find a worksite, and to the dismay of homeowner Lindsay Diaz, Google was entirely inaccurate.
If you've been looking to catch up on some of the Academy Award winners or nominees, or just feel like kicking back and watching a flick but can't find anything good on Netflix or Amazon Prime, then head over to the Google Play Store.
Anyone who paid attention to the Lavabit shutdown had a feeling it was connected to Edward Snowden, the high-profile NSA whistleblower. Ever since the government's case against Lavabit went public in late-2013, people have put two and two together.
An HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess arrived today for Nintendo's Wii U, and Google is celebrating the occasion by swapping in Link—the protagonist of the Legend of Zelda series—for the regular yellow Pegman on Google Maps.
Here's some good news if you were hankering for a little early-2000s electronic-scream-rap-metal to get you through the day. Linkin Park's debut release, Hybrid Theory, the 48th best-selling album of all time, is available for free on the Google Play Store.
Have you ever run across a Facebook post that you don't necessarily want to "Like," but you're not really passionate enough about to bother stringing together a couple words for a comment? Well, you're in luck, as Facebook added five new "Reactions" that let you do more than just like a post, and they're now live for everyone.
Gender standards are entirely pervasive. We raise our sons to be masculine and our daughters to be feminine, which perpetuates the gender role formula when they grow up to be parents and raise their own children. Part of this whole equation is that boys are supposed to remain stoic and project an air of strength, and girls are expected to be amiable while being held to unrealistic standards of outward beauty.
A couple days back we told you about the 30-day free trial for people interested in YouTube Red, and now Google is running a concurrent promotion that really sweetens the deal, especially if you're a first-time subscriber and own or plan to buy a Chromecast.
YouTube announced last October some of the original programming it was producing for its YouTube Red subscription service, and the first four originals went live on Wednesday, February 10th.
Yes, "Safer Internet Day" is a real thing, and it's actually been around for 12 years. This year, Google again will be commemorating the event by giving away a 2-gigabyte storage bump for their Google Drive cloud service if you simply run through a security checkup.
I think it was 1986 when I first discovered my love for making computers say stupid things out loud. My older brother got a Commodore 64 for his birthday, which came bundled with software that would speak out any term you typed in—and boy, that computer sure made a fool of itself after my five-year-old imagination got a hold of the keyboard.
Some things never change. You'd think that with all the focus on web security, people might take the slightest precaution to keep their online activity private. Maybe there are more people suffering from Paula Poundstone's password troubles than we'd like to believe.
Netflix subscribers (or friends of subscribers) have been able to utilize a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy service to gain access to content in other countries. Unfortunately, the movie and TV streaming service announced today that it will soon block those services so that viewers will only have access to movies and shows that are licensed for the country they're currently in.
Have you already lost the thrilling feeling of waiting for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens to come out? Now you can do it all over again, as Google Play, the iTunes Store, the Windows Store, and Best Buy are already accepting pre-orders for the digital and Blu-ray release.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming almost synonymous these days, but there are still plenty of awesome deals that you can only get starting on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Amazon, for instance, will be hosting a week-long Cyber Monday sale, and of course, most big-box retailers will follow suit with their online stores.
Twitter, the global social networking site, announced on October 21st that it would be launching a new feature that allows all users to create polls. The company stated that the goal is to allow people to "weigh in on all the topics they care about."
YouTube, the popular video streaming website owned by Google, announced on October 21st that it will be launching a new subscription service titled "YouTube Red" for $9.99 a month. Under the membership, subscribers will be able to watch videos without ads. Yup, all videos—from music to trailers to gaming and everything in-between—completely ad-free. Additionally, individuals can save videos to watch offline on their mobile devices as well as play videos in the background.
In a study attempting to observe virality in real time, two Microsoft engineers, Corom Thompson and Santosh Balasubramanian, used Microsoft's recently released Face detection API to create How-Old.net and track its usage in real time.
A set of cool new Android-related Google Search functions made their debut this week, which will allow you to locate your phone, send directions to your mobile device, set alarms and reminders, and send notes from any web browser.
It's that time of year again. Each spring, Google likes to have a bit of fun with April Fool's Day. Pranks have ranged from a fake email printing service called Gmail Paper to a search engine for smells. It's all fun and games, but this year, they've taken that mantra rather seriously with a Pac-Man game baked right into Google Maps.
I hate flying for two reasons. Firstly, I'm afraid of heights and turbulence is absolutely hellish. Secondly, I hate overspending on airfare. Flying can be unnecessarily expensive, especially if you don't plan ahead or must deal with inclement weather. Nevertheless, the travel season is almost here and we're always looking for the cheapest, most convenient flight. But what service actually provides you with exactly that?
Google Earth has long served as a great tool to explore the furthest regions of our beautiful planet from the comfort of our own homes, but for those with more than just a recreational interest, a bundle of pro features had always cost $399... a year.
YouTube and the National Football League have announced a partnership that should greatly improve the online experience for gridiron fans. In a posting on their official blog, YouTube outlines a deal that will bring NFL video clips to their immensely popular site while bumping official NFL pages up to the top of relevant Google search results.
An Amazon Prime subscription offers free two-day shipping and discounted rates on many Amazon products, while at the same time granting users access to Amazon's Instant Video library. While this service normally runs $100 per year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced today that the company will be offering a $28 discount on this price for one day only.
In a long-awaited move, the popular messaging platform WhatsApp has finally made its official web debut. Desktop and laptop owners will be happy to know that they can now message their favorite contacts directly from their computers, without the need to install additional apps.
If you took a big step back and really looked at the world, you'd see how downright silly our nations look when they put up fences to separate themselves from one another. Creatures big and small roam free while respecting each other's space, but humans create borders and physical barriers to delineate their cultures.
Almost everyone uploads their very personal photos in facebook trusting facebook's privacy settings. But question is - is facebook's privacy settings really that trustworthy?
Christmas music makes the holiday season just that much more enjoyable. And the folks over at Google must be feeling the holiday spirt since they are making Michael Bublé's Christmas album free for a limited time. The Grammy Award winning artist debuted his Christmas album in 2011, and it went on to top the Billboard charts and snag a nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Microsoft has a great holiday-themed sale going on right now, but in an apparent effort to generate daily clicks, they're only revealing two deals at a time. Each day between December 8th and 19th, two new deals trickle out—but Microsoft leaker Windows Valley has come across a full list of all upcoming items and their prices, so now you can plan your shopping spree in advance.
Google's music offerings have been on a roll lately. First they announced a new music video streaming service called YouTube Music Key, offering ad-free playback with background listening. Then they stated that the new offering would be rolled in with their Google Play Music service, with members allowed to exclusively test the Music Key beta, which just went live. And if all that wasn't enough, they're also offering free music to boot!
It's been rumored for months, but now we've got some official news about Google's newest music offering, YouTube Music Key. The subscription service will allow for an ad-free experience with background listening (i.e., having your screen off) and offline playback.
If you ever wanted to communicate with friends without having to deal with those pesky essentials like words and phrases, have no fear, Emoj.li is here!
Imagine that you're the last person alive. After losing all of your loved ones, you thought you'd never see another human being in your life. Then, they arrive. The hoard of 15-year-old zombies looking for a cute British YouTuber so they may feast on his brains.
Just in case you weren't aware, Google has more money than you and I will probably ever see in our lifetime, and now it seems that the search giant will be spending that money sending satellites into space.
For $100 each year (unless you used Faisal's workaround to save yourself twenty bucks), Amazon Prime membership gives you access to all the best that Amazon has to offer. From free 2-day shipping to Prime Instant Video, there's a lot to like about the service.
E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the 20th annual trade show for video games and gaming tech. The event takes place on Tuesday, June 10th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and you can watch a live stream of the event on Twitch.
