Daily News Courier

Dropbox Photo Upgrade Threatens Facebook’s Idea of Social

Socialising doesn’t have to mean giving up control of your content by handing it over to a social network

The CEO of Dropbox, Drew Houston, has told Technology Review more than once that he is building the “file system for the Internet” (see here and here). But news from the company yesterday suggests they may actually be enabling something more – decentralized social networking that doesn’t rely on everyone’s content being entrusted to one central store, such as Facebook.

‘HTC Sense 5′ spotted on Droid DNA in China

Following the leaked images of a new version of HTC Sense running on what seems to be HTC's upcoming "M7" flagship, another photo has emerged apparently showing Sense 5 on Verizon's Droid DNA. The shot surfaced via the user "LeakROMs" on Chinese social network Weibo, and it's a dead ringer for the software pictured on the supposed M7 device just a few hours ago. In addition to the re-worked icons, we can also see the new Sense weather widget and a home screen split into dedicated sections for social networking, news and tutorials.

Now, this is far from official confirmation that Sense 5 is headed to 2012 devices line the DNA. But it seems to show someone, somewhere is experimenting with a new version of HTC's UI on existing handsets.

Who knows what form the finalized version of Sense 5 might take, but the prevalence of this design across multiple leaks suggests HTC is re-working its software from the ground up. We'll keep you apprised of any further details, and we'll be live from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, where HTC is expected to publicly unveil its 2013 line-up.

Source: LeakROMS; via: HTCSource

Facebook Tests a Phone Service

Facebook

The Mobile Business Got Tougher This Year

One basic market trend

Flipboard?s Latest Update Focuses on Books

Flipboard today announced the latest update for the excellent social networking and news app, saying that it represents a new way to browse books. The new books section enables readers to browse through literature, cookbooks, travel guides, and other categories, as well as being able to easily buy books that they are interested in via the iBookstore. You will also be able to flip through catalogue-like pages of books, just as you always have been able to with the other sections of the app.

Quote:

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"Buying a book is simple, but finding a book that interests you is hard. There are so many great books out there, waiting to be discovered," said Christina Mace-Turner, head of publisher partnerships at Flipboard. "By surfacing books available on the iBookstore on Flipboard, readers will encounter great books naturally, alongside the kinds of content they’re already reading about, so they can explore popular books as well as discover the many thousands of amazing books in the long tail."

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There are a total of 25 customised book sections in all, including Fiction & Literature, Biographies & Memoirs, Business Books, Cookbooks and Travel. The localized sections are available in the following 10 countries: United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, and Spain.

Click here to download the free app: http://beacon.flipboard.com/redirect…oad_button_ios

Source: Flipboard

How Facebook’s Plans Could Affect the Election

The social networking giant plans a new get-out-the-vote messaging drive on Tuesday.

Repeating an effort that in past elections has boosted real-world voter turnout, Facebook is expected to announce Monday that it plans to post get-out-the-vote messages to the tens of millions of voting-age Americans likely to log in to the site this coming Election Day.

Social networking app Path launches iPad version

Path is a social networking app that has gained tremendous popularity especially amongst family users who love to share photos of their families for all their friends to see. Now, Path is taking things to the next level and has just launched an adaptive iPad app.

Overall the tablet version of the application is quite similar to the iOS and Android versions but does bring some extra tweaks for iPad users. Path has been created by former Apple and Facebook employee Dave Morin in 2010. The mobile app (there?s no desktop version of it) allows users to share their status, music and photos with friends and loved ones.

The fact that Path can be viewed on landscape mode on the tablet offers an extra dimension to the user experience. Scrolling up and down through the news feed or through the friend list is now easier and quicker. The app will show you the most exciting events of the day, which are arranged in a grid pattern that constantly changes.

?The landscape mode creates a whole new consumption experience. And our algorithm tries to re-create the most interesting moments from your day,? explained Dave Morin.

To get an extended view of a post, users just have to tap on it. For example, if you tap on a song somebody just played, you will get to see how many people ?Smiled? (the Path version of the Facebook like) at the activity, other albums the artist released and how many iTunes users have listened to the user.

Indeed, the app offers a wonderful interactive experience and you should definitely give it a try.

By Radu

Source – Path Finally Releases Its Long-Awaited iPad App

Google Play expands social horizons with official Twitter account

We know lots of you still use the Twitters for a lot of your social networking needs — no matter how good Google+ becomes — and so we bring news of a hot new account that you all should follow. Google Play is widening its horizons, and now has an official Twitter account, @GooglePlay. 

The first tweet from Google Play read like this: 

Hello World! Follow us for special promotions, exclusive content, updates, and awesomeness from Google Play

We don't know about you guys, but special promotions on its own makes it worthwhile. Hit the source link below to get your follow on. 

Source: @GooglePlay

Sonar’s location-based friend-finding app for Android exits beta

Sonar, a location-based social networking app for Android and iOS, has exited beta and is now available in Google Play for free.

Although Sonar plugs into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Foursquare to keep tabs on your existing friends, it can also be used as a discovery tool to meet new people. Users can broadcast their presence to other local Sonar users, or go black if they want to stay off the radar for awhile. All of the usual social elements are there, such as friending, profiles with lists of interests, direct messages, updating statuses, sharing pictures, and plenty more. 

Ideally, I stick with Latitude to keep up on where my friends are, but they're often scattered across multiple networks with their check-ins, plus meeting new people with similar tastes in hang-outs is always a good thing. To what extent do you guys use location-based social networking? Is Foursquare as far as you go? Do you ever actually meet anyone thanks to these networks? Is this sort of thing creepy, or the natural evolution of online socializing?

Samsung introduces Galaxy Camera, offers Jelly Bean and16MP camera

As if the Samsung Galaxy Note II wasn’t impressive enough, Samsung also introduced the Samsung Galaxy Camera during IFA 2012.