MacRumors

Snapchat is looking to build its own "internal app store" of gaming titles, according to a new report out today from The Information.

The platform is set for a tentative launch sometime this fall, and will allow outside developers to build games that Snapchat then distributes for users to play within the Snapchat app.

People familiar with the company's plans claim that Snapchat has already lined up one gaming publisher to make a new game for Snapchat's app store.

Unless every game is completely free, it's unclear how the company plans to succeed when Apple has strict App Store guidelines that prevent companies from selling apps, games, and other content in their apps that aren't designated in-app purchases.

The company is preparing to launch a platform this fall that will let outside developers create games to be played through the Snapchat app, according to two people familiar with the matter.

It is relying on outside developers to build the games that could be downloaded in an internal app-store of titles. The gaming platform has been in the works for at least a year as the company has worked on the platform’s technology, according to a person familiar with the effort.

Recently, Valve had trouble with Apple's policies in this regard, after trying to get its Steam Link app on the App Store, which would have let users purchase games within the app. After Apple rejected the app, Valve removed game purchasing as an option from Steam Link and has resubmitted it for approval to Apple. Now, when users see a game in the app Valve points them toward a Mac or PC as places to make their purchases.

For Snapchat, the deeper foray into gaming is believed to be an attempt to further distance itself from rival Instagram, which has copied a few of its features over the years and eventually became more successful than Snapchat in regards to the 24-hour "stories" feature. However, one source reportedly suggested that the gaming platform is still "more experimental" at this point than a central business effort by the company.

Earlier this year, the company expressed interest in gaming on a small scale with the launch of "Snappables," Snapchat Lenses that are interactive and let users play AR games with friends. Many social-focused apps have tried out gaming experiences in the past, including Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Apple's own iMessage through the launch of the Messages App Store in iOS 10.

Elgato Systems today announced that it will shift its focus "exclusively" to its line of HomeKit-connected Eve devices, in the process rebranding itself to "Eve Systems." At the same time, it confirmed plans to sell its streaming accessory division Elgato Gaming to peripheral company Corsair to continue life as a separate brand.

Under its new name, the company said that Eve Systems will offer a "constantly expanding ecosystem" of accessories that are designed exclusively for HomeKit. It also told users to look out for the next line of product announcements coming to IFA Berlin in a few months, running from August 31 through September 5.

In the announcement, Elgato founder and CEO of Eve Systems Markus Fest explained that the Eve product line will benefit from a "focused team and a dedicated organization" thanks to the gaming division's sale.

“Today, the Gaming space is more dynamic and exciting than ever, and we sought a larger partner to help us capitalize on the phenomenal opportunities ahead” said Markus Fest, Elgato’s founder and now CEO of Eve Systems.

“Our gaming business has been wildly successful, and that success is inextricably linked to the Elgato brand. The brand has been with us for almost twenty years and we are obviously a little sad to see it go, but Corsair is a fantastic company and will be a great new home for Elgato. At the same time our Eve product line will benefit from a focused team and a dedicated organization. This move will further strengthen both product families.”

For products that don't fall under the Eve or Gaming categories — like Elgato's thunderbolt docks — the company confirmed that anything that is not an Eve device will also be joining Elgato Gaming under Corsair.

The most recent HomeKit product announcements from the company came with the Eve Aqua and Eve Flare. Eve Aqua connects to your outdoor water system so you can control your sprinklers or other irrigation system through the Home app or Siri. For European users, the Eve Flare lamp is a portable LED lamp that offers six hours of illumination on one charge.

Otheriwse, the company sells numerous Eve devices on Apple.com, including the Elgato Eve Degree Connected Weather Station, Light Switch, Wireless Motion Sensor, Room Sensor, Energy Smart Plug, Button, and more.

Logitech today announced that its popular Slim Combo and Slim Folio Bluetooth keyboards have been updated with support for sixth-generation iPad, which means they're now available for Apple's most affordable tablet.

The Slim Folio was previously available for the fifth-generation iPad and is also now compatible with the sixth-generation model, while the Slim Combo was previously limited to the iPad Pro. The new Slim Combo is compatible with both fifth and sixth-generation iPads.

Priced at $100, the Slim Folio is designed to turn the iPad into a laptop replacement, with a lightweight design and well-spaced mechanical scissor keys, along with iOS shortcut keys. It also serves as a protective case for the iPad, keeping it safe from scratches, drops, and spills.

There are two different viewing angles, so it can be used in a typing mode or a mode for watching videos and playing games, and the new version includes a holder for the Apple Pencil.

The $120 Slim Combo offers similar features, but it has a detachable keyboard and an adjustable kickstand for more versatility. Like the Slim Folio, the Slim Combo is a lightweight Bluetooth keyboard case that lets you type anywhere.

For the sixth-generation iPad, there is a built-in Apple Pencil holder to store an Apple Pencil when it's not in use, plus it comes with backlit keys. Unlike the iPad Pro version of the Slim Combo, which connects to an iPad Pro using the Smart Connector, the Slim Combo for iPad connects via Bluetooth.

The Slim Combo and the Slim Folio can be purchased from the Logitech website starting today.

Facebook has confirmed to TechCrunch that it's testing an ability for its users to "snooze" certain keywords in their News Feed and groups for 30 days. The text-based snooze follows an update from late last year that introduced a way for users to snooze people, pages, and groups for 30 days.

In order to start snoozing keywords, users will first have to come across a post that includes the keyword they want to avoid, as there's no dedicated section to enter keywords into. Facebook has said that a "preemptive snooze option" is being looked into and could be added in the next few weeks.

Tapping that reveals a list of nouns from the post you might want to nix, without common words like “the” in the way. So if you used the feature on a post that said “England won its World Cup game against Tunisia! Yes!”, the feature would pull out “World Cup”, “England”, and “Tunisia”. Select all that you want to snooze, and posts containing them will be hidden for a month. Currently, the feature only works on text, not images, and won’t suggest synonyms you might want to snooze as well.

Ads won't be affected by snoozed keywords, so if you snooze something related to a movie the feature will only hide posts by friends and groups, but not ad posts encouraging Facebook users to visit the film's page or buy tickets.

In regards to the 30-day limit, Facebook mentioned that it is open to expanding the snooze feature if it hears from people "that they want more or less time," but didn't confirm an unlimited ability to snooze keywords. In comparison, Twitter and many related third-party clients offer the ability for users to mute keywords, users, hashtags, and more for as long as they want.

For Facebook's keyword snooze feature, a "small percentage of users" will see the update today ahead of a wider rollout in the coming weeks.

Chinese mobile phone maker Vivo has today unveiled new 3D sensing technology which it says has 10 times the accuracy of the Face ID authentication system in Apple's iPhone X.

Vivo says its Time of Flight (TOF) system uses 300,000 data points to map the user's face in three dimensions, compared to the 30,000 points of infrared light used in Apple's facial mapping technology.

The TOF system works by detecting the time it takes for emitted pulse light to return to the sensor, which allows it to accurately map objects at up to three meters in front of it, according to Vivo. The company said the tech would enable "new opportunities in facial, gesture and motion recognition, 3D photography and AR, expanding the capabilities of the next generation of smart devices."

"From last year's debut of In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology, the recent launch of the truly bezel-less Vivo NEX, to our ground-breaking TOF 3D Sensing technology, we continue to forge ahead and evolve towards the truly intelligent future by opening new ways for the AI to help the consumer," said Alex Feng, Senior Vice President of Vivo. "By combining TOF 3D Sensing Technology with AI, we will continue to explore new possibilities for a better future."

Vivo demonstrated the 3D sensing technology at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, a stage it has used in the past to make similar big reveals. Last year Vivo used the platform to unveil its screen-embedded fingerprint sensor technology, at a time when Apple was thought to be struggling to achieve the same result. Of course, it later emerged that Apple was leaving fingerprint recognition systems behind.

Vivo says its latest 3D sensing tech is "no mere proof of concept", but it will be a while before it makes it into a commercial smartphone. Whether the increased number of data points automatically translates in practice to better security and accuracy remains to be seen.

Amazon today updated its Alexa app for iOS to add a promised voice control feature that's designed to allow iOS users to tap the Alexa button and use voice commands to ask Alexa to play music, answer questions, check the weather, and more.

As noted by TechCrunch, Amazon introduced voice control to its Alexa app for Android back in January, and at the time, said the feature would be expanded to iOS devices "soon."

Soon turned out to mean six months, but starting today, iOS users can speak with Alexa in the Alexa iOS app and ask standard Alexa questions. There is no native functionality, so pushing an in-app button to activate Alexa is required rather than just saying the "Alexa" trigger phrase.

The new voice control feature will be rolled out to all iOS users "in the coming days."

The Amazon Alexa app can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Available on Indiegogo, the wire-free Arbor Instant Video Doorbell from Arbor Home lets you keep an eye on your packages from shipment to delivery, and it lets you see just who's at your door when the bell rings.

Prior to the Arbor, I hadn't used a video doorbell, and I wasn't sure if I needed one, but ironically, waiting for the delivery of the video doorbell itself taught me how valuable these products can be.

Arbor shipped me a video doorbell on May 21, and on May 22, I got a notification from FedEx that the package had been delivered. There was just one problem -- there was nothing on my doorstep. I got in touch with FedEx, as did Arbor, but there was no sign of the package.

Right around the same time, I had a package from Amazon go missing. It too was marked delivered but never made it to my doorstep. I've had problems with both FedEx deliveries and deliveries made by Amazon's in-house delivery service in the past so I don't know if this was a case of two shipments gone wrong, or if I had a package thief.

I can see exactly who comes to my door throughout the day, from delivery people to solicitors, and while I haven't had another package go missing, if there is a package thief haunting my apartment complex, I'll have footage of the perpetrator.

Speaking of solicitors, this is another area where the Arbor Video Doorbell has come in handy. Just a few days before it was delivered, someone in a safety vest knocked on my door. I thought it might be a construction worker from my apartment building, but no, it was someone attempting to sell gas insurance who had worn the vest to attempt to look authoritative.

I had to deal with this in person, but using a video doorbell, I can now screen who is at the door and send them away without an awkward situation where I have to listen to a sales spiel. It's also just nice to have the peace of mind of constant monitoring of my front door.

Design

Design wise, the Arbor Video Doorbell looks a bit odd, especially compared to more traditional doorbell-style video options like the Ring. There's a big button at the top of the device, which is what you press to ring the doorbell, and underneath that, there's a built-in 1080p camera.

The entire Arbor enclosure is made from plastic with the exception of a black metal mounting plate, and it's available in either black/silver or all black. While this looks fine outside of my apartment, it is a bit modern looking and may not match some home styles.

Compared to other video doorbells, the Arbor is taller and narrower. This is an entirely wire-free video doorbell option (which means you can't replace an existing wired doorbell with it), so it's powered by batteries, which are inserted into a removable battery pack at the bottom of the device.

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Instagram today implemented several new features that were first previewed and announced at Facebook's F8 developer conference in May, including a redesigned Explore tab, new camera effects, and a group video chatting feature.

Instagram's new video chat option, which is a feature that's designed to rival offerings like Skype and FaceTime, can be accessed via Instagram Direct, and it allows for video calls with up to four people at the same time. Instagram users can chat across iOS and Android without the need for a phone number.

As explained by Instagram, starting a new video chat can be done from the Direct inbox. Open a message thread, tap the camera icon, and the video chat will ring on a friend's phone. While video chatting, the video can be minimized to one corner so you can continue to browse Instagram.

You can video chat with anyone you have an active Direct thread with, and blocking a person will prevent them from video chatting you. With group chats, a little icon will let you know when friends are talking and you can join in.

Video chat is perfect for groups. You can video chat with up to four people at a time, and the video will expand as more friends join. If there's an active video chat in a group thread, the camera icon will turn blue. Simply tap the camera to join in the fun. You can video chat with your friends for as long as you'd like. When you're ready to leave the video chat, tap the red phone icon at the bottom.

Instagram's Explore tab has been revamped with new topic channels that are designed to make it easier to find content that you want to see. A "For You" tab offers up suggestions based on your interests, while channels like Art, Sports, Beauty, Fashion, and more offer up additional content suggestions.

You can swipe from grid to grid to discover content within a specific interest after tapping into a channel, and for things you're not interested in, you can mute a channel by pressing and holding on it to bring up the "Mute" option.

In addition to group video chats and a revamped Explore section, Instagram now includes updated camera effects designed by Ariana Grande, Buzzfeed, Liza Koshy, Baby Ariel, and the NBA. If you follow these accounts, the new effects will be available in the Instagram camera through the face icon, while non-followers can tap an effect to try it on and add it to the camera.

Additional effects from other celebrities and popular Instagram accounts will be added in the future.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free, and all of the new features are available on both Android and iOS as of today. [Direct Link]

Apple today updated its iTunes Remote app for iOS devices to version 4.4, introducing a redesigned look and support for the iPhone X, Apple's newest flagship device.

The iTunes Remote app is designed to allow iPad and iPhone users to control their iTunes libraries from anywhere in the home, accessing music, TV shows, movies, Podcasts, playlists, and more. The app can be used to send music to AirPlay speakers and group speakers together to play music in multiple rooms at the same time.

Apple recommends that customers who download the Remote 4.4 update pair it with iTunes 12.7.5, which is the latest version of iTunes on the Mac.

In addition to a redesigned look, the iTunes Remote app update offers unspecified stability and performance improvements.

iTunes Remote can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]