New Technology Reviews!.: Feature

Facebook announces 'Trusted Friends' scheme

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Facebook has announced plans to launch a 'Trusted Friends' scheme which can let pals assist if you find yourself shut out of your account.<br />
The scheme requires users to nominate three-to-five of their most reliable amigos, who are then required to input a special code in order to prove your identity.<br />
Trusted Friends will come in handy for users whose email has also been compromised by hacks, meaning they can't use the regular password recovery mechanism.<br />
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The spare key</h4>
In a post on the Facebook security page the social network said the new feature was akin to giving your friends a spare house key.<br />
The post read: "Similar to other features that help you prove your identity through your friends, you can now select three to five trusted friends who can help you if you ever have issues accessing your account.<br />
"It's sort of similar to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation–pick the friends you most trust in case you need their help.<br />
"If you forgot your password and need to login but can't access your email account, you can rely on your friends to help you get back in.<br />
"We will send codes to the friends you have selected and they can pass along that information to you."<br />
It sounds like a good idea. Just make sure those "Trusted Friends" aren't the type who will use those special codes to break into your account and ruin your world while you're off on a relaxing weekend in the country.</div>

Facebook announces 'Trusted Friends' scheme

Facebook has announced plans to launch a 'Trusted Friends' scheme which can let pals assist if you find yourself shut out of your...

FEMA Releases Android App, T-Mobile Offers Hurricane Tips

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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="238" mce_src="http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4076/fema.png" src="http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4076/fema.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="FEMA" width="291" />Just in time for Hurricane Irene, FEMA has released their Android App with all sorts of emergency tips and help guides and more. This is just in time as this sad hurricane Irene appears to be headed right for the East Coast and will most likely cause a few problems. You can read more at FEMA.gov and the Android app is available in the Android Market right now, get it by clicking here.</div>
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The new FEMA app is full of useful tips, checklists, meeting places, contact numbers and more. It will even offer the latest news for before, during and after a disaster. while most likely everyone on the East Coast is already hurrying to figure out a plan this could sure help with everything. Go down checklists to make sure you have things you need. Spare batteries, chargers for cell phones, all sorts of stuff. I’m just thinking mobile since after all we are all about Android.</div>
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The app will help with more than just hurricanes, same applies for things like the recent earthquake, floods and more. This wont help anyone if Verizon delays the Bionic again, but that sure would be a disaster.</div>
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T-Mobile is also prepping for the Hurricane and you can read all about how prepared they are, as well as see tips they are providing at the T-Mobile Blog. Here are a few tips thanks to T-Mobile</div>
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– Use text messaging to communicate instead of voice calls. Text messaging has a greater success rate in getting through the network during high-usage periods.<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Keep your calls short in duration.<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Utilize Wi-Fi calling if your device has the feature. This feature takes advantage of your in-home data connection to place calls in case the cellular network is congested or down. (If home has power)<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Make sure your phone is fully charged prior to the storm. Consider obtaining a vehicle charger in the event of power loss.</div>
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A few of these may be obvious to some, but not for others. Here are a few tips from us as well.</div>
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– Charge your phones, charge back-up batteries and make sure you have a car charger<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Turn off phone during the storm, keep it off so you’ll have full power when things clear<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Bring spare batteries for cell phones, cars, any anything else you’ll need.<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Download one of the many different Flashlight Apps for Android<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />– Text to communicate as they have a better chance of getting through, just as T-Mobile stated above</div>
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We could go on for a while regarding tips and tricks, but for now stay safe and once again feel free to read over the FEMA.gov website and get the official FEMA App for Android by clicking here.</div>
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FEMA Releases Android App, T-Mobile Offers Hurricane Tips

Just in time for Hurricane Irene, FEMA has released their Android App with all sorts of emergency tips and help guides and more. This is...

iOS 5 deprecates UDID as identifier for developers, but it's not the end of the world

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As reported by our sister site TechCrunch, Apple is deprecating the use of UDIDs as unique identifiers for developers, thereby severing one of the most common ties between physical devices and the apps that need to know which specific iOS gadget they're on. It's the end of the world as we know it! Well, no, actually. Let's get to the real story here, brought to you by feedback from some iOS developers with real-world knowledge of what the implications of this change will be.</div>
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First off, let's clear up what it means for Apple to 'deprecate' this identifier. A deprecated function or software component is <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">not</span>yanked out immediately; it's simply been flagged by the developer of the platform (or app, command line tool, what have you) as something that <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">will be going away in the future, eventually</span>. While the feature remains in place for the sake of backwards compatibility, deprecation is a clear sign to all the programmers in town that they will have to move away from using this feature in the long run.</div>
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To the average person, this deprecation of developer access to UDIDs means little more than one step towards better privacy. UDIDs are far from the only way a developer could ensure "your" iPhone is, in fact, your iPhone. Using the identifier has always been a relatively easy way for developers to do this, however, and so many used it, some abused it, and the average user was never the wiser.</div>
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From the beginning, Apple has always uniquely identified its devices via UDIDs or other means, and the iPhone is no exception. There is a class called "UIDdevice" which describes the things on the iPhone, i.e., the features unique to that device. Until today, developers could have access to a users' UDIDs, and they've used them as identifiers for a lot of gaming, user info persistence and subscription systems (including some of our favorite apps). The downside of UDIDs in the past is because they're related to devices and not accounts, sometimes it's hard to have the device identifiers talk to each other. Some developers have grabbed or scraped these without user permission for marketing and other less than reputable purposes -- hence the privacy concern behind broadcasting UDIDs to third-party developers.</div>
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The utility of developers having access to the UDID is far lower than the potential for abusing it. The UIdevice class does things like telling you the battery state, system name, OS version, phone model, and so forth -- it identifies the device and the features on it. It's been helpful in terms of letting developers determine which devices run certain features better -- knowing the difference in performance between an iPhone 3G and an iPhone 4 is certainly important, especially to game developers -- but other than that, there's not much utility there.</div>
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So why isn't losing access to the UDID a big deal, at all? Any developer can always roll their own unique identifier. Apple provides a way to randomly generate one, so you never really <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">had</span>to use the UDID. People have been using UDIDs for various reasons -- not all of them good -- and there's not a lot of positives to UDID use other than ad-hoc app distribution (i.e., for beta testing).</div>
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Apple's deprecation of UDID access is something that's been expected for some time. MacStories' take on it aligns with our own; privacy concerns over UDID sharing have been in the news for a long time, so it's not a shocker that Apple's now contemplating denying third-party access to them. From a user's perspective, this is a Good Thing. From a <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">scrupulous</span> developer's position, this may complicate your life for a while, but that's all. <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Unscrupulous</span>developers who've been abusing UDIDs for marketing or other purposes are the ones that will get hit hardest by this change, but as far as I'm concerned, they can wither up and die with no tears shed.</div>
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Some have speculated that iCloud account information might be substituted for UDIDs, but developers don't really have access to user account information from iCloud -- and they <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">shouldn't</span>. That would be an even bigger security hole than UDIDs.</div>
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Apple seems to be taking a "none of your business" approach to user IDs where developers are concerned. We speculate that's the motivation behind removing the UDID API. Meanwhile, try not to buy into widespread reports of dogs and cats living together/mass hysteria, because it's just not that big of a deal in the long run.</div>
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iOS 5 deprecates UDID as identifier for developers, but it's not the end of the world

Reading the headlines today, you'll see the usual exaggeration of half-understood factoids bubble out from today's iOS 5 beta 6 ...

Twitter offers up new @reply feature

Twitter offers up new @reply feature

Twitter has made a small but significant change to the way you reply to people on the service, making this feature available straight ...

Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review

<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review" border="1" height="280" hspace="4" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9210/nyko2011040360025.jpg" style="margin: 4px; border: 1px solid black;" vspace="4" width="420" /></div><br/>When we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS (both times) there were some things we liked and others we didn't, but one thing stood out as a true flaw: the battery life. Three to four hours on a charge just doesn't cut it when portable game systems are traditionally known for shrugging off entire international flights. The 3DS would struggle with a puddle-jumper. Now, Nyko says it has a fix, and have released a battery backpack that promises twice the life of the stock console. Does it deliver? Not quite, but close.<br/><div><br/><br/><strong>Gallery: Nyko Charge Base and Power Pak+</strong><br/><br/><img alt="" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3584/nyko2011040380001thumbn.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4390/nyko2011040380002thumbn.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/8175/nyko2011040380003thumbn.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/5908/nyko2011040380004thumbn.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3163/nyko2011040380005thumbn.jpg" /><br/><br/></div>

Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review

When we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS (both times) there were some things we liked and others we didn't, but one thing stood out as a true f...

British 3D team get to work on Horrid Henry feature

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/images/horridhenry%203D-200-200.jpg"><br /><P>The forthcoming feature film based on kids' favourite <EM>Horrid Henry</EM> is being given the 3D treatment by British 3D specialists Vision3, shooting in London now.</P><br /><P>Nick Moore's £4 million-budget film, stars Hollywood A-listers such as Angelica Houston and Richard E Grant, and is set to be shot over seven weeks in Twickenham Studios and at locations across London. </P><br /><P><img alt="British 3d team get to work on the live action version of 'horrid henry'" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/horridhenry%203D-420-90.jpg" title="British 3D team get to work on 'Horrid Henry'" width="420"></IMG></P><br /><P><STRONG>Horridly funny</STRONG></P><br /><P><EM>Horrid Henry</EM>, for those not familiar, is based on Francesca Simon's much-loved storybook character, </P><br /><P>Vision3 stereographers are set to work closely with Vertigo Films and director Sam McCurdy, whose previous movie credits include <EM>Dog Soldiers </EM>and <EM>Streetdance 3D.</EM></P><br /><P>Vision3's Matt Smith will be heading up the production work on the new movie, with Smith's previous credits including <EM>TT3D</EM>, a feature documentary profiling the world famous Isle of Man TT Motorcycle Race, in addition to working with Vision3 founder Chris Parks on the forthcoming <EM>Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides </EM>– both flicks are due at some point in 2011.</P><br /><P>Vision3 founder Chris Parks said of the latest 3D kids' blockbuster: "Working on a children's classic provides fantastic opportunities to do genuinely creative and fun 3D. </P><br /><P>"From a technical point of view our priority is to ensure both a smooth 3-D workflow and a comfortable and consistent viewing experience. </P><br /><P>"Keeping in mind Horrid Henry's comic strip origins we're intentionally using 3D card-boarding as a creative tool, working to bring some of the layered feeling of cartoons to life on the big screen."</P><br /><P>The 3D team will be using Element Technica's Quasar rig, and shooting on Reds supplied by Take2 Films. </P>

British 3D team get to work on Horrid Henry feature

The forthcoming feature film based on kids' favourite Horrid Henry is being given the 3D treatment by British 3D specialists Vision3, s...

Facebook Launches Revamped Messages Feature

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At the scheduled Facebook event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a revamped version of Messages feature for the social network. New Messages unifies the messages received via email, SMS, chat or Facebook message in to one Social Inbox. Last week, Facebook was rumored to launch Project Titan, a Gmail killer service for Facebook. In a way, Facebook certainly earned some brownie points for including all email, SMS, chat and message into one Inbox and allowing users to start a real-time conversation.<br />
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Facebook Messages is quite a handy feature to share messages amongst friends. Messages is an invite-only feature at the moment. Every Facebook user who wishes to use Messages as his new 'email ID' would be given an @facebook.com email address. Will this Messages system with unified social Inbox and real-time threaded conversations affect Gmail? We'll talk about that a bit later. First, let's take a look at the features of Messages: <br />
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Unified conversation:</b><br />
Facebook is a widely used social network not only on desktop but also on mobile phones. Several young kids are addicted to check their wall and notifications via cellphone after every few minutes. Messages will bring SMS, chats, direct messages on Facebook and emails - all on one location. For adding emails, users will have to activate the optional Facebook email address. <br />
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Users can get spoiled further with the new easy message compose options. They will just have to choose the name of the recipient and type out the message to be sent - No Carbon Copy, no Blind Carbon Copy, No subjects. It is more like a chat conversation wherein you just click on the user's name and start chatting. Facebook claims that the conversations would happen in real time.<br />
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<b>Threaded real-time talks:</b><br />
Whatever conversations that take place on Facebook Messages will appear in form of threaded conversations between you and the contact. All SMS, chat, Messages and Emails between you and your friend would appear in form of a thread and thus you'll have a history for all the messages exchanged. At any point of time you can leave that long threaded conversation and start a new one. Of course you'll get to revisit that history of conversation later. <br />
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Social Inbox:</b><br />
By default, Facebook will show you messages only from your friends and their friends in the Inbox. Any other messages from users not on Facebook would appear in a folder named Other right below Messages on the left column. You can easily move those conversations to Messages Inbox to receive all future conversations in there. Facebook also offers a Filters option under account settings to restrict receiving mails that aren't sent by any of your friends. In short, you get to choose whose messages and mails you want to receive. <br />
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<b>Security Concerns:<br />
</b>In the past, Facebook has faced several phishing and hack attacks. The social network has been struck with koobface and other worms a number of times. Hence, I'm a bit skeptical about how spam-free and other nuisance free the new Messages would be. Undoubtedly Facebook's security team has taken precautions against such attacks and blocked all the holes. But you never know if an innocent user's account is misused for sending spam to several other users. <br />
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<b>Google's Take on Facebook Messages:</b><br />
Facebook launched new Messages system at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. A couple of hours later, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was present there and showed off the upcoming Nexus S smartphone as well as Gingerbread with Near Field Communication Support. On being asked about Facebook's new Messaging system, Schmidt declined to comment. Instead, he told Computer World, "We're actually pretty happy with Gmail. Right now, it's all about its terrific, wonderful growth. People use Gmail because of its speed and its searchability. Its core design has been around speed and searchability. Gmail is doing very well. We're happy to have the market expand."<br />
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It is quite early to say if Facebook Messages would take up on something as big as Gmail. I mean, it might attract the social network addicts who just want to stay in touch with all their friends. Not to forget, Facebook is still a social network while Gmail is a proper web-based email service. However, web-based email services providers - Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail are making their services more social. Looking from a social network addict's perspective, Messages is a perfect feature for a lazy and laid back lifestyle.

Facebook Launches Revamped Messages Feature

At the scheduled Facebook event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a revamped version of Messages feature for the social network. New ...