Instagram pulls Cards support from Twitter, favors its own web experience

Something's amiss with Instagram links on Twitter and it's not just the overabundance of unnecessarily filtered photos. Users have noticed that, upon clicking those links, images are displaying incorrectly and, in some cases, showing up as cropped. There's no need to drag out the fail whale though (apart from amusing lead image purposes), as both companies have acknowledged that the issue lies in the Cards - specifically, Instagram's disabling of them. What that means for end users is that preview thumbnail images will no longer show up from within feeds, reverting the integration to a "pre-cards experience." Speaking at LeWeb conference in Paris today, Instagram's CEO Kevin Systrom insists the change has nothing to do with the outfit's acquisition by Facebook and, instead, is framed as a way of promoting its own web service. As for those "lomo-fi" shots you're all so fond of snapping, have no fear, you'll still be able to tweet those out with same ferocity.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft launches Socl into Beta, brings the part(ies) to social networking

Microsoft has unleashed Socl into beta for all comers to probe, bringing it out of the experimental stages and a step closer to a full-fledged site. We first heard about the project back in July when it was dubbed Tulalip, and MS Research's Fuse Labs officially launched it internally and into some universities back in October last year. The site carries the Windows 8 tile-like look, and Fuse says that imagery is emphasized over "blue links" for search, helping democratize the site "even for people who speak different languages." That lets you find others via posts, a people gallery, or someone's page -- where new posts, people and interests can be viewed all at once. A nav bar allows articles to be created by topics like web, videos or news, and users can create "parties," where they can chat, create playlists or watch videos with others in a similar fashion to Google Hangouts. The project was coded using Redmond's Java-hued Typescript to allow for rapid coding changes, according to Fuse's blog in the source below. To try it out for yourself, check the "more coverage" link.

[Source: Engadget]

TomTom updates its Android app to make it, you know, work

We've journeyed with the TomTom Navigator app for Android and it's been great -- except for one brake-punching problem. Version 1.0 was only compatible with phones that happened to have a display width of 480 pixels (WVGA or FWVGA), which meant that our Galaxy S IIIs, Nexus 4s and other favorite handsets all had to be left at home. That issue has now been fixed in v1.1, along with some other, less fundamental niggles. In particular, you can now download the large offline maps to microSD rather than filling up internal storage, and TomTom also says map downloads can be completed with the app running in the background -- although there's no mention of downloads being resumable. One thing that certainly hasn't improved is the price -- if you want to travel across the USA and Canada, for example, you'll find that Navigator for Android is precisely $50 more costly than Google's offline offering or Nokia Drive for Windows Phones.

[Source: Engadget]

Sony reveals 3.5-inch Xperia E single or dual-SIM Android phone, coming early next year

Sony has just announced the new Xperia E smartphone sporting a 3.5-inch HVGA 320 x 480 display and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (though the specs indicate ICS), available with single or "Xperia Edual" mode SIMs. It's touting the new handset as a way to "stay on top of your data and battery usage," sporting special software that disables WiFi and data traffic when the screen has been asleep for more than a few minutes. With the dual-SIM option, you'll also be able to switch between carriers with a single touch "to stay on the most cost effective plan." It'll come with HD Voice and Walkman xLOUD technology for optimal sound quality, according to Sony, and other specs include a 1GHz processor, wireless DNLA connectivity, a 1500 mAh battery and black, white or pink color options. Pricing has yet to be announced, but it'll launch in Q1 2013 according to the PR, which you can find along with a video right after the break.

[Source: Engadget]

Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited launches, bundles kid-friendly media, menu for a fee

We got a peek at Amazon's Kindle FreeTime during its press conference back in September, but now it's making the family-friendly feature part of a subscription package available across the family of Kindle Fire devices. More than just a submenu of video like the ones offered by Netflix and Hulu Plus, it resembles theKid's Corner launcher in Windows Phone 8 by password locking children out of the rest of the device, but with a preselected package of content to fill it.

Available to Prime subscribers for $2.99 per month, per child or for $6.99 for a family-wide license of up to six kids (don't have Prime? you can pick it up for $4.99/$9.99 a month), kids can browse through the selection of educational apps, games, books, movies and TV shows. It also throws in other features parents will dig, with a personalized login and bookmarks for the kids, plus the ability to set time limits on use that can be specifically tailored by category.

[Source: Engadget - Click here to reade the full story]

Windows Phone now home to 120k apps, downloads and dev revenue rising post-WP8

Windows Phone 8 is a roaring success! That is if you ask the platform's Senior Director, Todd Brix, who tweeted today that developer revenues and downloads have doubled since its launch in November. While this sounds all good, what does it really mean? Back in June, the former Windows Phone Marketplace surpassed 100,000 published apps. To further gauge the platform's progress, Nokia recently announced that the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, with 46 of the top 50 iOS and Android applications being available for WP8.

While today's vague declaration of success didn't reveal any specific numbers, a 20 percent software increase in under six months is definitely something to smile about. As much as we'd like to slap Microsoft a high-five, we'll have to save our jubilation until we get a little something more concrete -- hopefully a set of official statistics will Surface sooner than later.

[Source: Engadget]

YouTube app updated for iOS: now optimized for iPad and iPhone 5, complete with AirPlay streaming

Good news for people who love downloading iOS updates -- just hours after Google refaced its Gmail for iOS app, here comes another heavyweight in YouTube. The standalone app is now fully optimized for use with iPad and the iPhone 5, and perhaps the biggest gift of all is the addition of AirPlay streaming for videos. Other updates include the ability to tap a logo to open one's Guide of channels, the ability to add / remove videos from your playlists, clickable links in video descriptions and improved accessibility with VoiceOver. Feel free to hit the source link to dive in, and let us know how it turns out in comments below.

[Source: Engadget]

Nexus 4 set to become available in the UK and Germany again today at 5PM local time

Canadians got their crack at it yesterday, and it looks like today's the day that those in the UK and Germany will have another chance to order a Nexus 4. Google has sent out emails informing subscribers that the phone will again be available to order from the Play store in Germany at 5:00PM CET (less than an hour from now), and from the UK store at 5:00PM GMT. Once again, there's no indication of quantities available, but if past history is any indication it's a good bet that they'll sell out fairly quickly.

[Source: Engadget]

The Times UK offers digital newspaper subscriptions with subsidized Nexus 7

While News Corporation's big tablet newspaper experiment, The Daily, may have ended with a whimper, it's not stopping the global media company trying new strategies to pick up more (paying) digital readers. The Times, one of the only UK national papers to keep its content firmly behind a paywall, has decided to offer a discounted Google Nexus 7 tablet alongside its digital subscriptions. Knocking £149 from the original £199 price of the 32GB Nexus 7, the device will arrive accompanied by an 18-month subscription with access to the full site and its mobile apps, costing £18 per month, discounted to just shy of £300 in total if you're willing to pay it all upfront. However, it's not the first time we've seen a news organization fold in a gadget incentive for new subscribers -- Barnes and Noble offered discounted Nooks alongside one-year subscriptions to The New York Times at the start of the year. UK readers can check out the deal at the source below.

[Source: Engadget]

Canon outs redesigned arsenal of printers and scanners for its PIXMA and CanoScan lines

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a new printer or scanner in the near future? You may want to sit tight for a bit. Canon has outed its newest grouping of the aforementioned peripherals with retooled frames and a smattering of other improvements. For those looking for an all-in-one solution, the PIXMA MG6320 and MG5420 carry the multi-function moniker and a snap-edge design that makes getting to those precious ink cartridges a breeze. The new exterior also relocates the paper handling to allow the unit to rest flush against a wall or the back of a shelf. What's the difference, you ask? Well, the MG6320 (pictured above) wields a 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD while the MG5420 houses a regular ol' 3-inch LCD. However, both feature a truckload wireless printing capabilities from both computers and mobile devices. No word on a ship date, but the pair will be priced at $200 and $150 when they make their debut in stores.

[Source: Engadget - Click here to read the full story]

Evernote launches Evernote Business, readies to make your life even easier

Evernote had said its fancy new service aimed at the more professional crowd would be coming around December, and surely enough the company's announced it's now officially open for Business. Via its blog, Evernote let it be known that, after many months of having the service in the works, it's now ready to welcome any business owners who are looking to try its novel Evernote for Business product. Of course, the cloud-based software company wants to reassure potential users that this is essentially the Evernote people have come to love, but "it's better" and with a "number number of features and refinements that make Evernote Business a perfect tool for small and medium-sized companies and small teams within larger organizations." For those interested in learning more, there's a very informative video after the break -- and, of course, the source link below will give you all the nitty-gritty straight from the outfit's mouth.

[Source: Engadget]

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean rollout begins for Droid RAZR HD, RAZR Maxx HD

All it took was two months and a weekend. True to its word from this past Friday, Verizon's begun rolling out the much anticipated Android 4.1 update to both the Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR Maxx HD. As our tips box can attest, OTA update notifications are slowly, but surely hitting users' devices, bringing with it Project Butter, Google Now and ISIS enhancements. But don't fret if you're not seeing anything just yet -- Big Red's noted that Jelly Bean will arrive "in phases," so you'll have to practice some patience. Or continue to mash that system update button. Your choice.

[Source: Engadget]