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Google I/O: Chrome synchronized simple payment system

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Payments on the web, whether it's on desktop or mobile, is long winded. Google announced a mobile and desktop synced payment system for Chrome, which cuts billing forms to a three step process: Checkout Button, Review Billing and Shipping, and Submit. According to Google, there's a 97% abandonment rate for online purchases from mobile browsers. Too many steps, and too much information needed to complete purchases put off users. Many online purchase forms have 21 steps. Google have created in Chrome a secure system that stores your information safely and allows you to buy online in three steps on both desktop and mobile versions of the browser.google chrome racing game You will only have to enter your billing information once in Chrome, and then shop easily wherever you are signed in to Chrome. Showing off synchronization, we also saw a single racing game being played across 5 screens perfectly. It uses the Web Socket browser-server technology, and is really impressive.

Google I/O: Hangouts unifies Google communication apps

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Google has shown a new Hangouts real time communication app at I/O. Released today, it's for Android, the web and iOS, it stores all your conversations, with photos organized automatically in albums. You control your history, but there's never any reason to lose anything unless you want to. Hangouts replaces Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, Google Voice Chat for Drive and the old Google+ Hangouts. Instead of a list of contacts, when you open Hangouts you see your recent conversations, and they are all live. You can see who has read what, an who is active in the conversation. Like Google+ Hangouts, you can have free video conversations with up to ten people. This means Skype has even more competition, and WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber are clearly in its sights.google hangouts app Hangouts has been heavily rumored for some time. It didn't make sense for Google to have so many different communication apps, and I'm pleased it's not called Babel!

Google I/O: New Google Maps on Web and Mobile

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Google Maps is getting a new look and new features. On the web, as predicted, Google Maps will have a cleaner design and is more personalized. The map is now the interface, and results appear on cards on the map. You can also search the places your friends have visited, recommended and photographs. When you are logged in to Google, you will see the results that best suit you, including the landmarks that are important for you.google maps update When you click on a place on Google Maps, it updates actively - so if small roads near the restaurant you are viewing were not labeled, as soon as you click on them, they are. Maps are now dynamic, depending on what you are looking at. As we said earlier today, transport data has been overhauled, meaning you can always pick the right way to get where you're going. There are some really impressive 3D images from Google Earth. It requires no plug-ins, you can see everything from your browser. Zooming out to see the whole world, you can see Earth in real time in space, with real time clouds. New Google Maps is available by invite, and you can sign up here: Google Maps desktop preview. A new version of Google Maps is coming out for Android and iOS this summer, with dedicated smartphone and tablet versions.google maps summer release Ratings for businesses and services have a 5 star review system across the board, and review service Zagat is integrated into the app, so you can see user reviews from Google and expert reviews too. Tablets get a brand new interface too, with much better, more visual search results.

Send money to your friends with Gmail and Google Wallet [video]

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Google I/O is in full swing and there's a ton of updates to products like Google Music and Google Hangouts. One thing that didn't get mentioned during the Google I/O keynote is that Gmail users can now send payments to friends using Google Wallet.send money google wallet gmail With Google Wallet integrated into Gmail, all users have to do is click on the $ icon to attach a specific amount of money to an email. Payments will be handled with whatever credit or debit card you have linked to your Google Wallet. This service will even work if the recipient doesn't have a Gmail account. However, the recipient must have a Google Wallet account to receive funds. One caveat of this service is that credit card fees will be applied to expect 2.9% to be taken out of the total. There's also a transaction limit of $10,000 USD and $50,000 USD limit per 5 day period. Sending money with Gmail and Google Wallet is limited to the desktop. Mobile users will have to use the Google Wallet website to send money. The roll out will take place slowly over the next coming months to Gmail users over 18 years of age. [Source: Google Commerce Blog]

Google I/O 2013 Recap

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At Google I/O 2013, one of the biggest expected reveals was Android 4.3. While the exact specifics aren't known, it's rumored that updates to apps will be one of the centerpieces like Google Now (part of Google Search), Google Maps, and the unification of Google messaging services into one app.Android boss, Sundar Pichai, stated that this year's Google I/O would feature a stronger focus on developer tools rather than physical hardware, and Google proved it at the keynote.

Android 4.3

Strangely enough, Google didn't specifically announce anything new for the Android operating system during the 2013 keynote. They only referenced the OS when it came to first party apps that they updated. It's actually good that Google didn't announce a new 4.3 update because they spent the entire keynote announcing impressive updates to apps that haven't been updated some time.

Google Play Music All Access

News broke yesterday about Google securing deals with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group to support content on YouTube and Google Play. As the company already signed Warner Music Group, Google Play Music now has a large library of musicians to pull tracks from. With a monthly price of $9.99, the ability to curate "radio" playlists by Google and your personal preferences, Google Play Music is getting a massive overhaul not just from a service perspective, but from the user interface with a cleaner and simpler interface. There are still some things to be worked out, but now your library contains your uploaded library and suggested artists based on your library. Google Play Music All Access still has a lack of international artists because radio playlists cannot be created if Google doesn't have enough information. The initial scan of your library will create playlists and you still have the ability to create local playlists. Both the browser and Android version of the app are receiving updates today, featuring the new interface and support for All Access subscriptions. While it's going to take some time to tell if All Access can compete with Spotify, Google's entrance into steaming subscriptions looks solid.

Google Maps

The update to Google Maps was revealed right before Google I/O, but the keynote really showed off all the improvements that they're making. While they showed the majority of the updates in Chrome, a new update of Google Maps for Android and iOS will be released this summer. Google Maps also includes Navigation in its mobile apps and Google was smart not to forget them. There will be improvements to directions, navigation, and the most importantly, dynamic rerouting for directions. Google Maps will also show "incidents" when searching for routes to help you minimize commute times. Finally, the app will also be getting a version optimized for tablets and a feature called "Explore," which is used to search for points of interest. Offers is also now integrated into Google Maps. While users could previously use Google Local, it wasn't really built into Maps seamlessly. You can view offers and save them for use later, based on your location and searches. Google is taking a crowd-sourcing approach with Maps as well because you can upload Photospheres into your Maps. Maps will also include detailed transit planning in the browser instead of suggested routes. There were a lot of improvements to Maps, making it simpler and more intuitive, while offering more information.

Google Messaging is integrated in Hangouts

Shortly after the keynote, Google released the replacement for Google Talk called Hangouts. It combines Google Talk with Google+ so you can chat with your contacts across multiple devices. It supports photo sharing and if your contact isn't using the mobile app, it uploads the photo to Google+ with a link. Like other third party messaging services, Hangouts now shows how much is read. This means that you are always aware if the person you're talking with has read the entire message or not. There are still some user interface issues like how Hangouts shows all of your contacts within the app across your phone, emails, and Google accounts. Some of your contacts may have multiple user names or accounts and Google Hangouts will show all of them, which makes it annoying to sort. There isn't currently a way to hide contacts by account, which is something that needs to be included.

Chrome and Search

Google spent a lot of time with Chrome, focusing on both desktop and mobile. Updates to the Knowledge Graph include expanded language support for Polish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. There is also support for voice search through Google by using a microphone and the phrase "OK Google" to start a search. The results will be spoken back to you. The improvements to Search are also built into Google Now in the form of new cards. Along with the new cards, Google Now will also have reminders to tell you of important tasks. Search has taken prominence again within Google who spent last year focusing more on devices and Android. Chrome is also working with new standards like VP9 for video, resulting in smaller file sizes and streaming requirements while retaining the same quality. Another format that Google is pushing is WebP for images. The file size is smaller than JPEG format and supports animated gifs. Google also showed off multibrowser support for Chrome on mobile with a demo for a game called Racer. It used two tablets and three phones, all with Chrome for Android loaded. The game spanned across all the devices and five players were able to play simultaneously with one person per device. There were so many announcements to Chrome that it's difficult to gauge which is the most impressive, but it's easy to see that Chrome will continue to be one of the most popular browsers.

Google is focusing on apps

Google I/O 2013's keynote showed off a lot of impressive improvements and updates. Rather than focus on Android, Google focused on the core apps that users utilize on both desktop and mobile. This year felt like a transition year where developers improve usability of popular Google services before presenting an update to Android. The core Google experience is becoming much more refined with apps having better cross-platform interaction. It will interesting to see how Google accounts function when all the updates are rolled out. Many of the improvements in Chrome can be imported into Chrome OS and this is probably the reason why Android and Chrome OS will not unify any time soon. Google released many updates to services and apps like Google Play Music and Hangouts, which users will be happy to use now. The updates to Maps and Chrome will be nice to have when they're released this summer.

Google Chat history can no longer be turned off by default

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Google has removed the ability to turn your chat history off by default. The change came yesterday, in the wake of the I/O conference with the launch of Hangouts. One of the features of Hangouts that was really emphasized at I/O, was that you will no longer have to worry about losing anything. Chats are kept, and everything you share, like photos, is put in folders and stored. Conversations have always been saved in Gmail, but until yesterday you could choose for this not to happen by default. Every chat has an 'off the record' mode, but now you have to choose this for every chat. Some people may find this annoying if they like to keep all their chats off the record. But most users are likely to prefer having conversations saved by default. Google Hangouts, the integrated communication app was launched yesterday, and is available as a standalone app for Android and iOS. [Source: Google Talk Help]

EA discontinues the unpopular Online Pass system

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Electronic Arts' controversial Online Pass system is being discontinued for future games. Online passes have become commonplace; if you buy a secondhand game like Battlefield 3 or Need for Speed Most Wanted, to access online features you need to pay for a pass, which is often ten or fifteen dollars. This is a way for game companies to benefit from the huge secondhand market, but is very unpopular with gamers. When you buy games from companies like Ubisoft, Activision or Electronic Arts, an Online Pass is included as a unique code included with it. But this means you can't use online features if you play your game on a different console, or account. In an interview with VentureBeat, EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseberg said, 'many players didn’t respond to the format... we’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.' Whatever you think of the ethics of Online Passes, removing them will certainly make gaming more simple. Being able to play a game for the first time without entering long codes and waiting for confirmation is great news. Electronic Arts didn't make itself very popular when it introduced the Online Pass, but perhaps gamers will be able to forgive now it is listening to their feedback. [Source: VentureBeat]

Yahoo! updates homepage news feed with Twitter integration

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Yahoo! is partnering with Twitter to offer select tweets within Yahoo!'s news feed featured on its homepage. With this new deal, Twitter will offer up relevant and personalized tweets in Yahoo!'s news feed.Yahoo! Twitter integration This announcement makes sense as Yahoo! tries to reinvent itself as a mobile focused company. Last month, Yahoo! launched completely redesigned apps for Android and iOS, which featured Summly, a technology that trims stories down into digestible summaries. The new applications also offered customizable newsfeeds for its users so only relevant stories will be shown. Twitter integration is one more service that allows users to create custom streams. The roll out will happen over the next few days to all US desktop and mobile web users. [Source: Yahoo!]

Twitter releases app for Google Glass

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Google Glass is getting a bit more useful today with the release of Twitter for Google's eyewear. Users will be able to share photos, update, and get notifications from Twitter. Photo sharing is straightforward; simply take a photo and use Twitter to share. Tweets will show up with the hashtag, #throughglass with a link to your photo.twitter for google glass picture Twitter for Google Glass users will also be able to get notifications for tweets, mentions, and direct messages. Users can reply to message by voice with Glass. There are also options to reply, retweet, and favorite Tweets that show up in your feed. twitter for google glass reply Glass owners can head over to google.com/myglass to turn on Twitter. [Source: Twitter]

iTunes 11.0.3 update brings new miniplayer album art

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iTunes received an incremental update today with version 11.0.3.  New to iTunes is an updated miniplayer, which focuses on album art, and increased performance for large libraries. itunes miniplayer The most noticeable update is the miniplayer. Users can now expand the miniplayer to focus on the album art and can still manipulate songs in the play queue. To activate the album art view, just hover over the album art thumbnail in the miniplayer to see the controls. Click on it and the album art will expand while swapping the gray interface with a black one. Another nice thing about the new miniplayer is that the progress bar is back. Apple inexplicably removed this during the iTunes 11 update and we're glad to see it's back. itunes miniplayer playlist Other changes in iTunes 11.0.3 include showing album art in the song view and organizing multiple disc albums as one. There's also a new interface for updating iOS apps. Updates will now show up in their own tab under the Apps section. The update is available now for PC and Mac. [Via: 9to5Mac]

Hands on with Google Hangouts

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google hangoutsAt Google I/O 2013, Google revealed its solution for the fragmentation of its messaging services. Before Hangouts was announced, users had to use multiple services like Google Talk and Google+ Messenger, along with Google Voice if they made calls. Google Hangouts was previously the name of Google+'s video conferencing feature, but now the messaging services are all integrated into one app. Released as an app for Android, iOS, web, and Chrome extension, Hangouts streamlines chat into one simple service. You sign in and the service syncs to all of your devices. One of the best parts is that Hangouts recognizes which device your using and only sends one notification so you don't get them on multiple devices at once. Hangouts is a much needed update to chat with Google contacts. One of the best things about the release of Hangouts is that Android users can now chat directly with iOS users without having to use Google+ Messenger. But Hangouts is late to the messaging game with competitors like Facebook Messenger, KakaoTalk, WhatsApp, and numerous other chat apps offering more features than Hangouts, like free voice calls and stickers.

Chrome and Hangouts Extension

Hangouts is available for use inside the Google+ and Gmail sites. It works just like Google Talk and Google+ Messenger except it's one service instead of two. If you ever used Google Talk or G+ Messenger inside a browser, you will get the update to Hangouts automatically. Google also released a Chrome extension for Hangouts, allowing you to chat with friends without having to have an open up Google+ or Gmail. Hangouts connects to the service and contains persistent chat windows. The chat windows will sit on top of other windows, but you can change this in the options. You can see who you're talking to in your taskbar, but when friends send messages, the chat window will pop up with a notification and sound by default to notify you. The extension also works in Chrome OS, but it works more like a standalone chat app than extension. Notifications for chats come from the Notifications tray in Chrome OS and they contain the user photo and the message. The Hangouts extension on Chrome OS are different from web and Windows, but they are equally simple to interact with.

Android and iOS

After Google released Hangouts in the Google Play Store, I looked at how Hangouts would replace the Google Talk app. Looking in the app manager, I saw that Hangouts was integrating to replace the Talk services on my Android phone. It took a couple minutes, but Hangouts replaced all the services previously associated with Talk. Using Hangouts on Android is very streamlined and features two main screens: one for current Hangout chats and the other showing a photo selection of contacts and frequent contacts. It integrates Gmail and Google+ contacts together and also pulls other contact information from my phone. The problem with importing my phone info is that it doesn't show a single contact with multiple accounts as one contact, but displays each individual separately, resulting in a messy and cluttered contacts list. Google Hangouts on iOS has a similar interface, but doesn't support emoji like on Android. It's still supports the core actions for messaging and photo sharing, but feels behind the Android version in terms of usability. It's also a universal app with iPad support, but the results of messaging on iPad aren't as successful on the larger screen. As you can see, there's a lot of wasted space.

Good start but room for improvement

Hangouts is Google's first step in trying solve fragmentation of its messaging platforms. It doesn't support Google Voice or SMS, though those are expected to come in future updates. Google is late to messaging. They need to spend time to quickly improve the service It's already easier to communicate with friends who use Google services and cross platform support is excellent with intelligent notifications. It's superior on the web and Android right now, but iOS should get the same attention for bigger updates unless Apple doesn't want Hangouts to compete with iMessage. Android and web users don't have much of a choice with Hangouts replacing Talk, but it's a great replacement with lots of potential. It just isn't there yet.

Facebook debuts on Google Glass

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Google Glass users are getting a ton of apps to play with today as Twitter, Tumblr, and now Facebook have released apps for Google's wearable device. The new Facebook app for Google Glass is very basic, only allowing photo uploads for now.facebook for google glass To share to Facebook, all users have to do is take a picture by saying, "OK Glass, take a picture" or by pressing the shutter button. After a picture is taken, tap on touchpad to open up the sharing menu and select Facebook. Users can choose to share publicly, with friends, or to themselves. There's also an option to add a description to the photo. Just tap on the photo and select "Add description" and tap once more. Speak out the description you want and your photo will show up with that description. facebook for google glass sharing For now, tagging isn't supported in Facebook for Google Glass. Users will have to tag photos afterward either on a mobile device or on the web. To get Facebook for Google Glass, head over to google.com/myglass and turn Facebook on. [Source: Facebook]

Hands on with Google Play Music All Access

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Before Google announced its All Access streaming service, I already used Google Play Music to stream uploaded music. I really like the simplicity of uploading music to stream online on various devices. With the launch of All Access, you pay a monthly fee ($9.99 per month in the US) and get access to a much larger library of music to discover. Right after the keynote at Google I/O, the service rolled out to users in the United States. Google Play Music also has a big interface update from its previous version.

Updated look

The updated interface simplifies the sidebar while also focusing on All Access' suggested releases and radio. There are still some issues to fix like the expanding album art. The function is supposed to expand the art, but usually magnifies it beyond the original image size and scrolls the image in the browser window. Generally the overhaul of the interface is positive; it's much more visual like Google+'s recent update and scrolling through the "Listen Now" section shows recently played music, suggested radio playlists, and new suggested releases.

Listen Now

The main section of Google Play Music is Listen Now. Listen Now is the main hub for All Access since it contains recently played, recommended radio playlists, recently added, and suggested new releases. The cards at the top are recently played tracks, but it's also contains suggestions. While recommended radio stations are welcomed, suggested new releases are a little more annoying because there isn't a way to remove them. As the first section you will see in Google Play Music, it provides a lot of great information and suggestions, but not many customization options.

My Library

Google Play Music moved the sections for artists, albums, songs, and genres into the My Library section to free up space for All Access. This section hasn't changed much from the previous version of Google Play Music except that sections are separated into cards, with the exception of the song list section. When separated into artist view, Google Play Music has problems. Since most of my music doesn't exist in Google Play Music's store, it attempts to tag artists with incorrect information. When it does work, mainly with popular artists, it features great artist biographies and a slick looking view of your albums. But when it doesn't recognize the artist, the aggregated information is either wrong or non-existent.

Radio

One problem with suggested playlists is that it has to compare your existing library with Google's library of music. This can cause problems if the music you listen to isn't readily available in Google Play Music. It's a big problem for me because I listen to mainly Korean and Japanese releases that I uploaded to Google Play Music. If it's Korean pop, then suggested radio playlists are decently aggregated. But take an artist like Yellow Monsters, a Korean rock band, the suggested playlist includes a lot of more random and unrelated artists. I'm not sure how the algorithm works against existing music, but it has a very strange way of creating these playlists. It's likely you won't have this problem, but it makes me not want to use All Access' playlist suggestions.

Explore

Explore is where Google Play Music suggests recommendations and highlights artists. Recommendations do a good job of suggesting relevant artists, but it's also easy to tell that Google is putting in suggestions that are very lightly related to my music preferences. The other sections are store fronts for promoted playlists and artists. If you're looking for new music, Explore is a great section to browse through for new music.

Google Play Music on Android

The Android app for Google Play Music was also updated along with the webapp. The biggest difference is that the Android app interface is better designed. The artist section in the library mainly pulls album covers rather than artist profiles. It does still have some problems relating music to unrelated artists, but it is much better. Just like Google Play Music on the web, the Android version needs updates to correct some of its interface problems. The previous version of Google Play Music was a stable release and Google will have to work to make these new features flow better from menu to menu. Also they need to fix the album art scrolling feature or remove it entirely.

All Access subscription

The cost of All Access will be $9.99 per month, though US users can get a discounted $7.99 per month if they sign up before June 30. The ability to add new music to your library and download it to devices for offline playback is great. One problem with downloading for local playback is that Google Play Music downloads music files into a proprietary format onto the root folder of the device where Google Play Music is installed. This means that you can't save to external memory and could quickly fill up your phone's storage. Google has access to a huge library of music with its major music label deals. Its main competitor is Spotify and that service has a big lead on All Access. Google is keeping a lot of social interaction locked into Google+ and YouTube, making sharing to other social sites impossible. The subscription offered by Google isn't that different from Spotify other than being able to upload up to 20,000 files into the cloud and customize playlists. The fact that Google Play Music is only web-based is a problem because there is no way to playback music offline. Other streaming services have desktop apps that allow you to cache music for offline play, something that Google needs to think about to compete. This entry by Google into paid subscription makes sense because it's another service built into your Google account. If you have Gmail, you have a Google Play Music account. All Access is a paid extension of the free cloud streaming service. If you have Spotify, there's little reason to leave right now because of the lack of social integration beyond Google+ and a lack of apps. The suggestions that All Access offers are good, but they may also include promoted artists that have very little to do with your music preferences. Google Play Music All Access currently has a 30 day free trial so you can give the service a try to see if you enjoy it or not.

Google Play Music improves incrementally

Google Play Music is a solid music streaming service. The addition of the subscription service for music discovery is good, though it's directed at users who have a lot of music that can be found in Google's music library. The interface updates are nice on both web and Android, but the new artist view has problems that need to be fixed. All Access is in its infancy and will need to offer something more for users than just sharing video on YouTube or sharing to Google+. Whether users will move from other streaming services remains to be seen, but Google Play Music's ability to stream uploaded music is one of the biggest benefits. For those who only want to stream their own music, there's little reason to get the All Access subscription.

Gran Turismo 6 out before the end of 2013

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It's official - Gran Turismo for Playstation 3 by the end of the year. It's also likely that the game will appear on Playstation 4, but in a second round. The creator of the series, Kazunori Yamauchi, was coy about the details, but did say:
“I thought the best scenario would be to have the game come out, then to have new scenarios, new DLC and other updates. Once the players have thoroughly played out the system, if the PlayStation 4 version came out naturally, as part of that process, I think that would be the best scenario.”
Exciting as that sounds, it's worth bearing in mind that the only official announcement mentions PS3 alone. While we're waiting for further clarification, why not take a peek at the Gran Turismo 6 trailer?

Batman: Arkham Origins trailer coming May 20th

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A teaser trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins has been released, revealing the date of the first proper traileris May 20th 2013. The game is a prequel to earlier games Batman:Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, and sees a rawer, less developed Batman fighting crime on the streets of Gotham City. He will face a 'defining moment' in the game, which sets him on the path to becoming The Dark Knight. Not a lot is known about the game, but Gotham City will be even bigger than that featured in Arkham city. The stealth and combat gameplay is likely to remain, as it's a big part of what makes the Arkham games great, but there has to be new developments introduced for this third game in the series.
The Arkham series of Batman games has set a really high standard for both super hero adaptations, and stealth and action games. Expectations for Arkham Origins are really high, and I expect it to be one of the best rated games of 2013.

How to delete Snapchat

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Ok, so you've installed Snapchat on your iPhone or Android device and taken some hilarious/incriminating/risqué photos and videos. That's all great fun, but maybe now you're tired of the app, getting a bit paranoid or have just decided to move on. So how do you make sure your account is closed and your photos deleted? Read on to find out...1. Uninstall the appiPhone: just long-hold the icon on iOS and wait for the x to appear. Press the x, and confirm the uninstall. Simple!Android: go to Settings > Applications > Snapchat and hit Uninstall.

2. Delete your account

To make sure you've really washed Snapchat out of your hair, you're also going to need to delete your account. This is simple: just go to the Snapshot account delete page, enter your username and password and confirm deletion. The Snapchat developers warn you that this could take up to 48 hours.

Delete you Snapchat account

3. What about my pictures?

The whole point of Snapchat is that your photos are temporary and, no matter what, deleted after a few seconds. As people like to point out, once something is on the internet, it can never be removed, but for most people, Snapchat's deletion works just fine. Recovering the photos would be a costly and time-consuming process. Unless your photos are of interest to the FBI, for example, we don't think you have much to worry about. That said, think back over your Snapchat history. When you take a snap, you can save the image to your own phone, so make sure there are none you have forgotten about lurking on your device. It would also be possible for someone to have taken a screenshot of your photo, but Snapshot would have warned you if they had. Finally, it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone could have used a camera or second phone to take a picture of your picture. That's much harder to legislate against, but, then again, you wouldn't have used Snapshot if you weren't happy with a little risk. Right?!

Windows 8.1, Google Hangouts and GT6 in the Softonic Minute

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Google Maps, Windows 8.1, Google Hangouts and Gran Turismo 6 in the Softonic Minute

Here's your Friday dose of this week's top news in the world of software.



Windows 8.1 has a release date. Microsoft has confirmed that on June 26, you’ll be able to download the first version. It will be a completely free update and could include features that users have been demanding since day one, like a start button.

Gran Turismo 6 confirmed. The driving simulator will go on sale at the end of the year for PS3. An official trailer has been released and this July, we’ll see an official demo.

Google reinvents Google Maps. Significant improvements were presented during the Google I/O developer’s conference and include the best features of Google Earth and a recommendations feature. The design is notably better and focuses on providing information that’s of use to you.

Google Hangouts can be downloaded. A new threat to Whatsapp and LINE was one of the major announcements at Google I/O. A multiplatform messenger that spans all the Google services, it also offers group videocalls. All that, and free.

For all these stories and more, click here.

Electronic Arts abandons Wii U development

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Nintendo fans have a bit of bad news today as EA has said it's not currently developing any games for the Wii U, though the company is open to developing for the console in the future. The latest console from Nintendo has been struggling to sell, especially with the lack of games. Now that EA, one of the biggest video game publishers, is abandoning development for the console, the future of the Wii U is uncertain.Wii U will work for games This news is in stark contrast to E3's partnership with Nintendo at E3 2011. CEO of EA John Riccitiello took to the stage and spoke enthusiastically about the Wii U.
"What Nintendo's new console delivers speaks directly to the players of EA Sports and EA Games. Nintendo's new console will produce brilliant high-definition graphics and new gameplay opportunities. We look forward to seeing great EA content on this new platform."
With EA abandoning development for the Wii U, major titles like Madden and FIFA won't be coming to the console. The Wii U isn't even listed for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V game, which only supports PS3 and Xbox 360 for now. Still, not all hope is lost. The upcoming futuristic open-world game, Watch Dogs, is still heading to the Wii U. [Source: Kotaku | Image: Lewis Leong]

Yahoo! press event Monday, may announce $1 billion Tumblr acquisition

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Yesterday, All Things D reported that Tumblr and Yahoo! may be working on a partnership or acquisition. With Tumblr's latest valuation at over $800 million, there are rumors that the acquisition would cost close to $1 billion. Today, CNBC tweeted that Yahoo! would be holding a "product-related news event" in New York City on Monday. Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer will be speaking at the event.yumblr Yahoo! has been aggressively reinventing itself with all new Android and iOS apps and a strategic partnership with Twitter. The acquisition of Tumblr could further Yahoo!'s evolution by providing the company with a new demographic: users 18-24 years of age. Yahoo! CFO, Ken Goldman, said that the company needed to be "cool again." Goldman goes on saying "One of our challenges is we have had an aging demographic. Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years." Yahoo! seems to be on a buying spree, with reports that the company is in talks to purchase Hulu. Recently, Yahoo! tried to buy the video streaming site, Dailymotion, but that deal fell through. The event on Monday will take place at 5PM EST. [Source: All Things D | The Verge | Image: Lewis Leong]

Instagram Photos You're Tagged In feature goes live

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Instagram photos of you combinedAbout two weeks ago, Instagram released a new feature called "Photos of You," which allowed users to tag friends or themselves. The feature launched quietly and put all of your tagged photos in a section on your profile page, which could only be seen by you. Today, those photos you're tagged in will be visible by all who have access to your profile. For those who have private accounts, don't worry; your photos are still safe. Only people who you've allowed to flow you will have access to tagged photos of you. For people with public accounts, your tagged photos will be accessible by anyone. If you find an awful tagged photo of you, you can quickly set Instagram to hide photos you're tagged in until you approve of them. This is similar to Facebook's Timeline Review feature. If you want to see how Photos of You works, check out the video below. You can download Instagram for iOS and Android right here on Softonic. [Via: Softonic IT]
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