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Instagram’s standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps are gone from the App Store and Google Play

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Instagram’s standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps are gone from the App Store and Google Play

Instagram has eliminated its standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps from Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play, as reported by TechCrunch. The elimination comes shortly after Instagram’s February twenty eighth announcement that it could cease supporting the IGTV app, and the adjustments point out that Instagram is opting to consolidate a few of its separate choices to concentrate on the primary Instagram app.

“We’ve eliminated assist for the standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps to higher focus our efforts on the primary app,” Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai mentioned in an announcement to The Verge. “Boomerang remains to be supported in-app in Tales, and Format stays a standalone app within the Retailer. We’ll proceed engaged on new methods for individuals to be artistic and have enjoyable on Instagram.”

In accordance with Apptopia information shared with TechCrunch, each apps’ final day within the shops was March 1st.

The Boomerang app, which was first launched in 2015, created quick, looping movies by taking a burst of images that you would publish on Instagram or Fb. Though the standalone Boomerang app is gone, as Instagram famous in its assertion, the function lives on in Instagram Tales, the place it was added in 2016.

Hyperlapse, revealed in 2014, allow you to make professional-looking time-lapse movies and, maybe extra importantly, supplied spectacular video stabilization. The expertise got here from Instagram’s first-ever acquisition, an organization referred to as Luma, and at the moment, Hyperlapse was a fairly large deal. Clips from the inventory digital camera app would usually look fairly shaky, however Hyperlapse clips have been a lot smoother. Now, although, smartphone {hardware} is way extra able to video stabilization, maybe decreasing the usefulness of an app like Hyperlapse. It’s unclear if the options from the app will present up some place else inside Instagram.

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Instagram has additionally baked the performance of its Format app into Instagram Tales.

Replace March seventh, 5:42PM ET: Added context about Hyperlapse.

Replace March seventh, 4:58PM ET: Added revised assertion from Instagram.

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Leak: AMD’s Ryzen 9000X3D chips aren’t looking like a leap forward

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Leak: AMD’s Ryzen 9000X3D chips aren’t looking like a leap forward

According to slides from an MSI presentation published by HardwareLuxx today (via VideoCardz), the new chips may have respectable multicore performance gen-over-gen, with an eight-core 9000X3D outperforming a Ryzen 7 7900X3D by up to 28 percent in Cinebench R23. But they can offer as little as 2 percent gains in Black Myth: Wukong and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, according to MSI’s preliminary testing.

And against the vanilla Ryzen 9000 series, MSI found that X3D performance was so close as to practically be the same. MSI does note that “Performance is expected to be better on PR samples and retail chips,” though.

At the same CPU frequency, MSI believes Ryzen 9000X3D performance is the same as with non-X3D chips.
Image: HardwareLuxx

It’s not clear whether HardwareLuxx broke an embargo or whether MSI might be responsible for the leak — strangely, it appears that section of the presentation was mostly about Intel’s new Core Ultra 200S chips, and it’s not clear why unreleased AMD chips would be part of that section. The presentation shows that MSI’s discussion of Intel chips was embargoed to October 10th.

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New Social Media Networking Platform Puts The Focus On Authenticity

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New Social Media Networking Platform Puts The Focus On Authenticity

Has social media run it’s course?  Not likely. Apps like TikTok, Facebook, and Linkedin more popular than ever.  But with fewer people finding it useful and a flurry of mental health-related lawsuits, some users are complaining those big platforms just aren’t keeping up with the times, especially when it comes to workplace networking platforms, which are being criticized for not adjusting for new post-covid workplace realities.  Now social media networking is getting a big makeover, with a new focus on user authenticity.  

Krishna Dosapati, the CEO of newly-launched networking site Clockout, says the de-coupling between big tech and young professionals is becoming obvious.  “You have an entire generation of people who are joining the workforce at a time where everyone is working from home,” she told Fox News. “Meetings are taking over zoom. And so people are really, really isolated.”

And that’s creating a growing need for authenticity when it comes to online networking.  New apps like Clockout are now stressing real-life connections, with users able to create their own industry-based social clubs.  More than a thousand have been started so far, with about 40,000 users attending live, in-person events.  Dosapati says the key is combining old fashioned social gatherings with high-tech networking, especially with a recent survey showing up to 85 percent of all jobs are filled through personal connections, either virtually or in-person. 

“We make the interface so fun and organic and the focus is those connections rather than posts or likes or anything like that, she says, adding that when she sees someone she wants to connect with on Clockout, “it’s very organic for me to say, Hey, like, I see you’re a founder, you’re in New York, do you want to grab a coffee? And that sparks a really authentic and organic conversation. And that allows me to form a real connection with that other person that other platforms just don’t focus on.”

And it appears to be working; Clockout says it has a long waitlist of people waiting to get approved for the platform.  It’s just one example of how social media is evolving to help professionals build community through authentic interactions. 

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How to lock any app with Face ID on an iPhone using iOS 18

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How to lock any app with Face ID on an iPhone using iOS 18

Having to hand your iPhone over to someone can be a fairly common occurrence. Maybe your little nephew wants to play a game or your friend wants to check out the photos from your last vacation. Whatever the reason, no matter how much you trust that person, there are probably parts of your phone that you’d rather they didn’t see (even accidentally).

That’s where the new Face ID lock in iOS 18 comes in: you can now get your iPhone to ask for biometric authentication whenever a particular app is launched. (While we refer to Face ID throughout this article, if you’re on an older phone with Touch ID, you can use that instead.) This means your friend or family member can’t dive straight into your private chat conversations or your current dating app of choice.

If you’re thinking, “I’m sure I could lock apps with Face ID before iOS 18,” you’re right — up to a point. The technology was available, but it was up to app developers to implement it. And for the most part, outside of banking and financial apps, we haven’t seen many developers add Face ID logins. (With some exceptions, such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.)

Lock apps in iOS 18

What’s new after the rollout of iOS 18 is that any app can be locked using Face ID, whether or not the developer has built in support for the feature. Games, chat apps, social media — anything can now be protected with a Face ID login.

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This comes with another feature: the option to hide apps. This is available for any third-party app but not apps installed with iOS 18. Hidden apps aren’t shown on the homescreens and have their own Hidden folder in the App Library. You also won’t get any notifications from hidden apps, so keep that in mind.

You can lock and unlock apps from the homescreen or from the App Library:

1/5

Long-press on an app icon to bring up the app menu.
Screenshot: Apple
  • Long-press on an app icon to bring up the app menu.
  • Tap Require Face ID to lock the app with Face ID. 
  • The following pop-up menu will ask you to confirm by again tapping Require Face ID.
  • Alternatively, on the second menu, you can tap Hide and Require Face ID to lock the app with Face ID and hide it from your homescreens.
  • If you select to hide the app, you will be reminded that the app will only be available in the App Library and that you will no longer receive “notifications, calls, or critical alerts” from the app.

Whenever any app locked in this way is launched, Face ID approval will be required to actually open in, which means no one but you will be able to get in.

To remove the Face ID restriction, just repeat the long press on the app to get to its menu. If you chose to hide the app, you’ll need to open the Hidden folder in the App Library to get to the options again. In addition, you’ll have to replace the icon on your homescreen — it won’t automatically reappear on the same page it was on before.

Stay in a single app with Guided Access

Lock your iPhone to a specific app with Guided Access.
Screenshot: Apple

Once you open the app, you can now activate Guided Access.
Screenshot: Apple
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There is one more trick you can use if you’re lending someone your phone: set up the iOS accessibility feature Guided Access so the other person is only able to use one app or game on the device.

The feature can be enabled from iOS Settings:

  • Tap Accessibility and Guided Access.
  • Turn on the Guided Access toggle switch.
  • Tap Passcode Settings to set a custom passcode or to enable Face ID.

Head to the app your friend or family member wants to use and launch Guided Access by triple-pressing on the power button and choosing Guided Access and then Start.

The navigation bar disappears, and there’s no way to switch to the homescreens or any other app. The only way out of Guided Access is to triple-press on the power button again — at which point Face ID authentication (or your custom passcode) is required.

Through Face ID lock or Guided Access — or a combination of both — you should be able to lend out your iPhone without worrying what other people are up to on it.

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