In 2012 Facebook acquired Instagram in a deal which was its biggest acquisition yet at $1bn! Now the social network giant has acquired the popular messaging app, WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion in cash and stock.

WhatsApp currently has over 450 million monthly users and growing and is poplar mostly with teenagers and/or anyone looking to avoid text message charges.  It allows users to send messages over internet connections hence avoiding text messaging fees. The company claims it is currently registering one million new users a day.

The acquisition by Facebook includes $4bn in cash and approximately $12 billion worth of Facebook shares, plus an additional $3 billion in stock to WhatsApp’s founders and employees at a later date. WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will also join the board of directors at Facebook.

What do you think about this acquisition? was it worth it? How do you think Facebook would integrate WhatsApp into its social network services? Leave your comments below.

Source: BBC

From his images, we can see what is a purported casing of an iPhone 6 with a 4.7 inches diagonal display iPhone phablet with a 5.5-inch display.

Another set of pictures have leaked from MacRumors. These give us a better look into the design of the purported iPhone 6.

Apple is known for secrecy in its plans for any of its devices and services. However, last year’s rumours of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C turned out to be true.

Source: BGR , MacRumors

Threes is a little game you never heard of because Flappy Bird took over the world in the same week that Threes launched. It was created by Asher Vollmer and it’s only on iOS.

 If you enjoy matching puzzle games like Candy Crush, then Threes should make you feel right at home. It’s formula is east to learn but difficult to master.  In Threes users must match up tiles to form larger numbers. 1 and 2 tiles go together to form a 3. Once you hit three you can only pair a number with the same number, doubling the value. This goes on and on as the numbers grow higher and make more room for smaller numbers. You can get an idea about how Threes works with this animated GIF:

The space on the board is limited, and the game ends when you can no longer move. Hence, you must manage the free spaces. Elements of strategy come into play because to be really great at Threes you must plan a few moves ahead for example planning for a move that will free two or more spaces with a single action. Vollmer says that you could play Threes forever, and it looks like he’s right, you can continue to try and beat your high-score and those of your friends.

Threes can be purchased in the iTunes App Store for $1.99 and that’s the last thing you’ll pay forever. It follows the well known great-game formula of simple rules, intuitive gameplay, but difficult to master.  Threes is looking to be one of the best swipe-matching-puzzle  games out there, I’d say it’s worth your attention.

Get it on the App Store: iPhone | iPad

Just at the peak of the hype with the app becoming top app on iOS and Android App stores and with millions of people addicted to tapping their screen and keep the bird flying to its unknown destination, the creator of Flappy Bird has promised to remove the app from iOS and the Android app stores.

SEE ALSO: These Flappy Bird High Scores Are Unreal

This news came in a few days after blog sites all over the world reported that Flappy Birds huge success was bringing in $50,000 in ad revenue for the Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen.

His tweets read;

I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

And I still make games. — Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

 

He stated that he couldn’t keep up with it and it was “ruining his simple life” but he has promised that he would continue to make games. You can check out some of his other games here.

First, a background. Flappy Bird is a game for iOS and Android that has recently gone viral in the last few days. The game was developed by Vietnamese developer, Nguyen Ha Dong.

To advance in Flappy Bird, you have to tap the screen to navigate the bird between Super Mario-like pipes. After each pipe, you get a point. It drives people crazy.

What’s amazing about this game however, is that some users have managed to play for so long and have reached scores of over 2 billion. Yes. 2 billion pipes.

Flappy Bird For Android

Flappy Bird For iOS

Paper allows you to navigate through your news feed item-by-item with the swipe of a finger. Images appear full-screen with accompanying captions  and you can pan from left to right simply by tilting your device. To put things in a better context, the app poses as a radical change in  how users view status updates, photographs and videos posted by friends.

Videos in your news feed also appear in full-screen and play with captions overlaid in a similar way to images. At the bottom of each page are “like”, “comment” and “share” icons.

In all, the app takes away all the clutter that comes with Facebook (That clutter which also includes the ability to view events) and just gives you those features you use most of the time and can possibly drive some users to never open the Facebook app ever again.

Source: The Verge

Tech giant, Apple announced their earnings statement during their conference call and they broke lots of their previous records. 51 million iPhones were sold between November 2013 and January 2014 – an all time quarterly record – up from 47.8 million in the same quarter last year. iPad sales also came in at record highs at 26 million, up from 22.9 million from the same quarter last year.

Mac sales weren’t left out in the record-breaking party either, coming in at 4.8 million sold from November to January, up from 4.1 million same quarter last year. Finally, Apple’s quarterly revenue was also record-breaking at $57.6 billion.

Although, lots of records were broken with Apple’s main devices, the iPod took a huge hit with year-over-year sales down by a huge 52 percent. This could be a sign that maybe the iPod that once took Apple to new heights may have nearly reached the end of its life. iPod sales aside, it was a great quarter for Apple as they continue to reach new heights.

If you are in the market for a new Retina Display Macbook Pro and you are not ready to shell out all the cash for it, then you’re in luck as Apple started selling the refurbished versions of the latest ones.

Apple announced its latest line of Retina Display Macbook Pros in October 2013 which are more powerful and pack the latest technologies inside. The equivalent version of the refurbished version on sale is selling for $2,299 while the refurbished is selling for $1,949 saving you about $350. You can use the money saved to pick up some nice accessories or even an iPad Mini if you are in the mood for that.

You can head on down to http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac to browse the refurbished deals.

I had Samsung’s 2014 edition of its Galaxy Note 10.1 for about two days this week. Here are a few thoughts after using it.

Too Large

10.1-inches is a bit too wide for a device that’s mean to be mobile. It’s really light so your hands won’t feel it but typing is a bit stressful because you’ll have to move your fingers from one end of the device to the other. Constantly.

Handwriting Recognition!

When your wrists hurt after moving your fingers around so much, you can use the Note 10.1 2014′s stylus and write instead. Handwriting recognition works great.

Camera

The camera is a bit slow by a few milliseconds. The good part is you can take a selfie and a picture of what you’re seeing at the same time. Here are 2 pictures taken at the journalists training at cchub last weekend.

Way Too Many Features

Samsung boasts of its multi-window feature on this device. For me, it’s a lot of stress. There are also too many options that pop up when you don’t need them. Like the notepad and calendar that pops up when you turn of the display and turn it back on. You can also swipe down from the homescreen for another window. Its function I couldn’t figure out.

If there’s one thing you have to get used to, it’s the number of gestures you can make from the home/middle button. When you hold it for a while, it shows you apps that are currently running so you can switch. When you tap it twice, S-Voice comes up.

On the left of each app you run is a small arrow icon. When tapped, it shows a list of shortcuts to other apps. I mean, when I want to go to other apps I can just go home or switch apps right?

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition reminds me a lot of a desktop working environment. There’s just so much chaos.

In today’s world of selfies, lategrams and #ThrowbackThursday, your filter choice on Instagram can say a lot about you. Are you the type to go au naturale because you see no need? Or do you overdo the filters and even add HDR to give it a boost because you can never have too much colour?

Whatever your filter choice is from ‘#nofilter’ to Hefe, this infographic tells you what your filter choice says about you. Do you think it’s accurate? Let us know!

Source: Marketo