Just in time for December rockies! Popular photo-sharing service, Instagram will let users send private messages to each other before 2014. This comes according to Mashable via GigaOM.

Allowing users to send private messages will add Instagram to the realm of major social networks, including its parent company, Facebook. This could possibly put them in in competition with each other as it will let users interact beyond just likes and comments.

What I’d really like to know is if users would be able to share links with this. Are you excited for this? I know I am. Let us know!

Google officially released Android 4.4 a.k.a KitKat a few weeks ago. Here are 10 important things you need to know about it.

1. “Ok Google”

In Kit Kat, you don’t need to touch the screen to get things done. Just say “OK Google” from your home screen to launch Google Now. You can search the Internet, send texts or play songs.

2. Immersive Mode

Whether you’re reading a book, playing a game or watching a movie, they will take place in the new immersive mode. Immersive mode hides everything except what you want to see. To bring back your status bar and navigation buttons, swipe the edge of the screen.

3. Faster Multitasking

Android 4.4 optimizes memory and improves your touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately. Google built it so it can run perfectly on devices that have 512MB of RAM.

4. Contact Favorites and Search

The new phone app prioritizes your contacts based on people you talk to the most. It also lets you search for nearby places and businesses right from your contacts so you can call them.

5. Hangouts is your new Messaging app

With the new Hangouts app, Google has placed all your SMS and MMS messages along with Instant messages from Hangouts. You can also send animated GIFs. Unlimited grumpy cat goodness!

6. Emoji Everywhere

Android KitKat comes built with the famous japanese characters right in your Google keyboard.

7. Cloud Print

You can now print photos, documents and web pages from your Android 4.4 device. All you have to do is connect your printer to Google Cloud Print and print straight from your phone. For HP ePrint printers and other printers with Apps, you’ll have no problems printing.

8. Open documents from anywhere

From QuickOffice, you can open and save files on Google Drive or other cloud storage services. It also has access to yoru recently used documents so you can send the file you just worked on.

9. New QuickOffice

With the newly redesigned QuickOffice, you can create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations from your Android KitKat device.

10. Nexus devices first

Wondering if you’ll get updated to Android 4.4? It ships on the new Nexus 5 and will be coming to Google-collaborated devices first. If you’ve got a Nexus device or Motorola’s Moto X or Moto G, you’ll get KitKat before everyone else.

Android 4.4 is not a complete redesign like iOS 7 is which is a bit disappointing for a lot of users. The most important aspect of the OS is that it can run on devices with low RAM. It would seem Google wants users of budget Android phones to get the best experience possible.

Now, have a break.

BlackBerry revealed the Porsche P’9982 – the first BlackBerry Porsche running BlackBerry 10. The Porsche Design P’9982 is an all touch smartphone and is the second model in the BlackBerry and Porsche Design series.

The luxury of the P’9982 can be seen in its satin finished frame forged from stainless steel and a hand-wrapped  Italian leather back door. The limited edition model of the P’9982 features a back door,  hand-wrapped in genuine Crocodile leather. It’s so exclusive, there are only 600 of this in the entire world. The P’9982 phones have a series of unique BBM PINs that distinguish them from all other BlackBerry devices.

The BlackBerry Porsche P’9882 ships with the latest BlackBerry 10 update – BlackBerry 10.2 which features a Priority Hub for important contacts and messages, BBM now which allows users reply BBM messages within any app and special Porsche Design only apps.

The phone hits stores on November 21 with an exlusive launch at Harrods, London. The limited Crocodile edition will be available beginning early December, and will be exclusive to the Porsche Design shop-in-shop at Harrods. Pricing starts at $2,400.

Here’s a video of the BlackBerry Porsche P’9882

Instagram finally arrived on the Windows phone platform after Nokia attempted to put pressure on the photo-streaming site when they launched their own app called #2InstaWithLove. Well, looks like this move worked as the Instagram app is now available for download in the Windows Phone App Store.

The App is listed as “Instagram BETA” and includes all the usual photo editing features like the filters you find in its other versions but excludes the Video recording function for now. You also cannot tag people or view maps from geo tagged photos but you will be able to view other peoples tags and untag yourself if someone else tagged you in a picture.

You also wont be able to take photos from the app and would need to load up the camera app and jump back to Instagram to upload it but asides this the App works fine and fits well with the Windows Phone Environment.

Lets know how you are enjoying the App if you have downloaded it

Source: The Verge

Move over Tecno. Motorola has announced the Moto G – a $179 smartphone with amazing specs and the lack of a contract. We’ll go straight to the specs.

At 4.5 inches, the Moto G’s HD display has a resolution of 1280 x 720 giving it 329 pixels per inch(more than the iPhone 5S). It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean(will be getting Android 4.4 soon)  and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM. Internal storage options are 8GB and 16GB. There’s no memory card slot. Buyers of this device get 50GB free Google Drive storage for 2 years.

The Moto G boasts a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED Flash that takes pictures with an aspect ratio of 4:3 and 3.8 megapixels for pictures with an aspect ratio of 16:9(you can choose between them).  Slow motion video, burst mode, auto HDR, panorama and Tap to Focus are features of the rear camera. The front camera stands at 1.3 megapixel. Video capture on both cameras is up to 720p HD at 30fps. Video playback is at 30 fps.

Motorola Highlights features of the Moto G in this video.

 Connection options are WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a headset jack and  microUSB.  Internet speeds are up to 21 Mbps on HSPA+ networks.  Sorry, no 4G on this  device. For location, the Moto G uses GPS and  GLONASS.

Apart from this device running pure Android, Motorola has added  Motorola  Migrate – an app that lets you wirelessly transfer your  photos, videos, SIM  contacts and even your call and text history from  your old Android phone  to your new Moto G.

The Moto G’s 2070 mAh battery lasts 24 hours of mixed usage  according to  Motorola’s website. The smartphone comes in 7 different  colours and users  can buy flip and grip shells to protect the Moto G.

$179 is roughly N30,000. This price and spec sheet beats every Tecno phone we’ve seen this year. More importantly, you’ll be getting a phone made by Google and you’re sure of getting Android OS updates without hassles.

However, our friends at TechCabal have learnt that the Moto G will not be coming to Nigeria officially but will get to Ghana. We find this decision odd and we’re hoping our e-commerce friends will give us a good price when they eventually get it.

We’ll be looking at how this phone does in the Nigerian market. In the meantime, would you buy the Moto G at this price?

Source: Motorola

Images: TechCrunch

Since BBM has now been made available on the iPhone and all Android devices, BBM lovers don’t need a Blackberry device to connect to the service and hence need an endless supply of data like the BIS packages for legacy Blackberry phones. Airtel Nigeria has just announced its BBM-Only bundles for android and iOS devices.

Below is a table of how to subscribe.

Also to check your subscription status just send “status” to 440.

Source: TechSuplex

Google, the online search behemoth has launched a website for people who need help on just about anything from photography to cooking; other categories include Home & Garden, Computers & Electronics, Health & Counseling, Nutrition & Fitness, Fashion & Beauty, Art & Music, Cooking and Education. It utilises much of Google’s existing services like Wallet and Hangouts to create an online marketplace where people can sell their service. Previously unveiled in August as a private service, Helpouts is now open to anyone and they can tap into more than 1,000 vetted providers.

Helpouts already has an Android app and is available on the Web. The courses are created by tutors who may charge for their services out of which Google takes a 20% cut As many as 1,000 experts are on Helpouts, with individuals, small and medium-sized businesses being a part of the service.

The minimum age for people using the service is 13 while 18 is the minimum age to become an expert. Google has indicated some future plans of developing an API for the service to expand its reach.

Here is the introductory video to Helpouts.

> Source: TheNextWeb

What if you could build your own smartphones? The same way you can build desktop computers from various parts. Motorola’s Project ARA is breaking new ground in that regard. Its goal is to “create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.” Project ARA is developing a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones.

Open-source can mean a lot of things to the diverse “tech” community. Open-source hardware is not a popular notion however, Motorola seems very confident about this project. They’ve met with Dave Hakkens , the creator of Phonebloks and combined forces. Phonebloks has a fast-growing community and Motorola says as they develop, the Phonebloks community will play a major role.

Promoting the idea for an open source hardware platform and their collaboration with Motorola, creator Dave Hakkens published these videos:

The design for Project Ara consists of an endoskeleton (endo) and modules.  The endo is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display, keyboard, an extra battery, a larger camera, a smaller speaker or a component yet to be invented. Bloks can be bought from the Bloks store and be fit right into the device. Just like you made objects from Legos.

The company will be reaching out to developers to start creating Ara modules, and expects the developer’s kit to be released in alpha this winter; interested parties can sign up to be an Ara Scout (volunteers interested in helping Project ARA  learn about how people make choices), now.

Sources: The Verge, Project Ara, Phonebloks

“We already have 220 partners in Lagos, but we are soon expanding to Abuja and beyond. We want to be the universal food service for all Nigerians,” said Managing Director, Joe Falter. “We want to be the first place Nigerians think of when they need food: whether it’s for them at work, for their families at home, or to cater an event.”

To be that “first place Nigerians think of” of course, you’d need to go mobile because that’s where most of us are. So they’ve just launched Android and iPhone apps that bring the already convenient service to you on-the-go.

HelloFood is service from FoodPanda that has similar services in Europe, Asia and countries like Ghana, Kenya and Ivory Coast in Africa.

Now on to the good stuff: Put in “TNTT readers” at checkout and get ₦500 off your order. Again, you’re welcome.

What do you think about the service?

Apple’s latest Mac operating system is now available to the public and they have gone forward to make OSX Mavericks a FREE download from the Mac App store as long as your system passes certain criteria’s.

In this post, I’ll help you check and if you are eligible for the upgrade and share some tips for a successful installation.

1.     Check your Mac hardware

To get details about your Mac model, click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, choose About This Mac, then choose More Info.  If your Mac matches one of the listed ones below then it will be compatible with OSX Mavericks.

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminium, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

2. Check your OS X version.

While you have the About This Mac window open, check what version of OS X your Mac is running. You’ll see it listed beneath your serial number.

You can upgrade to OS X Mavericks from Snow Leopard (10.6.8), Lion (10.7), or Mountain Lion (10.8) but will need to upgrade to the latest versions of those ones before you can then upgrade to Mavericks.

3.    Download OS X Mavericks

Open the Mac App Store and click OS X Mavericks. Click the Download button. Then follow the onscreen instructions to install it. If you don’t have broadband access, you can visit any Apple Retail Store to get help with downloading.

Tips:

• Make sure you have backed up your entire system preferably with Time machine.
• Close all applications and prevent any interruptions.

Upgrade and tell us what you think about this new OS X.