Microsoft shows Android some love with a lock screen and other apps

By "Kunal Vohra", Director@H2K

The new Microsoft is not like the old Microsoft. Under Satya Nadella, the venerable tech giant is opening up to competing platforms, Android included.

As part of its Garage initiative (think Google’s 20% time), Microsoft has announced today the release of two new Android apps and an Android Wear app, joining the dozens of applications that Microsoft already has in the Play Store.

The most interesting is Next Lock Screen, a lock screen replacement geared towards productivity. “We saw there were a number of lockscreen apps, but none were focused on the productivity user,” said Microsoft’s Lawrence Ripsher. Next Lock Screen is all about getting things done fast, though at least for now, the number of things you can accomplish is rather limited. Your calls, texts, and calendar appointments are displayed as a list, and you can swipe each item to act on it (call back, dismiss, etc.)

Microsoft highlights the ability to quickly join a conference call, which is useful, but unlikely to interest many users.

Next Lock Screen also lets you quickly access your favorite apps and settings, as well as organize them in work, home, and on-the-road categories. The lock screen does not learn which apps to show on its own, though given the focus on speed and efficiency, user-set preferences are probably preferable anyway.

Microsoft’s new launcher features a nice, if not special design, without many bells and whistles. If you use a PIN or password to secure your device, swiping Next Lock Screen away takes you to the default lock screen, which is both a convenience (you see your stuff right away) and a potentially privacy problem, since your notifications and calendar entries are not protected by a PIN.

The other two apps released by Microsoft Garage are Journeys & Notes, a travel log that resembles Foursquare in functionality, and Torque, an Android Wear app that lets you access Bing’s voice search with just a twist of your hand. So instead of lifting your hand and saying “OK, Google” to use Google Now, you flick your wrist and use Cortana. It’s a neat idea, but we doubt many users will ditch Google Now in favor of Microsoft’s competing offer – still, we can’t blame Microsoft for experimenting.

Next Lock Screen, Journeys & Notes, and Torque are all available in the Play Store for free. It appears that availability is limited to North America.

VIA:The Verge

Facebook “Safety Check” Allows You to Connect with Family during Natural Disasters

Facebook is moving a step ahead from others and making its social media service as an information sharing platform in serious situations as well. The social networking giant has announced a new tool, which lets users notify their family and friends that they are safe during or after natural disasters.

The tool, named "Safety Check," will soon be available globally to over 1.32 billion Facebook users on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktops. The tool is designed to be activated after a natural disaster and by using either the city you lived in or your last location - if you have checked in on “Nearby Friends”, it let’s you alert your friends and family that you are safe, while also tracking the status of others.

“In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates,” wrote the company in a blog post about the feature. “It is in these moments that communication is most critical both for people in the affected areas and for their friends and families anxious for news.”

According to Facebook, this new move is in sake of 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster took place in Japan when a deadly tsunami set off 30-foot tidal waves that crashed into the shores of Japan, flooding entire cities and damaging nuclear power plants, where Facebook emerged out to be an effective tool in connecting loved ones and notifying family members of their safety.

“Our engineers in Japan took the first step toward creating a product to improve the experience of reconnecting after a disaster,” the company wrote. “They built the Disaster Message Board to make it easier to communicate with others. They launched a test of the tool a year later and the response was overwhelming.”

In disaster situation, this tool offers you a simple but an effective way to notify your family and friends about your situation by just clicking on a simple I'm safe / I'm not option, which will push a notification and news feed story that is visible only to people on your friends list.

If you have activated the tool, you will also receive a notification about friends who have marked themselves as safe too.

“If you’re ever in a situation that would require you to use Safety Check, we hope it’s a tool that helps you stay connected to those you care about, and gives you the comfort of knowing your loved ones are safe.”

By "Kunal Vohra", Director@H2K

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