Flipboard is rolling out an update to its iOS and Android apps today, giving users more control over the types of content they see. With this feature, the company is further integrating technology from Zite, the competitor it acquired in 2014.


Above: Screenshot of how Flipboard originally filtered content
Image Credit: Screenshot
There are more than 72 million monthly active users on Flipboard, flipping 8.2 billion stories each month. Being able to find the right content that appeals to their interest is really important. Perhaps every now and then, you may come across a story that just doesn’t fit into your idea of what the magazine should be about. Flipboard recognized this and took a stab at offering filtering, just like you’d see on your Facebook News Feed. You could mute the user or the site, unfollow the source, or ask to show less of the topic.

This was good, but was that enough for Flipboard’s algorithm to learn from in order to present the content that would appeal to readers?

A mobile user's entire app journey can happen in a matter of moments — sometimes in less than a minute. Think about this scenario: You're commuting, reading an article about a new cruise. Curious, you search for the company mentioned, and soon enough you're emailing to receive more information and potentially plan your trip.

This mobile moment happened on a whim, and in a matter of seconds, went from introduction to potential sale. In fact, according to a recent Google study on micro-moments, 90% of smartphone users use their phone to make progress toward a long-term goal, or a multi-step process, in short bursts while "out and about."

When Apple first released iOS 8 back in September, the mobile world was quick to embrace its new features. One of the most exciting changes for app marketers was the ability to demonstrate their app through a video preview. For many app marketers, particularly in the gaming industry, presenting potential users with a video demonstration of their product seemed amazing. Not only that, but the first brave marketers to give this new feature a go were often featured on Apple’s new apps chart.

As more and more mobile and social data is able to be tracked, categorized and prioritized, analysis paralysis can set in. So how can you use analytics in your social and mobile ad campaigns without becoming overwhelmed?

Is your website design mobile-friendly? It’s a question many people are asking. Google hopes the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

It’s such an important topic, that in its latest algorithm update, Google announced it would be taking preference to sites that have a mobile-friendly design. Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly by April 21, 2015 will likely see a significant dip in their Google search rankings.  If you haven’t made plans to transition to a mobile-friendly design or you’re just unaware of the requirements, don’t panic.

 It used to be that when shoppers were interested in learning about the latest sales from their favorite local stores, they would turn to the printed circulars that came with their newspaper subscriptions.

Amazon has answered a long-standing request with an update to Amazon Instant Video that delivers streaming of HD resolution content, and allows streaming over cellular connections, rather than just Wi-Fi. The new 3.0 update also lets you beam the Amazon Instant Video library of movie and TV shows to your Apple TV via AirPlay in HD.

iOS 8.3, which first arrived last week, brings a new App Store specific feature which allows users to download free apps without requiring a password. Called Password Settings, at first glance, this feature is essentially hidden but luckily, it’s just obscured, and here’s how you can enable it.

See, iOS 8.3 spent quite a while in beta, and through it, we noticed a neat feature that could be activated to let free apps be downloaded without any kind of verification. A tap of the Touch ID button isn’t exactly arduous, but since we’re talking about free apps here, it’s both convenient and fairly safe from those kids you used to read about who’d download paid apps and in-app purchases without permission.

With Apple now offering the Apple Watch for pre-order and allowing interested parties to try the wearable out at retail stores, we’re learning more and more about its functionality with every day that passes. Given the relatively small display of the Watch versus the likes of the iPhone and iPad, the software aspect is one that Apple has had to rebuild from the ground up, and while the design has been heavily lauded since we first clapped eyes on the device back in September, the UI and UX is unquestionably solid as well. Now, for the first time, we get a proper look at how multitasking will work.

When we look back at iOS’s development over the years, multitasking has been one feature that, until fairly recently, did not exist. It wasn’t until iOS 4 that we saw even a trace of such functionality, and the half-baked, sliding row of app icons left much to be desired. iOS 7 brought the much-enhanced exposé view that signaled the arrival of true multitasking to Apple’s mobile platform, and having gained plenty of experience in catering to iPhone and iPad over the years, the Cupertino’s latest mobile product offers a neat multitasking feature right off the bat.

If you’ve been wondering when, oh when, someone will ring you via WhatsApp so you’ll get its new voice calling feature, you won’t have to sit by the phone any longer. Updating to WhatsApp version 2.12.5 via Google Play does the trick.

If you are constantly scouring the Web for interesting articles to read, this one’s for you. Random for iOS aims to change the way we discover content by injecting an element of surprise.

iOS 8’s adoption is on the rise albeit slowly. Last month we had heard that iOS 8 was sitting at the 72% mark and according to the latest figures, it seems that the number has since risen to 75% in March 2015.

Google has announced its new Google Maps Roads API that allows developers to create better route visualizations in their apps from raw GPS data by following actual roads.