Hykoo for iOS lets you shoot, edit, and add text to your own 12-second short films

Just when you thought the world had enough video sharing apps, a new one launches with yet another spin on the medium. I’m usually a grump when it comes to apps that essentially do what others can, but I have to admit that I found Hykoo to be pretty fun to play with. Shoot three short clips totaling 12 seconds, overlay some text and your Hykoo is ready to share. It sounds simple, but it feels like a natural and logical evolution from popular apps like Vine. The three-clip format helps create a narrative of sorts — just like a…

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Offline over the weekend? Read all the tech news you missed right here

Weekends, as we all know, are meant for relaxing, for spending time with friends and family, for playing sports, for cleaning your car. Weekends are made so you can take it easy and let the world pass you by. If that is how you spent this weekend though, you probably missed all the latest and greatest happenings in tech land. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. All you need to do is clear your busy schedule for a few minutes, make yourself a drink and catch up on everything you missed in this one handy list. You’re welcome. News from The…

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John Oliver explains why patent trolls are the worst with help from ‘America’s Top Model’

John Oliver’s got a knack for making complex issues understandable. Last time we checked in with him, he was quizzing Edward Snowden on which NSA programs can legally look at his dick pics. This time, he’s on the case of patent trolls, with the help of a delicious ‘America’s Top Model’ analogy: Here’s a key quote to illustrate why that clip’s worth 11 minutes of your time: Most of these companies don’t produce anything, they just shake down anyone who does, so calling them trolls is misleading. At least trolls actually do something – they control bridge access for goats and…

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3 ways to take a teaching side business to a $2m operation

This post comes from Conrad Wadowski, Co-Founder at Fedora and TNW Academy Instructor who teaches Profitable Course Idea (free for now). In 2014, John Azzi and Eliot Arntz started a side business that grew from a part-time operation to $2 million in sales. When they started a little over a year ago, neither had any idea they’d be teaching full time. After all, they didn’t have any formal training in their subject, or expertise in teaching or online marketing. They also didn’t have any special insight to work from – or know others who’ve learned how to create a teaching side…

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Sony’s new Android flagship Xperia Z4 is thinner, lighter and better at selfies than the Z3 — but that’s about it

Sony quietly launched its flagship Xperia Z4 Android phone in Japan today, with a very similar design to its predecessor and marginally better specs. The Z4 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and features a 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p display, with a new 25mm wide-angle 5.1-megapixel front camera for bigger, better selfies. Under the hood, you’ll find a Snapdragon 810 64-bit octa core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage, along with a microSD slot for up to 128GB more space. The Z4 comes with the same 20.7-megapixel 4K video-capable rear camera that was on the Z3. The body is fairly…



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How to be as great as Elon Musk: advice from his ex-wife

“Pursue something because it fascinates you, because the pursuit itself engages and compels you.” That’s Tesla, SpaceX and PayPal founder Elon Musk’s ex-wife Justine Musk, sharing advice on how to achieve extreme success. Over the nine-and-something years she was married to Musk, Justine had a ringside view of how one of the most innovative entrepreneurs of our time rose to fame and fortune on his own terms. In an answer to the question, ‘How can I be as great as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Richard Branson?’, Justine points out that it takes a certain kind of ‘extreme personality’…



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Facebook is retiring its Like Box plugin on June 23

Facebook has quietly announced it’s retiring it’s old embeddable Like Box on June 23. The Like Box is variant of the embeddable Like Button that allows you to Like a page from other sites. The embed would also show off some of the other people who liked a given Page. The company recommends you instead use the newer Page Plugin, which functions similarly, but looks a little cleaner and is able to pull in content feeds from your Facebook Page if you want. Keep in mind that you’ll have to add in the newest Graph API and remove the old…



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The secrets to successful kickoff meetings

Jerry Cao is a UX content strategist at UXPin — the wireframing and prototyping app. To learn more about design collaboration without the pain of committees, download the free e-book Design Collaboration in the Enterprise: Mastering the Early Design Stages. Kickoff meetings set the precedent for the entire project. Kickoffs aren’t just about generating ideas — they’re also about setting expectations and minimizing surprises later on. There’s also the group aspect to kickoff meetings. They’re where you determine how you and your teammates will interact throughout the project, and they provide the opportunity to size up each other’s strengths and…



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Lomo’Instant is the toy instant camera to please advanced photographers

Walk into any Urban Outfitters in America and you’ll see an array of candy-colored film cameras designed to give hipsters an easy introduction to film photography without requiring any skills. But for those looking to get a little fancy with their instant camera work, Lomography wants to provide a camera that allows photo pros to experiment with all kinds of interesting effects, from double and long exposures to color filters and extra lens. The Lomo’Instant, the company’s first instant camera, started out as a Kickstarter project that was met with overwhelming results. You can opt to buy the camera with…



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Microsoft’s new Maps app for Windows 10 phones combines the best of Bing and HERE maps

One of the most notable features of Windows 10 is its support for universal apps that run on both desktop and mobile hardware. Naturally, this includes Microsoft’s Maps app for Windows 10, and today we’re getting out first glimpse at what it will like on mobile. As you’d expect, the app includes street and satellite views, local search data and voice-guided navigation. It also meshes together aspects aspects of both Bing Maps and Nokia’s HERE maps. You can search for businesses and access details including location and contact information, images and reviews from Yelp. You can also make restaurant reservations…



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Chrome for iOS gets a Today View widget and app extension support

Google’s adding some major features to Chrome on iOS today that integrate some of the new abilities of iOS 8. Users will now be able to access Voice Search and open new tabs right from the Today view, helping them get started with search more quickly. It’ll also show you any copied links to open them up quickly in Chrome. The app also borrows a feature from Safari: letting you pull down to refresh pages. You can also now just swipe from the top to open and close tabs. Perhaps the most important change, however, is support for iOS extensions.…



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