Saturday, April 20, 2013

You Can Finally Download and Use Mailbox's App Without Waiting in Line

Mailbox-app-readySeth Fiegerman2013-04-16 15:18:59 -0400

If you've been interested in trying out Mailbox's app, but didn't feel like waiting behind thousands of people in line, now's your chance.

Mailbox, the much-hyped email app for iPhone, announced Tuesday that it is finally doing away with its reservation system and letting users download and use the latest version of the app right away. The startup originally introduced the reservation system in early February to stagger the number of users who signed up for the app in order to make sure its servers could handle the load.

"After 10 weeks of around-the-clock hard work, our engineering team has scaled the Mailbox service to deliver over 100 million messages per day (and growing)," the company said in a blog post. "We believe we can now confidently handle new users as they sign up, so we’ve pulled down the reservation system."

SEE ALSO: Is Mailbox the Best Email App For iPhone Yet?

Six weeks after Mailbox launched on iPhone, the startup announced that it had processed more than 1 million users waiting in the reservation line. The excessively long queue to download the app only gave Mailbox more buzz, though it also likely deterred some from downloading the app and caused other to judge it by whether it's worth the wait.

Mailbox's big selling point is that it is designed for mobile-first and offers users new features to organize and schedule incoming emails while on the go. For example, you can choose to have an email re-sent to you later in the day or over the weekend, or swipe to move a message to folders like "To Buy" or "To Watch." In this way, Mailbox helps to keep your main inbox more organized and closer to zero.

Last month, Dropbox acquired the app and the team behind it — 13 employees in total — in a move that both companies said would help the app expand more quickly.

Have you tried using Mailbox yet? Share your thoughts about the app in the comments.

Image via iStockphoto, PaulPaladin

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HTC One Comes to T-Mobile April 24

Htc_oneStan Schroeder2013-04-16 21:07:48 UTC

T-Mobile has finally revealed the launch date for HTC One on its network: April 24. Answering questions from several Twitter users about the HTC One, T-mobile simply replied it will be launching the LTE version of the device on April 24.

HTC's Android flagship sports a unibody aluminum chassis, a 4.7-inch, full HD display, a 4-megapixel camera with an "UltraPixel" image sensor, a 1.7GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM.

And if you trust this report from TmoNews, the One will also support Wi-Fi calling on T-Mobile's network.

SEE ALSO: Why HTC Is Betting on 'UltraPixels' for Its New Flagship Phone

Coupled with T-Mobile's recent dramatic change in strategy, in which the company got rid of cellphone contracts altogether, the HTC One could be an alluring proposition for many customers. And, if you're in the opposing camp, T-Mobile also recently started selling the iPhone 5 as well.

Are you excited to see the HTC One in T-Mobile's roster? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of HTC

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College Students Schedule Walk to Finish Boston Marathon

Boston-marathon-finishSamantha Murphy2013-04-16 17:59:03 UTC

Students at Boston College are organizing an event for those who didn't complete the Boston Marathon on Monday in light of the bombings that took place at the finish line.

A Facebook event — titled "Boston Marathon: The Last 5" — is encouraging runners and supporters to walk from the college to downtown Boston on Friday, April 19 "to stand united." More than 10,000 people have already RSVPed to attend.

"In light of today's tragedy, let's remember, honor, and stand up for all those affected by the incident that occurred at the 117th Boston Marathon," the event states. "We invite everyone to join us on Friday, April 19 at 4:30pm to walk from BC to Boston to stand united. For anyone who did not get to finish, For anyone who was injured, and For anyone who lost their life...we will walk. We will walk to show that we decide when our marathon ends."

According to Boston Marathon data, 5,742 of the 23,326 participants did not cross the finish line.

Image via Yoon S. Byun/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

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Twitter Mentions of 'Boston' Increased 20,000%

Peter-kafka-and-michael-sippeyLance Ulanoff2013-04-16 21:26:43 UTC

Monday's horrific bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon were covered in real-time on Twitter. It was where many people got real information as the events unfolded, along with a dose of misinformation.

If you thought your Twitter feed was filled with information about the Boston attack, you weren't wrong. Mentions of the world "Boston" skyrocketed on Twitter by a factor of 200, Twitter VP of Consumer Product Michael Sippey told AllThingsD's Dive into Mobile Conference in New York City on Tuesday.

Sippey, who also happens to be a short-distance runner, spoke emotionally about how he could imagine his own children watching him reach the finish line in a race when something like this happens.

Twitter stayed up consistently, said Sippey: “When events happen in the world, they also happen on Twitter, and that was the case yesterday."

The company also saw an increase in the use of the word "help", which Sippey said was due in part to people tweeting their support to first responders as well as offers of help on the microblogging platform.

Twitter's recent enchantments to search also played a role, according to Sippey. "If you were searching for 'Boston' yesterday, you were getting a really great mix of the best content on Twitter," he said.

Did you use Twitter yesterday to track the breaking news story, or was Facebook a better source? Did social media beat news sites? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below.

Photo By Mashable

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Boston Marathon Volunteer Who Helped Injured Shares Story on Reddit

Boston-marathon-volunteerAlex Fitzpatrick2013-04-16 17:07:31 UTC

A Boston Marathon volunteer who claims to have been near ground zero of Monday's deadly explosions has been sharing intimate details of his experience on Reddit under the pseudonym "Zadmxm." Zadmxm's account of the blasts, if authentic, reveals a volunteer whose medical training kicked in during a time of crisis, driving him to assist others while disregarding his own safety.

"We heard and felt two loud pops (think dropping a huge textbook onto a hardwood floor)," wrote Zadmxm, who said he is CPR/AED and first aid certified and was with a friend about one block from the finish line at the time of the explosions. "She thought explosion immediately, I wrote it off as a something falling. A cluster of police near us immediately alerted and started checking their radios. We heard the words two explosions come out of the radios and saw them start sprinting towards the finish line, vaulting barricades on the way."

Zadmxm is refusing to identify himself or give more formal interviews. He offered a photo of his race volunteer identification badge stripped of his name as evidence of his claims (he is not depicted in the above photo).

Zadmxm did, however, reveal he was operating as a general volunteer and not serving in a medical role and that he was a former runner taken out of the sport by a leg injury sustained earlier in life. After the explosions, he said he immediately began helping to direct marathon runners and spectators while also clearing obstacles out of arriving medical vehicles' paths.

"It wound up being three hours of controlled chaos of directing runners, families, spectators, media and constantly clearing the intersection on a moment's notice for what must have been over 100 emergency vehicles," wrote Zadmxm. "When [the Boston Police Department] was fully mobilized, the volunteers were dismissed and I went home with the rest of the teams."

Zadmxm told one Redditor the two explosions "sounded pretty much identical." When asked if he feared additional blasts, he said that "crossed my head" but he "really didn't think of it for long enough."

"To me, the possibility of getting injured is less important than the potential for helping others already injured," he wrote. More than 170 people were injured Monday with three fatalities thus far.

"Things like this will always bring out the heroes in everybody," reflected Zadmxm, who said he quit Reddit last year but returned to "get my thoughts on metaphorical paper so I can look back on this in the future."

"I saw people do incredible things, runners finishing one of the hardest races out there and then going and donating blood, turning around and helping coordinate our efforts, bomb squad guys rushing straight into an explosive situation," he added. "Every last person who did something good today is, in my mind, a hero for going so far above and beyond what they'd signed up to do."

Image via John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

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Hands On With Facebook Chat Heads for iPhone and iPad

Chat-heads-ios-laying-downChristina Warren2013-04-16 20:25:47 UTC

Facebook just updated its iOS app to version 6.0, adding support for chat heads and a new news feed.

Chat heads debuted with Facebook Home last week and are available to all Android users as part of the Facebook Messenger app. The idea behind chat heads are to allow users to keep a running list of conversations going without having to stop what they are doing and switch apps.

While on Android, chat heads can exist as a layer within every app, on iOS, the experience is limited to being inside Facebook for iPhone or iPad. That takes away some of the joy of chat heads — namely the ability to have a persistent conversation no matter what you're doing on your device. Still, chat heads are great for users that spend a lot of time in the Facebook app and may want to carry on several chats without having to be tied to the messaging view itself.

On iOS, chat heads really shine on the iPad. The extra screen real estate makes the multi-tasking concept really sing. As with the Android app, users can move chat heads around the app to get out of the way and can also dismiss notifications and chats by just flicking the icons to the bottom of the screen.

In addition to chat heads, the iPhone version of Facebook was also updated to include the new News Feed. Users can choose specific content to view — including photos, music and games — rather than merely viewing all stories at once.

Chat heads aren't available to all Facebook for iOS users — the company says it will be rolling out the feature to everyone in the coming weeks. What do you think of the new Facebook for iOS? Let us know in the comments.

Images by Mashable

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Watch a 90-Year-Old Grandma Love the Oculus Rift

Chelsea Stark2013-04-16 20:14:56 UTC

The Oculus Rift headset is an out-of-this-world piece of technology, capable of using realistic virtual reality experiences inside of games. While that might be impressive to people raised on the Internet, imagine how impressive it is to someone who has seen the rise of technology over the last nine decades.

Paul Rivot gave his grandmother, Rachel Mahassel, a chance to test out the Oculus Rift. He took her through a demo that tours Tuscany, rendered in 3D CGI. Watch above at her wonder and awe at seeing a realistic environment float before her eyes.

Mahassel even shouts the best grandma-y expressions, like "You bet your bottom dollar!" Her enthusiasm for the new technology is really heartwarming.

Rivot helped her hold a Reddit AMA in which Mahassel answered questions about her experiences, but also gave her thoughts on almost every other subject. The highest voted comment was her statement:

"Now that I've seen this and done this I wish I could live to be 110 at least!"

The Oculus Rift is a personal head-mounted display that aims to deliver a more immersive virtual reality experience for games. It was partially funded through Kickstarter, and developers are working on creating games that will work on it.

Image courtesy of YouTube, Paul Rivot

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Elmo Torments Mad Men's Jon Hamm on 'Sesame Street'

Brian Anthony Hernandez2013-04-16 18:10:00 UTC

Mad Men's Jon Hamm and his scruffy beard recently paid Elmo a visit on Sesame Street to bestow his wisdom upon viewers. In this "Word of the Day" skit, which airs April 18 on PBS, Hamm teaches us about sculptures as Elmo creates one on the spot.

Instead of talking to young girls about farting, "Mr. Jon" shows us clay, marble and metal sculptures. Afraid he might get a hernia (good luck explaining that one to the kids) while carrying in more sculptures, he rushes Elmo to unveil his creation.

Earlier this year, Sesame Street spoofed British period drama Downton Abbey as part of its season 43 premiere, turning Violet Crawley and Charles Carson into Muppets.

Image courtesy of Sesame Street

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