Microsoft made a selfie app for the iPhone
See the original posting on The Verge
Microsoft’s newest app for iOS isn’t a piece of productivity software. No, it’s a selfie app. Unambiguously called Microsoft Selfie, the product is designed to improve photo qualities like color balance, skin tone, and lighting for the most shareable shot possible. It’s a more subtle version of Lumia Selfie, Microsoft’s previous self-portrait app designed for Windows phones.
On a deeper level, Microsoft Selfie appears to be just one of the many ways the company is using machine learning in everyday situations, similar to the software Microsoft released back April that would guess your age based on a photo. Microsoft Selfie’s app description says it takes “age, gender, skin tone, lighting, and many other variables into account” to help…
Apple wants to show consumers how its devices – including Macs, as well as mobile devices like iPhones and iPads – can be used to create art. Specifically, its latest pushback at the dated concept that mobile devices aren’t tools for creation, the company is planning to host a series of workshops in Apple stores that will teach people how to shoot professional-quality… 
Despite rebranding its free Internet.org ‘walled garden’ of apps plan in India under the new name of “Free Basics,” Facebook remains in direct violation of an open internet. Facebook’s first attempt with Indian carrier Airtel was rolled-back soon after its release in April thanks to huge public outrage on social media, ironically. 
As promised earlier this fall at Twitter’s developer conference Flight, the company’s long-neglected Mac application has been updated today with a host of new features that put the app more on par with Twitter’s other applications for mobile and web. Specifically, the revamped Mac app now includes support for things like inline video playback, GIFs in the timeline,… 
It looks like another chapter is in the works for Hem, the home design startup headed by Jason Goldberg that first emerged as a pivot from the Fab.com design marketplace in 2014. We’ve heard from multiple sources that Hem.com has been trying to sell itself and that Vitra, a high-end furniture company based in Switzerland, is currently in the frame to buy it. From what we… 
Las Vegas just got a touch more bearable. Uber is using Vinli and T-Mobile to equip its Vegas cars with Wifi. Thanks to Vinli’s hardware, the cars will become mobile hotspots. This is a limited time offer — just for CES. Vinli is working to add Wifi into the ridesharing equation. This is a good first step. And a wise one at that. Vegas is packed with the consumer industry’s… 
Credit and finance management platform Credit Karma, known best as the startup that offers free, no-strings-attached credit scores, has made its first acquisition. The company has acquired the makers of the mobile application Snowball, with plans to leverage the team’s expertise in mobile notifications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the Snowball app will be pulled from… 
CES is a horrible, god-awful experience that will shave years off your life. The casinos, the food, the people, the germs. Horrible. All of it. But we love it! And we’re sending a huge contingent to the show again this year and want to see your gadgets, toys and products. TechCrunch cares much more for the hardware startups than the big CE players. We want to see the future FitBits and… 
