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Google Photos gets new private conversations sharing feature on mobile and Web

04 Dec

Google has pushed out yet another big update for its Google Photos mobile platform, this time adding messaging support. In an announcement on its blog today, Google explained that users have requested an easier way to quickly share individual images with friends and family, something now made possible with the addition of sharing in private conversations.

Until now, Google Photos users had two options for sharing images and videos from the app: by either creating a new album that featured only one image and sharing the link with another person or downloading the image and sharing it using a dedicated messaging app like Messenger or WhatsApp. Both methods are too clunky and time consuming for many users.

Google says the new private conversations feature will arrive on iOS, Android, and the Web. Once available, users will be able to directly share individual images and videos within Google Photos by tapping the ‘Share’ icon located below the content followed by selecting the recipient’s contact from the resulting menu. Users can send chats alongside the images and videos. The feature supports group chats and reactions.

Google says the new sharing option isn’t meant to replace dedicated messaging apps; rather, it is simply designed to make sharing content from Google Photos very simple. Recipients can download shared content from private conversations and save the content to their own galleries. The feature will roll out ‘gradually’ to users over the next week.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Eavesdropping Lamp Records & Tweets Conversations

26 Apr

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Conversnitch 1

In ordinary circumstances, it would be fair to say that your paranoia levels are off the charts if you really think a nearby lamp is spying on you. But that might not be an accurate assessment anymore now that surveillance devices can be placed virtually anywhere – especially with the arrival of the Conversnitch. This cheap device looks like an ordinary light bulb, but it records the conversations of oblivious strangers and posts them on Twitter.

Conversnitch 2

Artists Kyle McDonald and Brian House built the device for a mere $ 100 using Raspberry Pi and a microphone to record audio. It works anywhere with access to wifi. The text translation isn’t instantaneous, however; rather than using a talk-to-text translator, the artists pay to have the audio transcribed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform. McDonalds, libraries, public parks, cafes – no place is safe.

Conversnitch 3

Most of the overheard conversations are predictably banal. Snippets from the Conversnitch Twitter account include things like “I had the best dream this morning! It was about Eddie Vedder and we were swimming in a pool and in love.” “Did you eat any of my tater tots while I was gone? It sure looks like you did ’cause I couldn’t have eaten that many.”

Conversnitch 4

The creators acknowledge that a device like this could be used for illegal purposes, and infringe upon privacy rights and expectations. They aim to stimulate conversation about how surveillance devices can disrupt what we believe should be private moments. But given that they provide full instructions to build your own cheap surveillance lamp, they’re making it disturbingly easy to disseminate devices that do just that.