Rockmelt’s mission is to help people discover the best online content by bringing it to a single view. It is literally an Internet browser. People can use the service on the website, rockmelt.com, through the iOS app, and now through the new Android app too.

The Android app features a new navigation bar that disappears as you scroll to let content dominate the display, buttons for jumping up to the top or back down to where you left off, and a two-column view in landscape mode. I find those jump-to buttons particularly interesting because you can go up to the top when new content is added, and then jump right back down the list if you want to continue scrolling from where you left off. Very cool.

The app is also free to download and ad-free, and there’s built-in social network sharing as well for the interesting content you want to pass along. You can grab the app in Google Play right here.

[via Rockmelt]

HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the top downloaded apps for iOS, and will surely be a welcome addition to Apple TV’s content lineup.

In addition to the new content coming to Apple TV, Apple will be rolling out its new iTunes Radio service beginning this fall, which will provide Apple TV owners with personalized radio based on iTunes purchases and listening history.

While Apple hasn’t announced any big updates for Apple TV, these additions will have surely make Apple TV fans happy.

Press release follows below.

HBO GO & WatchESPN Come to Apple TV

iTunes Viewers Now Purchasing Over 800,000 TV Episodes & Over 350,000 Movies Per Day

CUPERTINO, California—June 19, 2013—Apple® today announced that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available directly on Apple TV® joining the great lineup of programming offered to customers. iTunes® users have downloaded more than one billion TV episodes and 380 million movies from iTunes to date, and they are purchasing over 800,000 TV episodes and over 350,000 movies per day.

“HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We continue to offer Apple TV users great new programming options, combined with access to all of the incredible content they can purchase from the iTunes Store.”

Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 60,000 movies and over 230,000 TV episodes, as well as the world’s largest collection of music on the iTunes Store®. Apple TV also offers great content from Hulu Plus, Netflix’s streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.*

In addition to HBO GO and WatchESPN, three new content providers* are also available today on Apple TV including Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello offering live news, sports and current TV programming.

HBO GO users get unlimited access to their favorite HBO shows, including HBO original programming, hit movies, sports, documentaries, comedy specials and more. This includes full seasons of the best of HBO, plus bonus features and special behind-the-scenes extras. HBO GO on Apple TV requires a subscription to HBO through participating television providers.

WatchESPN on Apple TV delivers a one-stop video destination for sports fans with live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line to those who receive ESPN’s networks as part of their video subscription from affiliated providers. Popular sports and fan-favorite shows include college football and basketball, Monday Night Football, MLB, NBA, major golf tournaments, all four Grand Slam tennis events, SportsCenter, PTI and more. Additionally, curated on-demand video featuring the most recent and relevant content—including highlights and news clips from ESPN.com as well as short-form segments from programs such as E:60, Outside The Lines, SC Featured, Sport Science and others—will be accessible through WatchESPN for the first time via Apple TV to all users.

Sky News on Apple TV delivers a live 24/7 news feed to users in the US, UK and Ireland, including breaking news and headlines from business, politics, entertainment and more. In addition to the live feed, users can catch up on specific stories at any time via the extensive on-demand news library.

Crunchyroll, the leading global video service for Japanese Anime and Asian media, will allow subscribers worldwide to watch the latest HD shows one hour after they air in Japan. Qello, a leading on-demand streaming service for HD concerts and music documentaries, offers free or paid subscriptions to music fans worldwide. New users can sign up for Crunchyroll and Qello instantly on Apple TV.

Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video and music right on your HD TV. Coming this fall, iTunes Radio™ will offer you an incredibly personalized music experience directly on Apple TV based on your listening history and past purchases from iTunes. And with iCloud®, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your Apple TV. iCloud is an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay® to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad, iPad mini, fifth generation iPod touch and Mac users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.**

[Via: Techno Buffalo] [Image: ubergizmo]

Description
Vine is the best way to see and share life in motion. Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see.

• Unlimited uploads and free
• Instantly post videos on Vine, then share to Twitter and Facebook (more coming soon!)
• Find, follow, and interact with people close to you
• Explore trending posts, featured hashtags and editor’s picks
• And so much more

What’s New in Version 1.1.3
This update adds a new share button underneath posts on your feed, along with other interface improvements and bug fixes.

If you’re not a Vine user yet, head over to the iTunes App store to download Vine for free.

[Via: iTunes]

I’ve been using this app for a couple of years and I’ve found it to be the best calorie counter available for Android devices. It has a huge database of foods that users can add to including lots of local restaurants. Like any fitness regime, it only works when you stick to it. But MyFitnessPal makes it a lot easier. Hopefully this upgrade will help more people keep track of their calories and exercise!

You can download the improved app at the Play Store.

Check out the press release below for more info about the upgrade:

Introducing Redesigned Android App, Rebuilt With Users in Mind

Hooray! We’re excited to announce that a new version of our Android app is now available for download! This release features a fresh facelift and sought-after features like:

· Improved navigation — We’d like to introduce you to our new sliding menu, which makes it easier than ever to access a variety of features. Now that the menu is vertical, you can more readily find the features you care about. For example, Messages are now available in the navigation, and Reminders are even more accessible than they were before.

· More consistent user interface — We’ve been hard at work to ensure that MyFitnessPal provides an experience that meets and exceeds your expectations. For instance, the main action button is always in the top right corner of the screen now, instead of at the bottom next to the ad. And using your phone’s menu button, you can immediately get back to the home screen, regardless of your current location in the app.

· Cleaner screen structure — Finally, we’ve tried to make the user interface as clean as possible, so you can scan information and digest data more easily on the go. Graphs are now easier to see and understand, and the barcode scanner stands out much more clearly.

With all these enhancements in mind, we encourage you to upgrade as soon as you have a moment! And if you run into any issues, please just let us know and we’ll investigate ASAP.

• MyPicTV – Parody Fun App!! This App is intended for composing pictures.
• EasyCharts: your infographics and data visualization wizard
• NicePrints + an amazing photo app
• Send and receive large files up to 100GB with SendItz 1.0.2 for iOS & Android
• Vodio – Your Personal Video Curator
• eWeather HD 4.9 for Android released
• Incrediball! a physics puzzle game
• 5 Tips to Simplify your Mobile Life
• Playing blackjack has never been more fun, please meet “Ultimate BlackJack Reloaded” for iOS
• Cubetto reaches 27 000 Downloads after Birthday
• NARR8′S WELCOMES INDIE ARTISTS AND FANS TO DIGITAL PLATFORM
• Uniiverse launches Ticket Manager for iOS to make event check-ins fast and flawless
• Turn your Android or iOS device into a portable scale w/ Diamond Scale!
• Peterest – Browse millions of pet photos for FREE!
• Astonishingly Detailed Weather Landscapes Come to iPad with YoWindow
• Asteroid Destroy FREE Game App
• ResolutionTweet – An app which helps to design a balanced lifestyle
• Bazaart for the iPhone, a social collage app that gets your creative juices flowing
• iDice. The Ultimate Puzzle-icious Game is here! Check it out!
• Dark Summoner surpassed 7 million downloads worldwide! New features and campaigns launched in celebration!

And that’s just a start. There are many other great apps waiting for you at Appscovery. Check ‘em out.

In a blog post Digg laid out the release schedule for its RSS app, just squeaking in before Google Reader’s end:

And so next week we will begin rolling out Digg Reader, version 1. We’re doing the launch in phases because, as you might have guessed, RSS aggregation is a hard thing to do at scale, and we want to make sure the experience is as fast and reliable as possible. Everyone will have access by June 26th. With all this in mind, we thought now would be a good moment to come up for air and share a little bit about the product you’ll see next week, and what else we’ll be adding over the next few months.

The reader looks good. It’s simple and clean like Google Reader and has basically the same features (or will soon, as features are still being added). The reader will be “freemium”, meaning some features will be paid. What will fall into the paid category wasn’t explained but the blog post assures potential users that, ”All of the features introduced next week, as well as many others yet to come, will be part of the free experience.”

Google Reader, the search giant’s much-loved RSS reader, will shut down on July 1st, 2013. Digg’s replacement is looking good, as are plenty of other options. Whichever you choose, make sure to take care of it soon and get all your Google Reader subscriptions transferred over. It’s the Final Countdown!

Expect to see an iOS and Android application in the near future.

[Via: Digg Blog]

“By coupling MSR’s major research breakthroughs in the use of DNNs with the large datasets provided by Bing’s massive index, the DNNs were able to learn more quickly and help Bing voice capabilities get noticeably closer to the way humans recognize speech. We also made a few improvements under the hood that allowed Bing to more easily identify speech patterns and cut through ambient and background noise – cutting down response time by half and improving the word error rate by 15 percent, even in noisy situations.” – Bing Speech Team

The Bing team has been working closely with Microsoft Research to improve speed and accuracy of the Bing voice capabilities. The two teams developed a technology called DNN, or Deep Neural Networks which can detect patterns in a way that resembles the way biological systems process information.

Windows Phone users should see the Bing voice improvements now, and can expect to see more improvements to come.

[Via: Bing Blog]

Skype users have the ability to record a video message of up to three minutes in length. Shooting a video message is a breeze, and goes like this:

• First, tap the “video message” button.
• Next, tap the record button to capture your video message.
• You can record a message of up to three minutes, which can be previewed prior to sending. If you’d like to, you can delete and re-record until you are completely happy with it.
• When you are ready, simply click on the envelope icon to send your video message to the recipient.

Check out the video below for a tutorial on how to send video messages to friends and family on Skype. Sorry Windows Phone users, the feature is not available on your platform yet, but should be coming soon. Happy shooting!

PR text follows after the video.

Skype Video Messaging – Catch Up Whenever, Wherever

Skype is all about keeping people close — but even the best technology can’t solve the problem of busy schedules or missed calls. Want to say goodnight to your kids while traveling, but you’ll be up in the air? Need to wish your dad a happy birthday, but can’t seem to catch up? Spot something interesting while you’re out and about, and want to share with your friend?

Skype can help you connect with the special people in your life—even when your schedules conflict.

We’re excited to announce that video messaging is now coming out of preview as a full-fledged (and free!) feature in Skype for Windows desktop, Skype for Windows 8, Skype for Mac, Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad, Skype for Android and Skype for BlackBerry. Just like the millions of users around the world who have already previewed video messaging, you too can now record and share a personal video message, even when your friends and loved ones are not available. The best part is that they’ll be able to view your video message as soon as they sign into Skype. Skype Video Messaging is easy and convenient, and only the contact you’ve chosen to receive your message can view it.

Video messaging is now available to all Skype users. You can send and receive as many video messages as you want – completely free of charge. Video messages can be received and viewed on any platform or device running Skype.

Skype Video Messaging adds another great way to keep in touch with friends and family during life’s most meaningful moments. Send a video message to your friends and family today—it’s easy. You can capture a fleeting memory, create a heartfelt reminder or simply tell a friend or family member “wish you were here” even when they aren’t online.

[Via: Skype]

Following the acquisition, Yahoo has pulled GhostBird’s KitCam and PhotoForge2 from the App Store adding that it has no plans to release updates in the future. Rather, they want to use GhostBird’s technology to enhance Flickr’s mobile apps. However, people who have installed any of the two apps (or both) will still be able to use the programs.

Speaking of Flickr, Yahoo has recently revamped the popular photo sharing service in an effort to make it “awesome again,” featuring bigger images and user interface that is “more immersive, more expressive.”

At the blog post on its website, GhostBird said they’re “thrilled” to be able to bring their “technology and passion for beautiful photos to the Flickr team.”

We’re not sure when versions of Flickr apps will be out but we’re hoping this will be a short wait…

As a reminder, Yahoo’s other recent acquisitions include Alike, Stamped, Snip.it, Summly and of course Tumblr.

[Via: AFP, Image from DailyGalaxy]

The new voice command feature is a bit buggy, but we’re sure the kinks will be worked out in the next version. For all those interested in trying out the new Vimeo app for Windows Phone 8, can grab it for free here in the Windows Phone Store. Other features come at a cost once you sign up for the video services’ subscription.

[via WP Central]

The new bandwidth usage setting is great for users with tiered data plans, as music streaming can eat up a huge chunk of one’s available data allotment. The new option, called “Mobile networks stream quality” has settings of Low, Normal and High, which allow users to choose the option that suits their data plans. The low option will stream music at the lowest bit-rate possible, while High will offer optimal quality streaming.

Google threw in some other goodies into the update as well,which are listed below. Oh, and FYI, if you signed up for the free trial of Google Music All Access, you will be charged soon for the service. You have been forewarned.

Here’s a complete change log from the Google Play Store:

• v5.0.1052J
•  Keeping music on device now much faster
•  New setting for mobile network bandwidth usage
•  Search quality improvements
•  Reduced data usage overall
• v5.0.1041J
•  Added option to delete tracks
•  Can share song and add to playlist from Now Playing screen
•  Remove from My Library now supported
• v5.0.1027J
•  Crash fixes

[Via: Android Spin , Play Store]