Update - 311

Tweet Lanes goes open source Posted: 16 Feb 2013 10:02 AM PST After finding himself too busy with personal matters and development for another app, Chris Lacy has admitted that he can no longer play an active role in improving Tweet Lanes, a Twitter app for Android. That said, he has turned Tweet Lanes into an open source project, passing on the future of the app to the Android community. Yes, we know there are quite a lot of other apps in the Play Store to manage your Twitter apps. New ones keep appearing and some existing ones have dedicated developers who are still consistently pushing updates and features. But what really sets Tweet Lanes apart from the Twitter app flock is its Holo-themed user interface, intuitive navigating through swiping, multiple account support, and flexible customizations. Leaving the app to die just because its creator can no longer commit is just plain wrong. But by relegating the development work to the community, Tweet Lanes might just receive the time and attention it deserves. Besides announcing the switch to open source in Google+, Lacy revealed that the only thing he can do for Tweet Lanes is "syncing with the master branch and releasing a signed version of the app to the Play Store a few times a week." He then continued to list the tasks he can't commit to such as implementing new features, addressing flaws, feedback response, and more. He hopes that the community, which he suggests should be led by a volunteer dev lead and community manager, can perform those responsibilities to keep the project afloat. Lacy is still currently looking for volunteers. But if no one steps up, the latest Tweet Lanes update will probably be the last.

Skype officially adds video messaging feature to its service Posted: 16 Feb 2013 04:17 AM PST Last December, a change in Skype's terms of service hinted that a new video messaging feature was going to be introduced soon. Now, it looks like the feature has been officially rolled out to the apps on Android and iOS. If you're eager to give it a try, don't get too disappointed to learn that it may not be available in your region yet, because only folks in the U.S., UK, and several other countries — that have yet to be fully revealed — can start sending those video messages through Skype – at least for now. Once you got the update, you'll be able to send up to three minutes of video to your contacts. It's reported that premium users will get to send an unlimited number of videos, which won't be the case for regular Skype users. Another incentive for premium users is that their videos will never be deleted from the server. The VoIP and chat app landscape is getting more and more interesting. Which app do you use most regularly to communicate with the outside world?

iPhone 5 ahead of Samsung Galaxy S3 in web traffic, but only by a whisker Posted: 16 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST We know that most of you like to focus on the positives when it comes to the Android vs iOS "war", but you probably remember one particular battle the iPhone 5 easily won against the Samsung Galaxy S3 last fall. Although it was only out for a few weeks, Apple's latest had the clear upper hand against the S3 in North American web usage. The score was 56% – 44%, and, with GS3's hotness declining, it was natural to expect the gap to widen over the following months, right? But, believe it or not, the two phones are now almost tied. According to Chitika's latest US and Canada report, if we only take the iPhone 5 and S3 into account, the score is 51% – 49%. That's based on web traffic from February 1 to February 9, but we have no reason to believe the data doesn't reflect a wider trend. Both phones' shares are on the rise when looking at the mobile phone market as a whole, with the iPhone 5 capturing 6.6% (previously 3%) of the total web traffic and the GS3 at 6.4% (up from 2%). Other iPhones have accounted for a 34.9% piece of the pie, Samsung had 14.2%, while "outsiders" had 37.8%. Samsung was therefore considerably behind Apple, but on the flipside the trend seems to be favorable to the Koreans. Sammy's total share of 20.6% is up three points since October, while Cupertino dipped from 46% to 41.5%. Getting back to the GS3 vs iPhone 5 battle, we have to wonder what exactly happened to turn the tables. Does Samsung’s super-phone get better with age? Are S3 users now more active on the web for a reason? Or was the report a fluke and the iPhone 5 will again widen the gap next time?