When entering the options screen in the iPhone or iPad app, Twitter no longer shows an option for “Image service,” instead providing choices only for video upload and read later services:

Previously, Twitter allowed users to choose from Twitter’s own option but also provided support for yFrog, TwitPic, Mobypicture, Twitgoo, Posterous (now owned by Twitter) and img.ly.

The move is part of Twitter’s wider drive to deliver a ‘consistent‘ experience for users. To date, the most high-profile example of this has been restrictions on the growth of third-party Twitter clients, which caused a stink in the developer community last month.

For posterity, here’s what the image upload options used to look like in Twitter for iPhone/iPod touch.

Via ThenextWEb

Google has snapped up the digital photo editing service Snapseed as part of its effort to compete against Facebook's online social network.

Snapseed is the centrepiece of Google's acquisition of Nik Software, which developed the service's photo-editing technology.

The deal announced Monday gives Google a popular service that competes against Facebook's Instagram, whose tools are widely used to display, touch up and share photos taken on smartphones and tablet computers.

Facebook bought Instagram for $715 million in a deal that closed last month.

Google Inc. didn't disclose the terms of the Nik Software acquisition.

Snapseed could be used to increase usage of Google Plus, a social networking alternative to Facebook.

Although it has grown rapidly since its debut nearly 15 months ago, Google Plus is still experimenting with different features aimed at getting Web surfers to check into the service more frequently.

Google Plus now has about 400 million accountholders, according to a post Monday by Vic Gundotra, a Google executive who oversees the service. About 100 million users come to Google Plus each month, Gundotra said. Facebook boasts 955 million active users.

Three days after offering the device for preorder, Apple has announced that its new lighter, thinner smartphone has sold 2 million units in its first weekend, doubling that of the iPhone 4S and making it the fastest selling device in the company’s history.

To add some perspective, that’s 1389 iPhones sold per minute and 23 purchases every second.

Apple is quick to state that demand has exceeded supply in terms of initial preorders, alerting customers that while early orders will still ship on September 21, many are due to reach doorsteps in October.

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have Crossed the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

In comparison, the iPhone 4S sold one million units in its first 24 hours, which was a record in its own right. However, with AT&T announcing earlier today that it had already surpassed preorder totals for the iPhone 4S — making it the biggest iPhone launch ever — it was only a matter of time until Apple announced a record of its own.

Forgot your password again? No problem, just wave your hand!

Scientists are developing a new technology which can verify a person's identity with a wave of the hand.

A biometric sensor in a laptop or tablet computer scans the unique pattern of veins in a person's palm to verify their identity, the Telegraph reported.

The technology, developed by Intel, could do away with the multiple passwords most people use for websites.

"The problem with passwords - we use too many of them, their rules are complex, and they differ for different websites. There is a way out of it, and biometrics is an

option," Sridhar Iyengar, director of research at Intel Labs said.He was speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco last week.

The technology would require new biometric sensors to be built into computers. An accelerometer could be used to monitor when someone put the gadget down and automatically

lock it to prevent unauthorised access.

Iyengar added that the palm scanning technology worked much better than the finger-print scanners used on some laptops today.

spotted two important points on the lockscreen of Windows Phone 8 devices in released videos: the inclusion of Facebook and Twitter notifications. It was previously known that Skype would also be featured.

However, as the crew over at WMPowerUser point out, “the notifications are of little use without a quick way to launch these apps,” going on to note that hope remains for Windows Phone 8 to pick up a notification center.

Now, to an image of the feature in action:

Windows Phone 8, the next generation of the Windows Phone firmware, is a large shift from its previous versions, not only bringing new features and visual elements, but moving to a shared core with the Windows product. As such, it will not operate on any hardware sold thus far.

To see both Facebook and Twitter included in such a prominent way is not surprising; the two networks have found inclusion in OS X, and on nearly every website online. 

Apple is spending $167.50 to make each 16GB iPhone 5 that the company sells for $199 (with the standard two-year wireless contract), according to a CNET report citing an initial estimate calculated by research firm UBM TechInsights.

The firm dissected the entry-level iPhone 5 and estimated the cost of each of the various components.

"The new 4-inch 1136x640 pixel display costs $18 to build, the touch screen $7.50, and the battery $3. The A6 processor goes for $28, while the camera costs $10 and the built-in WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS is only $4. Add in the cost of several other components, and you end up with a BOM (bill of materials) of $167.50," said the report.

The Most Awaited Iphone 5 has A Few Drawbacks According to a Report.Although it has Many Features Like the 4 inch Screen But There is Nothing New In it. Most of the Smartphones Already Have the Same Such Features. So Here are Some More Drawbacks that May Prove Iphone 5 to Be a little Boring.

The iPhone 5's two biggest hardware updates are its larger 4-inch screen and 4G LTE radio. It's extremely rare to find a new Android phone nowadays with anything smaller than a 4-inch screen. In fact, Android manufacturers continue to make their phones bigger, sometimes absurdly so. With the iPhone 5, it's clear Apple finally broke down and realized consumers love large screens. It's also clear those who have defended Apple's decision to stick with a smaller screen were dead wrong. 

So, good point. Four-inch displays are nothing new in smartphones.

Then there's LTE, the fastest wireless data standard available. LTE has been around for over a year, starting with HTC's Thunderbolt Android phone that launched in spring 2011. Since then, nearly every premium non-iPhone device that's launched ran on LTE networks. It took a year and a half for the iPhone to achieve that.

So, good point. LTE has been around for an eternity by tech standards. It's a bummer Apple didn't include it in the iPhone 4S last year.

As for what Apple left out of the iPhone 5, there's Near Field Communication (NFC) and wireless charging. NFC chips let you make mobile payments with your phone and swap content with other devices just by tapping them together. Wireless charging lets you charge your phone by resting it on a power pad. (We saw wireless charging last week with Nokia's new Windows Phone, the Lumia 920.) Both of these features are increasingly becoming standard in smartphones, but Apple didn't include them in the iPhone 5.

Bad point. I still don't think NFC is ready for widespread use. Mobile payments are cool in theory, but the infrastructure at point of sale isn't there yet. The world isn't ready to ditch cash and credit cards for a phone. And I'm on the fence about wireless charging. It seems cool in theory, but charging is much slower using one of those wireless pads. I'd rather have my phone get to 100% in several minutes, not several hours. As history shows us, Apple isn't going to put features like these in the iPhone just because it can. It's going to wait until they've perfected them.

At the end of the day, the criticism doesn't matter. Apple leapfrogged everyone by several years when it introduced the first iPhone. Today, its mobile ecosystem is the best there is. Its mobile operating system is the best there is. And that's what really grabs people's attention. Software. Not hardware tricks and specs.