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Well folks, the U.S. government effectively shut down Tuesday morning at midnight as Democrats and Republicans alike continue to wag their blame fingers in each others’ direction over the budget and defunding the so-called “Obamacare.” What’s a citizen of the United States to do? Now would be a great time to take a deep breath and have a quick tech reality check, courtesy of our weekday news recap…
Facebook Graph Search Now Includes Posts, Status Updates
Faceboook rounded out the month of September with an update to its Graph Search feature, which has now been updated to include searching of both posts and status updates at long last. “Now you will be able to search for status updates, photo captions, check-ins and comments to find things shared with you,” the blog post explains, while noting that only content that has been shared with you will be visible in results — “including posts shared publicly by people you are not friends with.” As usual with new Facebook features, the Graph Search update is rolling out gradually, so if you’re not seeing it yet, don’t panic… just be patient.
StoryBots Celebrates First Anniversary
The folks at kids app maker StoryBots have just wrapped up their first year in business, and is celebrating the anniversary with an infographic that details how it’s spent the last 12 months. The company’s learning videos have now been viewed 18 million times, and the last year saw the release of 14 apps — with another five coming by 2014. Teachers are also using StoryBots apps in the classroom in more than 900 schools across the U.S., so all in all it seems like a successful first anniversary for the company.
Moshi Unveils IonBank 10K Portable Battery
If you’re in the market for a portable battery pack for your tablet or smartphone but want something with a bit of style, the folks at Moshi have just launched their first such product, the IonBank 10K. Featuring dynamic power sharing technology, the IonBank 10K intelligently detects what type of device is connected, then adjusts its charge rate accordingly. The attached USB cable lets it recharge at any time, with an extra seven or eight hours for tablets and even more for smartphones. IonBank 10K is priced at $110 and now in stock, ready to order from the Moshi Store; the company is also planning IonBank 5K Lightning and Micro USB versions for release later this fall.
Mobile Website Creator Zapd Shutting Down Next Week
The U.S. government isn’t the only thing shutting down, as the creator of Zapd announced via email to customers that the mobile website-creation app of the same name is closing down effective Oct. 7 after being acquired by RealSelf, a “leading online resource for elective cosmetic medical procedures.” What does that have to do with mobile websites? Nothing apparently, but Zapd founder Kelly Smith is off to be their new Chief Experience Designer, leaving the Zapd service to languish and die next Monday. Unfortunately for fans of the app, there won’t be any tool to save your Zaps and the service won’t be reborn under RealSelf, so be sure to check your email for full details on how to save Zaps via web browser.
Paragon Debuts Web Portal for Cross-Platform Software Tools
Paragon Software announced Monday that it has launched a new web portal for its popular cross-platform tools, which include NTFS for Mac OS X (for writing to Windows NTFS-formatted disks), HFS+ for Windows (for writing to Mac-formatted disks from PCs) and more. “The launch of the portal is the latest initiative in Paragon’s support of users of multiple devices seeking the fastest and most reliable software to access data on the otherwise incompatible systems,” the company said in a press release, and indeed, a quick trip to the new web portal shows a much cleaner, modern look and feel for those looking to purchase such tools.
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