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The maker trend meets the toy box with another way to combine creative play and product customization. Autodesk, the graphic art and design software company, today announced that it has entered into a pact with toymaker Mattel to augment its toy line with 3D design and printing tech. The initiative seeks to offer immersive play “experiences” by mixing real-life toys with digital creation tools. A series of apps is now in the works that will let users create, design and customize their toys, and then use 3D printing technology to make them real. Autodesk’s 3D design and 3D printing apps will work with Spark, the company’s open 3D printing platform, to help boost creative play experiences for… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1zEIMHX via IFTTT

Hipstamatic — the photo app maker that fired the first shot of the lo-fi instant camera phone revolution, only to have its territory ransacked by Instagram —  is dipping its lens into the social photo realm with DSPO [pronounced Dis-po], a brand new collaborative photo app, launching today. DSPO is a descendent of the long-gone Hipstamatic D Series, which launched to great fanfare in 2011 only to crash and burn seven months later under the weight of a bad business plan. At least that’s the way Hipstamatic founder and CEO, Lucas Allen Buick tells it in a blog post introducing the new app.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1D93Wj8 via IFTTT

Microsoft has today announced the Azure Service Fabric, a new tool in its cloud platform product to help developers scale their cloud services with ample customization controls. Microsoft say it’s been working on the product for more than five years, and has actually already used it internally to power services like the new Skype for Business and Cortana. In fact, Microsoft says this isn’t just a variant of what they use – it’s the exact same thing. Some of the features in Fabric include: Support for stateless and stateful microservices Automation of microservices with detailed insights Lifecycle management tools so… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1P6CeuU via IFTTT

Time to pull out the sad emoji. YouTube today announced a change in its data API that will make its app unavailable for older devices such as the second generation Apple TV, and a range of other smart TVs and gaming consoles. A report by MacRumors points to a new Google help post announcing the move, citing that the following devices will be affected starting today: As we upgrade the YouTube Data API to bring more features, we’ll begin shutting down the old version on April 20, 2015. This will result in the current YouTube app not working on certain device models from… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1blXfmY via IFTTT

Max Bennet is VP of Business Strategy for Bluecore. Many early stage tech companies talk about “getting sh*t done” as a foundational component of a successful culture. There are many permutations of this idea in the tech zeitgeist: “a bias for action” (Amazon), “move fast and break things” (old Facebook principle), “Always be shipping”, et cetera. While these are nice quotations to plaster on a wall, they are largely unhelpful because they fail to describe an underlying mechanism that can be enforced, fostered, and protected. After taking part in establishing a culture worthy of all of these quotations at Bluecore, it… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1P61gtV via IFTTT

Direct Messages on Twitter are about to become a lot more useful or annoying). Previously, you could only receive direct messages from users who follow you, but Twitter has now implemented an optional feature that opens your account to messages from anyone. The new setting is turned off by default – likely to prevent harassment – but you can switch things up in your settings menu. You can still message whoever anyone has already followed you, of course. The company is even adding a prominent direct message button to profiles on the iPhone (not yet on the iPad, sorry) and… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1JmLxmv via IFTTT

We’ve just added Ryan Holiday’s talk from TNW Europe Conference 2013 to our TNW Video site and you can watch it right now for free. There is something broken about today’s media business. In his talk, Holiday, former head of marketing at American Apparel, digs into the economics of the Web. The business model of many media outlets is now based on producing as many blog posts as conceivably possible in order to generate page views. This shift from quality to quantity has more profound impact on our everyday lives than we think. In order to attract eyeballs, sensational headlines… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1J2OVX7 via IFTTT

American toy manufacturer Mattel has announced that it will be bringing the retro Magic 8 Ball toy to our phones and wrists later this month with its new app for iOS devices and the Apple Watch. The Magic 8 Ball’s fortune-telling powers have been optimized so you can ask your phone (or watch) for answers to your pressing questions using voice commands. And if you are feeling a bit nostalgic, the new app lets you shake your phone the same way you would shake the Magic 8 Ball toy to reveal your answers. On the Apple Watch, you’ll have to… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1J2J7g4 via IFTTT

Android Wear is about to get a slew of new features. Google today announced an update that should make Android watches a lot easier to use. While most Wear devices keep watchfaces on at all times with a power-saving Ambient Mode, sometimes the time isn’t the information you need from your smartwatch. Android Wear will now allow apps to create always-on modes to provide useful information – think locations on a map or a grocery list – without having to turn on the screen. Google is also enabling Wi-Fi on its Wear watches, allowing you to use them independently as… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1bkNeXa via IFTTT

This post is part of a series titled,  'Future of Communications,'  and is brought to you by Nexmo . Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with a human through the use of voice and input via keyboard. Although mobile marketing is gaining traction with the use of apps, SMS and emails, the use of voice as a channel is often not considered a staple in the mix. However, there are two main advantages to using IVR to better engage with your customers.  Firstly, it can surpass country restrictions placed on SMS. These may include the typical 160 character limit per message and country restrictions, such as the inability to deliver promotional messages… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1zC4GeY via IFTTT

Sony quietly launched its flagship Xperia Z4 Android phone in Japan today, with a very similar design to its predecessor and marginally better specs. The Z4 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and features a 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p display, with a new 25mm wide-angle 5.1-megapixel front camera for bigger, better selfies. Under the hood, you’ll find a Snapdragon 810 64-bit octa core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage, along with a microSD slot for up to 128GB more space. The Z4 comes with the same 20.7-megapixel 4K video-capable rear camera that was on the Z3. The body is fairly… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web http://ift.tt/1cOyjVu via IFTTT