Judy’s Tech News Digest

Send Direct Messages in Instagram

Instagram has announced a new feature called Instagram Direct. This is a private messaging feature that will allow users to send a photo or video privately to up to fifteen followers. Unlike other messaging services such as Twitter and WhatsApp, Instagram Direct messages must include a photo or video.

You can send a photo or video to anyone when you use Instagram Direct. If you send an Instagram Direct message to someone who isn’t following you, it will go into their request queue until they decide to accept it.

After sending a direct message, you can find out who has seen it, who’s liked it and watch recipients’ comments in real time.

Spotify Upgrades Free Mobile Streaming

Spotify announced that it has expanded its free streaming option for mobile devices. Previously, Spotify provided a free streaming service for mobile devices but users but had to pay a monthly fee of $10 in order to stream music of their choosing to their devices.

With the latest iOS and Android update, mobile users can access free music through Spotify’s “Shuffle Play” feature. This feature allows users to listen to their playlists, a follower’s playlist or a specific artist. The songs are played in random order. To listen to them in an order of their choosing, users will still need to subscribe to the $10-a-month premium service. To listen to the songs in the order of your choosing, you’ll still need to upgrade to premium service.

Is was also announced this week that Led Zeppelin is now available on Spotify.

What is Steve Jobs’ Signature Worth?  $40,045

Tristar Productions CEO Jeff Rosenberg did Thursday paid $40,045 during an auction at RR Auction house for a signed legal agreement between Steve Jobs and his college friend, Robert Friedland.  The 8-page document is dated August 17th, 1978.

The document was a partnership agreement between Jobs and Friedland for a “place of business” in McMinnville, Oregon that would engage in investments.  It is not clear whatever became of the venture.

As we all know, Steve Jobs became wildly successful as a co-founder and CEO of Apple.  Likewise, Robert Friedland has been extremely successful in the mining industry.

(Image:  RR Auction)

Dell to Launch New Chromebook

Dell is all set to jump on the Chromebook bandwagon with a release of its own version planned for January, 2014. The 11.6″ Dell Chromebook will run a 4th-gen Intel Celeron 2955U processor, Intel HD Graphics, and 16GB Solid State Drive, with up to 10 hours battery life. The laptop includes a 1366 x 768 edge-to-edge glass screen, a front-facing 720p webcam, support for 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, two USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, and an HDMI port.

Dell has already stated that the Dell Chromebook 11 will be sold in the U.S. and U.K. for under $300. A 4GB version will debut in January, while a 2GB machine will be released sometime during the first quarter.

Ubuntu Touch OS Snares Smartphone Partner

Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth has revealed that the company has signed an agreement with its first, as yet unspecified, smartphone partner. The announcement was made by Mr. Shuttleworth at the LeWeb conference where he revealed that Canonical has signed an agreement that will see its Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system offered on smartphones, although he refused to name the actual partner.

Mr. Shuttleworth did not reveal any details regarding the smartphone’s specifications but he did intimate they will sit in the high-end range.