Gadgetory

apps want us to think differently about phone calls I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update you may not realize it yet but the phone call is evolving the way we make a call hasn't changed that much over the years even with smartphones you do it rings and then there's the delicate dance of pick up ignore and leave a message at the beep but several text messaging apps that are growing in popularity including the new I message in Apple's iOS 8 let you attach audio clips for short voice memos so you can still have a conversation but it doesn't need to be live there's a new app that takes this concept to the next level it's called taco it blurs the lines between texting and a live real-time phone call because you just jump in and out of live calls while sending clips and it's not just voice you can text and send photos in the middle of a call you can tag a call as important or put in hashtags so you can quickly look up a conversation later you can also forward voice recordings to other people which means you may want to be careful about what you say the app is free now but there will be a subscription version I should warn you to test it out with a close friend at first because there are times you won't realize that you're in a phone call and the other person is just listening to you breathe it's kind of confusing but if you're up for the challenge you can find out apple's app store now and it'll come to Android and the web in a few months as I just mentioned voice clips can be sent in I message with iOS 8 about half of Apple's mobile devices now have upgraded to that new operating system Apple estimates about forty six percent of iphone ipad and ipod touch owners have iOS 8 with forty-nine percent still on iOS 7 if you didn't update yet you may want to hold off into another update comes out with bug fixes every time Apple jumps to a new operating system there are performance complaints and this time is no different some users report poor battery life buggy Wi-Fi connections and strange crashes and freezes with the keyboard notifications and the Safari web browser last year Apple pushed out several bug fix updates days after the new operating system went live and in the world of gadgets there's a new action camera from Polaroid that's trying to jump in on the trend of recording life from different perspectives the polaroid cube is one hundred dollars and it captures 1080p HD video the only mount is a built-in magnet and there's no memory card for storage video is split into five minute clips and the battery lasts for about 90 minutes it's not good for capturing extreme action like a GoPro but this is more for casual use just like how Polaroid cameras spit out simple instant photos the cube chops up bits of video in a similar informal approach that's your tech news update you can learn more at cnet com from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey