WIRED IN: Twitter/Facebook Filters, Windows 8 Phone & Ubi Computer

>> Twitter to add filters/Facebook beat them to the punch

Twitter, which once tried to buy Instagram, is set to launch a service that competes with it by preparing a range of photo filters users can add to pictures uploaded to Twitter. Whether such a move would succeed — or blunt Instagram’s phenomenal growth (100 million users and counting) — is an open question. Instagram is a stream of photos and comments, with the emphasis placed on the pictures. Twitter is, in effect, the reverse: commentary with occasional pictures. 

Facebook actually just beat twitter to the punch on iOS and introduced filters to their photos being uploaded, an update that was not mentioned a long side the physical Gift Giving & and slide on buddy chat to the 5.1 version of the the app.

>> Windows Phone 8 Launched

Windows Phone 8 is coming to light and destined to be a major player in the smartphone industry in the coming year with partnerships with Nokia & HTC. Find out what it’s all about here, what to expect and how it’ll operate here: –

>> Ubi Computer

I always like to introduce one of these crazy inventions that I believe will make it big sometime soon and will change the way we interact with computers. Well here is Ubi, originally a Kickstarter project, it is a ubiquitous computing device. Designed to plug into your wall and remain dormant until you talk to it, this little computer can perform searches, wake you up, and even sense environmental conditions in every room.

The Ubi costs $219 to pre-order and should ship in early 2013. Founded by a Toronto team, Amin Abdossalami, Mahyar Fotoohi, and Leor Grebler, it’s an answer to the problem of ubiquitous computing. Because it’s always on and depends on the cloud to handle queries and various applications, it can become a sort of background computer for users with larger homes. It can also double as a thermostat, baby monitor, and intercom.

It’s pretty impressive really, check out the video here: –