Talk with Tumblr

Tumblr this week announced a new feature that brings instant messaging to the massively popular blogging platform. Now Tumblr users will be able to send one another animated gifs, texts, and images all from within their Tumblr dashboard. The new messaging features bring Tumblr closer to parity with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and the features will roll out slowly starting with a limited number of users today.

Pay humans with Apple Pay

Rumors surfaced this week that Apple is working on a peer-to-peer payment system to compete with the likes of SquareCash and Venmo. The rumors speculate that Apple is looking to expand the functionality of Apple Pay to allow two iOS users to exchange money between their Apple IDs. As Google has transitioned Google Wallet to more of a peer-to-peer payment service, it seems that every tech giant is looking to make a play in the peer-to-peer payment space.

Take YouTube Music here, there, everywhere

For many people their primary music listening experience is through YouTube. And now YouTube has come with a a dedicated music app set to cater to those users. In addition to its launch of the subscription service YouTube Red last week, which allows users to stream video without ads, YouTube music allows music to stream and download music videos from the world’s number one video streaming site. YouTube music gets much more powerful with a YouTube Red subscription, which costs 9.99 a month.

iPad Pro goes big and goes home with new owners

Apple this week launched the Apple iPad Pro, its massive 12.9 inch tablet set to compete with the likes of the Microsoft Surface. The new iPad Pro’s A9X processor is exceedingly more powerful than the previous generation iPads—and even more powerful than most PC laptops and even low-end Macbooks. The iPad Pro is available today in stores for $799, but many of its accessories, namely the Smart Keyboard, will not be available util December.

Apple Music kissed Android and liked it

And finally, the unthinkable has happened. Apple has released a an Android application for Apple Music. The new Android client for its streaming music service launched this week for free on the Google Play store to mixed reviews from Android customers. It borrows many of its iOS counterparts design aesthetic choices, but also pays respect to Google’s Material Design guidelines. Apple had previously dipped its toe into the waters of Android development with a move to iOS application and a dedicated Android app for a Beats Pill accessory, but Apple Music is its first property to make its way to Android, and could be the first of many as Apple starts to expand its services to a wider range of customers.