Netflix founder Sean Parker and some fellow entrepreneurs just unveiled Brigade -- an app designed to quickly get regular folks engaged in articulating and debating political positions. “If that sounds like a steep order for the millennial generation, Brigade’s team has tried to tamp down expectations,” TechCrunch reports. “They’ve tried to make the product as simple as possible as it enters private beta this week, so that it’s easy for lots of people to pick up.” 

Late last year, Google quietly acquired app streaming startup Agawi, The Information reports. The company’s technology “allows people to access apps on their smartphone without downloading them first,” it writes. “The acquisition … provides strong clues about the direction that Google is trying to move mobile software development.” 

Ad-free social network Ello is trying to regain users’ attention with a number of new features, and -- finally -- a mobile app. Engadget’s Nicole Lee said she had a chance to try out an early version of the app, and was impressed. “The interface is clean and minimalist,” she writes. “Perhaps the most interesting section is the Discover tab, which shows you a list of interesting posts curated by the folks at Ello.” 

Twitter is testing a new kind of app install “card” on the mobile versions of profile pages for various news sites. They appear to give users the ability to install the sites’ apps, reports TechCrunch, which first noticed the feature in an iPhone Twitter app on the profile page for The New York Times. “Twitter is also testing it on its own properties,” it notes. 

From shopping malls to state parks, Google Maps will now alert users if they are navigating to a destination that will be closed by the time they arrive. “This won't only tell you if your destination is closed when you select it, but if it's going to be closed by the time you get there,” Android Police notes. “So let's say you're 20 minutes away from something … If it closes in 15 minutes, Maps is smart enough to tell you that now.” 

Ars technical just got a sneak peek at YouTube Gaming, and, in its humble opinion, Google’s forthcoming gaming hub could easily unseat Twitch. “Twitch should be worried,” it writes of the top game-streaming hub. “Every single one of Twitch's users is already a YouTube user -- the storage is unlimited, there is tons of content, and even Twitch made exporting to YouTube very easy.” 

Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality unit just unveiled a completely redesigned Rift headset, and -- to make sure its content is highly compelling -- a close partnership with Microsoft. In fact, the new headship will ship to consumers with a wireless Xbox One controller. “The partnership with Microsoft will also see the Rift work ‘natively’ with Windows 10, plus play Xbox One games in the headset,” TechCrunch reports. 

BlackBerry is close to adopting Google’s Android operating system for its mobile devices, sources tell Reuters. The news service call the would-be move “an acknowledgement that [BlackBerry’s] revamped line of devices has failed to win mass appeal.” Worse still, “BlackBerry, which once dominated smartphone sales, now has a market share of less than 1 percent.” 

Continuing to redefine the definition of an instant messaging service, Japan’s Line just launched a music streaming service. “Line's move marks the most ambitious attempt yet to reverse the declining market for digital music in Japan,” Reuters reports. Line Music will offer unlimited access to a library of more than 1.5 million songs initially for a monthly fee of about $8, or 20 hours of access for about $4. 

The next version of Apple’s iOS mobile operating system will support a powerful ad blocker, Nieman Lab reports. “This is worrisome,” it writes. “Publishers already make tiny dollars on mobile, even as their readers have shifted there in huge numbers. If iOS users -- the majority of mobile Web users in the U.S. … can suddenly block all your ads with a simple free download, where is the growth going to come from?”