Friday, August 31, 2018

WoW! Google Offers Animoji Alternative For Android

We all know very well that in our daily lives, the use of emoji and stickers to communicate is becoming more frequent and a way of expressing what we think or feel. Hence, in order to make these elements more personal and personalized, the tech giant Google just introduced Animoji alternative for Android. Wow! Google Offers Animoji Alternative For Android In our daily lives, the use of emoji and stickers to communicate is becoming more frequent and a way of expressing what we think or feel. As we all know very well that in January of this year, the tech

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Segway's self-balancing e-skates prove a challenge

BBC Chris Foxx takes Segway's new self-balancing e-skates out for a test run.

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Twitter hints at new threaded conversations and who’s online features

Twitter head Jack Dorsey sent out a tweet this afternoon hinting the social platform might get a couple of interesting updates to tell us who else is currently online and to help us more easily follow Twitter conversation threads.

“Playing with some new Twitter features: presence (who else is on Twitter right now?) and threading (easier to read convos),” Dorsey tweeted, along with samples.

The “presence” feature would make it easier to engage with those you follow who are online at the moment and the “threading” feature would allow Twitter users to follow a conversation easier than the current embed and click-through method.

However, several responders seemed concerned about followers seeing them online.

Twitter’s head of product Sarah Haider responded to one such tweeted concern at the announcement saying she “would definitely want you to have full control over sharing your presence.” So it seems there would be some sort of way to hide that you are online if you don’t want people to know you are there.

There were also a few design concerns involved in threading conversations together. TC OG reporter turned VC M.G. Siegler wasn’t a fan of the UI’s flat tops. Another user wanted to see something more like iMessage. I personally like the nesting idea. Cleans it up and makes it easier to follow along and I really don’t care how it’s designed (flat tops, round tops) as long as I don’t have to click through a bunch like I do with the @reply.

I also don’t think I’d want others knowing if I’m online and it’s not a feature I need for those I tweet at, either. Conversations happen at a ripping pace on the platform sometimes. You are either there for it or you can read about it later. I get the thinking on letting users know who’s live but it’s not necessary and seems to be something a lot of people don’t want.

Its unclear when either of these features would roll out to the general public, though they’re available to those in a select test group. We’ve asked Twitter and are waiting to hear back for more information. Of course, plenty of users are still wondering when we’re getting that edit button.



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How to Theme Android Apps Any Way You Want

Android Launchers are not always enough to give our device a refreshing touch. In this article, we are going to discuss right here will help you to theme your Android apps and that too according to your wish. With this tutorial, you can customize the apps that are already installed in your smartphone to give them a cool new look. Till now we had discussed lots of cool Xposed Modules that work with the Xposed installer and tweaks your android according to your wish. And here we come up with a cool way to theme your android. As the launchers

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25+ Apps That Will Transform your Android Into A Professional Camera

There are many camera apps available via third-party sources, or via Google play store, some offer great features and others not. If you are among them who struggle to find out much-needed features in your camera, then this post might help you. Here we have discussed 25+ apps which will help you to edit and enhance your photos easily. So here we have listed fifteen camera apps out there on Google Play store. Go through the post to know about it. For photo lovers, the camera is the main thing to watch on. Your camera might be a king amongst all

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Bitcoin wallet Bitfi withdraws 'unhackable' claim

The Bitfi cryptocurrency wallet, backed by John McAfee, had already caused controversy.

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Abusive tweets to MPs 'more than double' between elections

Abusive tweets about MPs rose from 10,000 to 25,000 between 2015 and 2017, research suggests.

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Viagogo taken to High Court by competition regulator

The ticket reselling site has repeatedly failed to make changes demanded, the competition regulator says.

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Wish, Netflix, Uber and ~100 others testing WhatsApp’s new Business API

Earlier this month, WhatsApp announced the launch of its first revenue-generating enterprise product, the WhatsApp Business API. The API allows businesses to respond to messages from WhatsApp users for free up to 24 hours, then charges for any responses after that point on a per message basis. Though still in a limited preview, the company is now supporting around 100 businesses directly on its API platform, including airlines, e-commerce companies, banks, and others like Uber and Netflix, and plans to onboard many more in the months ahead.

Because businesses have to first apply to gain access the API, there’s some misinformation floating around on backchannels about how to get approved.

For example, some industry sources have been telling partners that no U.S.-based businesses are being onboarded to the API at this point. This is untrue, WhatsApp says. In fact, there’s a public site where U.S. companies Uber and Wish are featured as “customer stories.” We also understand that U.S.-based Netflix is testing the API, though not for use in the U.S. for the time being.

Others listed on WhatsApp’s website include Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, B2W, iFood, Singapore Airlines, Melia Hotels, KLM, Bank BRI, absa, Coppel, and Sale Stock.

WhatsApp isn’t limiting access to the API based on where companies are located, it says, nor does it have requirements for those businesses  – like how many messages they need to send per month.

The latter is another piece of misinformation out there, as businesses try to decipher who’s getting in. Some have been saying that API customers need to send at least 100,000 messages a month, if they expect WhatsApp to approve them during this preview phase. This is inaccurate, WhatsApp says.

There’s no requirement related to the number of messages being sent. Although the API is intended to be used by larger businesses, some today are using it for customer service which often means they’re receiving more messages than they’re sending, the company noted.

The API is now how WhatsApp generates revenue, as it ditched its subscription fee years ago. That’s why it’s worth tracking its progress. Businesses can also buy Facebook News Feed ads that launch customers into WhatsApp conversations they can respond to.

WhatsApp officially launched its Business app at the beginning of the year, which makes sense for smaller companies, and then rolled out the API this summer for the larger ones.

Bringing businesses into the WhatsApp ecosystem is a significant shift for the Facebook-owned company, as it turns what’s been a place where family and friends communicate into a place of business.

With that delicate balance in mind, WhatsApp says that businesses cannot reach out to customers using the API without the customers’ specific permission.

Instead, the API is designed to allow businesses to respond to customer inquiries, or provide them with other information they’ve requested. For example, an airline may send a boarding pass via the API; an e-commerce business may send a receipt; a bank may send over a bank statement.

Uber is using WhatsApp with its drivers to all them to connect to members of its team about questions and Netflix is sending account messages and suggestions as a part of its test.

Further down the road, the API could enable other types of customer interactions as well, like handling two-factor authentication requests, perhaps, instead of using SMS. But that’s not happening at present.

WhatsApp says there are now around 100 companies globally on the API platform.

The company is also working with a dozen or so solution providers. Businesses like VoiceSageNexmoInfobip, Twilio, MessageBird, Smooch, Zendesk, and others are already advertising their services in this area.

Companies interested in gaining access to the API can work with one of the solution providers or sign up directly via the WhatsApp website.

As WhatsApp brings on more businesses, it’s only vetting requirement of sorts is that it’s looking for those interested in creating quality experiences for customers, the company says.

Of course, even the invited intrusion of businesses into WhatsApp changes the nature of the platform.

As users invite more businesses to communicate with them, WhatsApp may start to feel like more like an email inbox or even a Twitter-like support channel.

Making sure there are easy-to-find settings that let users terminate their connections with businesses will be just as critical as the API becomes more widely adopted going forward.

 



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Somnox robot aims to put owners to sleep

A machine that resembles a breathing pillow aims to provide a safer alternative to sedatives.

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Online trolls and fake accounts poison Arab social media

Social media fraud continues to fuel a plague of disinformation in the Arab world.

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Google and Mastercard in credit card data deal

Google is buying credit card data from Mastercard but the firms had not announced the deal.

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GBWhatsapp APK 6.55 Latest Version Free Download 2018

If you want to take full control over your WhatsApp, download and install GBWhatsapp APK and get the best out of it, then you need to start using the gbwhatsapp app. Well, it’s actually a modded version of WhatsApp that boasts lots of amazing features. Out of many features, some extraordinary ones are – hiding last seen, online status, theming, blue tick hiding and more. GBWhatsapp APK 6.55 Latest Version Free Download 2018 Social media and instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and more have become a part of our life. For example, the first action we take after purchasing a

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How To Get Grammarly Premium Account Free [4 Methods] 2018

Let’s have a look at the method To Get Grammarly Premium Account Free 2018 using the 4 different ways that we can use to get the premium version of this tool so that you can access all the features. So have a look at complete guide discussed below to proceed. If you are interested to know about that then please go and read the whole information of this post till the end. So let’s get started to the main section of the post! Grammarly is one of the best tools that can be used to improve the quality of the text content by

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China targets video gaming to tackle myopia in children

New restrictions will try to tackle rising levels of near-sightedness among children.

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Top 30 Best Android Hacking Apps & Tools of 2018

Download Best Free Android hacking apps 2018: As we all know, Android is a linux based operating system so there are many apps available for Android that are meant for hacking. Here we are going to list top 30 best Android hacking applications of 2018.Android is the great Mobile OS ever built for the smartphone. You can do lots of experiments and amazing things with your phone. Android is not just a machine, it becomes fully featured computer machine when you root your Android phone because you can gain complete access to your Android device. You can run some ethical

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Astronauts tackle air leak on International Space Station

A "micro-fracture" from a possible collision with a rock fragment sets off alerts on the ISS.

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Thursday, August 30, 2018

Tablet bends 'like ancient scroll'

A Canadian university has developed a tablet with a flexible screen that can rolled up.

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Acer unveils new gaming cockpit and other tech news

BBC Click's LJ Rich looks at some of the week's best technology stories.

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Bye bye loneliness

How internet-connected robots are helping combat the scourge of isolation and loneliness.

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Top 5 Best Music Streaming Apps For Android (2018)

Music stream apps provide us an easy way to listen to our favorite music. Moreover, the audio quality is also beyond amazing, and it can help to save lots of internal or external storage on our Android. In this article, we will be sharing a few of the best music streaming app which you can install on your Android smartphone. Top 5 Best Music Streaming Apps For Android (2018) If we look around, we will find that the music streaming apps have grown up tremendously in the past few years. You will find lots of music stream apps on Android’s

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Top 8 Best Emoji Apps For Android 2018

If we search for the emoji app for Android on the Google Play Store, we will find hundreds of them. But, not all of them are effective. Below, we have discussed everything about best emoji apps for Android. You can use these apps to chat with your friends or family via social networking sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Top 8 Best Emoji Apps For Android 2018 Those days are gone when texting seems to be the boring task. Thanks to the thousands of different emojis and stickers that are available on different messaging apps, texting nowadays are full of

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How To Fix Spotify Not available in your Country Error?

Android users are facing Spotify Not Available In Your Country error which is usually shown on restricted countries. If the Spotify not available in your country error is troubling you, then you just need to use a VPN App (Virtual Private Network). How To Fix Spotify Not available in your Country Error? Spotify is indeed a great music streaming service available on the Google Play Store. The app actually allows users to find and listen to music, song, podcast, audio books, novels, soundtrack without downloading. Well, if you search for music streaming apps on the Google Play Store, you will

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8K TVs unveiled by Samsung and LG at Ifa tech show

The world's two bestselling television-makers are showing off rival 8K screens at the Ifa tech show in Berlin.

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Twitter announces new policy and certification process for ‘issue ads’

Twitter continues to roll out new policies aimed at increasing transparency, particularly around political advertising.

Amidst ongoing concerns about Russian election interference and misinformation on social media, the company recently announced political ad guidelines and launched an Ads Transparency Center where you can find more information about advertisers.

Initially, however, Twitter’s stricter standards were limited to ads for U.S. federal election candidates and campaigns. Now it’s announced a policy around the broader category of “issue ads.”

In a blog post, Twitter’s vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey and its general manager of revenue product Bruce Falck said the policy affects two categories:

* Ads that refer to an election or a clearly identified candidate, or
* Ads that advocate for legislative issues of national importance

In both cases, advertisers will need to apply for certification, which involves verifying their identity and location in the United States. Like election ads, issue ads will be labeled as such in the Twitter timeline, and they’ll allow users to click through and learn more about the advertiser. They’ll also be included in the Ads Transparency center.

Twitter Issue Ads

As examples of the kinds of issues that would be covered, Harvey and Falck cited “abortion, civil rights, climate change, guns, healthcare, immigration, national security, social security, taxes, and trade,” though they also said that list will likely evolve over time.

News organizations that want to run ads around their political coverage can apply for an exemption. (Since the definition of what is and isn’t a news organization can be blurry, there are specific criteria that they’d need to meet, like providing editorial staff information online and not being “dedicated to advocating on a single issue.”)

“We don’t believe that news organizations running ads on Twitter that report on these issues, rather than advocate for or against them, should be subject to this policy,” Harvey and Falck wrote.

Twitter says it will start enforcing the policy (which, to be clear, is currently U.S.-only) on September 30.



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Facebook Rolls Out Watch Video Service Globally To Rival YouTube

We all know very well that the big bet of the social network giant Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, to overtake YouTube and take podium of the segment of televising contents through the streaming begins to cultivate. Hence, Facebook finally launched its Facebook Watch video service globally simply to rival YouTube. Facebook Rolls Out Watch Video Service Globally To Rival YouTube The big bet of the social network giant Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, to overtake YouTube and take podium of the segment of televising contents through the streaming begins to cultivate. In the United States, the Watch

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Tesla Just Launched A Wireless Charger For iPhones And Android Smartphones

According to the latest reports, after the launch of the popular flamethrower and surfboards, which also sold out quickly, now the Elon Musk’s company, of course, Tesla has just launched a new wireless charger for iPhones and Android smartphones. Tesla Just Launched A Wireless Charger For iPhones And Android Smartphones Despite all the rumors that reveal that Tesla is not so well financially, the truth is that the company continues to innovate and throw things “out of the segment.” After the launch of the popular flamethrower, which also sold out quickly, Elon Musk’s company has now launched a Surfboard, but

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Celebgate hacker jailed over Jennifer Lawrence hack

Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence was targeted in the hack, for which three others have already been jailed.

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New York renamed 'Jewtropolis' in map hack

Snapchat's mapping software appears to have been hacked in what it calls an act of vandalism.

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WhatsApp Backups On Google Drive Are Not Encrypted, Open To Hackers

We all know very well that with more than 1.5 billion active users and 60 billion messages sent daily, the well-known instant messaging application, of course, WhatsApp dominates and is one of the most used instant messaging services. However, now according to the latest reports, the well-known and the most used instant messaging application, of course, WhatsApp recently notified its users to draw attention to the fact that both messages and multimedia content, which are backed up to the tech giant Google’s servers, will not be encrypted. WhatsApp Backups On Google Drive Are Not Encrypted, Open To Hackers With more

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Epic Games CEO Calls Google ‘Irresponsible’

The arrival of Fortnite through alternative means to the tech giant Google’s application store has raised serious security concerns from the outset. If initially it was thought that the problem would be in users, the truth is that apparently, the installation application itself of Epic Games has serious security problems. However, now according to the latest reports, Epic Games CEO calls the tech giant Google irresponsible. Epic Games CEO Calls Google ‘Irresponsible’ The arrival of Fortnite through alternative means to the tech giant Google’s application store has raised serious security concerns from the outset. If initially it was thought that

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Google says Trump's bias claims are 'not true'

Claims Google did not promote President Trump's State of the Union address are denied by the search giant.

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Meet The World’s Lightest 15-Inch Laptop

We all know very well that Acer is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology and is headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. However, now according to the latest reports, the well-known Taiwanese company, of course, Acer just launched the world’s lightest 15-inch laptop. Meet The World’s Lightest 15-Inch Laptop Acer is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology and is headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Recently the Taiwanese company Acer has launched a new laptop which is actually less than 1cm thick and dubbed as the

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Facebook pulls post by Anne Frank Center after seeing only nudity in a photo of the Holocaust

Facebook moderators temporarily removed a post by the Anne Frank Center which was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust, after the company was unable to distinguish between historical genocide and child nudity.

The post included an archive photograph of Jewish children who had been stripped and starved by Nazi Germany.

Between 1941 and 1945 the German state imprisoned and murdered millions of Jews in concentration and death camps — the child Anne Frank, who the Center is named after, being just one of them.

Frank died in 1945, aged 15, after her hiding place in Amsterdam had been uncovered. She was taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where, seven months later, she died of typhus.

In school history class as a teenager I remember being shown similar footage of the emaciated bodies of Jewish people starved and murdered during the Holocaust.

It’s not the kind of imagery you forget. It is terrible. Haunting. It is a shame of history, not pornography.

Facebook moderators apparently cannot tell the difference.

Around six hours after the Center complained on Twitter that the post had been taken down, Facebook reinstated it.

In a tweet replying to the Center’s complaint the company explains its actions, saying “we don’t allow nude images of children”, before ending with an apology for making the wrong decision in this case — owing to the image having “important historical significance”.

It wrote: “We put your post back up and sent you a message on FB. We don’t allow nude images of children on FB, but we know this is an important image of historical significance and we’ve restored it. We’re sorry and thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

If you’re getting an acute sense of deja-vu that’s because Facebook has similarly failed to understand historical context before — when, for example, in 2016 its moderators took down an iconic war photo of a child fleeing a napalm attack in Vietnam in 1972.

The violence had also stripped that child — clothing her with terror.

Again Facebook’s moderators simply couldn’t tell. So they scrubbed historical record from the platform. An outcry was necessary to reinstate it.

Called on that crime against history, Facebook described its moderating decision as a mistake — saying “we intend to do better”.

Two years later there’s no sign it’s living up to that stated intent.

Running the world’s biggest content platform without editorial oversight and with woefully under-resourced moderation is indeed a very hard problem. One that AI cannot hope to solve in any near or short term framework — if ever. Context is king for a reason.

The kicker here is that company founder Mark Zuckerberg continues to choose to provide a platform for Holocaust deniers on Facebook.

He could choose to ban Holocaust denial — which is, after all, an attack on both history and the Jewish people. But he prefers not to. He’s not for banning, unless it’s nudity. (Classic art nudes included, at times.)

And so we arrive at the tragi-ridiculous pass of true historical imagery of the Holocaust being scrubbed from Facebook — while vicious lies about the Holocaust are allowed to stand and swirl and take root via Facebook.

That’s what running a content platform without a moral compass looks like.

We asked Facebook to explain why it took down a post by the Anne Frank Center that was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust yet refuses to take down posts by Holocaust deniers who are seeking to undermine historical truth.

A company representative pointed us to its earlier response to the Center — but did not engage with our question.

Update: The Center has now sent us the following statement regarding Facebook’s actions:

Our original post was to draw attention to the fact that the Holocaust
is woefully undertaught across the USA and that ignorance on what
happened is a direct result of this. We have been working with
numerous state representatives across the nation to mandate K-12
Holocaust education through our 50-State Genocide Education project.

While Facebook removes the AFC’s post promoting the need to educate on
the past, it continues to allow pages and posts that directly deny the
reality of the deaths of more than six million people.

Holocaust denial dehumanizes people. It makes thousands feel unsafe.
It violates the very standards Facebook lays out for it users. Yet
these hate-filled propaganda pages remain.

We have written to Facebook previously offering to work with them to
tackle the spread of Holocaust denial and hate on its platform and to
promote education.

If Facebook is serious about its community standards it should start
tackling Holocaust denial and not the organizations who are trying to
educate people on discrimination, facts, and history.

We understand the difficulty in assessing the context of potentially
controversial content. That said, it shouldn’t have taken us publicly
calling out Facebook to restore our post. Hopefully, Facebook can
revise their protocols.

We understand that the Center’s post was originally published on Facebook on August 21, before being taken down by Facebook moderators on August 27 — before subsequently being reinstated.



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Gay dating app Grindr to sell shares

Kunlun Group, the Chinese owner of Grindr, plans to sell shares in the dating app.

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Spotify Premium 8.4 Latest APK Free Download (No Root) 2018

You can do almost everything that is restricted in the official Spotify with the help of Spotify Premium APK Sep 2018. The premium app is available for almost all the devices. With the premium version of Spotify Android app, you can easily store or download more than one favorite song of that wins your heart. Spotify Premium 8.4 Latest APK Free Download For Android Sep 2018 If you are a music lover like me, then you might be familiar with Spotify. Well, Spotify is a music, podcast, and video streaming service that was officially launched on 7th October 2008. In this

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Meet The World’s Toughest & Fastest SD Memory Card

We all know very well that each and every year tech companies are rapidly innovating new things and technologies simply to make our life much simpler and better. However, now according to the latest reports, the well-known Japanese tech giant, of course, I am talking Sony just launched the world’s toughest and fastest SD memory card. Meet The World’s Toughest & Fastest SD Memory Card As we all know very well that each and every year tech companies are rapidly innovating new things and technologies simply to make our life much simpler and better. The external storage with microSD cards

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How To Change the Default Snooze Time for Your Alarm On Any Android

Let’s have a look at the guide for How To Change the Default Snooze Time for Your Alarm on Any Android using the simple Google App and one trick that will help you to set up custom snooze option in your Android that you might have never seen before. So have a look at the complete guide discussed below to proceed. Alarm is one of the most utilized features on the Android, believe so as it is relevant to wake up on time every early morning. If you doing a job then an alarm can help you reach on the job

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WoW! HMD Global Acquires Nokia’s PureView Brand From Microsoft

We all know very well that after several years of confusion and uncertainty, Nokia smartphones have found their home under the umbrella of HMD Global. However, now according to the latest reports, the HMD Global just acquired the Finnish company Nokia’s well-known PureView brand from the tech giant Microsoft. WoW! HMD Global Acquires Nokia’s PureView Brand From Microsoft After several years of confusion and uncertainty, Nokia smartphones have found their home under the umbrella of HMD Global. However, still in recent months, much has been written about the return of the Finnish company Nokia to the smartphone market and about

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Dyson gears up for electric car testing

Plans are unveiled for a 10-mile test track in Wiltshire to test the electric vehicle being developed by Dyson.

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Emails read while commuting 'should count as work'

Wider access to wi-fi on trains and the use of mobile phones has extended the working day, a study says.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

This Devices Will Be First To Receive The Stable Version Of MIUI 10

We all know very well that how popular the well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, of course, Xiaomi’s MIUI ROM is. Hence, now according to the latest reports, recently, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi just announced the name of the first smartphone to receive the stable version of MIUI 10. This Devices Will Be First To Receive The Stable Version Of MIUI 10 It wasn’t long ago that the well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, of course, Xiaomi released the ROM MIUI 10 Beta Global for 8 models. Now, the company, of course, the well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi recently announced the public availability

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Google, Facebook, Twitter chiefs called back to Senate Intelligence Committee

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operations officer Sheryl Sandberg will testify in an open hearing at the Senate Intelligence Committee next week, the committee’s chairman has confirmed.

Larry Page, chief executive of Google parent company Alphabet, was also invited but has not confirmed his attendance, a committee spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said in a release that the social media giants will be asked about their responses to foreign influence operations on their platforms in an open hearing on September 5.

It will be the second time the Senate Intelligence Committee, which oversees the government’s intelligence and surveillance efforts, will have called the companies to testify. But it will be the first time that senior leadership will attend — though, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg did attend a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in April.

It comes in the wake of Twitter and Facebook recently announcing the suspension of accounts from their platforms that they believe to be linked to Iranian and Russian political meddling. Social media companies have been increasingly under the spotlight in the past years following Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election with disinformation.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company didn’t yet have details to share on the committee’s prospective questions. TechCrunch also reached out to Google and Facebook for comment and will update when we hear back.



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Air Canada app data breach involves passport numbers

Experts warn that the theft of passport details could be "severe" for those affected.

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How To Protect Your USB Pendrive With Password (5 Methods)

We are going to share an interesting article on protecting your USB Pendrive with password. We’ve mentioned below two working methods which you can use for same. Today in this computer environment, everything is based on data alteration that you functions within the compact memory storage device that is the memory card, pen drives, and Hard drive etc. But sometimes certain media storage device contains some sensitive data that we might not aspire to share with anyone so at such point, we have to hold our data protected in these manageable drives. Also Read: How To Increase RAM Using USB/Pendrive In

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130 million hotel IDs breached in China

A Chinese hotel group's database may have been accidentally uploaded to the internet.

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How To Recover Deleted Photos/Videos From Android (4 Methods)

Android is used by over 1.4 billion people across the world. In Android, we love to capture pictures in our day to day life. Certain pictures capture moments. But what if they get deleted for some reasons? For that reason, we are going to share the evergreen trick that will undoubtedly help you recover your deleted photos or videos from your Android smartphone. Go through the full post to know about it. Today Android is used by over 1.4 billion people across the world. In Android, we love to capture pictures in our day to day life. Certain pictures capture moments. But what

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Diver attacked by Elon Musk as “pedo guy” is prepping a libel suit

A British cave diving expert who helped save the young Thai football team that got trapped in caves this summer is preparing a legal action against Elon Musk for making “false and defamatory statements”, TechCrunch has confirmed.

BuzzFeed reported the development earlier, after obtaining a letter sent to Musk’s home on August 6 by a firm representing the diver, Vernon Unsworth.

The background here is that in a highly offensive and extremely bizarre episode last month — even for the famously ‘loose cannon online’ Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to attack Unsworth, branding him a “pedo guy”.

The bizarre attack came after Unsworth had given a critical interview to the media saying the mini sub which Musk had designed and brought to Thailand “had absolutely no chance of working”. Unsworth ended an interview segment by suggesting Musk should “stick his submarine where it hurts” — a tongue-in-cheek phrase which apparently triggered Musk’s Twitter outburst.

Facing a backlash over his comments about a man who had successfully helped rescue the boys, Musk subsequently deleted the offensive tweets and quasi-apologized for slurring Unsworth in a further set of tweets, on July 18, though these were only posted within a Twitter thread, rather than being broadcast to his ~22.4M Twitter followers.

At the time Musk said Unsworth’s comment had angered him, and that had made him lash out, but he also added: “Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.”

The public element of the episode might have ended there but earlier this week Musk dredged it all up again by repeating his offensive insinuation against Unsworth during a debate with ex-TechCrunch journalist Drew Olanoff — who had brought up the “pedo guy” attack as an example of Musk himself telling untruths.

Yet instead of reiterating his apology to Unsworth, Musk doubled down on his original offensive attack — writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.”

To which Olanoff replied: “What I think is especially strange here is that you’re wondering why he hasn’t sued you while the rest of us are wondering why you did something so egregious that he could sue you for in the first place.”

We contacted the law firm for confirmation that it is representing Mr Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk. Partner Lin Wood was unavailable to speak about the matter when we called but he confirmed via email that the firm is representing Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk, and that it is preparing a legal action.

In the letter sent by the firm to Musk’s home earlier this month Wood informs Musk he has been retained by Unsworth on account of the defamatory statements made by Musk on Twitter alleging that he is a pedophile.

Wood also writes that he is preparing a civil complaint of libel and invites Musk to contact him “in an attempt to avoid litigation and to see the public record corrected”.

It’s not clear whether or not Musk had seen the letter at the time of his tweets to Olanoff.

We’ve reached out to Musk (via Twitter) for comment on the legal action and to ask whether he will be withdrawing his repeat allegation against Unsworth. We’ll update this story with any response.

The Tesla CEO’s erratic behavior online has caused other high profile headaches for his companies in recent weeks, after he tweeted about taking Tesla private — triggering wild swings in the stock price and scrutiny (and potential problems) from the Securities and Exchange Commission, only for the idea to be nixed weeks later.

The associated risks for shareholders in a public company whose CEO uses Twitter as a weapon to indulge personal spats and feuds — and to spitball major business decisions — without, apparently, any thought for the legal and reputational consequences for him or his companies, are hard to quantify but equally difficult to deny.



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Facebook has restored the cross-posted tweets that were removed from users’ profiles

Facebook says it has corrected the issue of users’ deleted posts, which had affected those who had previously cross-posted their Tweets to their Facebook profile – a feature that’s no longer supported. Earlier this month, Facebook locked down its API to prevent third-party apps from being able to post to profiles as the logged-in user, and Twitter was one of those apps impacted by the change.

However, the changes to Facebook’s API would not have mass deleted all of users’ cross-posted Tweets. It should have only prevented Twitter users from continuing to automatically post from Twitter to their Facebook profile or business page.

But Twitter, for whatever reason – an accident, one would hope – requested its Facebook app be deleted. This resulted in removals of all the content that had been cross-posted by Twitter to Facebook being also deleted from users’ profiles.

Facebook was in touch with Twitter since then, and received permission to have the app re-enabled. (Though it took longer than expected – Twitter was made aware of the problem early in the evening on Tuesday but it wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday that Facebook confirmed it was restoring the content – which means they received permission from Twitter to do so. Obviously, Facebook can’t just turn on a third-party app again after the developer says to take it down – it had to ask. Twitter, we understand, didn’t give Facebook immediate permission to fix the problem. Maybe it’s still mad about the whole cross-posting thing being turned off?)

While, technically speaking, the error is on Twitter’s side here, Facebook probably should have had some kind of warning in place to alert the app developers – whomever they may be – of the consequences of their decisions. That is, deleting their app would also delete all the content shared through it over the years.

Many Twitter users had heavily relied on the cross-posting feature to maintain their presence on Facebook and continue their discussions with a new audience. The deletions meant they lost years’ worth of Facebook posts and conversations, in many cases.

Facebook says it has restored all the removed content, a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email around 1:20 AM ET on Wednesday. All impacted users should be able to see their cross-posts tweets and their discussions again.

 



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Facebook Watch is launching worldwide

Facebook Watch, the social network’s home to original video content and answer to YouTube, is now becoming available worldwide. The Watch tab had first launched last August, only in the U.S., and now touts over 50 million monthly viewers who watch at least a minute of video within Watch. Since the beginning of the year, total time spent viewing videos in Watch is up by 14x, says Facebook.

The company has continued to add more social features to Watch over the past year, including participatory viewing experiences like Watch Parties, Premiers, and those with audience involvement, like an HQ Trivia competitor, Confetti, built on the new gameshow platform.

Watch also offers basic tools for discovery, saving videos for later viewing, and lets users customize a feed of videos from Facebook Pages they follow.

Along with international availability, Facebook is introducing “Ad Breaks” to more publishers. These can be either mid-roll or pre-roll ads, or images below the video. Publishers can either insert the ads themselves or use Facebook’s automated ad insertion features. Facebook says 70+ percent of mid-roll ads are viewed to completion.

Ad Breaks are now offered to creators who publish 3-minute videos that generate over 30,000 1-minute views in total over the past 2 months; who have 10,000 Facebook followers or more; who are in a supported country; and who meet other eligibility criteria.

Supported countries today include the U.S., UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Next month, that list will expand to include Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand, supporting English content and other local languages. More countries and languages will then follow.

Also new today is the global launch of Creator Studio, where Pages can manage their entire content library and business. This includes the ability to search across their library to view post-level details and insights, as well as manage interactions across Pages, Facebook Messages, comments, and Instagram. Other tools here focus on using Ad Breaks, viewing monetization and payments, and publishing the videos.

The Creator Studio is also seeing the addition of a new metric on audience retention added now, allowing publishers to better program their content.

YouTube, too, also this year launched an updated version of its Creator Studio, now called YouTube Studio, offering similar analytics for its own network.

Facebook isn’t the only one making a play for YouTube’s creators – Amazon’s Twitch has been offering deals to woo creators to its game-streaming site, a recent report claimed.

“Our goal is to provide publishers and creators with the tools they need to build a business on Facebook,” the company said in an announcement. “Facebook’s Fostering an active, engaged community and sharing longer content that viewers seek out and regularly come back to are key to finding success,” it noted.

 



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This New Samsung Teaser Ad Pretends The Note 7 Didn’t Exist

We all know very well that the South Korean giant Samsung just launched the Galaxy Note 9 and there are many gadget gurus and media present in New York at the presentation of what is one of the today’s best smartphones. This smartphone has features that no other in the market has, which isolates it in terms of productivity. However, now according to the latest reports, this new Samsung teaser ad pretends the Galaxy Note 7 didn’t exist. This New Samsung Teaser Ad Pretends The Note 7 Didn’t Exist The South Korean giant Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 9 and

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Elon Musk reignites Twitter slur controversy

The Tesla chief asks why he has not been sued by a British man he had defamed and apologised to.

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Exam result details now obtainable for free under GDPR

The new rights cover this summer's exams but could cause "problems" for exam bodies, one expert says.

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Facebook Watch video service launches worldwide

The on-demand video service will compete with YouTube and Netflix.

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Galileo: Brexit funds released for sat-nav study

UK ministers set aside £92m to study the feasibility of a sovereign satellite-navigation system.

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5 of the Best Docking Stations for Your MacBook Pro

Let’s have a look at the 5 of the Best Docking Stations for Your MacBook Pro that you need to try right now as they are of an amazing design and competitive prices that will solve lots of problems by providing the multiple connectivities to your device. I have selected some of the best stations that is used by my team and our regular visitors. So have a look at the complete guide discussed below to proceed Docking stations are the hardware that is equipped with a number of ports and hence the hectics of handling so many connections to the

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Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Contraception app advert banned by UK regulator

Complaint about advert offering to replace traditional contraception with natural methods is upheld.

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Facebook has removed all cross-posted tweets

Facebook users are complaining the company has removed the cross-posted Tweets they had published to their profiles as Facebook updates. The posts’ removal took place following the recent API change that prevented Twitter users from continuing to automatically publish their Tweets to Facebook. According to the affected parties, both the Facebook posts themselves, as well as the conversation around those posts that had taken place directly on Facebook, are now gone. Reached for comment, Facebook says it’s aware of the issue and is looking into it.

TechCrunch was alerted to the problem by a reader who couldn’t find any information about the issue in Facebook’s Help Center. We’ve since confirmed the issue ourselves with several affected parties and confirmed it with Facebook.

Given the real-time nature of social media – and how difficult it is to pull up old posts – it’s possible that many of the impacted Facebook users have yet to realize their old posts have been removed.

In fact, we only found a handful of public complaints about the deletions, so far.

For example:

Above: selected complaints from Twitter about the data loss

Above: a comment on TechCrunch following our post on the API changes 

Some of those who were impacted were very light Facebook users and had heavily relied on the cross-posting to keep their Facebook accounts active. As a result of the mass removals, their Facebook profiles are now fairly empty.

TechCrunch editor Matthew Panzarino is one of those here who was impacted. He points out that the ability to share tweets to Facebook was a useful way to reach people who weren’t on Twitter in order to continue a discussion with a different audience.

“I’ve had tweet cross-posting turned on for years, from the early days of it even existing. This just removed thousands of posts from my Facebook silently, with no warning,” Matthew told me. “Even though the posts didn’t originate on Facebook, I often had ongoing conversations about the posts once my Facebook friends (and audience) saw them. Many of them would never see them on Twitter either because they don’t follow me or they don’t use it,” he said.

“It’s wild to have all of that context just vanish,” he added.

As you may recall, Facebook earlier this month made a change to its API platform to prevent third-party apps from publishing posts to Facebook as the logged-in user. The change was a part of Facebook’s larger overhaul and lockdown of its API platform in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where as many as 87 million Facebook users had their data improperly harvested and shared.

Since then, Facebook has been trying to plug up the holes in its platform to prevent further data misuse. One of the changes it made was to stop third-parties from being able to post to Facebook as the logged-in user.

For existing apps, like Twitter, that permission was revoked on August 1, 2018.

Above: Twitter’s cross-posting feature, on the day it was disabled by the Facebook API change

Before the API changes, Twitter users were able to visit the “Apps” section from Twitter on the web, then authenticate with Facebook to have their tweets cross-posted to Facebook’s social network. One enabled, the tweets would appear on the user’s page as a Facebook post they had published, and their friends could then like and comment on the post as any other.

In theory, the API changes should only have prevented Twitter users from continuing to cross-post their tweets to Facebook automatically. It shouldn’t have also deleted the existing posts from Facebook users’ profiles and business users’ Facebook Pages.

This is a breach of trust from a company that’s in the process of trying to repair a broken trust with its users across a number of fronts, including data misuse. Regardless of whatever new policy is in effect around apps and how they can post to Facebook, no one would have ever expected that Facebook would actually remove their old posts without warning.

We’re hoping that the problem is a bug that Facebook can resolve, and not something that will result in permanent data loss.

Facebook tells us while it doesn’t have further information about the problem at this time, it should have more to share tonight or tomorrow about what’s being done.



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You can now apply to get a verified badge on Instagram — here’s how

Instagram is at last quenching the thirst of its thirsty, thirsty unverified users.

The company just introduced a trio of new features designed to make Instagram a generally safer and more authentic place to hang out (third-party 2FA — enable it!) and for the first time the platform now offers users a straightforward way to request verification.

On Instagram, blue check marks are fairly rare, even among pretty big brands and public figures. Getting verified on the platform has long been the stuff of legend — no one quite knows what goes on behind the scenes but knowing a guy doesn’t hurt. Remarkably, there’s even a super sketchy black market where people charge thousands of bucks to hook you up with verified status (or more likely to just rip you off). The whole thing has always been kind of mysterious, with little blue checks quietly sprinkled around in no discernible pattern.

It looks like those days are over. While it’s too early to tell if Instagram will be handing out more verified badges to users, they’ve at least made the process much more transparent. Now, any user can request to be verified with a few steps. As a note: In our testing, the option to request verification is live now in iOS but hasn’t yet popped up in the updated Android app.

If you’re curious if you might qualify to begin with, here’s how Instagram framed the new verification system in its latest announcement:

“… The blue verified badge is an important way for you to know that the account you are interacting with is the authentic presence of a notable public figure, celebrity, global brand or entity. Today we are enabling a new way for accounts that reach large audiences and meet our criteria to request verification through a form within the Instagram app.”

Does that sound like you? Here’s what you need to do.

1) Request Verification

From your profile, navigate to the Settings menu and then find an option to “Request Verification.”2) Show your stuff

Provide the relevant documents. Instagram accepts government-issued IDs (driver’s license, passport or other national ID cards). In lieu of that, you can submit official documents like a utility bill, tax filing, or article of incorporation. These documents won’t be public on your profile.

If your official documentation isn’t a match for your legal name, you might be out of luck. We’ve asked Instagram to clarify if these documents need to match your account information exactly or if they just need them on file for reference.

3) Wait and wonder

Wait while Instagram reviews your request. Instagram says that you’ll receive a notification letting you know if you’ve been approved or rejected, so look out for that. If you are rejected you can reapply after 30 days.

Tips and requirements

Before you apply, it’s worth reading over what Instagram requires for a verified account. According to its hub on verified badges, Instagram will evaluate your account for “authenticity, uniqueness, completeness and notability” — the criteria it must meet in addition to abiding by the platform’s terms of service.

What do those things mean? Instagram defines an authentic account as one that “represent[s] a real person, registered business or entity.”

When Instagram demands an account be “unique” what it really means is that it intends to only approve one account per business or individual except in cases of “language-specific accounts.” Instagram reminds users that it “[doesn’t] verify general interest accounts (example: @puppymemes).”

To make sure your account is complete, it must be public, with a profile photo, bio and one post minimum. Importantly, Instagram stipulates that your account “can’t contain ‘add me’ links to other social media services,” so prune anything like that.

The last criterion is the toughest. Instagram requires that your account be “notable.” You might think know that your account is [100 emoji], but unless you are a “well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity” you probably won’t make the cut. Instagram explains further that it reviews accounts “featured in multiple news sources” and paid content doesn’t count. While Instagram’s process is way more transparent now, this bit does leave some room for interpretation.

Even with the new request form, keep in mind that most users won’t make the cut. Historically, it’s kind of unpredictable. Popular users who seem like a no-brainer for a verified account sometimes don’t have verified status, while others with a far less substantial public profile do. Even here at TC, some of us (like @panzer with his assiduous sneaker content) sport a little blue check while others don’t. We don’t know if there is more rhyme or reason to verification now, but at least the process is public and available for everyone.



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Didi blames 'ignorance and pride' for carpool murder

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing blames "breathless expansion" for lapses that led to passenger murder.

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Printed 3D-gun blueprints back online

Defense Distributed defy court ban on downloadable guns by selling them to select states.

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Yes, Slack is having connectivity issues again

No, it’s not just you. Yes, Slack is having connectivity issues yet again. Though this time, they seem a bit less pronounced. I know we’re having some problems off and on, with different channels appearing offline. For the most part, however, communication is still up, so you probably won’t be able to convince your boss to take the rest of the day off. Sorry.

Slack acknowledged the problems on its status page, noting, “Folks are having troubles connecting to their workspaces. We’re looking into the cause and will have updates shortly.” The site experience similar issues earlier this month and back in June.

We’ll update shortly after those updates arrive shortly. Shortly.



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Instagram announces verification requests, transparency tools and stronger 2FA

Instagram has introduced a wide-ranging set of new tools today with security and transparency in mind. In a blog post titled “New Tools to Keep Instagram Safe,” the company is announcing three significant updates: an “about this account” section to provide users more context about accounts with large followings, a form through which accounts can request a coveted blue verified badge and support for third-party authenticator apps.

Instagram’s new “About this Account” section is designed to give users more information that they can use when evaluating the legitimacy of an account. The feature will be available by tapping the menu button from an account with substantial reach and will provide information like when an account was created, the country in which it is based, accounts that share followers, a lineage of that account’s username changes over the last year.

The feature will also link accounts with large audiences to the Instagram ads they are running, a nod to recent conversations around ad transparency in light of Russian government-sponsored political ads and disinformation seeping into social platforms.

According to Instagram, “In September, people who have accounts that reach large audiences can review the information about their accounts that will soon be publicly available.” When that period is over, the About This Account tool will launch to users around the globe.

The second major Instagram change will offer accounts a path toward verification on the platform, standardizing a process that’s generally been opaque. A blue verified badge can be requested through a user’s own profile by tapping the menu icon, choosing Settings, and “Request Verification.” Instagram will then review the request, asking users to “provide your account username, your full name and a copy of your legal or business identification,” information that will not be made available to the public.

Last but certainly not least, Instagram is adding support for third-party authenticator apps like Google Authenticator and DUO Mobile that provide more robust methods of two-factor authentication (2FA). The move is a long anticipated effort to make Instagram more robust against threats to user accounts that target text-based 2FA, which is notoriously vulnerable to sim hijacking attacks.

“We’ve been focused on the safety of our platform since the very beginning, and today’s updates build upon our existing tools, such as our spam and abusive content filters and the ability to report or block accounts,” Instagram Co-Founder & CTO Mike Krieger said in a statement about the updates.

“We know we have more work to do to keep bad actors off Instagram, and we are committed to continuing to build more tools to do just that.”



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Facebook expands its Express Wi-Fi program for developing markets via hardware partnerships

Facebook is today launching a partner program for its Express Wi-Fi initiative, which helps bring higher-speed connections to developing markets, including India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The program itself involves having local business owners install Wi-Fi hotspots, where internet service is provided by local ISPs, mobile network operators, and others that Facebook has partnered with. Now, Facebook is launching a new partner program that will allow access point manufacturers to build devices compatible with Express Wi-Fi.

Its debut lineup of partners for “Express Wi-Fi Certified,” as the partner program is called, include Arista, Cambium Networks, and Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS Company.

Facebook first began testing Express Wi-Fi three years ago, and has since expanded it to the five above countries and 10 partners. The idea behind the project is to create an entrepreneurial grassroots base for the its Wi-Fi service – that is, the operators and ISPs would be working with local entrepreneurs who want to resell internet access in their own communities. The partners set the prices, but Facebook provides the software.

The company has tried to address the needs of developing markets before, via its zero-rating program Free Basics. But this program was criticized over net neutrality concerns, as it only provided access to specific websites – like Facebook, of course – to the developing markets. India eventually banned that program in 2016, as a result.

Express Wi-Fi, on the other hand, offers full, unrestricted access to the web, not a selection of pre-approved sites and services. It’s one of Facebook’s many connectivity initiatives today, along with others like OpenCellular, rural access programs, drones, and other infrastructure projects.

The new partner program for Express Wi-Fi, announced today, was built to address specific issues Facebook and its partners faced in the field, the company now explains. It says it has been working with the manufacturers to build new access points that better detect registration pages and more accurately count the amount of Wi-Fi data consumed.

This will allow the Wi-Fi service providers to sell prepaid access as well as different traffic classes – like offering some services or content for free, while charging for others. Presumably, this would be another avenue of making Facebook free to developing markets down the road.

Facebook says having hardware manufacturers on board will help its operator partners more easily set up and manage their Express Wi-Fi hotspots.

Weak and expensive connectivity is a big barrier to Facebook adoption in developing markets, especially as user growth in developed regions is stalling – or, even decreasing at times. In July, Facebook reported no user growth in the U.S. and Canada, and a loss of European users it attribute to GDPR requirements. Developing regions, however, are still coming online and could bring Facebook a whole host of new users, if people can get connected.

 



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Jet2 plane withdrawn after flap alert

The same plane has had two problems with its flaps within the space of a week.

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LG V40 ThinQ Leak: 5 Cameras, Notched Display, Thinner Bezels

We all know very well that the well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, of course, Huawei with its P20 Pro has created a new way of looking at photography through a smartphone. The brand has placed on the back of its smartphone a three-camera module, where one is capable of capturing photos at 40 MP. Hence, to make something more different from the well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, of course, Huawei the well-known South Korean giant LG seems to be preparing its upcoming flagship smartphone, of course, LG V40 ThinQ with 5 cameras, notched display, thinner bezels and much more. LG V40 ThinQ

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro vs Poco F1: Which One Is Best?

As we all know, recently, Xiaomi launched a new smartphone known as Poco F1. Poco F1 is by far the best budget smartphone which is available under Rs. 20,000. If you are looking to buy Redmi Note 5 pro instead of Poco F1, then let me tell you the Rs. 3,000 difference will impact a lot. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro vs Poco F1: Which One Is Best? As we all know, recently, Xiaomi launched a new smartphone known as Poco F1. Poco F1 is by far the best budget smartphone which is available under Rs. 20,000. The smartphone features

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A fake billionaire is fooling people on Twitter

Businessman Warren Buffett is being impersonated in a wildly popular account tweeting inspirational advice

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Apple To Launch Three New iPhones, Watch With Larger Screen, Updated iPad Pros

We all know very well that we are almost in September and, every year, history repeats itself: As the tech giant Apple launches new iPhones. At this time of the year, the eyes of the whole world are focused on Cupertino company, of course, the tech giant Apple simply for the extraordinary news. Hence, this year will be no different. According to the latest reports, the tech giant Apple to launch three new iPhones, Apple watch with the larger screen, updated iPad Pros and much more. Apple To Launch Three New iPhones, Watch With Larger Screen, Updated iPad Pros We

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Trump rage-tweets Google alleging search ‘bias’

While several tech giants have found themselves in President Trump’s crosshairs since he took office, he has just unleashed what looks to be his most sustained attack on Google to date — firing off a couple of tweets at ~5.30am Washington DC time to rail against what he claims is algorithmic bias in the results the search engine serves up if someone types in “Trump News”.

No, the president did not use the four-syllable word “algorithmic”. But presumably he hadn’t even inhaled his first Coke of the day yet.

In his rage tweets, Trump makes the specific allegation that “96% of results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media”, without citing his source for the claimed datapoint. He then makes the further unsubstantiated claim that: “Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good.”

The Guardian suggests the 96% claim is a reference to an article posted at the weekend by the website PJ Media whose self-described “not-scientific” study of the top 100 Google News results for the search term “Trump” apparently suggested “a pattern of bias against right-leaning content”.

Trump ends the pair of tweets with a warning that the “situation will be addressed” — without specifying exactly what he plans to do. Which is pretty much trademark Trump Twitter policy-on-the-hoofing. Even as the wider political context around his administration, with whispers of impeachment in the air, implies that any loud public complaints by Trump about negative headlines related to himself are an attempt to distract attention from the legal hot waters now boiling around him. But whatevs.

Here are the tweets in all their rage-filled glory:

We’ve reached out to Google for comment.

Ironically, testing out a search for “Trump News” after Trump’s Google flaming tweets, I was served the below result, with the well-known right wing news organization Fox News bagging the very first result in the Top Stories slot, so er… 

It’s unclear whether Trump is aware that Google search results can vary depending on the individual doing the searching. And, well, if Trump is seeing lots of bad news about himself (when he searches for news about himself) let’s just say we’re sure that Freud would have had a field day unpicking the knotted implications of Trump having such navel-gazing obsession with news sources he continually professes to hate and claims are “fake”. But, again, whatevs.

Of course most of what Trump is claiming here is flagrant nonsense — especially as his cancerous catchphrase of ‘fake news’ gets liberally slapped on anything he disagrees with, regardless of whether it’s true or not.

But one thing he’s saying is more or less true: Google is arguably “controlling what we can & cannot see”, given the company has a dominant share of the search market in the West (and a massively dominant one in Europe), and that most Internet users will never click beyond page one of the search results it serves. Or even browse beyond the top few results.

So, essentially, the hierarchies of information that Google’s algorithms create can and do surface or sediment information. Or, in other words, if it’s not on page one of Google it’s barely there.

Another example of Google’s power over what can and cannot be seen: In Europe, in recent years, the company now selectively de-indexes certain search results related to individuals on request (after it has reviewed a request and made a decision), in order to comply with a legal ruling by the EU’s top court (the so-called ‘right to be forgotten‘) — making it less likely that a specific data-point about a non-public individual will be broadly visible in the region.

The fact that a single company has such power over the accessibility of information (and potential to shape opinion) should concern us.

Especially as Google’s algorithmic engines are proprietary black boxes and there is no or little independent oversight of whether its information shaping is fair or even appropriate. (Again in Europe the company has been charged with promoting its own products in shopping related searches over and above rivals — and has had to make changes to the product search results it displays to comply with the antitrust ruling, though it disputes and is legally appealing the regulator’s decision.)

So Trump has at least correctly identified that Google can and does wield huge power via the popularity of its information retrieval platform.

Even as the claim he’s also selectively, self-interestedly amplifying — i.e. ‘96% biased’ — is entirely unsubstantiated, having been based on a single non-scientific survey carried out by an American conservative news blog. So judge appropriately.

Above that, the notion that any commercial company in the West, let alone one so prominent and mainstream as Google, would knowingly and systematically embed political bias into its algorithms to make them less useful for a very large swathe of its potential users is, frankly, ridiculous.

If anything, tech platforms tend to have the opposite problem; They serve up too tightly personalized stuff, risking shrinking users’ ideological horizons by feeding people a political mono-diet. (Which may help explain the Trump phenomenon itself, but I digress.)

Nonetheless, the president has continued to make tech firms his Twitter punchbags. Just last month, for example, he accused Twitter of “shadow banning” Republican users. A claim the company quickly denied, writing: “We do not shadow ban. You are always able to see the tweets from accounts you follow (although you may have to do more work to find them, like go directly to their profile). And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”

Safe to say, as the headlines about Trump get worse Trump’s rage will grow and the tweets will surely flow.



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