Category: Apps and Software

Games, Apps, Softwares, Operating Systems and Software Hacks

Flipkart Will Now Let You ‘Ping’ Your Friends While Shopping Online

Flipkart has announced a social networking service called ‘Ping’ today. It is a part of the Flipkart app and is an initiative by the company to bring a social element to your e-commerce shopping experience.

How does it work? Ping essentially allows you to talk to your friends and family when you are shopping for a particular product. So now, the store experience will come alive, whether you’re buying a gift for your mother on her birthday and you need your dad’s opinion or if you’re simply contemplating on buying shoes that you’ve been eyeballing for a while.

Ping allows you to share photos, wish lists and the products in your cart so that you can show them off to your loved ones and get an opinion. It automatically adds your friends through your smartphones Phonebook too. All you have to do is send them a text inviting them to Ping and if they don’t already have the feature, they will be asked to install it.

Flipkart’s Chief Product Officer Punit Soni stated that Ping’s design was original but the deign and UI look pretty similar to Facebook messenger. This app has been optimised to suit India and the network problems our country faces. Hence, Ping is 2MB in size, consuming less data, battery and is compatible with any smartphone running on Android 2.1 and above.

For now though, Ping is available only between you and your friends. However, the chat will soon become available to sellers, customer service and stakeholders in the e-commerce chain. You’ll be able to chat with anyone you like then.

Right now Ping has been launched with an invite model which means that only those who have an invite will be able to use the service and will also be able to share 10 invites with their friends.

Whatever said and done, this feature seems to be a well thought out and a convenient one.

August 25, 2015
The Kernel Source for the OnePlus 2 is Now Available

The Chinese manufacturer has officially made it possible for you to make custom ROMs for your OnePlus 2. Carl Pei, CEO, took to twitter to announce that kernel source for the OnePlus 2 is now open to the public, via GitHub.

This move means that developers will have full access to OxygenOS and can now make custom ROMs of the latest flagship smartphone in town.

The custom ROM that was based on Android 5.0 Lollipop was launched as a beta in April, this year. The company had already launched the OnePlus One with Cyanogen OS in April, last year. Later, Cyanogen partnered with Micromax, giving it full rights to sell Cyanogen-powered smartphones in India.

Because of this, OnePlus wasn’t allowed to sell Cyanogen OS based Android-powered smartphones in the country. However, they were allowed to finish selling their stock. Amidst the hue and cry, OnePlus then decided to launch its own Android- based OS. The company is well aware that their OS isn’t as popular as Cyanogen’s and hence opening its kernel source to users would make it imperative move to rope in customers.

The OnePlus’ custom ROM is now based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It’s recent update was reportedly designed to patch the Stagefright vulnerability. Along with this, it also brought updates to the camera user interface that allows users to take slow motion videos at 120fps.

The update seems to have improved the battery life of the smartphone and also has several bug fixes. Download the kernel source from GitHub.

August 24, 2015
Reports Suggest Google’s Android Pay Might Release This Week

Apart from its burgers and fries, McDonald’s is also known for being quite tech savvy. They have free Wi-Fi, complimentary iPads and were even one of Apple Pay’s first few partners. Now, recent information also suggests that the McDonald’s is preparing employees to be ready for the new Android Pay system.

The exact date of release, that has been indicated by a leaked memo is said to be on the 26th of August 2015. The Android Pay was announced at Google’s I/O developer conference in May and is said to launch in the United States first.

Android Pay relieves users from the hassle of carrying cards and the payment is done at merchants’ contactless terminals. Simply unlock the device and as soon as you place it near the machine’s NFC reader, a card interface will pop up automatically. Fingerprint scanning isn’t a must. Pick from the virtual cards to complete your payment. With this, you are done. Payment confirmation and transaction details will be received on your smartphone. There is no need to call up Android Pay and put in a separate PIN or password to authenticate payments. Android Pay deals with all by integrating with the security of the operating system.

The Android Pay has the same results as Apple Pay – you can swipe your phone instead of using cash or cards. Further reports also suggest that the new Android Pay will run on the Android KitKat or above.

However, Google has not made any official statement about the release of their new feature.

August 24, 2015
WhatsApp Opens Up its Web Service to iOS Users – Finally!

WhatsApp has recently opened up access to its web service for Apple iPhone users. This service allows you to send and receive messages on your computers and phones.

This function is still being rolled out, and hence may not be available to all users immediately, but those of you who have the latest version of the WhatsApp app should be able to find a “web” menu option under the “settings”.

“Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device – this means all of your messages still live on your phone.” – WhatsApp Blogspot

However, the feature works through the internet, so, the phone has to be connected to the internet, otherwise the conversation will drop out and all the users’ texts will remain on the phone. The web can sync data with the phone app that allows messages to be received and sent, within the browser. In order to sync your iPhone with the web client, you will first have to scan a QR code from WhatsApp’s website using your phone.

The WhatsApp web client had been launched in January 2015 and has since been available to Google, Windows, Blackberry and Nokia operating systems. However, this is the first time it has been available for Apple’s smartphone device.

August 20, 2015
Xiaomi Shows Off Their New OS, The MIUI 7

In addition to the much awaited Redmi Note 2 that was only launched in China, Xiaomi also released its OS which is the new version of the company’s Android-based operating system. The MIUI 7 OS was announced in China and the international launch took place today, in India.

We will get to see a lot more features and information on the MIUI 7, this time so before we take a look, let us show you a video that shows the performance of the MIUI 7:

This UI was announced on August 16th 2010, and now has 48 official ROMs by various MIUI developers, and 480 community ROMs.That seems to be substantial growth in the last 5 years as the MUI has over 150 million users today spread across a 156 countries. Naturally then, it has a lot of expectations riding on its back.

Firstly, it has a feature called ‘System UIs’, which is basically a bunch of theme sets that allow you to customise your phone according to your own taste. It has 4 choices; Rose, Pink Blush, Ocean Breeze and High Life.

A second cool feature would be ‘Showtime.’ This allows you to attach animated videos to certain contacts that you’ll be able to view when they call you. Cool, right? The most amazing part is that we don’t need to keep waiting for it either. Contrary to how launches usually work, this time we will get to see this particular feature in India first, and then it will roll out in other areas. Let’s feel special for a moment.

Thirdly, it has a feature called ‘Auto DND’ that can be used in combination with your Mi Band fitness tracker, if you own one, of course. What it does is, if a Mi Band detects you’re sleeping, it will automatically put the device in a Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, and silence your device. Once you wake up, the DND will be disabled. It’s like your personal butler, in a way.

source: Gsmarena

The ‘XXL Text’ is something that most elderly people ought to use. It’s a feature that allows you to apply huge fonts on your smartphone, whilst promising that your Xiaomi UI won’t become dysfunctional. Another feature called The ‘MIUI Data Saver’ is actually powered by Opera Max’s compression tech. This will release worldwide, in a month and will offer you data saving across all apps. Why is this a good thing? Because Opera’s cloud compresses data, and hence can save you a lump sum of cash when it comes to mobile data (up to 50% less data consumption).

The MIUI 7 even has a feature called The ‘Baby Album’ that uses face recognition to identify adorable babies and group their photos with you. And lastly, The ‘Daily Lockscreen’ feature chooses a picture to put on your lockscreen, on a daily basis. Once again, we have the privilege of seeing these features first in India, before they roll out elsewhere.

Thus those are a list of features you should be looking out for, starting 24th August which is when the MIUI 7 update will be available. You’ll get the taste of the new OS on the Redmi 1S, Redmi 2, Mi 3, 4, 4i and Redmi Note 3G/4G.

August 19, 2015
Has Apple Music Already Been Declared An Epic Fail?

Apple Music was set to become the next big thing.The thought of having millions of tracks available to stream, and that could be saved online, seemed like a recipe for success. However, a recent survey conducted by The New York Post showed that nearly half of the iOS users that enthusiastically downloaded the trial version of Apple Music have shockingly, stopped using it even before their trial period gets over.

The stats revealed that 48% of early Apple Music users have given up on the service while 52% are still using it. Of those 52%, nearly two-thirds said they were “extremely or very likely” to start paying for the service once it starts charging them money. This survey was conducted by MusicWatch and if we do assume that those 52% are going to stick to their word then Apple Music should have 3.8 million subscribers once the free trial ends.

Not bad right? But MusicWatch managing partner Russ Crupnick said that it should’ve had a larger user base considering how many Apple loyalists there are, all over the world.

“In terms of benchmarking Apple Music, 40 percent of iOS users are buying digital downloads from iTunes, suggesting trial of Apple Music could be higher,” he explained.

However, Apple lashed back at these statistics via The Verge, saying that 79% of the people who’ve signed up for the service, actually use it on a weekly basis. While we would like to believe them, lets hope that their retention rate converts into actual paid subscribers, proving that Apple Music won’t be an epic fail, after all.

August 19, 2015
Google Hangouts Breaks Free from Gmail, Gets its Own Website

The successful Google Hangouts has now been given its very own space by Google. As of last evening, the messaging service will not be restricted to just Google+ and Gmail. You can just go to hangouts.google.com to start talking.

The site puts Hangouts’ three key features — instant messaging, voice calls, and video chats — front and center, with big buttons to start up each of them. Thus, this change is going to allow every type of user to be on hangout in comparison to just those, who were always on Gmail and could hence use the facility.

It is natural for Google to have invested their time into giving Hangouts its own web service and a modern design. There are a large number of people using Google accounts and it only made sense for the company to pick up on that and make it easier and convenient for everybody, just like Facebook did, by separating its messenger.

The Verge stated that the Hangouts app has been overhauled on both iOS and Android, bringing it up to date with Google’s Material Design style and making the service a bit easier to use. So now, anyone can use Hangouts in any manner they wish, without its strings being attached to Gmail or Google+.

August 18, 2015
Twitter Officially Got Rid of the 140-Characters Limit From Direct Messages

We had earlier brought you the exciting news that Twitter was going to get rid of the 140 character limit that was put on its Direct Messages. Now it is has been officially followed through.

If you logged in today and checked your Direct Messages you will find that the 140 character limitation is missing and now you can chat away to your hearts content, in a single Direct Message.

While the whole concept of Twitter is supposed to have you sharing your opinions on a public forum, Direct Messages allows you to have personal chats about the memes, news, movements, and events that unfold on Twitter. Therefore, Twitter aimed to work on the Direct Message feature to make it personal, but fun.

As for the public side of it, nothing changes. You will have to say what you need to in 140 characters itself, coupled with memes, videos and emojis, if you wish.

The relieving and drastic change will be executed on Android and iOS apps, as well as twitter.com, TweetDeck and Twitter for Mac. The company says that the rolling out of the change worldwide, will continue in the next couple of weeks.

If you’re dying to try a restriction free Twitter, make sure you have the latest version of the app so that you get the update right away, Sending and receiving Direct Messages via SMS will continue to be limited.

So go ahead, speak your mind.

August 13, 2015
Zomato Will Soon Help You Locate Disabled-Friendly Restaurants

The social media was abuzz in March, when Nipun Malhotra – a disability rights activist tweeted that he, “Was declined entry at Keya Delhi, DLF Promenade because they don’t allow ‘disabled’ inside!” And as a response to his feedback, Zomato, is all set to announce a new feature by introducing a ‘disabled-friendly’ filter.

The above story does have another side to it, with Keya representatives clarifying that Malhotra had earlier dined there and had been welcomed because the restaurant was disabled-friendly, but he was denied entry because he was part of a stag group on Holi.

According to reports, Malhotra got in touch with the Zomato executives, who welcomed this suggestion and are said to have already begun collecting data from restaurants focusing on establishments that are accessible through wheelchair.

This idea is said to have struck him after having visited the Unites States, where he discovered that the popular restaurant listing service Yelp featured the disabled-friendly indicator for establishments that offered ramps and other disabled-friendly facilities.

The Zomato disabled-friendly feature is said to be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai within the next two weeks.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/08/10/zomato-disabled-friendly_n_7963784.html”]Huffington Post India[/tw-button]

[tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”https://twitter.com/nipunmalhotra”]Twitter.com/NipunMalhotra[/tw-button]

August 12, 2015
Get a Hand On Experience Of the OnePlus 2 Using Your Ola App

Ola has announced its exclusive partnership with OnePlus 2 today. This initiative will be available on the Ola app across 5 cities, that include – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

This partnership means, that all Ola users can request for a free OnePLus 2 experience at their doorstep, by clicking on the OnePlus 2 icon that will be live on the Ola app. Users can use this app to get OnePlus invites and freebies and a few lucky ones will also stand a chance to win the OnePLus 2 invites.

“This is the first time ever, that an on-demand platform in the country is bringing an exclusive experience for its users, with the new OnePlus 2. Users can request a OnePlus 2 experience at their doorstep within minutes, straight from their Ola app, with the same ease of booking a cab with one touch. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to our users experiencing the OnePlus 2 before anyone else does in the country.” – Sudarshan Gangrade, Vice-President – Marketing at Ola

This is not the first time that Ola has come up with innovative ways to engage with customers – just recently they went app-only and thereby increased their customer base. However, the app-only system is debatable, but this new collaboration seems like it could definitely help Ola expand their reach.

This initiative will be available on the 17th and 18th of August 2015 in Bengaluru and Chennai, 21st and 22nd in Mumbai and 25th and 26th in Kolkata and Delhi. So watch this space and mark your calendar.

August 11, 2015
You Will No Longer Be Tricked Into Installing Chrome Extensions

Google has decided to take control over ‘inline installations’ that promise exciting features and then latch themselves on to your Chrome Web browser using random plugins.

Starting September 3rd, 2015, Google will restrict the installation of such extensions. The inline installation allows developers and web publishers a convenient option to make readers install their extensions without leaving the website.

The extensions can be found on the Chrome Web Store. However, publishers also found a way to embed a shortcut to it – so when a reader clicks on the install button, an installation dialogue automatically appears on the website, instead of the reader getting redirected to the Chrome Web Store first.

“It’s an important step to maintain a healthy extension ecosystem for users and the vast majority of extension developers who don’t use deceptive tactics.” says Google.

This feature soon began to annoy users, as the developers who maintain various advertisements claiming to offer free software updates etc. tricked users into installing their own extensions as well.

Google will now monitor any unwanted or mysterious extension and redirect them to the product page of that extension in the Chrome Web Store. This is to allow the user to decide whether he/she wants to install that particular extension or not.

However, it is also reported that inline installations will continue, but just not the unwanted ones.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://chrome.blogspot.in/2014/05/protecting-chrome-users-from-malicious.html”]Chrome Blogspot[/tw-button]

August 9, 2015
Research : Almost All Fingerprint Sensors on Android Mobiles Can Be Hacked

New reports suggest that our fingerprints are not as unique and safe for security, as we might have otherwise believed. This makes almost all Android smartphones in the future susceptible to getting hacked. Studies by FireEye researchers Tao Wei and Yulong Zhang have outlined new ways to attack an Android device to extract the user’s fingerprint.

As of now, this threat is said to be confined to Android devices like Samsung, Huawei and HTC devices. The research shows four outlines for these hacks, and one them called the “fingerprint sensor spying attack”, is said to be able to “remotely harvest fingerprints on a large scale,” says Zhang.

Reports suggest that the two devices that have been hacked are – the HTC One Max and Samsung’s Galaxy S5. This happens because the device doesn’t fully lock down the sensor, allowing the hacker to acquire a fingerprint image.

“In this attack, victims’ fingerprint data directly fall into attacker’s hand. For the rest of the victim’s life, the attacker can keep using the fingerprint data to do other malicious things,” Zhang said.

As we know before fingerprint technology was used for mobile payments and unlocking devices, it had been previously used for identity, immigration, and for criminal records. However, researchers have not mentioned which device is more secure than the other, although they have mentioned that the iPhone is “quite secure” as it is encrypted by a fingerprint data from the scanner. So, “even if the attacker can directly read the sensor, without obtaining the crypto key, [the attacker] still cannot get the fingerprint image,” he said.

Research also says that this hack is susceptible to high-end laptop users with fingerprint sensors and advice users to use devices that are regularly updated and install apps only from reliable sources.

Source:[tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-can-remotely-steal-fingerprints-from-android-phones/”] Zdnet[/tw-button]

August 7, 2015
Nokia Bids Farewell to Its Here Maps Unit For $3 Billion

We know that Nokia has been away from the limelight of smartphones and is no longer considered the competition it used to be. Now, another field that they will be stepping away from completely, is the area of maps. Nokia sold its Here unit to the parent company, Daimler that has German carmakers like Mercedes, BMW and Audi, under it.

“High-precision digital maps are a crucial component of the mobility of the future. With the joint acquisition of Here, we want to secure the independence of this central service for all vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and customers in other industries,” said Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler.

The price that it was sold at was $3 billion dollars and each partner i.e., each of the car companies will own an equal stake in Here maps. The deal is supposed to officially close in the first quarter of 2016.

August 3, 2015
This Windows 10 Feature May Be Using Up Your Internet Bandwidth

As people are slowly learning and getting used to the Windows 10 updates, some of them stand out, here is one. A feature called the Windows Update Delivery Optimization gives Microsoft the permission to share parts of your Internet bandwidth, with others.

This feature saves and uploads parts of your updates files that have been downloaded via Windows Update & Windows Store service, then depending upon your settings, will share that with people on your local network, or people on the internet.

“Delivery Optimization downloads the same updates and apps that you get through Windows Update and the Windows Store. Delivery Optimization creates a local cache, and stores files that it has downloaded in that cache for a short period of time,” says the description.

This feature is enabled in all desktop editions of Windows 10 by default; however it only shares files on the local network. There is an option to turn off this feature, one needs to go to the Settings > Update & security > Windows Update > Advanced options. After that, select the ‘Choose how updates are delivered’ and turn off the ‘Dicovery Optimization’ feature.

Image Source: NDTV Gadgets

The feature, is one of the few that could annoy users, just like the Wi-Fi Sense did. The Wi-Fi sense is a feature that was previously available on Windows Phones, whereby it shares the user’s Wi-Fi credentials to all contacts on Facebook, Outlook & Skype.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/30/windows-10-steals-your-bandwidth-to-send-other-people-updates/”]TheNextWeb[/tw-button]

August 1, 2015
Here’s How You Can Switch Back to Windows 8.1

After the launch of the Windows 10, it has been getting many positive reviews especially because it has been expected to replace all the features that Windows 8/8.1 lacked, such as the much loved, Start button.

However, some users might still want to revert to the Windows 8/8.1, due to technical reasons such as certain bugs not being patched yet into the Windows 10, etc. Windows 10 has a rather simple method of downgrading right back to Windows 8/8.1 until you are ready – one can just go to the Upgrade & Security option and choose Recovery.

Image Source: BGR

The downgrade might give you certain problems such as apps not opening or running, but one just needs to reinstall them. Although it is still suggested to stick to Windows 10, considering the free upgrade and good reviews.

Source:[tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://reviews.gizmodo.com/psa-windows-10-isnt-a-risk-free-upgrade-1720936691″] Gizmodo[/tw-button]

August 1, 2015