Category: Apps and Software

Games, Apps, Softwares, Operating Systems and Software Hacks

  • Twitter May Soon Add “Quick Peek” Feature On iOS And Android

    Twitter May Soon Add “Quick Peek” Feature On iOS And Android

    Twitter is constantly working on new updates that aim to provide its users with a better experience while retaining simplicity at the same time. It was reportedly testing the upcoming ‘editable tweets’ feature, the anti-abuse feature and a load of other tools. Twitter has confirmed that it is testing out its quick peek feature on iOS and Android Operating System.

    About The Feature

    The option will enable users to tap on the @username in the main app feed to pop up the profile which they intend to view. It can be a very helpful feature. Not all accounts on Twitter have relevant usernames which can tell a user more about the person. Also, if the user clicks on a person’s avatar/username, they are taken to the profile page, interrupting whatever they were originally doing.  Instead, the new feature will act just like the ‘mouseover’ option which can be experienced on the Twitter desktop website. Users will get an option to follow the person or interact with other options on the profile. 

    https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1095784011845324801

    Also Read: Twitter May Add The Option To Edit Tweets Soon

    This feature is already being tested on iOS. The company, however, followed up with a reply to its original post just an hour later, confirming an Android update too. Twitter has not posted about the release date of this feature, but users can expect it to be implemented soon.

  • OnePlus To Soon Introduce Native Google Duo Calling

    OnePlus To Soon Introduce Native Google Duo Calling

    OnePlus will soon introduce Google Duo as its native video calling service throughout the OxygenOS ecosystem. This comes after the Chinese smartphone company announced in a blog post of an update that will be available to a few OnePlus 6/6T users. This will initially be a closed beta update which will roll out as a stable build later. It will also be introduced to older devices in the future update.

    The update was first rolled out on February 12 in small batches. It arrives as the version OxygenOS 9.0.12 for the OnePlus 6T and OxygenOS 9.0.4 for OnePlus 6. According to the official changelog, there are quite a few changes with the update. The update pushes the security patch level of the devices from December 2018 to January 2019. It will also integrate Google Duo deeply into the OxygenOS. Apart from that, there are some bug fixes and system improvements. 

    This update will first be available for OnePlus 6/6T devices which will soon be followed by older devices like the OnePlus 5/5T. The Google Duo video calling capability will be integrated across many native functions such as Call Logs, Contacts, Dial Pad, and Messaging. The users will also continue to have access to the traditional carrier video call option if there is any.

    Also read: Xiaomi Mi 9 Full Specs and Images Leak Before Launch

    Notably, the native Google Duo integration has been available for stock Android since the release of Android 9 Pie. It seems to be a promising step on OnePlus’s part as Google Duo is one of the highest rated video calling applications across mobile platforms. In typical OnePlus fashion, the device users can provide their feedback regarding the update on the company’s forum.   

  • WhatsApp for Android Redesigns The Settings Menu

    WhatsApp for Android Redesigns The Settings Menu

    WhatsApp in an update today has redesigned the settings menu for Android users. The update is now available for WhatsApp Beta users and has the build number v2.19.45. The update brings about significant design changes in the settings menu for the popular messaging app. It should be available in a stable update to the rest of the users soon.

    The update doesn’t introduce a new feature or settings altogether, but rather tries to beautify certain aspects of the menu. There are now icons to each option in the settings menu and the network usage page is also redesigned completely.

    WhatsApp v2.19.45: What’s New?

    The beta version of this update focusses on giving the settings menu of the app a design overhaul. ‘Accounts’ section now has a dedicated icon for each of the submenu. Options like ‘Security’, ‘Change number’, and ‘Two-step verification’ have also gained redesigned icons. The layout of all options in the ‘Notifications’ section remains the same though. All the tools in the ‘Help’ section have also been updated with dedicated icons. 

    Also read: Xiaomi Speaks Out Loud About Its Foldable Smartphone

    You can now see the net amount of data sent and received in the ‘Network Usage’ option and the memory usage in the ‘Storage’ section. These are absent on the app’s stable version. Also, the menu’s have a very different layout than what existed before and each parameter having an icon of their own. The release date of this update for the stable version hasn’t been announced yet, but it may be available shortly.

  • Google Maps Will Support Augmented Reality Navigation Soon

    Google Maps Will Support Augmented Reality Navigation Soon

    Google has already given us a view into the future, where augmented reality can be integrated into phone cameras. This happened at the Google I/O 2018, where Google showed off a demo with an advanced navigation system. The new nav system could guide users by showing pop-ups regarding nearby shops and businesses.

    Google Maps: The AR Version

    As per reports, the AR version of the Maps is still in the making. Google previously previewed another version for developers in May 2018. The interesting part of that was that Google showed maps on the lower part of the screen. The rest of the screen helped the user navigate the real-world surroundings. Google also used a blinking arrow system, which was almost alike to the arrow in Google’s previous presentation. 

    Map Warnings & Online Guides

    GoogleWall Street Journal’s David Pierce noticed some more intriguing details about this demo feature. After orienting itself to the surroundings, the Google AR version of Maps kept prompting David to put his phone down, so that he doesn’t hit an obstruction. Similarly, WSJ said that the app should be used by more users to test out its features. But the guide for the same wasn’t available anywhere on the app.

    As far as digital guides go, Google also showed off an idea of a digital guide on the AR Maps app. One version of the app included an “animated guide”, which was called “Pizza Man”. Similarly, it can be possible that Google might have more characters/animals as app guides in the upcoming future. 

    Expectations For The Release

    Also Read: Google Glass 2 Enterprise Edition Leaked, May Launch Soon

    One thing is for sure. The AR feature for Google Maps may take quite some time to release, depending on the number of integrations involved. Hopefully, it will available for testing by users sooner.

  • OnePlus Wants Users To Design The Next OxygenOS Feature

    OnePlus Wants Users To Design The Next OxygenOS Feature

    In the plethora of Android makers overloading their smartphones with skins and unnecessary bloatware, OxygenOS truly stands out. It is the closest a maker has gotten to stock Android with some great improvements over it. The gestures are better than the Pixel phones, there is an dark mode which works like one, and super quick updates. These are just some of the features OxygenOS offers that aren’t available in most Android devices.

    Looks like it is about to get even better as OnePlus has started a competition. Called the #PMChallenge, it will let the users pitch an idea of a feature they want. Enough reasons and a good implementation and you may see the feature in the next update. OnePlus announced the competition on its forum.

    Competition Details

    OnePlus has made the process of submitting you entry fairly simple. You have to Submit a PRD (product requirements document) answering the following questions. You have to keep #PMChallenge in the title. Also, all of this needs to be posted in the Tech section before February 22.

    • Who are the users?
    • What is the proposed function?
    • What is the user value?
    • If there are existing comparable functions in the smartphone industry, how is your proposed feature superior?

    The software team will check the entries and will announce the winners by mid of March. In the forum post, OnePlus says that it gets hundreds of suggestions everyday which may get overlooked. Also, by this competition, it will help them go through every suggestions and would definitely help them to make OxygenOS a better platform for its users.

    Also read: The Portless Meizu Zero Is Available For Pre-Order At $1299

    We think OnePlus has justified its popularity by listening to their customers using fun interactive activities like these. OxygenOS is also turning out to be one of the best Android software experiences.

  • Whatsapp Introduces Biometric Authentication On iPhone

    Whatsapp Introduces Biometric Authentication On iPhone

    Whatsapp, the world’s most used IM (Instant Messaging) platform has finally brought its FaceID and TouchID authentication to it’s iOS beta users. First spotted by WABetainfo, the new feature has been introduced with the latest 2.19.20.19 update. This update now adds a fingerprint lock, or TouchID, to all its conversations. 

    Previous Encryption 

    The company already introduced end-to-end encryption to all its instances in 2016. With the introduction of this new feature, whatsapp is even more secure, because it eliminates any snooping from your device. Read on to find out how you can avail the latest changes to the widely used social messaging platform. 

    How To Enable FaceID/TouchID Authentication?

    If you have the iPhone X or above, you can use Face ID to get into the application. And if you have one of the older iPhone versions, don’t worry, because the app will use your TouchID to encrypt your chats. To turn this extra piece of security on, just launch the app, and go to Whatsapp Settings > Account and click on Privacy. You will then need to select your screen lock from your settings menu. One thing to note here is that fact that you can still reply to messages from the locked screen if you’ve allowed access. 

    Once you’ve configured this, you’ll have to restart your Whatsapp application to get the new authentication feature to work. Whatsapp will then authenticate you in order to use the app. You need not worry if you can’t get in. There’s a failsafe, which allows you to enter the app by just entering your passcode. It’s simple as that. 

    Also Read : Google Removes 29 Malicious Photo-Editing Apps From Play Store

    Also, with the new update comes the option to select and download a specific sticker from the sticker pack. But the chats authentication is certainly Whatsapp’s focus here. Are you excited about this added security layer? Share your views with us in the comments below 

     

  • Google Removes 29 Malicious Photo-Editing Apps From Play Store

    Google Removes 29 Malicious Photo-Editing Apps From Play Store

    Google is on the roll again. This time, it reportedly took down 29 suspicious Google apps from the Play Store. And the surprising thing was the fact that these applications had already been downloaded over millions of times. Read on to find out more.

    What Do These Apps Do?

    As reported, several apps which are downloaded from the Play Store tend to display objectionable links and content on their screens. The links and clickable content then redirects the users to ‘scam’ websites, where information is misused. Supposedly, these ‘fake’ apps can access remote ad configuration servers for performing their phishing attacks. Previously, Google banned some Crypto-mining apps from their Play Store, due to policy changes by Google in July 2018. It also banned Chrome crypto-mining apps from the Chrome store. Crypto-jacking was a pretty common activity at that time. Hackers used to take over user’s devices for crypto-mining, even on mobile devices.

    List Of Malicious Apps

    Below is the list of the apps that were pulled off the Google Play Store. If you still have any app from the list in your phone, go ahead and uninstall it. It’s for the best 

    • Pro Camera Beauty
    • Cartoon Art Photo
    • Emoji Camera
    • Artistic effect Filter
    • Art Editor
    • Beauty Camera
    • Selfie Camera Pro
    • Horizon Beauty Camera
    • Super Camera
    • Art Effects for Photo
    • Awesome Cartoon Art
    • Art filter Photo
    • Art Filter Photo Effects
    • Cartoon Effect
    • Art Effect
    • Photo Editor
    • Wallpapers HD
    • Magic Art Filter Photo Editor
    • Fill Art Photo Editor
    • ArtFlipPhotoEditing
    • Art Filter
    • Cartoon Art Photo Filter
    • Art Filter Photo Editor
    • Pixture
    • Art Effect
    • Photo Art Effect
    • Cartoon Photo Filter
    App Demographics

    Also Read : HMD Global To Launch Nokia 9 PureView On February 24

    A lot of these apps are Beauty camera based apps, which lure users via promises of earning “a lot of money in a short span of time”. Our sources say that a huge percentage of downloads were performed in Asia, particularly India. This clearly indicates the kind of audience such developers are targeting. These apps are tough to remove from the application list because they create failsafes such as creating fake app shortcuts. These apps provide irritating full-screen ads, that are very disturbing and take you to another webpage. Thankfully, Google is trying to get rid of such apps, which seems like a good move. 

  • Apple Blocks Google’s Internal Apps On iOS

    Apple Blocks Google’s Internal Apps On iOS

    Just after a few days of banning Facebook’s notorious internal apps on its iOS, Apple has now blocked Google for the same. The company can no longer run its internal apps on Apple’s platform following a privacy scare. This was reported by TechCrunch and Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen.

    The main reason cited behind this decision is Google and Facebook’s use of these apps to monitor users activity. Apple’s move to block Google’s developer certificate comes just a day after Google disabled its Screenwise Meter app following press coverage. Google’s app also relied on Apple’s enterprise program. The program enables the distribution of internal apps within a company.

    According to a statement by Google “We’re working with Apple to fix a temporary disruption to some of our corporate iOS apps, which we expect will be resolved soon.” This statement was given to Mark Bergen. Since that, Apple seems to have revoked Google’s apps.

    Facebook’s Beef with Apple

    This news comes days after Facebook was caught installing root certificates on iOS devices. These would help the company steal the usage data of the users. This was being done in exchange of an amount up to US $20. Apple also took necessary action against Facebook on the matter.

    It was time for Apple to take a stand too, as the issues concerned privacy, a part where Apple claims to stand out. Incidents like these would’ve shown the company in a bad light. Since the news broke out, Facebook, in a statement to Bloomberg said “We can confirm that we have our enterprise certificate restored and we are working on getting our internal apps back up and running.”

    Also read: Samsung Breaks Terabyte Threshold for Smartphone Storage

     

     
  • Facebook Paying Users in Exchange For Their Data

    Facebook Paying Users in Exchange For Their Data

    Facebook and controversies go hand in hand. Just last year, it was caught in a huge privacy scandal that brought Facebook a lot of hate; as it compromised the data of a lot of users. Looks like Facebook is caught in a similar scandal again. Reports show that Facebook is seeking people to test its research app. This is to spy on them in exchange of money.

    Facebook did that to get data on its competitors, so the best way they thought they could accomplish it by asking the users for their data directly. The Facebook Research App, available for both Android and iOS. This App is installed through a website, which then installs certain certificates on your device. These certificates transfer data like your phone and web activity back to Facebook. This was compensated by an amount up to $20. 

    Spotted first by TechCrunch, The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest; to cloak Facebook’s involvement. The program is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas”- a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe.

    Facebook’s Affair With Data Theft

    In its report, The publication said “The strategy shows how far Facebook is willing to go and how much it’s willing to pay to protect its dominance — even at the risk of breaking the rules of Apple’s iOS platform on which it depends. Apple could seek to block Facebook from continuing to distribute its Research app, or even revoke it permission to offer employee-only apps, and the situation could further chill relations between the tech giants.”

    Read more: Honor Rolls Out Its Wearable Portfolio In India

    Facebook has had a reputation for not caring about users privacy over the years. When it acquired the mobile data counter Onavo, it helped them track user app data. This led to Apple banning the app last year. The app is still available on Android. Over that, this incident doesn’t help the reputation of Facebook and may tarnish it further. Facebook hasn’t released a statement yet.

  • Antutu Releases AI (Artificial Intelligence) Benchmarking Tool

    Antutu Releases AI (Artificial Intelligence) Benchmarking Tool

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming popular by each day. More and more companies are trying to offer some or the other AI centric feature in their smartphones. Antutu, the popular benchmarking tool to test the performance of a device, has released a new app called Antutu AI Review, which is meant to differentiate the AI performance of a device by giving it a score.

    Antutu, in its blog post mentioned “In order to let everyone have an intuitive judgment on the AI ??performance of their mobile phones, Ann Bunny officially released the Antutu AI Review public beta, providing a quantifiable standard for everyone to judge the difference in AI performance of different platforms.” 

    Due to there being a difference in what AI means for different SoC makers, Antutu AI Review has tried to establish a unified standard for testing through cooperation with the above manufacturers. The test is divided into two sub-items, namely image classification and object recognition.Among them, the image classification is based on the Inception v3 neural network, the test data is 200 pictures; and the object recognition is based on the mobilenet ssd neural network, the test data is a 600-frame video. The final score is calculated based off accuracy and speed. The higher the both, the higher is the final score.

    There is a catch however, if the speed is high but the accuracy of the image recognition isn’t, the benchmark will give a lower score. This is to prevent cheating as the device won’t be able to ramp up the speed and give wrong answers to get a higher score.

    Also Read: Samsung Galaxy M10 Unboxing And Hands-On

    The AI Benchmarking tool by Antutu seems like a good idea at the right time as the war for AI is heating up and it would be interesting to see which companies are serious about it and what are just providing them as a gimmick. The app is available to beta test as an APK file and will be released for public soon.

     

  • Google Maps To Display Speed Limits

    Google Maps To Display Speed Limits

    Google Maps has been constantly evolving and growing the features that it has. Very recently, they added support for Autorickshaws in India. Now, news suggests that they will add speed limits in their iOS and Android Apps. 

    The new feature adds a badge at the bottom left of the screen while the map is open and shows the speed limit of that particular road. It also displays speed traps. Speed traps are cameras installed in various roads to catch over-speeding drivers. These traps are shows with a small camera icon at the various locations the traps are based out of. 

    via-Android Police

    Drivers will also reportedly get an audio notification when they’re approaching a speed trap. The speed limit update is supposedly rolling out in Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. However the speed camera icons are rolling out to Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, UK and US users. According to a report, the speed limit feature was available in San Francisco Bay Area and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for almost a year now. Since last year, in many areas, users can report a speed trap whenever they face or spot one. This is a welcome feature for people who have cars without smart displays. Those relying on their phones for navigation can use this feature to not over- speed in low speed zones. 

     

    Also Read: Google Maps Auto Rickshaw Will Calculate Time And Price Of The Ride

    A crowdsourced application called Waze had similar features which was extremely detailed. Google bought Waze in 2013 for nearly US$ 1 Billion. It seems like Google has kept it’s eye on the Maps market for a long time and is doing what the market demands. These new features will not only make the roads much safer to drive in, but also save drivers a lot of money in terms of fine for over- speeding through camera traps.  

  • WhatsApp Adds New Feature To Control Spam Messages

    WhatsApp Adds New Feature To Control Spam Messages

    WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware, cross-platform messaging application that was started in the year 2009. In comparison to its initial release, the company has added several features and functionalities to the application. Except for text messaging it also provides services like Voice over IP (VoIP), media sharing and video calling. Due to its free price and ease of usage, it has become a huge hit amongst consumers across the globe.

    One issue that the company has tried to tackle for a long period of time is the propagation of fake news via the platform. In the month of July, last year WhatsApp launched a test to limit the forwarding of messages worldwide. The company specifically mentioned that its Indian users forward more messages and photos than users from any other country. The company tested a lower limit that restricts users to send messages to only five contacts at once.  Also, it removed the quick forward button next to media messages. According to the company, this step was taken to further improve the safety and privacy of its users. One example that helped to curb fake new is as follows:

    Labelling Forwarded Messages

    The new update of WhatsApp adds a crucial feature to restrain the diffusion of sham messages via the messaging application. After the update, WhatsApp will show which messages a user receives have been forwarded to them. Such a message will carry a small arrow along with the forwarded tag. This will allow the receiver to know whether that particular message was actually written by the sender or it was forwarded information. 

    How Will It Stop False News?

    Also Read: Redmi To Soon Launch The Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7 Pro & Redmi Go In India

    This fresh feature of WhatsApp will allow the receiver to ascertain if a specific message was forwarded or purposely written. The receiver can then determine whether they should trust the claims of that message or not. 

  • What Spotify Entering Indian Market Might Mean For Prime Music And Apple Music

    What Spotify Entering Indian Market Might Mean For Prime Music And Apple Music

    Swedish online music streaming service Spotify might launch it’s services in India soon. There is already quite a competition brewing between other music streaming services, with Prime music and Apple music being paid services. Saavn, Gaana Google and other companies also have free streaming that many Indians use, apart from using Youtube for their music needs. Spotify is already a couple of years late in entering the market. Recent news suggests that they plan to establish themselves and launch before the end of this month. 

    The company has already partnered with T series. T series is India’s largest music label and movie studio. Fans of T series have been in loggerheads to gain the most number of subscribers on Youtube with popular Youtuber Pewdiepie. This partnership will allow Spotify to gain access to T-Series’ catalogue of Bollywood and regional songs. The company is believed to be launching with a catalogue of five languages with more than 160,000 tracks across various genres. 

    What Others Offer

    Apple Music currently provides three months of free trial before one has to subscribe in India. The subscription charges are Rs 60/month for students, Rs 120/month for individuals and Rs 190/month for families. Amazon’s Prime Music on the other hand is available for free for all Amazon Prime users which costs 129 per month or Rs 999 per year. Prime membership also adds certain other benefits such as Prime Videos, free delivery for orders from Amazon and so on. On the other hand, JioSaavn PRO is offered for Rs 99 per month. In a highly competitive market such as this, Spotify needs to up the game if it is to survive and thrive. Being a price sensitive market, the membership fees will be the deciding factor for subscribers. 

    Till last year Spotify claimed to have the presence in 78 markets across the world. The company also has over 250 partners across televisions, cars, laptops and speakers among others. One of India’s biggest music streaming service, Saavn was recently acquired by telecom behemoth Reliance Industries Limited. Spotify can play to their strengths and look at acquisition of Indian music streaming services as well. This will not only reduce establishment costs but also reduce competition. However, in a stock exchange filing, Spotify reported that it had a dedicated office space in India, with 308 employees. This means that the company is going to have a go at the music streaming business in India very soon. It will be interesting to see how it pans out and how Indians receive the new streaming service option. 

     

     

     

  • Apple Maps Get Turn-by-Turn Navigation Support In India

    Apple Maps Get Turn-by-Turn Navigation Support In India

    Apple initially released the Apple Maps application back in 2012 replacing Google Maps as the default mapping service. But the application had limited users in India due to the absence of an important feature. Till now most iPhone users in India were forced to use Google Maps for navigation as it allowed turn by turn navigation in the country. Three years ago Apple set up a development center in Hyderabad which was focused on improving Apple Maps in the country. The latest update of maps offers detailed directions for both driving and walking. 

    Apple Maps Update

    The latest Apple Maps update for India allows the users to navigate turn-by-turn to their desired location which was previously absent. Additionally, the updated application allows its user to book cab services like Uber and Ola from within the Maps application. This feature has been available on Google Maps for quite some time.

    Like Google Maps, the updated Apple Maps service will also provide voice-guided navigation. In addition to the iPhone, iOS devices including the iPod Touch and iPad will also be able to avail the new maps features.

    What’s Still Missing?

    Although the Apple Map update brings key features that were previously unavailable, it still misses out on a few notable features. The Maps application still does not provide information about public transit which is critical for the last mile connectivity. Other features that are still missing after the update include the support for lane guidance and speed limits. 

    Also Read: Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4A Pro 43 Launched In India

    All in all, the new update adds necessary features to the Maps application for Apple devices and the missing features are expected to be added in the near future as the company is continuously working to improve it. 

  • PUBG Mobile India Series Announced With A Prize Pool Of 1 Crore

    PUBG Mobile India Series Announced With A Prize Pool Of 1 Crore

    PUBG has a huge fan base in India and the game has grown even bigger since the arrival of the game on the mobile platform. Now, Playerunknown’s Battleground has announced a tournament for all the mobile PUBG players in India. The competition has a prize pool of 1 Crore Indian rupees.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29R3udhlIYw&feature=youtu.be

    How To Register?

    The registrations will be open till 23 January. All you need to do is verify your email id after you click on “Register Now” button. Once you have verified your email, you will need to fill up a registration form. After that you can choose to join or create a squad of a minimum of 4 members. You can join a squad using the squad ID or you can use the “Create Squad” button to create one on your own. 

    Schedule

    The schedule for the tournament are as follows: 

    Registration 9 January – 23 January
    Online In-Game Qualifier 21 January – 27 January
    Online Playoff’s 10 February – 24 February
    Grand Finals March – Exact Dates TBD

     

    Every participant who decides to participate in this tournament must be an Indian resident and have their own devices. PUBG has also said that during the In-game Qualifier and Online Playoffs, the players are expected to use their own devices without any emulators, hacks and any other 3rd party software/tool. For the Grand Finals, devices will be provided to the players by the organisers. Tencent Games has also said in the tournament page that all players must install the newest version of the game in order to participate in PUBGM India Series. 

    Seeding

    In Round 1, the Top 2000 Squads are seeded into 100 groups with each group consisting of 20 squads. For Round 2, the top 400 squads from Round 1 will be seeded into 20 groups again, with each group consisting of 20 squads. In Round 3, the top 80 squads from Round 2 will be seeded into 4 groups, each consisting 20 squads. 

    Also Read: PUBG Mobile: Tips And Tricks To Become An Ace Player

    The server region for the tournament is Asia and the camera mode is TPP- Third person. You can read more about the rules of the tournament in full HERE

     

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