Google follows Apple & Samsung in switching to water pistol for the gun emoji

With iOS 10 in 2016, Apple switched to a water pistol for its gun emoji. The new design was not widely adopted — if not critiqued — until this year where there’s been a rash of changes on other platforms. Google is now the latest to match Apple’s design direction on the gun emoji with the upcoming version of Android.

Nintendo Switch

According to Emojipedia, Google today updated its NotoColorEmoji library with a new emoji design. The current realistic revolver with a dark gray barrel and brown handle has been replaced with an equally realistic water pistol that is brightly colored in yellow and orange with hints of green and blue.

In line with Google’s other modern emoji, there is a fine attention to detail. Interestingly, the preceding version of the emoji was just revamped in 2017, with the prior version in use for three years. Before that Google used a musket, while in 2012 Google used the generic outline of a modern handgun.

As Emojipedia notes, Google — following Apple’s decision in 2016 — was cautious about changing, citing a desire to maintain “cross-platform communication.” However the landscape in 2018 has changed with Twitter and later Samsung on the Galaxy S9 switching to a water pistol.
Given the momentum, it makes sense Google to follow along to ensure that communication across platforms is consistent. The new design should be adopted system-wide with the launch of Android P later this fall.

Read More

What is Google’s Andromeda project and why should we care?

Rumours are surfacing regarding an upcoming Google OS called Andromeda. These same rumours suggest that the OS will reside alongside ChromeOS and Android and that it will be designed for laptop-like devices.

What we really want to know is why this OS even exists.

First, let’s get the facts out of the way
Android Police claims that their sources have confirmed the existence of the OS as well as work on a device that it’s expected to debut on. The device has been dubbed the Pixel 3 laptop and the project is code-named Bison.

In terms of specs, the device is expected to sport an Intel m5 or i5 CPU, 8GB or 16 GB RAM and offer 32GB or 128 GB storage. The screen will be about 12.3-inches and you’ll get USB-C, a fingerprint reader, touchpad with haptic feedback and more. Of course, all of these specifications are subject to change.

Sources have apparently told Android Police that the project is an attempt to build an OS that melds ChromeOS features into Android. Andromeda and the Pixel 3 are expected to debut in Q3 2017.

But what does this mean?
Android started out as an OS for touch-screen mobile phones, later evolving to include tablets when the need arose. Originally, the OS was all about apps, but later, the focus shifted to the browser and now, it’s at messaging and AI.


Android was never a good fit for true computing. A laptop was still needed for real work (not just emails) and thus, ChromeOS was born. It came at a time when desktop apps were shifting to the cloud, when collaboration was the name of the game (This was in 2011, Apple. Take note.)
ChromeOS worked because it brought with it cheap devices that gave you access to the full desktop web and associated web apps. It was like a stand-alone Chrome browser. Devices were hassle-free to maintain and run and since everything was stored in the cloud, you never lost any data.



Of course, you needed an active internet connection to make full use of it.

As time passed and ChromeOS started getting more popular, the lack of apps started to really hurt. Doing things on the web is great, but offline is sometimes better.

It was then that Google announced plans to merge Android apps into ChromeOS.

It’s a move that makes sense. Android is a mobile OS where apps and mobile browsing are king. ChromeOS is a “desktop” OS where the “desktop” web is king. Throw apps into the mix and ChromeOS suddenly becomes more flexible.

So what’s the catch?
The catch here is that ChromeOS is still only about the browser. Android apps do work, but they run just about as well as they would on a tablet. Think of them like UWP apps on the Windows Store. They’re not as great as true desktop apps, they’re a stop-gap.


Andromeda is supposed to change that. Rather than integrate Android into ChromeOS, Andromeda is apparently trying to integrate ChromeOS into Android. Andromeda might, in fact, be a portmanteau of Android and Chrome, but don’t take our word for it.

As far as facts are concerned that’s all we know.

So why does it exist?
Thinking about it, I think I understand why Google is working on Andromeda. We spend most of our time on our phone and in apps and it’s only when we need to “work” and our phone isn’t up to the task that we switch to a PC.

Say you’re browsing the web on a tablet, you’d rather just use it in tablet mode. But what if you want to work on a document? You can work on the docs app, but it’s also more convenient to work on Google Docs in a desktop web browser. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do that on the same device?
This, I believe, is the idea behind Andromeda.

I could be completely in the wrong of course.

The difference between ChromeOS running Android and Android running ChromeOS is subtle, but it’s significant.

Is this the future?

Read More

Microsoft acquires LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, here are 10 things you can buy with Rs 1,758,542,690,000

Microsoft has announced that it is going to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. That is Rs. 1,758,542,690,000 going by the current exchange rate. So what can so much cash get you?



37,697,841 Bitcoin: Microsoft could have purchased all the bitcoin in the world with that kind of money. Theoretically, this would kill the bitcoin economy, and make the cryptocurrency worthless. However, that is not possible because there will only be 20,999,999 bitcoin ever mined. After buying all the bitcoin, there will be some loose change left over for healthy dogecoin and litecoin investments as well.



62,380 Chewbacca Mom Sponsorships: Chewbacca Mom’s impromptu Facebook Live gig made her an overnight celebrity, and earned her $420,000 worth of goodies, including a VIP pass to Dinsey World and college scholarships for her entire family.



1,871,428 “Rolls Royce of Smartphones”: Israeli Start-up Sirin is making an uncompromising Android device, dubbed the “Rolls Royce of Smartphones“. Solarin is a smartphone with military grade encryption, and each one costs $14,000 (over Rs 9 lakh).



840,000 Mobile Phone Towers: Mobile operators are all ready to invest Rs. 12,000 crore for 60,000 mobile towers. At that rate, telecom service providers will be able to install 840,000 cell phone towers with the cash that Microsoft has. Though that may not be something everybody wants considering the fears over cell phone tower radiation.

30 years of Coal Power sector losses: The coal power sector has allegedly faced losses of Rs. 28,000 crore over the last five months because of water scarcity across the country, according to Greenpeace. The Microsoft buyout can cover the losses of the coal power sector for 30 years at this rate, but it is highly unlikely that the rates will stay the same for so long.

354 Mangalyaan Missions: Ok India’s mission to Mars was much cheaper than say NASA’s Maven mission, because of the different accounting standards for measuring mission costs. But this is how we calculate, and by our calculations, India could have sent 354 missions to Mars for the same price that Microsoft is going to buy out LinkedIn.

18 Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Trains: The high speed rail project that just got rejected by the Maharashtra government because it would cause huge revenue losses. The project costs Rs. 9,800 crore, which means that 18 such high speed rail projects can be built in India, if Microsoft is interested in making a donation.

5 Large Hadron Colliders: at the time of construction, the Large Hadron Collider cost about $4.4 billion to build or Rs. 295,417,980,000. Microsoft can build five, almost six of these underground mega-structures for studying subatomic particles.

935 HAL Tejas Mark IAs: Hal Tejas cost us RS. 7000 crore to develop, with a per unit cost of Rs 190 crore for the HAL Tejas Mark IA and Rs 160 crore for the Hal Tejas Mark I. India will be able to buy 935 of these delta wing light fighters. Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri from Border would approve.

34,933,333 Apple iPhone 6S Plus 16 GB: Let’s be realistic though, who would spend so much on a 16GB version? There is a better option available for the same price though, wind turbines. Wind turbines that can power 34,933,333 houses for a lifetime. For just a little over Rs 50,000, Avant Garde Innovations is installing a permanent source of clean energy for individual households.

Read More

WhatsApp for iOS, Android: How to add bold, italics and strikethrough formatting options

Soon after WhatsApp announced that it introduced text formatting tools for Android beta, the features are now available for users running version 2.12.17 on iOS and version 2.12.535 for Android.

A report by Telegraph explains that once WhatsApp is updated, you add asterisks to either side of your text, e.g. *hello* to format your text into bold. To italicise, add underscores either side, e.g. _hello_ and to strike through text, add tildes either side, e.g. ~tilde~. One can also combine the new formats, such as _*bolditalics*_. For now this is not a feature per se but more like a temporary workaround. Moreover, it works cross platform, only if your friend has the above mentioned versions of WhatsApp installed on their smartphones.

Recently, WhatsApp also released an update which would display a progress percentage whenever an automatic local backup is in motion. However, the pop-up still blocks everything but it at least displays the percentage, so that one has a fair idea of how much time one will have to wait before the app is usable again. Another small change is the the phone number no longer shows up front and centre in the new Settings screen. The new profile section will only show the photo, name, and status, but not the phone number.

Along with this change, some new improvements have been made to the WhatsApp document file sharing feature too. One can now share a document through Google Drive. A report by points out that users can select a PDF, Word file or PowerPoint presentation file from Google Drive. Although, all of the files will be automatically converted to PDF format before sending it to other users.

Read More

Uber: Hack us and we’ll give you up to $10,000

Today, Uber — the site with a bit of an image problem when it comes to security — opened the doors on its bug bounty program and promised payouts of up to $10,000.

The program has very specific examples of what qualifies for a reward, such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, server-side remote code execution (RCE) and others. You can find what it it is, and isn’t, looking for here. Or, you can peruse the company’s blog post for information about specific technologies in use across several Uber Web properties, including:

• https://*.uber.com/
• https://*.dev.uber.com/
• http://petition.uber.org
• http://ubermovement.com
• iPhone Rider Application
• iPhone Partner Application
• Android Rider Application
• Android Partner Application

If you find a bug, you'll be paid $3,000 to $10,000 for issues for one of the items on its hit list, or you'll get a nice firm pat on the back if you find an issue related to fraud, as Uber isn't currently rewarding those who find fraud issues.

Read More

Bengaluru-based hacker Anand Prakash finds bug in Facebook login system; rewarded $15000

Bengaluru-based Anand Prakash found a vulnerability on Facebook which could have been used to hack into any user account easily without any user interaction. This could give full access to view messages, credit/debit cards stored under payment section, personal photos and much more.

According to a post on Prakash’s blog, he stated that, “Whenever a user forgets his password on Facebook, he has an option to reset the password by entering his phone number/email address and Facebook will then send a 6 digit code on his phone number/email address, which can be used in order to set a new password.” He added that he tried to brute the 6 digit code on Facebook and was blocked after 10-12 invalid attempts.



Prakash looked out for the same issue on beta.facebook.com and mbasic.beta.facebook.com and found that rate limiting was missing on ‘forgot password’ endpoints. He tried to takeover his own account and was successful in setting new password for it as well. With this method, he could then use the same password to login in the account.

Facebook, on its part, acknowledged the issue promptly and fixed it. The hacker was rewarded $15,000 (approximately Rs 10 lakh) considering the severity and impact of the vulnerability.

Read More

Google opens access to Project Fi mobile phone service

Google on Monday opened its Project Fi mobile phone service to anyone in the United States using its latest model Nexus smartphones. The public launch of Project Fi marked the end of a 10-month, invitation-only test phase and comes as the Internet giant’s first foray in being a mobile phone service provider.

“We’re excited to be exiting our invitation-only mode and opening up Project Fi so that people across the US can now sign up for service without having to wait in-line for an invite,” product manager Simon Arscott said in a blog post.

“With Project Fi, we deliver fast wireless service with the flexibility to use it where you want even internationally and a monthly bill that’s simple and easy to understand.”

Project Fi is only available for Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6 smartphones from Google and work with a special SIM card that supports connections to multiple cellular networks.

Project Fi enabled smartphones can link to one of two 4G LTE networks or to Wi-Fi, automatically selecting optimal connections and switching from one to another without interrupting service, according to Google.

“As you go about your day, Project Fi automatically connects you to more than a million free, open Wi-Fi hotspots we’ve verified as fast and reliable,” Google said in a blog post.

“Once you’re connected, we help secure your data through encryption.” Basic Project Fi plans cost $20 monthly for unlimited domestic voice calls as well as unlimited domestic and international text messaging. Fi boasts cellular coverage in more than 120 countries.

Data service costs $10 per gigabyte, with people only charged for what they use. Google promoted Fi service with discounted prices on Nexus 5X smartphones. The move by Google is seen as a way to lure consumers away from Apple and promote Google-branded Android phones with an a low-cost mobile plan.

Read More

Want to brick your iPhone? Set the date to January 1st, 1970

If anyone asks you to set the date on your iOS device to January 1st, 1970, DON’T! A recently discovered bug in devices running the 64-bit version of iOS will render your device useless for a while.

Since the bug only seems to affect iOS devices, the most popular, and most probable, theory by far is one that suggests a bug in the UNIX core of iOS. While trying to avoid sounding too technical, the theory is that since UNIX measures time from January 1st, 1970, setting the date to that value when in a different time zone might cause the date value to go below zero. Since UNIX, and by extension, iOS, can’t read a negative date, the device will get stuck.

So far, the only reliable way to recover the device is to either go to an Apple Certified service centre and have the battery removed and reinstalled. You can try to reinstall the battery yourself, but woe be you if you damage the TouchID sensor. Another less reliable option is to turn off the device and wait for a few hours.

Every device running 64-bit iOS is affected but luckily, a simple software update should fix it. The entire list of 64-bit iOS devices comprise of the 6th gen iPod touch, every iPhone from the iPhone 5S onwards, every iPad from the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 onwards.

Read More

Robots, new working ways to cost five million jobs by 2020

Disruptive labor market changes, including the rise of robots and artificial intelligence, will result in a net loss of 5.1 million jobs over the next five years in 15 leading countries, according to an analysis published in Davos. The projection by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is holding its annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort this week, assumes a total loss of 7.1 million jobs, offset by a gain of 2 million new positions.

The 15 economies covered by the survey account for approximately 65 percent of the world’s total workforce. The assessment highlights the challenges posed by modern technologies that are automating and making redundant multiple human tasks, from manufacturing to healthcare. With the International Labor Organization, part of the United Nations, already forecasting an increase in global unemployment of 11 million by 2020, the size of the additional job losses is sobering.

Two-thirds of the projected losses are expected to fall in the office and administrative sectors as smart machines take over more routine tasks, according to latest findings, which are based on a global survey of personnel and strategy executives.

The WEF has made “the fourth industrial revolution” – a topic covering robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and biotechnology – the official theme of this year’s Davos meeting, which runs from Jan. 20 to 23.

The “Future of Jobs” report concluded that jobs would be displaced in every industry, although the impact would vary considerably, with the biggest negative losses likely to be in healthcare, reflecting the rise of telemedicine, followed by energy and financial services. At the same time, however, there will be a growing demand for certain skilled workers, including data analysts and specialist sales representatives. Women will be the biggest losers as their jobs are often concentrated in low-growth or declining areas such as sales, office and administrative roles, the report said. While men will see approximately one job gained for every three lost over the next five years, women face more than five jobs lost for every one gained.

Read More

Say Goodbye To GPS! India's All Set To Switch To The Desi Navigation System, IRNSS

It's time we move away from the American Global Positioning System (GPS) and make way for our own desi navigation system — the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS on our mobile phones.




Beginning Thursday, Isro will hold a major meeting in Bangalore involving location and navigation device manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers and global information system (GIS) technology developers presenting to them the advantages of using the IRNSS technology over the current GPS technology.

During the two-day meet, Isro will demonstrate how the seven IRNSS constellation satellites once operational by July next year, will be significantly more accurate than the American GPS system. The meeting will also be attended by senior scientists from Space Application Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad.



Unlike American GPS, Isro is recommending a small additional hardware in handheld devices that can receive S-Band signals from IRNSS satellites and inclusion of a code in the phone software to receive L-Band signals.

"Both these L and S band signals received from seven satellite constellation of the IRNSS are being calculated by a special embedded software which reduces the errors caused by atmospheric disturbances significantly. This in turn gives a superior quality location accuracy than the American GPS system," says a senior Isro official.

All the seven satellites of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) are expected to be in orbit by March 2016, Indian Space Research Organisation said today.

ISRO also aims to make signals available not only to India and surrounding countries but also to the entire globe, ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said.

GSAT-15 satellite with GAGAN payload is slated for launch by November 10

IRNSS is ISRO's initiative to build an independent satellite navigation system to provide precise position, velocity and time to the users of Indian region. The system is designed with a constellation of seven spacecraft and a vast network of ground systems.

With the addition of fourth spacecraft IRNSS-1D in March 2015, the minimum satellite requirement is met and independent positioning is now possible for the first time using an Indian satellite-based navigation system.

He said, "as we make it global, global users will be able to take advantage. Otherwise, now only regional users can take advantage of IRNSS." 

Read More

iPhone users can now finally use WhatsApp on the web

Almost eight months after WhatsApp launched its web client for Android users, WhatApp Web finally arrives for iPhone users. WhatsApp for Web will now work with Safari on the Mac.

To use this service, one will have to simply head to the WhatsApp Web website and scan the QR code seen on the desktop via the mobile app. However, this feature has not been rolled out to all the users and will be available in phases. Recently, the service introduced many new features for iPhone users such as the option to mute an individual chat, mark a conversation as read or unread, backup videos and location sharing. In addition, features such as auto loading of older messages was added along with better support for VoiceOver.

WhatsApp for Web is now available for Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, iPhone, Nokia S40 and Nokia S60. Recently, WhatsApp for Web was updated too. The update included some mobile-like features including more control over chats and group conversations.

Users will now see more options in the browser version too. Firstly, you can edit your profile photo and status message. Some UI tweaks have also been included in this update. The Settings option will now show overflow for chats, allowing users to delete and archive chats. In addition, users can also archive, mute and exit group chats.

iPhone users seem quite excited to try out the new client too!

Looks like WhatsApp Web is turned on for iOS. pic.twitter.com/qGYwlqahIi

— Krishna (@ofkrishna) August 19, 2015

Finally! #WhatsAppWeb for #iOS is here! pic.twitter.com/qFyDAZ2JCi

— bottecla (@bottecla) August 19, 2015

WhatsApp Web is now available for iOS users pic.twitter.com/4GWqqLAUx6

— Arian (@arianismmm) August 19, 2015

Read More

Hindi content grows by 94% year on year compared to 19% growth in English content: Google

Catering to the internet users in tier II and III towns, technology giant Google is now focusing to expand usage of its products like ‘Maps’ and ‘Search’ in vernacular languages, especially Hindi.
“While there are an estimated 500 million speakers of Hindi, there are just 100,000 Wikipedia articles. India’s Internet population is growing really fast, from 100 million users in 2011, we are now the world’s second largest Internet base with 300 million users and we are well-poised to touch 500 million base by 2017,” Google India Marketing Director Sandeep Menon told PTI.

He added that one in five (21 per cent) prefers to access Internet in Hindi in the country.
Showcasing its products at a ‘Google House’ event here, the US-based firm said it is witnessing strong growth in consumption of Hindi language.

“Hindi content consumption on the web is starting to take off. It has grown 94 per cent year-on-year compared to 19 per cent growth for English content,” Menon said.

Highlighting one such feature, Menon said Google has recently launched a new “instant translation” feature in Google Translate that allows users to translate printed text, like street signs or ingredient lists by opening the app on smartphones and pointing the camera at the text.

“For India, the growth in Internet userbase has certainly come from mobile phones. From 20 million in 2011, we have 152 million users accessing Internet over their smartphones. By 2017, it is expected that 490 million (of the 500 million Internet users in the country) will access Internet from their smartphones,” he said.

And that is also one of the key reasons that Google is focused on bringing in products that understand the requirements of users rather than just cater to the demand and can work well in low network areas, Menon added.

“Some of these include voice search being optimised for English in the Indian accent, and in Hindi to find answers faster, easier and more local. Apart from language, we are also offering offline features like the ability to save Maps or YouTube Offline to help users access services in patchy networks or without incurring huge data charges,” he said.

Read More

Google Hangouts gets its own website

Google Hangouts finally gets an all-new dedicated website.

Google has launched a new website – hangouts.google.com – showing a pane with all your frequently accessed contacts. It shows three big buttons on the right side – Video Call, Phone Call and Message. Users can even click on a contact and pin it to favourites.

“We are launching another way to use Hangouts today. From our new site you’ll be able to take advantage of the best of Hangouts in the browser, along with an inspiring image to get you through the day. Check it out and let us know what you think,” Google engineer Jordanna Chord writes in a Google+ post.

On starting a video call, users can share the screen, YouTube playlists and also draw right there on the video, just like before.

This also means, users won’t require to log into Gmail or Google+ to access Hangouts.

Read More

How 95% of Android Phones Can Be Hacked with a Single Text

A new Android vulnerability has the security world worried – and it leaves your Android phone extremely vulnerable. The issue comes in the form of six bugs in an innocuous Android module called StageFright, which is used for media playback.

The StageFright bugs allow a malicious MMS, sent by a hacker, to execute malicious code inside the StageFright module. From there, the code has a number of options for gaining control of the device. As of right now, something like 950 million devices are vulnerable to this exploit.
It is, simply put, the worst Android vulnerability in history.

Silent Takeover

Android users are already growing upset about the breach, and for good reason. A quick scan of Twitter shows many irate users popping up as the news permeates the web.

From what I hear, even Nexus devices haven't been given a patch for #Stagefright. Has any phone? http://t.co/bnNRW75TrD

— Thomas Fox-Brewster (@iblametom) July 27, 2015

Part of what makes this attack so scary is that there’s little users can do to protect themselves against it. Likely, they wouldn’t even know that the attack has occurred.

Normally, to attack an Android device, you need to get the user to install a malicious app. This attack is different: the attacker would simply need to know your phone number, and send a malicious multimedia message.

Depending on which messaging app you use, you might not even know that the message arrived. For example: if your MMS messages go through Andoid’s Google Hangouts, the malicious message would be able to take control and hide itself before the system even alerted the user that it had arrived. In other cases, the exploit might not kick in until the message is actually viewed, but most users would simply write it off as harmless spam text or a wrong number.

Once inside the system, code running within StageFright automatically has access to the camera and microphone, as well as bluetooth peripherals, and any data stored on the SD card. That’s bad enough, but (unfortunately) it’s just the start.



While Android Lollipop implements a number of security improvements, most Android devices are still running older versions of the OS, and are vulnerable to something called a “privilege escalation attack.” Normally, Android apps are “sandboxed“, allowing them to access only those aspects of the OS that they’ve been granted explicit permission to use. Privilege escalation attacks allow malicious code to “trick” the Android operating system into giving it more and more access to the device.
Once the malicious MMS has taken control of StageFright, it could use these attacks to take total control over older, insecure Android devices. This is a nightmare scenario for device security. The only devices totally immune to this issue are those running operating systems older than Android 2.2 (Froyo), which is the version that introduced StageFright in the first place.

Slow Response

The StageFright vulnerability was originally uncovered in April by Zimperium zLabs, a group of security researchers. The researchers reported the issue to Google. Google quickly released a patch to manufacturers – however, very few device makers have actually pushed the patch to their devices. The researcher who discovered the bug, Joshua Drake, believes that about 950 million of the estimated one billion android devices in circulation are vulnerable to some form of the attack.

Yay! @BlackHatEvents graciously accepted my submission to speak about my research on @Android's StageFright! https://t.co/9BW4z6Afmg

— Joshua J. Drake (@jduck) May 20, 2015

Google’s own devices like the Nexus 6 have been partially patched according to Drake, although some vulnerabilities remain. In an email to FORBES on the subject, Google reassured users that,

“Most Android devices, including all newer devices, have multiple technologies that are designed to make exploitation more difficult. Android devices also include an application sandbox designed to protect user data and other applications on the device,”

However, this isn’t much comfort. Until Android Jellybean, the sandboxing in Android has been relatively weak, and there are several known exploits that can be used to get around it. It’s really crucial that manufacturers roll out a proper patch for this issue.

What Can You Do?

Unfortunately, hardware makers can be extremely slow to roll out these sorts of critical security patches. It’s certainly worth contacting your device manufacturer’s customer support department and asking for an estimate on when patches will be available. Public pressure will probably help speed things along.
For Drake’s part, he plans to reveal the full extent of his findings at DEFCON, an international security conference that takes place in early August. Hopefully, the added publicity will spur device manufacturers to release updates quickly, now that the attack is common knowledge.
On a broader note, this is a good example of why Android fragmentation is such a security nightmare.

Again it's a disaster that #Android updates are in the hands of the hardware manufacturers. Should harm Android seriously. #Stagefright

— Mike (@mipesom) July 27, 2015

On a locked-down ecosystem like iOS, a patch for this could be rushed out in hours. On Android, it may take months or years to get every device up to speed due to the enormous level of fragmentation. I’m interested to see what solutions Google comes up in the coming years to start to bring these security-vital updates out of device-makers’ hands.

Are you an Android user affected by this issue? Concerned about your privacy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Read More

New LED technology will make your Wi-Fi ten times faster

A new technology that can increase the bandwidth of WiFi systems by 10 times, using LED lights to transmit information, has been developed.

The technology could be integrated with existing WiFi systems to reduce bandwidth problems in crowded locations, such as airport terminals or coffee shops, and in homes where several people have multiple WiFi devices.

Experts say that recent advances in LED technology have made it possible to modulate the LED light more rapidly, opening the possibility of using light for wireless
transmission in a “free space” optical communication system.

“In addition to improving the experience for users, the two big advantages of this system are that it uses inexpensive components, and it integrates with existing WiFi systems,” said Thinh Nguyen, an Oregon State University associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Nguyen worked with Alan Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, to build the first prototype.

The prototype, called WiFO, uses LEDs that are beyond the visual spectrum for humans and creates an invisible cone of light about one meter square in which the data can be received.

To address the issue of a small area of usability, the researchers created a hybrid system that can switch between several LED transmitters installed on a ceiling, and the existing WiFi system.

“I believe the WiFO system could be easily transformed into a marketable product, and we are currently looking for a company that is interested in further developing and licensing the technology,” Nguyen said.

The system can potentially send data at up to 100 megabits per second.

Although some current WiFi systems have similar bandwidth, it has to be divided by the number of devices, so each user might be receiving just 5 to 10 megabits per second, whereas the hybrid system could deliver 50-100 megabits to each user, researchers said.

In a home where telephones, tablets, computers, gaming systems, and televisions may all be connected to the internet, increased bandwidth would eliminate problems like video streaming that stalls and buffers.

The receivers are small photodiodes that cost less than a dollar each and could be connected through a USB port for current systems, or incorporated into the next generation of laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Read More

WhatsApp rolling out voice calling feature for iOS users

As promised by Brian Acton at F8 conference, WhatsApp’s voice calling feature that was rolled out to Android users a while back is now being made available for iOS.

The new version of the Messenger available for download on the Apple App store reveals support for voice calling. It reads, “WhatsApp Calling: Call your friends and family using WhatsApp for free, even if they’re in another country. WhatsApp calls use your phone’s Internet connection rather than your cellular plan’s voice minutes. Data charges may apply. Note: WhatsApp Calling is rolling out slowly over the next several weeks.”

Whatapp is also updated to work with iOS 8’s new sharing system. This meansusers can share photos, videos, links and more using the share button in other apps. Then there’s the quick access button to the camera.

Though the new update is available for download right away, users may have to wait for the highly-anticipated voice calling feature. The feature isn’t rolled out to everyone yet, and will be released in phases.

It should work in a manner similar to WhatsApp for Android. In India, there are a lot of messenger apps which allow free peer-to-peer calling like Viber, Hike, Skype, Line and so on. But what gives WhatsApp an edge is the user base here, which comes to around 70 million active monthly users.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp voice-calling for Windows Phone is ‘still in works’.

Read More

Flipkart will shut down website within a year; Myntra to be app-only from May 1

Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart will shut down its website within a year whereas its fashion retail website Myntra will become app-only entity from May 1. According a senior executive quoted in The Times of India, Flipkart will move to an app-only format within a year.

Michael Adnani, vice president (retail and head of brand alliances) at Flipkart said that although last year despite getting more app users, Flipkart continued to be on the web platform, next year it would be mobile only. “A year ago, 6% of our traffic was coming from mobile. In less than 18 months, that traffic is 10-fold. That shows the significance of what a mobile phone is doing for the consumers and consequently doing for us,” he told the newspaper.

Flipkart becoming an app-only platform has been speculated before as well. Earlier in a report in Mint, sources in Flipkart had hinted that the website would be shutting down. According to the Flipkart spokesperson, the app has gained relevance because it allows the users to stay logged in all the time and also the shopping is quicker with faster checkouts as compared to the website.

This move isn’t surprising considering the response the apps are getting from consumers. Just to give an example, Myntra, the online fashion retailer which was acquired by Flipkart, has around 90% traffic and 70% of orders coming from its mobile app.

According to Prasad Kompalli, head of Myntra’s ecommerce platform, while seamless shopping experience is one aspect of a mobile e-commerce app, the other advantage include saving on costs. Maintaining a website, advertising and reaching out to consumers on the web platform is a tedious process whereas on an app-platform, things are relatively more focussed. Collecting relevant user data and targetted marketing is easier on the app than on the website according to people familiar with the matter.

Flipkart has around 40 million registered users and around 30,000 merchants selling over 20 million products online. According to the TOI report, Boston Consulting Group expects more than 580 million people in India to be online by 2018 out of which 70-80% will be accessing the web through their phones only. That’s a huge market to tap for mobile apps, since a majority of this population will not be able to afford a desktop to log on to the Flipkart website to shop.

According to Adnani, Myntra’s growth on the app has been higher than Flipkart which has lead the company to decide to shut down the web operations by May 1 and all transactions going forward will happen only on the Myntra app.

Recently, Flipkart was caught in the middle of a storm after news reports emerged that it was going to be part of the Airtel Zero marketing platform – which lets app developers pay for consumers’ data usage charges, provided they are using the said developer’s app. Flipkart which was initially supposed to be a partner in the Airtel Zero program, later withdrew support following backlash from netizens, who went to the Play Store and downvoted the Flipkart app to 1 star rating. Many thousands of users even uninstalled the Flipkart app. While the net neutrality debate is still on, Airtel has refused to back down from its Airtel Zero platform.

Read More

eBay rejects auction of Nazi chief’s car

Auction website eBay has refused to list a World War II-era Mercedes Benz once owned Hermann Goering, a Nazi leader who commanded the German air force, citing a policy prohibiting the sale of offensive items.

The 1941 Mercedes Benz 540 K Cabriolet B, custom built by Daimler-Benz for Adolf Hitler’s close confidant, is currently in pieces in a high-end south Florida automobile shop, where owners said they plan to spend about $750,000 to restore it to working condition.

“We’ve located all the replacement parts and we can make parts,” said High Velocity Classics co-owner David Rathbun.

eBay, however, asked the owners to take down the auction after learning it would go live in early July.

“eBay has policies in place that prohibit the sale of offensive materials and content, which includes listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence or racial, sexual or religious intolerance,” spokesman Ryan Moore wrote in an email.

According to Rathbun, the car was seized by the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division in Berchtesgaden, a town in the Bavarian Alps where Hitler built a sprawling residence.

After the war it became army surplus and was eventually sold by the head of a psychology institution in Heilbronn to Master Sergeant Sam Hosier, who drove it in occupied Germany. Hosier brought it to the United States and in 1955 sold it to a North Carolina man, who owned it until this year.

The owners would not say how much they paid for the car, only that they hope it will sell for $5 million to $7 million.

Another of Goering’s cars, a convertible Mercedes 540 K nicknamed the Blue Goose, was auctioned in 2011 in Italy by Ontario, Canada-based RM Auctions for about $2 million.

The owners lamented having to turn to traditional high-end auto sales auctions to sell the stretch coupe once work is finished.

“eBay is all over the world, it has hundreds of millions of users, and it was the biggest venue anyone could find,” Rathbun said.

Read More

All you need to know about your next mobile OS, Android L

Google held its annual developer conference, Google I/O yesterday, and it was pretty much a given that it would showcase a new version of Android, smartwearables, Android TV and Android for cars. Google did show us all of these things but the biggest change was to Android itself.

Android fans and developers got to see a new version of Android codenamed ‘L’. This version will be out in fall of 2014 and will come pre-loaded on new Android devices. Of course, for older devices it will be up to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to decide when they will send out the update.

“This is one of the most comprehensive releases we have done: it has over 5,000 new APIs, and we are thinking not just for mobile, but for form factors beyond mobile,” said Google’s Android and Chrome boss Sundar Pichai, during the keynote presentation at I/O.

And while there’s a good chance that Android L could be called Android Liquorice or Android Lollipop by the time it comes out, it has a lot of stuff that’s new. We take a quick look.

First up, Android L will see the software get a massive design change. Google has gone for something called Material Design which lets developers add shadows and seams to give visuals on a phone’s screen the appearance of depth. Essentially Material Design will allow developers to add a more animated element to their apps. Elements can dynamically shrink and expand, there’s more white space between elements, and there’s an overall 3D look.

According to Google’s own blog, Material Design will allow developers to, “...apply to your apps for a new style: it lets you easily infuse your own color palette into your app, and offers new system widgets, screen transitions and animated touch feedback. We’ve also added the ability to specify a view’s elevation, allowing you to raise UI elements and cast dynamic, real-time shadows in your apps.”

Sundar Pichai talking about Android at the conference. Reuters

As this piece on CNET explains “Material Design opens up a 3D interface even on 2D screens by letting programmers specify not just what color a pixel should be, but how high it should be in a virtual stack.” Google will also bring this Material Design to Chrome OS.

What the video below.

Secondly Google is promising improved processor performance on smartphones. Google has introduced Android Runtime (ART) as the system default. According to the company’s official blog, “ART offers ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, more efficient garbage collection, and improved development and debugging features.”

There’s also support for 64-bit support architecture. Google also says that apps written in the Java language can run immediately on 64-bit architectures with no modifications required. The company is als promising better graphics on L via OpenGL ES 3.1 and thus ensure that app developers can get capabilities such as compute shaders, stencil textures, and texture gather for their games.

Better Battery performance is also going to be a key part of Google L. Project Volta as Google calls it comes with new tools and APIs to help apps run efficiently and conserve power. There’s also a Battery Historian, a new tool that will let developers see how their app ends up using power over time. There’s also a job scheduler API to ensure that developers can set some tasks to run when the device is charging or idle to reduce battery usage.

Matias Durante, Vice President, Design at Google, speaks on stage during the Google I/O Developers Conference at Moscone Center. AFP

Notifications on Android L are also going to see drastic changes as well. Google will ensure that users can access notifications content, updates without unlocking the screen. There’s also Heads-up notification, which will appear in a small floating window if the user is working on another app. Users can choose to reply to that notification while they are in the app or also ignore it. Developers can add their own colour and branding to the notifications.

The ‘Recents’ tab has also gone a drastic change in Android L. It will now show all recently used apps as “a stacked card overview” and will include recently accessed websites from Chrome. Other apps can also add items to the list. The advantage of this is that if you open a website on your mobile browser and then switch to something else, you can just go back to ‘Recents’ to view that website instead of opening Chrome all over again. It looks much prettier than the current multi-tasking system, and resembles more like the cards in Google View.

Google is also bringing in Universal Data Control L where Android users will be able to control how data on their handset is shared. Users will also be able to divide their devices between work and personal modes. Essentially this is Google’s way to reach out to the Enterprise user and convince them that an Android phone is just as good for work as it is for play. Interestingly Google’s Sundar Pichai also mentioned Samsung’s Knox Security Technology (which allows division between work and personal data on Samsung phones) and said that they (as in Google) would be using the technology in Android as well.

Android devices can now function in Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral mode, which will let apps use this to let nearby devices know the presence of the smartphone. For instance, developers can apps that let a device function as a pedometer or health monitor and transmit data to another BLE device.

Android L will be out this fall. Image Tech2.

Given that Android L will also allow for integration across Google devices such as Chromebooks, smartwatches that run on Android Wear, cars that support Android Auto, it’s evident that the company is pushing for a larger agenda with Android being the sun around which all of this will revolve. With Android L, what we’re seeing are some refreshing changes to the OS, but for users L will mean more if they end up getting the updates as soon as it is released, otherwise many won’t get access to these features.

Read More

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 vs Apple iPad Air: Tablet specs battle

Samsung has brought out its big guns with the new Galaxy Tab S line-up. This is perhaps the first time that we are seeing Samsung pack in everything its known for into a tablet line-up—from the ultra high-resolution Super AMOLED displays, to powerful octa-core processors to top-end graphics chips.

But the reigning tablet champion is the Apple iPad Air and it’s quite a tablet to beat, as we saw in our review. We absolutely love Apple tablet, but Samsung does have an attractive offering too. Before we can compare them head on, let’s take a look at the raw specs to see which one comes out on top on paper.

Apple iPad Air

The iPad Air is a barnstormer of a tablet. With its wafer-thin design, excellent ergonomics and a stunning display, there’s really no tablet better than it at the moment, in the 10-inch category. To be exact, the Air has a 9.7-inch display with a Retina-class resolution of 2048×1536 pixels and 264 pixels per inch.

Brilliant build

The iPad Air is powered by the A7 processor, one of the fastest in the market. The 64-bit A7 64-bit system can handle data in bigger chunks than 32-bit processors. It’s also reputed to be one of best for power management.

Apple’s tablet has a 5-megapixel iSight camera, which is capable of recording HD videos at 1080p. Don’t expect iPad cameras to be like their iPhone counterparts. The front has an HD FaceTime camera. And the battery is rated for 10 hours of usage, something we can confirm is more or less on the money.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

Samsung announced two sizes in the new Galaxy Tab S series and both are aimed squarely at the iPads, although in typical Samsung fashion, they have larger displays. Samsung’s 10.5-inch tablet comes with a WQXGA (2560×1600, 16:10) Super AMOLED display, that’s just a little higher in resolution than the iPad Air. Samsung has it beaten in terms of pixel density too with 288 PPI. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.5 Wi-Fi weighs 465 g (467 g for the LTE version), while the iPad Air is about the same at 469g. At 6.6 mm, Samsung’s tablet is also thinner than the iPad Air (which is 7.5 mm thick).

Samsung’s new tablets

LTE variant of the tablet packs a Snapdragon 800 chipset with a 2.3GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, while the Wi-Fi version offers Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa chipset with a quad 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 and quad 1.9GHz Cortex-A15. Both come with 3GB of RAM and with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, with a microSD card slot. The Tab S has a 8MP camera with LED flash, capable of recording 1080p video, while the front camera is a 2.1MP snapper. Despite the slim waistline, battery in the 10.5-inch tablet is a generous 7,900mAh Li-Ion unit. Samsung has not specified a rated battery life.

Here is the breakdown of the specs:

The specs battle

On the face of it, the Tab S wins with higher specs, but the iPad Air is a proven tablet with a superb hardware-software integration, while Samsung’s version of Android might not to be everyone’s liking. The iPad Air is also more compact, which could work in its favour, but Samsung has managed to keep the size of its larger tablet under control as well.

We’re itching to see how Samsung’s latest will compete with the iPad on an everyday basis, but in terms of pure specs, the Korean company has a slight advantage.

Read More