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Showing posts from January, 2020

Ola to Launch Ride-Hailing Services in London on February 10

Indian cab-hailing company, Ola, has announced that it will officially launch its services in London, UK, on February 10. In a press release on Friday, the company claimed that its platform will be “fully operational from day one” , with over 20,000 drivers having registered since it began on-boarding late last year . The company announced plans to start operations in the British capital last November after receiving a 15-month license to operate in the city in July 2019. Announcing its plans for London in the coming months, Ola said it “will maintain its differentiated focus on drivers, safety and a collaborative approach through its launch in London and beyond” . The company also claims to be offering ‘the best revenue share’ to enable its driver partners to keep a larger share of their income. “Drivers joining the platform will benefit from six weeks of zero commission and market-leading commission rates thereafter” , said the company. While Ola has been operating in the UK sinc

Latest UFS 3.1 Standard Brings Faster Performance, Better Efficiency

The Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) on Friday published the specifications for the UFS v3.1 (JESD220E) standard as an upgrade to UFS 3.0. According to the JEDEC, the new standard has been developed for mobile applications and computing systems requiring high performance with low power consumption. That being the case, it offers new features to increase read/ write speeds while minimising power usage. As such, UFS 3.1 defines a number of key updates over the prior version, including ‘Write Booster’ – a SLC non-volatile cache that amplifies write speed; ‘DeepSleep’ – a new UFS device low power state for entry-level devices, and ‘Performance Throttling Notifications’ that enable the UFS device to notify the host when storage performance is throttled due to high temperature. In addition to UFS 3.1, the organisation has also published an optional new companion standard called UFS Host Performance Booster (HPB) Extension (JESD220-3). It is said to provide an option to ca

Instagram to Introduce Reactions in DMs

Twitter recently brought reactions in direct messages and now, it appears like Instagram is planning to bring a handful of reactions in DMs. Popular reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong managed to make new DM reactions work in her profile , which gives us an early look at the feature. Jane took to Twitter to share the feature. In the attached GIF, we can see a swarm of emojis flying above as soon as you react to a message. According to Jane, the feature is currently under internal testing and hence, non-employees can only see the regular heart reaction for now. Take a look at the tweet below. Instagram is working on Reactions for Direct Messages Currently, “non-employees can only see the ❤️ reaction” Facebook’s Tech Comms Manager @alexvoica confirmed this unreleased feature and this is “something they’ve been testing for a few days” pic.twitter.com/EzVWfA6Doo — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 30, 2020   In the tweet, she mentions that Facebook’s Tech Comms Manager Al

Apple Has Started Trial Production of iPhone SE Successor: Report

In spite of no official word from Apple, a whole bunch of leaks over the past several months have all but confirmed the company’s plans to launch at least one – maybe even two – successors to the iPhone SE this year. Now, a new report out of China suggests that the company may have already started trial production of its next-gen affordable smartphones, rumored to be marketed as the iPhone 9. According to Chinese tech blog, MyDrivers , the report comes from unnamed ‘industry sources’ in China, who further claimed that mass production of the device will start in mid-February before it is officially announced in March . The company is also reportedly expecting total shipments for the phone to exceed 30 million units globally. The report also reiterates that the device will be named iPhone 9 instead of iPhone SE 2 and, would be priced under 3,000 yuan (around Rs. 30,000) in China. As pointed out by GizmoChina , that would be in line with the pricing of the original iPhone SE, which w

Top 5 Facebook Messenger App Alternatives that Actually Work

With more than a billion active users, Facebook Messenger has become one of the most popular instant-messaging apps on the market. The app has a ton of features and lets users play online games , share images, videos, stories, GIFs, and more. However, all that comes at a price. In an attempt to offer a versatile messaging app, Facebook has turned its Messenger app into a cluttered mess. Not only that, Facebook Messenger can also impact other apps installed on your phone and can reduce battery life by a significant margin. Thankfully there are a number of excellent Facebook Messenger app alternatives that actually work. In this article, we are going to list out our favorite Facebook Messenger alternatives. Facebook Messenger App Alternatives in 2020 All of the apps mentioned below are quite good and can work as an excellent Facebook Messenger alternative. So, read their description carefully and choose the one that fits your needs. 1. Facebook Messenger Lite Much like Facebook Li

EU Votes to Introduce Common Mobile Chargers, Rejecting Apple’s Protests

In a move that activists believe can go a long way towards tackling the increasing e-waste problem , the EU has overwhelmingly voted in favor of new regulations to establish a common standard for mobile chargers. The resolution, which was officially proposed earlier this month , passed by a whopping 582-40 margin, urging the European Commission, which drafts EU laws, to formulate rules that will make it mandatory for all consumer electronics companies to make their mobile chargers fully compatible with devices from other vendors. The vote comes after years of unfruitful debates , which saw many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) passionately arguing in favor of a common standard. As expected, though, Apple has already opposed the move, saying that regulation to force conformity would stifle innovation and hurt consumers. The resolution, meanwhile, states that such a law should be formulated by July, giving the industry just about six months to get ready for the impending regul

Apple Engineers Propose a New Standard for SMS OTPs

Engineers at Apple have proposed a standardized format for SMS One-Time Passcodes (OTP). To be specific, Apple engineers working on WebKit, the core-component of the Safari web browser have put forth the proposal with two goals. Firstly, the engineers want to eliminate the need for manually copying and pasting codes from SMSes, which can be annoying at times. In addition, they aim to establish a standard so that websites could trust the source of SMS and ensure that the SMS is being entered on the intended source website thereby making the system more secure. To achieve these goals, the engineers propose a “lightweight text format” with the URL of the website added right into the SMS. Companies could also add the text they want at the beginning of the SMS. Take a look at the sample OTP SMS below for better understanding. 747723 is your FooBar authentication code. @foobar.com #747723 In the above example, “747723 is your FooBar authentication code” represents the text added by b

Google’s ‘OpenSK’ Platform Lets You Build Your Own 2FA Key

In a move that can go a long way towards enabling DIY enthusiasts and third-party hardware vendors build their own FIDO security keys and improve consumer access to hardware authenticator implementations, Google on Thursday open-sourced the firmware needed to create two-factor authentication (2FA) security keys. Called OpenSK , it supports both FIDO U2F and FIDO2 standards, said the company in an official blog post. According to Google, the OpenSK project is coded in Rust and runs on TockOS to “provide better isolation and cleaner OS abstractions in support of security” . The firmware can be flashed onto Nordic chip dongles that support all major transport protocols mentioned by FIDO2, including NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy, USB and a dedicated hardware crypto core. In a statement, Kjetil Holstad, the Director of Product Management at Nordic Semiconductor, said that the company was happy to collaborate with Google on the project. “We’re excited to collaborate with Google and the open

Realme XT Starts Receiving Realme UI Update Based on Android 10

Realme launched the Realme XT , the first 64MP camera phone in India last September. The device shipped with ColorOS 6 based on Android 9 Pie. Realme has now started rolling out the company’s new Realme UI based on Android 10 for the smartphone. The update brings a whole bunch of new features including dark mode , focus mode, partial screenshots , smart sidebar, and native screen recording with internal audio to name a few. The update bears the version number RMX1931EX_11.A.09 and the update size is 3.08GB . You get a new charging animation, new recent apps management feature, optimized Game Space, new live wallpapers, animated wallpapers on the lock screen, improved Camera UI, and enhanced Realme Share . In case you’re out of the loop, you can now send and receive files from OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi devices using realme Share . With Realme UI, you get the option to choose between global search and notification panel when you swipe down from the home screen. This was something missi

Apex Legends Season 4 Trailer Reveals Humanoid Assassin Revenant

Respawn Entertainment has released the Apex Legends Season 4 trailer that shows us a typical day in the life of the latest character in the game, Revenant, who transformed from human to a terrifying robotic assassin. He is part of the game’s Season 4, called Assimilation, which will start February 4. The trailer shows Revenant turning up at the restaurant where the target was having dinner with his wife and daughter. However, all hell breaks loose when he gatecrashes the quiet family event and starts killing off the guards one by one. He then proceeds to shoot the target’s wife point blank before killing the man by dropping him off the broken window of the highrise building. The trailer ends with the victims’ daughter mourning the loss of her parents, but seething with anger in a way that suggests EA could introduce her character in the game next season as a grown woman out for revenge against Revenant and Hammond Robotics. Now whether this means Forge will come back from the dead a

25 Cool Telegram Messenger Tricks You Should Know

Speed, security, and simplicity are a few of the virtues that make Telegram a very nifty communication medium. True to its metaphorical ancestor which also inspired its name, the messenger is minimal and focuses on conveying the message clearly. It also lets you customize the interface as well as the overall messaging experience. Above all, Telegram is completely free and does not come with the hidden cost in the form of a threat to your privacy or security . Whether you’re bothered about declining privacy and the dirty business of ads almost everywhere online, or just want to cut loose of the noise from ever-buzzing WhatsApp  and  Facebook Messenger chats , Telegram is a good place to start. Here we have listed out some Telegram Messenger tricks and tips that will help you know the messenger better and use it more effectively. Cool and Best Telegram Messenger Tricks in 2020 1. Add Nearby People and Group Last year, Telegram brought a unique feature that allows you to discover Tele

Bezos Wouldn’t be Hacked if He Was Using Telegram, Claims Telegram Founder

Private instant messaging app Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov has said Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’ data may not have been hacked if he had relied on Telegram instead of Facebook-owned WhatsApp which is full of malicious “backdoor” bugs. Facebook has blamed Apple’s operating system for the hacking of Bezos’ phone, saying WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is unhackable. Investigators believe that Bezos’s iPhone was compromised after he received a 4.4MB video file containing malware via WhatsApp – in the same way when phones of 1,400 select journalists and human rights activists were broken into by Pegasus software from Israel-based NSO Group last year. “WhatsApp’s ‘corrupt video’ vulnerability was present not only on iOS, but also on Android and even Windows Phone devices. Meaning, on all mobile devices with WhatsApp installed,” Durov wrote in a blog post late Thursday. “This security fault was not present in other messaging apps on iOS. Had Jeff Bezos relied on Telegram i