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Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts

Don't want to let your friends know whether you have read their latest WhatsApp posting - especially ones who get angry soon?

  • Here is your guide to eliminate those timestamps.
  • If you are using an Apply iPhone, open the app and go to Settings > Chat settings > Advanced.
  • There, you can switch off the 'Last Seen Timestamp'.
  • On Android smart phones, switch off your phone's wi-fi and cellular connection, or just put in airplane mode.
  • Next, open WhatsApp to read, compose and send messages.
  • Close the app and turn on your phone's connectivity again.
  • WhatsApp would sync with its servers and send your messages without time stamps.
  • Better, use an app not available in the Google Play store called Last Not Seen.
  • Launch it and you can choose from 'Block Last Seen'.


You are set to enjoy WhatsApping as much as you want without letting anyone know how often you check messages!

Twitter is one of the most popular social networks in the world with some 974 million accounts but just how many of those have ever published? A new report from Twocharts, a website that tracks Twitter activity, claims to have the answer and it just might surprise you.

 The social media tracking site tells us that roughly 44 percent of all Twitter accounts have never published a single tweet while 30 percent have sent 10 or fewer tweets. Their data isn’t based on whether or not someone has logged into a particular account but rather if an account has retweeted or sent out its own unique tweet.

 There’s plenty to take away from the findings depending on how you look at it.

 There are no doubt a lot of people that have Twitter accounts simply for the sake of staying informed and reading posts from others. Some people prefer to take everything in rather than voice their own opinion which makes perfect sense.

 Several other scenarios could also explain some of the non-tweeting accounts. Perhaps some people lost their login information or decided to create a separate user account shortly after creating the first account.
On the flip side, Twitter claimed to have 241 million active users as of the last three months of 2013. An active user is described as someone that logs into an account at least one time per month. It’s important to note that their definition of an active user doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not someone sent a tweet or retweet during a given month.

It looks like Chinese smartphone maker Gionee is planning to capture the Indian market within this year itself. We have already seen the advent of company's latest products in the market and now we have the latest Elife E7 mini available in India. Moreover, all the Gionee devices, which have been launched in India has been pretty impressive. The Elife E6 was also not a bad smartphone at all. The Elife E7 has an incredible camera and so does the mini variant of the device. Moreover, the mini variant of the device has a 13MP swivel camera very much like the Oppo N1, which is also available in India. The company recently announced its latest Elife S5.5 smartphone. 

 This is the world's thinnest phone with 5.5 mm thickness. However, today GizBot has come with a number of online deals pertaining to the company's Elife E7 mini handset. But before heading on to the deals, take a look at the the specs of the device. The Elife E7 Mini comes with a 4.7-inch IPS display with IGZO technology and offers a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It is powered by a 1.7 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6592 processor with Mali 450-MP4 GPU coupled with 1 GB RAM, and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Amigo UI 2.0. 
                              The 13MP auto focus swivel camera with LED flash, which is capable of shooting video at 1080p quality is one thing that will definitely impress you the most. The idea of the camera is very much identical to another Chinese smartphone called Oppo N1 as said earlier. The device houses a 16 GB in-build storage unit and regular connectivity options like 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS can be found in the handset. Additionally the Elife E7 Mini is a Dual SIM phone. The latest phone which measures 8.6 mm thick and weighs 142.9 grams draws its energy from a 2100 mAh battery.





Via Apple iOS 7
The emoji keyboard was first introduced in Japan, but only features two emojis that appear to be Asian: a “man with a turban” and a “man with Gua Pi Mao,” a type of Chinese hat. But the emoji keyboard features more than a dozen faces that look white.
Via Apple iOS7
Emoji characters have been standardized by Unicode Consortium since 2010, so as to appear on all computers and mobile devices the same. Other apps offer emojis, but users risk their friends not being able to see them if they haven’t installed the same software.
Via Apple App Store

In response to the lack of diversity, DoSomething.org started a petition calling on Apple to increase the ethnic diversity of emojis.


But of the more than 800 Emojis, the only two resembling people of color are a guy who looks vaguely Asian and another in a turban. There’s a white boy, girl, man, woman, elderly man, elderly woman, blonde boy, blonde girl and, we’re pretty sure, [video game character] Princess Peach. But when it comes to faces outside of yellow smileys, there’s a staggering lack of minority representation.
DoSomething.Org / Via dosomething.org

This is not the first time people have noted the lack of ethnic emojis, and many have expressed frustration in particular with the fact that there are no black emojis.

Miley Cyrus tweeted in 2012 that emojis needed an ethnic update:

And Baby Daddy star Tahj Mowry tweeted about it too:

Tahj Mowry@Tahj_Mowry
It makes me mad that there are no black emojis...
12:01 AM - 16 Mar 14 

In response to continued concern, MTV Act askedApple CEO Tim Cook directly why there is so little diversity in emojis. On Tuesday, Apple representative Katie Cotton responded that Apple has been working to update the character set.


Tim forwarded your email to me. We agree with you. Our emoji characters are based on the Unicode standard, which is necessary for them to be displayed properly across many platforms. There needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set, and we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard.
Despite Apple’s announcement that they are working on an emoji update, there is no release date.
“We’re proud that thousands of our members acted and Apple listened,” said DoSomething.org’s spokeswomen Colleen Wormsley to BuzzFeed. “In August, we urged Apple to include more diversity in the emoji keyboard. Emojis are a huge part of youth culture and everyone should feel valuable and represented.”
Via Apple iOS 7
Apple’s last update in 2012 introduced same-sex couples and families into the emoji keyboard as part of iOS 6.
Via Apple iOS7
Campaigns in the past have tried to add hotdogs, cupcakes, tacos, and other edibles to the keyboard, which does include sushi, fried shrimp, and a bento box, because of its Japanese roots.
Songs, an app probably used by a few million Indian Android users, was among the two apps recently caught covertly using smartphones for mining bitcoins and dogecoins.

 Security researchers at Trend Micro, a company that makes antivirus and other security applications, recently wrote in a blog that 'Songs' and 'Prized - Real Rewards & Prizes' were using smartphones to covertly mine for virtual currency.

 Mining virtual currency like bitcoin or dogecoin requires lots of computing power. If an app uses a smartphone to mine virtual currency, the process is likely to keep the processor running at 100%, resulting in poor battery life and heating of the device.

 Trend Micro said the apps being used for bitcoin and dogecoin mining were injected with ANDROIDOS_KAGECOIN, a malware.

 "(Some) coin mining apps were found outside of the Google Play Store, but we have found the same behaviour in apps (Songs and Prized) inside the Google Play Store. These apps have been downloaded by millions of users, which means that there may be many Android devices out there being used to mine cryptocurrency for cybercriminals," a Veo Zhang, a mobile threat analyst with Trend Micro wrote in the blog.

 "Analyzing the code of these apps reveal the cryptocurrency mining code inside. Unlike the other malicious apps, in these cases the mining only occurs when the device is charging, as the increased energy usage won't be noticed as much."

 After the Trend Micro blog post, Prized and Songs were removed from the Play Store by Google.

 Of the two, Songs was more popular. It was downloaded five to 10 million times and had a rating of 4 stars. Songs claimed to give users free access to Bollywood and songs in regional languages like Punjabi and Tamil.

 On the Play Store, clicking on the developer's website specified in the description page of Songs let to an error. While the developer was listed as "Da Xpert" for the app, the email address of the app hinted it was created by one Mukesh Verma. TOI wrote to the specified email address, seeking response on the Trend Micro report, but did not receive any reply.

 Trend Micro said that it believed "with thousands of affected devices, cybercriminal accumulated a great deal of dogecoins."

 "Reading the app description and terms and conditions on the websites of these apps, users may not know that their devices may potentially be used as mining devices due to the murky language and vague terminology," wrote Zhang.

 "Users with phones and tablets that are suddenly charging slowly, running hot, or quickly running out of batteries may want to consider if they have been exposed to this or similar threats," Zhang advised Android users.
Head of Samsung Electronics Co's mobile business, J.K. Shin, received a $5.8 million compensation package last year, beating the paycheck of his counterpart at U.S. rival Apple Inc, the South Korean firm said on Monday in its first such disclosure under new regulations.

 The world's biggest technology company by revenue said Shin's pack included a base salary of 1.17 billion won and 1.6 billion won in incentives and performance bonus.

 By comparison, Apple chief executive Tim Cook received $4.25 million in 2013, little changed from the previous year when he had been paid $4.17 million.

 Shin, who has led Samsung's mobile business since 2009, has since overseen the launch of its flagship Galaxy handsets that helped it unseat Apple in the smartphone market and also sparked patent litigations the world over that claimed Samsung copied the look and feel of the U.S. firm's iconic mobile products.

 Samsung's other co-chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun, who leads the component business, earned even more, taking 6.77 billion won home, while third co-CEO Yoon Boo-keun, the head of its consumer electronics business, received 5.09 billion won.

 South Korean financial authorities changed regulations late last year, requiring listed companies to include annual compensation details of executives who earn more than 500 million won in their business reports filings.

 But the measure also drew some criticism as it does not shed much light on pay details of some high profile owners of business conglomerates or chaebols, as they frequently assume non-executive titles.

 Samsung didn't disclose remuneration details of J.Y. Lee, non-executive vice chairman and son of its chairman Lee Kun-hee, who is also non-executive chairman and receives no salary from Samsung. ($1 = 1069.3000 Korean Won)

 (Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

 © Thomson Reuters 2014 All rights reserved.
Google was penalised by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for "non cooperation" in the pending investigation.

According to an official statement today, Google has been fined Rs 1 crore for failing to comply with the directions of the Director General (DG) seeking information and documents.

A Google spokesperson said the company was "disappointed by this development."


The DG, the investigation arm of the regulator, is probing a complaint filed by matrimony.com Pvt Ltd and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) against Google, alleging that it was abusing market power in the online search and advertising markets.

"CCI also directed Google to cooperate with the investigations by furnishing such other information/documents which may be required by the DG during the course of further investigations," the statement issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said.

The commission is under the administrative control of the ministry.
"While we are confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India, we continue to cooperate fully with the Competition Commission of India's extensive and ongoing investigation.

""We're disappointed by this development. While we are confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India, we continue to cooperate fully with the Competition Commission of India's extensive and ongoing investigation. We've not yet received this procedural order, but will review it fully once we have," the Google spokesperson said in a statement.

The case against Google has been before the CCI for over two years.

Last year, CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla said the complaint was that the Google search engine favours platforms it wants to support.

"That is when you click on Google under a certain category, you will get the platforms where there is a tendency to put them in a certain order which may not be the fair and non-discriminatory manner.

"So, what is the software and what is the algorithmic search?
Since its launch in 2011 Pinterest has been a social network destination for those looking to share shopping, decorating and general quality of life ideas, so imagine the confusion (and distaste) visitors felt when their boards had been hacked with images of rows of women's rear ends and other suggestive pictures.

 That's what greeted users yesterday and the suggestive images were all captioned with weight loss spam or various give-away offers.

 Initial reports of the hack began appearing on Twitter last night but the Better Business Bureaus posted a warning at the start of the month about how the amount of spam on the photo site has been increasing, so perhaps those following that warning might have been taken by surprise.

 While Pinterest has clearly been alerted to the issue and has announced that are currently investigating the security problems, they aren't actively taking the offensive pins down as the problem appears to be on other websites that host 'Pin this' buttons and not Pinterest's servers directly.

 All the major social media sites have become magnets for hackers over the years. The reason why they are particularly vulnerable is due to their use of web applications, which are an easy conduit for spreading viruses.

 According to a recent PewResearch study 21% of internet users have had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over by someone else without permission and 11% of internet users have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information.

 In an effort to reach out and offer some online security advice, the Council of Better Business Bureaus recently issued a Five Tips to Keep Your Pinterest Account Secure guideline:

 Report hacked pin: if you spot a spam pin, report it to Pinterest by clicking the flag icon at the bottom of the image.
Change your password: If you suspect someone has hacked your account, rest your password in Settings.
Only login to official sites: These include Ointerest.com and the official mobile app.
Be careful about linking your account to other social media: once scammers gain access, they can easily share spam pins on your Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Check before you pin: Before you repin, hover on the image and check the destination link corresponds with the info on the pin.
Windows Phone 8.1 brings the new capability to install apps on the microSD card, if developers allow of course, and will allow users to no longer be limited in any way by the built-in storage on their phone.

 CoolXap.com reports however that Microsoft has set some special requirements for using memory cards to install apps on Windows Phone 8.1.

 According to them a minimum of Class 6 SDHC card is required, with Class 10 recommended.

 Class 4 and below will not be supported, with the OS automatically detecting the speed on insertion.

 If the card is too slow users will not be offered to move apps from the phone to the card.

 The requirement should also help users avoid performance issues when saving video to external cards, which can be stuttery when bitrates are high.

 Separately CoolXap also confirm that the 3 column screen option will be confined to screens with a physical size bigger or equal to 4.5 inches, excluding the the Nokia Lumia 520 and 620 for example.
They are warning overuse from phones and other devices like computers, tablets, and flat screen TVs can lead to long-term damage.
It comes as a survey of 2,000 people suggests under 25s check their phones thirty-two times a day.
Optician Andy Hepworth said: "Blue violet light is potentially hazardous and toxic to the back of your eyes.
It's the combination of not blinking enough and bringing the device closer than you normally look at objects - it strains your eyes
Andy HepworthOptician
"So over a long period of time it can potentially damage your eyes.
"When you're looking at a smart phone, the light peaking out of that is blue violet."
He says tests have found that over exposure to blue-violet light has the potential to put us at greater risk of macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness.
Opticians say that, although "good" blue light (blue-turquoise) is needed to help regulate biological clocks, it is also thought that extensive exposure to blue violet light can disrupting sleep patterns and affect moods.
"Although we don't know if there's a direct link with it creating eye problems, there is strong lab evidence it can potentially do that," Andy added.
"It's the combination of not blinking enough and bringing the device closer than you normally look at objects - it strains your eyes."
'More headaches'
The survey, commissioned by a group of independent opticians, found that on average, an adult spends nearly seven hours a day staring at a screen with nearly half feeling anxious when away from their phone.
Statistics also suggest 43% of under 25s experience genuine irritation or anxiety when they can't check their phone when they want.
Alana Chinery says she is never without her smart phoneAlana Chinery says she is never without her smart phone
It also found 55% felt the amount of screen time they're exposed to affects them with eye discomfort the main problem.
Eighteen-year-old Alana Chinery from Essex is never without her smart phone.
Get your eyes tested regularly and take regular breaks from your computer and hand held device
Amanda SaintOptician
She said: "I've definitely noticed that my eyes are getting worse from staring at my computer and phone.
"I am getting more headaches."
Amanda Saint, who is also an optician, says the advice is simple.
"Get your eyes tested regularly and take regular breaks from your computer and hand held device."