These three apps may help you forget WhatsApp!

Although WhatsApp has become an integral part of our life, some issues like privacy or even fake messages are proving as a downer for the popular messaging app.

 

WhatsApp has become an integral part of our life. Over 250 million Indians are avid users of WhatsApp. The user-friendly messaging platform has around 1.5 billion users in the world. However, some issues like privacy or even fake messages are proving as a downer for WhatsApp. So, if you are looking for an alternative, here is the list of a few apps that you may like to use instead of WhatsApp:

Hike

Hike can be a great alternative if you are looking for a change from WhatsApp. In fact, it is one of the most popular messaging apps in India nowadays, which is better known for its privacy. As the much debatable issue of privacy is taking forefront nowadays, this messenger wins hands down. Hike allows users to hide their private chats using a password, which is impressive. Hence, users get to keep hike messenger accessible at their fingertips while also maintaining some degree of secrecy and privacy at the same time. Hike messenger also provides huge stickers in conversations. Moreover, it also keeps users engaged with live cricket scores, news and other features.

Telegram

Telegram is a probably the best WhatsApp alternative that allows users to send and receive encrypted messages. In fact, the sole purpose of this app is messaging, which is fast and accurate. Telegram also has real-time synchronisation of messages across various platforms. So if you start typing some message on your smartphone, you can finish that on your desktop and send. Users just have to log into both the devices (mobile phone and desktop) at the same time. Also, if you move to a new phone, all your conversations are readily available by simply logging into your account.

Signal

“Privacy is possible, Signal makes it easy”. This is what Signal private messenger stands for. Using Signal, you can communicate instantly while avoiding SMS fees, create groups

so that you can chat in real time with all your friends at once, and share media or attachments all with complete privacy. The server never has access to any of your communication and never stores any of your data.

Tech Firms Should Be Made Liable for 'Fake News' on Sites: UK Lawmakers

Tech firms like Facebook should be made liable for "harmful and misleading" material on their websites and pay a levy so they can be regulated, British lawmakers said, warning of a crisis in democracy due to misuse of personal data.

Facebook has increasingly become a focus of the media committee's inquiry into "fake news" after the data of 87 million users was improperly accessed by British-headquartered consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The cost of higher privacy standards will hit Facebook's profit margins for several years, the firm said on Wednesday, wiping over $120 billion (roughly Rs. 8.35 lakh crores) off its share price, and the company is coming under concerted regulatory scrutiny in Britain, the United States and the European Union.

"Companies like Facebook made it easy for developers to scrape user data and to deploy it in other campaigns without their knowledge or consent," Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said in a statement.

"They must be made responsible, and liable, for the way in which harmful and misleading content is shared on their sites."

The committee's interim report and Collins's comments were embargoed until July 29. Other news organisations broke the embargo after a copy of the report was published online by Dominic Cummings, who ran the officially designated Vote Leave campaign in the EU referendum.

The standards of accuracy and impartiality which tech companies are held to could be based on regulator Ofcom's rules for television and radio, the lawmakers said.

The committee's report also suggested a levy on tech firms which could contribute to an increased budget for Britain's data regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), in the way in which the banking sector pays for the upkeep of its watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority.

The ICO earlier this month fined Facebook for the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by Donald Trump's campaign in 2016, has denied its work on the US president's election made use of the data in question.

It has also said that while it pitched for work with campaign group Leave.EU before the Brexit referendum in Britain in 2016, it did not end up doing any work on the campaign.

The committee however said that adverts used online in the campaign were not clearly labelled, and expressed concern about a breach of spending rules by rival campaign group Vote Leave.

"We are facing nothing less than a crisis in our democracy - based on the systematic manipulation of data to support the relentless targeting of citizens ... by campaigns of disinformation and messages of hate," Collins said.

Google rolls out final beta preview for Android Oreo’s successor

NEW DELHI: Google is preparing for the launch is its next-generation Pixel smartphones which will come with the latest version of Android out-of-the-box. Keeping the launch timeline in mind the tech giant has now released the final developer preview of Android P. The Android P Developer Preview 5 or beta 4 is the most stable version and you can try it before the final launch next month.


Android VP Dave Burke has said that the Android P beta 4 incorporate all the “final system behaviors”. This means that the features which are part of this update are definitely coming to the next version. One of the important feature is the gesture-based navigation system, which the company is improving since the released of the first developer preview of Android P.

Weighing 51.7MB, the update is for those who are already using the Android P Beta 3. The company claims that it has fixed various bugs with this beta update. Presently, the Android P Beta 4 is available on Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.

With the Android Beta 4 update, the company has removed the microphone icon from the search bar placed at the bottom of the homescreen. Along with this, it has also tweaked the icons for auto-rotate in the notification bar which comes up when a user turn the device. Along with this, Android P also brings some visual changes to the OS such as new look for the settings menu and quick shortcuts from the pull down menu.

The company has also redesigned the multitasking which now shows the preview of every app in the entire window. The corners are rounded and users have an option to easily edit and take screenshots. Currently, the company has not revealed the name for Android P, but some of the reports suggests that it will be Android Pistachio.

WhatsApp releases new update

Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp on Tuesday released a new update for devices with iOS 10 and above with “notification extension” that would allow users to see and download received media files from on-screen notifications itself. Received by some iOS users, the new extension is part of WhatsApp’s version 2.18.80 and would support download of images and Graphics Interchange Formats (GIFs) from the notifications in the user’s auto-download option is deactivated, confirmed WABetaInfo, a fan site that tests new WhatsApp features before release.

Along with the option to download, the update would also enable users to preview the received media content on swiping down the notifications panel. The new “notification extension” will be made available for users after Whatsapp adds improvements in the next updates, the report added. There is no word yet when will this extension reach the Android users. In its previous update, WhatsApp launched new features including the “forwarded” tag that goes along with messages that are being forwarded.

Verizon could partner with Apple or Google as its 5G-based TV service provider

Verizon could be partnering with Google or Apple to launch its television service once it rolls out 5G services to homes later in 2018.


According to a report by Bloomberg, Verizon is planning to beam online services to home receivers using its 5G technology in Los Angeles and Sacramento. A source familiar with the situation also told the publication that these are still early stages of negotiations and things may still fall apart.
Verizon essentially wants to skip the task of having to develop its own television service and wants to offer its users something on the lines of YouTube TV or the Apple TV service. The company aims to match current high-speed cable and broadband internet speeds and eventually plans to compete nationally against the likes of AT&T and Comcast.
According to the report, however, the partnership may not be a permanent solution for Verizon. The company's CFO Matt Ellis said at an investor conference and that the company is opting for support until it gets "comfortable" with its video service.
While Google's YouTube TV offers more than 60 channels of live TV for $40 a month in the US, Apple is yet to start a live TV streaming service though it is supposedly in the pipeline.
Verizon, therefore, might have to wait for a while, if it plans on partnering with Apple for the service.

Uber hits a new milestone, completes 10 billion trips across deliveries and rides

Uber has announced that on 10 June, “173 trips and deliveries started simultaneously at 10:12 pm GMT, putting us over 10 billion completed trips”. These trips happened in over 21 countries across five continents.

Around this time last year, Uber had announced completing five billion trips. A year later, that number has doubled.
Uber shares that among the final milestone rides, the shortest trip was an Uber Eats delivery, clocking in at just over 800 m, while the longest trip was a traveller taking a 66-kilometre ride to the airport in Denver. Also, of these, five riders were on their first Uber trips ever.
via GIPHY
This news from Uber comes amid the ongoing struggles of the company when it was sued and investigated for gender and race discrimination, it revealed a massive data breach which, at one point, it tried to conceal. The company was also sued over the data breach, issued layoffs and replaced its CEO.
In addition to that, Uber is also under continuous scrutiny into how it treats and pays its drivers, a fatal crash involving one of its self-driving cars, many sexual assault and harassment accusations against its driver partners. In London, it is facing multiple issues from authorities and local cab drivers as well.

Twitter to lock unverified accounts if their display names are Elon Musk

In the spring of March 2018, when cryptocurrency was trying to stay afloat with numerous instances of cryptohacking and cryptojacking, an unverified Twitter handle which went by the name of Elon Musk led Twitter users to believe that the billionaire would help them make a quick buck in exchange for some Ether coins.
This led to a rise in bots which had Twitter display names related to the Tesla CEO. Now, Twitter is locking unverified accounts which go by the name of Elon Musk.

Elon Musk. Reuters.

According to a report by The Verge, if you try to change your display name to Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, or SpaceX and your Twitter handle does not have a number associated to that account, Twitter will lock it. In order to regain access, you need to pass a CAPTCHA test and provide a phone number as well for verification. It is not known if parody accounts are taken into consideration.
A Twitter spokesperson who spoke to The Verge, reportedly said, “As part of our continuing efforts to combat spam and malicious activity on our service, we’re testing new measures to challenge accounts that use terms commonly associated with spam campaigns. We are continually refining these detections based on changes in spammy activity.”
Twitter is reportedly trying to counter bots which imitate Elon Musk. These accounts are known to even converse in the same tone as Musk. It was first reported in March that such bots exist which have been sending a thread of tweets where users are offered a rare opportunity to earn a quick buck by sending 0.5 to 0.4 ETH to his address book, and Elon Musk would send them 5 to 40 ETH, in return. Obviously, those who went ahead were duped.