Technology

San Francisco, Sep 15 (IANS) Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is likely working on a new update that will allow users to create polls in chat.

With this feature, which is under development, group participants will be able to share polls with other members of the group. It will be possible to add up to 12 options but this value may change before the release of the feature, reports WABetaInfo.

This feature is under development so it is not ready to be released to beta testers.

As per the report, an entry point for the feature will be available within the usual chat action sheet where you can find all other media sharing options and it opens the section that we spotted during the development of WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.10.11.

A recent report said that WhatsApp is likely working on a feature that will add a new camera shortcut for iPhone users on their app.

A screenshot showed that the camera shortcut is placed within the navigation bar and it will show up for those users that can already create a community in the future.

It looks exactly like the one implemented on WhatsApp beta for Android (but since there was a bug, it has temporarily been removed in another update), the report had said.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 15 (IANS) More people are using tech giant Apple's iOS 16 in the first two days compared to iOS 15, says a new report.

According to data shared by analytics company Mixpanel, iOS 16, released this week, is installed on an estimated 11.6 per cent of iPhones two days after it launched.

When iOS 15 was released last year, it was installed on just 8.5 per cent of devices at the two-day mark, which means people are installing iOS 16 at a more rapid pace this year, reports MacRumors.

iOS 16 is perhaps a more appealing update because of the visual changes it brings to the iPhone with the customisable Lock Screen and widget options. It also brings Messages features that include iMessage editing, undo send, and more.

At the current time, Apple is also giving people the option to stay on iOS 15.7, a move that can also keep people from installing the iOS 16 update.

Mixpanel measures iOS adoption rates based on visits to apps and websites where its analytics metrics are used, and this is not official data from Apple, the report said.

Apple may not provide updated iOS installation numbers for some time as it has not updated iOS 15 information since May 31.

The data from Mixpanel suggests that 78.41 per cent of people continue to run iOS 15, and nearly 10 per cent have an older version of iOS.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) US-based action camera manufacturer GoPro on Wednesday unveiled three versions of its all-new HERO11 Black camera -- HERO11 Black, HERO11 Black Creator Edition and HERO11 Black Mini -- in India.

HERO11 Black is available in India for Rs 51,500. HERO11 Black Creator Edition will be available starting mid-October at Rs 71,500 and HERO11 Black Mini starting November, at Rs 41,500 on offline and online channels.

"All three cameras feature a new, larger sensor that delivers the highest resolution, highest 10-bit colour depth, the highest level of video stabilisation and widest field of view ever featured natively in a HERO camera," the company said in a statement.

"Each of the three new HERO11 Black cameras are designed to appeal to consumers in different ways, meeting the needs of their particular use cases," it added.

The new 1/1.9-inch sensor delivers over 1 billion colours in the 10-bit colour video at up to 5.3K resolution at 60 frames per second in both HERO11 Black and HERO11 Black Mini and 27MP photos in HERO11 Black for images that are truer to how your eyes perceive them in the real world.

The company touts HERO11 Black as the world's most versatile, powerful, and convenient camera.

HERO11 Black Creator Edition features all HERO11 Black's performance plus a long-lasting battery grip with built-in buttons for one-handed camera control and over four hours of 4K recording per charge.

It also includes an optional directional microphone, external mic input, HDMI port for connecting to external displays, a high-output LED light and two cold shoe mounts for mounting additional accessories.

HERO11 Black Mini is a smaller and lighter version of HERO11 Black that features all of the performance of its bigger sibling. The company said its smaller size and simple one-button design make it the perfect choice for people who want maximum simplicity without sacrificing even a hint of performance or quality.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Apple has fixed fresh vulnerabilities in iOS and macOS, including a zero-day flaw being actively exploited by hackers.

The zero-day flaw, known as CVE-2022-32917, allows a malicious app to run arbitrary code on an affected device with kernel privileges, Apple said in a security update.

Apple fixed the bug in updates for iOS 15.7 and iPadOS 15.7, macOS Monterey 12.6 and macOS Big Sur 11.7.

Apple warned that it is aware that this flaw "may have been actively exploited".

According to TechCrunch, this is the eighth zero-day vulnerability fixed by Apple this year.

In addition to these fixes, Apple also released a fix for a Safari browser flaw that could lead to address bar spoofing.

The security fixes were released along with iOS 16, which brings several security and privacy features, including support for Apple Passkeys and Lockdown Mode.

"Keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Apple product's security," said the company.

After a software update is installed for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS, it cannot be downgraded to the previous version.

Last month, Apple released new software updates for iPhones, iPads and Macs to fix two security vulnerabilities known by the tech giant to be actively exploited by attackers.

The two vulnerabilities were found in WebKit, the browser engine that powers Safari and other apps, and the kernel, essentially the operating system's core.

The tech giant had said the WebKit bug could be exploited if a vulnerable device accessed or processed "maliciously crafted web content (that) may lead to arbitrary code execution".

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, on Tuesday launched a new 4G feature phone -- Nokia 5710 XpressAudio -- in India that comes with in-built wireless earbuds.

Priced at Rs 4,999, the new feature phone is now available on the company's official website and will be available across all online and offline stores from September 19.

"The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio is the latest addition in our Nokia Classics portfolio. The new phone delivers audio freedom through game-changing design," Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President, HMD Global-India and MENA, said in a statement.

"Nokia 5710 XpressAudio is designed for music lovers and the millions of people around the world who rely on feature phones for daily communication and are experiencing the rapid 4G takeover of 2G and 3G networks," he added.

The company claimed that the new phone comes packed with a 1450mAh battery that delivers hours of talk and playback time and lasts for weeks on standby.

The detachable wireless earbuds deliver on convenience and when they are not in use they are housed beneath a sleek and robust slider on the back of the phone, the company said.

It will also be compatible with your smartphone should you wish to switch between devices, it added.

The feature phone comes in white/red and black/red colour combinations.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 12 (IANS) The Karnataka government's cyber security centre of excellence, CySecK, has tied up with IT major Dell Technologies to develop enhanced security practices in the state, especially among students.

After the MoU was signed on Monday, Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka minister for higher education and IT/BT, said that the MoU will facilitate imparting cyber security awareness and practices to students, start-ups and public offices. He added that this will also benefit small and medium scale enterprises.

As per the agreement, Dell will provide learning of cyber safety practices through its interactive courses and will be available both in Kannada as well as in English, the minister informed.

Dell will also contribute to the start-up ecosystem of the state through its 'Ascend' initiative. This will help in expanding the start-up market in the state, he opined.

To achieve the target of the state becoming a 300 billion dollar digital economy by 2025, putting in place an efficient cyber security system is very necessary, Narayan stated.

Dr Karthik Rao Bappanadu, Head, CySecK, stated that the centre is working to expand the cyber security practices to tier 2 and 3 centres also.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) Popular video streaming platform Netflix and Ubisoft on Monday announced they have partnered to create three mobile games from some of the game franchises for Netflix, starting in 2023.

The three games will expand on the Valiant Hearts, Mighty Quest and Assassin's Creed universes and will be available exclusively on mobile to Netflix members worldwide with no ads or in-app purchases.

"We are thrilled to work with Ubisoft, whose track record creating memorable worlds for fans is unmatched," Mike Verdu, Vice President of Games, Netflix, said in a statement.

"This partnership will provide our members with exclusive access to some of the most exciting game franchises as we continue to build a catalogue of great mobile games for our members around the world," Verdu added.

A new Valiant Hearts game, a sequel to Ubisoft's multi-award-winning game Valiant Hearts: The Great War, is directed by the original core team and will retain the same DNA while featuring a new story. It will be available to Netflix members in January 2023.

After the critically acclaimed The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot mobile game, The Mighty Quest will come to Netflix in 2023 with a new game. This time, the game will draw inspiration from the rogue-like genre to deliver an experience that celebrates the series' premiere hack-and-slash combat in a fresh and highly replayable format.

And for Assassin's Creed fans, they will be able to immerse themselves in the Assassin's Creed universe on Netflix in more than one way: in addition to the previously announced live-action series, an all-new mobile game is being developed exclusively for Netflix.

"As we continue to create great experiences on all platforms, we are glad to be partnering with such an innovative and creative partner as Netflix," said Jean-Michel Detoc, Chief Mobile Officer, Ubisoft.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 11 (IANS) Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is likely working on a feature that will add a new camera shortcut for iPhone users on their app.

According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has submitted a new update through the TestFlight beta Programme, bringing the version up to 22.19.0.75. The version marked within WhatsApp Settings is 2.22.19.75 and the TestFlight build is 22.19.0.

A screenshot showed that the camera shortcut is placed within the navigation bar and it will show up for those users that can already create a community in the future.

It looks exactly like the one implemented on WhatsApp beta for Android (but since there was a bug, it has temporarily been removed in another update), the report said.

Since this shortcut is now under development, it is still not visible to users because WhatsApp plans to release it in a future update of the app, it added.

Earlier this month, a report said that WhatsApp is working on a new feature for businesses to let them manage chats from their linked devices in an upcoming subscription service from WhatsApp for businesses.

Under a new optional subscription plan called WhatsApp Premium, users will be able to use additional features such as the ability to create a custom business link and link up to 10 devices to their accounts in the future.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 11 (IANS) With an aim to enhance the video-conferencing experience on Chromebooks, tech giant Google is reportedly developing new built-in features that include background blur and other effects to improve lighting.

According to a potential feature flag, the Chrome OS team is developing a background blur effect, available on Apple's macOS machines powered by Apple Silicon, for Chromebooks, reports Android Central.

As per the report, background blur is a popular feature of many of the best video conference software, such as Google Meet. It is a useful tool for hiding your messy bedroom when video-calling your colleagues.

The report said that adding these effects to Chromebooks as a built-in feature will significantly improve user experience on the platform, which has traditionally lagged behind Windows PCs and MacBooks in terms of features.

The tech giant is also likely working on another feature called "Portrait Relighting," which is similar to a feature found in the Google Camera app for Pixel phones.

According to Google, Portrait Light "adds a simulated directional light source to portraits" to complement the lighting in the original photo.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 11 (IANS) Tech giant Google is bringing a new app review policy to make app ratings and reviews as genuine as possible in the Play Store.

The latest change will hold up user-submitted reviews and ratings by around 24 hours before they go public, assuming they're from real people, reports Android Central.

As per the report, the tech giant aims for the new policy to detect suspicious ratings and reviews on Android apps.

"To allow us to automatically detect suspicious Ratings or Reviews activity, we are introducing a delay of around 24 hours from when users submit Ratings or Reviews to when those submissions are published," Google was quoted as saying in an advisory.

"In this period, you will still be able to help your users by seeing Reviews and replying to them, but these won't be immediately public," it added.

The report mentioned that the new policy might help to reduce the spread of fake reviews on online products.

The tech giant warned against posting the same review multiple times, as well as reviews for the same content from multiple accounts, the report said.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Google and Amazon last year to determine whether they "may not have done enough" to combat fake reviews on their respective platforms.

--IANS
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