Items tagged with App
Instagram has slipped an update out without really saying much about it. The new update allows Instagram users to make payments via the app to a limited number of partners. The payments service allows users to register a debit or credit card as part of their profile and then set up a security PIN. Once the payment source and PIN are setup, users will be able to pay directly on the app for services like hair salons and restaurants. One of the very first to offer this service is Resy, an app for making dinner reservations. Instagram has also stated that in the future users will be able to pay for things like movie tickets directly via the app. Instagram had previously announced that it would roll...
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WhatsApp co-founder of Jan Koum is sitting on what is estimated to be a $9.1 billion fortune, and he will have plenty of time to enjoy that cash now that he has departed the company. That massive fortune came to Koum and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton when Facebook purchased their company back in 2009 for $22 billion in cash and stock. Acton and Koum haven't been very happy with Facebook, especially in recent months after the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach. In fact, Acton led a charge to encourage people to delete Facebook, biting the hand that fed him billions. So, what is 42-year-old Koum going to do with the remainder of his days? Sitting on that $9.1 billion fortune, he can do...
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About a week ago we talked a bit about the rumors floating around that Spotify was working on a refreshed version of its mobile app and free tier service. New details on the revamped service have turned up and according to the rumors some users are already seeing a new UI and features. Among the new features in the revamped service are options to play songs on demand in select playlists. This is one of the features normally reserved for premium subscribers. Spotify has an event set for April 24 where the new free service is expected to be officially unveiled. The refreshed UI for the free mobile app reportedly has Gold Edition playlists that have on-demand tracks inside. Playlists that can...
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One of the most controversial things that Snapchat has done in its history was to move from the traditional reverse chronological order to a feed that was sorted using an algorithm. Many hated this change because they wanted to see the newest posts from friends at the top, not what Snapchat thought was most important to place at the top of their feed. Reports are coming in that for some users the algorithm has been tossed out and the stories are sorted in reverse chronological order with the newest posts at the top again. Users who are seeing the feed change report that the chronological Stories feed is seen in the design where there are just Stories and All tabs and the design with separate...
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You can now let people into your home when you are gone with the help of Amazon Key. The feature first launched in October of last year in limited areas; now Amazon has announced that it is available nationwide. Prime members in 37 cities can continue to take advantage of optional in-home delivery. It's easy to confuse the in-home delivery option with Key, however, to be clear the in-home delivery isn’t available nationwide and is the feature that allows Prime members to unlock their home and let delivery drivers into their home to stash packages. Amazon Key is the feature that includes keyless entry to your home, remote unlock and lock, and guest access. Amazon has added a new feature...
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Under Armor is a big name in the athletic clothing world. In addition to clothing, the company also has an app that is meant to allow people to track their food intake and nutrition to help get fit (and stay) fit. The app is very popular with users on iOS and Android, but it has suffered a major data breach. Under Armour has notified users that the MyFitnessPal app team became aware that an unauthorized third party had acquired data associated with user accounts for the app and website. That unauthorized access happened in late February 2018 and Under Armor states "The company quickly took steps to determine the nature and scope of the issue and to alert the MyFitnessPal community of the...
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Gamers in the Great White North got a surprise this week as without warning and with no fanfare, PUBG Mobile landed on the Google Play store in the country. This launch highlights the promise that the developer made to get the game on all major platforms. The game is an officially licensed mobile version and the soft launch is viewed as an early release to allow gamers to grab the game and beat on it for stability before a presumed larger rollout. PUBG did the same thing when it launched in early access form on Steam and stayed there for a long time before hitting an official release. Canada isn’t the first country to get a PUBG Mobile game, China was the first. The launch in Canada is...
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Spotify is handing out some harsh warnings to Android users that are using hacked apps, bypassing its paywall to access premium content without paying. Spotify's premium tier allows listeners to skip the commercials and download tunes directly to their devices. Spotify has sent out warning emails to an unknown number of users warning them against using the hacked apps. The emails warn that the use of these hacked apps violates the terms of using Spotify and could result in account termination. One of these hacks is called "Dogfood" and Spotify recently had it removed from GitHub after having an official DMCA notice issued. Reports indicate that the email that Spotify sent out reads in part: We...
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Google has just announced that its Slack challenger, Hangouts Chat, has exited beta. Hangouts Chat is now an official member of the core G Suite service. Google wrote, "From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate easily and efficiently. With dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time—plus threaded conversations—Chat makes it simple to track progress and follow up tasks." You can work with other G Suite apps from within Chat, that means collaborating with Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Users can also join Hangouts Meet online meetings from within Chat. An integrated search engine allows you to search for room members, past conversations, and...
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Gaming on-the-go for most people means an app on a tablet or smartphone, and there are of course the folks who will do their mobile gaming with a laptop. The catch is that gaming with high-end games requires some serious muscle of the sort that many laptops, tablets, and smartphones simply can’t muster. A new streaming gaming service is launching in California called Shadow, and it will come to more locations later (exactly when is unannounced at this time). Shadow is like a “powerful Windows 10 PC” that allows you to surf the web, play games, and use high-end software on tablets and smartphones. Shadow can also turn basic laptops into workstation/gaming class machines. The...
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Google has been testing a screenshot tool built straight into its Google app for nearly the past year, and soon, the feature is finally going to become available to a worldwide audience. With this new feature, Google doesn't take over a device's screenshot capabilities, but instead grabs on to the images captured by the OS, allowing you to quickly edit or share them. It's important to note that this feature only works inside of the Google app, which includes the main screen and links you visit. In testing, the functionality seems to break when you are multiple links deep into a website, but generally, most people don't treat the app as a web browser anyway. Regardless, as Google puts...
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If you use an Android smartphone, you are probably familiar with the Android Messages application (since it is the default messaging application used on many devices). There are other Android messaging applications out there in use on some devices. One of the things that Google is doing with Android Messages is to rollout support for Rich Communication Services or RCS. The cool thing about RCS is that it could replace traditional SMS messaging with a text messaging system that is more flexible with phonebook polling for service discovery, and it would open the door to be able to send messages from multiple devices. Android Messages 2.9 has hints in its code that indicate...
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More and more people are ditching their expensive cable and satellite TV plans and going with streaming options like Netflix, Sling TV, and Hulu. The catch is that some of these streaming services mean you miss out on local content like news and sports. YouTube TV gets around that by offering streaming content that includes your local shows and news. Yesterday, YouTube announced that the YouTube TV app had launched on Roku devices, which are the most popular streaming devices out there. Along with that announcement, YouTube also announced that the same app would be coming for Apple TV users "very soon" -- and true to its word, YouTube TV is now available on Apple TV devices. The YouTube...
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Facebook is under constant scrutiny from various parties due to its sheer dominance of the social networking spaces. The company has been making some interesting decisions of late with the most recent change being an announcement this morning that the social network would begin favoring local news content over national news in news feeds. Facebook is now taking heat for targeting kids younger than 13 due to the rollout of the new Messenger Kids app. A group of child health advocates has penned an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to kill off the Messenger Kids app, which launched back in December. Despite the strict parental controls that the app features, health advocates...
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Tinder is a popular dating app that matches people up using swipes. If you thought that all the people you were swiping left or right on were private and only you and the people you swiped knew about them, you might be wrong. Security researchers have found a flaw that could allow those swipes to be captured and exposed. The crux of the issue is that Tinder doesn't use HTTPS encryption for fetching images reports a security firm called Checkmarx. This lack of encryption means that your Tinder activity could be exposed over a local Wi-Fi network, allowing a nefarious or nosey character to see your Tinder likes and matches in real time. The researchers offered up a demonstration of the attack via...
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WhatsApp has launched a new app for Android users that is called WhatsApp Business. The free app is designed to allow small businesses to more easily connect with their customers. WhatsApp also figures that the new app will make it more convenient for the 1.3 billion people around the world that currently use WhatsApp to connect with businesses that matter most to them. WhatsApp wrote, “People all around the world use WhatsApp to connect with small businesses they care about — from online clothing companies in India to auto parts stores in Brazil. But WhatsApp was built for people and we want to improve the business experience. For example, by making it easier for businesses to respond...
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Apple is happy with the Trump administration new tax policies that will allow it to bring a massive stash of cash that's been stuck overseas back to the U.S. Apple has announced what it plans to invest in when that massive stockpile is back in America (other than possibly buying Netflix). The company will concentrate on three areas with the investments where it says there will be the greatest impact on job creation. The areas include direct employment by Apple, spending and investment with Apple domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the "fast-growing" app economy. Apple notes that new investments along with its current pace of spending with domestic suppliers and manufacturers is...
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They say that we all have a doppelganger out there; someone who looks almost just like we do. Google recently updated its Arts & Culture app and it suddenly went viral. The update lets users of the app snap a selfie and then it uses AI to search famous artworks for your artsy doppelganger. For some people, the app did a very good job matching them up. If you have never used the Arts & Culture app, it has been around since last year and was originally meant to let users browse famous art from hundreds of museums around the world. The portrait feature launched in an update last month and then went viral in a big way over the weekend. According to app metrics site App Annie, Google Arts...
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WhatsApp is a communications tool that is used by people all around the world to stay connected for personal and business use. The big draw to the app for many is that it has an encrypted group chat feature, so you don’t need to worry that someone is listening in on what you are saying. However, security researchers have recently found a flaw with the app that could leave those encrypted group chats vulnerable to eavesdroppers. The security researchers do point out that the risk associated with the flaw is limited, because the hackers need to have access to WhatsApp servers to insert themselves into a group conversation. The fear for some people is that this security flaw will result in...
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Uber has been on an incredible losing streak over the past year; granted much of its troubles have been at its own hands with scandal after scandal. The most recent of those scandals started with an ex-employee who sent a letter detailing all the hacking and bribery that Uber has allegedly engaged in over the years. The latest setback came as the European Union's highest court ruled that Uber is a taxi service. That means that Uber will now have to comply with tougher rules within the European Union that govern taxi associations. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (Dllu) The ruling was handed down by the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the Union, and the ruling made it clear that...
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Any parent of younger kids who are big Santa fans know that a great tech friend on Christmas Eve is the Santa Tracker app from Google. This app will keep you from having to constantly answering the all important "Where is Santa?" question, all night and generally make your life easier. The Santa Tracker app from Google has officially opened since we are only a few weeks away from Christmas. The Santa Tracker apps looks much like it did in years past and has a countdown clock so little ones (and big ones, no judging) can see how far away Santa's big night is. You can visit the website for the Santa Tracker and get the same data you get ton the app version. Santa's Village is open every day through...
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Symantec has issued a warning that it found at least eight different apps on Google Play that were infected with a malware called Android.Sockbot. The apps all posed as add-ons for Minecraft: Pocket Edition and claimed to change the way characters look in the game with new skins. The infection from these apps was widespread with an install base between 600,000 and 2.6 million devices. The malware was mainly focused on infecting users in the U.S., but there were infections in Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, and Germany as well. Symantec says that it set up network analysis of the malware and found that it was aimed at generating illegal ad revenue. However, the apps had no functionality to display ads...
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