Instagram Stories Get GIF Stickers With Access to Giphy Database

Facebook-owned image sharing platform Instagram has collaborated with Giphy to announce the rollout of a new millennial-focused feature on its Android and iOS app. Starting Tuesday, GIF stickers will be available globally as a part of the Stickers tab in Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories were first revealed back in August 2016. In this time, it has grown to 300 million DAU (Daily Active Users).

Thanks to the partnership with Giphy, Instagram users can now add funny GIF stickers to their public and private stories. "Users can add as many stickers as they'd like from a growing library, and will have hand-curated recommendations to turn even their seemingly mundane moments into fun, expressive and artistic moments to share," Instagram stated. GIF stickers will be available as part of version 29 on Android and iOS.

The feature was first spotted by The Next Web in a beta update in November 2017. Gadgets 360 got early access to the official update and here are our initial impressions of GIF stickers.

GIF stickers on Instagram Stories
To access the new feature, you need to take a photo, choose one from the gallery, or record a video on the Instagram Stories tab in the app. Next, click on the Stickers icon on the top right of the screen. Within the list, you will find the new GIF button to add the animated stickers to the photo or video you chose.

Clicking on the button will take you to a list of the top trending GIF stickers. You can now choose from any of the stickers you like and place it anywhere on the image or video. You can resize the GIF sticker, place more stickers, and add text as usual. You can also tap on the GIF sticker to reverse it.
The GIF search library is commendable, and you can search for hundreds of thousands of stickers present in Giphy's GIF database. Instagram has kept things minimal without too many additional options, a good thing for social media apps. Its sibling Facebook Messenger could probably learn a thing or two.

In our testing of the feature, we searched for GIF stickers of pop culture characters like Michael Scott from The Office, Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, among others, and were impressed with the variety of stickers available for use.

Instagram recommends searching for keywords like "Accessories" to find interesting face stickers such as sunglasses, hats, lips, and so on. Searching for "Effects" will return results of stickers that you can use to enhance the ambience in your story. Additionally, stickers in the "Peekers" category give a 3D illusion; they pop up and disappear.

Alternatively, you can search for "Word Art" to get fancy words in the form of a GIF; or even search for "Emoji" to get some special emoji packs.

How it fares against competition
In terms of market size, Instagram Stories only has 'competition' from the likes of WhatsApp Stories. In terms of features though, Instagram is known to borrow several features from Snapchat in the past. Things like face filters, self-destructing private stories, and regular stickers were first seen on Snapchat. At the time of writing, Snapchat does offer animated stickers albeit with an extremely limited library. It does, however, claim that seasonal stickers are released around events like Christmas.

With the Giphy partnership, Instagram has reiterated its stronghold in the market and given users yet another chance to interact on the platform. Instagram's next public announcement will be when we find out whether users spend time on the new feature or not.

"In the coming weeks, we're also rolling out the ability to upload photos and videos of any size to your story - so you never have to lose part of a photo or cut a friend out of a group video," said Instagram in a blog post. However, we are already able to see this feature on Instagram Stories.

Read More

Snapchat to Let Users Share Stories Outside the App With a Link

Snap said it is launching a new feature on Snapchat on Tuesday, allowing users to share public stories with friends and family who aren't on the app.

The company, which reported lower-than-expected 178 million daily active users in the third quarter ended September 30, has been trying to attract new users and rolling out features, aiming to increase the time users spend on the app.

Snap's shares were up about 1 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Snapchat users will be able to press and hold on the tiles in Discover feature to share Official Stories, Our Stories and Search Stories via a shareable link, the company said. These links will then open through a player on Snap's website.

Snapchat, known for its messages that disappear seconds after they are read, said Our Stories and Search Stories will be available on the website for 30 days, while Official Stories will disappear after 24 hours.

The company also added that it is not ruling out monetisation of the stories.
Earlier this month, Snap said it would partner with Fox Sports to showcase stories with matchday highlights on the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament to be hosted in Russia later this year.

The Snapchat app was revamped last November to simplify navigation after complaints that it was difficult to use.

© Thomson Reuters 2018

Read More

Xiaomi Surge S2 Leaked Ahead of MWC 2018

While Xiaomi is all set to showcase its new offerings at MWC 2018, specifications of the Surge S2 have now surfaced online to hint at what's cooking up behind the scenes. The new SoC, which is likely to be the successor of the Surge S1 that was debuted at MWC 2017 in last February, is speculated to power the Xiaomi Mi 6X. The rumoured smartphone is presumed to be available worldwide as Xiaomi Mi A2, the new version of the Mi A1 Android One handset. An image of a back cover, allegedly showing the Mi 6X, has already been leaked to give a glimpse at the design of the new handset.

As per the details available on MyDrivers, the Surge S2 is based on TSMC's 16nm manufacturing process - featuring an octa-core processor. The SoC is reported to have four cores of Cortex-A73, clocked at 2.2GHz, and four cores of 1.8GHz Cortex-A53. Further, the processor is said to have a Mali G71 MP8 GPU as well as come with support for UFS 2.1 storage and LPDDR4 RAM. All these details suggest that the processing capabilities of the new Surge chip would be in line with high-end processor options such as Huawei's Kirin 960 and Samsung's Exynos 8890.

It is unclear whether the Surge S2 will be a part of various new Xiaomi smartphones. However, the Mi 6X is expected to be the first to include the new SoC. The smartphone appears to be the successor of the Mi 5X that had been rebranded as the Mi A1 in the global markets. Therefore, it is likely to be the Mi A2.

The leaked image of the Xiaomi Mi 6X case suggests that smartphone would come with a thin-bezel display and a vertical dual-camera setup. Also, the image shows a circular home button in the middle of the rear panel of the smartphone that could be there to provide a room for a fingerprint sensor.

Alongside the Surge S2 and the Mi 6X, Xiaomi is in the headlines for preparing the launch of the Mi 7. The next flagship model is likely to be the key offering by the Shenzhen-based at the forthcoming MWC in Barcelona. It is already confirmed to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC.

Read More

Uber's $3 Million Settlement With New York Drivers Rejected by US Judge

A federal judge refused to grant preliminary approval for Uber Technologies's proposed $3 million class-action settlement with 2,421 New York drivers who accused the ride-sharing company of retaining excessive fees from their fares.

In a decision on Friday, US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn objected to a provision allowing the revival of breach of contract claims he had dismissed, so long as the settlement won final approval.

Garaufis said such a "conditional stipulation" appeared to leave "in limbo" whether the settling drivers' claims had enough in common for him to approve the proposed settlement.

The judge also objected to a $2,500 payment to a driver whose claims had been deemed subject to arbitration. Garaufis said the drivers could submit a revised settlement for approval.

"We anticipate refiling our motion early this week," Jonathan Greenbaum, a lawyer for the drivers, said on Monday.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Drivers had accused Uber of accounting improperly for sales taxes and a "Black Car Fund" fee, which relates to workers' compensation, in fares when calculating service fees, thereby increasing the amounts owed.

They also accused the San Francisco-based company Uber of falsely advertising guaranteed compensation for drivers without disclosing the conditions.

Uber has denied all allegations.

The settlement covered drivers who used the Uber app to arrange rides in New York since December 29, 2009, and whose claims were not subject to arbitration.

It was reached after Uber paid more than $80 million to roughly 96,000 drivers in New York, following its admission that it had inadvertently underpaid drivers for two-and-a-half years, court papers show.

Read More

Sony's Xperia XZ Pro will ditch headphone jack, probably

SONY NEXT FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONE, the so-called Xperia XZ Pro, will be the firm's first device to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack. 

That's according to an FCC filing, which depicts a Sony device in 'Charging Mode' sporting a dongle that splits into a USB port and a headphone jack. This dongle (below) slots into the handset's USB-C port, and will offer users the option to listen to music while the phone is re-juicing. 

While it's not clear whether the device in question is the rumoured Xperia XZ Pro, it's listed dimensions come in at 52.8x72.4mm, so it's got more than enough room to squeeze in the handset's mooted 5.7in 4K-resolution OLED display.

That ain't all we know about the Sony Xperia XZ Pro, either. Chinese site MyDrivers last week revealed that the flagship mobe will be unveiled during next month's MWC in Barcelona as the successor to last year's Xperia XZ Premium. 

The website also claims to have got its hands on the smartphone's specs. As well as outing the phone's high-res screen, which MyDriversclaims will be largely "bezel-free", the Xperia XZ Pro will reportedly be powered by Qualcomm's 10nm Snapdragon 845 processor will apparently provide the power, despite speculation that Samsung had first dibs on the SoC for its Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus processor.

This will come paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage, according to the report, and there's also a microSD slot and a beefy 3,420mAh battery.

On the photography front, expect a dual camera setup comprising of an 18MP shooter with a 1.33μm pixel size and a 12MP camera with a 1.38μm pixel size. The front-facing camera is said to weight in at 13MP, but no further details have yet been revealed.

The Sony Xperia XZ Pro will also pack an IP68-certified chassis and will ship with Android 8.1 Oreo. 

MyDrivers claims that the handset will fetch 6000 yuan ($930, £675) when it goes on sale, but no release date has been confirmed yet.

This MWC launch will follow Sony's underwhelming CES presser, where it unveiled a trio of mid-range smartphones: the Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra and Xperia L2. 

The highlight of the middling lineup is the Xperia XA2, which packs a 5.2in Full HD screen, a Snapdragon 630 processor paired with 3GB RAM and a 23MP rear-facing camera, complete with hybrid autofocus, support for 4K video recording plus 120fps slow-motion shooting.

Read More

Intel Asks Customers to Halt Patches for Meltdown, Spectre Chip Bugs, Citing Flaw

Intel said on Monday that patches it released to address two high-profile security vulnerabilities in its chips are faulty, advising customers, computer makers and cloud providers to stop installing them.

Intel Executive Vice President Navin Shenoydisclosed the problem in a statement on the chipmaker's website, saying that patches released after months of development caused computers to reboot more often than normal and other "unpredictable" behaviour.

"I apologise for any disruption this change in guidance may cause," Shenoy said. "I assure you we are working around the clock to ensure we are addressing these issues."

The issue of the faulty patches is separate from complaints by customers for weeks that the patches slow computer performance. Intel has said a typical home and business PC user should not see significant slowdowns.

Intel's failure to provide a usable patch could cause businesses to postpone purchasing new computers, said IDC analyst Mario Morales.

Intel is "still trying to get a handle on what's really happening. They haven't resolved the matter," he said.

Intel asked technology providers to start testing a new version of the patches, which it began distributing on Saturday.

The warning came nearly three weeks after Intel confirmed on January 3 that its chips were impacted by vulnerabilities known as Spectreand Meltdown, which make data on affected computers vulnerable to espionage.

Meltdown was specific to chips from Intel, as well as one from SoftBank's ARM Holdings. Spectre affected nearly every modern computing device, including ones with chips from Intel, ARM and Advanced Micro Devices.

Problems with the patches have been growing since Intel on January 11 said they were causing higher reboot rates in its older chips and then last week that the problem was affecting newer processors.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Intel asking customers to halt using the patches.

Read More

Microsoft Education Announces 4 Budget Laptops, Free Office 365 Access, and More

Microsoft on Monday announced the launch of four new school-focused Windows 10 laptops. The company also unveiled plans to offer free access to Office 365 Education to school teachers in 146 countries globally and several developments for STEM - including new curricula for Computer Science with Minecraft, partnerships for Mixed Reality headsets, and a new Chemistry update.

New laptops
Microsoft unveiled four new laptops - two from Lenovo and two developed by JP.

With a budget oriented approach for school students, the Lenovo range starts at just $189  for the Lenovo 100e. It is powered by an Intel Celeron Apollo Lake processor, coupled with a minimum of 2GB LPDDR4 RAM. It sports a 11.6-inch HD (1366x768 pixels) antiglare display. The laptop also boasts a battery life of up to 10 hours, and has a weight of 1.22 kg.

The Lenovo 300e 2-in-1 convertible PC has also been announced in the Microsoft Education range. The laptop is powered by an Intel Pentium processor, coupled with a minimum of 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and a minimum of 16GB eMMC storage. The laptop sports a 11.6-inch HD (1366x768 pixels) 10-point multitouch display with Active Pen display. It boasts a battery life of up to 8 hours.The Lenovo 300e has been priced starting at $279.

There are two laptops, in the Microsoft Education range, from JP that have been launched. The Classmate Leap T303 laptop with Windows Hello support starts at $199 and the Trigono V401 2-in-1 starts at $299. The latter comes with pen and touch support.

Office 365 Education
Microsoft also announced that it would be extending free access to Office 365 Education to teachers in 146 countries. Apart from that, a number of new education-based updates are set to arrive on Microsoft Office next month. These include Microsoft Learning Tools to help students improve their comprehension skills, assignment and grade integration on OneNoteClass Notebook, access to classroom digital hub Teams on iOS and Android, and enabling teachers to publish PowerPoint slides to Teams classrooms.

STEM announcements
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is an important area of focus for Microsoft Education. The Redmond giant announced several new developments on the STEM front. Microsoft is partnering with BBC Worldwide to bring the natural history film Oceans: Our Blue Planet to classrooms and museums.

A partnership with LEGO Education will also incorporate a new free online hacking STEM lesson plan that enables students to do things like measure topography in 2D/ 3D space, build tools with LEGO bricks, create transportation plans, and more.

Microsoft has also partnered with other education providers that will roll out compatible curriculum for Windows Mixed Reality headsets and Microsoft HoloLens headsets. A limited period pricing will be available for academic students and professors from January 22 till May 31. Commercial and Developer HoloLens variants will be available for a 10 percent discount in select markets where the headset ships.

Lastly, a new Chemistry Update will be rolled out for STEM in Spring 2018. It will enable teachers and students to use Minecraft to help learn the subject better.

Read More

Android 8.1 Oreo Starts Displaying Public Wi-Fi Network Speeds Before Connecting

Google is rolling out a new feature on Android 8.1 Oreo that shows the speed of Wi-Fi networks before users connect to them. After teasing the feature for a while now, Google has finally announced the new feature. This Wi-Fi speed labels on Android Oreo is applicable to open Wi-Fi, which means users can gauge the speed before connecting to public networks.

It should be noted that Android's new feature will not be able to show the exact network speed. It just gives a close idea of the signal strength for users to determine whether they wish to connect to a Wi-Fi network or not. Another vital requirement is that the smartphone must be running Android 8.1 Oreo to avail the feature.

In order to check the network speed, users will have to go to the Settings app on their smartphone. Under the Network and Internet tab, they have to go to the Wi-Fi list. From the listed networks, the user needs to select one that needs to be connected. Further, connection speed will be shown under the names of public networks. Notably, the displayed speed can change with signal strength.

Based on what users can do with the signal strength, Google has divided the speed into four categories - Slow ("If you can use Wi-Fi calling, you can make phone calls and send texts"), OK ("You can read webpages, use social media, and stream music"), Fast ("You can stream most videos"), and Very Fast ("You can stream very high-quality videos"). Orrin, a Pixel User Community Manager, explained the speeds for each label in a forum, as - Slow (0 to 1 Mbps), OK (1 Mbps to 5 Mbps), Fast (5 Mbps to 20 Mbps), and Very Fast (20 Mbps+).

Users can also disable the functionality by going to Wi-Fi Preferences, under the same Wi-Fi tab. Further, under the Advanced option, select 'None' in the Network rating provider tab.

Read More

Xiaomi Mi 7, Mi 6X Images Leak, Tipping Design and Specifications

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is expected to hit the market with two new handsets. While a leak has showcased an all new Xiaomi Mi 6X, another has revealed more details of the Mi 7. The Xiaomi Mi 6X is said to be the successor to Mi 5X, which was launched in July 2017. Notably, the Xiaomi Mi 5X was rebranded as Mi A1 in India, and shipped with stock Android as an Android One offering. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mi 7 is expected to be the company's next flagship smartphone that could be launched at MWC 2018.

While there have been several rumours going around regarding the Mi 7 smartphone, the latest render has come from Naijatech which has cited a Weibo leak that showcases the back side of the smartphone. On the rear end of the smartphone, there is a horizontally aligned dual camera setup along with an LED flash. Interestingly, the report also suggests that the smartphone may support wireless charging.

Additionally, CNMO has also leaked another image showing the front side of the smartphone. Both the leaks, suggest that the Mi 7 may feature a traditional fingerprint scanner on the back. The image also suggests the presence of a thin top bezel and none at the bottom, reminding us of the Mi MIX 2 design.

Earlier, Xiaomi had announced that the Mi 7 will be the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 SoC. Notably, another report had suggested that the smartphone will sport a proprietary face unlock feature and abandon the traditional fingerprint scanner. Also, some reports have claimed the presence of a 6-inch bezel-less 18:9 OLED display on the Xiaomi Mi 7.

Meanwhile, an image of a back cover, allegedly belonging to Xiaomi Mi 6X has reportedly leaked on Chinese microblogging website Weibo. Confirming the leak, Slashleaks posted case renders of the Mi 6X which shows edge-to-edge display and a vertical dual-camera setup. Another image leaked on Weibo has showcased the back cover of the Mi 6X.

Meanwhile, there is also a circular hole in the middle of the rear panel, which could be the placeholder for a fingerprint sensor. Also, images showing the front side suggests that the Mi 6X may come with a full-screen design, with an aspect ratio of 18:9.

Since the Mi A1 was seen as a rebranding of the Mi 5X, the Mi 6X could possibly be launched as Mi A2 in India. Also, Xiaomi could go for a mid-year release for the Mi 6X as seen with the previous variant. While the company has already confirmed it will be present at the Mobile World Congress, Mi 7 could be its biggest launch.

However, with all rumours and leaks, it is advisable to take the above information about the Mi 7 and Mi 6X with a pinch of salt, as Xiaomi has yet to make any announcements about its new smartphones and the credibility of the sources cannot be independently verified.

Read More

Google Suspends Fact-Checking Feature in Search After Flaw Emerges

Google has suspended its fact-check feature in its Search and news results after its algorithm wrongly linked a Washington Post fact check to a Daily Caller article about US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation team, the media reported.

Noting that the feature proved to be too faulty for public use, Google attributed the decision to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation after it published a story lambasting the tech giant for wrongly appending a Washington Post Fact Checker debunk to one of its stories.

"We launched the reviewed claims feature at the end of last year as an experiment with the aim of helping people quickly learn more about news publications," online news portal The Daily Signal quoted a Google spokeswoman as saying.

"We said previously that we encountered challenges in our systems that maps fact checks to publishers and on further examination it's clear that we are unable to deliver the quality we'd like for users," she added.

Google rolled out the fact-check tool last year in order to highlight articles in its Search and news results that have been fact-checked.

When a search query returns a result that has been reviewed, Google displays who made the claim and if a third-party organisation has found it to be true, false or somewhere in between.

A spokesperson for Google later clarified to Poynter news platform that the tech company was not ending its fact-checking efforts but just the "Reviewed Claims" section of its Knowledge Panel feature.

"Fact checks from independent organisations will still appear alongside articles in search and Google News," the company was quoted as saying.

Google has removed that single purported fact check at the time of The Daily Caller News Foundation's initial inquiries.

Read More

OnePlus Opens Its 'First Authorised Store' in Mumbai

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Saturday announced the launch of its first 'Authorised Store' in Mumbai. Calling it its 'first exclusive offline store in Mumbai', OnePlus says the move is part of its strategy to create "more offline touch points across key cities in India to allow users to experience the phone sales."

In September 2017, the company partnered with several Croma stores to provide easy access to OnePlus products at a conveniently located store. The company also launched its flagship Experience Store in Bengaluru last year for the OnePlus community to experience products as well as collaborate and share new ideas.

"The new 'OnePlus Authorised Store' is designed to complement our online first business strategy and also attract new users, while serving as a destination for our fast-growing community to experience and purchase OnePlus products," Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said in a statement.

The company is offering free Bullet V2earphones on the purchase of any OnePlus smartphone to early buyers who visit the OnePlus Authorised Store in Mumbai. Starting Saturday, the OnePlus 5T Lava Red variant also made its way into the country, and the smartphone will also be available via the Mumbai store.

Read More

Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ Expected to Sport Y-Octa Display, f/1.5 Aperture Camera Lens

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are expected to sport an f/1.5 aperture camera lens, SLP chip technology, and a Y-Octa display.

Samsung has confirmed that its latest flagship smartphones in the Galaxy S series will be announced at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona next month. While the South Korean giant has not revealed any other details about the phones yet, rumours are afloat on the Internet that point towards various new features. A new report suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are expected to sport an f/1.5 aperture camera lens, SLP chip technology, and Y-Octa display technology.

New camera specifications
According to a report by ETNews, the Galaxy S9 series will feature a variable f/1.5 aperture lens on the rear camera setup. This f/1.5 lens was first launched by Samsung with the W2018smartphone in December last year. The report also suggests that with a variable aperture of f/.5/ to f/2.4, the camera on the Galaxy S9 will be able to adjust aperture as in a DSLR camera.

Apart from that, the Galaxy S9 Plus is expected to sport a dual camera setup on the back, with wide-angle and zoom lens capabilities. The front camera on the Galaxy S9 will reportedly have an iris scanner integrated into the sensor, while the Galaxy S9+ will have a separate camera sensor and an iris scanner.

SLP Motherboard technology
The ETNews report also claims that the Galaxy S9 series will be the first to introduce SLP (Substrate like PCB) motherboard technology on a Samsung phone. This technology helps create more space to add in other components like a bigger battery, advanced chips etc. Reports back in August last year had also hinted at Samsung opting for SLP in the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. The Apple iPhone X uses a similar Stacked SLP technology to fit in two battery parts.

Y-Octa display technology
And, finally, the report also mentions that Samsung will be using the new Y-Octa display technology on the upcoming flagship phones. The Samsung Galaxy S9 is expected to sport a 5.77-inch display and the Galaxy S9+ is expected to sport a 6.22-inch display with the new flexible Y-Octa OLED technology.

Read More

WhatsApp Gets Notification Channel Support on Android 8.0 Oreo

WhatsApp has leveraged the enhanced notification support on Android 8.0 Oreo by bringing support for app notification channels. The new support is already available through the latest WhatsApp beta versions and is likely to soon be available to the masses via the next public release. It ultimately allows you to disable the certain WhatsApp notifications you find inconsequential and prioritise those that matter to you. Importantly, notification channels were first implemented for Google Chromenotifications to let users adjust notifications for individual sites back in July last year.

The latest beta versions of WhatsApp for Android support 10 notification channels, namely group notifications, message notifications, chat history backup, critical app alerts, failure notifications, media playback, uncategorised, other notifications, sending media, and silent notifications. Each of the available notification channels has discrete settings to help you give high importance to only the notifications that are important to you. For instance, you can go to the group notifications channel and set importance level for group messages to 'Low' from the default 'Urgent' to stop receiving notifications on a regular basis. There is also an option to manage group notifications distinctly, apart from the group message notifications. Additionally, you can use the new update to even set WhatsApp notifications to override the 'Do Not Disturb' feature.

You can see the available types of notification channels for the WhatsApp app by long-pressing its icon and then go to the 'Notifications' section after tapping the 'App Info' option. In case, you'd like to adjust notification priority for WhatsApp Web, you just need to go to the 'Other notifications' channel and then select your preference from 'Urgent', 'High', 'Medium', and 'Low' importance settings. Moving to the 'Low' importance preference will completely disable the WhatsApp Web notification icon from your mobile device and a simple line will be available in the notification panel that will help you know that the WhatsApp Web access is currently active.

Alongside the notification channel integration, the latest WhatsApp beta versions also include the ability to let users switch from voice to video calls. This means that you can move between the voice and video calls without hanging up any of the two. Moreover, a video button is available in the in-call menu to let you make video calls during your voice calls.

Folks at Android Police have reported that both the features are available through the WhatsApp v2.18.18 beta, which is available for download in the APK form through APK Mirror, as well as through the Google Play beta programme. We're separately seeing the notification channel update on the WhatsApp v2.18.19 beta downloaded via Google Play. It is worth noting here that the changes are only visible if you're using a device running Android 8.0 Oreo or above.

Read More

Facebook to Prioritise 'Trustworthy' News Based on Surveys

Facebook will prioritise "trustworthy" news in its feed of social media posts, using member surveys to identify high-quality outlets and fight sensationalism and misinformation, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.

The company, which has more than 2 billion monthly users, said its members, not experts or Facebook executives, would determine how news outlets rank in terms of trustworthiness. It also said it would put an emphasis on local news sources.

The move is likely to send shockwaves through the media landscape in nearly every country, given the ubiquity of the world's largest social network and how central it has become in some places to the distribution of news.

Zuckerberg said on Friday he expects recently announced changes to shrink the amount of news on Facebook by 20 percent, to about 4 percent of all content from 5 percent currently.

The chief executive outlined the shakeup in a post on Facebook, saying that starting next week the News Feed, the company's centrepiece product, would prioritise "high quality news" over less trusted sources.

"There's too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarisation in the world today," Zuckerberg wrote.

"Social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don't specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them," he wrote.

The quality of news on Facebook has been called into question after alleged Russian operatives, for-profit spammers and others spread false reports on the site, including during the 2016 US election campaign.

Two years ago, Facebook users saw hoaxes saying Pope Francis endorsed Republican Donald Trump for US president and that a federal agent investigating Democrat Hillary Clinton was found dead. Facebook initially proposed fighting false stories by letting users flag them.

The change will affect not only links posted by news outlets but also news stories that individuals share, Facebook said.

News organizations immediately began considering how they would fare in the ranking.

Fighting fake news
The trust ranking will help to address fake news stories, said David Chavern, president of the News Media Alliance, a trade group for old-line U.S. newspapers.

"For some time, we have argued that Facebook should give priority to news from trusted sources," he said in a statement.

Tom Gara, opinion editor at BuzzFeed News, wrote on Twitter that he expected partisan outlets to fare worse: "This sounds like extremely good news for news publishers that aren't hated by one side or the other."

Facebook has had a stormy relationship with news organizations, especially those with strong political leanings. In 2016, Republican US lawmakers expressed concern that Facebook, based in liberal Northern California, was suppressing news stories of interest to conservative readers.

Facebook said that ranking by trustworthiness was not intended to directly impact any specific groups of publishers based on their size or ideology.

Zuckerberg said he settled on the idea of surveying Facebook users after rejecting having the company itself rank news outlets' trustworthiness.

"We decided that having the community determine which sources are broadly trusted would be most objective," he wrote in his post.

Facebook said it did not plan to release the survey results because they will represent an incomplete picture of how a story's position in a person's feed is determined.

Many factors determine where a post appears in a Facebook user's News Feed such as subject of the post, who wrote it and who is commenting on it.

Last week, Zuckerberg said the company would change the way it filters posts and videos on News Feed to prioritise what friends and family share.

News Corp, owner of the New York Post and other outlets, responded to the earlier Facebook announcement with a pledge to look for "any signs that the weighting of news sites is politically motivated."

The Rupert Murdoch-led company had no immediate comment on Friday.

Read More

Made-in-India Video Games Could Come to the Nintendo Switch

It appears that games made in India may find their way to the Nintendo Switch. Multiple sources speaking to Gadgets 360 have said that Nintendo employees are in the country evaluating games from Indian studios for potential release on its platforms. This was confirmed by a Facebook post from Bengaluru-based Holy Cow Productions that was visited by Nintendo, whose staff are in the city for the Indian Gaming Show as well.

Previously, indie developers such as Yacht Club Games — responsible for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove have come out in admiration for Nintendo’s support for independent developers with ample promotion and advertising.

Nintendo looking at India for games is a welcome move considering the intense competition on Android and iOS make it tough for local developers to stay afloat let alone monetise. So much so that game studios are looking at other revenue opportunities like e-sports to pivot to.

Amusingly, the Nintendo Switch isn’t available in India officially, though it has been selling steadily across stores - both online and offline.

“We see more customers asking for the Nintendo Switch than they do for the PS4 or Xbox One,” a buyer for a large format retail chain tells us.

For what it’s worth, we found the Nintendo Switch to be one of the better efforts from the House of Mario, more so with a strong line-upin its second year. The possibly of games from India just strengthen the notion of it being one of the more inclusive, developer-friendly consoles around.

Read More