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Following last week's Android update to Material Design, the WhatsApp team is still hard at work, adding the ability to backup and restore from Google Drive.

Using the popular cloud service, you can back up and restore your conversation history as well as any included media.

Starting with WhatsApp 2.12.45, if you head to Settings -> Chat Settings -> Chat Backup you can choose the frequency of your backups and whether you want to be able to backup over Wi-Fi-only or over data (which is generally not recommended).

Those who have tested the new app say videos don't appear to be backed up but convos and photo media seem to work seamlessly.

Massive messaging app WhatsApp has announced 800 million monthly active users, on pace for the 1 billion mark by the end of the year.

CEO Jan Koum revealed the new impressive milestone, which shows that the company is adding 100 million active users every quarter since last January.

Facebook acquired the messaging service last year for about $22 billion in stock, one of the largest tech acquisitions of all-time. Facebook has 1.4 billion users and its own Messenger app has nearly 600 million.

WhatsApp is expected to begin being profitable for Facebook after it reaches 1 billion users.

When Facebook last year announced it will acquire WhatsApp many sighed in frustration and went even so far as switching messengers. There was a slight rebellion behind the scenes, also fueled by the decisions concerning Facebook's own Messenger.

It seems that the move has anything but reduced the popularity of the world's most popular IM software. New figures suggest that WhatsApp has already over 800 million users and is closing fast on a billion.

The messenger platform is finding new users in a never before seen pace. In the past three months alone it has increased its user base by an incredible one hundred million.

Facebook is yet the only one to break the coveted billion user base but even its own Messenger has "only" 600 million users.

One of the more important factors to such an aggressive growth is most likely the addition of free calls to other WhatsApp users. If WhatsApp continues on this pace it'll reach the goal later this year.

A year ago, Microsoft stopped support for their decade-old Windows XP operating system, meaning the millions of users still running the OS are vulnerable to exploits. Google wants to help.

Says Google: "At the operating system level, computers running XP are inherently in danger of being infected by malware and viruses, making it increasingly difficult for Chrome to provide a secure browsing environment. That's why we strongly encourage everyone to update to a supported, secure operating system.

That said, we know that not everyone can easily switch to a newer operating system. Millions of people are still working on XP computers every day. We want those people to have the option to use a browser that's up-to-date and as safe as possible on an unsupported operating system."

Google had promised to keep Chrome on XP support through April 2015, and now that we are here, Google says support has been extended until the end of the year.

Netflix has ordered "Our Planet," an eight-part nature documentary from the makers of the popular "Planet Earth" series.

The series will explore remote wilderness areas including deep ocean and polar ice caps and be filmed in 4K. The project is in conjunction with Silverback Films and the conservation group WWF and will be filmed over the next four years before release in 2019.

Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey are behind the new series, and the same team created "Planet Earth," "Frozen Planet," "Blue Planet," "Earth," "Bears," "African Cats" and "Chimpanzee."

"Netflix is proud to be the global home for perhaps Silverback's most ambitious project to date," said Lisa Nishimura, VP of Netflix original documentaries. "The 'Planet' projects have enjoyed great success on Netflix and have helped launch new technologies for viewing at home. We think watching 'Our Planet,' fully on-demand in 4K, will be an unforgettable experience for our members."

A few days ago, Rockstar launched GTA 5 for the PC, and now we have multiple videos of the blockbuster game being played with the developer models of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

Using the software vopX, which is a "driver specifically aimed at VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and supports many DX9-DX11 games," gamers have been able to get into the gigantic world of GTA for the PC.

How does vopX work? "It converts the displayed image to an output that is suitable for watching a game on the headset, in many cases in stereoscopic 3D. Beyond this base functionality vorpX offers many features specifically geared towards VR."

Check out one of the many very cool videos from the Oculus here:

Sony was infamously hacked and its secrets revealed last year. Now a few months later WikiLeaks has made the thousands of documents and hundreds of thousands of emails more accessible by creating a searchable database.

A lot of people have obviously been going through the archive and found all kinds of "new" information. In addition to highly confidential emails between the US government and Sony there's been less high profile leaks. A new one suggests that we might have our hands on an upcoming Sony flagship smartphone.

The device pictured in this article portrays close to what has been rumored of the next flagship smartphone by Sony. Xperia Z4 is expected to feature a new all-metal design, a reimagined power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a wholly updated user experience.

Even though the latter cannot be confimed from the pictures it does seem like the all-metal design is evident as is the redesigned and larger power button that might in fact have a sensor being rumored of.

These pictures seem like valid confidential Sony renders but they still can be just drafts that will never see the light of day. However it is also possible that they are in fact one of the first renders of the upcoming Z4.

GameStop has revealed that it will buy off your dusty retro gaming consoles, games, and accessories for in-store credit, reports IGN.

Beginning next week, April 25, GameStop's 250-ish stores around NYC and Birmingham will start accepting your old gaming hardware and software.

Reports say that amongst accepted systems are Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES), SEGA Genesis, PlayStation, N64, and SEGA Dreamcast. The devices will go through GameStop's refurbishing and will be resold with a warranty like the other (new) hardware.

Two months after starting the buying of retro games the stores will start reselling them. That means that you can expect to buy your own NES maybe in late May or early June.

Days ahead of its official reveal in front of Imax movies starting next week, the first "Batman V Superman" trailer has leaked online.

The trailer seems to show the movie taking place right after the events of 'Man of Steel' with Batman attacking Superman over the destruction from the last movie.

Warner Bro.'s blockbuster film will hit theaters March 25, 2016.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reported today that the firm expects the Apple Watch to top 2.3 million units pre-ordered globally by the end of May.

Earlier reports had put first day pre-orders at 1 million units, a strong figure for a device that sells for $500 on average.

Kuo also wrote that the cheaper Sport model accounted for 85 percent of pre-orders, with the Watch model accounting for nearly 15 percent and Edition (which can cost up to $17,000) accounting for less than 1 percent.

"We estimate production could reach 2.5mn units in June, absent supply chain bottlenecks; thus global preorders are less than the 4.8mn units of combined production in March-June as most of those preordering can get Apple Watch in June. At present, iPhone shipments stand at 50-60mn units per quarter, suggesting less than one-tenth of iPhone users have preordered Apple Watch," added Kuo.

Target has said today that it will pay $19 million to financial institutions that used MasterCard-branded cards that were compromised in the huge 2013 security breach in which over 40 million card numbers were stolen from the retailer.

The settlement number should help the banks to cover their costs of reissuing the cards for millions of clients.

Target will make the payment by the end of the Q2 as long as at least 90 percent of eligible financial institutions accept the offer by May 20th.

A separate negotiation is in the works for Visa-branded cards, and that figure is expected to be larger because there are more outstanding Visa cards.

According to research firm comScore, Bing has reached a significant milestone: 20 percent share in the search market.

Google had 64.4 percent share, continuing its undisputed time as search leader. Bing jumped to 20.1 percent share while Yahoo fell to 12.7 percent share. Ask and AOL took most of the remaining share.

Microsoft wins whenever anyone searches with Yahoo, anyways, as Bing serves results and ads to Yahoo search for desktops.

Earlier today, Microsoft and Yahoo extended their search partnership for years to come.

WikiLeaks has released "The Sony Archives" today, a fully searchable database that contains 173,132 emails and 30,287 other documents that were stolen and released following the cyber attack on Sony Pictures last year.

The site appears to have added the exchanges due to the fact that there are thousands of emails between Sony and politicians with "almost 100 US government email addresses" found in the database. Some of the emails show that Sony employees attended campaign dinners to help get current NY governor Andrew Cuomo elected.

"This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said in the press release. "It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there."

The leaked emails were a huge embarrassment for the company, as many of its high level executives were found to be speaking crassly of actors and celebrities that Sony often worked with.

Microsoft and Yahoo have announced today the amendment of their search agreement first signed in 2009 in a deal that will "improve the search experience, create value for advertisers and establish ongoing stability for partners."

"Our global partnership with Yahoo has benefited our shared customers over the past five years and I look forward to building on what we've already accomplished together," noted Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corp. "Our partnership with Yahoo is one example of the diverse partnerships we'll continue to cultivate in order to have the greatest impact for our customers."

"Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business," added Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. "This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I'm very excited to explore."

According to the press release, the new deal will give Yahoo more flexibility on mobile devices, but will continue to serve Bing ads and search results for most desktop searches.

Read more about the amended deal here.

As of writing, Microsoft's 'Halo' series spinoffs are now available for purchase on iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

The new 'Halo: Spartan Strike' sells for each respective platform for $5.99.

Microsoft says the new "Halo: Spartan Strike tells a compelling new story in the Halo universe set during the events of Halo 2 on New Mombasa in 2552. As a Spartan supersoldier in a classified ONI simulation, delve into 30 challenging missions while leading UNSC troops through cities and jungles with an all new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles."

The game is also available as a bundle with the existing "Halo: Spartan Assault" game for $9.99.