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Year and a half ago WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging platform, added a feature called Unsend to its apps. Now Facebook has taken the feature and copied it to the world's second largest messaging platform, Messenger.

Unsend of course means that the app will remove the message that you've sent. However, there are limitations of course.

Unsending a message works only for 10 minutes after you've composed and sent the message. If you delete the message before the 10 minutes expire, it will be removed from both you and the recipient.

Just like on WhatsApp, the recipient won't see the message but there will be a placeholder saying a message was deleted.

Facebook has revealed previously that it is trying to integrate much of WhatsApp's and Messenger's background functions. They deny that the services are meant to be entirely integrated, though.

To Unsend a message you long press the message and select "Remove for Everyone". The feature has been made available to both Android and iOS users.

The pioneer of modern VR hardware, Oculus, is readying a launch of a new headset, rumors suggest. According to UploadVR it will be likely called the Rift S.

The company lead by id Software co-founder John Carmack and Facebook's VR boss Hugo Barra is fairly close to releasing the next-generation Rift-headset, if rumors hold true.

There's some new information in addition to the fairly unimaginative name. According to the source, Rift S will integrate new environment sensing cameras. This would mean that there's no longer necessity for an external camera, and in that respect Rift S could function like Oculus Go and Oculus Quest.

It likely won't be a standalone device, however, like the aforementioned duo. Rift S, like its predecessor, is meant for PC gaming where the PC rig does all the hard work.

It won't be wireless either which will limit the movement possibilities as you are tethered to the computer. On the counterbalance you'll have much more impressive graphics, likely in both resolutions and all-important refresh rate.

There's still no official word from Oculus about new products, but they have promised an exciting year to The Verge.

One of the worst bugs in living memory was found just last week in Apple's video chat platform, FaceTime.

The bug allowed a severe privacy breach with a simple trick available to anyone, and allowed people to eavesdrop on your iOS device or even Mac computer without them knowing.

Fortunately Apple acted quickly and removed the feature temporarily and has promised a fix in the coming days with a software update.

Now Apple has also decided to reward the person that found the bug in the first place. It happens to be a 14 year old teen Grant Thompson, who might be getting a check soon.

Thompson's mother tried to inform Apple about the bug in different ways but it was only after media started reporting on the serious problem that Apple took notice.

Afterwards Apple boss flew personally to thank Thompsons and ask for advice how to make the reporting process better. He also revealed that they would probably be receiving a reward for their efforts.

Reporting a software bug to Apple has previously resulted in rewards between $25,000 and $200,000. It's not yet known how much Grant Thompson is going to receive, but if severity of the issue has anything to do with it, then give the boy $200k.

Most tech companies are looking for ways to extend the customers' reality in one way or another. Whether it is virtual, augmented, or mixed reality, companies like Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and Apple are developing their own apps and devices.

In 2016, Apple made a key recruitment in the world of augmented reality as they acquired Avi Bar-Zeev from Microsoft. The Microsoft HoloLens co-inventor, and co-founder of tech behind Google Earth, and a former Amazon exec, joined Apple where AR had taken more of a focus.

Now less than three years later Bar-Zeev has decided to part ways with Apple, Variety reports.

Ever since Apple's ARKit was launched in 2017, and even before that, we've been waiting for a AR device to pair iPhone with. Rumors were that many of the company acquisitions, as well as recruitement of Avi Bar-Zeev, would ultimately result in a AR hardware launch.

So far Apple has only introduced more advanced AR apps and tools for the iPhone and iPad, and the exit of Bar-Zeev doesn't exactly confirm the existence of separate AR hardware, quite the opposite.

However, it could be that Apple is already close to releasing the AR glasses and Bar-Zeev is seeking new challenges. But if I were a betting man, I wouldn't necessarily put my money on that.

The world's leading messaging app, WhatsApp, has released an update to its iPhone version. The Facebook-owned messaging platform supports now Face ID, as well as Touch ID.

What this means is that you can protect your messages, and the entire app for that matter, with a facial recognition or fingerprint. You can require the app to ask for either Face ID or Touch ID before opening.

This is the first time WhatsApp has implemented a biometric protection to its app. WhatsApp has been known, even before Facebook's acquisition, as a privacy conscious platform, especially for having end-to-end encryption early on.

However, some have expressed concerns because Facebook wants to combine the infrastructure of Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Fortunately, there's no evidence of worsening privacy for now, and because of the update WhatsApp now protects your messages even better.

Here how to enable the new biometric protection:

Google's parent company Alphabet has been growing fast recently, even when many other technology conglomerates are having trouble keeping the pace up.

Perhaps one reason is that Google doesn't rely too much on China, from where many of companies' problems arise.

Alphabet's recent reports reveal that the revenue increased late last year a massive 22 percent year-over-year to $39.3 billion. Most, in fact over $32 billion, came from online advertisement, which has been Google's moneymaker for nearly two decades.

The rest came largely from selling cloud services and hardware.

Google is still pretty much the sole contributor to Alphabet's increasing revenue. New projects, like Waymo, Fiber, and Verilyn, that they call "Other Bets" were $1.3 billion in the negative.

While Google is making more and more money with ads, they also have to pay more for traffic. Traffic acquisition costs rose 15% to $7.4 billion.

This was the 11th time in a row Alphabet posts a more than 20 percent revenue increase in a quarter. Last time Alphabet didn't manage 20% revenue increase was Q1 2016, when it was just under 18%.

Even though figures seem good, stock dipped slightly in the after hours trading. This didn't do a dent on the upward trend in 2019, though.

When car electronics started getting more and more complex back in early 2000s, people used to joke about car requiring a Windows update while driving. Now, this has become pretty much a reality in China.

Car manufactured by Nio, a Chinese car manufacturer dubbed as "China's Tesla", has confirmed that one of their cars had come to a halt in middle of a busy street in downtown Beijing. Car had stopped in Changan Avenue, which is one of the most prestigious streets in Beijing, and started a software update cycle.

The software update lasted for more than an hour and during the process, the car refused to start - and had locked its passengers inside the car. According to Nio, several police officers had tries to open the car windows in order to free the passengers, but they had failed. After the software update was finished, car had resumed its normal operation.

Nio says that the driver "accidentally made a series of operations that activated the system update" during a traffic jam on Changan Avenue. After the incident the company said: "We apologised for affecting the traffic and we will optimise the upgrade confirmation logic."

Several Chinese news sources confirm the story, including South China Morning Post.

A provider of consumer DNA tests, Family Tree DNA, has agreed to help the FBI by providing law enforcement with genetic information that could help solve violent crimes.

Family Tree DNA is the first of the large at-home genetic testing kit makers that have started working with the FBI, BuzzFeed News reports. Previously FBI has used public DNA databases in their work, but now some information from a private DNA database will be made available to the federal investigators.

However, not all of Family Tree DNA records are automatically shared with the FBI, or that FBI has access to the database at all. In fact, they don't even have a contract with the Bureau.

Instead, Family Tree DNA has agreed to work with FBI and test their samples in their labs and save them in their databases.

This does still raise concerns of privacy and the reach of law enforcement when consumer DNA tests are wildly popular, and other companies could join in at any time.

Family Tree DNA, a Houston based comapny, considers itself a pioneer in the consumer genetic testing space. They were the first to offer at-home DNA tests to consumers.

Spotify might be a behemoth in the music streaming world, and even Apple Music is having trouble catching up to them, but there are problems that come with being big.

One of them is that there isn't a ton of room to grow, and they are expanding to different revenue streams. Acquiring new subscribers is getting harder and harder, although Spotify's growth figures have been pretty impressive.

Podcasts have become infinitely more successful in the recent years, and that is also where Spotify looks for growth. Now they're ready to invest a cool $200 million to back that up.

Spotify has decided to acquire podcasting startup Gimlet, Recode reports. Gimlet is known for podcast shows like Reply All and even some TV show, and has been a Spotify partner prior to this deal.

The acquisition hasn't been finished yet, but according to the insider information it is only a matter of time before companies join forces.

Samsung is preparing for their most important event of the year, and leakers are all eyes on them. The Unpacked 2019 in San Fransisco later this month will feature of course the new Galaxy S10, but there might be much more on display.

Rumored are the FCC leaked Bluetooth headphones, dubbed Galaxy Buds, but now a leak from Samsung Vietnam is teasing us with even more impressive tech.

A video has leaked that is supposedly a promo video intended for the event. In the video we see a couple things that are not Samsung's actual products, at least for now.

There's an all-screen tablet which looks like nothing we've seen from Samsung so far, and right at the end we see a folding phone.

Samsung already gave us a glimpse to their folding Galaxy F prototype, but this is a much more comprehensive look at it, if indeed it is the Galaxy F their intend to launch.

Then again, it could be just a placeholder device they often use in generic promo videos. We'll just have to wait and see. Fortunately we are invited to the Unpacked 2019 and will be able to report back if we find a folding phone.

Entry to console gaming has always been pretty inexpensive, but soon it might be less expensive than ever, thanks to affordable versions planned by multiple companies.

Microsoft is said to be developing a new budget version of Xbox One, one with no optical drive. And now we've heard rumors about a less expensive version of Nintendo Switch too.

Nintendo seems to oscillate between massive hits and commercial failures. GameCube wasn't popular, Wii was a definitely hit, Wii U was a total bust, and now Switch has been taking the world by storm.

According to recent rumors from Japan, Nintendo is planning on releasing a cheaper version of Switch. Switch has already sold over 32 million units, and with a more affordable option to choose from maybe it can top 100 million in its lifetime like Wii.

The cheaper version is supposedly aimed towards mobile gaming enthusiasts and gaming on the go. It might actually be that there is no dock at all to connect the device to your TV, or you at least have to buy it separately.

If it doesn't support a dock, one possibility is that you can connect it to your TV via a USB-C port.

Earlier this year, we reported about a massive collection of data breaches which totaled 773 million account details. Now there's a leak which is three times as big.

The previous one was called "Collection #1", and now HPI university (Hasso-Plattner-Institut) has released a tool to check if you have been breached in Collections #2 to #5.

These four new databases consist of 2.2 billion unique login and password entries. The collections were shared in BitTorrent networks and sized over 800 gigabytes.

Much of the data comes from large known data breaches, such as Yahoo's breach and Dropbox leaks, although it is impossible to say what leak is responsible for what portion as there is just simply too much data.

The Collection #1 breach checkup tool can still be found at the Have I been Pwned? website. HPI email checkup for Collections #2 - #5 can be found here.

Earlier this week we reported how Apple was forced to revoke Facebook's Enterprise Development Program certificates after it was revealed that they had been violating the program's rules.

Now the scandal is expanding as new reports emerge claiming Google has been doing the same thing for years.

Facebook had been paying users $20 a month to install a data monitoring app which was distributed using the Enterprise Development Program. The program, which is a way to bypass App Store, is meant only for internal use, not for public distribution of apps.

Google has been using the same avenue to collect data, TechCrunch reports.

Google-owned Screenwise Meter app has been distributed using the Enterprise Development Program to users whose smartphone data they've been collecting.

Just like Facebook, Google has been paying the volunteers, in their case with gift cards. The app, and the corresponding gift card scheme, was introduced in 2012.

As we all know, Apple loves proprietary technologies so much that sometimes it makes completely mundane feature sound like they are a new innovation.

Some of their own tech is pretty impressive, but others should be scrapped for a more universally accepted technology. One of these is of course Lightning port.

Apple has fought against universal chargers for ages, and although Lightning port is far from the worst of them, it still isn't USB-C.

Fortunately, according to Bloomberg, this is about to change. Report has it that Apple is already using USB-C, the first reversible USB connector found in most higher-end Android phones these days, in their current iPhone prototypes.

This doesn't come as a huge surprise after Apple moved away from Lightning port in the iPad line when they introduced the newest iPad Pro with USB-C.

Even though USB-C should technically reduce the need of adapters as more and more peripherals support the port out of the box, you have to remember that old iPhone accessories are compatible only with Lightning.

Bloomberg also reports that the upcoming iPhone will have a triple camera setup, like some Android counterparts. One of the lenses is supposedly a wide angle lens that allows expanding the photo afterwards.

Due to anti-gambling policies in Belgium, Electronic Arts (EA) will stop Belgians from purchasing Fifa Points in the country.

Players will still be able to earn Fifa Points, but not able to buy them after the gambling regulator in the country threatened action. With the points, players can make digital purchases in-game. The Belgian gambling commission has been cracking down on 'loot boxes' in games, which are virtual crates in games that contain weapons and other items used in games.

According to the Belgian Gambling Commission, loot boxes are essentially the same as gambling because they are games of chance.

"After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering Fifa Points for sale in Belgium," EA said in a statement.

"We're working to make these changes effective in our Fifa console and PC games by 31 January 2019. While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities' interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward."

Source: BBC News