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In both your professinal as well as personal life you might come up with situations where recording a phone call is worth a fortune. Perhaps you want the details as fresh as possible, and there's really no better way to get every nuance right.

Fortunately smartphones allow recording calls, although the ease of it definitely depends on the phone, which we will go here through for both Android phone as well as iPhones.

Is recording calls legal?

The feature is not found in most smartphones by default because in some states and countries recording calls might be illegal.

In the U.S. recording calls is legal, although consent law depends on your state. Federal law as well as most states have adopted one-party consent which means that at least one of the parties (which could be just you) in the conversation needs to know of and accept the recording.

Two-party consent laws are in effect in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Recording calls in Android

You can find an endless sea of both free and paid apps for Android that promise some type of recording function. So the problem becomes: which of these dozens of apps should you pick?

Microsoft has turned from an entirely software-based company into a hardware maker with some interesting devices.

Surface lineup includes some of the most impressive laptops, tablets, and hybrids, but Microsoft is developing devices even beyond that.

Lately Microsoft came up with ANC headphones, and next year it is planning to introduce a webcam, Thurrott.com reports.

According to the information, Microsoft's upcoming webcam features 4K resolution for video recording and supports unsurprisingly Windows Hello facial recognition.

The camera is also compatible with Xbox One which can be used in Kinect-like fashion.

Microsoft's webcam game has been already ahead of Apple, whose MacBook cameras are very low quality. Surface devices have passable camera but even those aren't enough for the pixel hungry streamers.

A video made by a former NASA engineer went viral this week, but it turns out some of the reactions of package thieves were staged.

Mark Rober delighted the Internet with his invention; a smart glitter bomb with multiple cameras, GPS and fart spray aimed at package thieves. After a package was stolen from his residence months before, Rober designed a device that would spray the thieves with glitter when opened, film their reactions and also unleash an intoxicating fart spray.

Even if the devices could not be recovered, the four included phones recording the reaction were set to upload video to the Internet using LTE. GPS also allowed Rober to find out exactly where the packages are.

However, Rober has since re-uploaded the video to cut out about 90 seconds of reactions after finding out that some of the reactions were staged. Unbeknown to Rober, a friend had recruited others to fake their reactions, posing as victims.

After the edit and re-upload, Rober apologized to his subscribers and explained the situation.

Note about 2 missing the reactions in the video- I was presented with information that caused me to doubt the veracity of 2 of the 5 reactions in the video. These were reactions that were captured during a two week period while the device was at house 2 hours away from where I live. I put a feeler out for people willing to put a package on their porch and this person (who is a friend of a friend) volunteered to help. To compensate them for their time and willingness to risk putting a package on their porch I offered financial compensation for any successful recoveries of the package. It appears (and I've since confirmed) in these two cases, the "thieves" were actually acquaintances of the person helping me. From the footage I received from the phones which intentionally only record at specific times, this wasn't clear to me. I have since removed those reactions from the original video (originally 6:26-7:59). I'm really sorry about this. Ultimately, I am responsible for the content that goes on my channel and I should have done more here. I can vouch for that the reactions were genuine when the package was taken from my house. Having said that, I know my credibly is sort of shot but I encourage you to look at the types of videos I've been making for the past 7 years. This is my first ever video with some kind of "prank" and like I mentioned in the video it's pretty removed from my comfort zone and I should have done more. I'm especially gutted because so much thought, time, money and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn't just taint the entire effort as "fake". It genuinely works (like all the other things I've built on my channel) and we've made all the code and build info public. Again, I'm sorry for putting something up on my channel that was misleading. That is totally on me and I will take all necessary steps to make sure it won't happen again.

Google has silently launched Chrome Canvas, which allows you to doodle and take notes in your browser that will be saved to your Google account.

It isn't just compatible with Chrome either, it will work with any browser that supports WebAssembly. You don't need to download and install it, it can be accessed by simply visiting the URL: https://canvas.apps.chrome/

It offers basic drawing tools, including Pencil, Ink Pen, Marker, and Chalk. There is also an eraser. If you don't have a touchscreen, you can use your mouse or touchpad to control the tools.

Your drawings are saved to your Google account and can be downloaded as PNG graphics files at any time.

Try it out at: https://canvas.apps.chrome/

via: Engadget

A report from the New York Times into how Facebook shared user information with third-party services has the social network on the defensive.

The report detailed how Facebook has shared access to user data with third parties including Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft and more over the years. However, the company responded to the report insisting that no user data was shared with those third parties without authorization.

"None of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people's permission, nor did they violate our 2012 settlement with the FTC," wrote Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Director of Developer Platforms and Programs, at Facebook.

Furthermore, most of the features driven by the data sharing are now gone. Facebook shut down instant personalization, which powered Bing's features, in 2014, but did acknowledge that it had left APIs in place after the shutdown that left some partners with access to data until late 2017. The social network stresses that Instant Personalization only involved public information.

Facebook has been scrutinized in several countries by politicians and regulators for its use of user data, and allegations that it has been used as a means to influence elections by Russia, Iran, and other states.

Apple has announced that it is stopping the sales of a couple older iPhone models in Germany due to a recent court order.

Chipmaker Qualcomm and Apple have been exchanging blows in the courtroom over patents recently, and one of the cases has gone to trial already.

San Diego based Qualcomm won the case and due to that Apple has decided to pull both iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from its own stores. Third party retailers will still be selling the devices.

In the court case Qualcomm claimed that Apple was infringing the company's patents on power saving. The District Court of Munich agreed, and even though Apple is planning on an appeal, they've pulled the phones from the Apple Stores both offline and online.

The issue is with hardware, a chip made by Qorvo, so there isn't an easy software update to fix it. Fortunately for Apple the newer models like iPhone X or XS do not have the same chip.

In the U.S., Qorvo's chip has been determined to not infringe on Qualcomm's patent portfolio.

This isn't the first time Apple has suffered losses against Qualcomm in the courtroom. However, in China the issue was with software and Apple was able to patch it.

Last year was immense for virtual money, or cryptocurrency as the kids like to call it, Bitcoin. 2018 was supposed to be even bigger as Bitcoin was meant to break through to the masses.

It never really happened, and the value has melted away fairly consistently over the months.

Even though Bitcoin's value has been eroding, cryptocurrency aficionados still believe in revolutionizing the monetary system.

Even Facebook is building their own cryptocurrency, report from Bloomberg says.

According to Bloomberg sources, Facebook isn't trying to build a currency for its social media site, but instead is trying to develop a cryptocurrency for WhatsApp.

However, it's not the most renegade of the cryptocurrencies since its planned to be pegged to the U.S. dollar to give it more stability.

What they call stablecoin would be featured in WhatsApp but the development idea likely comes from Messenger boss David Marcus who formerly worked for PayPal.

There no release date for the stablecoin yet, and Bloomberg doesn't expect it to be released in the nearest of futures, especially not here in the West.

Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, is suing Epic over a dance displayed in Fortnite.

The dance is known as the "Carlton dance", and is performed with Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual. The dance in Fortnite is very similar to the Carlton dance and is even performed with music reminiscent of the Tom Jones classic.

Ribiero claims that Epic has mimicked the dance in the megapupular Fortnite without asking permission and paying compensation.

Several weeks ago, Epic was hit with a similar lawsuit from rapped 2 Milly for allegedly mimicking the "Milly Rock".

You can view a comparison of the Carlton Dance and the dance movies in the game below.

Figures from the NPD Group are being touted by Nintendo as evidence that the Switch is the fastest selling video games console of the current generation.

Launched in March 2017, the Nintendo Switch console has amassed 8.7 million unit sales. Nintendo notes that this is faster than competitors (namely PS4, Xbox One) at the same stage of their lifecycle. Nintendo is also the overall top-selling U.S. software publisher so far for 2018, according to NPD data through November.

Of course, there are millions more PS4s and Xbox One consoles in the wild, having launched in the fourth quarter of 2013. However, the numbers for the Nintendo Switch show that the Japanese gamemaker has moved beyond its Wii U falter and is going strong.

Nintendo's software performance should receive an additional boost from the December release of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game, which has become not only the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time but also the fastest-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. series, with U.S. sales of over 3 million units in just 11 days.

Facebook has released a statement on its official developer blog announcing a bug that has potentially leaked photos from millions of Facebook users.

The bug found from the photo API of Facebook gave app developers access to photos not meant for public consumption from up to 6.8 million users.

It allowed app developers to scrape the photos of the user who granted access via Facebook login to its photo library. However, because of the bug the app developer could access not only the public photos but also photos that were uploaded to Facebook but weren't published.

The bug was fixed 12 days after it was revealed in September. According to Facebook a total of 876 app developers (up to 1 500 apps) had access to illicit private photos.

Facebook is working with app developers to make sure all the wrongly accessed photos will be deleted. If you are among the ones affected, you'll be notified via Facebook.

You can also check the third-party apps you have given photo access to via Facebook login to see if they have photos that shouldn't be public.

You can find more information about the bug at Facebook Help Center.

Virtual Reality might be the most popular futuristic fad that we've had since 3D movies. People, however, don't seem as interested in investing in VR as perhaps expected, and that means it might end up in the bin next to 3D movies.

One indication of how hard it is to monetize VR, is that IMAX is abandoning the technology in its theaters. IMAX has announced that it will close all VR theaters in early 2019.

IMAX began offering VR showings around two years ago, but the theater chain never managed to attract enough people to put on the goggles and experience virtual reality in their locations.

While customers reported satisfactory experiences, there just wasn't enough customers to keep running the experiment. IMAX even tried bringing in VR suits that react to the content.

IMAX opened a total of seven VR centers, but at this point already four of them have been closed. The last three, in Los Angeles, Bangkok, and Toronto, will be closing in the first quarter of 2019.

In early 2018, Apple announced that it would be increasing the investments in the United States. What portion of that is because of President Trump's policies is unsure, but now Apple has revealed news about a massive investment in Texas.

Apple is planning on investing $1 billion to expand their campus in Austin. The facility will at first employ 5 000 people but maximum capacity should reach up to 15 000.

Austin will become Apple's second largest facility only behind the headquarters in Cupertino, CA (pictured).

In addition to Austin, Apple is going to open new offices in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City. All of these additions seem to serve a purpose in attracting talent from the likes of Microsoft and Amazon in Seattle as well as Qualcomm in San Diego.

Expansions are also expected in Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Portland, Oregon and Boulder.

If you are targeted by a WhatsApp spammer or get numerous calls and/or texts from specific numbers, you might want to block the number. Fortunately on both Android and iOS (iPhone) it is a fairly easy task.

Let us walk you through.

Blocking calls and text messages on Android
Android smartphones come in all kinds of colors, sizes, and brands, which might make it a little bit harder to find exactly what you are looking for. With these tips you should, however, find the right setting in most of the Samsung Galaxy phones as well as several other manufacturers' devices.

Whether you want to block a number from your contacts or a previously unknown number, you should open up the Phone app. On the top right corner you should find the menu (three dots), click Settings (in some cases Contacts Manager).

In this menu you should find an option called Blocked numbers which should have a list of your currently blocked numbers, and an option to add a new number to the list.

After the number is added to the list, you should no longer receive either texts or calls from that number.

Blocking calls and text messages on iPhone
On all the iPhones, no matter the generation, the blocking of numbers is done in the same fashion. If you have already received a call or a text message from the number you want to block, open the Phone app (or Messages) and select the number to block from Recents list.

World's largest social media platform, Facebook, is constantly looking for new ways to monetize its user base of two billion. Now the company is negotiating with HBO to delivering pay TV to customers.

If negotiations go as planned, Facebook intends to sell and deliver Facebook users with HBO and other pay TV content. This might happen as soon as next year, Recode reports.

Facebook is somewhat late to the party, the likes of Google with YouTube are already selling TV subscriptions and delivering TV on their internet platforms.

Probably the hardest part of the equation is that cable companies want to promote their own platforms, and deliver exclusive content on there alone.

In addition to YouTube, competitors include Amazon with Prime Video and Apple, who are planning to revamp their TV service with exclusive content as well as content from cable companies.

Facebook has been in discussions with at least Showtime and Starz in addition to HBO.

For years upon years processors have been built largely in the same fashion. Technology has improved the precision and nanometers are chipping away as companies perfect techniques to built smaller and smaller chips.

Intel has learned it can built the transistors in three dimensional space rather than just placing them next to each other in a level plane of silicon (like in the picture).

As simple as it may seem, previously building transistors on top of each other hasn't been easily accessible. The new technology Intel calls Foveros could unlock a true breakthrough in chip manufacturing, Wired reports.

It uses the same kind of technique used already in memory chips, where three dimensional manufacturing has been achieved. Foveros allows chips to include different kinds of chips in system-on-chips – for example modem, GPU or CPU – to be stacked.

This saves space which translates to more efficiency and more performance in the real life, especially in applications like mobile computing.

Foveros also allowes Intel to customize the layout for different kind of requirements and isn't stuck to one chip setup.