Latest news

In technology industry, especially the smartphone part of it, the upcoming month will be perhaps the most important 30 days of the year.

Both Apple and Google are going to be introducing the newest generation of smartphones and probably some accompanying equipment like smartwatches and accessories.

While Microsoft is no longer really an entity in the smartphone race, and nowadays it just tries to spread its software wisdom as wide as possible, meaning both Android and iOS are getting more and more Microsoft-branded applications, it has squeezes itself in the 30 days period with its own hardware launch.

Redmond has sent out an invite proposing journalists and influencers give the company aptly a "moment of your time." They seem to realize that the press is going crazy after iPhones, iPads and Pixels over the next month, and they modestly just want a little bit of your precious time.

Microsoft's October event is held on October 2nd in New York City, just couple weeks after the iPhone launch and a week before Google's Pixel event. And it's not even that clear what Microsoft will unveil, although one could guess a new Surface Book 2 and a refreshed version of Surface Laptop.

Elon Musk sits down for a two and a half hour discussion with Joe Rogan, and it doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

It has been a strange few weeks for Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. He has come under scrutiny for disparaging remarks about a British cave diver, has been the subject of an SEC investigation over a tweet and is targeted in multiple lawsuits from short sellers who blame him for the loss of millions of dollars.

That made it all the more surprising when Elon announced earlier that he would join Joe Rogan on his podcast this week. The Joe Rogan Experience is a long-form podcast that routinely hits the three-hour mark with guests from all backgrounds and disciplines. Marijuana has certainly helped the cause for the host over the years.

It was no surprise when Joe Rogan sparked up a fat blunt during the podcast, but it was a surprise when he passed it to Elon.

"You probably can't because of stockholders, right?" Joe asked, to which Elon responded, "I mean, it's legal right?" and then proceeded to take a hit. It is legal of course, in California. Later on, Musk starts receiving messages from friends on his phone asking him why he is smoking weed on Joe Rogan's show live on the Internet.

The latest official YouTube app for Android has gotten a new Dark Theme and you can easily switch to it.

Google previously revealed that it will release versions of its popular mobile apps with a dark theme. This follows a trend of mobile apps turning "dark", but of course it won't happen by default when the app updates are pushed out. Instead, you may be prompted to try out the dark side when you get an update.

If you were prompted to try out Dark Mode but declined for some reason, you can very easily enable Dark Theme in the latest official YouTube app in just a few steps.

How to manually enable Dark Theme in YouTube for Android:

1. Step 1: Open the YouTube app and tap your account/profile icon in the top right-hand corner as shown.
   
2. Step 2: From your account/profile options, tap the Settings option as shown.
   
3. Step 3: Tap on General Settings.
   
4. STEP 4: Toggle On "Enable Dark Theme" as shown and the app will instantly turn Dark.
   

Twitter announced today that it too has permanently banned Alex Jones from its platform, along with his Infowars media outlet.

Last month, Twitter came under fire for not joining a coordinated take-down of content and accounts related to Alex Jones and Infowars. Facebook, Spotify, and Apple all removed podcasts and accounts alleging terms of use violations and other things. At the time, Twitter was questioned for its decision to leave accounts belonging to Jones and Infowars on its platform.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained simply that the accounts had not violated Twitter's guidelines and terms and service and so there were no grounds for their removal.

Citing recent tweets and content that violate Twitter's abusive behavior policy, both Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet have been booted from the service permanently. The platform announced the action in a tweet from its Twitter Safety account.

Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts' past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL

-- Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018

Amazon has announced the new Amazon Fire HD 8 low-cost tablet with an 8-inch display and quad-core processor for $79.99.

The new Amazon Fire HD 8 packs an 8-inch widescreen 1280 x 800 high definition display and a quad-core 1.3 GHz processor under the hood. It also packs 1.5 GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. Through the use of microSD, storage can be expanded to up to 400GB.

This tablet introduces always-ready, hands-free access with Alexa. When connected to Wi-Fi, ask Alexa to play a song, read aloud an Audible book, launch an app, or control video playback.

Amazon markets the new tablet as providing up to 10 hours of reading, listening to music, watching TV shows or movies, browsing the web, and more. You can ask Alexa to video call a friend or family member, adjust the room temperature on your compatible smart home thermostat, or show your compatible smart home camera.

   

HTC has opened up its Viveport store to its biggest competitor in the VR field, the Oculus Rift.

Users of the Facebook-owned VR headset can now go to HTC's Viveport store and purchase apps and games that are compatible with their hardware. For now, that is not too many with only two hundred or so of the available apps and games in the Viveport digital store being compatible with the Oculus Rift.

Having another venue to purchase from is good for comparison shopping and for device compatibility with online digital retailers going forward.

It also means that Oculus Rift owners should be able to take part in the Viveport subscription model which allows access to unlimited games and apps in exchange for a monthly fee, with a 12-month plan setting you back $80.

Via: The Verge

Microsoft is making it possible to control your Xbox One console using Cortana and Alexa voice commands.

For Kinect users and those with compatible headsets, controlling an Xbox console with voice commands is nothing all that new. However, for those who never had Kinect and work with Alexa or Cortana-enabled devices, the new Xbox Skill will be welcomed.

It allows users to interact with Xbox One using voice commands through your Cortana and Alexa-enabled devices. Compatible devices include a Windows 10 PC, Amazon Echo, Harman Kardon Invoke, Sonos One, or Cortana and Alexa apps on iOS and Android.

For the time being, the Xbox Skill feature is only available to those who are part of the Insider preview. Once working, you could just say "Alexa, start Rocket League." and this command will automatically turn on your console, sign you in, and launch your game.

If the Digital Assistant setting is visible on your console in Settings -> Devices, then you are currently eligible to test the Xbox Skill.

To take part with Cortana, use this link from your Windows PC. For Alexa, use this link instead.

The U.S. Department of Justice is to charge a North Korean hacker with involvement in the 2014 Sony breach, and the WannaCry malware that spread last year.

The Justice Department also claims that the hacker is responsible for a 2016 breach of the central bank of Bangladesh.

In late 2014, a massive data breach at Sony Pictures resulted in the leaking of sensitive information and the destruction of some data. The U.S. alleged that the hack was in retaliation for the pending release of The Interview, which was about a U.S. plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Last year, a separate malware attack affected business and government systems around the world. The WannaCry attack has long been linked to North Korea. In the UK, thousands of appointments under the British National Health Service were canceled because WannaCry made computers nonfunctional.

Source: Reuters News Agency

Taking a screenshot is a good way to share stuff you encounter when browsing the net or social media. But every phone tends have different method for taking screenshots. In this guide, we'll explain how to take a screenshot with OnePlus 6 phone.

OnePlus 6 has two build-in methods for taking screenshots. We'll go through both of those methods here:

Screenshot using OnePlus 6's buttons

1. Ensure that all the content you want to capture, is visible in the phone's screen
2. Now, press both, the power button and the volume down button pressed for couple of seconds. The power button is located at the right side of the phone and the volume buttons are located on the device's left side.
3. Your phone's screen will now flash and the screenshot you took appears for short period in middle of the screen.
4. When the screenshot is visible on the screen, below it, there's the sharing symbol visible. By clicking that, you can directly share the taken screenshot to your contacts.
5. Taken screenshot will also be available in your phone's Photo Gallery, even if you didnät manage to share it at the time of taking the screenshot.

Three-finger gesture

More voices mount against proposed copyright law changes at the European Union level, with activist Cory Doctorow describing it as an 'extinction-level event'.

The European Parliament will vote on two controversial articles that it previously voted against fast-tracking amid concerns from activists. The articles - Article 11 and Article 13 - are part of a wider reform of the European Union's Copyright Directive which affects all 28 members of the bloc, soon to reduce to 27 with the departure of the United Kingdom.

Both articles mount enormous challenges to the web the way it is now. Article 11 would create a "link tax" which would ban online services from linking to news services on their platforms unless they get a license to make links to the news. Neither "news service", or "link" is defined by the Article, meaning different states will have to interpret the meaning.

Article 13 is more of a shock to the modern Internet, however. It directly affects services that allow user-generated content to be uploaded and hosted. Such uploads would have to be run through a copyright enforcement algorithm to be compared to copyrighted works and censor the material if a match is found.

According to Pew Research, American Facebook users are responding to privacy concerns on Facebook in a variety of ways right up uninstalling the app altogether.

A survey of U.S. users between May 29 and June 11 has provided a look at how American Facebook users have responded to revelations like the Cambridge Analytica affair. More than half (54 percent) of Facebook users aged 18 and older have changed their privacy settings in the past twelve months.

The share of users who have decided to take long breaks away from the service (several weeks or more) is reported at around 42 percent. Just over a quarter of the users, 26 percent, say they have deleted the Facebook app from their mobiles devices.

Almost three-quarters of surveyed users (76 percent) say they have taken at least one of the above actions in the past year.

Facebook made it easier to download the data that they have collected on users, but only around 9 percent of respondents say they have downloaded their data.

More information on the survery, including methodology, can be seen at www.pewresearch.org (PDF)

Twitter chief Jack Dorsey has admitted to U.S. lawmakers that Twitter's algorithms have not always been impartial and that the social media firm has made mistakes.

Dorsey was answering questions from U.S. Senators amid allegations that Twitter has censored or reduced the visibility of conservative users and organizations on its platform. Similar sentiments have been expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

While Dorsey admitted that the platform had unfairly reduced the visibility of 600,000 accounts, including members of the United States Congress, it was not the result of a political ideology. Instead, Dorsey explained that a Twitter algorithm had punished some Twitter accounts because of the behavior of their followers, and that Twitter fixed the issue when it was discovered.

He could not say whether a majority of affected users were Democrat, Republican or otherwise. "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules," said Mr. Dorsey.

Allegations of censorship have been made against Twitter for a variety of reasons. Users have claimed that shadowbanning is common, as well as tweets disappearing from search results.

Netflix has released a teaser for the new House of Cards season that will not feature Kevin Spacey in the role of Frank Underwood.

In the 19 seconds-long teaser we see the fate of the character of Frank Underwood, who rose to the office of President of the United States through sinister means. Frank's wife, Claire, is seen addressing the grave of the now-former President. His grave is located alongside that of his Frank's father - the same grave he urinated on in the second season of the show.

Allegations of misconduct against Kevin Spacey resulted in the production of House of Cards being halted, but its final season is returning without him and with his wife assuming the office of President after his death.

Here is the teaser:

You should have known. pic.twitter.com/UFGplyDSY1

-- House of Cards (@HouseofCards) September 5, 2018

Skype has added call recording to most of its latest versions enabling you to record audio and video calls.

Call recording is completely cloud-based and is now available on the latest version of Skype and on most platforms, except Windows 10. Call recording is coming to Windows 10 with the latest version of Skype releasing in the coming weeks.

As soon as you begin recording a call in Skype, all participants will be notified that the call is being recorded with a bar that appears on the app. The app also suggests that verbally notify users that they are being recorded to avoid legal hassles later.

Recorded calls are stored in the cloud for thirty days but you can download them for posterity if you wish.

On Desktop apps, the option to start recording is available when you click the + icon on the bottom right of the screen. Likewise, on mobile, tap the + icon and you get an option to Start Recording.

After the call, the recording is finalized and then posted to your chat where it is available for 30 days. You and everyone on the call can save the recording locally or share the recording to your contacts any time during the 30 days.

To save a call on Desktop, go to More Options and then select Save to Downloads. You can also select Save As if you want to choose the destination folder. It will save as an MP4 file. On mobile, just tap and hold the recorded call in the chat. When the menu is displayed, tap Save. The recording will automatically download and save to your device's camera roll as an MP4 file.

Instagram is working on a standalone shopping application according to a report by The Verge.

The Verge cites sources in reporting that the new app would let users browser collections of goods from merchants that they follow on the social network and purchase them directly within the app. According to the sources, it could be called "IG Shopping".

Instagram already started testing a shopping feature in November 2016 where merchants could tag posts with individual products and enable users to shop directly from photos.

According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, more than 25 million businesses have Instagram accounts already with 2 million of them being advertisers.

The report did not suggest when such an application may launch as the development is still very much underway, and there is the possibility that it could be canceled outright before it is released.

Such a move would launch Instagram into the e-commerce market in direct competition with Shopify and others.

Source: The Verge