Truecaller acquires India-based payments startup Chillr to boost Truecaller Pay

Truecaller today announced that it has acquired India-based payments startup Chillr. It was introduced a few years back as India’s first multi-bank payments app that allows you to send money instantly from your Bank account to anyone in your phone book or to a beneficiary using ‘Account number & IFSC code' or ‘UPI ID’. It also lets you recharge, pay bills, split bills, or request money. Truecaller Pay was launched last year, and the company has been adding new features to it. It has reaffirmed its commitment to mobile payments and plan to increase the adoption of it amongst our user base with the latest acquisition. Chillr team will now become the Truecaller Pay team who will together in its development center in Bengaluru. Chillr co-founder Sony Joy will join as the vice president of Truecaller Pay. In the coming months, the Chillr app will be phased out while the Truecaller Pay will get the features available on Chillr. Regarding the acquisition, the company on its official blog, said: After spending a lot of time with their team, we’ve seen that we share a lot of synergies; values; culture; and thoughtfulness when it comes to paying attention to user experience. They have also a great foundation ...

Google will no longer let you install Chrome extensions from websites

Google Chrome browser needs no new introduction and part of the popularity comes from the wide range of Chrome extensions available through the Chrome Web Store allowing users to customize their Chrome experience.  However, Google on its Chromium blog says that they have been receiving large volumes of complaints from users about unwanted extensions causing undesirable changes in the user experience, most of the extensions are available through inline installation on websites. Going back in time, Inline installations were introduced in Google Chrome 15 in 2011, this allows an easy and intuitive way to install extensions. Prior to this change, users had to go back to Chrome Store, install the plugin and comeback, instead, they could simply click the install button for an extension hosted on the Chrome Web Store, all without leaving the webpage. However, this negates the user to know more about the plugins and how to use them and ultimately seen a rise in user complaints and extensions were more likely to be uninstalled. With that in mind, Google now has decided to retire inline installations on all platforms. Users will now only be able to install extensions from within the Google Chrome Web Store, where they can view all information about an extension’s functionality prior to ...

Apple Books app previewed ahead of roll out later this year along with iOS 12, replaces iBooks

Last week at the WWDC 2018, Apple introduced Apple Books app, and said that it has been redesigned to make it easier to discover and enjoy books and audio books. Today the company has previewed the new features of the app. Highlights of Apple Books Reading Now tab is home to the books you are currently reading or listening to, as well as a great place to find a new favorite. Want to Read lets you conveniently keep a wishlist of books you hear about. Audiobooks tab lets you listen to books on iPhone and iPad or in the car with CarPlay. Book Store tab makes it easy to browse all that Apple Books has to offer, including Top Charts, Staff Picks, Editorial Collections, and Special Offers & Free. As you read more books from the Store, you will receive personalized recommendations based on your purchases in For You. Library tab shows your full collection of books with large, easy-to-see cover art, including the books downloaded to your device and a Finished section showcasing the books you have read in the past and the date you finished them, displayed in a timeline. The new Apple Books app will replace iBooks, and will launch ...

Android P could bring manual dark and light theme in Pixel launcher

With Pixel 2, Google launched an automatic dark theme that changes according to wallpaper color within launcher and quick settings. This is a half-baked move with users requesting Google a dark system theme for years. There is no way you can manually select between light and dark theme. However, this might be changing with Android P release.  The current approach changes depending on the wallpaper that includes dark folder icons, quick black settings, and a dark app drawer. If your background is neutral or light, you get the standard white UI elements. Back in March, a user has added an item to the dev preview issue tracker asking for a toggle choose the theme. Google has apparently taken steps towards it. Custom skins like Oxygen OS had this feature all along, while it is missing from the vanilla Android skin. While it still sounds like it might allow you to leave the theme dependent on your wallpaper, and it possibly will work on other phones with launchers based on the stock launcher3 code, but that's unclear. A Googler has marked the item as fixed in the bug tracker and replied: We have added support for a Dark theme to be applied to quick settings and launcher under ...

ASUS PixelMaster camera app update with Google Lens integration starts rolling out

ASUS has started rolling out an update for its PixelMaster camera app that brings Google Lens support inside the camera app that brings object and landmark recognition. This was announced by Google at the I/O, and Sony smartphones and the Motorola's 2018 lineup got the feature recently. Google Lens lets you browse, and interact with the world around you. It lets you find products online, copy and paste text, learn more about landmarks, add events to your calendar, look up movie posters, identify popular plants and animals, and more. Google recently started rolling out Google Lens through Google Photos app for Android and iOS for everyone. The ASUS PixelMaster camera has received the feature as a part of a firmware update for the Zenfone 5 that also updated the app to v4.1.12.2. It should be available for other Zenfone smartphones as well. Even though the PixelMaster Camera app on the Google Play  has not been updated for over 2 years, ASUS's own app store should provide an update with the new feature. Source

Instagram now lets you shop directly from Stories

Instagram today has announced that it is expanding shopping ability beyond Feed to Instagram Stories. On Instagram Stories, when you see a sticker with a shopping bag icon, you can now tap on it to see more details about that product. It lists out products ranging from Adidas and Aritzia to Louis Vuitton, people have been able to shop from their favorite brands around the world, and now you can shop these businesses in Instagram Stories. Instagram says that users visit Instagram looking for the latest trends and styles. According to a recent survey, Instagrammers said they often watch stories to stay in-the-know with brands they’re interested in, get an insider view of products they like, and find out about new products that are relevant to them. Since brands are early adopters of Stories, they create better viewership and engaging content on the platform. With the latest update, you can shop from select brands in Instagram Stories. Source

Samsung Galaxy S10 said to ditch the earpiece for a 6.2-inch sound-emitting edge-to-edge display

Samsung showcased an interesting sound-emitting display concept at the Society of Information Displays (SID) 2018 expo last month. Samsung says that the panel uses vibration and bone conduction to eliminate the need for an earpiece. This also helps in extending the screen all the way from top to bottom. Samsung seems to have a "Sound on Display" tech prototype in what seems to be a Galaxy S9+ casing and the company indeed joked about it being Galaxy S10 display. Cut to the chase, Etnews now claims that Samsung and LG are ready to commercialize their sound-emitting OLED displays in next year's flagships. The source further says that the display might be a 6.2-inch screen, same as the S9+ display. https://youtu.be/uIRfzXy8h0A So, Samsung could introduce an edge-to-edge Galaxy S10 with the panel of the S9+. The transmission bandwidth is said to be in the 100 ~ 8000 Hz range. Thanks to the vibration, you would only hear the sound if you put your ear to a fairly wide area at the top half of the screen, denoted with a circular symbol here. In fact, Vivo's NEX S/A smartphones that were introduced yesterday features similar technology. Vivo calls this Screen SoundCasting and says that unlike other audio solutions for bezel-less smartphones, it conserves power, reduces sound leakage, and optimizes low to ...

Google Translate for Android and iOS gets AI-powered offline translation

Google Translate app has received Neural Machine learning Technology offline—on the device translations. Meaning which the technology will run within the Google Translate apps directly on your Android or iOS device so that you can get high-quality translations even when you don't have access to an internet connection. Google says that the neural system translates whole sentences at a time, rather than piece by piece. It uses broader context to determine the most relevant translation, which it then rearranges and adjusts to sound more like a real person speaking with proper grammar. Offline translations are really useful when travelling to other countries where data connectivity might be hard or when you are not having a local data plan. Since each language set is just 35-45MB, they won’t take too much storage on your phone. NMT offline translations are available on Android and iOS. In case, if you have used offline translations before, you’ll see a banner on your home screen which will take you to the right place to update your offline files. If not, go to your offline translation settings and tap the arrow next to the language name to download the package for that language. Google is rolling out the update in 59 ...

Apple to highlight up-to-date 2018 FIFA World Cup scores and stats across all its devices

The 2018 FIFA world cup tournament is right around the corner and with the same excitement, Apple today announced that it is integrating Siri to stay up to date with stats, scores and their favorite teams across all Apple devices. Siri is adding support for football in Brazil, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Siri already supports 26 other countries, and this lets users ask for scores, schedules, standings and team rosters. The company says that throughout the month, the App Store editors will highlight their favorite apps and games from football stars, offer tips on taking a perfect football photo. App Store will also feature key football-related apps and games including broadcaster apps like FOX NOW or BBC Sport, and games like FIFA Mobile and PES 2018. Apple TV App acts as a medium on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV to find and watch the TV shows and movies. In US and Canada where Sports feature is available, users will be able to keep track on FOX NOW in the US; and TSN and RDS, Bell Media’s English and French-language apps in Canada. Users can also receive notifications on their Apple devices when their team is playing, or a game is ...

Apple updates App Store review guidelines to prevent app developers from sharing user data

Apple has quietly closed the loophole that lets app makers store and share data without users consent. The company last week changed its App Store rules to limit how developers use information about iPhone owners’ friends and other contacts. This indeed is a perfect move from Apple that puts an end to years of practice where developers ask users for access to their phone contacts, and then later use it for marketing without proper permissions. Sharing of users information without their consent is what got Facebook into trouble and by announcing new privacy updates, the company is boosting its reputation for safeguarding user data. At the WWDC stage, the company introduced new controls that limit tracking of web browsing. Apple publicly didn't mention the updated App Store Review Guidelines that now bar developers from making databases of address book information they gather from iPhone users. Anyone caught breaking this violation will be banned. Apple back in 2012 has added a way for users to explicitly approve their contacts, photos, location information, and other data being uploaded by developers. Apple says that all apps should include a link to their privacy policy in the App Store. The privacy policy must clearly and explicitly identify the data it collects, app developers should ...