Facebook starts testing AR ads in News Feed

Facebook today has announced that it has started testing AR based ads in News Feed and will only be accessible for users in the USA. The company said that it is adding new ways to help businesses to engage with users on mobile, encourage product discovery and drive sales online and in stores. With AR, users can experiment with brand’s AR camera effects in just one click from the News Feed ad. Meaning, this feature will allow users to try products from the Ads using filters similar to Snapchat Filters. Facebook believes that 79% of consumers would rather watch a video to learn about a product than reading text on a page. Since creating mobile-optimized ads can get challenging at times,  it is launching Video Creation Kit to make it easier for all advertisers to create mobile-first video ads. Video Creation Kit helps advertisers create eye-catching, effective mobile video ads using existing images. The tool will enable advertisers to upload images, add overlays and logos to quickly build mobile-first video ads. Facebook also said that later this year, it will begin testing AR ads with some additional advertisers such as Sephora and others in fashion accessories, cosmetics, furniture, gaming, and entertainment. It is also planning to roll out ...

Apple names John Giannandrea as its first Chief of Machine Learning and AI strategy

Apple today has announced that it is naming John Giannandrea as its first Chief of Machine Learning and AI strategy. John Giannandrea joined Apple back in April, he was making contributions at Google since 2010 including AI related products like Google Assistant, Gmail, Google Search’s Knowledge Graph, and more. The company is also heard grouping some machine learning teams to see further improvements to Siri and more. The regrouped artificial intelligence/machine learning teams will be overseen by Giannandrea in his new Chief of Machine Learning and AI Strategy role. Before, Google Johnco-founded two technology companies, Tellme Networks, and Metaweb Technologies. Apple is also overhauling Maps from the ground up and for this, the company is said to be using first-party data gathered by iPhones with a privacy-first methodology and its own fleet of cars packed with sensors and cameras. It is good that Apple has finally realized there is still some development that has to be done to fill to close the gap between Siri and Alexa/Google Assistant. Source

Instagram update brings interactive questions sticker for Stories

Instagram today has officially announced that it is introducing a new interactive questions sticker in Stories that lets your friends submit questions for you to answer, after testing it recently. It's a fun new way to interact with your followers. The company back in May rolled out interactive emoji slider sticker for polls. You can add a question sticker to your 'Story' by selecting it from the sticker tray after taking a photo or video. Then type out your prompt and place it anywhere on the image or video. Your followers or friends can tap on it and reply, ask questions. They can reply as many times as they want, right from the sticker. The responses from followers can be seen from the story’s viewers list; tap on any question they’ve asked to create a new story with your answer, and the question you’re answering will appear on your story for context. Though you can submit responses to questions in the viewer's list where everything is private, you can share that response in your story and your friend’s photo and username will not be shown. The Instagram interactive questions sticker for Stories is now available for Android and iOS. Source

WhatsApp will now label forward message to fight misinformation

WhatsApp today has announced that it is rolling out a new feature that will indicate which messages you receive have been forwarded to you. This extra piece of information will give a better idea and determine if your friend or relative wrote the message they sent or if it originally came from someone else. This feature was available for Android since last month in the form of beta and it will label "forwarded" for any message that is being forwarded from one chat to another. It is now rolling out to Android and iOS around the globe. This also helps in limiting the circulation of spam and fake news on its platform. Last week, WhatsApp is spotted testing the suspicious link detection feature; it will help users to detect sent and received suspicious links in WhatsApp. To get the new forwarded message, you will have to be on the latest version of WhatsApp. WhatsApp in a blog post has said: Starting today, WhatsApp will indicate which messages you receive have been forwarded to you. This extra context will help make one-on-one and group chats easier to follow. It also helps you determine if your friend or relative wrote the message they sent or if it originally ...

Huawei TalkBand B5 with 1.13-inch AMOLED touch display, heart rate sensor, pop-out Bluetooth headset announced

Huawei has introduced TalkBand B5, successor of TalkBand B3 which was introduced back in 2016. It has a 1.13-inch AMOLED 2.5D curved glass touch screen display, which is 2.4 times bigger than the predecessor. The pop-up Bluetooth headset has trip-core audio chip with high-definition voice, thanks to dual microphone with noise reduction. It has caller ID support, call muting as well as speed dial option to quickly call a person. It has IP67 ratings for dust and water resistance, comes with optional 18mm straps in silicone, leather and even stainless steel for a premium look. It has Huawei TruRelax Technology that analyses heart rate variability and accesses your stress status. It also offers breath training for relaxing. The Huawei TruSleep 2.0 uses cardiopulmonary coupled dynamics spectrum (CPC) to monitor complete sleep structure including deep sleep (REM) to analyse sleep and offer personalized sleep recommendations. The Huawei TruSeen 2.0 heart rate technology offers 24-hour continuous heart monitoring when running, walking, cycling and more. In addition to step counting, calorie calculation and distance measurement, you can set up a running plan based on heart rate evaluation, V02max, recovery time suggestion and more. It can also double up as smartphone selfie trigger and find the phone when it is far away ...

Huawei Nova 3 with 6.3-inch FHD+ display, 6GB RAM, dual front and rear cameras official

Huawei Nova 3, the company's latest smartphone in the Nova series is now official, after rumors and certification. The packs a 6.3-inch FHD+ 19:5:9 aspect ratio curved glass display with a notch, is powered by Kirin 970 SoC with support for GPU Turbo, packs 6GB of RAM and runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2, similar to the Honor Play, but this has a 16-megapixel rear camera AI scene recognition that can detect over 500 scenes and the 24-megapixel secondary rear camera for portrait shots. It has a 24-megapixel front camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera. It has face unlocking that uses infrared light to gather face information even in dark conditions. There is also 3D Qmoji, which is similar to Apple's Animoji. It features a glass back, fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3750mAh battery with support for fast charging. Huawei Nova 3 specifications 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 3D curved glass display, 85%  NTSC Color Gamut Octa-Core Huawei Kirin 970 (4 x 2.4 GHz A73+ 4 x 1.8 GHz A53) 10nm processor with Mali-G72 MP12 GPU,  i7 co-processor, NPU, GPU Turbo 6GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with ...

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 with 10.5-inch WQXGA display surfaces in press images [ Update: New image in White with Keyboard cover]

Update - July 11, 2018: A new render of the tablet shows white version with optional keyboard cover, thanks to @evleaks. This has black bezels on the front and the back is in white. The S Pen bundled is also in white color. Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, in white, with optional keyboard cover. pic.twitter.com/PcjWzai79f — Evan Blass (@evleaks) July 11, 2018 Earlier: Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 has been in the news for a while now, thanks to benchmarks, WiFi, Bluetooth, and FCC certifications. But one thing that has been missing is the look and design of the tablet. To fill that void, we now have our first look at the device as an official render of the tablet leaked, showing both its front and back. The first striking thing about the tablet is the thin bezels when compared to the Galaxy Tab S3. Look closely and you won't notice a physical home button and this means larger display area, hence a different aspect ratio as well. This also raises questions about the existence of a fingerprint sensor and since it is not seen even on the rear side, will Samsung go for under display fingerprint sensor or will the sensor be side mounted? is the question that needs to be ...

Apple said to deploy 1Password to all its employees, reportedly in talks to acquire its maker AgileBits

1Password developed by AgileBits is one of the popular password managers that is available for Android, iOS, macOS and Windows. According to a new report, Apple is planning to deploy 1Password internally to all 123,000 employees in the next two month, and 100 Apple employees will start using 1Password starting this week. The report adds that Apple will offer family plans, giving up to 5 family members of each employee a free license for 1Password.  The report doesn't say how much Apple has paid for the deal, however it says that AgileBits started paying out large bonuses after this deal with Apple was signed. According to the report, Apple is also looking to acquire the company in future, and if happens, the company might integrate the features of 1Password into the iOS, similar to what it has done with earlier iOS acquisition Workflow and the new Shortcuts app. Source

Netflix for Android gets Smart-Download that auto-retrieves next episode

Netflix had rolled out Download feature back in 2016 and one and a half year later the company is rolling a new feature “Smart Downloads” that automatically deletes an episode of a TV series you’ve finished watching and downloads the next one. https://youtu.be/ke_AsB7uIDk However, if you wish to rather keep the watched episode on your device, you will need to turn off Smart Downloads so you can manually manage your downloaded content. The Smart Downloads feature only turns on when you're connected to Wi-Fi, and it won't impact your device storage, because it will always delete the last watched episode before downloading the next one. This feature is currently only available for Android starting today and the support for iOS will be coming later this year. Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Innovation, Netflix said: We know how annoying it can be to go through all your apps and delete files you no longer need; we also understand that when it comes to Netflix, the faster you can get to the next episode you want to watch, the better. Whether it is smart downloading or viewing a mobile preview, we realize the best part of Netflix is connecting with the stories you will love in an easier ...

Airtel to deploy 10000 new mobile sites, Massive MIMO pre-5G technology, 2000 kms of additional optic fiber in West Bengal

After Kerala, Mumbai,  Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Airtel has announced massive network expansion in West Bengal as part of its network transformation initiative – Project Leap. During the FY 18-19, Airtel plans to roll out 10,000 new mobile sites taking the total number of sites to 38,000 along with an addition of more than 2000 kilometers of optic fiber, taking the total footprint to 17,000 kms to enable high speed data transmission. Airtel also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states to step up high speed data experience for customers. Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum and delivers super fast data speeds despite a large number of concurrent users at the same location. Back in April, Airtel had deployed Massive MIMO pre-5G solution across IPL match venues offering up to 3x faster 4G speeds. Commenting on the same, Sameer Anjaria, Chief Executive Officer – West Bengal & Odisha, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said: As part of our endeavor to build a future ready network to deliver best-in-class experience to our customers, we are stepping up our network investments across West Bengal. Airtel has pioneered the rollout of Massive MIMO in India and we will now undertake ...