Facebook confirms it will launch “Clear History” feature later this year

Facebook's CFO David Wehner has confirmed that the company would launch its clear history feature later this year. It was first announced in early 2018 and it allows users to see information about apps and web sites they've interacted with and delete this information from their Facebook accounts. Wehner further said the feature will make it harder for Facebook to use data collected by third parties to target ads to users."Broadly, [clear history is] going to give us some headwinds in terms of being able to target as effectively as before," said Wehner. CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the announcement said the feature would "be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook -- what you've clicked on, websites you've visited, and so on. You'll even be able to turn off having this information stored with your account." The Clear History feature was proposed by Zuckerberg to his team in a reaction to the company's Cambridge Analytica scandal last March, according to reports. The company made an announcement when it was still in the idea stage. Source

Razer Phone 2 Android Pie update starts rolling out

Razer confirmed that it will be rolling out the Android 9.0 Pie update to the Razer Phone 2 this week. Keeping its word, the company has now started rolling out the Pie update. Since this is a staged rollout, it might not be available for everyone right away. Android P brings Adaptive Battery that uses machine learning to prioritize system resources for the apps, App Actions that helps you raise the visibility of your app and help drive engagement using machine learning, and Slices are a new way to surface rich, templated content in places like Google Search and Assistant. It brings the new gesture navigation system, notification management, and digital wellbeing which displays how long you’ve been using certain apps, ability to restrict the usage, graphs, and visuals detailing how many times you unlock your phone per day and how many notifications you receive, and much more. The update also brings February security patch, and ability to record 720p/1080p/4K videos at 60fps. The update is around 1.5GB in size and should be rolled out gradually to everyone. To check if you have got the update, head over to settings>system> about phone and check for updates. Source

USB 3.2 with 20Gbps speeds coming to high-end PCs later this year; USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 merged under new USB 3.2 branding

  The discrete USB 3.2 controllers that are capable of supporting the standard's new 20 Gb/s Type-C mode will be available this year. Since the discrete USB controllers are used mostly by high-performance systems, we are most likely going to see the first USB 3.2 chips to land on high-end motherboards first. If that is the case, we can see motherboard vendors showcasing off the products sometime in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, peripherals will likely lag a bit for compatibility testing and in this case, we might start seeing them in 2020. In terms of bandwidth, the USB 3.2 introduces the ability to use two high-speed USB Type-C Tx/Rx channels – the so-called x2 mode – to get 20 Gbps maximum throughput on a Type-C cable. The technology retains the USB 3.1 physical layer data rates and encoding techniques. As USB 3.2 hosts and devices roll out on the market, we will see USB 3.2 gen 1 branding (5Gbps SuperSpeed) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps SuperSpeed+) USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (2x10Gbps SuperSpeed+) Meaning, while all future products will be 3.2, they won't necessarily support the higher 10Gbps and 20Gbps data rates. Source

TikTok agrees to settle $5.7 million FTC fine over children’s privacy law violations

Owing to the alleged children’s privacy law violations, TikTok has agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle accusations. The short-form video app is also required to get parental approval for users under 13 years of age, to comply with the federal law. All the videos that were previously uploaded by users under the age of 13 will be removed as well. The FTC alleged that TikTok “illegally collected personal information from children” by not obtaining their parents’ permission before they signed up, putting it in violation of COPPA — the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. “The operators of Musical.ly — now known as TikTok — knew many children were using the app but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a press release. This new app experience now allows the company to split users into age-appropriate TikTok environments, in line with FTC guidance for mixed audience apps. The new environment for younger users does not permit the sharing of personal information, and it puts extensive limitations on content and user interaction. Both current and new TikTok users will be directed to the age-appropriate app ...

ASUS confirms range of ZenFone models that will receive Android 9.0 Pie update

Asus rolled out Android 9.0 Pie update for the ZenFone 5Z and started beta testing for the ZenFone Max Pro M2 recently. it is yet to push the update to last year's ZenFone Max Pro M1. However, the company has announced the list of the Asus phones which will be getting the Pie update eventually later this year.  The list of ZenFone models slated to get the Android 9.0 Pie update include ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL) ZenFone 4 Selfie (ZD553KL) ZenFone 4 Max (ZC520KL) ZenFone Live (ZB553KL) ZenFone4 Max (ZB520KL) ZenFone Max Plus (M1) (ZB570TL) ZenFone 5Q (ZC600KL) ZenFone Live (L1) (ZA550KZ / ZA551KL) ZenFone Max Pro (M1) (ZB602KL / ZB601KL) ZenFone Max (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB555KL / ZB556KL) ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL) ZenFone 5Z (ZS620KL) ASUS ROG Phone (ZS600KL) ZenFone Max Pro (M2) (ZB631KL/ ZB630KL) ZenFone Max (M2) (ZB633KL / ZB632KL) There's no timeline mentioned yet, meaning you will have to wait for the company's announcement, however the update will roll out within this year. The latest Android Pie update brings several new features, including Adaptive Battery that uses machine learning to prioritize system resources for the apps, App Actions that helps you raise the visibility of your app and help drive ...

Sony Xperia 10 Plus Hands On and Photo Gallery

Along with Xperia 10, Sony also introduced mid-range Xperia 10 Plus at an event in MWC 2019. Just like Xperia 10, the plus variant also comes with a 21:9 aspect ratio display. Talking about the design, it measures 8.3 mm in thickness and weighs around 180g. Unlike other Xperia smartphones, it lacks IP65/68. From the aesthetic point of view, it looks like any other Xperia device, we've seen in the past. This device has a metal unibody design along with curved corners and rounded edges, which is undoubtedly premium for a mid-range device. On the front, Xperia 10 Plus sports a 6.5-inch (2560 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 21:9 aspect ratio Wide display. Above it, the front camera and speaker are housed, which means no notch. Further, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top and a USB Type-C at the bottom. The right side of the device houses dedicated camera button along with a power button, volume rocker and has brought back a side fingerprint sensor. Talking about the camera, the Xperia 10 Plus combines a 12-megapixel sensor with an 8-megapixel sensor on the back. The front is taken care of 8MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture, 84° wide-angle lens, similar to Xperia 10. Under ...

Get Android 9.0 Pie on Redmi Note 4 with OxygenOS 9.0 port

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was amongst the best selling devices launched in 2017 in India, despite launching in 2017 it was launched with Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and was updated to Android 7.0 (Nougat) in August 2017. Redmi Note 4 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 mobile platform, the same processor that powers Mi A1 which received Android 9.0 (Pie) update along with Dual 4G VoLTE support couple of months ago. Xiaomi has already announced the list of smartphones eligible for Android Oreo/Pie update, but Xiaomi’s best seller from 2017 is not included in the list and now we can assume that Redmi Note 4 will not receive any Android update. In case you wish to enjoy the latest version of Android on your Redmi Note 4, you can use custom ROM on your device. Earlier, we tried Arrow OS and crDroid ROM on Redmi Note 4 both of which were based on Android Pie. Oxygen OS is another Android skin that is popular amongst users for the customizations it offers without adding bloat, developers have ported Android 9.0 (Pie) based Oxygen OS to Redmi Note 4. We tried it on our unit and here are the first impressions, Performance and Benchmarks: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is almost three year old now, we obtained AnTuTu ...

Samsung Galaxy M30 with 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, triple rear cameras, 5000mAh battery launched in India starting at Rs. 14990

Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy M30, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in the 'M series', as it had promised, after it launched the M10 and M20 smartphones last month. It has a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U display, and features triple rear cameras that includes a 13-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel camera for portrait shots and a 5-megapixel 123-degree ultra-wide lens. It is powered by Exynos 7904 14nm SoC, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo), rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and a 5000mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging, similar to the M20. Samsung Galaxy M30 specifications 6.4-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19.5:9 Super AMOLED Infinity-U display Octa-Core (1.8GHz dual + 1.6GHz Hexa) Exynos 7904 14nm processor with Mali-G71 GPU 4GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64GB storage / 6GB LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB Storage, expandable up to 512GB via micro SD card Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Samsung Experience 9.5 Dual SIM 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture, 5-megapixel secondary camera with f/2.2 aperture, 5MP ultra-wide angle camera with 123-degree wide-angle lens 16MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture Fingerprint sensor Dimension: 159 x 75.1 x8.4mm 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, Dolby Atmos Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS 5000mAh battery with fast charging The Samsung Galaxy M30 ...

Google Chrome Dark Mode for Android and Web said to darken web pages [Update: Live in Canary]

Update - February 27, 2019: Now you can enable this feature in Chome Canary from chrome://flags and enabling #enable-android-web-contents-dark-mode. The dark mode looks a bit weird in some web pages since it inverts images colors looking more like high contrast mode than dark mode. This is also available for the web. Earlier: Google is known to be working on bringing dark mode for Android and the web. The latest development in this regard reveals that a new code change indicates that Chrome for Android will recolor web pages as well when using the browser’s upcoming dark mode. With the inclusion of dark mode in a wide variety of Google apps and the addition of system-wide dark mode in Android Q. Google seems to be giving high priority to dark mode this year. Similar to Samsung's browser, Google for Chrome may be employing a similar strategy for its own dark mode where it turns the web pages into the dark for more pleasing reading experience at night. The change adds a new Chrome flag, #enable-android-web-contents-dark-mode, whose name alone makes its purpose fairly clear. Digging a little deeper, it is evident what the new flag will actually do. When the flag is enabled, a preference is toggled in Blink, Chrome’s underlying engine, called “force_dark_mode_enabled”. ...

Uber Eats ‘Delivery Partner Safety Toolkit’ in-app safety features launched in India

Uber Eats has launched “Delivery Partner Safety Toolkit,” which is a comprehensive set of in-app safety features for its delivery partners in India. This is aimed at making every delivery trip a seamless and safer experience. The features include benefits of ridesharing such as tracking every trip with GPS while delivering using the Uber Eats app, as well as an emergency button. Delivery Partner Safety Toolkit features include new safety controls that allow delivery partners to more easily Share Trip and customize their trip sharing preferences. The trusted contacts feature is where you can pre-load up to five contacts whom you would like to share your whereabouts with regularly. There is also a new emergency button for delivery partners which is an option to connect directly to law enforcement through the app in event of an unwanted emergency. The speed alert feature alerts the delivery partners when they exceed the posted speed. All these features will be a part of a larger Safety Toolkit in the app, giving delivery partners access to all possible protective and preventive measures. Bhavik Rathod, Head of Uber Eats, India, said: At Uber Eats, delivery partners are at the heart of our business.  Since our launch in India, safety has been one ...