Imgur adds chat so you never have to leave the meme factory
A long-awaited feature has finally made it into the mobile versions of content discovery site/meme emporium Imgur. In a blog post today, the Imgur team announced that chat, messaging and notifications are now available on the gif-heavy social network, while the messaging features of its desktop site are getting an overhaul as well.
Chat works pretty much as you’d expect from any number of social networks: you can send GIFs, post links, emoji and plain old text to other imgur users from their profile, a comment link, the share icon or the chat tab in the Imgur app. Although Imgur’s community manager Sarah Schaff told TechCrunch that the site’s 150 million users form a close-knit and generally positive community, they’ve also gone ahead and built in the ability to block users as a standard social media safety feature. On the flip side, you can now follow other Imgur users by tapping the “+” sign on their profile, which will give you a notification anytime that user hits the Most Viral section of the site.
Unlike Twitter or Instagram, you can’t see who other users follow and there are no Follower/Following counts anywhere. You can, however, use the latest version of the iOS or Android app to update account info and tweak your public bio.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Imgur Blog
Google Drive Update Makes It Easier to Transfer iPhone Content to Android
Google Drive was updated today to make it easier for users to transfer their content from iOS devices to Android devices, Google announced. The company also published a new web page on the Android website detailing how it works.
Once a user downloads Google Drive from the App Store, they can navigate toward the backup wizard by going to Menu > Settings > Backup in the app. From there, users can choose to sync select contacts, calendar events and photos or everything. Google recommends that users backup when their iPhone is connected to power and is on Wi-Fi, as backing up can take several hours. Additionally, the Google Drive app must stay open and the screen must stay on.
When users sign into their Google account on their new Android device their content will automatically sync.
Google has tried to make it easier for iPhone users to switch to Android in recent months, packing in a “Quick Switch Adapter” with the Pixel, which quickly transfers data directly from an iPhone to a Pixel phone. While the Quick Switch Adapter only works with the Pixel phone, the Google Drive method will also work with non-Pixel Android phones.
iPhone users who want to switch to Android must turn off iMessage before they officially switch devices.
Google Drive is available in the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tags: Android, Google Drive
Discuss this article in our forums
South Korea Considering Investigation of iPhone 6s Battery Shutdown Issue
South Korea’s Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) said it is considering an investigation into whether some iPhone 6s devices experiencing unexpected battery shutdowns is a safety issue, according to The Korea Herald.
“The agency is well aware of recent iPhone issues and is taking a close look at it,” an unnamed KATS official told The Herald. While KATS hasn’t officially launched an investigation, it wants to make sure the problem isn’t like the Galaxy Note 7 battery issue, which caused devices to randomly catch fire and start smoking. The agency is currently in talks with Apple Korea about the issue.
In November, Apple launched a repair program for iPhone 6s devices experiencing the unexpected shutdowns, saying that “a very small number of iPhone 6s devices” that were manufactured between September and October 2015 were affected. Apple said the problem was “not a safety issue.”
On its Chinese website, Apple said the shutdowns were caused by a manufacturing error where some batteries were overexposed to “controlled ambient air,” causing them to degrade faster than normal. In addition to its repair program, Apple now lets you check your iPhone 6s serial number to see if you’re eligible for a new battery.
Related Roundup: iPhone 6s
Discuss this article in our forums
Google just made it even easier to switch from iPhone to Android
Make the switch from iPhone to Android more easily than ever.
Google has made it even easier to switch from an iPhone to an Android phone using Google Drive.
The company updated its Switch portal to reflect the Drive update, which can be downloaded onto the iPhone and used to back up all pertinent content, including contacts, calendar events, and photos & videos, to their respective places.
While Drive itself doesn’t store all of the data, it uses Google’s cross-platform prowess to upload contacts, calendar events, images and videos to Google Contacts, Calendar and Photos, respectively. Previously, users had to manually perform the backups through those apps; now, Drive does it for you.
Then, once the backup is complete, signing into a new Android phone with the same account will restore the data to its rightful place. The service even backs up iCloud entries.
This also applies to the Google Pixel, though that phone comes with its own adapter to transfer content directly from an iPhone to Google’s new flagship.
Google Pixel + Pixel XL
- Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
- Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
- Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
- Pixel + Pixel XL specs
- Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
- Join the discussion in the forums!
Google Store
Verizon
Snapchat Groups: Here’s how to use the new group chat feature
Nine months after Snapchat overhauled its chat experience, it has launched a new chat feature: Groups.
Groups is basically a way for you to chat in groups. Snapchat said it announced the feature just in time for the holidays because it’s a “great time to hang out with friends and spend time with family”. With Groups, you can communicate with up to 16 friends at once in Snapchat.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new feature.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a photo- and video-messaging app. It is unique in that all photos and videos only last a brief amount of time before they disappear forever, making the app ephemeral in nature, though you can take a screenshot of all the snaps you receive to save them in picture form. You can also save your own snaps before sending them to friends or you story. You can learn more about Snapchat from Pocket-lint’s in-depth guide.
What is Snapchat Groups?
Group are a lot like one-on-one chats, but they can include up to 16 group members. Also, chats sent to a group are deleted by default after 24 hours. Snaps sent to a group can be opened and replayed just once by each recipient, but then it’ll be deleted after 24 hours as well.
How does Snapchat Groups work?
Starting a group chat
Groups can be created while sending a snap, or when you’re making a new chat.
Simply open the Chat screen and tap on the New Chat icon. Then, pick a few friends, and tap Chat. You can only add people to a group if you’re both friends on Snapchat. To send snaps directly to a group after taking a snap, tap the send button, and choose a group in the Send To screen. Everyone in the group will be able to see that you sent the snap, as well as who’s read it.
Determine if you’re in a group chat
To determine if a chat is actually a group chat, look for the sparkle/friend emoji next to the group name in your Chat screen.
Adjust group chat settings
To access group chat settings, tap the menu icon in the upper left hand corner.
From there, you can see who’s in the group, rename the group, mute notifications, add someone, or even leave the group. If you choose to leave, the snaps and chats you sent will be cleared, even if someone saved them in chat.
See who’s in your group chat
When group members open the group chat, their name will light up inside a bubble above your keyboard to let you know they’re present. You can tap on a friend’s name bubble to start a quick chat or even add them if you haven’t already.
See who’s read a chat or snap
Tap or press and hold on any chat to see who’s read it, saved it, etc. When someone opens a snap, their name will appear below it in chat. Chats and snaps will be deleted after 24 hours unless saved. Also, snaps sent to a group can be opened and replayed once by each recipient.
Quick chat with a friend
Tap any name at the bottom of a group chat to start a one-on-one chat with that person. You can always return to the group in one swipe.
Obama signs bill to fund ‘Moonshot’ research to cure cancer
Several months after President Obama laid out his plans to cure cancer in his last State of the Union address, he is signing legislation to do just that. Known as the 21st Century Cures Act, the bill will invest $1.8 billion in a Cancer Moonshot Task Force led by Vice President Joe Biden that aims to achieve a decade’s worth of research in just five years. In so doing, the team hopes to ramp up science and technological progress to the point where a cure for cancer can be found.
“We are bringing to reality the possibility of new breakthroughs to some of the biggest health challenges of our time,” said Obama in a ceremony today. “We’re tackling cancer, brain disease, substance abuse disorders and more, and none of this would have been possible without bipartisan cooperation from both houses of Congress.”
The overall bill plans $6.3 billion to not just tackle cancer research but also brain research, substance abuse prevention and to streamline drug and medical device approval.
Google begins releasing its secret FBI subpoenas
Back in October, Google stated that the FBI lifted a gag order, allowing them to officially disclose they’d been served one National Security Letter (NSL), a type of secret subpoena, by the FBI. This was news because every company is restricted from revealing more than a very broad range of NSLs it has received. But a 2015 Congressional act requires the government to periodically check whether each request’s non-disclosure agreement is still necessary. After several of these limits were lifted, today Google confirmed and released several NSL requests to shed light on what kind of user information the FBI requests in the name of national security.
The first batch includes eight formal requests, each paired with an FBI letter notifying Google when the agency had lifted their non-disclosure requirements. In all, these NSLs ask for subscriber information “limited to name, address and length of service” on 23 accounts — the names of which Google opted to redact for privacy reasons. Some of the requests limited their inquiry to a certain period of time while others asked for info from the account’s inception until the present day.
The earliest was sent to Google on March 1st, 2010, while the latest was September 21st, 2015. Crucially, each NSL urged Google not to change or suspend access to these accounts lest it tip off the users that their info was being shared with the FBI.
The USA Freedom Act, which Congress passed in 2015 to amend the Patriot Act, gives Google a little leeway in reporting that these requests have been made, allowing the search giant to list a loose range of NSL inquiries. It also requires the Department of Justice to regularly review which NSL’s non-disclosure limits are no longer necessary, which allowed Google to release the requests today. Curiously, the search giant could have
Unfortunately, there’s no way to know how many NSLs Google can’t (or possibly won’t; disclosure is optional) also release. According to the range they’re allowed to publish, they received “0-499” requests from January to June 2016; counting up the previous years, the search giant has received anywhere from zero to 1,000 requests for every six-month period since 2009. Even if the DOJ doesn’t lift non-disclosure restrictions on substantially more NSLs, at least we have a window in to the content and frequency of user information Google is handing over to the FBI.
Source: Google
Scientists copy climate change data in fear of a Trump crackdown
Donald Trump’s incoming presidency won’t be kind to climate change science, and that’s making both scientists and government divisions nervous — to the point where they’re taking unusually drastic actions. Researchers at multiple North American institutions, including the Universities of Pennsylvania and Toronto (as part of the Internet Archive’s Trump response), are hoping to save as much public environmental data as possible in case the Trump administration orders its removal. There’s also an independent Climate Mirror project that aims to copy public data before Trump takes office in January.
Is this irrational? Possibly — Trump’s team hasn’t explicitly stated that it would try to erase or otherwise mess with existing climate data. However, the President-elect has been picking climate change deniers for positions in relevant agencies, and has threatened to stop “politicized science” (read: any evidence of human-made climate change). The groups stashing data argue that it’s better to be prepared for a worst case scenario than to assume everything will be safe and discover otherwise. This won’t stop attempts to stifle future collection, but it could make sure that current research isn’t lost.
There are some reasons to suspect that the Trump camp may go to extremes. Most notably, the Department of Energy recently refused a request by Trump to name employees and contractors who’ve attended climate change meetings. While the Department will provide publicly available info, it’s determined to “respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence” of its staff by keeping their names and participation under wraps. In other words, it doesn’t want DoE staff to be punished for conducting ‘inconvenient’ science.
The Trump White House is unlikely to fire many of these workers directly due to laws preventing ideologically motivated job cuts. However, there’s a concern that anyone outed would be intentionally marginalized. Their work might not be officially recognized, for example, or they might be more likely to lose contracts that come up for renewal. Again, there’s no guarantee that the Trump administration would do anything — at the least, however, it appears to be an intimidation tactic meant to discourage DoE workers from pursuing uncomfortable truths about humanity’s effect on the planet.
Via: Washington Post
Source: University of Toronto, Climate Mirror, Washington Post
Nokia returns with a dumb phone from its new owner
It looks like we won’t have to mourn the demise of the Nokia brand for much longer. HMD Global, the new owners of the Nokia name, unveiled their first device today: the Nokia 150. But don’t get too excited yet. It’s a Series 30+ dumb phone that looks almost identical to the Nokia 216 that debuted back in September (which was notably Microsoft’s last Nokia device).
The $26 Nokia 150 sports a 2.4-inch screen, a VGA camera and an impressive 22 hours of battery life (remember when our phones could last for days without a charge?). It’ll be built by Foxconn subsidiary FIH, who bought Nokia’s feature phone business from Microsoft in May, for distribution in PAC, IMEA and Europe early next year.
HMD previously announced that it would release new Nokia-branded phones and tablets powered by Android, which was heartening news for fans of the brand. Arto Nummela, HMD’s CEO who previously served as an exec at Microsoft and Nokia, said in a recent interview with the Economic Times that those devices will appear in the first half of 2017. Judging from recent rumors, it sounds like HMD might unveil its Android smartphones at Mobile World Congress in late February.
Source: HMD
Tech workers unite against a potential US Muslim registry
Employees from large organizations across the technology industry have pledged to never help build a government database targeting individuals by race, religion or national origin, in response to extreme immigration proposals from US President-elect Donald Trump. The signatories come from companies including Google, IBM, Twitter, Mozilla and NVIDIA, though they don’t represent the organizations themselves.
“We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies,” the pledge reads. “We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable.”
The commitment, which resides at neveragain.tech, explains that tech workers are the gatekeepers of “data about people.” It recognizes technology’s role in aiding catastrophic human rights abuses in the past, specifically mentioning IBM’s work with Nazi Germany during World War II. The pledge includes a commitment to engage in whistleblowing, if necessary, and to advocate for the responsible use of data outside of the tech industry.
Trump has toyed with the idea of establishing a national database of all Muslims and said he plans to deport millions of illegal immigrants. It’s already clear that Trump’s proposed immigration policies would be detrimental for the US technology industry, but the neveragain.tech pledge looks beyond the workforce.
“We recognize that mass deportations precipitated the very atrocity the word genocide was created to describe: the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey,” the pledge reads. “We acknowledge that genocides are not merely a relic of the distant past— among others, Tutsi Rwandans and Bosnian Muslims have been victims in our lifetimes. Today we stand together to say: not on our watch, and never again.”
Source: neveragain.tech
AIVAnet 