Screenshots of WhatsApp’s First Peer-to-Peer Payments System Surface Online

Over a year ago now, we reported on claims that popular mobile chat platform WhatsApp was looking at introducing a peer-to-peer payments system, beginning with a rollout for users in India. Today, the first iPhone screenshots of such a system appeared online via social media, revealing a list of Indian banks that will apparently support the service at launch.

The images indicate that the WhatsApp payment method will utilize the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India that facilitates inter-bank transactions.

UPI is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform. The same system is also used by Swedish-based phone number lookup service Trucaller, which introduced user-to-user payments in India via a tie-in with ICICI Bank last April.

WhatsApp’s UPI setup process appears to involve just a couple of steps, after which users can presumably instantly transfer cash to other WhatsApp users’ bank accounts. The payment system could be ready for launch in India in the first quarter of 2018, although WhatsApp’s plans for a similar payments system for users in other countries remain unclear.

Facebook has had a payments system in its Messenger app for some time in the U.S., but WhatsApp remains far more popular in India and is heavily used there as an e-commerce portal, despite not yet offering any features that specifically support the practice.

Tags: WhatsApp, India
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Adds Chinese Firms to its Pool of 3D Sensing Module Suppliers for 2018 iPhones and iPads

Apple will work with two Chinese suppliers in 2018 to ensure a stable supply of 3D sensing modules for use in this year’s iPhone and iPad line-up, according to a report on Thursday by ET News.

Last month The Investor claimed Apple was planning a $820.9 million investment in LG Innotek to secure supply of 3D sensing modules, which are key components of the iPhone X’s new TrueDepth camera system, enabling features such as Face ID and Animoji.

However, according to today’s report, Apple has selected two Chinese companies to shore up supply. One is said to be an emerging supplier amongst smartphone part markets, and the other is a popular semiconductor packaging company. Nevertheless, LG Innotek is expected remain the biggest main vendor out of the three module suppliers, while the two Chinese companies will provide the rest.

Apple plans to launch a refreshed iPhone X, a larger iPhone X Plus, and a mid-range iPhone each with Face ID later this year, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple will also release at least one iPad Pro model with Face ID this year, according to Bloomberg.

It’s unusual for Apple to source Chinese suppliers for key parts, but the additional help could mean Apple avoids the temporary supply chain issues it experienced with 3D sensing modules late last year.

In addition, the extra supply could benefit Apple in the long term if it looks to combine the front-facing camera and Face ID on future iPhones, as claimed by ETNews back in January.

According to the report, industry sources claim Apple’s plan to combine these features would increase the number of parts used in iPhones, however it’s unlikely we’ll see such a design this year, given that the 2018 line-up of iOS devices are expected to have the same TrueDepth sensor housing as the iPhone X.

Related Roundup: 2018 iPhones
Discuss this article in our forums

First HomePod Orders Start Shipping Out to Customers in the U.K.

Apple customers in the United Kingdom who pre-ordered HomePod have started receiving shipping despatch notifications this morning. Those who ordered before initial supplies began dwindling earlier this week can expect deliveries to arrive sometime on Friday, which is Apple’s official launch day for HomePod.

Images via @ryancarter_94
As expected, it looks as if Apple is relying on DPD to courier the majority of HomePods to homes across the U.K. Using their tracking information provided by Apple, customers can use the DPD website or download and install the DPD iPhone app and request a time slot for delivery, which are subject to availability.

Earlier today, customers in Australia who ordered a HomePod for February 9 began receiving shipment notifications. It’s Thursday evening on February 8 in Australia, so the first HomePod deliveries will begin in the country in just a matter of hours.

Customers expecting launch day delivery in the United States may be able to locate their HomePod’s shipping information by going to the UPS website, selecting the track by reference number option, and entering the phone number associated with a HomePod order.

Apple is no longer offering the HomePod for February 9 delivery or in-store pickup, but John Lewis, Argos, EE, and Currys PC World may have stock available for U.K. customers, while Apple will likely have a supply of HomePods available for walk-in purchase in retail stores in the U.S., UK, and Australia on launch day.

(Thanks, Ryan!)

Related Roundup: HomePodTag: United KingdomBuyer’s Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Media Watchdog Advises Journalists in China to Avoid Using Apple iCloud Accounts, Citing Privacy Fears

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RWB/RSF) has urged journalists using iCloud in China to migrate away from Apple’s cloud service this month, before control of their data is handed over to a Chinese company (via Hong Kong Free Press).

Beginning February 28, Apple’s iCloud services in mainland China will be operated by Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data (GCBD), which is owned by the Guizhou provincial government in southern China.

The firm is set to manage Apple’s new $1 billion data center, which opened in the region last year. The operational change was agreed between Apple and the Chinese government, bringing the tech giant into compliance with the country’s new cloud computing regulations.

Apple says the partnership with GCBD will improve the speed and reliability of iCloud services and products, and has assured iCloud customers that no backdoors had been created into any of its systems. However, press freedom advocates fear that user data will become accessible to the Chinese state as a result of the switch. Earlier this week, RWB/RSF explicitly criticized Apple’s “readiness to accommodate China’s authoritarian regime”.

“Apple promises that it will never give governments a backdoor to content, but there is no way of being sure about this,” Head of RSF’s East Asia bureau Cédric Alviani said.

“Knowing the Chinese government’s determination and the extent of the means of pressure at its disposal, it will end up getting its way sooner or later, if it hasn’t already.”

Last month, Apple contacted and advised customers in China to examine new terms and conditions, which include a clause that both Apple and the Chinese firm will have access to all data stored on iCloud servers. Customers who did not want to use iCloud operated by GCBD were also given the option to terminate their account before the February 28 switch.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: China
Discuss this article in our forums

Backup, Restore, and Clone Hard Drives & System Using AOMEI Backupper 4.0.6

How to avoid the surprising data loss caused by the crashed system, failing hard drive, all-pervading malware and other uncontrollable factors? Here you may need some backup software to create images of your Windows system, partition, hard drives or some specific files. AOMEI Backupper is standing out from the backup marketing and is one of the most easiest backup software for windows home office and business users. It’s designed to be compatible with all recent Microsoft Windows versions, from windows XP to windows 10.

AOMEI Backupper provides all-in-one backup and recovery functions for even novices. It has a friendly user interface and users can get a well-understanding with all the functions easily. Moreover, it guides users with simple descriptions with each step succinctly without being overly detailed.

The Main Features in AOMEI Backupper:

Backup: It’s easy to create system image and create disk image with AOMEI Backupper. The freeware could choose the system partitions & files automatically if you just want to create a system backup with the system backup feature. The backup processing could be carried out without interrupting other programs in Windows. It’s the same simplicity and convenience to do backup for disk, partition and files as well. With one click and let the program to do the rest. More advanced features could be achieved in the Backup options and Schedule. You can make up full backup, incremental backup and differential backup as you like. Some smarts tips help to manage the backup images more safely and quickly.

Restore: AOMEI Backupper is a reliable and fast disaster recovery based on the backup image you made before. You can restore your Windows system, hard drive, partition and files from the backup images. From here, it shows the importance of backup again. Note that the program can only recognize the image made with its own.

Clone: Clone is another feature to manage your Windows computer and hard drive. It provides to migrate Windows operating system and transfer hard drive to another location without data loss. If you need to upgrade computer from small hard drive to large one, the disk clone feature is a better choice. If you are trying cloning feature, you can use the data directly without any restoration.

Advanced Utilities: The utilities supply many advanced functions to enhance your experience. It includes check images, explore image, merge images, create bootable media and so on. With all those features, it could fulfill the demands for data backup and restore.

New Features in AOMEI Backupper 4.0.6:

• Added new multiple languages: Italian (Italiano), Dutch (Nederlands), Spanish (Español) and Turkish (Türkçe). Now AOMEI Backupper supports 10 languages.
• Fixed issue: antivirus software like Avira falsely report AOMEI Backupper as Adware or gen2.

If you’re looking for a free backup program and find the limitation of windows backup, you should give AOMEI Backupper a try. It has the paid version as well and the profession edition provides a full solution for pc backup. Even the standard/free edition could back up your important data and restore them when you need it.

Huawei P20 invite hints at triple rear cameras as P20 Lite breaks cover

Huawei’s upcoming P20 may offer a triple-lens rear camera setup.

Huawei announced last week that its upcoming phone in the P series will be called the P20. The phone is slated for an official unveil on March 27 in Paris, and if Huawei’s event invite is any indication, it looks like the P20 will be the first phone with three cameras at the back.

Initial rumors hinted at a triple-lens rear camera setup for the P20, and the invite teaser — which has the tagline, “See Mooore with AI” — reinforces that notion. Mobile photography has been an area of focus for Huawei for several generations now, and it’ll be interesting to see what the manufacturer comes up with next month.

Meanwhile, we’ve also got an early look at the Huawei P20 Lite courtesy of factory CAD renders from OnLeaks and TigerMobiles. The renders show off dual cameras at the back — arrayed vertically — along with dual cameras at the front of the phone. The P20 Lite is rumored to feature a 6.1-inch display.

The phone made its way to the FCC earlier this week, giving us a better look at the display. It looks like the panel will offer a resolution of 2280 x 1080, and the documents also reveal a 2900mAh battery. With the phones set to make their debut in the coming weeks, we should get more details about either device shortly. In the meantime, what do you make of the P20 Lite based on the leaked renders?

Samsung rolls out stable Oreo update to Galaxy S8/S8+, starting with Europe

The stable Oreo update is going out to beta testers first, with a wide release slated for later this week.

Samsung concluded the Oreo beta program for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ at the end of last month, with a stable build set to hit both devices sometime in February. It now looks like the company has kicked off the update process, starting with customers in Europe.

According to German site AllAboutSamsung, the stable Oreo update is now going out to customers enrolled in the beta program, with a full rollout scheduled to kick off from later this week.

The update comes in at 487MB for those already on the Oreo beta build, but the file size will be considerably larger for those making the switch from Nougat. The Oreo update brings a laundry list of features, including system-wide autofill, ability to run two instances of an app simultaneously with Dual Messenger (which debuted on the Note 8, and so much more:

Right now, there’s no indication as to when the update will be rolling out in other markets, but we’ll let you know once we have more details.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint
Unlocked

Amazon now delivers Whole Foods products to your home in two hours

Over the past few months, Amazon slowly but surely helped people get used to the idea that it now owns Whole Foods by hawking its wares in the chain’s stores. Now it’s fully embracing the supermarket chain as part of its identity by making its goods available for purchase via Amazon’s Prime Now service. Unfortunately, the offering is only available in select Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach neighborhoods for now, but the company plans to expand its reach to more cities throughout the year.

Under Prime Now, you’ll be able to order fresh produce, meat, seafood and other organic food (even select alcohol products) that you can usually buy from Whole Foods stores and get them delivered to your home in two hours. If you need it faster than that, say if you have a surprise visitor or have forgotten to buy stuff for dinner, you can pay $8 to get your order delivered in one hour, so long as it’s worth at least $35. Whole Foods delivery is only available from 8AM to 10PM, though — you can’t rely on it for your sudden midnight cravings.

To take advantage of the delivery series, simply head over to Prime Now’s website or download its app and check your Zip code to see if it’s available in your location.

Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO John Mackey said in a statement:

“We’re happy to bring our customers the convenience of free two-hour delivery through Prime Now and access to thousands of natural and organic groceries and locally sourced favorites. Together, we have already lowered prices on many items, and this offering makes Prime customers’ lives even easier.”

Source: Prime Now

Intel releases new Spectre patch for its Skylake CPUs

More than a month after researchers revealed a pair of serious security issues affecting many modern CPUs, Intel is still working on updates that close the hole. VP Navin Shenoy has written another blog post about the situation, and said that the company has released microcode updates for Skylake-based chips to its industry partners. If one of those chips is inside your PC, you should expect to see a patch arriving shortly, and other platforms should follow “in the coming days.”

That includes those based on technology including (but not limited to) Broadwell and Haswell which had previously seen an update that the company withdrew after reports of random reboots. Basically, keep an eye out for more firmware and OS updates in the coming days, but we don’t yet know exactly how long it will take for this mess to get sorted out on every platform.

Source: Intel

First HomePod Orders Start Shipping Out in Australia

Customers in Australia who ordered a HomePod for February 9 delivery have begun receiving shipment notifications from Apple letting them know their orders have shipped and are on the way.

It’s Thursday evening on February 8 in Australia, so the first HomePod deliveries will begin in the country in just a matter of hours.

Though the screenshot says February 6, MacRumors reader Ben tells us that he first saw his order status change about an hour ago.
Apple does not appear to have sent out any shipment notifications in the United Kingdom or the United States as of yet, but those alerts should be going out soon, at least in the UK.

While U.S. shipment alerts have not gone out yet and orders are still listed as “Preparing for Shipment,” Apple actually sent preliminary shipment information to UPS several days ago.

Customers expecting launch day delivery in the United States may be able to locate their HomePod’s shipping information by going to the UPS website, selecting the track by reference number option, and entering the phone number associated with a HomePod order.

Apple is using Next Day Air delivery in the United States and shipping out from local hubs, which is there is no tracking information available yet.

In the United States, HomePod deliveries will kick off at around 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, February 9, with customers on the East Coast receiving their orders first. Apple is no longer offering the HomePod for February 9 delivery or in-store pickup, but the company will likely have a supply of HomePods available for walk-in purchase in retail stores in the U.S., UK, and Australia on launch day.

(Thanks, Ben!)

Related Roundup: HomePodBuyer’s Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums