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Grab the Best Indian Online Shopping Deals & Loot offers from Flipkart, Amazon
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
3 Key Features to Include in a Health Insurance App
Technology and mobile applications have always been perfect for increasing productivity and efficiency. The health insurance sector is one that has greatly benefited from this trend, more resources than ever being focused on developing applications. In case you want tobuild a health insurance appwe have prepared a list with some key features that you should consider including if you want to succeed.
How Great Features Can Impact Your App
In order to set yourself apart from your competitors and build a great app, you have to do something different. Having great features that all of your users will find valuable and helpful is the best way to ensure the long-term success of your mobile application.
By creating a health insurance app with features that can’t be found anywhere else on the market, you can easily ensure that more of your users will become loyal clients. By having a great retention rate you can increase your sales and grow your insurance business.
However, besides building an app with great features right out of the box, you have to also maintain it and make sure to update your features constantly. Introducing new app features regularly will ensure that your clients remain loyal on the long-term.
Features to Include
Document Storage and Sharing
When it comes to health insurance mobile applications and their use case scenarios, being able to share, store and access documents instantly right within the app is a big advantage. This access to electronic records through an app is the key feature that most users would want to see in a health insurance app.
The days of using paper for everything are almost over. Although electronic records are not the norm right now, they are starting to get adopted by more and more institutions, diminishing the need for using paper.
Document storage and sharing is such a popular feature across all health mobile apps because of its increased practicality. Being able to fill in any form, and access any health-related document through the app is very appealing to users since it can save them a lot of time.
Even if electronic documents are safer and more practical than paper ones since the risk of getting them lost or forgotten is smaller, such a feature requires a strong security implementation. Considering the sensitive nature of those documents, using end-to-end encryption to ensure protection is a must.
In-app Payments
Mobile and internet payments have started to become more and more popular considering how practical they are compared to the traditional payment methods. Being able to proceed a payment through the click of a single button and without having to carry any cash with you is starting to become increasingly appealing.
Giving your users the possibility of seeing all of your insurance plans, pick and pay for one directly through the app could increase your sales significantly considering how convenient the whole process would be. This removes the need for setting up appointments, negotiating and only then proceeding the payments.
Moreover, if the clients already have an insurance plan at you, allowing them to renew it, instantly, through the app might end up improving your user retention rate. As great as all of the benefits sound, ensuring that the payment gateway is secure and that the third party processing the payment is trusted represents a priority.
Live Support and Chat
Considering how effective texting is when compared to calling, more and more people are starting to rely on text chats solely, for productivity purposes. As great as an in-app calling feature might be, the possibility of interacting with the staff directly through texts could represent a great selling point.
Such a feature would diminish any need for spending time in-person, allowing users to book appointments and exchange opinions with the staff directly. Managers, instead of having to spend a lot of time talking to a single client, they can now interact with multiple users through texts whenever they have the time.
Having a chatbot or a real human prepared to answer all of the user’s questions regarding the app, health insurance plans or anything else would also be a great feature that could save managers a lot of time as well.
Conclusion
Health insurance mobile applications can represent a great tool for improving the communication between clients and managers, saving them both a lot of time and energy. If you’re thinking about developing such an app, including all of the three features mentioned above is a must.
This week’s episode ofGame of Thrones, “The Long Night” had a lot of great moments from the Last Ride of the Dothraki to dragon dogfights to some bone-chilling horror house sequences in the castle of Winterfell. That being said, none of them came close to that insane moment when Arya Stark lunged at the Night King with her Valyrian dagger and killed the blue-eyed bastard. Next to Walter White mowing down Neo-Nazis with his car machine gun inBreaking Bad, Arya’s Night King will go down in history as one of the biggest “oh shit” scenes in the history of television. I mean damn!
Sad to say, however, not all fans felt the same way about our girl Arya. In fact, many fans are out theredecrying Arya as a Mary Sue for her monumental accomplishment. They felt that it wasn’t earned and that her character was merely pandering to women with empowerment fantasies. To that I say: Go stick the pointy of something down your throat and shut up! I know a lot of us were expecting either Dany or Jon to be the one to kill the Night King (I know, I was) but I’m here to tell you why she isn’t freaking a Mary Sue and why she deserves to be the one to plunge that dagger into the Night King.
Mary Sue
A type of female character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.
The Girl And The God of Death
I want to establish that Arya’s defining moment in this week’s episode did not come out of left-field. In fact, it’s been teased all the way back since season 1 of the show. Throughout the season, Arya trains with a Braavosi master swordsman, Syrio Forel who not only teaches her about the art of the blade but also who the true god of the world is, death. In the sixth episode of the first season, “The Golden Crown”, he tells Arya that “There is only one God and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: Not Today.” Beyond the fact that the line itself is infinitely quotable, it also serves as a sort of foreshadowing. In the eighth episode “The Pointy End”, Syrio gives his life to defend Arya from the Lannister men but before he does, he asks Arya a simple question. What do we say to the god of death? She answers, “Not, today.”
In the religion of the Lord of Light, the one Melisandre, Beric and Thoros follows, the opposite of their god who represents life is known as the Great Other, the god of death. To the followers of the Lord of Light, the White Walkers are servants of the Great Other and they are led by their king or even “god”, the Night King. He is the very first White Walker, the one responsible for the first Long Night and the one who has the power to create more White Walkers. It’s safe to say that he’s seen as something of a deity-king to the White Walkers. Personally, I believe the God of Death, the Great Other and the Night King are one in the same person. So when putting this into perspective, we can see that since her departure from King’s Landing, Arya’s journey was preparing to meet the God of Death.
In the second and third season, we see her learning to avoid death at every turn and survive. For example, she managed to avoid capture from Tywin Lannister while serving as his cupbearer. She was staring death right in the face and she avoided it. Then, she meets one of the mysterious Faceless Men, Jaqen H’ghar who so happens to also serve the Many-Faced God, who is also a god of death. She saves him and he in turns saves her but before departing he hands her a Braavosi coin. A coin that will enable her to travel to Braavos and join the Faceless Men. At the end of Season 4, she offers the coin to the captain of a ship telling him “Valar Morghulis” meaning all men must die, he turns and tells her “Valar Dohaeris” meaning all men must serve.
In season 5, Arya joins the House of Black and White, the temple of the Faceless Men, and trains to become one of them. At this point, you may be thinking “Ummm…isn’t she serving the god of death?” And you’d be right! For a time, she was serving “the god of death” that is until she broke one of the rules and assassinated someone who was not sanctioned by Jaqen or his assistant, the Waif.
In season 6, they blind her and force her to train daily to prove her skills by fighting the Waif without being able to see. After finally managing to hold her own, Jaqen gives her another chance and sends her to assassinate an actress, Lady Crane. She disobeys their order and the Waif is sent to kill her. Once again, the god of death is on her heel. After a brutal and bloody struggle, Arya kills the Waif and informs Jaqen that she’s returning to Westeros. At that moment, she turned her back on the god of death, making her an enemy. The rest of it is history.
So let’s recap. In the first season, Arya learned of the god of death. In the next two, she learned in a sense how to avoid the god of death. In season 4, she gets a taste of practising the art of death. In the fifth and sixth season, she learns FROM the god of death with her time in the House of Black and White. And in the final season, she does the impossible. She kills the god of death, the Night King! Her whole character arc has been leading to this moment.
Don’t believe me? In an “Inside the Episode video” of the latest episode, creator of the show David Benioff revealed that they had known Arya would be the one to kill the Night King from at least three years ago. So this wasn’t some random out-of-nowhere Mary Sue moment. This was a carefully planned, premeditated arc that met its logical conclusion.
The Rules of the Game
Besides the clear road paved for Arya Stark to fulfil her destiny, there’s also the matter of the show’s narrative structure. For anyone saying that this came right out of nowhere and makes no thematic sense, I can tell that they haven’t really caught on to whatGame of Thronesis all about. It’s about gritty realism and power. Arya’s moment doesn’t contradict with the rules or themes of the show. One recurring rule in surviving the game of thrones from day one is this: Don’t get cocky or underestimate your opponents, or you’ll die. And we’ve seen this time and time again in the show.
Ned Stark underestimated Cersei’s cunning and presumed that his authority as Hand of the King would be enough to see justice done. He’s get beheaded. We see Robb Stark brush aside the importance of upholding his oath to Walder Frey and the animosity building between him and his bannermen like Roose Bolton. He assumes he had it under control and now he’s six feet under. Stannis thought his rightful claim to the throne and Melisandre’s magic would be enough to win the battle against the Boltons. He loses and gets killed by Brienne. There’s the time Cersei overestimated her ability to keep the High Sparrow under check, which ended up with him sentencing Cersei to take that humiliating Walk of Shame. Oh and then, there’s the time Oberyn Martell stupidly struts around a defeated Gregor Clegane, arrogantly demanding Gregor confesses for his crimes. Long enough for Clegane to trip him up and smash his skull in!
There are tons of examples I could wheel out to make this point clear but that would pretty much just be recapping all the most shocking moments inGame of Thrones…and we already did that. Let’s instead see if the Night King’s fall adheres to the rules of the show. Throughout the series, the Night King has been depicted as a sort of magic zombie Terminator. Nothing can kill him and nothing will stop him from making his army of the undead. The ice demon is a cold and calculating creature, planning six steps ahead of our heroes. Which is why it was kind of shocking how mind-blowingly arrogant and reckless he was in “The Long Night”.
The smart thing would have been to overwhelm the Starks and not show his face until he was sure every single one of the living was dead and essentially his. Instead, he was in the air flying around with his undead dragon, occasionally intervening in the battle. That left him right open for an attack from Jon, Dany and their dragons. You think the guy would know how to make a tactical retreat after getting knocked down from his steed, nope. He just stands there and allows Daenerys to light him up with Drogon, which to be fair didn’t have an effect on him and he probably knew that. Still, it was all done in the name of intimidation and showing how badass he is. The bugger even took the time to smirk at Dany. Tell me that’s not some cocky shit!
Then there was the time he saw Jon Snow running towards him. Instead of taking off from the person who has one of the few only weapons capable of killing White Walkers, he chose to play double dare and try to raise the dead before Jon could get to him. I mean it did work and Jon failed to reach the Night King but it was nonetheless a risky move. He also took his own sweet time strolling to the Godswood, getting ready to kill Bran right after quickly doing away with Theon. As he’s about to draw his sword (slowly if I may add) to kill Bran, a young girl comes charging out of the woods at him. With a simple sleight of hand, she delivers a killing blow.
Think about that, the little girl who couldn’t save her father in the season is the one to destroy the greatest threat the world has ever known. This just goes to show that even the Night King is not exempted from the rules of the show. He got cocky, underestimated his foes and got shafted by a little lady with a little dagger.
Look, some people out there will still think that Arya Stark is a Mary Sue no matter what I say, and that’s fine. That’s the beauty of art, it’s open to interpretation. If you’re one of them reading this, I implore you to rewatch the previous seasons of the show (I mean, if you really care that much about being right). Pay close attention to Arya’s story and I’m confident you’ll find a narrative thread that’s both cohesive and compelling. But to those who come to the comment section to just troll and expect a response, I say to you: Not today.
According to Windows Central, users can activate this feature within the settings menu, alongside the ability to select any translation preferences.
The feature was previously available to some Canary testers, however, not all of them. Now, the functionality is rolling out to more users. Similar to Chrome, Edge will now translate when it detects the webpage features another language.
To enable the feature, the user will need to be using Edge Insider Canary build, then type ‘edge://flags’ in the address bar. Following that, search the flags page for ‘Translate’ and toggle the feature to ‘Enabled’. This will ask the user to restart the browser.
After restarting Edge, users can open up the ‘Settings’ menu and click on the ‘Language’ section and add specific languages preferences. Additionally, users can choose to have Edge translate any page that you don’t read.
Toronto-based Future Fertility wants to improve IVF with AI
Putting eggs on ice and In vitro fertilization (IVF) options are growing in popularity with millennials, but these techniques don’t guarantee a successful pregnancy. Data from one of Europe’s largest IVF clinics shows most eggs survive the freezing process, but only about a third result in successful pregnancies.
However, a Canadian startup is hoping to change that.
Currently, fertility doctors use a rather old method for determining the odds of a woman’s pregnancy: a calculation based on age, eggs retrieved and historical averages. Toronto-based Future Fertility thinks there’s a better way, using artificial intelligence.
Future Fertility’s co-founders claim its neural network, Violet — named after one co-founder’s daughter — can successfully predict fertilization 90 percent of the time based on a single image of an egg.
While that’s a good start, Violet isn’t as good when it comes to predicting other important IVF milestones. For example, Violet is only accurate 65 percent of the time when it comes to assessing whether an embryo will survive at least five days. The AI’s ability to predict successful implantation in the uterine wall is even less accurate.
However, Future Fertility says those numbers will get better when Violet rolls out to IVF clinics, where it can learn from every patient going through the process.
Future Fertility isn’t the only one experimenting with AI and IVF. Researchers from Cornell University-trained an off-the-shelf Google deep learning algorithm to grade the quality of embryos.
Future Fertility trained Violet using 20,000 images from TRIO
Violet was trained using 20,000 images and de-identified electronic health records from Toronto’s TRIO fertility clinic, along with a handful of partner IVF clinics. The neural network used the files to learn the characteristics of eggs that fertilized versus ones that didn’t — an impressive feat, considering that to the human eye, eggs look like formless spheres of water.
Once trained, Future Fertility validated Violet using roughly 2,000 images withheld from the original training set.
However, the company hasn’t published any of its results in a peer-reviewed journal yet.
Despite that, Future Fertility is planning a trail that will likely enroll a few hundred IVF patients. Violet will score eggs from half the participants based on photos taken during the few hours after they’re harvested. The AI will also predict each egg’s chances of IVF success.
The other half of participants will go through the standard calculation process, and an embryologist will try to make predictions about each egg’s fate.
After, Future Fertility will follow the patients and compare fertilization, implantation and birth rates to see if the AI is more successful than traditional methods.
The company could launch commercially later this year
Additionally, the company has agreements to begin testing Violet with seven IVF clinics, along with TRIO, in the U.S., Japan and Spain.
Future Fertility suggests this is a beta phase, and hopes for a full commercial launch later this year.
The company ships a system including a small camera that attaches to a standard light microscope for taking pictures of eggs, and a software package to upload images to Future Fertility’s servers so Violet can scan and score them.
As for monetization, it’ll be up to individual clinics to decide whether to seek a subscription to incorporate egg scoring as a standard part of egg freezing and IVF or offer it as an add-on service with additional fees. Even if it cost more up front, it could save patients money in the long run by letting them know earlier if they’ll need to look into alternatives.
Eric Schmidt to leave Alphabet’s board on June 19th
Eric Schmidt will leave Alphabet’s board on June 19th, according to a press release from the company. This comes less than two years after Schmidt left Alphabet’s executive chairman position.
Schmidt took the seat initially in 2001 when he became the CEO of Google. Though he left his position as Google’s CEO back in 2001, he became the company’s executive chairman.
In a press release today, Alphabet announced that Schmidt is not looking for re-election to the board when his term ends on June 19th. Schmidt will continue as the technical advisor to Alphabet, a position he started last year.
“Eric has made an extraordinary contribution to Google and Alphabet as CEO, Chairman, and Board member. We are extremely grateful for his guidance and leadership over many years,” said John Hennessy, chairman of the board of directors of Alphabet.
…DIB, NSCAI, @SchmidtFutures, teaching & more, to help coach and develop extraordinarily talented leaders, and to build more free, prosperous societieshttps://t.co/QNBracpVnj
Diane Greene who served as a member of the board since January 2012 will also end her service on June 19th. Greene was the CEO of Google Cloud from December 2015 to January 2019.
While Schmidt and Greene are leaving their board seats, Alphabet has appointed Robin L. Washington to its board of directors.
Washington’s appointment became effective on April 25th.
Xbox Game Pass’ May lineup includes The Surge and Wolfenstein II
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service is set to have a pretty big month with games like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Tacoma coming to the platform.
In May, Game Pass subscribers will be able to play the following Xbox One games:
Instagram is getting a new camera interface, donation stickers and more
Beyond hiding ‘Like’ counts in Canada, Instagram is also set to add a few new features to its app.
First up, the service is launching a feature called ‘Donation Stickers.’ to stories. These new stickers allow Instagram users in the U.S. to set up a Story donation link to a non-profit organization.
In the upcoming weeks, Instagram also plans to release a new camera interface and a feature called ‘Creative Mode.’ The interface isn’t a significant departure from the previous version, but then when you swipe from the right, you’ll be brought into ‘Creative Mode.’ This mode makes it easier to add stickers and text to you your pictures.
Influencers and stores will soon be able to sell products directly through Instagram. When an influencer adds something to buy users need to tap on the photo and a tab will pop-up that brings them directly to a page to buy their merch or whatever product they’re selling.
These are the main updates that the app is adding over the next few weeks, but the most significant change is set to be the fact that Instagram will soon hide ‘Likes’ on the platform in Canada starting later this week.
Despite a downturn in smartphone-related revenue, Apple’s various services continue to earn mountains of cash.
Apple pulled in slightly more than $31 billion USD (roughly $41 billion CAD) in iPhone revenue over the last three months compared to $37.6 billion during the same fiscal quarter last year. In total, the tech giant earning $58 billion (roughly $77 billion CAD) in revenue, with the company surpassing analyst expectations across the board.
Given the direction the company’s earnings have been headed for the last few quarters, it makes sense that the company is preparing to launch Apple TV+, its original content platform and Apple Arcade, a mobile game subscription service, in the coming months.
These new service offerings are set to join iCloud, Apple Music and Apple’s recently launched News+ subscription platform. During the earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company set “an all-time record” in service’s earnings, with the company pulling in $11.5 billion USD (about $15.4 billion CAD) this quarter.
As expected, Cook doesn’t mention the iPhone much in the earnings report. That said, he did state that the iPad experienced a “blockbuster quarter,” with the tablet earning just over $4.87 billion ($6.5 billion CAD). Mac sales, on the other hand, dipped slightly when compared to last year, coming to $5.51 billion ($7.3 billion CAD).
“Our March quarter results show the continued strength of our installed base of over 1.4 billion active devices, as we set an all-time record for Services, and the strong momentum of our Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which set a new March quarter record,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a press statement.
“We delivered our strongest iPad growth in six years, and we are as excited as ever about our pipeline of innovative hardware, software and services. We’re looking forward to sharing more with developers and customers at Apple’s 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.”
For the third quarter of 2019 Apple is predicting revenue between $52.5 billion ($69 billion CAD and $54.5 billion ($73 billion CAD).
It will be interesting to see how Apple’s upcoming services shift the company’s revenue as it transforms into a tech giant more focused on subscription platforms than the iPhone.
Energizer’s 18,000mAh battery smartphone only got 11 Indiegogo backers
Energizer and Avenir’s widely ridiculed Power Max P18K Pop, a smartphone with a battery measuring in at 18,000mAh, is dead.
The ridiculously thick but undeniably fascinating smartphone first appeared at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. The phone was a preview of what Avenir Telecom, the company licensing the Energizer battery brand for use in phones, aimed to produce on a much larger scale this summer.
Following the phone’s MWC reveal, the company behind the project launched an Indiegogo campaign with early-bird pricing set at $549 and a release date of October 2019. The project aimed to earn a total of $1.2 million USD ($1.61 million CAD) in funding. The project only managed to raise $15,005 (roughly $20,093 CAD), earnings just one percent of its overall funding goal. Further, the project had only 11 backers.
Along with the massive battery, the Power Max P18K also featured a dual-shooter pop-up camera that came in at 16-megapixels and 2-megapixels respectively.
The phone’s screen measured in at 6.2-inches with an 18.9 aspect ration and 1080 x 2280 pixel resolution. Regarding the processor, the massive smartphone was powered by a Mediatek Helio P70, coupled with 128GB of ROM and 6GB of RAM. Finally, the phone featured a side fingerprint sensor, and of course, powerbank functionality.
It’s unclear if Avenir Telecom still plans to manufacture the Energizer Power Max P18K but it seems unlikely at this point. As a result, the dream of a smartphone with a battery so big the phone can’t even fit in the average pocket, is now dead.
The Galaxy A20 and the A50, alongside the A70, have been spotted within the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification pages, including both U.S. and Canadian models of the smartphone, according to XDA Developers. That said, the Galaxy A70 only featured a Canadian model number.
XDA says it also checked for the Galaxy A10, A30, A40, A60 and A80 in the Wi-Fi Alliance’s filing documents but didn’t uncover any information.
We’ve reached out to Samsung Canada for more detail regarding what Galaxy A series handsets will be released in Canada.
Facebook Dating, a dating feature included in the social network akin to Tinder, now has a new feature.
At the social media giant’s F8 conference in San Jose, Facebook announced ‘Secret Crush’ a new feature that allows users to explore the possibility of romantic relationships in their circle of friends.
Now a user will be able to go through their friend list and select up to nine secret crushes that they want to express an interest in. If the crush uses Facebook Dating they’ll receive a notification that says that they have a crush. Then, if the two friends crush on eachother it results in a match.
However, if the crush doesn’t crush back, if they don’t have a Secret Crush list, or aren’t on Facebook Dating, then no one will ever know.
Facebook Dating was only available in Canada, Columbia, Thailand, Argentina and Mexico and is expanding to Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, and Suriname.
Instagram removing Likes from photos in Canadian test
In a move that’s likely to be controversial, Facebook-owned Instagram is aiming to get people to value their friends and followers actual posts instead of just their ‘Like’ count.
The test is reported to begin later this week and will remove Likes from photos and Views from videos.
Users will still be able to see their own likes and followers will continue to be able to like posts, but you’ll only be able to view your own likes.
This isn’t the first update that the social network has made to decrease the importance of its user’s metrics. An iOS update last week tweaked profiles to make follower counts less prominent, among a few other changes.
Since this is just a test, it’s unclear if Instagram will get rid of likes altogether. Regardless, it will be interesting to see the response to this change when the trial kicks off.
Facebook’s Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S launch on May 21st in Canada
Facebook-owned Oculus has finally revealed the release date for its upcoming Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S headsets. The pair of headsets will launch on May 21st in 22 countries, including Canada.
The lower-end Oculus Quest works doesn’t have an external tracking camera or need a powerful gaming computer. The Quest is also powered by a Snapdragon mobile chipset, though it remains unclear what specific processor.
On the other hand, Oculus Rift S is the successor to 2016’s Oculus Rift. Facebook claims that the headset isn’t an ‘Oculus Rift 2’ and instead is an upgrade to the original Rift’s tracking cameras with inside-out tracking.
In order to use the Rift S you’ll still need a powerful PC, though it’s worth noting that Oculus hasn’t changed the headset’s recommended technical specifications. Facebook says the Quest is set to launch with 50 titles, most of which are ported from the Oculus Rift, including notable virtual reality games like Beat Saber, Moss, Superhot and Google’s Tilt Brush.
The Oculus Quest and Rift S are available to pre-order now at a variety of retailers, including Amazon.ca and Oculus’ official website. The Oculus Quest starts at $549 for the 64GB version and $699 for the 128GB iteration. The Oculus Rift S, on the other hand, is priced at $549 CAD.
Both the Quest and Rift S are set to release on May 21st, 2019.
Facebook announces visual refresh for desktop site at F8
Facebook announced a visual refresh coming to its social network dubbed ‘Facebook 5’ (FB5).
Unveiled at the company’s F8 conference, the new design brings the website and mobile apps in line with the company’s Messenger app, which was updated earlier this year.
Facebook says the redesign will make things simpler and faster. Like Messenger, this means more white space, a simpler visual look, and fewer tabs.
FB5 will roll out to users in the next few months.
On top of that, the redesign puts communities and groups at the centre. One of the goals of the new look was making it easier for users to go from public spaces to private ones.
Groups specifically gets some love, with a redesigned Groups tab that will make discovery easier. There’s a new discovery tool, as well as improvements to the recommendation engine.
Finally, Facebook announced improvements to communities, like tailored features for different groups. For example, a health group could let users post questions and share information without their names attached, while job groups will get templates for employers to post openings.
Facebook’s Portal smart displays are coming to Canada in June
At Facebook’s F8 conference the social networking company announced that its Portal smart displays are coming to Canada in June.
Portal is Facebook’s crack at creating a smart display. The device features a number of social networking related features and built-in Amazon Alexa support.
The smart display includes a webcam, and one of its biggest features is letting people video chat easily without needing to hold a phone. It also includes a feature called ‘Smart Camera’ and ‘Smart Sound.’
Smart Camera and Sound uses technology to follow a user as they’re walking around the room so they can move freely and keep cooking or whatever they’re doing while still being able to interact with the person on the other end of the call.
Given Facebook is aiming to make a stronger push towards privacy, you can also cover the camera on its Portal devices.
Other announcements Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made during the keynote include the fact that people will be able to use WhatsApp to make end-to-end encrypted calls with Portal devices.
The social network also shared in a press release that users can say things like “Hey Portal, Good Morning” to get updates on “birthdays, events and more.”
Amazon is working with Facebook to expand Portal’s capabilities by bringing Echo Show skills “including Flash Briefings, smart home control and the Amazon Prime Video app” later this year.
A smaller update is set to let users select photos from their Instagram feed to use as a live photo album when the Portal is in rest mode.
To learn more about the current features included in Facebook’s Portal devices check out MobileSyrup’scheck out our previous coverage.
Facebook Messenger to go private with end-to-end encryption
Facebook is developing some significant changes for its Messenger chat platform, according to a blog post the company shared — and later removed — ahead of its F8 developer conference.
First up, Facebook is creating a new version of its Messenger mobile app dubbed ‘Project LightSpeed.’ The project makes some bold claims, such as being able to launch in under two seconds and clocking in at just 30MB total size.
Further, LightSpeed will keep all of Messenger’s features, unlike the Messenger Lite app Facebook designed for low-end hardware. Messenger Lite abandons some of Messenger’s high-end features to get a smaller app with better performance.
LightSpeed will use “an entirely new codebase” to achieve its small footprint and fast speeds. However, it’s not clear when it’ll be ready. Facebook notes in the blog that it’ll take time to roll out. Additionally, Facebook confirmed during its F8 keynote that it would make its messaging efforts cross-platform — something that’s been rumoured for some time.
The faster mobile app isn’t the only new application Facebook’s developing. The blog post says a Messenger desktop client is coming to Windows and macOS later this year.
Users will be able to access messages, video chat and more in the desktop app.
Finally, Messenger will get new features as well. Facebook is testing a ‘Watch Together’ feature that lets users join a virtual room and watch videos together simultaneously.
There’s also a new ‘Close Friends’ section that should help users find pictures, videos and other information from close friends. At the F8 conference, Facebook hinted at a new ‘Emoji status’ feature in its video showing off the Close Friends features.
On top of all that, Facebook plans to make Messenger end-to-end encrypted. There was no date attached to when that will happen, but the company did note it’s committed to “making Messenger end-to-end encrypted by default.”
The company is also working towards better bot systems and improved customer service opportunities built on Messenger, such as booking appointments with barbers or dentists in-app (currently testing in beta), among other things.
Bitpay and Refundo Now Provide Tax Return Payouts in BTC
On April 30, the global cryptocurrency payment processing firm Bitpay announced its partnership with the tax-related financial products and services provider Refundo. The collaboration will give U.S. residents the ability to receive all or a portion of their federal and state tax refunds in crypto.
Federal and State Tax Refunds Using Blockchain Payments
U.S. taxpayers now have the ability to get all or a portion of their federal and state tax refunds back in bitcoin core (BTC), according to the latest announcement from the Atlanta-based company Bitpay. The firm recently partnered with Refundo, a leading tax service provider founded in 2011. Refundo provides taxpayers with professional financial services alongside refunds, advances, and refund transfers.
The company says the partnership with Bitpay allows for a transparent and seamless experience during tax season. Refundo believes the underbanked could benefit from a refund experience tied to crypto because it could help bridge the gap for individuals with alternative banking needs.
“Refundo offers several options to help taxpayers receive their tax refunds safer, faster and more conveniently,” Roger Chinchilla, CEO at Refundo, said during the announcement. The tax service provider added:
Adding bitcoin was a natural fit for our customers who often do not have traditional checking accounts, pay high check cashing fees and regularly send money internationally. Coin-RT enables them to get bitcoin quickly and easily for one flat fee.
‘Demand for More Digital Choice’
The new Coin-RT product offers taxpayers an account and they are given a unique routing and account number to input on their tax return. Refundo users who want a refund in BTC must provide identification for KYC purposes and a valid BTC address. When the federal and state deposit comes in, Bitpay sends the crypto to the taxpayer’s wallet. Rolf Haag, head of business solutions at Bitpay, remarked that the Atlanta company is thrilled to help power Refundo’s new solution.
“Refundo can now offer their customers a bitcoin payout for their tax refunds, meeting their customers’ demand for a more digital choice,” Haag pointed out. The Bitpay executive also emphasized that the Refundo and Bitpay collaboration bolsters Bitpay payouts and payroll used in the global marketplace.
The partnership with Refundo follows Bitpay’s recent partnership with the leading global technology solutions company Avnet (Nasdaq: AVT). Avnet has also decided to accept crypto through Bitpay’s services for various products and services. Bitpay believes Avnet clientele and customers getting refunds from Refundo will benefit from the high-speed settlement and low-cost payouts delivered by blockchain payments. Speaking with a representative from Bitpay, news.Bitcoin.com asked the company whether the Refundo payouts will support bitcoin cash (BCH), to which Bitpay responded that at this current time they will only be in BTC.
What do you think about the recent partnership between Bitpay and Refundo giving U.S. taxpayers the ability to get refunds in BTC? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitpay, and Refundo.
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Why won’t Google reveal updated Android Pie distribution numbers?
Google often shares its Android distribution numbers to let developers and users know how many people are running each version of its mobile operating system, but since last October the tech giant hasn’t shared any new data.
That means that we don’t know how many users have actually updated to Android 9 pie, or even recent numbers for Oreo for that matter.
The last bit of information the Search giant shared was on October 26th, 2018, where Google stated that 21.5 percent of Android users were running Oreo, 28.2 were on Nouget, and 21.3 percent were running Marshmellow.
Android Pie came out on August 6th of 2018, so it’s been a while since Google stopped updating the dashboard. On top of this, the first few beta versions of Android Q are even out now.
This poses a couple of other questions. What version of Android is the most popular right now and how many users are running Android 9?
We’ve reached out to Google for more information, but since the company hasn’t updated its own charts in five months, it’s hard to say if we’ll get a response.
It’s possible Google could have plans to share updated Android distribution numbers at I/O 2019, so for now, we wait.
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How Technology Is Tackling Loneliness Among Elders
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Over Dozen Popular Email Clients Found Vulnerable to Signature Spoofing Attacks
A team of security researchers has discovered several vulnerabilities in various implementations of OpenPGP and S/MIME email signature verification that could allow attackers to spoof signatures on over a dozen of popular email clients. The affected email clients include Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail with GPGTools, iOS Mail, GpgOL, KMail, Evolution, MailMate, Airmail, K-9 Mail,
Dell’s 10th gen Latitude notebooks boast convenience and portability
Dell revealed more details about the upcoming 10th generation of its Latitude commercial PCs at its Dell Technologies World event in Las Vegas this week.
The announcement provided more details, as well as introduced new Latitude 7000, 5000 and 3000 series to join the Latitude 7400 2-in-1 that was unveiled at CES 2019.
Across the board, Dell introduced several new features to make its Latitude line more robust, secure and improved battery life.
For one, Dell’s new ‘Express’ technologies hope to make things faster and more efficient for users. ‘ExpressCharge,’ for example, provides up to 80 percent battery charge in an hour, according to Dell. There’s also an ‘ExpressCharge Boost’ system that’ll charge to 35 percent in just 20 minutes.
Dell also touted its ‘ExpressConnect’ technology, which intelligently detects and connects to the most reliable available Wi-Fi.
Further, Dell packed layers of enterprise-class security into many of the new Latitude devices, while still making things fast and easy for users. Features like fingerprint scanners and Windows Hello-capable IR cameras make signing in a breeze. On top of that, businesses can equip some Latitudes with Dell SafeScreen, physical camera privacy shutters (no more covering the webcam with tape) and more.
Finally, many of the new Latitude models can be equipped with 8th Gen Intel Core vPro processors, as well as Intel Wi-Fi 6 solutions.
Latitude 7000 series
The 7000 series comes in 13- and 14-inch variants and Intel boasts these devices are the world’s smallest premium, business-class notebooks.
The Latitude 7000 comes in machined aluminum or carbon fibre and a drop-hinge design with “easy, one-finger opening.” The notebook also sports a narrow-border, anti-glare display.
Additionally, the 7000 series includes a new Latitude 7200 2-in-1 that sports a 12-inch display and a thinner, lighter design.
All the 7000 series can be equipped with up to 32GB of RAM, up to 20 hours of run time on select configurations, and more. The Latitude 7000 can also utilize a cellular antenna capable of gigabit LTE speed.
Latitude 5000 series
Available in 13-, 14- and 15-inch form factors, the Latitude 5000 series sport a carbon fibre reinforced chassis. Additionally, Dell says the 5000 series can get up to 20 hours of run time.
As for configuration options, users can get narrow-border HD, Full HD or touchscreen displays powered by 8th Gen Intel Core processors.
There’s also a Latitude 5300 13-inch 2-in-1 — the world’s smallest mainstream business-class 2-in-1, according to Dell. Weighing in at just 3.15lbs (about 1.43kg), the 5300 features a 360-degree hinge and an edge-to-edge Full HD touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass. Users can get the 5300 with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
Latitude 3000 series and accessories
Finally, Dell’s Latitude 3000 series includes 13-, 14- and 15-inch entry-level notebooks with enterprise-class capabilities. The 3000 series focusses on size and portability without breaking the bank.
Dell also announced new commercial docking stations with powerful charging and connectivity options, including Thunderbolt 3, USB-C and more.
The docks also offer upgradeable connectivity and power delivery so that they can meet the evolving needs of the workplace.
As for the new Latitude laptops, Dell says the devices will be available on its website starting May 1st, 2019. MobileSyrup has reached out for more details regarding Canadian pricing and availability.
Twitch streamers are broadcasting live episodes of Game of Thrones
In Canada, we don’t have access to HBO Now, and the HBO channel and Bell Media’s Crave streaming service are both a tad pricey. So, as expected, some fans of Game of Thrones found a more inexpensive way to watch the popular television show’s final season — through live streaming video platform Twitch.
That’s right, Twitch streamers are playing live episodes of Game of Thrones through the video game stream service’s ‘Just Chatting’ category, according to The Verge.
While streaming copyrighted content isn’t allowed on Twitch, streamers are finding ways to get around the rule. One Twitch streamer titled their stream ‘Fortnite,’ and also used a VPN to mask their location and randomly switched their stream to a Reddit page from time to time.
However, hiding the stream wasn’t always necessary. Another user that titled his stream ‘Games of Thrones season 8 premiere’ had more than 500 viewers and didn’t bother taking any precautions.
While Twitch features moderation, with the content being brand-new, according to The Verge, it’s possible the copyright check database was not able to catalogue the new episodes of Game of Thrones. This means it’s up to human moderators to take down the streams, which is proving to be complicated.
Though human moderators are taking down the streams as quickly as possible, there are just too many streamers posting the episodes in a variety of languages.
While there were fewer streams in comparison to previous weeks, reports The Verge, finding a stream of the new episode wasn’t difficult.
This isn’t the first time people have livestreamed copyrighted content on Twitch. In fact, in 2017 a streamer pretended he was playing UFC 3 while streaming a UFC pay-per-view event.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Will Begin Production Next Year
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has gone through a roller coaster of events. Last year, Disney fired the visionary director behind Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 following the discovery and circulation of his decade-old, so-called comedic Tweets that centred around rape and paedophilia. In a surprising turn of events though, Gunn was rehired by Disney/Marvel Studios a couple of months ago to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3. It was also reported that the production of GOTG 3 will only commence after Gunn completes his Suicide Squad reboot over at Warner Bros/DC.
However, in another interesting turn of events, it looks like James Gunn’s GOTG 3 will begin production next year. This news comes courtesy of Collider.com’s official Twitter account. Check out their tweet below:
It looks like James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' is going to be headed in front of cameras next year.
The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, The Suicide Squad. Does this mean that the DC film has been pushed to the back? — unlikely considering the casting news that has been dropping recently. Or could it be that Gunn is confident that he will wrap The Suicide Squad before next year? It may seem a little far fetched, but note that we haven’t gotten information on when exactly in 2020 will Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will head in front of the cameras. It could very well be in the third quarter of the year.
It seems entirely possible that Disney/Marvel Studios decided to speed up the process of bringing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to life considering the amount of fanfare the idea is getting coming out of Avengers: Endgame.
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, we see Thor team up with the Guardians (Asgardians of the Galaxy he calls it), in a hilarious comedic block. But this moment also teases an important plot. Right before Thor enters the ship, we see Star-Lord looking at his computer screen, scanning the far regions of the galaxy in search of Gamora.
This isn’t the exact same Gamora he fell in love with by the way (that Gamora died when Thanos sacrificed her for the Soul Stone in Infinity War), but Gamora from an alternate timeline. Mix this interesting detail with the Adam Warlock plot that was teased during the post-credits sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and it opens up a world of exciting possibilities.
Despite plummeting profits, Samsung says new Galaxy S10 sold well
Samsung announced its Q1 2019 results and, despite profits sliding 60 percent compared to last year, the South Korean company says it’s not because of the Galaxy S10.
Samsung posted 52.4 trillion Korean Won (KRW) in consolidated quarterly revenue, with 6.2 trillion KRW in quarterly operating profit. That works out to roughly $60.3 billion CAD in revenue and $7.1 billion in profit.
This time last year, Samsung posted 15.64 trillion KRW in profit (about $18 billion CAD).
As dismal as those numbers look, Samsung’s phone business is largely doing well. The company reportedly shipped 78 million phones overall, and five million tablets, in the quarter. Samsung attributes any weaknesses in phones to its low- and mid-range models stealing sales from last year’s Galaxy phones. Plus, Samsung said it expects to ship more phones next quarter.
Instead, the real reason for the massive decline is falling demand for memory chips. Storage solutions are arguably Samsung’s primary business, supplying flash memory for servers, phones, computers and more.
Samsung’s semiconductor business posted consolidated revenue of 14.47 trillion KRW (approximately $16.7 billion CAD) and profit of 4.12 trillion KRW (roughly $4.7 billion CAD).
Further, Samsung’s display panel business posted an operating loss in Q1 due to slower demand and weaker profitability.
The South Korean company says things should improve in the second half of the year.
Samsung did mention folding smartphones in its press release, noting that it plans to strengthen its lead in the premium smartphone segment through the new Galaxy Note and through “innovative products such as 5G and foldable smartphones.”
Additionally, The Verge reported that, in the earnings call, Samsung said it would announce an updated launch schedule for the Galaxy Fold “within the next few weeks.”
To learn more about Samsung’s first quarter results, you can check out the company’s full release here.
Self-Styled Satoshi Accused of PGP Forgery in Kleiman vs Wright Lawsuit
The Southern District Court of Florida case, Kleiman v. Wright, continues to be one of the 10 most monitored court dockets in the state. On April 28, the Kleiman estate’s legal team responded to Wright’s most recent motion to dismiss the case by claiming that Wright submitted a forgery as evidence and allege the fraudulent imitation was created one year after David Kleiman’s death.
Kleiman Estate Believes Wright Took Over $11 Billion Worth of Bitcoins and Intellectual Property
The Kleiman v. Wright case continues in Florida this week as Craig Wright’s legal team recently attempted a motion to dismiss the case after Ira Kleiman’s recent deposition. The notorious case was filed by the Kleiman family in February 2018 because they believe the now deceased David Kleiman lost his bitcoin inheritance due to manipulative acts allegedly committed by Wright. The Kleiman estate thinks David may have been one of the creators of Bitcoin, and of course, Wright is already well known for claiming to be Satoshi. According to the Kleiman estate’s legal team, the case was initiated because of “Craig’s theft of over $11 billion worth of bitcoins and intellectual property from the estate of Dave Kleiman and W&K shortly after Dave’s 2013 death.” The plaintiffs believe W&K Info Defense Research was a Florida LLC founded by Dave in February 2011.
There was also an exhibit recently submitted as evidence that alleged David Kleiman had made Uyen Nguyen a director of W&K. However, on the Reddit forum r/cryptocurrency, a user claimed that the email exhibit was likely forged and the person gave step by step instructions on how he figured out the PGP signature was from 2014 and not 2012. The controversial Reddit user known as ‘Contrarian,’ who theorized the presumed fake key used in the exhibit, said the “same pref-hash-algos as Craig’s fake keys and were never updated.” Of course, the information about the purported PGP fakery spread like wildfire on the web and the “I am Satoshi Nakamoto” story didn’t add up for Wright once again. The document was also withdrawn from the court and the defense team detailed Wright “cannot verify the date of that email exchange.” Now Kleiman’s legal team has responded to Wright’s motion and stated:
Craig has lied to this court every single time he’s tried to dismiss this case — This motion is no exception.
‘Proclivity for Lying’
The Kleimans’ legal team insisted that Wright submitted false testimony claiming he had no relationship with W&K but then was “caught in a lie.” They also observed that Wright said he didn’t have any documents from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) but then claimed he had many documents from the ATO investigation in his possession. Then the plaintiff’s lawyers asserted that Wright’s latest motion to dismiss “demonstrates that his proclivity for lying to the court has no bounds.” The Kleimans want the judge to deny the dismissal due to an email that ostensibly shows Dave appointing Uyen Nguyen as a director of W&K. “Craig forged this fraudulent email a year after Dave’s death in an effort to facilitate his theft of W&K’s property,” the Kleiman’s attorney stressed. The lawyers continued:
[Wright’s] exhibit is a forgery he created a year after Dave’s death and which he only withdrew in the face of massive public condemnation for submitting fraudulent documents to this court.
Re-Deposing Wright on His Involvement With W&K Info Defense Research
The court filing submitted by the plaintiffs points out that the email’s PGP signature included a signing timestamp along with the ID of the key used as metadata but the email was not sent in 2012 but one year after Dave’s death. According to the attorneys, Wright emailed a draft of the forgery to himself six minutes before sending the final draft in question. “Notably, the forgery-in-progress wasn’t yet complete – it was missing the critical fields stating that the email came ‘From: Dave Kleiman [sic],” went “To: Uyen,’” the filing noted. After a “flurry” of public analysis, the plaintiffs retained Dr. Matthew J. Edman, an “expert in cryptography, bitcoin, and PGP software” to look at the email and he confirmed the signing was from March 12, 2014.
The latest response from the Kleiman legal team has argued that Wright has manipulated evidence and they submitted 11 exhibits in response. The Kleimans have also introduced a memorandum in support of re-deposing Wright on his involvement with W&K Info Defense Research. Besides the latest response with accusations of PGP forgery, the plaintiffs also want to depose his former and current wife on the matter of the pleadings by Ira Kleiman, David’s brother.
What do you think about the latest news stemming from the Kleiman v. Wright case? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Court Listener, Reddit, r/cryptocurrency, and Pixabay.
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