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WhatsApp Confirms the Bug in the New Authentication Feature on its iOS App

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The data security has become the prime concern today and to maintain proper privacy, WhatsApp had rolled out a new biometric security feature for its iPhone app users, earlier this month. The security features made use of the Face Id and Touch Id to unlock WhatsApp, such that in the case of the unlocked phone screen, the users had to use the Face Id or the Touch Id to unlock WhatsApp.

But, a bug has been discovered in this new biometric feature that allows anyone to access WhatsApp, even the Face Id or the Touch Id is enabled for the app. This new feature was made available to the iOS users having WhatsApp version 2.19.20, and the bug was first reported on Reddit by a user named de_X_ter. Even WhatsApp has accepted that it is aware of the bug and is taking proper measures to fix it asap.

According to the Reddit post, the user can bypass the FaceId or the Touch Id security if the user selects any option other than “Immediately” for the Screen Lock under the WhatsApp Account’s Privacy Settings. The Screen Lock options other than “Immediately” are “After 1 minute”, “After 15 minutes”, and “After 1 hour”, which lets the users bypass the security using the WhatsApp share option on any other third-party application.

In reality, when the Screen Lock is enabled for the WhatsApp account, and the user tries to use the WhatsApp share option using other apps, a Face ID or Touch Id authentication must appear on the screen every single time. But due to the bug, the Screen Lock is not working the way it should. If we use the same share feature when the “Immediately” option for the Screen Lock is enabled, the Face Id and the Touch Id is working perfectly fine.

WhatsApp has acknowledged the issue and said in a statement, “We are aware of the issue and a fix will be available shortly. In the meantime, we recommend that people set the screen lock option to immediately.”

Samsung Finally Released its Next Generation Galaxy 10 Series Smartphones

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Samsung has just added three new models to its Galaxy smartphone flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e. The company launched the phone in its Samsung Galaxy Event on 19 February, held in San Francisco, along with another Galaxy smartphone, i.e. Galaxy fold and other devices including the Samsung wearable, earbuds, etc.

All the four phones are redesigned with the new smart screen, providing the cinematic view to its users. The screen is baseless, and even the front camera is placed within the display, to provide the HD photo quality. By default, the screen resolution is full HD+ and can be changed to Quad HD+ from the Settings.

samsung-galaxy-10
Image Source: cnet.com

The three Galaxy S10 phones are in different screen sizes. The S10 is having a 6.1” screen, the S10+ has got the 6.4” screen, and the S10e has been provided with a 5.8” display. All the three smartphones are having a Quad HD+ and dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O Display. The display is HDR10+ certified, providing the most real display to its users. The AMOLED display is specially built to comfort the eyes, as it reduces harmful blue light by 42 per cent.

The most innovative feature that the company has embedded to its latest flagship Galaxy S10 and S10+ phones is the fingerprint scanner, which has been moved from behind to the front screen of the phone. The scanner uses the ultrasonic pulses to detect the fingerprints. For the S10e smartphone, the fingerprint scanner has been moved to the power button of the phone.

Coming to the camera of the new Galaxy smartphones, the S10 and S10+ are having similar back camera frame including three cameras, i.e. wide-angle (12MP), ultra wide (16MP), and telephoto (12MP) camera. For the S10 plus, there are two front cameras embedded to it, a selfie camera (10MP) and an RGB Depth Camera (8MP). Galaxy S10 has one front camera, whereas the Galaxy S10e has two rear cameras and one front camera.

All three phones are designed with the AI features that adapt to the users’ behaviour and learn their daily routine patterns. The Galaxy S10+ has a 4100mAh, Galaxy S10 has 3400mAh battery capacity, and Galaxy S10e has 3100mAh battery capacity. The next generation smartphones are capable of charging the other Qi-certified devices as well, only by placing the devices on the top of the phone. The device that can be charged using those smartphones includes the Samsung wearable, earbuds and wireless chargers etc.

The RAM size of the smartphones has been increased up to 12GB, the S10e having a 6GB RAM size for the basic model, and the S10 as well as S10+ having a RAM size of 8GB for the basic models. The internal storage for the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+ has also been enlarged to up to 1TB, which is expandable up to 1.5TB via microSD card.

The Wi-Fi speed has also been increased to maximum 1.2Gbps for both Download and Upload, along with the increased LTE speed 2.0Gbps for the Download and 150Mbps for Upload. All the three Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e phones are both water and dust resistant.

There are four to six colours available for the three models, including the Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, and Prism Blue, which are common for all the three Galaxy phones. The Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e will be available for preorders from February 21, while the devices will become available in stores and online beginning March 8, 2019. The price range for Galaxy S10 starts at $899.99, for Galaxy S10+ starts from $999.99 and for Galaxy S10e starts from $749.99.

SoundCloud will now Assist Creators to Self-distribute Music Through its New Distribution Tool

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SoundCloud, the online audio distribution platform and music sharing website, has announced that it is going to add a distribution tool to its self-monetization Premier program. That means, now the eligible users will be able to upload, monetize and publish their songs over all the major streaming services and web stores, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Beatport, Instagram and more, through SoundCloud.

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Although other distribution platforms keep a slice from the profits earned through the uploaded content by the artists, SoundCloud has promised that the artists will be able to keep 100 per cent of the royalties, and also, all the rights over their content will be reserved by them only. Also, all the payouts earned through the various platforms will be sent to the artists directly through the app.

“Creators using the SoundCloud Premier distribution feature keep 100% of their rights, keep 100% of their distribution royalties from third-party services, and pay no distribution fees,” said SoundCloud in the announcement.

According to the announcement, all the ‘eligible’ SoundCloud Premier users will be able to access the new feature to upload their original content on the platform. According to the eligibility criteria, the creators must be 18 or above. Also, they must have at least 1,000 monetizable track plays, and all the tracks from the creator must be original, having no copyright strike on any of the content in the past.

The feature is still in beta, and soon, will be available to the SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Pro Unlimited users. Currently, the subscription fee for Pro users is $6, and for Pro Unlimited it is $12. With the addition of the distribution feature, the fee may be increased to an extent, as with no claim over the royalty and the copyrights, SoundCloud still have to make some money. According to the announcement, the ones with the eligible account will be informed through an email in the coming few weeks.

According to the CEO of SoundCloud, Kerry Trainor, the addition of the new feature will help the SoundCloud become more user-friendly and will be a great step in the evolution of the music industry. SoundCloud has already supported many of the artists in their success, and those artists, including Juice WRLD, are often heard giving the credits of their success to the app.

Razer to Close its Game Store as the Part of its ‘Realignment Plans’

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Razer has announced that it is going to shut down its a year old digital game store by the end of this month.

The gaming peripheral manufacturing company, Razer, is one of the dominant brands in the gaming industry. Last year, it had launched its digital game store, to try its hands on digital distribution platform for PC games, to earn a share in the profits of the game sales business. But even before completing one year of its Game Store, the company announced to close it down by defining it “as part of realignment plans.”

“We regret to announce that Razer Game Store will cease operations on February 28, 2019, at 0100hrs Pacific Time as part of the company’s realignment plans,” Razer wrote in a statement. “It has been a privilege for us to recommend and deliver great digital game deals to you. We have been extremely fortunate to have you as part of our awesome community. Thank you for the support and making all this possible.”

Razer launched its Game Store in April 2018, as an effort to get into the digital gaming business. The Game Store was designed to provide its users with access to thousands of online games at one place. The store was launched as an opponent to its contemporaries like Steam and Amazon, and it included games from Razer’s partners including Ubisoft, Bethesda, Bandai Namco, Deep Silver and Rockstar. The platform also provided games from other stores through Steam or Uplay product keys.

The company also provided many offers and perks to its users through the platform like credits to earn for Razer’s silver loyalty program, attractive discounts over Razer’s games and hardware, etc.

We can only estimate from this unexpected announcement from Razer, that even after putting all its efforts, the launching of the Game Store did not go well according to its plan. Also, the company has not given any other statement over why it is closing its short-lived Game Store so abruptly. Although it is not the end for the cheap games from Razer and also all the pre-orders that have been made to the Razer’s Game store will be fulfilled before the Game Store shuts down. The company will also continue operating its Razer Gold and Razer Silver programs, through which the users can avail offers and discount on the Razer hardware.

SeaBubble Working on its Flying Taxis; Showcases the Prototypes in Miami

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Rapidly growing technology has made us quite aware of the changes that may take place in the coming future. Uber has already announced about its air taxis, and soon we may see people above the sleek roads, in the air driving their flying cars.

But for now, we just have to adjust with the SeaBubbles’ “flying” boats. Yes! You read it right. The France-based company SeaBubbles has just introduced five prototypes of its electric flying boats in Miami this week. The company has been experimenting with its various models for the past three years, and now, it has introduced its first-to-market boat, which is a 4.5-meter flying boat. The boat can carry four passengers besides the driver and uses the waterproof lithium-ion batteries.

seabubble
Image Source: thepeninsulaqatar.com

The flying boat taxis are the result of the combination of technologies from the nautical industries, aviation, and intelligent software, and the team SeaBubbles includes the qualified aeronautical engineers and watermen, who are working on building fast water taxis to help in reducing the traffic on the roads.

The boat is raised out of the water using the foils that give an illusion of flying boat. In this way, the water drag is reduced, and the boat’s covering is separated from the water, making it run faster even in the rougher waters, maintaining the comfort of the passengers.

For building those flying boats, the company has joined its hands with many other companies, who have helped in building the parts of the boat, using the best of the technologies.

The startup is the idea of its CEO and the French yachtsman Alain Thébault, who broke a world record for sailing speed twice, at 50.17 knots, in 2009, and his co-founder Anders Bringdal, who also set a windsurfing world record, at 51.45 knots. The two co-founders want to bring a clean and fast taxi service for the waterways for the major cities, in order to help reduce the daily traffic in the cities. Earlier the company had also launched one of its windowless white flying boat, named as “Soapdish.”

These flying taxis will also be more cost-effective as those are running on electricity and not on gas. The taxis can be charged at a power station, and those stations will preferably be solar charged.

“The cities today have one thing in common: pollution and congestion. You could do this with a normal boat. But with a normal boat with a normal combustion engine, the fuel price you’re paying is between $70 and $130 per hour. With us, it’s $2 dollars” said Bringdal.

SeaBubbles also has its own mobile application, similar to those of Uber and Ola. The company is currently looking for buyers in Miami, and it alerady has its customers in Russia, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, etc. Although it is also operating in Paris there is a speed limit on boats in Paris, which is not favourable for those Bubble taxis as those are built to run faster.

A Rare Sealed Copy of Super Mario Bros. Auctioned for $100,150; Makes World Record

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Super Mario, is one of the most acclaimed video games of all times and one of the most popular games among the children of 80s and 90s. The love of people for this amazing game can be measured through the huge amount for which an old pristine sealed copy of Super Mario was auctioned.

Super Mario
Image Source: kotaku.com

An original mint copy of the Super Mario Bros., for NES, was sold for $100,150 at an auction, making a world record for being the first ever graded video game to be sold for a six-digit amount. The game is professionally graded and certified one and was auctioned by the Heritage Auctions. Wata Games has certified the game, and for its condition, it gave it 9.5 out of 10 and a “Seal Rating” of A++.

“Beyond the artistic and historical significance of this game is its supreme state of preservation,” says Kenneth Thrower, co-founder and chief grader of Wata Games.

The game was bought by a group of collectors including Jim Halperin, founder and co-chairman of Heritage Auction, Zac Gieg, owner of Just Press Play Video Games, Rich Lecce, who is a video game collector, and the owner of Robert B. Lecce Numismatist Inc.

This copy of the video game was one of those rare copies that were sealed with a Nintendo sticker on the top of the box, whether other regular video games are shrink-wrapped.

As there are so many versions of Super Mario Bros., and all of the video consoles had at least one of their own Super Mario version released in the past thirty years, this mint copy of Mario is a bit different from all of those versions of Super Mario and is one of the rare of the versions of it.

This preserved copy of Super Mario Bros. was one of the early released copies of the same, published in Los Angeles and New York, during the testing of the video game, in 1985. This copy of video game was kept in a flawless condition and the seal of quality won it the huge value. This game cartridge is one of the eleven versions that were shipped between 1985 to 1994, in a black box, having slightly different features from one another.