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Google Chrome to add biometric authentication for payments

By
Shanmugam
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0
Image credit: xda-developer.com

Biometric security is the new level of privacy and security features, which is used in almost all kinds of mobile and larger devices. It seems now even Google Chrome is adapting to the most secure way of protecting the data while on the internet. If you are using the Google Chrome browser on your Android smartphone to make necessary payments, then this news for you as a user is very important. Google chrome is adding biometric authentication to all the payment you make through the Google Chrome platform.

The upcoming feature will work on your Android smartphone and will use the fingerprint scanner for security. The user will have to enter the card details and the CVV number for the first time while setting it up. However, this is not a requirement from the second time onwards for subsequent transactions.

Google has also mentioned that the biometric data will be encrypted and will stay on the device. Therefore, users do not have to worry about the biometric data and payment details being sent on Google’s server. It is not the only feature that Google Chrome is working on.

They are also working on a new feature called touch to fill, which was earlier available in the beta version. Both touch to fill, and the biometric authentication feature will be rolling out to Google Chrome in the coming weeks as a stable update. Apart from this, the Google Chrome team is working on many new security patches and features to make the browsing experience of the user better and faster.

Apple 5G iPhones might be delayed until Q4 2020

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: 9to5mac.com

If you were eagerly waiting for Apple to release their new 5G variant of iPhone, this news might disappoint you. As per recent updates and sources, Apple might delay launching its new 5G variant of iPhone. There have been reports about delays in the manufacturing of iPhone 12, which can be a problem for their pre-planned launch in September. The details came as an indication from Qualcomm’s Q3 report, where they reported that the revenue would suffer impact due to the delay of a flagship 5G phone launch. As per them, the delay would push some units from the September quarter to December quarter. 

As per rumors, it is expected that Apple will launch multiple variants of iPhone 12 will different sizes and specs. It is expected that we can see a 5.4 inch iPhone 12 along with a 6.1 inch iPhone 12 and a 6.1 inch iPhone 12 pro. It is also expected the tech giant will be releasing an iPhone 12 Pro max variant with a 6.7-inch screen.

While not all of these variants are expected to have 5G support, it is most likely that the Pro and Pro max variant will have 5G band connectivity. Unless any further announcement by the company, it is very hard to know whether Apple will continue with the launch trajectory till September or will delay it till November or December 2020. Consumers and other tech giants are eagerly waiting for Apple on this confirmation.

Huawei is now the world’s largest phone maker, leaving Samsung behind

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: Beebom.com

Samsung has been the world leader and the largest smartphone maker for years. However, the reign of the smartphone giant Samsung has ended, after Huawei surpassed the South Korean giant in terms of global smartphone shipment. The data has been disclosed by analysis firm Canalys.

As per the reports released by them, Huawei has shipped around 55.8 million smartphones in the second quarter, with Samsung being the second at 53.7 million. Both the smartphone companies have been facing a decline in the sales year after year. However, the dip in sales for Samsung has been over 30%, while for Huawei, it’s just 5%. 

Due to this, Samsung went down to the second position in the series. Ever since the ban of Huawei smartphones in the US and the withdrawal of Android operating systems on their smartphone, it might come as a surprise to many about how they are still maintaining the sales. However, one must remember that Huawei still has some of the most powerful hardware and amazing camera technology on their phones. Also, the sales figures of Huawei in China are not slowing down in any condition. The company is selling over 70% of its phones in the Chinese market. The changes in the shipping and sales for Samsung has been deeply affected due to the pandemic. 

It is one of the major reasons why Huawei has come out as the second quarter leader. Samsung is expected sales and manufacturing to increase in the coming quarters and close the small gap that has occurred this time. With many new launches that are expected in an event on August 5 and the new range of Galaxy 20 devices, the manufacturing and sales of the company are expected to skyrocket again, making the number one company in smartphone shipment.

Chromebooks will be adapting features from Macbook

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: androidpolice.com

Ever since Google Chromebooks has been developed and released by Google, they have been trying to improve the OS by adding more features to become one of the primary OS people work on. We have seen many new updates on the Chromebook in the past, but it seems that Google is now trying to adapt one of the most important and efficient features of Macbook.

If you have used an Apple MacBook, you know that you can use it right from where you left off. It is one of Apple’s most efficient features, which saves time and makes the device faster. Google Chrome has been looking to get the same feature on Chromebooks as well. 

As per 9to5Google.com, new evidence of features were found in the latest update of Chromebook updates, where the user can use the laptop to start and continue from the same place where the user left on their Android phone. It would allow the Chromebooks to work in an efficient Ecosystem, the same as it is done in Apple.

The feature has been codenamed “Android Phone Hub” and will allow users to perform phone side actions and the Chromebook. The feature description is very similar to that of the Apple handoff feature, where the users can move tasks between different Apple devices. The feature could also allow the user to operate their Android phone, right from the PC or Chromebook. 

There is currently no announcement or indication from Google as to when the feature will be launched. However, it might take a while as the feature is in the early stages of development. Google Chromebook is trying to create an environment with its device, where sharing becomes easier in the ecosystems, similar to what is developed for Apple.

New Dark theme coming for Google Chat

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: 9to5google.com

Google has been trying to add and integrate a lot of features into Gmail and chat platforms. Recently Google announced that Gmail would be integrated with features like chat, group, and video messaging, etc. The move was made to make Gmail a complete business tool for individuals to manage all the business tools from one place. Now Google chat will add a new dark theme to change the look and feel of the platform.

Ever since it was launched, Google had been using a white background with green accents. However, users were asking for a different colored theme for a long time now. The company has now launched a new dark theme, which would provide a better viewing experience in low light conditions. 

The same color scheme is already available in the GSuite application. The tweak has not only been done to the theme but also various other components. It comes with an icon and the “New Chat” option, similar to what was introduced in Gmail. The new theme has been released by the company and is available for use on devices.

However, the update may take time for other devices depending on the location. Apart from the UI changes and introduction of the dark theme to the chat, Google is working on many different and new features, which we will see in the future. Since Google is trying to integrate all its online services into an integrated service, we might see new things in Google Chat and Gmail soon.

BootHole patches to be released by tech giants like Microsoft and Red Hat

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: Forbes.com

A new vulnerability has been discovered recently, affecting and tampering the boot settings for Windows and another operating system. The vulnerability, which is codenamed BootHole, is what affects the components of the Secure Boot process. It allows hackers and attackers to damage and modify the boot loading process. It uses the bootloader to attack the system, which is responsible for loading the firmware to start the operating system.

The vulnerability is in GRUB 2, which is one of the most popular and used boot components. It is used as a bootloader component in Windows, macOS, and all BSD based systems. It is why the impact of this vulnerability is widespread. 

BootHole has discovered security by researchers from Eclypsium, for which the details have been published on their blog. The vulnerability adds malicious code during the boot process, which allows for planting a bug in the OS, providing them full control of the system. The malware remains in a different location or memory from that of the OS, such as the motherboard’s physical memory.

As per the researchers, the malware remains in grub.cfg and attacks the file to modify the buffer overflow. It was found that the malware not only works on independent systems but also on servers and workstations, which could turn out to be a big security issue for organizations. It also works on SecureBoot enabled systems and devices. 

However, it was also found that without the admin access to the grub.cfg file, attackers cannot affect the system. To prevent any bigger damage to the organization and their remote servers, companies like Microsoft, Red Hat, Canonical, SuSE, Oracle, VMWare, Citrix, etc. are releasing the security patch, which would help avoid this security threat. Although issues such as these in the bootloader take time to be resolved, they are assured that the security patches will secure most of the servers and workstations used by companies.

Apple offered half fee for Amazon Prime videos to get them on iOS and Apple TV

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit:9to5mac.com

Apple has been trying to add more streaming services to the Apple TV right from the time it was launched. As per recently leaked details, Apple offered Amazon lower App Store fees to stream the Prime Video app on the App Store and Apple TV. The information was found from the documents published by the U.S. antitrust subcommittee. Apple usually takes 30% of the revenue from app developers on the App Store platform.

However, as per the offer provided by them to Amazon, they will be taking 15% of the subscription revenue share, half the amount for what Apple normally charges other apps. Amazon is one of the most popular streaming services globally and brings it to the iOS platform, and the App Store would mean a large amount of revenue for Apple.

The document also revealed that the Amazon Prime video app on the App Store and Apple TV would get Siri support. A user can say “Watch (Show name)“, and he will automatically be taken to Amazon prime show. Since Apple TV was directly competing with Amazon Fire TV stick, as being a similar product, it was not made available on the iOS platform. Also, Amazon was not happy with the business terms earlier provided by Apple. However, the deal struck at 15%; Apple was finally able to bring Amazon Prime Video to its platform. Although the details have been revealed after so long, the two giants, who are also direct competitors, finally agreed to work for mutual benefits.

Google teases Pixel 4a, will be unveiled on August 3

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: 9to5google.com

The new Google Pixel 4a is one of the most highly anticipated mid-range phones from Google. However, the company did not release any past information related to the phone’s design or specifications. Google has now added a teaser page on their Facebook and Twitter account, which shows a phone design, without revealing any details about the design and the “lorem ipsum” text above.

The text is completely in Latin, with words like camera, Night Sight, bokeh, etc., when converted to English. The image does not reveal much about the handset except the block punch hole on the top left corner, which is supposed to be the front-facing camera. Google has also renamed the social account to “The Google RTing, Meme Loving, Info Sharing Stream”. 

Each word in the name is made out of colored boxes that hints towards the pixel launch. The link to the new Google Store landing page also hints on August 3rd, when the device will be revealed to the public. The company has made sure that most of the phone details remain hidden, so no information on the specs and features of the phone has been released so far.

However, users are also expecting that the issue of back popping out in the Pixel 4 series, is resolved in Pixel 4a. The issue started to come out a few weeks back, where the owners of Pixel 4 devices were complaining about the back popping out due to a swollen battery. Although Google did acknowledge the problem and the same seems well attended for the design of Pixel 4a.

Google adds “Black-Owned” to business attributes for the search listing

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: searchengineland.com

The black movement’s support has been getting strong these days, and Google has also jumped in to show the support. Last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that Google is creating new solutions and ideas for the Black Community’s long-term support. In the efforts, Google has added a new attribute “Black-Owned” for black-owned businesses in Maps’ search listing.

As per Google, there is a recent surge in search for black-owned businesses, due to which Google decided to add it as an attribute for listings. The feature has been made a life for all the business profiles which have already been verified. The feature is highlighted in Maps and Search, where it is represented by an image with three orange lines and a black heart in the middle.

The sign is added alongside the “Women-Led” and “LGBTQ-friendly” attributes. Google is also partnering with  U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., on specific training designed to raise presence by leveraging tools like My Business and Analytics. Google also revealed that they received many suggestions for the same as well, such as Google Assistant response to the “Black Lives Matter” term.

It does seem like Google is investing a lot of time and resources on the Black lives issue and will be coming up with more new ideas related to this issue. Google has been trying to raise a lot of awareness related to this matter and create new opportunities for black-owned businesses.

The new No’Me app allows the user to manage multiple launcher apps

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: xda-developers.com

Android is one of the most used operating systems on smartphones, and what makes it more popular is the amount of customization allowed for the users. When it comes to Android customization, launchers are widely used among every user. They can provide a whole new look to the UI and help the user customize the arrangement of icons and apps.

However, since there is a large variety of launcher apps on the Google Play Store, it is almost impossible for the user to select the best one. The only option that the user has is to download and install each launcher and try it for themselves. Some users use multiple launchers as per the usage and switch between them whenever they want. 

However, this process is not only time consuming, but also eats up a lot of resources from your phone. It is why a new app has been launched, which is called “No’Me“”. The app allows the users to switch between multiple launchers with a single tap and manage different launchers form one app. This app does not charge any setting on the android operating system and makes launcher switching much easier.

The app has been made by XDA Senior Member Nx Biotic and is available on Play Store and XDA labs. The apps allow the user to access the launcher information in use, including details like permissions, providers, services, activities, receivers, build number, and version info. It also helps to build a shortcut for installed launchers and identify launchers compatible with quick switch.

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