Tech: YouTube Video Editor and Photo slideshow About To Shutdown

In a bid to focus on building new tools and improve on existing features, YouTube is letting off its Video Editor and Photo slideshow feature on 20 September this year.


A YouTube representative in Google’s product forums announced that it has observed limited usage of these two features, which is why they have decided on shutting them down. The representative informed users that they would have two months to finalize any video projects, before turning off the feature completely.

For the features that will no longer be available, the team suggests that users take help from third party editing software.

However, YouTube has also said that videos which have been published using the Video Editor would not be affected.

The video streaming and creation network will retain its Enhancement feature, where it allows basic editing features like trimming a video, adding filters or end screens. Tools like Subtitles and Sound effects will be retained as well. Even Quick fixes that essentially adds effects like contrasts, slow motion and more will remain as they were.

Last year, YouTube had rolled out new features for creators to engage better with the community. Creators could hand pick great comments to pin to the top of the comments section. This serves a dual purpose of showing fans what kinds of comments creators appreciate, or highlight the important aspects about the video.

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Tech: "Real-time Transit Information To Be Set For Buses In Kolkata" - Says Google Maps

In the first launch of real-time transit information for Google Maps in India, commuters riding the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) buses in Molkata will now be able to get real-time bus information on the app. Starting 21 July, Google has teamed up with the WBTC to add real-time information about bus arrival times for Kolkata on Google Maps , making it easier for people to plan their trips.


“By sharing the real-time transit information of our buses with Google Maps, we are striving to deliver an enhanced level of service for our commuters. We expect this to help increase the footfall in our buses and improve revenue realisation,” Narayan Swaroop Nigam, WBTC Managing Director, said in a statement.

Currently enabled for key WBTC transit routes, the service will soon be expanded to the remaining routes. “This is yet another attempt to bring smart public transport to Kolkata and to improve the performance of WBTC,” added Transport Department Minister Subhendu Adhikari.

To use this new feature, commuters should open Google Maps app on Android or iOS devices. Enter the destination and tap the ‘get directions’ icon. If it’s not already selected, tap the ‘transit’ icon (the little tram) to view times, bus/train numbers, routes and more. You’ll see the real-time arrival information in green.

“Tapping a recommended route lets you view more information on the route’s stops. Tap the bus stop to see a listing of all arriving buses, where relevant real-time info is depicted by the green beacon,” the company said.

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Tech: PlayStation With New Bravia OLED A1 Series To Be Given Away For Free By Sony India

Adding to its successful ‘A1’ series of Bravia TVs, Sony India on Monday launched its much-awaited premium flagship line-up of OLED TVs. The company has a pre-booking offer from August 1-15 where customers will be entitled to get a PlayStation 4 for free on purchase of these OLED TVs from select dealers.


The new series — ‘KD-65A1’ and ‘KD-55A1’ — are based on OLED technology which brings enriched visual experience with blur-less image and a wide-viewing angle. ‘KD-65A1′ with screen-size 163.9 cm (65 inch) is priced at Rs 4,64,900, while ‘KD-‘55A1′ with screen size 138.8 cm (55 inch) will cost Rs 3,64,900.

The units will be available at retail stores from August 4, the company officials told reporters here. The OLED TVs have a sound technology called ‘Acoustic Surface’ which can emanate sound directly from the screen itself using two ‘actuators’ behind the TV that vibrate the screen to create sound.

In addition, there is an integrated sub-woofer behind the TV which provides powerful bass for movie experiences. Sony has introduced ‘One slate’ concept which gives the TVs single plane surface display, incorporating different functions within the screen itself, eliminating the need for distinct elements like speakers, a bezel or a stand.

The TVs come with 4K HDR display which provide refined image quality with the latest detail enhancement and noise reduction technology for amazingly realistic pictures. The TVs are powered by ‘4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme’ which enables 40 per cent more real-time image processing than ‘4K Processor X1,’ offering great visual experience with combination of superior picture quality of OLED. The ‘smart’ TVs come with Android 7.0 Nougat platform and support ‘Dolby Vision‘ which further enriches the visual experience.

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Some Lovely Ways You Don't Know Technology Has Transformed Travel

In the past, travelling individually, with friends or family members is usually a logistical mess. It comes with a lot of challenges that discourage quite a number of people from travelling. Fast-forward to today and with the intensity technology has been embraced in the travel industry, Nigerians can now travel with little or no logistical nightmare.


Below are 6 ways technology has changed travel over the years.

1). Deciding you destination
Before the arrival of the internet, travelers have to go through holiday brochures at a travel agent’s office, buy guidebooks or taking a friend’s recommendation when it came to deciding where to go. Today, it very easy to decide as you can simply visit a well know travel blog, social media handle, or even your friend’s Facebook posts to choose where to go.

2). Booking a hotel
Then you have to saunter around to search for a hotel to lodge. This is very stressful and time-consuming. This is past tense as you can now book a hotel from the comfort of your room. Even if you find yourself stranded in the middle of the night, you can still call Jumia Travel to book a room in any of your favourite hotels. If you are in this kind of situation then, you are simply on your own.

3). Staying in touch
While travelling, you can send postcards, write letters and occasionally make a long-distance phone call from the hotel reception, or a local phone booth. Thus, staying in touch certainly wasn’t easy and most people at home don’t expect to hear from you unless it is an emergency. With your internet savvy phone, you can have real-time conversations with family members, girlfriend, friends, and wife via messaging platforms. Hence, no one needs to worry much about you when you travel.

4). Recording travel memories
You need the services of a camera man to take photos and videos of your wanderlust. As such, there is a limit to which you can take pictures and videos. But with your phone camera, you can take as many photos and videos as you so desire. You just keep clicking. You can share the pictures on social media and upload to your cloud. It will be there forever and you can access it anytime you like. Travel memories made easy!

5). Learning local languages
There are so many places you cannot visit because you do not understand their language. You have to look for an interpreter or a local. Today, all you need is a smartphone and you install Google Translate or iTranslate. With these apps, you can learn the basics of any language and it will help you communicate with the locals with ease.

6). You will spend less
The result of all of the above is that you don’t need to break the bank to travel unlike in the past. Armed with the right technology tools, you will definitely travel cheaply.

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Some Safety Tips to Consider While Using Public Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi can sometimes be an extremely delightful blessing, but it can also be a curse when the safety of your data is concerned. However, there are some safety tips to consider when using public Wi-Fi to help protect your data better.


So, below are some safety tips for using a public Wi-Fi.

1). Before Connecting Turn Off File Sharing
When using public Wi-Fi it is best to turn off all file sharing and restrict access to your computer by disabling remote login from other computers in your network. This is to prevent easy access to your data and keep your data protected. You can also turn off network discovery to prevent others from seeing your device on the network. All these can be done through the control panel (for Windows) or system preferences (Mac) of your computer.

2). Turn Off Wi-Fi When not in Use
One of the basic rules of using untrusted networks is to switch it off when you’re done using it. It’s a great security habits that also helps save your battery. You can make things easier for yourself by downloading the offline version of whatever it is you're working on so you don’t have to stay online for long periods on an untrusted network.

3). Keep Your Antivirus and Antimalware Up to Date
If you know you are inclined to using public Wi-Fi networks on your device, it is best to ensure your device is running on a good and up to date antimalware utility and antivirus utility. Whatever antimalware or antivirus you choose to use just ensure it’s a good one, it’s up to date and you keep it running especially when using public Wi-Fi.

4). Install Privacy-Protecting Browser Extensions
Privacy-protecting browser extensions are tools that will help to fortify your browser. These privacy-protecting browser extensions gives you more control over your browsing experience and helps you lock out anything you need to, in addition to protecting you from network attacks like session hijacking and clickjacking.

5). Use Your Own Wi-Fi Instead
Your best protection from the dangers of public Wi-Fi is to simply not use it. Whether you’re using mobile hotspot or tethering the network from your smartphone, using your personal Wi-Fi offers you the safest browsing experience – much safer than the use of public Wi-Fi. However, there are unavoidable times when public Wi-Fi will be needed and in those times you can take necessary measures (like the one’s listed above) to protect your data.

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Robot Security Guard 'Commits Suicide' After a Few Days on Job

The robot committed suicide by drowning itself a public fountain after just a few days on the job.


The Knightscope K5 robot, which bears a striking resemblance to a Dalek, had been brought in to patrol the area outside the Georgetown Waterfront shopping centre and office complex in Washington DC.

It was found face-down in the fountain on Monday afternoon, after apparently tumbling down some steps into the water.

The K5 robot stands about 5 feet tall, weighs 300lbs (over 21 stone), and has a maximum speed of 18 miles per hour - although it usually moves at 1 to 3 miles per hour. Knightscope claims the security robot is better than a human guard, because it never gets bored of its job.


It is equipped with a range of sensors - including a 360-degree camera, thermal imaging sensors, a laser range finder and radar - which are supposed to enable it to move around autonomously.

It is designed to prevent crime by detecting abnormal noises and temperature changes, scanning car number plates and checking them against a police database, and using facial recognition technology to spot known criminals.

If it detects any security threats, it can squeak, whistle and make other loud noises intended to scare off criminals, as well as alerting the local authorities.

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Important Things To Understand In Technology Industry

There is a lot more to the tech industry than we realize. There are many opportunities to explore in the industry and many misconceptions to dispel; there are also some dynamics to understand, the knowledge of which can help you make smart investments in the tech industry.


Here are some things to know in technology industry.

1). The Industry is Not all About Coding.
The tech industry consists of a lot more than coding. There are lot of jobs and technical skills available in the tech industry aside coding and programming, some of which include: design, data analysis, setting up systems and processes, project management, technical writing, web hosting and so on.

2). Proficiency in Coding Does Not Depend on How Good You are at Math or Science.
Coding is about problem solving and logic, and you will find that some of the best coders admit to not being good at or even liking math or science. In fact, coding is easier learned by those coming from backgrounds or professions where problem-solving skills, as well as attention to detail, are involved.

3). There is Room for Creativity.
Most people associate technical jobs like those in the tech industry, with a lack of creativity. However, the tech industry is all about finding creative ways to solve the world’s tech problems. Aside the data science field in the tech industry, there is also a design field that relies on creativity to come up with attractive phone and laptop designs, as well as website designs and other tech designs we see.

4). The Tech Industry is Not Entirely Male Dominated.
It is true that a large percentage of the tech industry is made up of men, but the industry is not completely male dominated. For example, the data science field of the tech industry is mostly made up of men, but the design fields have a larger percentage of women. As much as there might be a lot of men in the tech industry, there is still room for women who are passionate about tech.

5). Profit Margins Really Matter.
In the tech industry, competition tends to be fierce and this makes it difficult for companies to maintain their profit margins over the long term. This can lead to disastrous results for investors, as a result investors are very particular about profit margins. Therefore, before buying stocks in the tech industry, investors carefully consider if the company will be able to maintain its pricing power over the long term.

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Take a Look at This Funny Facebook Post

As seen in Facebook. Hilarious.

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Check Out This 6 Things To Consider Before Buying A Laptop

We’ll all need a laptop at some point in our lives and there are some broad guidelines you should keep in mind when buying a laptop so you can buy the right one.


Below are 6 of these broad guidelines to help you out.

1). The Screen
When buying a laptop, be sure to go for the laptop that gives you the best screen within your price range. A good screen typically considers three things: resolution, viewing angles and size. Laptops with higher resolution screens are generally the best ones to choose. For portability, smaller screens are better, but if you intend to use the laptop for entertainment and architectural or artistic functions, then a bigger screen is best. Lastly, in terms of viewing angles, a laptop screen that touts IPS (in-plane switching) technology offers the widest viewing angles for the best user comfort.

2). Screen Quality
You should consider laptops that are comfortable to look at because you are likely to be looking at it for quite some time during the day. Many laptops these days have touchscreens, but these touch screens tend to be glossy and glossy screens leads to reflections that negatively affect your eyes. You should therefore try to avoid these glossy screens and maybe opt for laptops that aren’t touchscreen, but if you must buy one go for the ones that don’t have glossy screens.

3). RAM
Typically, more RAM is better. For a decent laptop experience, 4GB RAM can be considered, but 8GB RAM is recommended. If you intend to do a lot of video and photo editing, you can consider buying one with 16GB RAM. More RAM allows for more applications to run at the same time, and for more data to be quickly accessible to the system at any one time. When buying a laptop, it’s always best to consider the ones with more RAM compared to others, within your favored price range.

4). Keyboard Quality
It’s advisable to choose a laptop with a keyboard that’s comfortable for you, rather than one that packs in every key and forces you to start hunting for keys. You should go for a keyboard with a comfortable layout with full sized keys and some space around the arrow keys. The keys should have a sort of ‘snappy responsiveness’ and should be easy on your fingers. When buying a laptop, it’s best to get a feel of the keyboard rather than ‘buying blind’ (asking someone to buy it for you or ordering online).

5). CPU
Intel’s Core-Based CPUs are one of the best to consider when buying a laptop. Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 offer some of the best performance when it comes to multitasking and multimedia tasks. However, for Core i7-based systems, though they offer the best performance for your laptop, the heat emitted from the base of the laptop tends to be a cause for concern if you plan to use the laptop for a long time.

6). Battery Life
Pay attention to the rating of the battery in Watt-hours (Wh) or milliamp-hours (mAh); typically the larger the figures, the longer the battery can last.

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Etisalat Launches Time-based Mobile Data Solution

Etisalat Nigeria has launched a time-based mobile data solution called BlazeOn which will enable internet users in Nigeria to know how much mobile data they consume while browsing or streaming.
BlazeOn, an Android App available to Etisalat customers, was launched in partnership with Comptel Corporation.


The launch marked the beginning of a new experience in mobile data usage for subscribers on the Etisalat network.

The Director, Consumer Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, AdeoluDairo, said, “Most internet users in Nigeria don’t know how much mobile data they consume while browsing or streaming. BlazeOn, our time-based data plan addresses this situation as it redefines the purchase experience for our customers and empowers them to buy Etisalat Easyblaze data plans in minutes and hours.”

The service makes data purchasing process more personal for consumers, allowing them to purchase mobile data in bite-sized chunks that are easier to understand and manage.

To enjoy the service, customers on the Etisalat network must download BlazeOn App from the Etisalat website www.etisalat.com.ng/blazeon/free of charge or install the app from Google PlayStore or Galaxy App Store.

See Photos from the launch below.

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Daughter of GLO Boss, Mike Adenuga, Oyinda Set To Get Married (See Photos)

GLO Network CEO Mike Adenuga's daughter Oyinda will wed Adeolu Abayomi Olufeko tomorrow July 8,2017.




The Couple already had their introduction and traditional Marriage ceremonies.

Happy married life in advance to them.

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Easy Ways To Make Money On Instagram

If you want to make money off in stage am think content management. Below are some easy tips to help you.

But firstly, you need to grow your followers and how do you do that?

1). You can either buy or grow them organically using content. Organically in the sense that your followers are real while you can opt to buy followers and add to your already growing followers. For example pages like krastv (over 1million followers)is handled by a human and they have a large following because of their funny videos and then brands noticed them (new music artists, hair makers, MUAs etc).

So what brands looking for online influencers do is to search for handles with large following, pay them to post a video/photo promoting their product (doesn't come for free) because they know the number of followers and people who visit that page daily will definitely see the post. You would have started watching the video with the hope of laughing before you'd realise it's an advert.

Celebs charge more because of their status, so most starting brands can't afford them instead they seek help of ordinary Instagram users with large following. So instead of paying a celeb with 2million followers that will charge maybe 500k per post, they'd pay you 50k with your 10k followers to promote their business.

2). Also, to grow your following/followers I will take you back to content.
Content is key, no one will follow a boring page, you have to be active and let your posts be escorted with lots of hash tags. You also have to define if your page is personal or for business. Instagram gives you that option when opening an account,to choose between a personal or business account where you can set your email, phone number on your page that people can quickly contact you on if they need your service.

For example, post a bikini photo of you and hashtag #bikinibody #summerbody #fineass #slimthick #melaninpopping #swimmer #ignoremyshenanigans #ireallydohatehashtags

3). Use Hastags
You'd find about 1,759,990 people using same hashtag #summerbody. Once anyone clicks on the hashtag your post will also show and anyone anywhere even when they aren't following you will see it (power of hashtags) #hashtagsarenotcompletelyuseless.

Before you know especially if the bikini photo is fire because you know Bella la hot, people will follow you to see more.

4). Use Geotags too, visited a zoo recently? Put location on the post and people who visited and used same location will see it and follow you if they think you might have more information about the place
Yeah that's how people make money, so while you're busy being a keypad warrior on blogs, you can channel it into being a content manager for either yourself or brands on social media, it is not limited to Instagram alone. It's also called online marketing (Instagram comedians started from Instagram and now most do stand ups and get invited to events and are paid well).

If you can't do comedy like wofai who is now attending red carpets, you can decide to run a page that posts pictures of beautiful women or men, abstract pictures (maybe danfo carrying rams) etc. See the content is out there, find it and use it.

5). You can also make up a cool hashtag and get people to start using it instead of following the crowd.

6). Link your Instagram to other platforms, so that people on Facebook for example will see when you post and like or decide to follow you on Instagram.

7). Be out there, manage accounts for people and help them grow their business especially if you know how to write catching headlines that accompany posts.

8). Don't do it for free, so many Instagram celebs started from Twitter and make cool money now

9). Have you followed me today? #Ieatasunforaliving #islayhard #Iamdoppelganger #stoptrollingcelebsandmakeyourownmoney

10- #natheworkweywedeydo #SDKtohbadt #Amebonobecrime
#dopplegangersideeyes #hehehehehehehhe

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5 Effective Ways To Handle Social Media Backlash

You do not have to be a celebrity before tantrums are thrown at you on social media. Very few people care whether you are right or wrong, they just criticise. Before you know it, you are at the top of the trends on Twitter. Ironically, what you said may not be as a result of a tweet or Instagram post but an interview.


An example is the backlash Falz faced after he chastised some musicians for glorifying Yahoo Yahoo (Internet Fraud) in their songs.

Another example is the case of Kemen in #BBNaija who trended for days because of the encounter he had with Tboss.

The impact of these backlashes can be between mild or severe depending on the individual. Hence, if poorly handled, it can escalate into something you never imagined.

Here are five (5) ways to deal with social media backlash.

1). Delete offending materials
If you tweeted or shared a post that is causing quite a controversy, you should delete it immediately. Do not try to be defensive or justify it unless you want it to spiral out of control. Even when it does, you should still delete it. Regardless, trust social media trolls, they would screen grabbed it. Do not mind this. The important thing is that the post should not be found on your handle or page.

2). Have friends around you
For individuals who face social media criticisms, they should have their friends and family members around them. The fact is they cannot go through this on their own. When the backlash gets to them, all sorts of thoughts begin to get into their head including committing suicide. That is the extent it can push some people. With trusted friends around, you will feel loved despite the shots you are getting on social media.

3). Leave social media for a few days
There are uncountable trolls on social media who just want to make you feel bad. They reign abuses and curses on you. If you are still with your phone, you may be tempted to reply. You do not need to. Just abandon your social media for a few days and return when everything has died down.
Apologise if you are wrong To err is human to forgive is divine. In this case, you should not concern yourself about whether you will be forgiven or not, just apologise and move on. Some will even come at you for your apologising.

4). Ignore
You can give it the silent treatment and continue with your life. You are getting attention notwithstanding if it is negative or positive. This is easier for celebrities.

5). See a psychologist
You can see a psychologist especially if the person's self-esteem has been battered and shattered.

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Tech: Samsung Electronics Drop In Employees For The First Time

For the first time in seven years, the headcount of Samsung Electronics came down in 2016 mainly due to its restructuring in China, the company data showed on 2 July. The number of employees of the world’s largest smartphone and memory chip manufacturer fell 5.2 percent to 308,745 in 2016 from 3,25,677 the previous year, Yonhap news agency reported. By region, domestic employees dropped 3.8 percent to 93,204, and those abroad declined 5.8 per cent to 2,15,541.


As of the end of last year, the percentage of the employees at Samsung’s companies abroad dropped 0.4 percent to 69.8 percent.

The number of Samsung employees in China fell 17.5 percent to 37,070 last year from 44,948 the previous year while those in North and South America surged 8.5 percent to 25,988. A company official attributed the cut in the number of employees partly to the sale of its printing business to HP.

Corporate restructuring in Samsung’s factories in China and other Asian countries also led to the overseas manpower cut, he said. The ratio of female employees accounted for 44 percent last year, down two percentage points from a year earlier.

The proportion of female managers and executives, however, rose to 12.7 percent and 6.3 percent last year from 12.4 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

Samsung sold the printing business to HP in 2016 with an approx. price of $1.05 billion.

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Tech: Sales Team May Drop as Microsoft Set To Emphasis on Cloud-computing Products

With Microsoft putting emphasis on its Cloud-computing products instead of licences for boxed software, the technology giant is likely to reorganise its sales groups, resulting in layoffs, media reported. A formal announcement could be made by next week, The Seattle Times reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.


week, The Seattle Times reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Plans for a Cloud-focused reorganisation were reported earlier by the Puget Sound Business Journal, which said the shift will bring some of the most significant changes to the sales force in years.

Judson Althoff, Executive Vice-President, Worldwide Commercial Business, Microsoft, has been critical of company’s former sales approach, which he characterised as an attempt to sell Azure, Microsoft’s platform for on-demand computing power and software services. The sales group of Microsoft was affected in an earlier layoff announcement.

The layoffs announced in July 2016, which targeted 2,850 cuts over the course of Microsoft’s just-ended fiscal year, included at least 900 employees of the sales group. Microsoft had also added to the payroll about 1,000 salespersons with specialties in selling Cloud-computing products, Althoff had earlier said.

Microsoft recently acquired an Israel-based cloud management company Cloudyn.


The company announced “Microsoft has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cloudyn, an innovative company that helps enterprises and managed service providers optimise their investments in cloud services,”.

With inputs from IANS

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Tech: Microsoft Set To Acquire Israel-based Cloud Management Company (Cloudyn)

Microsofthas said it will acquire Israel-based cloud management company Cloudyn.

“Microsoft has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cloudyn, an innovative company that helps enterprises and managed service providers optimize their investments in cloud services,” the software giant announced.


“This acquisition fits squarely into our commitment to empower customers with the tools they need to govern their cloud adoption and realise the strategic benefits of a global, trusted, intelligent cloud,” said Jeremy Winter, Director of Programme Management, Microsoft Azure Security and Operations Management. Cloudyn gives enterprise customers tools to identify, measure and analyse consumption, enable accountability and forecast future cloud spending.


Microsoft did not disclose Cloudyn’s price tag. It said that closing of the acquisition was subject to regulatory approval. Global software major Infosys Ltd had previously announced investing $4 million (Rs.27 crore) in Cloudyn, an Israeli corporation, providing software as a service (Saas) solutions for the management and optimization of hybrid, multi-cloud deployments. Infosys investment in.

According to reports, global software major Infosys Ltd had previously announced investing $4 million (Rs 27 crore) in Cloudyn, an Israeli corporation, providing software as a service (Saas) solutions for the management and optimization of hybrid, multi-cloud deployments. Infosys investment in Cloudyn comes two days after its rival Wipro Enterprises’ infrastructure engineering division announced on August 1 buying an Israeli-based aerospace firm H.R. Givon for an undisclosed amount.

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Tech: Tools To Block Offensive Comments and Filter Spam Been Added To Instagram

To safeguard its platform from online bullying, Facebook-owned Instagram has introduced two new tools, a filter to block certain offensive comments and a spam filter in nine languages.

The first filter is optional that can be toggled on or off in the settings. It hides offensive or inappropriate comments from appearing on posts and in live video.


“To help, we have developed a filter that will block certain offensive comments on posts and in live video. All other comments will appear as they normally do and you can still report comments, delete comments or turn them off,” Instagram said in a post late on Thursday. “Also, you can always turn this filter off. To access it, click the “…” settings menu from the profile and scroll to tap “Comments”,” the blog post added.

The spamfilter looks for any obvious spam in comments, blocking it from users’ posts and live videos. The filter will remove spam written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, German, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.

Recently, Facebook introduced a ‘profile picture guard’ tool in India. Through this tool, the user can avoid strangers from downloading or taking screenshots of their profile picture.

The updates are available as part of Instagram version 10.26 available for iOS and Android.

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Tech: Hangouts Takes Over as Google Talk Shuts Down

Google has officially shut down its Google Talk service which is more commonly known as GChat or GTalk. The tech giant had previous announced that it would be moving its Google Talk users to Google Hangouts and would begin streamlining the process from 2013.


However, Google which was offering both GTalk and Hangout options, has finally drawn the curtain over Google Talk and this is for good reason as Hangouts comes with better improvements. This is a departure from GTalk’s simplicity and personal tone. Hangouts, on the contrary, provides group chatting and video conferencing options. The interaction would take place on the basis of a list of conversation rather than a contact list. Moreover, it allows the users to share photos to a group of people.

Google Talk was quite popular back in the days when people used to primarily depend upon their computers rather than smartphones. Introduced in 2005, Google Talk has now been replaced by Hangouts which operates on both, Android and iOS other than Chrome. Moreover, it will integrate with other products from Google as well, including its business suite of office apps.

Google also has other products like Google Duo and Google Allo, which are basically built for mobile and compete with services like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram.

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Tech: Brain Imaging Technology That Read Minds and Identify Thoughts

Using machine learning algorithm, US researchers have developed a novel brain imaging technology that can “read minds” and identify complex thoughts with 87 per cent accuracy. The findings indicate that the mind’s building blocks for constructing complex thoughts are formed by the brain’s various sub-systems and are not word-based.


By measuring the activation in each brain system, the new technology can tell us what types of thoughts are being contemplated.

“We have finally developed a way to see thoughts of such complexity in the fMRI signal. The discovery of this correspondence between thoughts and brain activation patterns tells us what the thoughts are built of,” said Marcel Just, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania.

For the study, published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, the team included seven participants and used a computational model to assess how the brain activation patterns for 239 sentences corresponded to the neurally plausible semantic features that characterised each sentence. Then the programme was able to decode the features of the 240th left-out sentence. They went through leaving out each of the 240 sentences in turn, in what is called cross-validation.

The model was able to predict the features of the left-out sentence, with 87 percent accuracy, despite never being exposed to its activation before. “Our method overcomes the unfortunate property of fMRI to smear together the signals emanating from brain events that occur close together in time, like the reading of two successive words in a sentence,” Just explained. “This advance makes it possible for the first time to decode thoughts containing several concepts. That’s what most human thoughts are composed of,” the professor added.

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Tech: Video Chat, Animated Reactions, Live Filters Sets To Be Featured In Facebook Messenger's New Update (Photo)

Facebook’s newest update for its Messenger app is going to roll out with a new video chat feature which includes live filters, saving screenshots directly and animated reactions. With animated reactions, the five emoji reactions on Facebook — the smiling face, a surprised face, an angry face, a crying face and a heart — will be overlayed on the user’s face. This means that if you have chosen the crying emoji, then tears will start falling from your eyes while the heart creates a halo of exploding hearts around your head.


Also, Instagram like filters have also been introduced into the live-video chat alongside a piece of Snapchat’s augmented reality face filters, which were present previously, have also been released.

Facebook is also adding an instant screenshot button, so that the users can save all the effects to the camera roll without ruining the shot with the Messenger interface. The new updates should be rolling out on all Apple and Android devices by 26 June, 2017.


This update comes when about a month back Instagram had taken a leaf out of Snapchat’ s book and introduced face filters to its own app. The options are an angelic wreath with God rays, koala ears and nose, geeky spectacles with floating equations, bunny ears, a circlet of flowers with fluttering butterflies, an icy crown, a tiara with purple feathers, and a beautification filter with sparkles.

Facebook has also planning to come out with a new app dedicated for creating Facebook videos. The app is believed to include exclusive tools such for Facebook live and the ability to add outros and intros. Moving over the lines of just creating a video, the upcoming app is also expected to have some analytical data which will let the user know more about who is watching the video and how. This is Facebook’s effort at pushing for the growth of videos as a popular medium for receiving information.

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