Just as WhatsApp plans to incorporate a ‘self-destruct’ feature for secret chats, its sister company – Instagram also embeds a new component termed the ‘Restrict Mode’ to shadow ban Toxic Users. This recent development comes as a result of a 2018 research conducted by Pew Research Center indicating that fifty-nine percent (59%) of US teens were been subject to cyberbullying, according to CNN.

Hence the company’s Head – Adam Mosseri, disclosed in a statement earlier this year establishing that Instagram would “lead the fight against online bullying”. Afterward, that statement was eventually confirmed on Wednesday, in a press release by the leading social platform. Where it was explicitly stated that;

“Restrict is designed to empower you to quietly protect your account while still keeping an eye on a bully.”

The Head of the social media network also announced the birth of this new tool in a tweet earlier today. Having that this new feature has been in the testing phase since July, the ‘Restrict Mode’ functionality at present provides Users with the options to restrict another User either by simply swiping left on their comment – a similar procedure used to report Users on Facebook, through their ‘profile page’ or at best from the Subscriber’s settings privacy tab – which is in semblance to ‘Blocking a Number’ on WhatsApp. 

Subsequently, a ‘Restricted’ User’s comment on your posts would only be visible to them and nobody else. Additionally, notifications become deactivated whereas direct messages from banned Users enter into a pool of message requests. And in the case where these messages are approved and read, the banned Users won’t be duly notified. Also such Users won’t be able to see the ‘active status’ of any User that had earlier banned them.

While the ‘Restrict Mode’ does not actively block the User thus the phrase ‘Shadow Ban’. However, it conveniently refrains such Users from certain access to your page or posts without subsequent permissions. The feature extensively borrows Twitter’s ‘Muted Reply’ approach. And as such comments from banned Users can still be visible but not readable to the general public as it would bear a ‘Restricted Comment’ tag. Granting the Account Owners the opportunity to either approve, delete or ignore the comment.

Even though the introduction of this neoteric tool is intended to inspire teenagers to stand up against online bullying, some experts still fear that this new instrument could turn out to be detrimental instead of its purposed use. As is the argument presented by Jennifer Grygiel – A Social Media Expert and Assistant Professor at Syracuse University and Dr. Sameer Hinduja – Co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center and a professor at Florida Atlantic University. Both of them called out to Instagram to publish the results of these ‘anti-bullying’ measures. Dr. Hinduja further postulated that;

“We need to see how it plays out at scale, and whether a critical mass of Instagrammers employ the feature.”

According to another Social media Analyst, Randi Priluck – A Professor and Associate Dean on Social Media and Mobile Marketing at Pace University, Instagram is implementing a great tool, nonetheless, the success of this new development is dependent on a number of factors. In his words;

“The fact that Instagram is doing something is better than nothing, But the question is: How much will this help?”

The post Instagram Finally Launches The Much Anticipated ‘Restrict Mode’ Feature appeared first on TechCavit.

Imagine a music app that allows you to play songs just by ‘calling out the song title’ from your playlist. Awesome right?

Well, that becomes the case with the new upgrade on the Spotify app on Apple’s IOS 13.1. Following the recently added features on Siri such as the ability to launch an app with the voice command, advanced guidance on the map, tuning in to a radio station among many others. On Friday, the digital music service providers disclosed that it would be incorporating ‘Siri Support’ specifically for its Users on IOS in the nearest future.

Eventually making Spotify the foremost third-party app that could be operated with ‘Siri’s Voice Assistant’. According to an interview conducted by Verge with a Spotify Associate who refused to comment in details but confirmed this development with a statement adding that;

“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience, Some of those tests end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We aren’t going to comment on specific tests at this time.”

Evidently, the Siri support comes as part of the update on Apple’s IOS 13 and by means of the SiriKit API, Spotify developers were able to embed Siri’s functionality into the Spotify app. Consequently with this new added ‘Siri’ functionality, Users would be able to not only launch the Spotify app but also navigate through and play songs from playlists, albums, and podcasts on the app just by voice commands.

Although this feature was embedded extensive to work on all Apple devices having IOS 13.1 excluding the Apple Watch since IOS wearable devices does not fraught with a devoted Spotify app. Given that the Siri Support on Spotify is currently in its beta testing phase, this innovation would only be available on the latest beta version of Spotify and as such still ships in with a few bugs. Such as trying to play a podcast which always defaults to playing music.

This Siri on Spotify functionality would grants Users an advanced music experience on the go. Subsequently placing the Spotify music app on the same spot as the Apple Music in terms of competing for Siri’s Media player Support.

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At the eve of numerous companies debuting their latest products in the gaming sphere such as Google Stadia, Apple Arcade, Sony RemotePlay as well as the soon to be launched Google Play Pass. And Following a deal with Epic Games to make Fortnite exclusively available for download on some select few Samsung devices as – Galaxy S9/S9+, Note 8, Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy S7/S7 Edge, Tab S3 and Tab S4.

Samsung recently enlists a new software on the Galaxy App Store that enables PC game lovers to stream the games they love to play right onto their Samsung Note10 series with the best streaming experience. This Gaming Trajectory App termed the ‘PlayGalaxy’ is at present available for download on Android and Windows PC. 

PlayGalaxy System Requirement

Although similar to the Sony – RemotePlay that casts everything from a Playstation 4 console onto any screen provided (either an Android, PC or Mac). However, the PlayGalaxy app expects more advanced resources because establishing a connection between the Note 10 device and a PC requires a steady Internet connection as well as a sturdy PC architecture.

Designed by developers from the New-York based Technology firm – Parsec, the PlayGalaxy App begs for more advanced system features before a successful connection terminal can be initiated.

Such as a processor requirement of Intel core i5 and above, a Windows 10 OS or later, an updated graphics driver along with a graphic card of Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 550 built or better, an 8G DDR4 RAM and a Gigabit router Access point. On the other hand, the PlayGalaxy app on Note 10 can be powered over WiFi or a 4th and 5th Generation (4G & 5G) mobile network. 

The Samsung Glap Controller.

Another notable discrepancy resides around the smartphone gaming handling. Traditionally this defaults to on-screen controls, nonetheless another alternative is by means of a Bluetooth wireless controller like the Samsung Glap. The Glap device is a handy gaming tool well fitted for the Samsung Galaxy Note series with a battery life of 10 hours per single charge.

Similarly, Samsung suggests that a Bluetooth mouse and Keyboard could suffice for the PlayGalaxy App in the event of the absence of an option. Evidently, Samsung has been carving a niche in the mobile gaming sector since the launch of Fortnite for Android particularly on Samsung devices.

And by porting these PC games to next-generation Samsung Galaxy devices, this becomes a major advancement in both the Smartphone and Gaming industry by the Seoul head-quartered conglomerate. Even though the PlayGalaxy link is only currently made available in the US and South Korea, future plans are underway towards making this app available in more countries.

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Google recently disclosed its plan to coalesce its ‘Shopping Search’ and ‘Express’ Apps together to give rise to the ‘Google Shopping’ App. Google Shopping is originally designed to find these merchandise in addition to outsourcing from the best markets with affordable prices and incentives.

Also, the Google Express App – where Google oversees all purchase related issues, along with its many features would be incorporated into this new Google Shopping App.

Whereas the Google Shopping and Google Product Ads collectively referred to as the Google Merchant Center aids Third-party Website administrators to boost the traffic to their website by linking to Google through the Google Shopping App.

Just as the previous Shopping Search App searches for products from a number of retailers on the World Wide Web. By means of the former Google Express, this latter Google Shopping App would maintain additional attributes that allow for the option to place an order for such products directly from Google. Evidently Google enjoys a wide network of Internet and Social media platforms and as such it utilizes this chain of sites to its advantages with regards to its online shopping procedure. 

Although not basically capitalizing on its popularity, however the Internet and Advertising Technology Company aims to achieve an increased interoperability between all services sustained by the Google parent company.

Already, Google Shopping embodies other services and products provisioned by the Technology Company such as links to its Google Images, Google Shopping Feed, and YouTube Apps. Hence the Shopping App furnishes Users with a more personalized shopping experience along with an opportunity to explore more products from multiple vendors in juxtaposition.

This recent development centers around Google’s idea towards a competitive approach to stay ahead of all possible means through which customers shop for items online. Whether by searching for an image on Google Images or via an external source such as Pinterest.

The Google Shopping App grants Users a much wider scope such that they can log in to their Google accounts to access this Shopping App and as well watch videos with more details on the products they are willing to purchase right on YouTube. 

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Social media tech giant – Facebook has recently aired its plans to remove the like button and subsequently the likes count, in order to reduce what is considered ‘superficial comparison’ between members of the social network.

Even though the advantage of social networking fraughts with a number of opportunities as a universally connected unit, with it, also comes a few detriments such as an unhealthy ‘emotional connection’.

Hence Facebook’s decision against the ‘like count’ arises as a result of a continuous uprise in the mental and psychological effects social media has on the general public on a global scale. Following a research conducted by the Florida-based Behavioral Health Center, it was perceived that those who were more engaged with social media platforms are about 2.7 times more likely to be depressed.

Furthermore, a top tier tech blogging site – TechCrunch, who confronted close associates of the California-based social media company directly, relays a similar opinion towards this as it stipulated thus; 

“The problem is that people have so many fewer of those big moments, and the large Like counts they attract can make other users self-conscious of their own lives and content. That’s all problematic for Facebook’s ad views.”

Apparently its sister company – Instagram, is already in the testing phase of implementing the removal of the ‘like button’ altogether with the ‘like counts’. With plans to launch this new feature in seven countries including Canada and Brazil.

Instagram would enforce this new idea by displaying the names of some mutual friends who like a certain post rather than show the total number of likes.

Although Facebook is known to be a pioneer of today’s social networking ecosystem, experts however identify this move as a bold one that could either ‘encourage users to share posts as it eradicated the element of comparison’ nor ‘reduce the greater majority of users who have now come dwell in the recent social media ‘hype’ or ‘like’ as the case may be.

Let’s all assume the former would take because the latter bears a cost that could have the social networking behemoth struggling throughout the next decade. 

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A group of LGBTQ rights defenders in the US recently arraigned Google and YouTube in federal court. This band, including a handful of LGBTQ social media celebrities such as Chase Ross, Bria Kam, Chrissy Chambers, Brett Somers as well as the executives of GlitterbombTV.com, Alleges that YouTube’s ‘ad-friendly’ policies were actually not friendly to them in all ramifications.

The litigation brought before the US district court in California accuses YouTube of such activities as limiting video contents tied to famous LGBTQ identities.

The Emerging Rights War

Following the recent developments, a lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against YouTube and its parent company – Google. These LGBTQ users leveraged upon the company’s purported ideology of “creating a platform of self-expression for all” and making a shit-load of money while at it. This perception of ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom of information’ was however received differently by LGBTQ users, once they sensed a pre-planned discrimination towards the contents they upload on YouTube. 

Accordingly, the court order highlights that YouTube engaged in;

“unlawful content regulation, distribution, and monetization practices that stigmatize, restrict, block, demonetize, and financially harm the LGBTQ+ Plaintiffs and the greater LGBTQ+ Community.”

The Plaintiff acknowledged that Google/YouTube supervises over 95% of all the digitally distributed video-based contents on a global scale. And as such, YouTube is registered as the largest for-profit channel dedicated to free speech and expression in the history of the world.

Furthermore, the Prosecuting party maintains that the Defendants generated an excess of $25 billion on an annual basis. Claiming that such profits are derived from regulating, distributing, and monetizing the free speech and expression of the 2.3 billion YouTubers worldwide. 

Google Apology

Still, Google upholds that it has always been a silent propagator of LGBTQ rights in the past. Demonstrating this, Google asserts to have advocated for gay rights around the world and officially sponsoring the San Francisco Pride parade. Nonetheless, this is not the first time Google/YouTube would be charged with such malfeasance. 

The social media giant took to Twitter during the 2018 ‘Pride Month’ to relay an apology with regards its biased ads sharing policies. But this time, the LGBTQ community does not seem to care about Google’s apology but rather a call for the restructuring of Google’s business model.

The post Youtube Gets Sued For Alleged LGBTQ Rights Infringement appeared first on TechCavit.

Since its inception in 2009, WhatsApp has widely been considered the standard-bearer for instant messaging apps.

Allowing users to send text messages, images, documents, and other media, as well as offering video and voice calls, WhatsApp protected all of its user’s information by way of end-to-end encryption. All provided on an advertisement-free platform.

Thomas Koller, CEO of ATRONOCOM, believes that “We are entitled to privacy of communication, and nobody wants others reading personal messages about illness, business secrets, research, or data — anything for that matter.” And most people would agree.

While Whatsapp is currently private, this is about to change in 2019.

After months of rumors, a WhatsApp spokesperson has finally confirmed that targeted ads will be implemented this year while claiming that the end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp has become known for will remain intact.

Questions remain unanswered

The reaction to the announcement from the WhatsApp spokesperson has been understandably less than favorable, but the whole process leaves a few questions that will need answering.

The first of these, is how Facebook (which owns WhatsApp) is going to be able to utilize targeted ads for users if they have no access to the end-to-end encrypted messages those users are sending?

As things stand, the only information that Facebook has access to on WhatsApp users is their phone number, which raises the question of exactly how Facebook intends to implement targeted advertising when they supposedly have no access to WhatsApp users data?

According to a security researcher who worked with WhatsApp on building its original end-to-end encryption protocol, there are “nuanced” ways that allow the encryption process to remain intact, but that would also allow Facebook to receive data about what people are saying in their WhatsApp messages.

An opportunity for a fresh approach?

Many observers are unsettled by the possibility of such a tactic being employed by Facebook, including WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who famously walked away from $850 million when he resigned from Facebook after being informed of the route they were planning to take in implementing targeted ads.

He later invested $50 million in the small messaging app, Signal, which intends to run with a mission to put users privacy before profit.

While WhatsApp and Facebook are undoubtedly the Kings of the instant messenger world at the moment, the various scandals regarding Facebook and users information are only leading to more questions being asked and more people becoming disillusioned with how business is being done.

The door is open for fresh ideas and new companies to make part of the instant messenger industry their own. It remains to be seen if anyone is ready to step up to the plate.

The post With Targeted Ads Coming to WhatsApp This Year, Is the Instant Messaging Industry Ripe for Change? appeared first on TechCavit.

Are you still following the old marketing strategies for your business? Nowadays, most of the businesses are using their Facebook fan page to advertise and promote their products and services to a wide range of customers.

Even the small businesses that do not own a website make use of Facebook page to present their business online and visible to the larger number of people. With a reliable facebook page of your business people can get to know the latest updates that may not be available to your website and also get a chance to learn more about your business. So in this article let us discuss 7 best tips to boost your Facebook reach:

Go for engaging content

Content is the key to any successful business and so it is in the case of facebook page marketing. Make sure you always post original and correct information about your products and business. One should post the content that makes sense and ability to relate with the customer needs in order to get more likes on their facebook page. Moreover, if you are looking for more new likes on your page here is the Famoid’s facebook page like packages.

Utilize ‘facebook live’ feature

Facebook live is a very effective characteristic of Facebook with which businesses can show real things like events, celebrations, behind the scenes, like content to their users. Users do believe in actual things and thus they show more interest in such things. Another benefit if facebook lives are that you can personally interact with the customers and answer their questions in the video itself. So follow the best practices while making any video and going live to show what you are actually doing.

Post when your users are most active

It is very essential to post on your facebook page at the right time and in the right quantities. Too much posting is not good in terms of professional business and similarly posting too less is also not suggestive. So one should always post regularly like one post a day and it should be meaningful enough to reach a larger audience. When your users will be more active they tend to share your products on their timeline, then it will be visible to their friends and other people. In this way, the promotion of your business will get higher visits and it will ultimately boost up the traffic of your website.

Organize contests and promotions

To run a successful business you should always keep your potential customers on top priority. In order to achieve that, you can organize contests regarding your products and services and also offer rewards for the same. Researchers have proved that people tend to show more interest in these contests and likely to participate in them.

Know your Facebook insights

Once you are done with creating a facebook fan page and started posting on it ideally. The next step you should do is to keep a regular watch to your Facebook page insights. It will show you some necessary data like how many likes you got on your page, the reach of your posts and page, the number of people engaged with the post etc. With that, you can better evaluate the negatives and positives

Building the Facebook community

If you are looking for getting more likes on your facebook page then you can participate in the Facebook community. Create group discussions for your business, frequently asked questions, running contests are some of the best ways to keep your people engaged. You should try to offer your users with something unique and creative which no one else has initiated yet. For this, you have to devote maximum time to your audience, carry on with your discussions and forums.

Use better visuals

Images are one of the most beneficial ways to communicate with your customers and to create their interest in your products. By using better images you will be able to expand your reach since people like high-quality images and videos. Make sure your images convey the same you do with your written content. The smaller you will post the larger impact it will leave on your users. But make sure your images are complete and the best information is represented.

So these are some of the best ways to boost up your Facebook page that will benefit your business in one way or the other.

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Apple has Reportedly Acquired the PullString Startup based in
San Francisco that Powers Voice Recognition Apps. This could help Siri better compete with Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home Assistant.

Founded in 2011 by a group of Ex-Pixar executives, PullString was basically used to power interactive voice apps for toys like the Hello Barbie in 2015.
Pullstring later widened its path with the introduction of such IoT products as Google Assistant and Amazon Echo.

The Acquisition is said to be valued around $30 million and will give Apple a boost in the Voice Industry as well as making siri more advanced and rapidly adopted.

As Amazon and Google Continues to Improve and Invest heavily in the Voice Development Business, Apple also doesn’t seem to be relenting, Of which the company has been way behind both Google and Amazon.

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The web is recently seen as very unsafe as there are a lot of stories of phishing attacks, email scams, and malware. Eventually, Google has thought of its users and has made an effort to save users from such issues as according to a report from ZDNet, it has included a feature to their popular web browser, Chrome which is aimed to caution users about replicated misspelled URLs that can imitate real websites. A member of Google’s usable security team, Emily Stark also showed the feature during a recent presentation focused on web security.

The reports reveal the feature is at present in beta testing with Google Chrome Canary 70, yet can be enabled with the chrome://flags/#enable-lookalike-url-navigation-suggestions flag. Chrome will display a caution message when the feature is selected, the message is under the Ombnibar, and if the user types in a URL of a website that has false determines or seem to steal login credentials, the feature will bring out new suggestions.

An instant by ZDNet is that websites like paypall.com or coịnbạse.com are examples of fake websites, but, as per the test results, standard versions of Google Chrome will auto redirects to the official websites.

Google Chrome has a similar flag on standard non-beta. However, it does not seem to operate like in the Canary ring.  This makes it clear that the feature might not be ready yet and looking at how things are going might officially be released in the future.

Google has many security-themed features as this is not the first that the company has introduced to their Chrome browser. Google recently tried to battle sites that takeover users back button and tab history to generate views on ads. The company recently brought a quiz aimed to inform the user on how to avoid attacks.

It is quite exciting to see Google Chrome with attempts to provide auto supports. Nevertheless, I think web users must be careful and should try checking URLs they visit on the web. An indicator of a secure connection, site certificates, and other web settings is a green lock next to the URL; users are always advised to check that.

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