News
Facebook will combine Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp
Will come with new encryption
Outside of Facebook, the world’s most famous apps are Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Unsurprisingly, Mark Zuckerberg owns all three. While the Facebook founder has already dominated social media, he is far from done.
Based on sources close to Facebook, Zuckerberg will integrate these three apps into one ecosystem in the future. While all three will remain their own app, they will gain the ability to communicate with one another seamlessly. In other words, Instagram users can talk to both Messenger users and WhatsApp users in the same app. The same goes for the other two apps.
The integration will simplify Facebook’s ecosystem, creating a bridge between messaging apps. Throughout the past few years, Facebook acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. In 2014, the company created its own app, Messenger, spinning off from Facebook’s chat function. All three apps now share 2.6 billion users between them.
Of course, Facebook hasn’t been the paragon of cybersecurity lately. The company has consistently misused data for suspicious intentions. Data security might escalate into a bigger issue upon integration.
To address this, the integration will come with end-to-end encryption. The apps’ messages will remain confidential between participants. The move will increase security against outside interference. However, the question remains: Will Facebook keep the data safe against its clients?
Luckily, Facebook will not rush these issues before launching the integration. According to the report, the company will need thousands of workers on the project. Zuckerberg hopes for completion by late 2019 to early 2020.
SEE ALSO: Facebook admits unintended exposure of user photos due to bug
Nothing goes together more than a Chinese smartphone brand and the relentless pursuit for a bigger battery. For years, Chinese brands have engaged in a war for this particular component. Now, the latest salvo has been fired. Honor is reportedly working on a phone with a gigantic 14000mAh battery.
Today, the biggest battery capacity you can find on an Honor phone is 11000mAh. The Honor X80 Pro Max already offers a battery that can last you more than a single day. At this point, it’s certainly more than enough for our daily needs.
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, a smartphone brand is currently working on a 14000mAh battery. Though the leak does not explicitly pinpoint Honor, the emoji used (a wolf) is historically used to imply the Chinese brand in Weibo parlance.
A 14000mAh is just absurdly huge. With a battery larger than some powerbanks, battery anxiety becomes moot. It’s bordering on “can we bring this on a plane” territory.
As with all rumored features, the next question is when this battery will arrive on a consumer-ready device. Given how serious the battery wars are for the Chinese market, it’s only a matter of time.
SEE ALSO: HONOR continues APAC expansion, to launch 600 series in Taiwan
Yesterday, Nothing officially teased the Phone (4b), an all-new line positioned below the Phone (4a) series. At the time, the teaser revealed nothing but the design of the upcoming phone. However, ahead of its July 7 launch, the Phone (4b) suddenly appeared on Geekbench, spoiling a few of its mysterious specs.
According to the listing, the Phone (4b) will run the SM6650, more popularly known as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4. It’s a modestly powered processor built for the budget to midrange segments of the performance spectrum. Having this processor does confirm that the phone belongs to the step below the Phone (4a), bringing affordability to a name other than CMF.
Besides the processor, the new phone will come with an Adreno 810 GPU and 8GB of RAM. Inside, it will ship with Android 16 out of the box, but this will likely be upgradeable to Android 17 later this year.
It’s already confirmed that the Phone (4b) will be quite the looker. The phone will slightly depart from the design philosophy of the Phone (4a) series. Though it will still have a sizable rear island, the camera setup will just be a small vertical strip on the top-left corner. Additionally, the lighting element typical of all Nothing phones will be a small horizontal strip on the bottom-right corner.
Thankfully, the wait for more specs won’t be long. Nothing has confirmed that the phone’s launch is set for July 7.
News
Polaroid says, enjoy the beach before AI ruins it
“We know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it.”
Tongue-in-cheek marketing is a soothing balm for a world where false promises are more often advertised. But, what happens when those tongue-in-cheek jokes strike a nerve and make you think, “maybe this isn’t a joke anymore”? Polaroid, a huge proponent of analog technology, has put up such a billboard to enjoy the beach “before the data centers drink it all up.”
Right in front of Coney Island (and right in time for summer), Polaroid has a simple message: “Go jump in the water before the data centers drink it all up.”
Though funny by itself, the message plays on an ongoing fear that today’s data centers, built for AI, have such a high water requirement that each query takes up gallons every time. This is, of course, slightly hyperbolic, but data centers are indeed exerting a lot of pressure on their area’s resources. They take a lot of water for cooling and electricity to keep open.
In a statement, Polaroid says that they’re not anti-digital. Rather, “we know we have to live alongside it, but we’re deeply pro-human and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. That’s a fight worth fighting,” says Polaroid’s creative director Patricia Varella, via LBB.
Now, this isn’t a completely altruistic ad. It’s still advertising the new Go Generation 3. Still, if you’re looking for a product to go alongside today’s shifting sentiments against AI, a Polaroid might be it.
SEE ALSO: The Loop PH rebrands as lifestyle-tech destination
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