Apps

Zoom’s security is tied to China

Opening access to Chinese authorities

Published

on

Days ago, Zoom’s status as an indisputable teleconferencing solution today blew out of proportion. Though its userbase is still on the rise, Zoom is constantly finding more and more flaws in its infrastructure. For example, a report has recently revealed the platform’s lack of true end-to-end encryption.

Today, The Citizen Lab, a research laboratory in Toronto, revealed another concerning flaw with the popular app. Apparently, the mostly American company employs “at least 700 employees in China. Though the company is still primarily American, Zoom’s Chinese presence can open it up to “pressure from Chinese authorities.” Even if a meeting’s participants are in the US, for example, Chinese parties can still access the meeting.

As we already know, Zoom’s encryption is lackluster, allowing Zoom employees to access private information if they need to. Of course, despite the revelation, Zoom has still claimed its respect over its users’ information.

However, with potential Chinese interference, who can really tell? In the report’s conclusion, The Citizen Lab does not recommend the platform for secrecy. Though a good chunk of users come from university settings, government officials, like UK’s Boris Johnson, have also started using the platform for official state meetings.

Additionally, the report goes into a potential flaw with Zoom’s “waiting room” feature. Before a meeting starts, a host can keep participants in a virtual waiting room before starting. Apparently, the feature can allow malicious parties to infiltrate the call. However, The Citizen Lab chose not to disclose the flaw to the public. Instead, they forwarded the flaw to Zoom; the company quickly turned the feature off for now.

Regardless, even without the feature, Zoom-bombing is quickly turning into a trend. All over the world, students have found ways to access meetings from other classes even without official access. Though disruptive, Zoom-bombing is still within the realm of jokes and pranks. Of course, the infiltrative method is easily exploitable by more malicious entities.

Despite its ease of access, Zoom is quickly losing its potential as a secure online platform for the quarantine era.

SEE ALSO: Zoom, Skype now used for virtual drinking parties

Apps

Bumble introduces new logo, better UI, features

Better dating experience

Published

on

By

Bumble New Logo

Bumble is ushering a new era of dating. The dating app has just rolled out a new brand design. This includes a new logo and user interface with bolder fonts and refreshed colors and illustrations. Along these are many significant updates to the app’s features, giving users better ways to connect with others.

For instance, Bumble has added hundreds of new prompts and have refreshed the prompts UI to help members show off their personalities easier. Shared interests have also been moved to the top of the profiles for users to better spot commonalities. This gives users a snippet of profiles for them to know right away what they have in common. Furthermore, the app has also increased the number of required profile photos to four to boost the likelihood of matches.

Among the new features on Bumble is Opening Moves. This allows women to set a post-match question for their connections to respond to within 24 hours. This facilitates a more meaningful connection and introduces another way to connect outside of Bumble’s Make The First Move. Of course, they may directly message their match even if they haven’t responded to the post-match question.

Meanwhile, Bumble has also expanded its Dating Intentions right from the setup. This is so users can answer the question “What are you hoping to find?” with more accurate choices. Among these are Long Term Relationship, Life Partner, Fun, Casual Dates, Intimacy without commitment, Ethical non-monogamy, and Marriage.

This change stemmed from a Bumble survey that saw 68% of women struggle with people not being upfront about their dating intentions. When browsing, the expanded dating intentions badges will show right below the person’s profile’s “About me” in a section called “I’m looking for.”

Moreover, Bumble has renamed Best Bees to For You. Bumble is employing a new machine learning model to give users their daily set of four curated and relevant profiles based on preferences and past matches.

The changes are part of Bumble’s mantra to empower women to make the first move, flip gender roles, and take control of their dating app experience and dating life in general.

Continue Reading

Apps

TikTok regains right to use music from Olivia Rodrigo, BTS, etc.

A new deal has been inked

Published

on

TikTok lost its voice a few months ago. Back in February, the platform lost its rights to use and offer music from artists affiliated with the Universal Music Group. A few weeks ago, Taylor Swift, the biggest artist in that group, returned to the platform. Now, other artists are following suit.

In an official press release, Universal Music Group has announced a new licensing agreement between its artists and TikTok. As a result, users can once again fill their videos with music from artists such as Olivia Rodrigo and BTS.

With the new deal, TikTok’s woes in the music department are finally at an end. When the past deal ended, Universal initially refused a renewal, alleging that TikTok does not adequately pay artists for the use of their music. Once the deadline passed, TikTok was suddenly silent. Existing videos lost their music, and newly minted ones could not use the most popular selection of songs today.

Not surprisingly, Taylor Swift was ahead of the curve. Presumably because of her ownership over her masters, the world’s biggest musical artist returned to the platform without a new Universal deal. The return also came in time for Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.

Now, the platform finally has Universal’s entire selection back. If your videos need that extra spice, now’s the time to get back into it.

SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift is back on TikTok

Continue Reading

Apps

Huawei to release self-developed GoPaint app

Designed specifically for tablets

Published

on

GoPaint

Huawei will soon have its own painting app specifically designed for tablets: GoPaint. This makes the manufacturer the first to have its own self-developed painting app.

Huawei already teased its audiences with a short clip posted on its socials with the caption “Creation begins here.” GoPaint will go live on May 7.

The app will come with a wealth of brushes, and brings easy-to-use features for painting. The eventual launch of this app eliminates the need for beginners to download third-party apps, like ibis Paint X and Sketchbook.

With the integration of GoPaint along with Huawei’s capable hardware-software architecture, Huawei is pushing itself to be a creation go-to for tech users. Previously, the brand held a GoPaint Worldwide Creating Activity last year, which saw creators around the world participate.

 

The app will surely complement Huawei’s recent lineup of tablets which includes the MatePad 11.5 PaperMatte edition and the MatePad Pro 13.2.

The PaperMatte edition tablet eliminates glare and prevents reflection and fingerprints, replicating the feel of traditional paper. On the other hand, the MatePad Pro 13.2 offers users a smooth and seamless experience for creation, work, content consumption, and more.

The MatePad Pro 13.2 particularly features an OLED screen and works with Huawei’s 3rd gen M-Pencil for more than 10,000 pressure sensing levels. Both tablets support multi-device interconnection, remote PC access, and multi-screen collaboration.

Continue Reading

Trending