Instagram is now adding a new element to its Notes status feature, reports The Verge. The Notes feature is a feature for text-based updates that is quite reminiscent of AIM (for those of you who remember the old chat program). Now, Notes on Instagram will be getting the ability to share a quick snippet of a song.
You now get the possibility to share a part of a song on Instagram Notes
You will be able to attach a 30-second snippet of a song to your status update, and you can also add a short caption next to it. Your friends will then be able to tap on the song and listen to the snippet. Also, Instagram is getting a translation button below Notes (just in case the post is in another language).
The Notes feature was introduced back in December. It has a 60-character limit and it’s meant for something that isn’t as permanent as a post or even a Story. Now, the feature is getting the ability to also include snippets of songs. Differently to AIM though, it can share a link and other people can listen to the song instead of just posting the title and artist. It seems like teens are the main audience for the Notes feature. According to Instagram, teens are posting Notes at 10 times the rate other people are.
Samsung is gearing up to launch several new Galaxy products next month. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 foldables, the Galaxy Tab S9 series flagship tablets, and the Galaxy Watch 6 series smartwatches will all debut at the end of July. Ahead of the upcoming big Galaxy Unpacked event, a bunch of official accessories for the unannounced products have been confirmed.
Mobile Fun, the UK’s largest online mobile accessory retailer, has shared a list of accessories for the new Samsung products. The list reveals the name and color variants of the accessories, along with their model numbers and unique article codes. The retailer has listed cases, screen protectors, keyboards (for tablets), wireless chargers, watch straps, and more accessories for the devices.
You can already pre-order some of these official Samsung accessories
This leak doesn’t give us images of any of these accessories. However, the retailer is already taking pre-orders for a few of them. You can now place an order for the official Silicone Cover with Ring and transparent FlipSuit Case for the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The former is priced at £34.99 (roughly $45) and comes in Apricot, Cream, Indigo, Lavender, and Ocean Green colors. Samsung isn’t offering a non-transparent version of the latter, which costs £49.99 (roughly $64).
Additionally, the retailer is also taking pre-orders for the Slim Case with S Pen for the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It is available in Blue, Graphite, and Sand colors with a price tag of £48.99 (roughly $62). Samsung using “Slim” in the name itself hints at a slimmer foldable this year. Rumors are that the redesigned waterdrop-type hinge will make the new Galaxy foldables lighter and slimmer. That’s thanks to the hinge allowing the devices to fold shut without any gap.
Samsung is also equipping the Flip model with a bigger cover display this year. And that design change seems to have marked the end of a strap case for the phone. The list doesn’t include any such cases, not even a third-party solution. The Galaxy Z Fold 5, on the other hand, is getting an official Standing Cover with Strap in Graphite and Sand colors. Samsung will also offer a Clear Gadget Case and an Eco-Leather Cover for the new foldables.
Apart from foldables, Samsung has multiple case options for the Galaxy Tab S9 series, including some with a keyboard. The Galaxy Watch 6 series will also get several strap options in a host of colors. You can see the full list here. All of these accessories should be available from Samsung’s official website as well as third-party retailers, including Mobile Fun in the UK, after the launch of the new devices at the end of July.
The ongoing unrest at Reddit may continue for a long. Moderators of many popular subreddits have pledged to keep their communities private indefinitely. This mass protest against the company’s recent API policy changes was originally planned for 48 hours, which ended Tuesday.
A lot is going on at Reddit lately. The company recently announced plans to charge for access to its APIs, which have been free all this while. It wants to monetize the massive amount of data it has accumulated over the 18 years of its existence. This comes amid the growing LLM (Large Language Models) craze as several major tech companies rush to develop generative AI tools.
However, the prices Reddit has set for its APIs are said to be too high for the developers of third-party apps. The operating cost of some apps would be around $20 million, which is much higher than their annual revenue. Apps like Apollo, RIF (Reddit is Fun) Sync, and ReddPlanet are shutting down due to exorbitant prices. The changes also break some other functions on the platform.
The Reddit community has come together to protest against this change. More than 8,000 subreddits went dark or private on Monday, including several with over 20 million subscribers. While some went live again today, others are still private. According to a recent Reddit post, at least 300 subreddits have pledged to remain private indefinitely. These include r/aww and r/music, both with more than 30 million subscribers.
“Reddit has budged microscopically. The announcement that moderator access to the ‘Pushshift’ data-archiving tool would be restored was welcome. But our core concerns still aren’t satisfied, and these concessions came prior to the blackout start date,” the Reddit post by u/SpicyThunder335, a moderator for r/ModCoord, reads. “More is needed for Reddit to act.”
Reddit has shown little regard for this protest from its communities
Despite the mass protest from the Reddit community, the company has been largely unmoved. It hasn’t shown any signs of leniency, likely because the protest hasn’t affected its business. In a memo to employees earlier this week, Huffman said that the blackout hasn’t had a significant impact on the company’s revenue. He urged the staff to stay focused and stick to the plan, adding that this noise will pass.
“There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen… and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well,” Huffman said. “We absolutely must ship what we said we would”. Quite clearly, the Reddit CEO has little regard for public disappointment. He also publicly lashed out at third-party developers during his AMA with users last Friday. The onus is now on the Reddit community to force the company into action.
Android Auto — when it not broken — is a great app that basically lets your modern car communicate with your Android phone in the best possible way. It basically lets you get more done through mirroring compatible apps, so that you don’t need to look at your phone while driving.
And so that whoever’s riding shotgun can still act like a DJ without touching your phone. Neat!
That, however, pretty much meant that Android Auto was stuck with media and navigation apps. But given that the most impactful navigation apps can be counted on the fingers of one of your hands alone, that meant that the services provided users with plenty of opportunities to get distracted.
Recently, though, Google has gotten inspired to change that. Android Auto got completely revamped recently and it finally got more useful apps like smart home control apps and Weather apps.
Now, though, 9to5Google is reporting that the icing on the cake is live: the ability to open your garage’s door.
The simple interface, as shown by 9to5Google.
This is a no-brainer feature, right? Well, naturally it won’t work with just any garage door, so you might have to upgrade in order to ensure that you can take advantage of this new Android Auto feature.
The app that allows you to do this is called Tailwind and it is completely dedicated to opening your garage door. And using the app is as simple as can get too:
Open the app
Choose the garage door you need to open
Done
Awesome! So, where is the catch? Well, it is that it only works with Tailwind systems. But you can get one from the company’s website as cheap as $80, which isn’t that bad at all. And the best thing about it is that a single purchase is all you need, no strings attached.
And a neat little side-benefit of this system is that it can help you check if you’ve forgotten to close your garage door. If you open the app from Android Auto, you can see the status of the door and close it from a distance if need be.
This might be a turning point for Android Auto. With this essential feature out of the way, we can’t wait to see what the Big G has in store for its auto service next.
Bolster’s threat research team recently discovered an extensive brand impersonation effort targeting more than 100 well-known clothes, footwear, and apparel firms.
The peak phishing activity for this campaign occurred between November 2022 and February 2023, after becoming active around June 2022.
Nike, Puma, Asics, Vans, Adidas, Columbia, Superdry Converse, Casio, Timberland, Salomon, Crocs, Sketchers, The North Face, UGG, Guess, Caterpillar, New Balance, Fila, Doc Martens, Reebok, Tommy Hilfiger, and countless more well-known companies are among those impacted by this campaign.
A massive network of brand imitation scam websites with over 3,000 domains and around 6,000 sites, including inactive ones, was discovered via investigation.
Specifics of the Massive Phishing Campaign
Researchers say this campaign domains linked to this fraud may be linked to the autonomous system with the number AS48950.
Two specialized internet service providers, Packet Exchange Limited and Global Colocation Limited, host the IP addresses for these domains.
It’s important to remember that both suppliers have a bad reputation for being vulnerable to scams.
The average domain age is between two and 90 days, and the majority are registered through Alibaba.com Singapore.
“In their attempts to deceive, the attackers predominantly utilize a pattern of combining the brand name with a random country name, followed by a generic top-level domain (TLD),” explains the Bolster’s threat research team.
Fraud potential
Examples of Puma-targeting domains include puma-shoes-singapore[.]com, pumaenmexico[.]com.mx, bestpumaindia[.]in, and much more.
Domain aging is an important component in phishing operations since the longer a domain is active yet harmless, the less likely it is to be identified as suspicious by security systems.
Confiant noted last year that a domain should be allowed to age for at least two years after spotting the strategy being used successfully by a global malvertising operation since 2018.
Many of the malicious sites in the Bolster-found campaign persisted long enough without being detected that Google Search crawled them, and they now probably score highly for particular search phrases.
“Attackers are employing various search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to manipulate search engine rankings and increase visibility”, researchers.
Site for Clarks coming up top in Google Search
Customers who fail to recognize that these websites are not official brand sites frequently fall for the trap.
They willingly expose their personal information when they input their email, password, and payment card information.
Even worse, some of these imitation websites are ranked highly in search engine results, which makes it simpler for victims to go upon them and believe them to be trustworthy unintentionally.
Recommendation
Users should take care to confirm the legitimacy of websites, especially when dealing with well-known brands.
Watch out for any indications of a questionable domain name.
You should go above and above to confirm the integrity of the site if you come across a deal or product pricing that looks too good to be true.
New leak reveals how much will the OnePlus Nord 3 cost
This information has been shared by Roland Quandt, the same source that delivered the aforementioned renders. He claims that the phone will arrive in two variants. The model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will set you back €449. The variant with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage will cost €549.
Considering the source, chances are these price tags are accurate. The OnePlus Nord 3 will become OnePlus’ new mid-range smartphone, quite possibly the most powerful one the company has to offer.
This handset will essentially be a rebranded OnePlus Ace 2V phone. That device launched in China earlier this year, and the OnePlus Nord 3 will borrow both its design and specifications.
The OnePlus Nord 3 will borrow the Ace 2V’s design and specs
The OnePlus Nord 3 will feature a flat display, and flat sides, while its backplate will also be flat, but will curve into the frame on all sides. Two camera islands will be placed on the back, and three cameras will be spread across them. A display camera hole will be included on the front, and centered.
MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 SoC will fuel the OnePlus Nord 3. The device will feature a 6.74-inch 2772 x 1240 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
A 50-megapixel main camera will be backed by an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. A 5,000mAh battery will also be a part of the package, along with 80W charging support. A charger will be included in the package too.
Android 13 is expected to come pre-installed, along with OnePlus’ custom UI. Do note that the phone will be on sale in Europe, but not in Germany, due to a patent dispute with Nokia. The phone is coming soon, but we still don’t have the exact launch date.
Reddit is unmoved by the ongoing mass protest on the platform. In an internal memo to employees, CEO Steve Huffman labeled the protest as a “noisy” blowup that will eventually pass. He encouraged the staff to stick to the plan as the mass subreddit blackout doesn’t have any significant impact on the company’s revenue.
Steve Huffman doesn’t care about the mass protest from the Reddit community
More than 8,000 subreddits have gone dark (private) starting this Monday in protest against Reddit’s recent API policy changes. The company has introduced a paywall to access its APIs, which have been free all this while. The plan is to monetize the data it has in store, but the prices are proving too high for most third-party apps to afford. Many of them are now shutting down due to this change, including the two biggest names, Apollo and RIF (aka Reddit is Fun).
However, the Reddit CEO seemingly doesn’t care about this mass protest from the community. “There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen… and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well,” Huffman said in an internal memo seen by The Verge. He urged the staff to stay focused and stick to the plan. “We absolutely must ship what we said we would,” the Reddit CEO said.
He added that the company hasn’t seen “any significant revenue impact” due to the ongoing protest, so there’s no reason to worry. Moreover, Reddit expects most subreddits to come back online “by Wednesday” as it is supposed to be a 48-hour protest. However, some subreddits have said that they will remain private indefinitely until Reddit makes changes to its new API policy. Several subreddits participating in this blackout have millions of subscribers.
Unfortunately, Reddit doesn’t seem to be willing to listen to the community. Huffman has already made it clear that the new API prices are final and the company wouldn’t make any concessions for third-party apps, even if they have to shut down. It’s a decision made in the best interest of its business. “We’ll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive,” Huffman said during an AMA with users last Friday. “Unlike some of the 3P [third-party] apps, we are not profitable.”
Reddit CEO warns employees about wearing company items in public
Steve Huffman has also urged employees to avoid wearing Reddit items in public. The Reddit CEO said he doesn’t want his staff to suffer because of the anger directed at the company. “I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations,” he said in the internal memo. You can see the full memo here.
In recent times, it was pretty difficult to stay away from all of the things surrounding Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The social platform has always been very impactful to internet culture. So it is pretty neat that after all, Twitter and its community survived the turbulent period.
So if you happen to be rocking Twitter on one of the best smartphones around, you’ll probably want to know that Linda Yaccarino is Twitter’s CEO. She has a background in advertising so the plan is to have her expertise help Twitter completely recover from all of the… happenings and then become a stable social platform again.
That being said, the general plan hasn’t changed: Twitter should be capable of presenting the thoughts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. So now that Linda’s role has been officialized, she detailed her ideas on how that is going to become a reality.
Hello Twitter. People keep asking me: Why Twitter? So, I’ll tell you.
As you start reading the thread of tweets, you’ll notice that Linda mentions Elon a lot. That seems to indicate that the pair is working together closely and maybe even that she runs all ideas through him, before they are set in motion.
Linda describes their goals regarding Twitter as making the platform “the world’s most accurate real-time information source”. She seems to be confident that this is a possible reality, which is great, because on paper, Linda has the needed skills to make that happen.
From what she has shared thus far, it seems that Linda isn’t planning any major changes to the platform. In fact, it sounds like the aim here is to build upon what has proven to be steady and continue promoting freedom of speech.
All in all, Twitter 2.0 is still happening. But then again, this was never something that could’ve been achieved in a day — takeover or not. It’s great to see that Linda shares Musk’s passion for the platform, so saying that Twitter is in good hands seems less like a bet and more like a reality.
After pushing the June 2023 Android security patch to all recent foldables, Samsung is now rolling out the update to a couple of mid-range smartphones in the US. The latest security update is available for the Galaxy A52 5G and Galaxy A13 today. The former has already received the new SMR (Security Maintenance Release) in some international markets but it’s the inaugural rollout for the latter.
The June SMR for the Galaxy A52 5G is initially rolling out to factory-unlocked units in the US. The update comes with the firmware build number A526U1UES9EWE1 and is already available for users on most carrier networks, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Xfinity Mobile, Cellular South, MetroPCS, US Cellular, Comcast, Dish, and Cricket Wireless. The rollout for the carrier-rollout units should begin in the coming days.
Samsung isn’t pushing any new features or improvements to the Galaxy A52 5G with this update. It’s all about the security fixes for this month, which are plenty in number. The June SMR for Galaxy devices patches more than 60 vulnerabilities, 11 of which are issues affecting Samsung devices only. Others affect Android products from other brands as well. Three vulnerabilities patched this month were labeled critical by Google.
Samsung is also pushing the June update to the Galaxy A13
These security fixes are also rolling out to the Galaxy A13 in the US. For a change, the rollout has begun with carrier-locked units, bringing the build number A135USQU5CWE8. Moreover, this phone is getting additional changes to go with the latest SMR. Samsung’s official changelog states that this update “includes revised Terms & Conditions for your device, including the Dispute Resolution Agreement with arbitration terms.”
Samsung may soon push this update to the unlocked Galaxy A13 units and also expand the release to international markets. Note that the company also sold a 5G version of this phone in the US and some other regions. It hasn’t yet picked up the June security patch anywhere. But you can always check for new updates from the Settings app. Go to the Software update menu and tap on Downloadand Install.
If an update is available, you will be prompted to download it straightaway. But if you don’t see any updates today, repeat the steps a few days later. Note that new updates are rolled out in batches and may not be available to everyone at the same time. Rest assured, your Galaxy phone will get new security patches periodically for four/five years depending on the model and release date.
In today’s digital era, launching a startup often involves developing a mobile app to reach a wider audience. However, deciding which platform to target, Android or iOS, can be a crucial decision that impacts the success and growth of your startup. This article aims to analyze the differences between launching a startup on Android versus iOS, considering factors such as market share, demographics, user behavior, and profitability. Additionally, we will explore how a professional business plan can assist in effectively launching your business.
Market Share:
When considering the platform for your startup, market share plays a significant role. Android holds the largest global market share, accounting for around 74% of the smartphone market, while iOS holds approximately 25%. The dominance of Android in terms of market share implies that targeting this platform may potentially offer access to a larger user base as TechCrunch writes.
Demographics:
Understanding the demographics of Android and iOS users is essential for targeting the right audience. Android users tend to have a more diverse demographic, including a wider range of age groups and income levels. On the other hand, iOS users generally have higher income levels and spending power, making them an attractive target for startups aiming to monetize their apps.
Profitability:
When it comes to profitability, iOS tends to have an edge over Android. Despite Android’s larger market share, iOS generates higher revenue for developers. This can be attributed to the willingness of iOS users to spend on apps, as well as the App Store’s rigorous approval process that ensures higher quality and more monetization opportunities for developers.
How a Professional Business Plan Helps Launch Your Startup:
A professional business plan extensively help you in launching your business in successful way. A business plan is very necessary for startup, and below we have mentioned main benefits of the business plan in the startup. Of course for the business plan for mobile app you need a best business plans provider.
1 – Market Research:
A business plan allows you to conduct thorough market research, helping you understand your target audience and the competitive landscape. This knowledge is crucial for deciding whether to focus on Android or iOS, considering their respective market shares and user demographics.
2 – Financial Planning:
A business plan helps you create a financial roadmap for your startup. By analyzing potential revenue streams, costs, and profit projections, you can make informed decisions about which platform aligns better with your revenue goals. Understanding the profitability differences between Android and iOS can guide your financial planning.
3 – Marketing Strategy:
A business plan helps you formulate a comprehensive marketing strategy, which includes reaching and acquiring users on your chosen platform. By understanding the user behavior and preferences of Android and iOS users, you can tailor your marketing efforts to effectively engage and retain your target audience.
Conclusion:
Choosing the right platform, whether Android or iOS, is a critical decision when launching a startup. Understanding the differences in market share, demographics, user behavior, and profitability can guide your decision-making process. While Android offers a larger user base, iOS provides a more lucrative revenue potential. By utilizing a professional business plan, you can effectively analyze these factors and make an informed choice for your startup’s success. Remember, a well-informed decision about the platform is the first step toward reaching your target audience and achieving your business goals.
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