Facebook Messenger App Shares Your Exact Location With Each Message

Many would already know that Facebook's standalone Messenger app for Android and iOS has location sharing on by default. The location shows up just below every message but most people didn't care much. But what everyone was unaware of was how accurate the location data, was or how simple it was to track someone.

A student named Aran Khanna at Harvard College has discovered that the Messenger can actually allow Facebook friends users chat to accurately find their location without their knowledge. Khanna has claimed on his blog post that Facebook has notified him that it will be fixing the issue soon.
Khanna created a Chrome extension called Marauders Map, which collects location data from Facebook's Messenger app via the Mapbox API and plots them on a map. The Chrome extension only requires location sharing on the Messenger app with GPS turned on the mobile and it could retrieve location from messages sent with location sharing enabled.


any would already know that Facebook's standalone Messenger app for Android and iOS has location sharing on by default. The location shows up just below every message but most people didn't care much. But what everyone was unaware of was how accurate the location data, was or how simple it was to track someone.
A student named Aran Khanna at Harvard College has discovered that the Messenger can actually allow Facebook friends users chat to accurately find their location without their knowledge. Khanna has claimed on his blog post that Facebook has notified him that it will be fixing the issue soon.

Khanna created a Chrome extension called Marauders Map, which collects location data from Facebook's Messenger app via the Mapbox API and plots them on a map. The Chrome extension only requires location sharing on the Messenger app with GPS turned on the mobile and it could retrieve location from messages sent with location sharing enabled.

iPhone 6s to Feature Slimmer Form Factor, 12-Megapixel Camera

♦We have been treated with a flurry of leaks that purportedly reveal new details about the next iPhone handsets expected in the second half of 2015. According to the latest leaks, Apple's upcoming iPhone models (expected to be called the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus) will be "slimmer and lighter", and will include a 12-megapixel rear camera instead of the 8-megapixel camera seen in last four generation iPhones. One of the leaks even claims that TSMC will start a pilot line of the Apple A10 chips next month, likely to be used in the iPhone models next year.

(Also see: Shift Key 'Fix', iMessage Improvements, and Other Changes That iOS 9 Is Tipped to Bring)
Digitimes reports that Apple in order to make its iPhone even thinner than previous generation will adopt 0.4t (with a dimension of 3x0.85x0.4mm) LED chips for its backlight units (BLUs), which is smaller than the 0.6t (3x0.85x0.6mm) chips used on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The report suggests that Apple will use 0.4t LED chips from Japan-based Nichia and Toyoda Gose. It adds that production of the new iPhone models featuring 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens will start in June 2015 and a projected 24 million units will be primarily shipped in the third quarter.

♠One of the biggest updates that this year's iPhone can include is a 12-megapixel rear camera, if a report out of China is to be believed. The report claims that the iPhone 6s, which will be an incremental update from last year's iPhone 6, will sport a 12-megapixel camera. There is no mention of any other iPhone using the same camera sensor.

♦It adds that Apple will ditch the RGB sensor design to RGBW from Sony for the next iPhones. The White sub-pixel technology is said to improve low-light camera performance of the iPhone while can also enhance the autofocus speed.

☻The report is in line with an analyst who recently claimed that the next iPhone models would get a rear camera upgrade in the form of resolution, bumping up the current 8-megapixel offerings to 12-megapixels.

☻Another report from Taiwan claims that Apple by end of June will start a pilot line with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) for the 10nm chip in 12 factories in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The report went on to suggest that Apple can hand all orders for A10 chips to TSMC.

☻To put some context, Apple used A8 chip with 64-bit architecture on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and is likely to reveal the A9 chip this year. We can expect the A10 chips to debut on iPhone only by 2016. The Apple A9 processor has been rumoured to support 2GB of LPDDR4 RAM, a big boost from the 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM on the current iPhone models, as well as the 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM on the iPad Air 2.

☺A recent leak on the next iPhone models claimed that they will feature the Force Touch technology, initially debuted on the Apple Watch and later seen on the new 12-inch MacBook.

Using an Old iPhone or iPad? Here's Some Good News for You

iPhone and iPad users have often complained that devices get slower after major OS updates, with recent updates like iOS 7 and iOS 8 perhaps being more guilty of this behaviour than their predecessors. If you are still clinging on to your iPhone 4S or iPad 2, here's some good news for you.

Mark Gurman, who has a pretty good record in terms of being accurate with his Apple-related scoops, reports in 9to5mac that one of the key focuses of the upcoming iOS 9 update will be optimisations for older devices. Gurman note that traditionally Apple has developed feature-complete versions of iOS for older devices and then removed features that don't perform well during testing. With iOS 9, however, Cupertino is "building a core version of iOS 9 that runs efficiently on older A5 devices, then enabling each properly performing feature one-by-one."

As a result, A5-powered devices like iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the original iPad mini, which, based on historical patterns were widely believed to have received their last major OS update with iOS 8, will not only get the iOS 9 update, but the overall post-installation experience should be better than recent major updates. Maybe iOS 9 will breathe new life into old Apple hardware? Well, we can dream.

Following up on earlier reports, Gurman reiterates that iOS 9 is likely to focus on stability and bug fixes, and will have few headline features to flaunt. iOS 9 in that respect is being compared to Snow Leopard, which followed OS X Leopard as a 'stability release.'

"I wouldn't say there's nothing new for consumers, but the feature lists are more stripped down than the initial plans called for," a source told Gurman. Next version of OS X is also likely to be structured along similar lines.

Earlier Gurman had stated that iOS 9 will ship with split-screen iPad app views and an improved Apple Maps application with transit directions. Gurman adds Trusted Wi-Fi and 'Rootless' will join that list, with the latter being described as "a heavy blow to the jailbreak community on iOS." Apple is also likely to move its own apps like Mail, Notes, and Calendar from an IMAP-backend to one that uses iCloud Drive.

Apple is likely to provide the first glimpse of the next versions of iOS and OS X at the upcoming WWDC conference in June.

Apple May Unveil Split-Screen Multitasking for iPad at WWDC: Report

♦As WWDC edges closer, the rumours are flowing in fast and thick. The latest revolve around the next iPad, and the long-anticipated split-screen multitasking feature. A new report claims that Apple is working on a dual-app viewing mode for the next version of iOS - iOS 9 - to be unveiled as early as WWDC. Furthermore, the Cupertino giant is supposedly working on 12-inch iPad tablets codenamed J98 and J99 - and more commonly called iPad Pro. To top it all of, Apple might be adding support for multi-user logins.

♠If you recall, Apple was supposed to introduce the multi-window support in iOS 8 but it was a no-go at launch because it reportedly lacked the polish. Moving forward, a report by 9to5Mac suggests (9to5Mac LINK) that Apple is planning to introduce the split-screen mode in 1/2, 1/3, and 2/3 views depending on the apps. Apart from showcasing two different apps at the same time, the screen can also show two or more views of the same app. However, 9to5Mac's sources claim that the feature might still not make it to a reveal at WWDC because it might need more polish.

♣Another rumoured software feature - the multi-user login support - will allow individual users to have their own set of apps, documents and media for consumption on their user ID. However, this feature is unlikely to be showcased at WWDC and it could be added as an update to .1 or .2 upgrade of iOS 9.

The alleged iPad Pro, codenamed J98 (Wi-Fi only) and J99 (LTE), will apparently be an elongated iPad Air 2, save for the extra speaker holes. This new iPad is rumoured to include USB 3.0 support.

Oppo R7 and R7 Plus With 3GB of RAM, Snapdragon 615 SoC Launched

Oppo on Thursday launched its R7 (seen below) and R7 Plus (seen above) smartphones at a dedicated event in Beijing, China, priced at CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 25,700) and CNY 2,999 (roughly Rs. 30,900) respectively. The smartphones are currently available for pre-orders from JD.com and Oppostyle websites. While the R7 is said to go on sale in mid-June, the R7 Plus is said to go on sale in August. No details about global availability were provided, though the company has listed the phones on its global site.

Design-wise, the smartphones sport a metallic unibody with chamfered sides. A 2.5D glass covers the front panel, while the rear features what the firm calls 'violin arc' design. The R7 sports three physical capacitive keys - back, home and menu, while the R7 Plus includes on-screen buttons. The R7 Plus additionally comes with a fingerprint sensor placed on its rear panel.

Both the handsets feature the same set of specifications except the Android version, screen size, inbuilt storage space, battery capacity, and Wi-Fi connectivity. While R7 runs Android 4.4 KitKat-based ColorOS 2.1, sports a 5-inch full-HD AMOLED display, includes 16GB of inbuilt storage, is backed by a 2320mAh battery, offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, the R7 Plus runs Android 5.1 Lollipop-based ColorOS 2.1, equips a 6-inch full-HD AMOLED display, features 32GB of inbuilt storage, is backed by a 4100mAh battery, and offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac connectivity. Both come with an option to expand the inbuilt storage via microSD card (up to 128GB). Also, the two 4G LTE-enabled handsets will be available in Gold and Silver colour options.


Both dual-SIM (Micro-SIM and Nano-SIM) supporting Oppo R7 and R7 Plus are 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 (quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 1GHz Cortex-A53) processor, 3GB RAM, Adreno 305 GPU, 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and ISOCELL image sensor technology, and 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.4 aperture. According to the firm, the handsets using the Pure Image 2.0+ technology can create an Ultra-HD 50-megapixel resolution images. Oppo also claims the rear camera to launch in 0.7 seconds and take 0.1 seconds for auto-focusing.

While the Oppo R7 measures 143x71x6.3 mm and weighs 147 grams, the bigger Oppo R7 Plus measures 158.18x82.3x7.75 mm and weighs 203 grams. Both equip VOOC flash charging technology, which is rated to deliver two hours of talk time in five minutes of charging and charge the handset by 75 percent in 30 minutes.

iBall Slide i701 With 7-Inch Display, Windows 8.1 Launched at Rs. 4,999

iBall on Tuesday launched its latest tablet in the Indian market - the iBall Slide i701, at Rs. 4,999. The domestic brand is calling it the 'world's most economical Windows tablet," and says it will be available across leading retail stores and e-commerce portals from Thursday.

The iBall Slide i701 runs Windows 8.1 out-of-the-box, but the company says the tablet will be upgradeable to Windows 10 when it's launched later this year. It comes with a 1-year Microsoft Office subscription, and 1TB of free OneDrive cloud storage.

Featuring a 7-inch HD (resolution unspecified) IPS display, the iBall Slide i701 is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom (model, clock speed unspecified) SoC coupled with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. It comes with 16GB of built-in storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB).

The Slide i701 tablet sports a 2-megapixel rear camera with flash, and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. Featuring a 3200mAh battery, the tablet also sports connectivity such as an HDMI port, USB with OTG functionality, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, as well as 3G via USB dongle.

iBall notes the Slide i701 will come with brand ambassador Kareena Kapoor's autograph on the rear panel, a free HDMI cable worth Rs. 699, and three interchangeable protective covers worth Rs. 599.

Lenovo S60 With 5-Megapixel Front Camera Launched at Rs. 12,999

Lenovo India has launched a new S-series smartphone, the S60, priced at Rs. 12,999.
The Lenovo S60 smartphone will be available via the company's brand store, thedostore.com alongside Flipkart and Amazon starting Monday.

The dual-SIM based Lenovo S60 runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Vibe 2.0 UI on top. The company in a press statement confirms that the handset is upgradeable to Android 5.0 Lollipop; though no time-frame for the release of the update has been announced.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 to come in Home, Mobile, Pro, Enterprise, Education editions

Microsoft is all set to launch Windows 10 in the next couple of months in around 190 countries in 111 languages, although no fixed date has been announced yet. There will be various editions of Windows 10 according to the use cases. The editions announced include Windows 10 Home, Mobile, Pro, Enterprise, Mobile Enterprise, Education. Let us take a look at each of these editions.

Windows 10 Home edition will be the consumer facing edition which will be seen on most desktop PCs, laptops and 2-in-1s. The Home edition will support voice-assistant Cortana, Windows Edge web browser as well as Windows Hello face recognition, iris scanner and fingerprint login for various Windows apps such as Photos, Maps, Mail, Calendar, Music and Video.

For the business users, you have the Windows 10 Pro edition, which has all the features of the Home edition plus additional features such as device management, security features, cloud features ideal for smaller businesses. For medium and large size organisations there is Windows 10 Enterprise edition which builds up upon the Windows 10 Pro. Apart from providing security features, Windows 10 Enterprise also has a broad range of options for operating system deployment and comprehensive device and app management.

On the mobile front, you get Windows 10 Mobile edition which is the new name for Windows Phone OS and the Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise edition. As the name implies, Windows 10 Mobile is meant for use on mobile phones, tablets and other touch-centric devices. It will support Windows Universal apps which are there on Windows 10 Home edition along with a touch-optimised version of Office. Windows 10 Mobile will also offer Continuum for phone which will let users use multiple devices seamlessly. Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise is the mobile arm of the Windows 10 Enterprise edition. Just like the desktop version, the Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise will also incorporate the latest security and innovation features on the mobile devices.

Windows 10 Education is a new edition which builds upon Windows 10 Enterprise and is designed for use in schools among staff, administrators, teachers and students. “This edition will be available through academic Volume Licensing, and there will be paths for schools and students using Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro devices to upgrade to Windows 10 Education,” mentions the Windows Blog.

“Because we have built Windows 10 to be delivered as a service, this milestone is just the beginning of the new generation of Windows. Starting this fall, customers can expect ongoing innovation and security updates for their Windows 10 devices, including more advanced security and management capabilities for businesses,” said Tony Prophet on the Windows Blog.

Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Pro will be available as a free upgrade, for the first year, for existing genuine users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices. There are no pricing plans announced for use after one year.

Xolo Chromebook, Nexian Air Chromebook Laptops Launched at Rs. 12,999

Xolo and Nexian on Friday at a Google India event launched their first Chromebook laptops in the country at a price tag of Rs. 12,999. While the Xolo Chromebook will arrive in the "next few days" on Snapdeal according to the firm, the Nexian Air Chromebook laptop is already available to buy from Amazon.

The Xolo Chromebook features 11.6-inch display with 200 nit brightness, an unknown resolution and is powered by a Rockchip 3288 processor clubbed with ARM Mali 760 quad-core GPU and 2GB of RAM. Featuring a 16GB eMMC storage, the laptop includes a HD (720x1280 pixels) resolution webcam for recording videos and video chatting. Connectivity features of the Xolo Chromebook include two USB 2.0 ports, SD card reader, HDMI, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Xolo claims that its Chromebook can run for up to 10 hours on a single charge. The laptop measures 290x205x17.9mm and weighs 1.15 kgs.

Xolo Prime With 4.5-Inch Display, Android 5.0 Lollipop Launched at Rs. 5,699

Xolo on Thursday on launched a new Android 5.0 Lollipop-based budget handset in India, the Xolo Prime. Priced at Rs. 5,699, the smartphone is set to compete with the Micromax Canvas Spark, a recently launched budget smartphone also running Android 5.0 Lollipop. The Xolo Prime is said to soon be available at retail outlets across in India.

The Xolo Prime is a dual-SIM supporting smartphone that features a 4.5-inch IPS display with (480x854 pixels) resolution and a pixel density of 218ppi. The handset is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582M processor clubbed with 1GB of RAM and Mali 400 MP GPU.

The smartphone includes 8GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded via microSD card (up to 32GB). The handset also features a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash, and 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. The Xolo Prime is backed by a 1800mAh battery, rated to deliver up to 20.8 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 10 hours on 3G, apart from up to 500 hours of standby time on 2G and 400 hours on 3G.

The 'World's First $9 Microcomputer' "Meet Chip"

Next Thing, the company that launched OTTO (a hackable gif camera) last year, is now back on Kickstarter with its $9 (approximately Rs. 575) microcomputer, called Chip.
The Chip is an Open Hardware microcomputer of the type popularised by the Raspberry Pi, with a single circuit board the size of a credit card and no screen or keyboard; though it can be connected to a monitor and keyboard and put to use. The company touts that the Chip is the "world's first $9 computer". At the time of writing, the Kickstarter campaign of Next Thing had crossed the $50,000 (approximately Rs. 32 lakh) goal and was around $620,000 (approximately Rs. 4 crore) mark.

For a pledge of $9, backers will get the Chip microcomputer single circuit board and is expected to start shipping in December this year. Backers can opt for an optional VGA adaptor or HDMI adaptor by shelling out extra $19 and $25 respectively. Both optional adaptors are expected to start shipping in May next year. Importantly, the Chip unlike other similar microcomputers comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity built-in.

It's worth noting that Next Thing's plan is not just limited to the Chip and extends to the PocketChip (see above), which makes the single circuit board portable. It features a 4.3-inch (272x470 pixels) touchscreen with resistive touch; QWERTY keyboard; 5 hour battery backup with a 3000mAh battery, and sports a rugged injection molded shell. Backers will have to pledge for $49 to get the PocketChip, which is also expected to start shipping worldwide May next year.

Some of the key specifications of Chip microcomputer include 1GHz Allwinner 'R8' A13 processor; Mali-400 GPU; 512MB of RAM (DDR3); 4GB of built-in storage; a USB port; a Micro-USB port with OTG functionality support; a microphone jack that doubles as a composite video-out; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0. The Chip also comes preloaded with various open source software including the LibreOffice, for working on documents; Chromium browser, to surf the web, and Scratch, a coding tool to learn the basics of programming by making stories, games, and animations. It is based on an open source operating system.

Explaining the motive behind Chip, Dave Rauchwerk, one of Next Thing's founders, told DIY publication Make, "The $9 becomes really interesting when lots of people can help make it awesome. We wanted to find a way to not only give everyone access to it but to give them the ability to participate in this process of developing it."

"Success for us is them seeing what we've done and being excited about it and backing it,"  Rauch werk added.

Next Thing's Chip microcomputer is seen as a direct competitor to Raspberry Pi 2 Model B priced at $35, which was launched in February.

Xiaomi Mi 5, Mi 5 Plus Specifications and Availability Details Tipped

New details about Xiaomi's upcoming flagship, believed to be called the Mi 5, have surfaced on the Internet via Weibo (China's equivalent of Twitter). According to the new leaked details, the Xiaomi Mi 4 successor might be unveiled in July.
The latest leak also adds an element of surprise claiming that a bigger variant of the Xiaomi Mi 5 might be also revealed, purportedly dubbed Xiaomi Mi 5 Plus. The leak even claims that the Mi 5 Plus will be unveiled alongside the Mi 5 in July.

Gizmochina via Weibo has also received some purported specifications of the Mi 5 and Mi 5 Plus. According to the leaked specifications, the Mi 5 will feature a 5.2-inch display; a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor; 3GB or 4GB of RAM; a 16-megapixel rear camera, and a 3,000mAh battery.

The new leaked details, contradicting a report that surfaced last week, claimed that the Xiaomi Mi 5 will not sport fingerprint scanner. Preliminary leaks have suggested the Mi 5's screen resolution will be QHD (1440x2560 pixels).

The Xiaomi Mi 5 Plus, on the other hand, is expected to feature a 6-inch 2K display with a design sporting nearly bezel-less display. Other specifications include 4GB of RAM, 32GB of inbuilt storage, and a 16-megapixel rear camera, likely to be same as the Mi 5.

Some of the other anticipated Mi 5 specifications that were revealed in previous leaks tip the smartphone will come in 16GB/64GB built-in storage models, and will sport an 8-megapixel front camera.