If you have registered to the Windows Insider Programme then you will have the access to mirror your Android smartphone to your PC. This can be done via the Your Phone app. In order to use this feature, your PC should have Bluetooth 4.0 which supports Low Energy.
As for now, the screen mirroring feature is available to all Android smartphone which is running on Android 7.0 or newer. The beta testing is only allowed on Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, S9, S9+. If you have any of these range of devices then you can register for the Windows Insider Programme to use this feature.
Recently, Microsoft is continuously upgrading all its product line. Now, we can see that Microsoft is working on adding more people to the Skype video call. As for now, Microsoft already supports maximum limit of 25 people in one Skype video call. Next they are planning to double it from 25 to 50 participants in a single video call. Last year Apple introduced group FaceTime video call which supports maximum limit of 32 people in a single call.
Microsoft has already started rolling out this feature for the beta testers. If you are a beta tester then you can have the access to try this new feature of Skype. Moreover, to manage a large number of participants, Microsoft is will be sending notifications to the participant rather than calling them directly. So, if you wished to answer the video call you may. As it is still on beta phase, we can expect Microsoft to roll out this new feature to the public in the next few months.
Apple has officially sent out the invitation for the 2019 World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). Apple will be having the event in San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center on June 3.
As usual, we can expect Tim Cook will be hosting the event on June 3. The next few days will be the conference for all the developers. According to Apple, this is the 30th year for Apple and they have promised to bring all the worlds most innovative and creative developers to the conference.
Image from Apple Newsroom
What the heck is WWDC?
If some of you might not know about WWDC, here it is. WWDC is the world largest event for the worlds best developers. Every year in the month of June Apple will be having the WWDC. This is the event Apple, will show off their iOS, Mac OS, Tv OS, and Watch OS software. Through this, developers will have a glimpse on whats the next software is and how they can build their apps to support the OS.
Other than that, Apple also might also give a glimpse of the latest devices or hardware. Apple is always good for surprises. They also will be sharing their current sales profit figure to its attendees.
Apple has started to open its tickets sales for their developers. The tickets will be selling from today onwards till March 20. Each ticket is priced at $1599 (RM6540). In order for you to purchase the ticket you have to be registered as paid developer.
We will be covering the live event updates in TechmonQuay. On March 25, Apple will be having its first event of this year. We will be covering both of these event updates on our website. Stay tuned for more updates from us.
This whole week has been the worst week for all the tech giants. First Google services, Gmail and Google Drive faced issues. Then yesterday, Facebook services which included WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus had service outages. Facebook products outage is one of the worst. Many businesses were lost because of the service outage. Today, Apple iCloud had a service outage for almost 3 hours.
According to Apple, most of the iCloud services has been affected such as Photos, Find My iPhone, Mail, iCloud sign in and of course the Backup too. As for now Apple did not provide any information regarding the issue.
The tech giant, Google has finally release the first beta of Android Q. Android Q is the next version of the Android P which stands for Pie. Android OS is the most popular operating system which you can witness it on most of the smartphone. Anyone can download the Android Q beta release for free. However, you might need to own any of the Pixel range devices in order to install Android Q. The software development kit (SDK) is officially available to all developer today onwards.
According to Google, Android Q has more features which are focused on privacy and security. Here is the list of the features.
Location Sharing
The new Android Q prompts the user to give permission on their location if the app needs to use their location. In the previous Android OS, you will be prompted to allow your location. However, now you can set when you would allow the app to use your device location. If you select “Allow all the time”, then your device location will be shared to the app always. Unless if you select the second option, then the app will only get your device location once you open the app only. So if you wish you to stop allowing the app to use your location you can select the third option “Deny”.
Image from Google
Foldable screen
Recently, technology has taken a leap step forward. Two mobile giants Samsung and Huawei, have reveal the new foldable smartphone. Now Google is providing this support for the developers to resize their app screen when the user folds and unfolds their smartphone.
Image from Google
Better privacy and protections
On the new Android Q, the you will have more control over apps that access to the shared files. You can decide whether you wish to give access to the app to access your Photos and Videos. Where as for the Download folder, you can decide whether the app can access the Downloads folder.
Shortcut sharing
The previous Android version, you can share any contents with your friends from another app but it take at least three to four steps to achieve it. Now, with the shortcut sharing you can immediately share the content to your friends by creating a shortcut of your contact. With just one click you can share it to the immediately. If Facebook Messenger updates its Android app, then you can share to your friend in Messenger immediately, without the need of opening the Messenger app. This would be something good which could be very useful to many people.
Image from Google
Apps setting panel
The Android Q allows the developers to have a floating panel inside their app. This will allow them to allow certain specific functions which are very useful for the user who uses the app. For instance, the browser settings panel will have the connectivity setting which is related to the browser such as turning on WiFi or turning on your mobile data. With these improvements, you would not have to switch to your Settings from your app.
Image from Google
Better WiFi performance mode
There is a new setting added into the Android Q specifically for mobile phone gamers. Now, you can request for high-performance with low latency modes for your wireless connections. If you are using your voice call mostly, this feature will be suitable for you.
Dynamic depth for photos
Nowadays, the smartphone comes with the depth feature or the “bokeh” effect. It blurs the background of the subject in a photo. Developers can even use this feature to create 3D images easily.
Image from Google
These are the top features which we listed down. There are more features which you can read it from here. Wonders of things can be done with the Android Q. If you own a Google Pixel device and you wish to try the Android Q, click on this link to get started.
If you woke up today in the morning to check both your Instagram and Facebook notifications you might not be able to load your news feed. Yes, you are right!. All Facebook products are down right now. Even it is reported WhatsApp users not able to send files through WhatsApp. These services was being down since 6 hours ago worldwide.
Facebook Outage Map
Instagram Outage Map
WhatsApp Outage Map
Facebook users who own Facebook Pages, you might not be able to access your page also. Even our TechmonQuay Facebook page is still inaccessible. Some of the users were able to load their Facebook News Feed but most of them were not. As we tested, Instagram has a worse experience. We were not able to load the news feed not even the Instagram Stories.
Facebook had taken the chance to respond via Twitter regarding the outage. According to Facebook, this issue is not related to any type of DDoS attack. According to DownDetector, it is clearly can be seen Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is down worldwide. Even Malaysia is severely affected.
We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
We’re aware of an issue impacting people's access to Instagram right now. We know this is frustrating, and our team is hard at work to resolve this ASAP.
We are following closely on the updates from Facebook. We will keep you updated once its fixed.
Update –Facebook services are fully recovered now.
Yesterday, as a result of a server configuration change, many people had trouble accessing our apps and services. We've now resolved the issues and our systems are recovering. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s patience.
In 2018, Google made an announcement that they are working on a new app “Lookout” to help the blind person. It uses AI and machine learning to identify the object through your phone’s camera. This app is almost the same as the Microsoft Seeing AI app which was updated today for iOS. Almost the same features the Lookout has such as reading a text in signs, scanning barcodes, and identifying currencies.
Image from Google
However, as for now, this app is available for the Google Pixel users in the US only. Google soon might release the app to all Android users. According to Google, the app is not 100 percent perfect. It needs feedback from early users. In order to get a better result, Google has suggested the user hang their Pixel device around their neck. Through this way, the camera would be able to identify the object easily.
In this 21st century, we are in a world of vulnerability. Hackers can gain your personal data with just a single click. Sending files to your friends might be intercepted by the hacker if your system is hacked.
Today Mozilla is launching an encrypted file-transfer service “Firefox Send”. This is a web application which is available for the public to use it for free. Two years back this service was launched a pilot service for a certain group of users. You can share your files from your PC to your friends. The file-sharing quota which it allows is 2.5GB. The web application provides end-to-end protection to the user by providing a special link which automatically expires. The main intention is to keep the user’s data as private as possible. Watch the video below to have an overview about the Firefox Send service.
During the pilot test period, Mozilla offered the web-based application only 1GB. In this new release, you can expect the 1GB is provided as free for the user. You have to register to the Firefox account for free. Upon registering yourself, you will be given a quota of 2.5GB of file sharing. Moreover, you can use this web app as an alternative for emails. The web app allows the user to upload the file and then set the expiration period. According to Mozilla, the design was inspired by the Snapchat application. You can set your own password for the uploaded files. Then Mozilla will offer you a link which you can send to the recipient and they can download it without the need of creating a Mozilla account.
However, according to the security experts, you are advisable not to upload your personal information document into the file-sharing service. This is because there is a probability for things to go wrong.
Mozilla is planning to launch the Send beta app next week. Firefox Send is officially available. You may try it out from here.
In 2017 Microsoft released Seeing AI. It is an app which lets the blind person to convert visual data into audio feedback. It is one of the most useful app for the blind person. Today, Microsoft updates the app by adding a feature where the user can use the app in their Photos app. The app mainly uses machine learning to recognize an object or a scene.
Using the app is very simple. You have to open the photos in the viewer first. Then you have to tap on the screen to hear it. One of the best feature added is the app can even describe a personal appearance and their current mood. This is a feature where even the non-blind person should use it. This is being done through the built-in facial recognition of the iPhone. You can tap anywhere on the screen and it will describe whether its an object.
Seeing AI is a free app, where it is really useful for blind users. If you have any of your friends who are blind. Let them know about this app. There are more features included inside the app. It’s a free app which can be downloaded from here.
Looks like Google is focussing in India. Last week, they announced a new YouTube feature to detect fake news. Today Google has announced the major YouTube services such as the YouTube Music and YouTube Premium is officially available in India. In 2017, Google launched the Google Play Music and Google Play Movies service in India.
According to a research, India has the second largest population in this world. Nowadays, most of the musics in India is launched on YouTube mostly. According to Nielsen report, YouTube in India is the most streaming service. Recently, Indian music label T-Series has passed YouTube PewDiePie as the most subscribed channel on YouTube. Telco providers in India such as Jio offers unlimited 4G data for their customers. This allows, each and every Indian to have to opportunity to stream their music from YouTube.
India has many kinds of music streaming platforms such as the most famous JioSaavn and Gaana. Google hopes by introducing Premium YouTube services, they can be the most used music streaming platform in India. Last month, Spotify entered into the Indian music market and this was confirmed by many musicians and composers such as Anirudh Ravichander.
You would not need to pay a lot to use the service. YouTube Music will be free but it contains ads. However, for the Premium YouTube music will cost you 99 rupees per month (RM5.81) and the YouTube Premium is 129 rupees per month (RM7.50). This is considerable super cheap if we consider this in Malaysia. One of the features of YouTube Premium is, you will get to play your videos in the background while using your phone. This is something most of the users wanted to use.
We shall hope Google will soon launch the YouTube premium in Malaysia too. As for now we don’t have this feature in Malaysia yet.
