Tag: WhatsApp
Tech Digest daily roundup: NSPCC says Online Safety Bill must be strengthened
The Government must go further in its Online Safety Bill to better tackle grooming and child abuse, the NSPCC has said in a new report. The children’s charity made the plea in the wake of new data which shows that reports of online child sexual abuse to police have risen by more than a quarter…
Tech Digest daily roundup: WhatsApp announces voice message improvements
WhatsApp announced on Wednesday that it will roll out some improvements to voice messages over the coming weeks, including the ability to listen to a message while reading other chats and play messages at 1.5 or 2 times speed (yes, please, put this feature everywhere). The experience of recording messages is also improving. WhatsApp now lets you pause…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Campaigners challenge government use of WhatsApp
Boris Johnson gets details of vital government business sent to him via WhatsApp, court papers have revealed. The material, from the PM's ministerial "red box", is sent to his phone for "administrative ease", officials say, and does not break the rules. But campaigners challenging "government by WhatsApp" in the High Court say it is a…
Tech Digest: WhatsApp trials in-app cryptocurrency payments
WhatsApp is trialling in-app cryptocurrency payments using the Novi digital wallet, also owned by Meta. The small pilot follows the failure to launch Libra as a global digital currency, meaning the feature is only available for WhatsApp users in Guatemala and the US at the moment. But the long-term aim for Meta is the same. In…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Blue Origin loses NASA court case
Image: A Blue Origin rocket blasts off into space A judge has dismissed Jeff Bezos's private spaceflight company Blue Origin's lawsuit against NASA over the awarding of a moon-landing contract to SpaceX. In a single-page ruling, which Blue Origin has until 18 November to redact before it is released in full, the…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Facebook blames ‘faulty configuration change’ for outage
Facebook has blamed a "faulty configuration change" for an outage that prevented the company's 3.5 billion users from accessing its apps and services, including Whatsapp and Instagram, for nearly six hours. The platforms crashed on Monday afternoon, with users unable to send or receive messages or refresh their news feeds. In a Facebook post after…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Amazon drone deliveries in doubt
Amazon has cut back its Cambridge drone delivery project, shooting down hopes of airborne package drop-offs in the near future. The US technology giant has reportedly slashed up to 100 staff at its Prime Air division, many of them in Cambridge, where the online retailer has been testing unmanned drone deliveries from a secret airfield.…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Oculus pauses Quest 2 sales
Virtual-reality headset-maker Oculus is issuing a recall for the foam padding in its Quest 2 headset, warning it can cause skin irritation. Facebook-owned Oculus said only a "very small percentage" of users were experiencing the problem. But it is offering a free cover - made of silicone - to all Quest 2 owners. Facebook also…
Tech Digest daily round up: Jeff Bezos space flight
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and world's richest man, will today take a historic leap for private space flight when he is blasted into space aboard his New Shepard rocket. The rocket will take off from Blue Origin's Launch Site One in West Texas and take Mr Bezos up 62 miles, above the Karman line…
Tech Digest daily roundup: Pregnant man and multi-racial handshake emojis unveiled.
A pregnant man, a multiracial handshake and a face that cannot bear to watch are some of the emojis that will hit devices over the next year, according to a draft list published by the Unicode Consortium, which approves icons for use. The new emojis, illustrated by Emojipedia to celebrate World Emoji Day on Saturday, all…
