A big change could be coming to your Instagram feed

Instagram users, you might want to sit down. Instagram may soon be messing with your timeline, showing photos not based on chronological order, but based on popularity and other social signals.

In other words, your Instagram could soon be curated in a way similar to Facebook's News Feed. The move, which comes about a month after Twitter started new timeline experiments, was first reported by The New York Times.

With a userbase of almost 400 million users, Instagram has remained one of the few social networks that shows content in a strictly chronological manner. With the exception of sponsored posts — which are interspersed in your feed based on various cues — what you see in Instagram is reflective of the now.

The Times reports that Instagram is going to start testing a change to that system, using algorithms to help determine what you need to see when you open up the app. What you see first could be determined by your interaction history with a user, the time of day and the popularity of the photo.

In the Times report, Instagram co-founder CEO Kevin Systrom said that users miss about 70% of the posts in their feeds and that "this is about is making sure that the 30% you see is the best 30% possible."

Still, we can imagine that users won't necessarily love the fact that they no longer control the order in which they are shown photos. Facebook faced backlash for its algorithmic take on the News Feed back in 2009 and Twitter has faced backlash for its attempts to switch-up its Timeline in recent months. In the case of Facebook, users ended up relenting and accepting the new reality (as users almost always do when Facebook makes a sudden change).

Instagram's other co-founder, CTO Mike Krieger, told The Times that the change to Instagram might not be as big of a deal to users because its feed is made up of photos and users often follow people from all over the world.

Even though change is coming, don't freak out too much quite yet. Systrom told The Times that the rollout will take time and that proper testing will go into perfecting the experience. "It's not like people will wake up tomorrow and have a different Instagram," he said.

That's a good thing. Still, just the announcement of this kind of change is sure to spark reactions. Tell us what you think in the comments.

Articles and images source from Mashable.

Get to know the Galaxy S7's Always On Display

According to Samsung, the average smartphone owner checks his or her device nearly 150 times a day: A quick press of the power button to view the time here, and double tap not the screen to view notifications there, apparently adds up fast.

Samsung's solution for this obsessive checking and waking our smartphones is through a feature it calls Always-On Display.

As the name implies, Samsung's latest Galaxy devices are equipped with the fancy new feature.

After locking your device, the screen will remain dimly lit. The default setting is to display the current time, with the information moving around on the screen every few seconds. Alerts for missed calls and text messages are also placed on the screen, with a few caveats (more on that in a minute).

The basics

The easiest way to familiarize yourself with the feature is to dive into its settings. On your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, open the Settings app, tap on Display and Wallpaper followed by Always On Display.

At the top of the settings screen, you'll find the option to disable the feature altogether.

Select the Content to show from the list, to display a drop-down menu with three options: Clock, Calendar and Image.

If you opted for a clock or calendar, you can then further change the look by tapping on the respective clock or calendar style button. There are a total of eight different clocks, ranging from basic digital and analog clocks to a dual-clock view. Additionally, clock users can set a background image for the clock on the display.

There are two different calendar options, both of which include a digital clock.

Selecting Image turns the feature into a screensaver-like feature you would expect on a computer and not a smartphone. Currently there are three different images included on the S7.

Play around with the various items and background images to find something that works best for you.

Further customization is possible

Samsung's theme store for the Galaxy S7 offers themes that include a custom Always On Display image. Currently, when you open the theme store (Settings > Themes on your S7) the first category are "AOD" themes, which is the acronym for Always-On Demand.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that you can download just the AOD portion of a theme. Instead, you'll need to download and apply the entire theme. Adding to the disappointment is that you can't set an AOD image or clock from one theme while using a different theme.

Notifications

Right now, the only notifications that will appear on the screen seem to be from Samsung's own apps. Missed calls, messages and calendar notifications in particular. Meaning, don't expect to see Gmail or Facebook notifications out of the box, hopefully that's a feature added in a future update.

LG's G5 also offers an always-on display, and it supports all alerts, so one has to think Samsung could as well.

What about battery life?

Part of the magic that makes this feature possible is the type of screen used in the Galaxy S7 (AMOLED) and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor. The combination of the two work in tandem to minimize battery usage when the feature is enabled, and should have a minimal impact on overall daily battery life.

Source from CNet.com.

As Apple vs FBI looms, WhatsApp and others look to increase encryption

As the battle between Apple and the FBI heats up over encryption, it's increasingly clear this isn't just about one iPhone. A New York Times article on Saturday reported that the Department of Justice is worried about the encryption on apps such as WhatsApp.

According to The Times, the encryption built into WhatsApp has stymied Justice Department attempts at wiretapping. Even with a judge's wiretap order, WhatsApp's encryption prevents law enforcement from reading or intercepting messages sent on its platform.

This is a problem for the Department of Justice, and it's one without a clear solution. 

This is a problem for the Department of Justice, and it's one without a clear solution. A court could order WhatsApp — which is owned by Facebook — to comply with wiretap orders, but it would face technical and legal challenges.

The problem, at least for the Justice Department, may only be getting tougher.

The Guardian reported on Monday that Facebook, Google and Snapchat are all working to increase their own encryption and privacy in the wake of the Apple vs. FBI showdown.

According to The Guardian, WhatsApp plans on adding encryption to its voice calls in a few weeks. The Guardian says Facebook is also looking at increasing the encryption used for Facebook Messenger.

Snapchat is reportedly also at creating more secure messages, though let's be clear: Snapchat hardly has the best track record with securing user data. Google too is said to be looking at ways use its encryption technology in more places.

Tech companies getting serious about encryption

Last week, Medium's Steven Levy wrote an extraordinary piece chronicling the Crypto Wars from the '90s. Two decades ago, law enforcement and technologists battled over the ideas of encryption.

For a time, it looked like cryptography won, with the Clinton administration basically accepting that for the digital revolution to happen, it would have to happen with crypto.

Standards such as AES-128 (and, later, AES-256), SSL and public keys became part of the tech lexicon and the modern computer security industry was born.

Still, as Levy writes, winning the war doesn't mean everything has been great for consumers (emphasis added):

But here's something that didn't happen: a strong crypto infrastructure that protected our information and privacy. The fact is that while the security industry has boomed, our information really isn't much safer than it was when we were fighting the first crypto war. This is because the tech world has been slow to build strong encryption into our systems as a default. It's been too hard to use, and all too often businesses and institutions don't even take obvious steps to secure data. Chronic lapses in our communications software and disasters happen on almost a daily basis.

We simply haven't used our capabilities to make our electrical grids, our credit card systems, and our ISPs bulletproof. As a result, the public has not fully reaped the spoils from winning that first crypto war.

But slowly but surely, that has been changing. Maybe it's the public realization that so much of our data is now stored on the cloud. Or perhaps it's the increase in hacks that leave private information vulnerable.

Whatever the reason, even before the most recent Apple vs. FBI nonsense, we've seen tech companies start to get more serious about building better encryption into their products.

If companies want consumers to trust them with their data, they increasingly have to prove that they are capable of protecting that data. And that's possible with encryption.

Which of course, is the big rub for law enforcement.

Two decades ago, the government agreed that the promises of the Clipper Chip — a chip that was designed to protect communications except if there was a government request for access — were simply infeasible (the Clipper Chip project was dropped in 1996 after its encryption technology was hacked). Today, it does seem that we're having similar conversations, although the stakes are different.

What's next

If Google, Facebook, Snapachat, Apple and other companies do continue to add better encryption to their platforms by default — and it seems like that is absolutely going to happen — we're going to have to have a much broader discussion in Congress about encryption and its role.

There aren't easy answers, and in a perfect world there could be concessions both sides make that balance the underlying challenges of personal information security versus homeland security.

But for now, it will be interesting to see how law enforcement handles the reality that the tools we use to communicate are going to be more and more difficult to intercept.

This article and image source from Mashable.

Google Maps on iOS now lets you make pit stops along your driving route

Google is finally updating its Maps iOS app with one of the services most useful features.

Google Maps on iOS will now allow you to add extra stops along your route without leaving the directions to your final destination. The feature first launched on Google Maps' Android app in October and is beginning to roll out to the iOS app on Monday.

Once the feature is live, you'll see a magnifying glass icon in the upper-right hand corner of the app, which allows you to browse restaurants, gas stations and other points of interests along your route. Select a place you want to stop at and Maps will redirect you to that location — and then automatically gets you back on the road to your final destination.

In addition to the nearby restaurants and businesses, you can also manually search for a specific place to stop at or search for a location with voice commands. Search results also display ratings and how long the detour will take. If the stop is very close to your route, for example, it may say "quick detour"; if it's farther away, it will list how many extra minutes the stop will take.

The feature is beginning to roll out now to all the countries where Google Maps supports navigation.

Source : Mashable.

Samsung's Android flagships get February security update

Samsung has begun rolling out Android’s February security update for all of its recent flagships. The release is currently reaching unlocked units in most markets, and should be available to those branded by carriers soon.

The updates are available for the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Note 5, according to SamMobile — and they’re currently rolling out in markets throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

This is the same security update that Google rolled out to its own Nexus smartphones at the beginning of the month, and it’s a pretty significant one as far as security updates go, fixing ten security loopholes and seven major vulnerabilities.

“There’s also a dedicated patch for the faulty Qualcomm Wi-Fi drivers and a repair for a critical error that could have allowed remote access to a device by way of a simple text message,” adds SamMobile.

If you own one of the handsets listed above and it is unlocked, it is recommended that you install this update as soon as you can. You should get a notification when it’s available, but you can search for it manually from the software update section in the Settings app.

If your handset is carrier branded, keep your eyes peeled for the update’s arrival soon.

Source : Technobuffalo.

Google Exec Posts Photos Taken With Nexus 10

Google's Vic Gundotra is having a nice time trying out some new hardware during his beach vacation. At least that's the view from his profile on Google+, where he posted two pictures taken with something called the "Nexus 10."

There currently is no product with that name, but it's been rumored that Google will introduce a new Nexus tablet at the company's event on Monday morning. Also, Korean site Seeko on Thursday posted images of what appears to be a manual for the tablet.

The photos Gundotra posted have a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 (3.1 megapixels), but that's simply the maximum resolution for photos uploaded to Google+ via the service's instant upload, and not necessarily the resolution of the camera on board the device. 

This isn't the first time Gundotra — Google's senior vice president of engineering who and the key executive behind Google+ — has tipped a new product or service on his Google+ feed. Earlier this month he posted a photo taken with Snapseed, an app made by Nik software, which Google acquired last month. But the Snapseed app for iOS didn't have the ability to export to Google+. Sure enough, an Android preview appeared last week (and has been taken down).

At Google's Monday event, the company is expected to reveal the Nexus 10 tablet — a larger version of its Nexus 7 tablet — along with Android 4.2 "Key Lime Pie" software. There may also be a new Nexus smartphone made by LG.

This Article Source From Mashable.