Suvastu Tech

                                  WhatsApp users will now be able to make group video and voice calls, the online messaging app announced via its blog on Monday. "We're excited to announce that group calls for voice and video are coming to WhatsApp starting today," the organisation said. "You can make a group call with up to four people total — anytime and anywhere. Just start a one-on-one voice or video call and tap the new 'add participant' button in the top right corner to add more contacts to the call," WhatsApp explained. The calls are end-to-end encrypted and the feature will be available to Android and iOS users, it added.

NEW YORK: Cracking down on hate, abuse and online trolls is also hur­ting Twitter’s standing with investors. The company’s stock plunged on Friday morning after it reported a decline in its monthly users and warned that the number could fall further in the coming months. The more than 17 per cent drop in share value at the opening bell comes one day after Facebook lost 19pc of its value its worst trading day since Facebook went public in 2012. Twitter says it’s putting the long-term stability of its platform above user growth. That leaves investors seemingly unable to value what the biggest companies in the sector, which rely on their potential user reach, are worth. Twitter had 335 million monthly users in the quarter, below the 339 million Wall Street was expecting, and down slightly from 336 million in the first quarter. That overshadowed a strong monthly user growth of 3pc compared with the previous year. The company said its monthly user number could continue ...

The blood moon rises behind the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi Skywatchers are being treated to the longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21st Century. As it rises, during this total eclipse, Earth's natural satellite turns a striking shade of red or ruddy brown The "totality" period, when light from the Moon is totally obscured, will last for one hour, 43 minutes. At least part of the eclipse is visible from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, most of Asia and South America. People set up telescopes to witness the rare lunar eclipse in Taiwan In the UK, clouds permitting, the Moon will appear entirely red - fully eclipsed by Earth - from when it rises at 21:00 to 22:15 BST. On the same night and over the coming days, Mars will be at its closest point to Earth since 2003 - visible as a "bright red star" where skies are clear. Why will the eclipse last so long? The Moon passes right through the centre...

                  ISLAMABAD: The longest total lunar eclipse of century, called `Blood Moon’ would occur on July 27, (Friday) expected to last one hour and 43 minutes, and would be visible in Europe, major part of Asia including Pakistan, Australia, Africa, South of North America, South America, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic ocean, Indian ocean and Antarctica. Spokesman for Met Office, Dr. Khalid M Malik said the eclipse would start at 2215 hours on Friday night which would turn into partial eclipse at 2324 hours while the total eclipse would be held at 1230 hours. However, the greatest eclipse would start at 0123 hours on Saturday and continue till 0215 hours, which would turn into partial eclipse at 0319 hours and end at 0429 hours turning moon light in its normal condition. During Blood Moon, it turned deep red or reddish brown during eclipses, instead of going completely dark. It is because some of the sunlight going through Earth’s at...

                                      WASHINGTON: Fossils unearthed on a hillside in northwestern China are forcing scientists to rethink the history of a dinosaur lineage that produced the largest animals ever to walk the planet. Scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of Lingwulong shenqi, an early member of the well-known group of plant-eating dinosaurs called sauropods with long necks, long tails, small heads and pillar-like legs. Lingwulong lived 174 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. Its name means “amazing dragon from Lingwu,” the closest city to the site where a farmer spotted the fossils while herding sheep. The scientists excavated bones from at least eight to 10 Lingwulong individuals, the largest of which was about 57 feet (17.5 meters) long, said paleontologist Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the study published in the jour...

BEIJING: Facebook has set up a subsidiary in China with registered capital of $30 million, a filing on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System showed. The filing listed Facebook Hongkong Ltd and no other entities as a shareholder. Facebook’s application for the subsidiary was approved on July 18, according to a filing seen by Reuters on Tuesday, but it was not clear when the filing was published. The subsidiary’s operations will include network information technology development and related services, investment consultancy and marketing planning, the filing said without elaborating further.

BEIJING: A leading Chinese digital solutions provider has shown tremendous interest to explore Pakistani market for investment and business through the joint ventures with famous local IT companies. “If the future cooperation with local distributors goes smoothly, we would set up our business office in Pakistan to become a partner of local IT companies to achieve business innovation and industrial upgrades” International Business Leader of the Belt and Road Working Group, New H3C Group, Jason told APP in an exclusive interview here on Sunday. He said, in the beginning, we want to supply switches, routers and other ICT appliances together with leading companies in Pakistan. And we can design and manufacture customized products for Pakistan leading companies. Being the data centers of famous IT companies globally, it provides a full range of computing, storage, networking and security under its digital solutions infrastructure. The company also provides complete ...

THE European Union slapped Google with a $5 billion fine on Wednesday, alleging that the tech giant has acted in an uncompetitive manner by pre-loading apps and its services, such as Google search and the Chrome browser, onto Android phones. But as the specifics of the complaint are being pored over, it’s not clear how this will affect the more than two billion people across the globe who use Google’s Android operating system every month. At least in the short term, consumers won’t see many changes to the phones in their pockets. For one, the complaint gives Google 90 days to change its practices in Europe. Also, Google has said it will appeal the decision. If Google is unsuccessful, then there could be some noticeable differences. On a small scale, this ruling could change what apps are installed when Europeans pick up a new phone from the store. What is installed by default is a big part of the EU’s complaint, which objects specifically to the automatic installation of...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla: NASA is preparing to send a probe closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft has ventured, enduring wicked heat while zooming through the solar corona to study this outermost part of the stellar atmosphere that gives rise to the solar wind. The Parker Solar Probe, a robotic spacecraft the size of a small car, is slated to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with Aug. 6 targeted as the launch date for the planned seven-year mission. It is set to fly into the Sun’s corona within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the solar surface, seven times closer than any other spacecraft. “To send a probe where you haven’t been before is ambitious. To send it into such brutal conditions is highly ambitious,” Nicola Fox, a project scientist from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, told a news conference on Friday. The previous closest pass to the Sun was by a probe called Helios 2, which in 1976 came within 27 million miles (43...

NEW DELHI: WhatsApp could face legal action in India if it does not take further steps to tackle the spread of false rumours, the government said Thursday, in fresh criticism of the platform over a spate of lynchings. More than 20 people have been killed by mobs in the past two months across the country after being accused of child kidnapping and other crimes in viral messages circulated on WhatsApp. Under pressure from authorities to end the spread of "fake news", the hugely popular smartphone service has introduced new features to help users identify messages that have been forwarded. But in a strongly worded statement released Thursday, India´s information technology ministry said the action taken was not enough. "Rampant circulation of irresponsible messages in large volumes on their platform have not been addressed adequately by WhatsApp," it said. "When rumours and fake news get propagated by mischief-mongers, the medium used for ...

WASHINGTON - With its head and snout covered in bony armor shaped like cones and pyramids, a spiky tank-like dinosaur unearthed in southern Utah was not just another pretty face. Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of fossils of a dinosaur named Akainacephalus johnsoni that lived 76 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. It was a four-legged, armor-studded plant-eater with a menacing club at the end of its tail. It was a member of a dinosaur group called ankylosaurs, among the most heavily armored animals ever on Earth - and for good reason, considering the predators around at the time. The unique shape and arrangement of its head and snout armor may be its most intriguing trait, the researchers said, giving clues about the Asian ancestry of some of the ankylosaurs that roamed western North America near the end of the dinosaur era. “Someone once told me that Akainacephalus, and ankylosaurs in general, were quite ugly and had a face only a moth...

Menlo Park, United States: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has found himself at the center of a fresh row after saying the social network should not prohibit posts which deny the Holocaust. In a podcast interview with tech website Recode on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that while Facebook was dedicated to stopping the spread of fake news, certain beliefs that were sincerely held would not be taken down. After the remarks caused a backlash on social media, he was forced to backtrack, saying if any post advocated violence or hate against a group, it would be removed. The controversy began when Zuckerberg provided an unprompted example of Holocaust deniers to Recode host Kara Swisher to make a point about allowing hoaxes to be published on the site. He said that messages accusing victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting of being liars would be taken down for harassment, but added that not all factually incorrect posts would receive the same treatment. ...

Facebook on Wednesday built on its campaign to prevent the platform from being used to spread dangerous misinformation, saying it will remove bogus posts likely to spark violence. The new tactic being spread through the global social network was tested in Sri Lanka, which was recently rocked by inter-religious friction over false information posted on the world's leading online social network. “There are certain forms of misinformation that have contributed to physical harm, and we are making a policy change which will enable us to take that type of content down,” a Facebook spokesman said after a briefing on the policy at the company's campus in Silicon Valley. “We will be begin implementing the policy during the coming months.” For example, Facebook may remove inaccurate or misleading content, such as doctored photos, created or shared to stir up to ignite volatile situations in the real world. The social network said it is partnering with local organizat...

KARACHI: Just a week before the crucial elections in Pakistan, WhatsApp has stepped in with a major public awareness campaign ‘Together We Can Fight False Information’ to combat fake news. The top messaging app has published advertisements in newspapers detailing the steps users can follow to identify false news circulating in the groups. The issue of fake news has emerged as a new challenge for the media and governments across the world with many enacting new laws to combat the menace. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, WhatsApp has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users (MAUs) who exchange nearly 60 billion messages on a single day. In India, at least 22 people have been killed by mobs this year following fake rumours of child kidnapping and other crimes spread via WhatsApp. Here in Pakistan too, the issue has attained importance amid the heightened political tension due to polls scheduled for July 25. Here are 10 easy tips to help you decid...

As Pakistan heads to the polls, most of the parties are making campaign pledges to improve access to education for girls. One of the major players, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has said that it would ensure equal access for women to education as well as health and employment. Earlier this year, Nobel Prize winner and champion of female education Malala Yousafzai went back to her home town after years away from the country . Malala was shot in the head in 2012 by the Pakistani Taliban, who had begun a violent campaign to force the closure of hundreds of schools. Twitter post by @Malala Proud of students especially girls from my hometown Swat showing their talent in science. Well done! @udhyaana #SwatScienceFestival pic.twitter.com/eU0Mp2KLdG — Malala (@Malala) April 17, 2018 Her charitable organisation, the Malala Fund, has built schools to help hundreds of young girls access education so that "every girl can learn and lead". But are th...

Google has been fined 2.42bn euros ($2.7bn; £2.1bn) by the European Commission after it ruled the company had abused its power by promoting its own shopping comparison service at the top of search results. The amount is the regulator's largest penalty to date against a company accused of distorting the market . The ruling also orders Google to end its anti-competitive practices within 90 days or face a further penalty. The US firm said it may appeal. However, if it fails to change the way it operates the Shopping service within the three-month deadline, it could be forced to make payments of 5% of its parent company Alphabet's average daily worldwide earnings. Based on the company's most recent financial report , that amounts to about $14m a day. The commission said it was leaving it to Google to determine what alterations should be made to its Shopping service rather than specifying a remedy. "What Google has done is illegal un...