HIGHLIGHTS Digmine malware said to only affect Messenger’s desktop, Web versions Digmine was first observed in South Korea It has since spread to Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries A new cryptocurrency-mining bot, named “Digmine”, that was first observed in South Korea, is spreading fast through Facebook Messenger across the world, Tokyo-headquartered cyber-security major Trend Micro has warned. After South Korea, it has since spread in Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Philippines, Thailand, and Venezuela. It is likely to reach other countries soon, given the way it propagates. Facebook Messenger works across different platforms but Digmine only affects the Messenger’s desktop or Web browser (Chrome) version. If…
Author: Loknath Das
WhatsApp support for these platforms was supposed to end in June, but was deferred to December 31 HIGHLIGHTS WhatsApp won’t work on BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8.0 come year-end There appear to be no extensions of previous announcements WhatsApp will stop working on Nokia S40 on December 31, 2018 WhatsApp’s farewell note for 2017 is not good news for some smartphone users. WhatsApp will stop working on devices running BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older from December 31, 2017. The WhatsApp blog post with end-of-life dates clearly mentions that users of BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older operating…
HIGHLIGHTS The Steam Winter Sale 2017 sees deep discounts on games like GTA V It ends at 11pm IST on January 4, 2018 Every game on sale will have the same discount through its duration The Steam Winter Sale 2017 is now live. As usual, there are deep discounts on a host of games. Like recent sales, there’s a single discounted price for each game through the duration of the sale. This time, the Steam Winter Sale 2017 ends on January 4, 2018 at 11pm IST. Here’s what you should check out. Best Steam Winter Sale 2017 deals GTA V – the…
HIGHLIGHTS Strategy game Civilization VI is now on iPad It released on PC last year There are no plans for an Android or iPhone release Civilization VI is now available on the App Store. The 2016 PC strategy game is playable on the iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, or any iPad Pro running iOS 11. Civilization VI iOS price is Rs. 2,300 in India and $29.99 in the US. This however, will be bumped up to Rs. 4,600 in India and $60 in the US after 11:59pm PST on January 4 (1:29pm IST on January 5). Civilization VI iPad download size is around 3.1GB.…
HIGHLIGHTS PUBG’s second Xbox One patch is now out Initial impressions suggest a smoother experience Another patch is on the way early next year PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) for the Xbox One and Xbox One X has got its second patch. The PUBG Xbox One patch download size is 4.36GB. Fixes include weapon recoil reduction, UI modifications, and what’s being referred to as ‘continued performance optimisations’. Initial impressions suggest that the new PUBG Xbox One patch has resulted in a smoother experience and slightly better visual fidelity. “The team will continue to evaluate areas for improvement, whether its client and server optimisations or…
France’s data privacy watchdog may fine messaging app WhatsApp if it does not comply with an order to bring its sharing of user data with parent company Facebook into line with French privacy law. The French data protection authority – CNIL – said on Monday it had told WhatsApp to comply with the order within one month, and pay particular attention to obtaining users’ consent. If WhatsApp does not comply it could sanction the company, the watchdog said. The CNIL said WhatsApp did not have the legal basis to share user data with Facebook and had violated its obligation to cooperate with the French…
HIGHLIGHTS Likes, shares, and comments can be used as engagement bait This engagement previously gamed Facebook’s News Feed Now, Facebook will demote those pages that repeatedly use this bait Facebook is finally taking stern action against “engagement bait”, where publishers beg users to vote, like or share a post in the hopes of bumping it to the top of people’s News Feeds by manipulating the social networking site’s algorithms. Such posts will neither be gone forever, nor be banned, but the California-headquartered company said it will now demote these posts in the News Feed. Posts which prompt users to, for example…
HIGHLIGHTS Facebook will recognise if a blocked contact has created a new account Users can now ignore messages, moving them to Filtered Messages Facebook says women, journalists will benefit most from the features To prevent harassment on Facebook, the social media giant has introduced new tools that keep unwanted friend requests and messages from reaching you. The new features proactively recognise and help prevent unwanted contact when someone you blocked sets up a new account or tries to contact you from another account they control, said Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety at Facebook in a statement on Tuesday. ALSO SEEFacebook to Notify Users…
It’s been a shockingly packed year for great new video games. Over the course of the last 12 months, it seemed like there was never really a pause, or a moment when there wasn’t something interesting to play. To celebrate, this week Verge staff will be publishing essays on their favorite releases of the year, the games that spoke to us personally. Expect to see a new one each morning, culminating in a list of our collective 15 favorite games of 2017 on Friday. You can keep up with it all right here. Playing Horizon Zero Dawn for the first time was a good reminder…
Here are all the most important video game releases of 2017. 2017 was a really incredible year for video games. Some big surprising indie hits joined a resurgence from Nintendo. Brand new AAA games came out from beloved studios taking a risk on new franchises, and long-running series saw new entries that were almost total overhauls of what came before. Here are the seven most important video games of 2017. 1. PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) – Bluehole Perhaps the most important game of 2017 was one that nobody saw coming. PUBG took a lot of ideas from the PC survival genre and created…