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  • Coronavirus myths flooding your WhatsApp? Here’s what is actually true

    Coronavirus myths flooding your WhatsApp? Here’s what is actually true

    The WhatsApp inbox of almost every Pakistani user has been flooding with myths regarding the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — since first two cases of the disease in the country were confirmed by the government last night.

    While the World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared an emergency following the global outbreak of the novel virus that has so far claimed over 2,700 lives and left around 81,000 others infected, here are some myth busters you need to know while maybe ignoring all those forwarded messages on WhatsApp.

    Does the new coronavirus affect older people, or are younger people also at risk?

    According to the WHO, people of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus. 

    WHO advises people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene.

    Are antibiotics effective in preventing and treating the new coronavirus?

    No, antibiotics do not work against viruses, only bacteria.

    The new coronavirus is a virus and, therefore, antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment. However, if you are hospitalised for the COVID-19, you may receive antibiotics because bacterial co-infection is possible.

    Can eating garlic or putting on sesame oil help prevent coronavirus?

    Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties. However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.

    As for sesame oil, it does not kill the new coronavirus. There are some chemical disinfectants that can kill the 2019-nCoV on surfaces. These include bleach/chlorine-based disinfectants, either solvents, 75% ethanol, peracetic acid and chloroform.

    However, they have little or no impact on the virus if you put them on the skin or under your nose. It can even be dangerous to put these chemicals on your skin.

    Are there any specific medicines to prevent or treat the new coronavirus?

    To date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus, however, chloroquine phosphate — used for the treatment of malaria — has so far proven to be the most effective drug against the virus.

    Those infected with the virus should receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms, and those with severe illness should receive optimised supportive care. Some specific treatments are under investigation, and will be tested through clinical trials. WHO is helping to accelerate research and development efforts with a range or partners.

    Can pets at home spread the coronavirus?

    At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new coronavirus. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets. This protects you against various common bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans.

  • Govt offices: Punjab bans WhatsApp

    Punjab government has banned any action leading to or resulting in the sharing of official documents through WhatsApp by government offices over the risk of confidential information being potentially leaked to irrelevant persons.

    According to a notification issued on February 14, the order of banning WhatsApp use has been issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) in light of a decision taken in a meeting of the Cabinet Division on January 31.

    With regard to the orders, the Punjab commissioner of Overseas Pakistanis Commission, the Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation MD, the Anti-Corruption DG and Punjab Procurement Regularity Authority MD have been sent a letter. Moreover, all section officers, law officers and state officers have also been informed about the orders, according to which, the ban will be implemented immediately.

    The provincial authorities had earlier received complaints that authorities in government departments were using WhatsApp to execute day-to-day matters pertaining to office work as documents were being exchanged on the messaging service. WhatsApp groups had been formed for this purpose and documents were reportedly being leaked.

    According to The Express Tribune, as per the new SOPs, official files will be delivered to the department concerned following the customary practice. Keeping in view the situation, an old procedure will be followed in government offices and SOPs will be followed accordingly.

  • WhatsApp reaches 2 billion users

    WhatsApp reaches 2 billion users

    Facebook-owned instant messenger — WhatsApp — has crossed 2 billion users around the world, and on this success, has reaffirmed its commitment to strong encryption to protect the privacy of users’ data.

    WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014, turned into the most widely-used free messaging app that provides free text, voice and video communication services; enabling more than 2 billion people to have conversations from anywhere in the world.

    “Strong encryption is a necessity in modern life. We will not compromise on security because that would make people less safe,” WhatsApp said in an official statement. “For even more protection, we work with top security experts and employ industry-leading technology to stop misuse as well as provide controls and ways to report issues without sacrificing privacy.”

    The social network is working to extend end-to-end encryption across its messaging applications, including Facebook Messenger and Instagram.

    In a recent statement, Facebook had said some 2.89 billion people globally were daily users of at least one of its services. The growth has attracted more attention of regulators and activists concerned over the dominance of major tech platforms.

  • WhatsApp will not operate on outdated smartphones, Here is why

    WhatsApp will not operate on outdated smartphones, Here is why

    Millions of Android and iPhone devices with an outdated operating system (Andriod or IOS) will no longer be able to run WhatsApp, the app owned by Facebook, BBC reported on Saturday. WhatsApp as saying the move is important to protect the security of its users. 

    Smartphones with Andriod version 2.3.7 and older, and iPhone IOS 8 and older, would be affected by the update, said the report. Most users would be able to update their operating systems in order to continue using the services of WhatsApp.

    “WhatsApp clearly had no option but to ensure its services remain secure; however it faces the difficult side-effect that the app is no longer compatible with older smartphones,” said CSS (tech research company) insight analyst Ben Wood.

    A spokesperson for the messaging platform said: “This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.”

    This is the latest in a series of moves after the app withdrew support for numerous devices in 2016, and then from all Windows phones on the last day of last year.

  • TikTok beats Facebook to become second most-downloaded app in world

    TikTok beats Facebook to become second most-downloaded app in world

    TikTok, a video-sharing social networking app, has beaten Facebook to become the second most downloaded app in the world in 2019. The platform owned by China-based ByteDance came second to Whatsapp in terms of downloads.

    As per market analyst Sensor Tower’s ranking, both TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin amassed a total of 740 million downloads in 2019. The reports consist of worldwide downloads for Google Play Store, iPhone and iPad. They, however, did not include data from Apple apps, pre-installed Google apps and Android downloads from third-party stores based in China.

    The company is making efforts to monetize the app, it had a successful year in terms of revenue grossing over $176.9 million in 2019.

  • Four WhatsApp features that will make your life super easy

    Four WhatsApp features that will make your life super easy

    WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps with more than one billion users across the world. 

    The application goes through constant updates and we might not know the features that are available for us.

    Reply to your friend in a group privately

    We all have friends and best friends. Want to postpone friends meet up by telling your best friend the real reasons?  

    WhatsApp now allows you to send private replies to a friend, you may want to respond privately in a group. The feature makes life easy by ending the trouble of finding the one-to-one chat you have with that one particular friend. 

    Here’s how IOS and Android users can do it

    IOS Users: Press and hold a message in a group chat>select more>reply Privately. The message will show up in your one-to-one chat with the text box below, then you can write whatever you want.

    Android: Press and hold a message in a group chat>select the three buttons in the top right corner>reply privately. The message will appear in your one-to-one chat with the text box below, as it does if you reply to a specific message like above.

    Removing images/videos from a particular chat

     We all know how important is our phone’s storage is? If a particular WhatsApp group or chat is taking too much storage space, you can delete messages, chats, videos, and audio from a specific chat.

    All you have to do is. Go to Settings>> ‘Data and Storage usage’ Select ‘Storage Usage’ and you will see all groups and contacts ranked according to the storage space they are taking.

    Select the group and tap on the ‘manage messages’ option at the bottom. Now, select and clear data (videos, GIFs, Photos, etc.)

    Pin important chats

    If you want to see a specific chat always on top. You can pin the chats on top even if there are no new messages or notifications to access them faster. You can pin three chats on top. 

    IOS users: Simply swipe right on the chat and select the option to pin. You can also unpin the chat in the same manner.

    Android users: Simply long-press on the chat message you want to pin and hit the pin icon on the top bar of the app.

    Call-waiting

    The application has also introduced a call waiting feature which allows users to receive an incoming call while they are already in the middle of another call. Earlier, the users did not have such an option. 

    The feature is available for download on Google Play Store and App Store.

  • 5 products of this decade that transformed the tech world

    5 products of this decade that transformed the tech world

    The year 2020 is almost here, marking the end of this dacade, but it surely brought a lot of new technology and gadgets which range from latest mobile applications to mobile phones, computers to smart devices, and much more in the internet of things.

    But not every product that is created in the past ten years has the same impact on the society. It takes some serious innovation and cultural adoption to really change the tech world.

    We have listed here a few tech innovations that truly changed tech and were hailed as the most revolutionary products this in this decade.

    WhatsApp:

    Launched in November 2009, WhatsApp is a social media messaging platform that is owned by Facebook and its impact on society was significant enough to be mentioned here.

    WhatsApp specializes in cross-platform messaging, it is a free service that lets users message one another seamlessly between mobile and desktop devices. It is known for its enhanced privacy features, like end-to-end encryption, and its free audio and video international calling services.

    Apple iPad:

    When Steve Jobs first revealed the iPad in early 2010, many wondered whether there was a room for a product that was bigger than a smartphone, but lighter than (and more limited in features than) a laptop.

    Apple originally designed this new device to occupy a new product category between the iPod touch/iPhone and the Mac and by late 2012, over 100 million iPad devices had been sold worldwide and around 71 million iPads were sold in 2013 alone.

    It runs the same version of operating system as the iPod touch and iPhone. Similarly, the iPad devices are compatible with the vast majority of mobile applications written for the iPhone and iPod touch as well.

    Uber:

    Launched in 2012, ther ride-hailing service Uber has become the most recognized alternative to the traditional taxi services around the world. The service is available in over 700 cities including around the world including Pakistan, and this number is set to increase even more.

    This service allows its users to order a cab from a mobile application by just mentioning the pickup and drop-off locations.

    However, with expansion the problems in the service also increased. Wired has reported that the company’s relationship with its drivers is fraught and the company also refuses to classify its drivers as employees. Moreover, it is has also been criticized for skimping on driver background checks.

    Apple iPhone 4S:

    The original iPhone was launched in 2007 and it was one of the most influential events of our modern era. But the launch of the iPhone 4S in October 2011, was the big game-changer for Apple company’s business.

    Its new design and being the first iPhone mobile device to boast a front-facing selfie camera with the launch of FaceTime and Apple’s video chat service, the device captured the market in an instance.

    Oculus Rift:

    Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset, designed to connect to a high-powered PC to enable advanced computations and graphics rendering. The original prototype of this device was created in 2011 by the (then) 18-year-old Palmer Luckey in his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California.

    But what captured the comsumers’ interest was the launch of an HD (high-definition) version of the device in 2012. Later, in the fall of 2012, the company raised over two million dollars through its kickstarter crowdfunding campaign which is significantly higher that the $250,000 the startup sough.

    Oculus Rift’s constellation positioning technology uses gaze tracking and IR LED sensors to identify the user’s position while interacting with the virtual environment. It allows users to move freely within their physical environment, where they can sit, stand, walk, turn, duck and dodge as they desire.

  • PTA warns WhatsApp users of a possible malware attack

    PTA warns WhatsApp users of a possible malware attack

    The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication have directed the WhatsApp users to follow Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) instructions to avoid malware attacks.

    As per reports, the PTA has advised the public to keep WhatsApp and device Operating Systems updated to avoid these malware attacks.

    WhatsApp accounts are being hacked by a malware attack, the ministry had already released an advisory for federal government officials on the problem, to minimize the possibility of any infection.

    WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging apps with almost 1.5 billion active users around the world but now users will have to update their devices if they wish to use the app.

  • Pakistani govt. officials advised to ‘avoid’ correspondence through WhatsApp

    Pakistani govt. officials advised to ‘avoid’ correspondence through WhatsApp

    The Federal Ministry of Information Technology and Communication has issued a confidential letter to concerned authorities and advised them not to use WhatsApp for official correspondence.

    According to reports, hostile Israeli intelligence has installed a stealth spyware ‘Pegasus’ to monitor users sensitive data, activities, and movements. The spyware was recently deployed in 1,400 senior government and military official’s phones in 20 countries, including Pakistan.

    The ministry said that in order to minimise the possibility of any infection by Pegasus malware, government officials holding sensitive portfolios and dealing with national security matters should not share any classified information on WhatsApp or any similar application.

    Furthermore, Pakistani users could be in a more precarious situation as the Indian government is also reportedly using the spyware to monitor the Pakistani user’s cellphone data.

    Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has also alleged Prime Minister Modi’s government of collaborating with Israeli spy agencies to spy into the phones of journalists, lawyers, activists and politicians in India. 

    The spyware (Pegasus) has sent waves of concerns in every corner of the world because it has infected millions of smartphones. WhatsApp has officially acknowledged the cyber-attack and filed a lawsuit against the maker of the software. WhatsApp/Facebook has also sued the Israeli company in the US court of San Francisco for violating the US, California state laws as well as the WhatsApp terms of services.

    Considering the Ministry doesn’t have any solution in place to curb cyber-attacks of this level, they have advised government officials to discard all mobile phones purchased before May 10 this year.

  • Govt contemplating ban on WhatsApp, social media in government offices

    The federal government is reportedly contemplating imposing a complete ban on the use of social media by government servants during work hours.

    According to reports in the local media, this suggestion was put forth by the National Information Technology Board (NITB) officials during a meeting of National Assembly (NA) standing committee on Information and Technology.

    Reports stated that not only would the use of social media applications or pages including Facebook and Whatsapp be banned during the office timings but officials would also be barred from bringing storage devices-USBs- to the offices. This recommendation was put forth to address concerns related to data theft. Recently, a spate of leaked notifications from government offices has sparked anger in power circles.

    It has even led to the circulation of fake notifications on social media to discredit a particular governmental agency or official. The technology board has urged the government to act against this threat.

    The committee was informed that a new local social network, modeled on WhatsApp, would be introduced into government offices to streamline communications.

    E-offices will be established at every ministry, which will be interconnected.

    “Any official information would be shared on the server after prior approval of the federal authorities.”

    Moreso, it was recommended that government employees be barred from indulging in any part-time businesses.

    Meanwhile, the board also advised that a separate authority be set up to combat the spread of fake news across the country.