Author: Alvin Wanjala

OnePlus is set to announce its new smartphones today. The OnePlus 9 Series is expected to include three different models, OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, and OnePlus 9R. In addition to these, the company is also expected to pull the wraps off its new smartwatch dubbed OnePlus Watch. Since pinning down a launch date, the Chinese tech company has continuously teased about the trio, to get more people interested in the new devices, especially the top-of-the-line OnePlus 9 Pro. The company even opened pre-orders earlier this month for the new devices, albeit only in China. But even with that, there…

South Korean electronics company LG might close down its mobile business after the failure to sell the loss-making unit. According to DongA Ilbo’s report (via Bloomberg), a close source to the company said sell-off negotiations with Germany’s Volkswagen AG and Vietnam’s Vingroup JSC had been cancelled. That leaves the company with minimal options, among them, winding operations down. The report says LG is expected to reveal its final stand on smartphone operations as early as April. The news is not surprising. In January, the company’s CEO said they were considering all options for the loss-making business unit. A separate report…

Social media and kids safety has always been an issue, and Facebook’s photo-sharing platform Instagram has been no exception. Right after announcing a slew of features to protect teens on the platform, Instagram is planning to build an entirely different kid-friendly alternative. On an internal note, Instagram’s VP for product, Vishal Shah, termed building such an alternative a high priority for them, BuzzFeed News reported. “I’m excited to announce that going forward, we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and have added it to our H1 priority list.” “We will be building a new youth pillar within the Community…

Telegram has debuted a new update with significant improvements in the voice chat segment to rival Clubhouse, the booming voice chat platform, and more recent entries like Twitter’s Spaces. Voice Chats arrived on Telegram in December, but since then, there’s been no major improvement to help the secure messaging platform take on rival platforms like Clubhouse. However, the latest update is what Telegram users have been yearning for, providing lots of functionality to voice chats. The first new functionality provides admins with the ability to record voice chats and share for later consumption to those who might have missed the…

Twitter is working on a way for users to watch YouTube videos shared on the timeline without leaving the app. The new feature is currently being tested on Twitter for iOS. It adds convenience to the usual way in which you’re taken off Twitter when you click a YouTube link shared on your timeline. For four weeks, the experiment will run for a few users in Canada, the US, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, says the company. Twitter will be watching how the test goes, then “scale accordingly.” https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1372592575849189381 On the web, Twitter has already allowed users to watch YouTube videos…

Account security is of utmost importance, whether you consider yourself at high risk of being hacked or not. Facebook has allowed users to secure their accounts with physical security keys on the desktop since 2017. Now, the same is available on its mobile apps on Android and iOS. Users can enroll for hardware two-factor authentication by heading to Settings > Security and Login > Two-Factor Authentication and selecting Security Key. There are two ways to set up hardware keys, either wirelessly via Bluetooth or by physically plugging into your device. Physical security keys come in relatively small size, just enough…

Android 12 is coming and will be unveiled in September if the usual launch timeline is to be maintained. Before then, Google rolls out betas and developer previews to shape the next major version of Android. The first Android 12 developer preview debuted a month ago, providing a showcase of some of the changes we should expect to see. The second preview is out, too, and besides the myriad bug fixes, one notable feature that’s has been made available is a one-handed mode. One-handed mode, buried deep inside the first developer preview, provides users with a way to easily navigate…

YouTube has launched a new tool that scans videos for copyright issues before publishing. The new feature, called Checks, will help creators stay out of trouble over copyright issues that typically lead to content takedown and even lack of monetization. YouTube creators will see a new “Checks” step in the upload process for potential copyright claims and ad-suitability issues. The copyright check process takes about 3 minutes, says YouTube, and “a couple of minutes longer” for monetization checks. Once the checks step is completed and a video is found with some copyright issues, YouTube will provide details on how to…

Apple is preparing to launch new high-end iPads as early as April, according to a Bloomberg report. The tech company is said to be launching new iterations of the iPad Pro line. Some suggested notable features to the new iPad Pro line include an upgrade to the cameras and a faster processor. The latter processor will reportedly be more powerful, just like Apple’s first in-house desktop processor, the M1 chip, running the latest MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. The company could also include a new and brighter Mini-LED screen with higher contrast ratios on the higher model of…

Samsung Electronics has officially unveiled two new Galaxy A series devices, the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72. The new phones are headlined by Super AMOLED panels with a high display refresh rate, up to 120Hz, water-resistance and large batteries. The Galaxy A52 comes in two flavours, one with 5G dubbed A52 5G and another 4G LTE model. Both have a 6.5-inch FHD+(1080p) Infinity-O AMOLED panel, with a 90Hz refresh rate on the base 4G model and 120Hz on the 5G model. The A52 4G model has three memory variants to choose from – either 4, 6 or 8GB RAM paired…