WhatsApp Tests Facebook-Style Coloured Text Status Feature: Report

Late last year, Facebook started rolling out coloured statuses on its Android app that allowed users to write their status update with a colourful background, font, and emoji combination. Now, the same feature has been spotted on WhatsApp as well, and while currently it’s in beta, it can be expected to arrive for all users soon.

Android Police was first tipped about this feature, and it is showing up in Android beta version 2.17.291. The report states that even though you might be on this latest version on the WhatsApp Android beta app, it is possible that you may not see this feature. It is presumably a server side switch from WhatsApp’s end, so only select users are seeing it now even in beta. We can’t see it either. In any case, few users are now seeing a floating pen icon in the Status tab at the bottom of the screen, right above the camera icon. Clicking on the pen icon brings up the option to type a status, choose a font, emoji, and the background colour as well.

When you’re done writing the status and making the necessary changes, you can then hit the green arrow key to send the text status, just like how you send media content now. The status will then be published on WhatsApp for all your contacts to see.

The revamped WhatsApp Status feature was launched in February, and has managed to achieve more than 250 million daily active users in such a short span, much more than what Snapchat itself enjoys currently.

You can check if you’re seeing this coloured text status feature by enrolling yourself for the Android beta program, and updating to the latest version. Alternatively, you can download the latest APK Mirror from here.

Highlights

• Jio Phone bookings have commenced online and online
• You can transfer your booking to someone else
• The Jio Phone-TV Cable is not available for purchase at the moment

Jio Phone booking process has commenced for the public after a wait for more than a month. However, you will have to wait at least a week before the Jio Phone you booked reaches you as the company will not start deliveries till September. Reliance Jio reportedly aims to sell as many as 100 million units of the phone in the first year, and roughly the same number the next year. However, the Jio servers crashed and users were unable to book Jio Phone from MyJio app and the Jio.com website when Jio started taking the pre-orders. If you have questions about the Jio Phone booking process, price, features, etc., just scroll down for all the answers.

How do I book Jio Phone?

To book JioPhone you have three options – the Jio.com website, the MyJio app, and authorised offline Jio retailers. All you need to do make the Jio Phone booking is to give your phone number and the pincode delivery address, and pay a sum of Rs. 500. Once the booking has been made, you will receive a voucher number that you can refer to while picking up the handset. When the JioPhone you booked is up for delivery, you will receive an SMS mentioning the store from which it can be picked up. Even the units booked online will have to be picked up offline.

Also seeHow to pre-book JioPhone

Can I book the Jio Phone for a friend?

Yes, you can book multiple JioPhone units, for your friends and family. All you need is their respective phone numbers and delivery pincodes. You will have to make a Rs. 500 payment for each unit you pre-order at the time of booking itself.

When do I make the full payment?

The refundable security amount for Jio Phone is Rs. 1,500, of which Rs. 500 is, as mentioned above, paid at the time of booking. The remaining Rs. 1,000 has to be paid when you pick up the handset from the offline store.

How many units can I book?

On the MyJio app and Jio.com website, there seems to be no cap on how many units of the handset can be booked (we went up to 30 units). Multiple units can be booked against the same number and pincode as well, and you just need to make the Rs. 500 partial deposit per unit at the time of booking.

Can I transfer my booking to someone else?

After ordering the Jio 4G phone, if you decide against buying it, you can transfer the booking to someone else using the Transfer option in the MyJio app, under Manage Bookings. After entering your number and OTP, you will see an overview of your JioPhone bookings, with information such as orders placed and number of units for each order. Now, tap on the Transfer button above the JioPhone banner, and the screen will switch to a new interface with the option to reassign your booking to someone else. All you will have to do is to provide the new user’s phone number, the new delivery pincode, and number of units to be transferred (in case you booked more than one). The recipient will instantaneously receive a SMS from Jio mentioning their new booking.

JioPhone bookings can be transferred to others using Manage Booking in MyJio app

When will my Jio Phone unit be delivered?

JioPhone delivery schedule is not yet known, though the company does say it will start deliveries in September. Each user will receive the delivery schedule and details of the offline store their unit can be picked up from via SMS. Reliance Jio aims to deliver 5 million (50 lakh) units of the handset per week.

How much data will I get with the phone?

The phone comes with two primary recharge packs, priced at Rs. 153 and Rs. 309. The Rs. 153 JioPhone pack provides 500MB data at 4G speeds, and the speed goes down to 128kbps after the high-speed data cap is exhausted. You will also get 300 free SMSs, access to compatible Jio apps, such as JioTV, JioCinema, JioXpressNews, and JioMusic. Voice calls are free on the Jio network as well.

With the Rs. 309 Jio Phone recharge pack, you will get the same benefits as the Rs. 153 pack, but 1GB of data per day. If you plan to use the Jio Phone-TV Cable, called the JioMediaCable, that lets you mirror content playing on the phone directly on the big screen then you must buy the Rs. 309 recharge pack. This recharge pack will become available for purchase only when the cable hits the market. There are also two sachet packs of Rs. 24 and Rs. 54, with validities of 2 days and 7 days, respectively.

Is the Jio Phone-TV Cable free? Where and when can I buy it?

The JioMediaCable will not be available free, though it is not yet clear how much it will cost. Similarly, there is no clarity at the moment regarding its launch date. However, it is confirmed that the accessory will be available to purchase both online and offline for JioPhone buyers.

Which apps will work on Jio Phone?

Jio says apart from its own apps, users will get popular instant messaging and social networking apps on the handset. However, WhatsApp – inarguably the most popular messaging app in India – is not present on the KAI OS-based platform at the moment, though it may be added later on. We did catch a glimpse of Facebook on the phone at the launch event, along with PM Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat app. With a VGA camera in front, you can expect video calling apps – JioVideoCall at least – to work on the handset too. Other Jio apps that will be preloaded on the phone are JioShare, JioGames, and a Web browser.

If we are talking about the phone’s software, the device’s HelloJio voice recognition system that supports 22 Indian languages needs to be mentioned as well. According to the demo at the launch event, the voice recognition system will allow users to control certain functions on the phone by saying commands aloud in their vernacular languages. The website says it can make calls, send SMSs, launch the browser and camera apps, and open JioTV, JioCinema, JioMusic etc.

Which languages are supported on the Jio Phone? 

The JioPhone supports 22 Indian languages that should cover most of the regional languages in the country. The full list of languages supported by the JioPhone (in alphabetical order) is Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

What are the key Jio Phone features and specifications?

Jio Phone has a 2.4-inch display with 320x240 pixel resolution, dual-core 1.2GHz Spreadtrum SPRD 9820A/QC9805 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal with expansion support up to 128GB, 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera, 2000mAh battery with talk time of 12 hours, NFC for digital payments (software support to be added later), Bluetooth 4.1, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0 support.

You will get a flashlight, alphanumeric keypad with 4-way navigation button in the middle, FM radio, and headphone jack on the phone. It will also have Microsoft Exchange email support, and allow you to import contacts synced with your Google account. The company says some of these features will be released later via software updates.

Also see JioPhone features and specifications

When will I get my refundable money back?

To reclaim the refundable security deposit of Rs. 1,500, you have to wait for three years from the date of purchase. You will get the full amount back when you hand over the device to the company, Jio says.

Jio Phone

• KEY SPECS
• NEWS

Display

2.40-inch

Processor

1.2GHz dual-core

Front Camera

0.3-megapixel

Resolution

240x320 pixels

RAM

512MB

OS

KAI OS

Storage

4GB

Rear Camera

2-megapixel

Battery Capacity

2000mAh

Also See

• Lyf Flame 7 (Black, 8GB)
  Rs.3,999
• Lyf Flame 8 (Black, 8GB)
  Rs.4,999
• Lyf F8 (Black, 8GB)
  Rs.5,099

RBI to issue Rs 200 note tomorrow. Here is how it looks

New Delhi: 

A man shows new currency notes of Rs200 and Rs50 outside the RBI office in New Delhi on Friday.This is the first time that Rs200 notes were introduced in India. Photo: PTI

Highlights

1. Rs. 200 notes will act as missing link, bring efficiency: RBI
2. This is the fourth new note to be announced since November
3. India has currency value of Rs. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2,000

New Rs. 200 notes entered the banking system today. The central bank, while announcing the move on Thursday, said that the Rs. 200 notes will act as a "missing link" and make it easier for people to transact in lower denomination currency, thereby bringing greater efficiency into the system.

The bright yellow coloured Rs. 200 notes was launched just a day after the finance minister gave go-ahead to the Reserve Bank of India or RBI to issue the new currency bill.

This is the fourth new note to be announced since November, when the Narendra Modi government announced a ban on Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes to choke tax evaders.

Following the demonetisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes last November, the central bank had introduced Rs. 2,000 notes and new Rs. 500 notes. The phasing out of the high-value notes led to severe cash shortage in the economy and put pressure on low value notes.

"The Reserve Bank of India will issue on August 25, 2017 Rs. 200 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (new) Series, bearing signature of Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India from select RBI offices, and some banks," RBI said in a press release.

As per the new policy on theme-based currency notes, the Rs. 200 bill bears motif of Sanchi Stupa to depict India's cultural heritage.

India has currency denominations of Rs. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2,000. As such, in the lower end of the denomination series, Rs. 200 has been the missing link. The RBI had recently introduced Rs. 50 note with a new look and additional security features.

"To achieve the optimal system of currency that would minimise the number of denominations while increasing the probability of proffering exact change, especially at the lower end of denominations, there is a logical need to introduce the missing denomination of Rs. 200, which will make the present currency system more efficient," RBI said.

Among prominent features, the Rs. 200 banknote will carry portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre and the denominational numeral "200" with rupee symbol in colour changing ink - green to blue - on the bottom right on the obverse (front) side of the note, RBI said.

For visually impaired, the front side of the note will have intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, raised identification mark 'H' with micro-text Rs. 200, four angular bleed lines with two circles in between the lines both on the right and left sides.

The reverse side of the note will carry a Swachh Bharat logo with slogan and the Sanchi Stupa motif, RBI said.

The new note will be in a dimension of 66mmX146mm.

RBI said the introduction of a new currency denomination and design is done keeping in consideration various factors like ease of transactions for the common man, replacement of soiled banknotes, inflation and the need for combating counterfeiting.

The Rs. 200 notes will make it easier for people to transact in lower denomination currency, the RBI said.

 Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday it is ramping up the production of the new Rs200 denomination notes and that it will make them available to the public in “adequate” numbers.
RBI launched the new Rs200 note starting Friday. Long queues of people were witnessed at RBI offices to get the new currency note.

At present, the notes are available only through select RBI officers and branch, but over time as supply increased gradually, these noted will be distributed across the country, the central bank said in a statement.

The new denomination has the motif of Sanchi Stupa on the reverse, with bright yellow being the base colour of the note.

Following the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes last November, the central bank had introduced Rs 2,000 notes and new Rs 500 notes.

Banning Blue Whale Means Nothing – Because It Isn’t Possible

You might have been hearing about teenagers killing themselves because of an “online game” called the Blue Whale challenge, and the issue is being taken seriously by the government. On Wednesday, the official account of the Ministry of Women and Child Development tweeted that “it’s unfortunate that the self-destructive Blue Whale Challenge has claimed over 100 lives,” and the account added that the Minister, Maneka Gandhi, had taken up the matter with the Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, as well as the Information Technology Minister, RS Prasad, to remove the Blue Whale challenge from social media.

However, actually banning the Blue Whale challenge would not be possible – because, as we explained earlier, the challenge is not a game – it’s a set of instructions shared online.

In the Blue Whale challenge, people called “curators” chat online with vulnerable teenagers, and lead them down a path of self harm. The tasks are shared online, and the kids are pressured into carrying out these harmful actions, until they’re driven to kill themselves. Here’s what you need to know about the Blue Whale challenge, and why it can’t be banned.

1. The Blue Whale challenge has been in existence for some years. There are – for now – relatively few suicide cases from India.
2. It is a set of instructions, usually shared via social media.
3. There is no single hashtag, site, or app being used to find and communicate with vulnerable kids.
4. For this reason, blocking/ banning the challenge is also not feasible. You’d effectively have to block the whole Internet.
5. You’d need to shut down most popular social networks and chat platforms for this to work.
6. Not all the cases followed the same pattern either, making it harder to identify the warning signs.
7. Actually finding the challenge is not easy either – social networks are trying to block the hashtags as well.
8. The challenge was created by Philipp Budeikin, a 22-year-old Russian, who directly handed out instructions to some children.

Telecom war: Reliance Jio, BSNL, Vodafone, Idea, Airtel come up with many new offers; details here

Following the launch of Reliance Jio, the price wars in the telecom market have been intense, where incumbents like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL have been pushing hard to match the aggressive pricing of Jio.

Following the launch of Reliance Jio, the price wars in the telecom market have been intense, where incumbents like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL have been pushing hard to match the aggressive pricing of Jio. Telcos in India have resorted to combative data pricing thanks to Reliance Jio’s inexpensive data offerings. The latest entrant in the telecom sector, which rolled out its services on September 1, 2016, has already crossed 108 million user base. Meanwhile, rivals like Idea, Airtel and Vodafone have lowered their data tariffs as well to increase its subscriber base. While Jio is offering some extra data to its customers under a new deal, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have come up with data and voice calling offers as well. Jumping on the bandwagon, even BSNL has rolled out an attractive new tariff plan. Reliance Jio has reportedly seen a decline in the number of new subscribers, and this sudden rain of offers seems to be an attempt by rivals to keep the tariff battle on. In a separate incident, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular on Thursday clashed with new entrant Reliance Jio when they suggested at an industry meeting with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that a separate floor price should be fixed for voice and data tariffs. As Indian telcos keep at loggerheads owing to Reliance Jio’s cheap data offerings, here are all the details you need to know about the plans which each of these network providers is offering:

RELIANCE JIO: Reliance Jio has come out with a new promotional offer where it is giving away 20 percent extra 4G data to customers who purchase the Lyf-branded smartphones. If a user wishes to avail the offer, they will have to buy a select Lyf-branded smartphone which is priced between Rs 6600 and Rs 9700. According to Jio’s terms and conditions, a user who gets a recharge of Rs 309 shall be entitled to one additional 4G data voucher worth 6 GB with every recharge done. A user who gets a recharge of Rs 509 shall be entitled to one additional 12 GB data voucher. Reliance Jio is calling these as ‘Additional Data Vouchers’, and once you’ve done the recharge on the Lyf smartphone, it will be reflected in the My Plan section on the Jio app. The latest entrant in the telecom sector had earlier unveiled its ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan’ plan which enables users to avail 1GB or 2GB of data daily at a recharge of Rs 309 and Rs 509 respectively.

BSNL: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has introduced a new tariff plan called Chaukka444 where it gives its subscribers unlimited data for a period of 90 days. The Special Tariff Voucher (STV) is a new promotional offer, which can only be availed by BSNL’s prepaid users. BSNL’s STV- 444 is a follow up to the STV 333 aka Triple ACE plan which was launched earlier this year, which the company claimed to have got a ‘successful response’. STV- 444 offers unlimited data at 4GB per day on a recharge of Rs 444. The validity of the offer is 90 days.

VODAFONE: Vodafone India celebrating Ramzan festival has introduced several special offers for consumers. Recently, Vodafone had reportedly launched a new Rs 786 plan for its prepaid users. The Vodafone users subscribing to this pack will get unlimited free local and STD calls on any network and 25GB 4G data with a daily limit of 1GB per day after which user will be charged. This is basically an extension of Vodafone Delight which was announced by the company in March this year and was valid only until March 15.

IDEA CELLULAR: Following Vodafone’s offers, even Idea Cellular rolled out new offers for its customers. Idea, which had announced a merger with Vodafone, is offering its subscribers 70GB of data for Rs 396. The 70GB free data that Idea Cellular is offering, is for its 3G users for a period of 70 days. Additionally, the company is also offering free local and STD Idea to Idea calling, with a limit of 300 minutes per day and 1,200 minutes per week. After the daily or weekly limit is exhausted by the user, they will be charged at 30 paise per minute. The pack also includes 3000 minutes of local and STD calls on other networks. There is also a 1GB FUP limit on data usage and the user will be charged once the limit for the day is exhausted. Idea also has an unlimited calling offer that gives 5 percent free talktime in user’s prepaid account. The offer is valid only on My Idea app and Idea website. Users will get up to 28GB of data, unlimited local and STD calls as well as free movies, music and games apps.

AIRTEL: Airtel’s recently launched offer is not a mobile network deal. Airtel is offering up to 1000GB of free data as a part of its ‘Exclusive Web Offer’, to home broadband users in Delhi/NCR. Depending on the plan that users choose, they will get 750GB or 1000GB bonus data, which comes with a validity of one year. The offer is only available for users who avail the broadband plans online. In our case, we could select from five bestselling broadband plans, starting at Rs 899. All of them offer unlimited local as well as STD calls. Meanwhile, the network provider has a Rs 244 4G plan for its pre-paid subscribers. Under the plan, users can get 1GB of 4G data per day for 70 days and unlimited Airtel-to-Airtel calls (local and STD) with a daily cap of 300 minutes and 1200 minutes per week. Additionally, under a Rs 345 plan, you get similar benefits, only that there is an increase in usage, 2GB of 4G data for 28 days.

 

Facebook to launch premium TV shows next month: Report

Facebook has already greenlit a virtual reality dating show, in which people will be made to go on their first dates in VR before actually meeting in person.

Facebook, in a big push in to television, is gearing to launch about two dozen new shows mid-June. According to a report in Business Insider, the social media giant is working on shows in two different tiers – long, big-budget shows similar to Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’ as well as shorter 5-10 minutes shows that could also feature in Facebook’s new video tab. The new video tab is slated to roll out eventually on Facebook app.

Facebook has already greenlit a virtual reality (VR) dating show, in which people will be made to go on their first dates in VR before actually meeting in person. The report further states that Facebook will focus on teen-centric shows as the company sees rival Snapchat as one of its main competitors in this space. Snapchat continues to attract young users thanks to its youth-centric show deals for Discover section.

“Facebook has tapped A-list celebrities to star in some of the shows, according to multiple people briefed on the plans,” read the Business Insider report. Another category that the social media giant is actively looking into is sports. Facebook reportedly has had talks with MLB as well.

Facebook will monetize its new premium service via advertisements that it’ll play in between videos, which will boost revenue, but with lower margins. With 1.2 billion global users on its platform, the company sees video content as an opportunity to tie-up with more advertisers. The social media giant has already started to test Ad Breaks in on-demand as well as live videos on Facebook.

Clearly, Facebook plans to move ahead with video content as it the major focus. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in company’s Q1 earnings call, said that he has been doubling down on investment in video, predicting that the news feed will eventually be mostly video.

 

NEW PASSPORT RULES

The Ministry of External Affairs just recently announced a new set of rules for applying for a passport. And we’ve summarized some of the major changes that these new rules have bought in.

• DOCUMENTATION FOR PROOF OF BIRTH

As per the earlier rules, submitting a birth certificate was compulsory for all applicants born on/after 26^th January 1989. But the new rules have bought in a relaxation in this regards. Now, any of the following documents containing the DOB of the applicant will suffice:

• Birth Certificate (BC) issued by the Registrar of births and deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register the birth of a child born in India
• Transfer/school leaving/matriculation certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board
• PAN card
• Aadhar card/E-aadhar
• Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government servants) or the pay pension order (in respect of retired government servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the administration of the concerned ministry/department of the applicant
• Driving license
• Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India
• Policy bond issued by the public life insurance corporations/companies

• DETAILS OF PARENT/LEGAL GUARDIAN:

In a welcome move, the new passport rules has done away with the mandate requiring names of both parents at the time of application. An applicant now only needs to provide the name of either one of the parents or the legal guardian. This makes it easier for children with single parents or orphans to apply for a passport. Provisions have also been made for spiritually oriented people (Sadhus/Sanyasis) who can now mention the name of their spiritual leader instead of their biological parents.

• ANNEXES

The total number of annexes has been bought down from 15 to 9. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and some of them have also been merged. Lesser annexes means less trouble for you to collate documentation.

• ATTESTATION

While all annexes needed attestation from a Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate previously, henceforth all these annexes can now be in the form of a self-declaration from the applicant on plain paper. This will spare you all the running around for attestation that you would have had to do previously.

• MARRIED/DIVORCED PERSONS:

The need for a marriage certificate has been discontinued (along with annexure K). Also, in case of a divorce the applicant will not be required to provide the name of their spouse. This is another interesting change that has been made taking into consideration changing societal norms.

• WORK RELATED URGENT PASSPORTS:
  For urgent passports, if a government employee is unable to procure the NOC (no objection certificate) or identity certificate from their employers, they can submit a self-declaration stating that they have given a prior intimation letter to their employer informing that they are applying for an ordinary passport to a passport issuing authority.

To view the press release from the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the new passport rules, you can visit their website which has the complete details.

Overall, this move is set to make the application process easier and hassle-free for everyone. A welcome move, we say!

So don’t use your lack of passport as an excuse not to travel anymore. Apply for one now, and get going. Don’t forget to visit our website to get insured before you leave on your next adventure!