A new report from ProPublica shines some light on a quiet revision made by Google to its privacy policy in June 2016. The revision allows Google users to share their browser activity across devices.

Back in 2007, Google bought an online ads company called DoubleClick. At that time, the search giant assured its users that they prioritize privacy in the development of their ads network. Overall the company has kept its promise by dividing their database of user browser activity from the personal information gathered from Gmail and other apps.

However, in June 2016, Google decided to adopt a subtle change in their privacy policy. It started asking account holders if they are willing to share more data with Google. The request was slightly vague but consisted in a request for permission to couple the browser activity of users with their personal information in order develop better targeting ads.

If you received the request so opt-in for the service and didn’t know what it implied, but accepted nonetheless, rest assured that your privacy hasn’t been affected very much if you don’t mind ads. The new feature will only allow Google to know who you are when you sign up on different devices. This allows your specific ads to follow you as well instead of seeing only general, mostly useless advertisements.

More specifically, the newly redefined privacy policy allows Doubleclick ads to follow users from to site to site and even create an ads profile based on the information they entered in Gmail or other apps. Google can then build a profile, linking names and email info to a user’s browsing habits and search attempts in order to provide fully personalized ads.

When given the chance to comment, Google has stated the new policy is only an attempt to adjust to the smartphone era. However, all new accounts will automatically have this level of data-sharing already enabled. Fortunately, both new and old accounts have the ability to opt-out of the service if they don’t like it.

In times where other companies like WhatsApp and Facebook do not let users have a say in what they can do with their personal information, Google still offers people a choice, even if the company wasn’t completely transparent when the feature was implemented.

Recent reports reveal that many snow leopards are killed every year because some people see these big cats as a threat to livestock.

These enigmatic animals are known as ‘mountain ghost’ for their white black-spotted pelt and can be found in the mountains of Central Asia, whereas the population may vary depending on the area.

According to wildlife officials, there might less than 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild, although the IUCN and the Word Wildlife Fund have joined their efforts to save this endangered species. Even so, scientists from Panthera, a protection group for big cats, claim that the current snow leopard population is around 4,500 to 10,000 wild specimens.

Around 221 and 450 snow leopards have been hunted down and killed every year since 2008, according to the experts’ statistics. However, this is just an approximation as the numbers might be higher because monitoring illegal trade is a challenging process.

This species lives in 12 distinct countries, but over 90 percent of the poaching occurs in Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, and China. What makes it worse is that herders kill more than fifty percent of these snow leopards because they attack livestock killing cattle and sheep.

These big cats are very strong as a single specimen is capable of taking down up to twenty goats or sheep. These herders live in communities that depend only on livestock, so wild predators represent a threat to their survival.

Poachers kill around 21 percent of the snow leopards for their bones, claws, teeth, and pelts, which they illegally sell on the black market. However, there is also the chance that herders kill snow leopards to protect their livestock and then, end up selling the dead animal for a small profit.

These statistics point out to the fact that many efforts must be made to protect and preserve this endangered species, and the first step would be to reduce the conflicts between humans and leopards.

Also, herders should be educated to avoid any encounters with a snow leopard as much as possible. Thanks to this initiative, herders would receive money from the government to make up for any lost animals.

In addition, illegal trading must be prevented. Although they are endangered, snow leopards can recover if mountain communities and wildlife officials will work together.

Image Source: 1Zoom

October 20^th is the official International Sloths Day, so experts had the opportunity to educate many people about this interesting and unusual mammal.

More importantly, scientists found out that this animal has the slowest metabolism on the planet. The study was seven-year long and involved a team of researchers from the Wisconsin-Madison University.

During the research, the team collected data from two-toed and three-toed sloths to monitor their metabolism. According to Jonathan Pauli, an ecologist and co-author, he and his colleague expected these animals to have a significantly low metabolic rate, but they were surprised when they discovered this animal needs just a little amount of energy.

Then, researchers have compared the sloths with other leaf-consuming mammals and have come to the conclusion that the three-toed sloth is so slow it can grow moss on its back. Also, they found out that this species had the slowest metabolism, expanding just 162 kilojoules/ day/ kilogram of energy.

On the other, the two-toed sloth was a bit more active with 234 kilojoules. Surprisingly, the panda represents the toughest opponent for the three-toed sloth because it has a daily consumption of 185 kilojoules.

These mammals can survive with this slow metabolism because they live in small areas and take long naps. In addition, this unusual mammal can regulate its body temperature which prevents it from losing extra energy during their sleep.

According to the statistics from the World Wildlife Federation, there are many amazing facts about sloths as these animals spend between 15 and 20 hours a day sleeping. Also, besides their low metabolic rates, they move just around 40 yards per day.

Although sloths live in the forests of South and Central America, they are also excellent swimmers thanks to their long arms. Sloths are also very dirty animals because many insects live in their fur.

Scientists were puzzled when they first analyzed a sloth’s fur because they didn’t expect it to host so many parasites. There are six species of sloths, and the most critically endangered are the pygmy and the maned sloth.

Unfortunately, not even this mammal managed to escape from the human abuse. It is worth mentioning that some sloths don’t die because poachers kill them, but because they lose their habitat due to massive deforestation.

Image Source: CDN

In a recent lawsuit filed by Apple, the company claims that 90 percent of ‘official’ Apple chargers are fake. The products were listed as genuine, but it they may do more bad than good to Apple users who bought as replacements.

Apple is currently in the process of suing for trademark infringement a company named Mobile Star LLC. According to the filed documents, Apple is stating that they have made numerous counterfeit chargers with their brand name and for specific devices, which were marketed as genuine products on various sites, most notably on the US version of Amazon.

The products on the websites on which they were sold were actually listed as genuine products. However, to test the accuracy of their claim, Apple decided to actually buy several different chargers. The company’s engineers verified the shipped ‘official’ Apple chargers and discovered several issues with them. They were found to have inferior or missing components, and overall poorly constructed based on a flawed design.

The most dangerous aspect of these genuine Apple chargers as what Mobile Star claimed they were, had inadequate electrical insulation. This doesn’t make them just fakes but very dangerous ones at that. Apple’s engineers reported that they could actually catch fire or even electrocute users.

During Apple’s own investigation, the company bought over 100 Apple chargers, power products, lightning cables and other devices which claimed to be genuine on their Amazon pages.  The products were sold by various manufacturers. According to Apple, they found that over 90 percent of the analyzed items were declared fake.

In their lawsuit against Mobile Star, Apple has noted that the consumers bought the ‘genuine’ products trusting in Amazon’s reputation. All the devices were marketed on Amazon using Apple’s own images of the respective products.

According to lawsuit documents made public by PatentlyApple, after the results of their investigation into the official Apple chargers, the company alerted Amazon to the faulty and fake chargers sold by Mobile star. Amazon then quickly turned over all of its inventory bought from the company. Afterward, Amazon issued a statement declaring its zero tolerance

Have you ever purchased any Apple charges from different sellers on Amazon? If so, how well did it work for you?

Image source: Wikipedia

Razer, the popular gaming products manufacturer, is launching its newest device, its specialized laptop for gaming called the Blade Pro. It has some amazing functions and features that will enhance the gaming experience. Its specs are top notch, as we have to come expect from Razer.

The company claims that the Razer Blade Pro sets a new standard for notebook, which can even replace the desktop system. It promises gamer the full desktop experience with the portability of a ultra-thin laptop.

A gaming device will always live or die on the ever-evolving market, depending on its specs. In this regard, the Blade pro has a quad-core Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor running at a standard frequency of 2.6 GHz, which hopefully you can even overclock it. Probably the most important part of a gaming rig is the GPU. Razer’s new product delivers in this department thanks to the top of the class Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards. Load times and storage problems won’t ever be an issue on the Blade Pro as it features a PCIe SSD HDD with storage capacity from 512 GB up to an incredible 2 TB.

Heat management is an essential part of a gaming system, even more so in gaming laptops. Fortunately, the Razer Blade Pro has an innovative solution to an old problem. The company took a page from the book of supercomputers and has decided to implement vapor cooling known as phase-change cooling systems. Additionally, the laptop will include 32 GB of 2,113 MHz DDR4 RAM.

In regards to connectivity, the Blade Pro will include the Killer DoubleShot Pro network card for dependable Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet. It will also feature a Type-C USB Port and a Thunderbolt 3 jack. The 4k 17.3-inches display will truly make for a memorable gaming experience.

The Razer Blade Pro’s main selling point may be the amazing mechanical keyboard that truly offers a desktop-grade gaming experience. It includes anti-ghosting capabilities and optimized reset points for both casual and pro gamers alike. One distinct feature of the new Razer gaming laptop is that it breaks away with standard models by having the touchpad where a the NumPad is usually found.

Finally, the Razer Blade Pro will be officially released next month and unfortunately, the price isn’t as unbelievable as all the specs that Razer managed to cram into it, as it costs $3, 699.

Image source: Razer

A recent study contests the idea that creation of stone tools was a unique skill to humans. Researchers that observed monkey saw they were also able to create stone flakes, small rocks with a sharp edge.

Researchers working in the Serra da Capivara National Park, in the eastern region of Brazil, observed capuchin monkeys gathering stones made from quartzite and intentionally smashing them against other similar stones. The researchers analyzed the respective stones and found that the monkey created stone flakes with a sharp-edge which were very similar to other stone tools attributed to our ancestors like the homonis, during the long history of our evolution.

Although the study doesn’t suggest that the monkeys are intentionally creating the stone flakes with a certain purpose in mind, the researchers have only emphasized that their production was not exclusive to humans. The findings of this new study, which were published in the journal Nature, does seem to reinforce last year’s discovery of stone flakes older than our genus.

During the observation of the behavior of these monkeys, several distinctions arise as pointed out by various scientists and experts. The monkeys hit quartz rocks against each other not with the purpose of creating flakes as they do not use them for anything, and instead just licking the quartz dust. As such, experts have stated the stone flakes although similar with earliest flakes produced by hominis, were only a byproduct and not the intended result.

Additionally, hominis created stone flakes with the purpose of cutting things while the capuchins just ignore them. The behavior of the observed monkey and the similarity with early stone flakes produced by hominis is an important lesson for archaeologists. It serves to remind them to not declare any stone flakes as early human stone tools. More research and analysis of the flakes is required in order to accurately state by who and for what purpose, it was used for.

Discovering why the monkeys exhibit the behavior of banging quartz rocks together could make for an interesting finding. Why do they lick the quartz dust produced in the process? Does it contain any nutrients or does it just taste good for the monkeys?

Image source: Wikipedia

During this year, Google has released Android Pay, the company’s contactless payment system, in various regions and countries like the UK and Australia. Now it’s time for Android users in Hong Kong to enjoy the benefits of this feature.

Residents of China’s special administrative region, Hong Kong, are now able to make contactless payments in over 5,000 stores across the city. Any user with an Android 4.4 KitKat or higher smartphone that supports Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology is able to download the Android Pay app from the Google Play Store.

Users who meet the above criteria that also have a Visa or Mastercard credit card issued by six banks in the city such as the Bank of East Asia, Dah Sing Bank, Standard Chartered, Hang Seng bank and HSBC, can link their cards with the Android Pay app. Only after this process is complete can they start using the new feature.

There are various types of stores and outlets that have the necessary technology. From fast food restaurants like Pacific Coffee, KFC, and McDonalds, to 7-Eleven convenience stores and even pharmacies like Watsons and Mannings.

The Android Pay app doesn’t limit the number of credit cards you can link to your account. Additionally, the app even allows users to store their gift and loyalty cards as well as any special offers and promotions.

One other benefit of using Android Pay, besides the great credit card management options it provides, is that it simplifies the process of buying new apps and helps users with in-app purchases like credits for a game. Apps that are currently compatible with the NFC payment system are Deliveroo, Kaligo, Boutir Collect, Snaptee, and Klook. Although the list is very limited, it only at the start of the service as Google is already planning to make Android Pay compatible with a lot more apps in the future, including popular services like Uber.

Android Pay is already more successful than the company’s previous attempt at a mobile payment system called Google Wallet. They decided to implement the service in Hong Kong because 80 percent of the city’s residents have smartphones. It also seeks to maintain its competition with Apple and their Apple Pay service which is already available in the region.

Facebook has started to roll out some new features that help streamers plan and promote their live broadcasts. The Facebook update includes live video scheduling, the option to share scheduled streams and even create pre-broadcast lobbies. The feature will gradually become available in the coming weeks.

Currently, live-streaming on Facebook can be bothersome for both the streamer and the viewers, especially so if you like following multiple streams. Broadcasters can only announce when they will start streaming without any links to share, or just instantly broadcast without an audience. This way, viewers can either miss out on part of the stream before they know it’s live or just forget when it’s supposed to start.

The new live video scheduling promises to address these issue and more. First of all, creating a schedule for your broadcasts allows time for the viewers to decide what stream they will watch. The streamers can create a link to a future broadcast up to a week in advance. By helping their viewers plan their video watching habits, the streamers can get more viewers in turn.

The initial link will be available until the stream is finalized. This feature allows broadcasters to promote the respective stream using the link ahead of time so they don’t have to bother with it when the camera starts rolling.

When content creators schedule a stream using the live video scheduling, they automatically trigger a news feed post. Users receiving that respective post can choose to receive a one-time reminder a few minutes before the stream goes live.

Another new useful feature for streamers coming to Facebook is the possibility to create pre-broadcast lobbies. Currently, some streamers prefer to wait until there’s a certain number of viewers before they start talking or doing the things they want to. When the feature will be released, anyone who is committed to watching the stream can join a lobby three minutes ahead of its start.

The live video scheduling and other features coming with the Facebook update will be gradually released in the upcoming weeks. However, only content creators with verified pages and developers of Live API third-party tools will be able to use the features at first. No details on a full user release at this point.

What do you think about the new stream scheduling features?

Image source: Flickr

Google previously announced click-to-message ads earlier this year. After an extensive testing period of several months, the company has finally decided to roll out the feature in the coming weeks. It will allow users to send texts to companies that advertise on Google.

After a few months when users could try out the click-to-message ads feature in beta, Google is finally starting to officially release it. The feature will allow users to opt for a new way of communicating with companies and business whose ads are displayed during a Google search.

If you search for specific business or company, or even when ad on top your search results page catches your interest, Google will display several ways you can get in contact with them. One way Google suggested communicating with the respective business is by displaying their phone number. If you clicked the call extension on your phone, then the number will be formed automatically.

With the new click-to-message ads, Google wants to keep their service in touch with people’s preference. According to one of their surveys, around 65 percent of consumers prefer sending a text message rather than calling. In order to satisfy this preference, Google has decided to also add an SMS extension to the ads. With the full release of the feature in the coming weeks, you will also see messaging icon below the phone number. When you click the icon, your messaging app will be launched automatically.

Companies and business that want to make use of the new click-to-message ads feature are required to use Google’s AdWords. After it is installed, all they have to do is enter some additional information in order for the SMS icon to be displayed and users to start texting. Advertisers can also set up their specific text message that is pre-loaded in the messaging app after a user has clicked the SMS icon. They also have flexibility in deciding when the new feature will be displayed with scheduling options.

The new click-to-message ads also offer more flexibility to users who’d rather just text when engaging with a company rather than call them. Although, you won’t get an instant response as from a call, messages allow for better organization and you’ll not be put on hold.

Facebook Messenger is one of the popular apps in the world. It recently hit 1 billion users, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved with new features and functions. Facebook is doing exactly that by currently testing both a data saver and conversation starter features.

Data Saver

One major problem for mobile internet users is the limited data cap. With the amount of easily available, high-quality content on the web, users can run out of data quite fast. So in order to let users preserve their data as much as possible so they can chat with their friends on Facebook Messenger, the company has introduced a data saver feature.

The feature is only currently available on Facebook Messenger Beta for Android. The data saver option can be enabled in the settings menu. Once it’s turned on, it will begin to filter messages and hide content that consumes a lot of data such as images and video. The content can be viewed by tapping each one individually or disabling the feature.

Facebook has also added a data counter that displays how much actual data they feature has saved them. The counter can be reset when the users want to. Transferring from a data connection to Wi-Fi will automatically disable the feature.

Conversation Topics

Another new upcoming feature for Facebook Messenger is a way to have users engage their friends in conversations. The suggested conversation topics rely on the activity registered by the social network. Below each user’s name, a recent activity or future plan will be displayed as a suggestion on which to base your conversation with that respective user.

The conversation topics include a wide range of suggestions. It can display their most recent check-in location, the events they plan to attend, what they are playing, what music they are listening to and so on. The conversation topics are just suggestions but they can prove a great way to break the ice with a new friend or one you haven’t talked to in a while.

The feature was discovered by a user on iOS. Not many others have reported seeing the feature as Facebook may only be conducting a small test for random users. There haven’t been any details on the planned release date of both features for Facebook Messenger.

Image source: Flickr