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WhatsApp announces new features for additional privacy, security

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2 years ago

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Meta-owned WhatsApp always ensures privacy for its users and has announced new security features to provide an additional layer of privacy, WaBetaInfo reported.

According to the app-tracking website, the new features include account protect, device verification, and automatic security codes — which would allow users to prevent unauthorised access to accounts and protect against mobile device malware.

The features — named account security features — will be added to the app in the coming months. They will be released to everyone in the future. 

WhatsApp announced these new features while highlighting the importance of using two-step verification and end-to-end encrypted backups. These can be turned on by the users themselves. 

Account protect, which is a new feature, is very important as it would prevent unauthorised attempts to move WhatsApp accounts to another device. This would stop hackers from trying to infiltrate the accounts. 

Through this feature, users will be required to verify their account from their old device before transferring it to a new device. 

The second feature is device verification which would prevent mobile device malware from using someone’s WhatsApp account to send unwanted messages. 

“WhatsApp has added checks to authenticate user accounts in order to protect them if their device is compromised,” the app tracker said. 

The third feature is called security codes which would make the whole verification process easier and more accessible for users. The process would have a key transparency “that allows users to automatically verify their secure connection when clicking on the encryption tab”. 

These features will be released on both Android and iOS. They might be available for some beta testers soon.

Kevin Lewi, who is a research scientist at Meta, shared in a Twitter thread that the messaging app has announced its plans to deploy key transparency.

Lewi said that WhatsApp cares about the privacy of its users, adding that “we want to simultaneously keep a publicly-auditable log, but in a privacy-preserving way so that nothing is exposed – not even any metadata such as patterns of how often individuals update keys.”

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In its beta edition, WhatsApp offers reminder reminders for unseen status updates.

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6 hours ago

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For overlooked status changes, Meta’s well-known social messaging app WhatsApp has introduced a new reminder notification option.

Previously in testing, this functionality is now available to Android users who are engaged in WhatsApp’s beta program. WhatsApp for Android’s 2.24.25.29 beta version has the feature, which notifies users of unseen status updates and unread messages.

Users can access the “Settings” menu, select “Notifications,” and then go to the “Reminders” option to enable or disable the feature.

An internal mechanism is used to choose which contacts would receive these notifications, according to WABetaInfo. Contacts with whom users communicate the most are given priority by this algorithm. The data is not saved on the server or in backups, so if the user reinstalls the application, the algorithm is reset.

Some people think that the function would be more useful if it allowed users to personalise notifications for specific contacts, even if it is intended to alert users of updates from their most-interacted contacts.

Joining the beta program offers early access to this update for individuals who are keen to test it out before the stable release.

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For research purposes, OpenAI introduces a $200 ChatGPT membership.

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3 days ago

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On Thursday, OpenAI released a $200/month version of its well-liked chatbot ChatGPT, which can be utilized for research and engineering disciplines as the AI company seeks to increase the number of industry uses for its technology.

The ChatGPT Pro tier will supplement OpenAI’s current ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise subscriptions. It demonstrates the company’s aspirations to expand the commercialization of its technology, which precipitated the AI boom.

The most cutting-edge OpenAI capabilities, such as its new reasoning model o1, o1 small, GPT-4o, and enhanced voice, will be available to users of ChatGPT Pro without limits, according to the business.

Additionally, the subscription includes O1 Pro Mode, a version that solves more complicated queries by using more processing power.

The o1 pro mode outperforms the o1 and o1 preview versions on machine learning benchmarks in math, science, and coding, according to OpenAI.

Three months after stepping down as president, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman announced on X Tuesday that he has rejoined the artificial intelligence startup.

A representative for OpenAI verified Brockman’s return.

Bloomberg News, the original source of the story, stated that Brockman has been collaborating with CEO Sam Altman to design a new position that would allow him to concentrate on important technological issues.

On X, he wrote, “I’ve had the longest vacation of my life.” returning to @OpenAI’s construction.

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Schools will not be open on Saturday.

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1 week ago

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In all educational institutions under federal management, the Saturday holiday has been formally eliminated by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).

According to a notification released on Friday, the decision was made to make up for the disruptions to academic activities caused by recent school closures. The ruling is set to take effect tomorrow, November 30, and will last until February 1, 2025.

The school holiday on Saturday

This implies that, as of tomorrow, Saturday will be regarded as a complete working day in educational institutions under the control of the FDE.

According to FDE authorities, the decision was made because extended holidays and unplanned closures had a major negative impact on students’ education. To guarantee that students receive the necessary instructional time and finish their syllabus on time, the notification read.

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