How 5G will revolutionise the future of mobile gaming

Wired

Video games have been a lifeline for many during lockdown, keeping us entertained with epic interactive stories or allowing us to remain connected to friends and family thanks to multiplayer experiences. Now, the entire games industry is on the cusp of a great change – not only are we about to enter a new console generation, but the advent of 5G technologies will fully unlock the potential of mobile gaming.

Read more…

Facebook introduces a co-viewing experience in Messenger, ‘Watch Together’

TechCrunch

Facebook  today is rolling out a new feature that will allow friends and family to watch videos together over Messenger. The feature, called “Watch Together,” works with all Facebook Watch video content, including its original programs, user uploads, creator content, live streams and, soon, music videos. At launch, the co-watching experience can be used by up to eight people in a Messenger  video chat on mobile, or by up to 50 people in Messenger Rooms.

Read more…

Mobile messengers expose billions of users to privacy attacks

Helpnetsecurity

Popular mobile messengers expose personal data via discovery services that allow users to find contacts based on phone numbers from their address book, according to researchers. When installing a mobile messenger like WhatsApp, new users can instantly start texting existing contacts based on the phone numbers stored on their device. For this to happen, users must grant the app permission to access and regularly upload their address book to company servers in a process called mobile contact discovery.

Read more…

Apple’s online store is opening in India on September 23rd

Engadget

Apple is opening its online store in India on September 23rd over a year after the government eased rules that limited the tech giant’s business in the country. The store will offer Apple’s full range of products and direct support to customers in India for the first time, and it will also give them access to financing options and the company’s trade-in program. At the moment, the company only sells its products to Indian customers through third-party stores.

Read more…

Amazon’s Sidewalk aims to create a distributed IoT network

Stacey on IoT

Amazon is coming for the world of cellular operators and providers of Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) such as Helium, Senet, and Sigfox with its Sidewalk network for connected devices. At the Silicon Labs Works With event on Thursday, Ring CEO and Founder Jamie Siminoff gave a little more detail on the wireless mesh network Amazon announced last September.

Read more…

How e-commerce is exploding in South Africa

BBC

E-commerce has been one sector that has boomed in South Africa during the pandemic.

Startup Bottles launched South Africa’s first ever on-demand alcohol delivery app service in 2016.

During the coronavirus lockdown the app firm expanded its services to provide groceries instead, and it saw triple the demand and its user base doubled.

Read more…

Apple Cash Family lets kids use Apple Pay

Mobile Payments Today

Apple has released Apple Cash Family, as part of Apple’s “family setup” for its watchOS 7, this week. This feature lets a parent securely load money onto a child’s Apple Watch giving the child the ability to purchase items wherever Apple Pay is accepted, according to a Mac Rumors report.

Parents can view a child’s spend activity, receive notifications of purchases, restrict access to Apple Cash balances and limit who money can be sent to through person-to-person payments. Apple Cash Family can be enabled for up to five family members.

Read more…

Google pulls India’s Paytm app from Play Store for repeat policy violations

Tech Crunch

Google  has pulled popular Indian financial services app Paytm from the Play Store for violating its gambling policies. Paytm  is India’s most valuable startup and claims over 50 million monthly active users. Its marquee app, which competes with Google Pay in India, disappeared from the Play Store in the country earlier Friday.

Read more…

DoubleVerify shuts down million-dollar CTV and mobile fraud scheme

Campaign

DoubleVerify has quashed an “aggresive” connected TV and mobile fraud scheme that at its peak faked more than 3 million impressions a day and was on track to steal an estimated US$1 million per month in advertising inventory.

The botnet, called ‘MultiTerra’, created fraudulent inventory on mobile and CTV environments and leveraged stolen IP addresses to generate fake impressions.

Read more…