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GDPR Penalty: Whatsapp Has To Pay A Fine Of 225 Million Euros

whatsapp messenges illegal

The Data Protection Commission of Ireland (DPC) has imposed WhatsApp a fine of 225 million euros for violating European privacy rules.

Based on the results of an investigation opened in December 2018, the commission concluded that WhatsApp Ireland Ltd, the company’s Irish subsidiary, did not comply with the transparency requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This is the largest fine ever imposed by the DPC and the second-largest penalty ever imposed on a company in terms of data protection under the new EU regulations.

The claims against WhatsApp primarily relate to how the messenger informs users about what it does with their personal information, including the procedure for transferring it to other companies in the Facebook family of applications.

WhatsApp criticizes the DPC’s decision. According to The Verge, a WhatsApp spokesman said, “We disagree with the decision today regarding the transparency we provided to people in 2018, and the penalties are entirely disproportionate.” WhatsApp said they would appeal the decision of the commission.

Twitter Introduces Safety Mode To Stop Negative Interactions Between Users

Twitter Safety Mode

Twitter introduces a new anti-abuse feature called ‘Safety Mode’ to reduce the large number of hateful and inappropriate messages that are circulating in the social network.

At the moment, Twitter Safety Mode is in the testing phase for a limited number of people on iOS, Android and the desktop version.

Safety Mode is capable of temporarily blocking accounts for a period of 7 days for using harmful languages, such as insults or hateful messages, as well as for sending repetitive messages or unwanted mentions and responses.

When the feature is enabled in your Settings, Twitter assesses the likelihood of a negative interaction by considering both the content of the tweet and the relationship between the author of the tweet and the respondent.

Twitter Safety Mode

It must be taken into account that the system will bypass the users with whom we usually communicate and the accounts that we follow. In this case, it follows the same guideline as the anti-troll measure that it implemented in July.

“Authors of Tweets found by our technology to be harmful or uninvited will be auto blocked, meaning they’ll temporarily be unable to follow your account, see your Tweets, or send you Direct Messages.” — the platform explains.

Safety Mode aims to make the conversation environment on Twitter more fluid and pleasant comes to avoid unnecessary discussions that sometimes occur on the social network. 

How to write a perfect essay on technology topic faster

online writing service

For many students, essay writing is one unpleasant chore they’d rather live without. And it’s even worse when it’s an essay on technology. This type of essay can be hard because it’s a constantly evolving field and requires a lot of technical knowledge.

As such, most students would rather outsource their technology essay assignments to an in-house essay writer. If you’re also struggling to write a perfect essay on technology, this guide will show you the ropes and make the writing process an enjoyable one.

Let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?

How To Choose a Topic for Your Technology Essay

As a student, you’ll most likely be assigned an essay topic by your teacher or professor. However, in some cases, you might be asked to choose a topic yourself. While this might seem like a daunting task, it’s actually quite easy once you understand the basics of essay writing. Here are some tips to help you choose a topic for your technology essay:

Explore your interests

Technology is a really vast field, ranging from information technology to complex subject areas like medical technology. As such, before you dive into the writing process, you’ll need to narrow down your topic. Make a list of all the potential subject areas that interest you and decide if it’s something you can comfortably write two or more pages about.

Research

After drawing up your list, you’ll need to research your chosen areas. This will allow you to learn about them in detail and also select potential topics from them. Remember to check out only credible sources to ensure that you get correct and relevant information.

Get inspiration from modern technology

In today’s world, modern technologies keep popping up by the minute. As such, you can’t afford to choose an outdated topic. While a topic on black and white televisions might seem interesting, an essay on the use of humanoid robots in healthcare is more newsworthy and will certainly earn you better grades.

Pro Tip: Although it’s important to choose a newsworthy topic, don’t go for topics that are extremely complex or complicated. This will only make the writing process tedious and overwhelming for you.

Sample Technology Essay Topics

If you’re having a hard time choosing a topic to write on, here are some sample technology essay topics that could inspire you:

  • How humanoid robots are revolutionizing the healthcare industry
  • The evolution of television from the 20th century to present day
  • Attack of robots: Is AI taking over our jobs?
  • The future of technology: what life will look like in the next decade
  • The long-term effects of technology on human communication and interaction
  • Is technological awareness affecting children’s cognitive development?
  • The most shocking inventions of mankind

Tips for Writing a Perfect Essay on Technology

Now that we’ve addressed the basics, it’s time to learn how to write a stellar piece in record time. Here are some tips that will help you:

Organize your thoughts

When it comes to writing a technology essay (or any kind of essay at all), you’ll most likely have a thousand thoughts rushing into your head at the same time. This can be pretty confusing, especially if you’re working with a tight deadline.

To help you stay focused, you can organize your thoughts by creating a chart of your most prominent ideas. Organize those ideas into potential subheadings and try to draw explanatory details from them. This way, you’ll be staring at a more organized flow of thought instead of a jumbled mess.

Craft an outline

A defined outline is key to writing a stellar essay. Without a proper outline, you’ll most likely go off track or end up with a poorly structured essay. But how do you create an outline?

Well, it’s simple. A typical outline contains an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction contains basic information about the topic and literally introduces the topic to your readers. The body contains the main details of the topic and could be about three or more paragraphs depending on the length of your essay. Finally, the conclusion sums up everything you’ve mentioned in the essay body.

When creating an outline, organize your thoughts by deciding which ideas are suitable for the introduction and which ones should go into the body.

Pour your heart and soul into the introduction

Your essay introduction is like cake batter. Once you get it right, you’ve got the entire recipe covered.”

For many students, starting off their essay seems hard. So, they just pen down some jumbled thoughts and pass them off as the introduction. While this might be the easy way out, it could set the wrong tone for the rest of the essay. On the other hand, a well-crafted introduction sets an amazing flow for the rest of the essay. When you write a great introduction, you’ll realize that ideas will keep flowing as you move on to the main segments of the writing process.

Try as much as possible to make your introduction catchy. You could start by introducing a fun fact, statistics, or even a quote. While your introduction isn’t the main essay part, it should still contain some substance (your thesis and other basic information).

Edit and proofread with the right tools

Have you written your essay? Don’t turn it just yet. There’s no point in writing a great essay if you skip the ‘weeding’ stage. After drafting your technology essay, you’ll need to look out for any grammatical errors you may have made. Proofread it thoroughly and then run it through a professional editing tool.

Final Thoughts

It can be difficult to write an essay on technology. However, we’ve established some of the best ways to write a Nobel-worthy piece in record time. Have a long brainstorming session and ensure that you create a defined outline to guide you. In the same vein, don’t forget to ensure that your chosen topic is interesting and understandable. Remember: the journey to a great essay starts with your topic.

WhatsApp Vulnerability Allowed Attackers To Access Users’ Private Data From The Application Memory

essential Android apps for WhatsApp users

WhatsApp was affected by a security vulnerability that allowed attackers to access users’ private data through the application’s memory.

According to the cybersecurity firm Check Point Research (CPR), WhatsApp was affected by a vulnerability that, if exploited, allowed attackers to access the most sensitive information of users stored in the memory of the application and even bypass end-to-end encryption.

Although WhatsApp has already fixed the vulnerability. However, according to the security company, it was quite complex to exploit so the risk to users has been minimal.

The exploit required a series of complex steps to execute in addition to requiring extensive user interaction for attackers to access the data. If all the steps were executed correctly, confidential information could be read from the WhatsApp memory.

The gap was located in WhatsApp’s image filter feature. This process modifies the pixels in the original image to achieve certain visual effects, such as blurring or sharpening. In the course of the research, CPR found that switching between different filters in the generated GIFs did cause WhatsApp to crash, generating a memory alteration — leaving the door open for an attacker to access the information stored within it.

For the attacker to have access, he had to send an image treated with the filters that caused the problem to trigger the failure and the application to crash and cause the alteration. Something relatively simple, especially in an application that, according to CPR, sends more than 55,000 million messages a day, in addition to sharing 4,500 million photos and 1,000 million videos daily.

The vulnerability related to the WhatsApp image filter functionality and was triggered when a user opened an attachment that contained a maliciously crafted image file, then tried to apply a filter, and then sent the image with the filter applied back to the attacker.”

CPR immediately alerted WhatsApp, which detailed the vulnerability as CVE-2020-1910, explaining that it was a read and write failure. The vulnerability was addressed by WhatsApp, recommending users to “keep their apps and operating systems up to date, to download updates whenever they’re available, to report suspicious messages, and to reach out to us if they experience issues using WhatsApp.”

Can You Learn to Code on Your Phone?

Learn to Code on smartphone

Over time, coding has grown to join some of the highest-paid skills. And while learning to code takes time, you don’t have to be stuck to your desktop or computer to learn to code. Modern smartphones have similar capabilities as computers, and you can use them to learn to code.

Therefore, if you are among those who spend more than 3 hours daily on their phones, spending a few minutes learning to code will advance your coding knowledge in a short time.

The best thing is you don’t have to purchase an expensive phone, as both Androids and iPhones can be used. That said, below are some of the best coding apps and games to install on your phone.

1. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is among the great and reputable platforms for beginners looking to start their journey in computer science. It is a non-profit platform, meaning you won’t spend much downloading and learning to code from the application. The app stocks a wide array of computer science courses, which enable learners to grasp the basic concepts of coding languages, such as drawing with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and SQL.

Apart from video-based and lecture-designed courses, Khan Academy offers plenty of interactive challenges that allow learners to put what they have learned theoretically into practice.

2. Grasshopper

Grasshopper is a great app for enthusiastic learners who want to learn basic programming principles. This Google-developed application is also free and covers the basics of JavaScript programming languages, which transforms you from an absolute beginner to an average coder.

Fast learners can grasp programming concepts quickly by learning various objects and properties. Generally, Grasshopper provides an easy and great walkthrough that allows learners to see immediate results.

3. Mimo

Mimo is another great app for anyone who would like to start their coding journey. Designed to be beginner-friendly, Mimo has gaming features that teach users to code using various games and quizzes. The app also has a reward system, whereby learners who complete daily lessons are rewarded with coins that they can use to purchase special in-app features.

Even though Mimo targets beginners, the app teaches many programming languages, including C++, JavaScript, Python, and HTML. What’s great about this app is you can personalize your learning experience right from the start. As you begin your classes, Mimo will ask for your preferred area in coding, be it Python or web development. The app is also free to use and has both Android and iOS versions.

4. SoloLearn

SoloLearn is another beginner-friendly coding app for beginners looking to advance their coding knowledge. After downloading the application, you start taking short courses on specific programming topics, such as HTML, machine learning, C++, and JavaScript. Unlike other applications, you have to take a quiz after every short course.

Fortunately, you don’t have to learn alone on this platform. The app has a sense of communism, which provides beginners with the support required and connects them with other programmers. The application has a social media feed and discussion button specifically for this purpose. While the basic app is free to download, it has a paid “pro” version. It is also compatible with smartphones and desktops.

5. Programming Hub

Programming hub is another respectable coding app for beginners looking to master coding. This app joins the list of a few learning apps with approval seals from Google and Facebook. The application has an extensive library of learning resources designed to suit first-time learners.

Apart from great course design, all courses have interactive games designed to keep learners motivated during the learning process. Some of the topics included in the Programming Hub include CSS, SEO, and HTML. However, if you subscribe to the paid version, you can access advanced topics, like SQL, ethical hacking, and Java Spring. That aside, the app gives learners an e-certificate displayed on your LinkedIn profile for every lesson. This is a good perk, considering its strong reputation.

6. Codecademy Go

With more than 45 million verified users, Codecademy Go is another popular programming learning app. While it has gained a reputation for stellar web-based learning, Codecademy Go recently developed iOS and Android apps for mobile learners. You can learn various HTML, Python, JavaScript, and CSS concepts from the app.

However, unlike other applications mentioned above, you should use the Codecademy Go app alongside its web platform. It isn’t a standalone app and should be used as a guide to review important concepts on the go.

The Bottom Line

Unlike before, learning to code on your phone is currently possible. The wide array of mobile-friendly coding apps, games, and platforms makes it easy and convenient for everyone to learn to code. If you want to master coding beyond the basics, you can sign up for online classes from reputable schools. Members of the military and veterans can use GI Bill Benefits to pay for their tuition fees.

Windows 11 Arrives On October 5

Coming Soon Windows 11

Microsoft has confirmed the availability of Windows 11, its new operating system, after presenting it last June with a new design and functionalities.

Windows 11 will officially be released on October 5 as a free upgrade for Windows 10 users and will arrive preloaded on new computers.

Although Windows 11 will not reach everyone equally on the release date. Microsoft has explained that the deployment of Windows 11 will occur gradually. In some cases, certain users may not receive the notice that they can upgrade to that operating system for free until mid-2022.

According to Windows Blogs, those who have a fully compatible PC that has been validated internally in Microsoft tests will receive, if they have an activated Windows 10 key, a notice that they can upgrade to Windows 11 for free.

By means of a workaround, Windows 11 should run as a new installation but also on incompatible hardware. However, these systems are threatened with the exclusion of Windows, security and driver updates.

Microsoft expects the gradual rollout of the update to be completed by mid-2022. You can also manually check if the update is already available by going to Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates.

Google Plans To Introduce Its Own Processor For Chromebooks And Tablets By 2023

Google processor news and stories

The Pixel 6, which will hit stores sometime before the end of the year, will be Google’s first device powered with its own SoC, Tensor. And it look like the debut of the Tensor chip appears to be just the beginning of a much more ambitious gamble by Google.

According to several sources, Google plans to introduce its own processor family in 2023 with a focus on tablets and Chromebooks.

The SoC being developed will be based on the ARM architecture — Google believes that the commercial success of devices with the Apple M1 processor has demonstrated the loyalty of the strategy of abandoning x86. While building its own processors will allow Google to improve the integration of mobile hardware and software.

Although the design of the chips is being developed at Google, TSMC and Samsung will be engaged in their production. The release of Chromebooks and tablets with Google processor will take place no earlier than 2023.

11 things it takes to be a successful online entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship news and stories

Entrepreneurship is a mindset. A positive and a sharp one. It is about having a dream of doing something for yourself (or for the world) and making that happen.

When you are an entrepreneur, it means having your own business which can consist of any idea or product that you have in mind (whether physical or digital). You are the boss, you set your hours, you have your workspace and it is up to you how much money you want to make.

It may not seem easy at first but trust me, being an entrepreneur is one of the most fulfilling jobs in this world. You get opportunities that normal jobs wouldn’t give you.

Online entrepreneurship is a little different. The Internet has made it easier for entrepreneurs to try their luck without having to spend a massive amount. At the same time, it comes with some unique challenges.

Can online courses make you an entrepreneur?

It depends on the course. Let’s take the example of Cereal Entrepreneur Academy, which is more like a set of courses. You can take one or all of them to grow your skill set. There’s a course that teaches you how to start and grow a digital marketing agency. Another course teaches you how to brand and establish yourself as an authority. There’s one that will teach you about Facebook ads.

These are all handy skills but simply knowing a skill doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. You can check this cereal entrepreneur academy review for more details. 

And now back to the traits that can help you become a successful one.

You need to be focused:

Being an online entrepreneur means you have to handle so many things. You have to be a marketer, SEO analyst, recruiter, planner, and project manager at the same time. You have to do your research regarding possible clientele and competition. The list is very long but you will be more successful if you focus on one thing at a time rather than doing everything.

You need to have another source of income:

This might come as a surprise. But this is one of the most important aspects. It will take some time before your business starts to earn some profits. Having a good source of income like a part-time job can take you through these tough times.

You need to be patient:

It takes time to become successful. No matter how hard you work, your business won’t start growing overnight. You will have to wait and keep pushing yourself until things start working for you.

You need to be creative:

Successful online entrepreneurs are the ones who can think outside of the box. If you want to stand out among your competitors, you have to become creative. You can’t be afraid of trying new things. This is especially true if you are going to try your luck with a new app or SaaS platform.

You need to be persuasive:

We tend to focus on the wrong people when we think about being persuasive. We are usually too shy and don’t approach anyone for any help for fear of rejection. But that’s not how it works!

You need to be organized:

Being organized will make your life easier and help you become successful. It helps keep you focused, plan for the future, meet deadlines and improvise as necessary.

You need to be a hustler:

If you want to become successful, you have to start hustling. You won’t be able to sit around and wait for opportunities. You have to go out, try your luck, and learn from the experience.

You need to be a good communicator:

The most effective marketers out there are the ones who know how to communicate well. You have to speak with others on their level. You have to listen. You have to pick up on the hints they give you and learn from them.

You need to be optimistic:

Negativity can kill your business. It is hard enough for others to trust you, why would they do that if you don’t even trust your work? You must stay positive and look at the big picture rather than the small mistakes. Small mistakes aren’t bad but how will you bounce back if you are too busy getting depressed over them?

You need to be a leader:

If everyone has different opinions and goals when starting a business, who is going to take charge? Who is going to set things in order? The person who is confident about what he or she does best.

You need to be a multi-tasker:

This is needed especially for online entrepreneurs. You have to manage social media accounts while managing other aspects of the business. There is so much to do but you need to prioritize where your time is best spent.

The final word: 

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy but it can be very rewarding in the end. It might take hard work and patience but once you get there, it’s all worth it. It may seem frustrating at first but once you get things under control, it will give back so much more than what you’ve invested in it. And trust me, no one can stop you when you know what you are doing!