WhatsApp, Instagram, and several other Meta services are facing an outage this afternoon (Wednesday 3rd April, 2024), as being reported by many users.
Downdetector shows a spike in reports of outages affecting Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp over the last hour. More than 20,000 reports of a WhatsApp outage have been reported on the service status site. So far, WhatsApp has acknowledged issues with its service.
Hopefully the outages being experienced with these Meta services are resolved for users soon.
More on this as it becomes available. This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates. [Source: 9to5Mac]
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Meta’s Facebook is resurfacing its once-popular “poke” feature around the social network’s 20th birthday and framing it as an easy way to say “hi” to a friend. Remember when you would “poke” your friends on Facebook to get their attention, annoy them or just start a poke war? Some even used it as a way to flirt back in the day. Facebook is now trying to bring back that experience with some small updates to the poking feature. The company announced today (Tuesday 19th March, 2024) that it recently improved the platform’s suggestions on who to poke and have also made it easier to find the poking page through search. Plus, Facebook added the ability to poke a friend when you search for them on the social network. According to TechCrunch, Facebook notes that these minor changes have led to a 13x spike in poking in the past month. Despite many users not being around for the initial surge of poking back in the day, a young generation is starting to embrace the feature, as Facebook states that more than 50% of pokes are coming from users between the ages of eighteen (18) to twenty-nine (29). When you poke someone, they'll get a notification.
How to see and send pokes on Facebook:
If you don't want someone to poke you, you can block them. Poking is one of Facebook’s oldest features, dating from the platform’s founding in 2004, but was tucked away in the navigation after it lost popularity. Facebook never defined what the idea behind poking was, and left it up to users’ interpretation, with some choosing to use it as a way to flirt. Will you be poking any of your Facebook friends soon? Let us know in the comments below. [Source: TechCrunch]
UPDATE (1:30 PM): All previously-affected services are functioning now.
UPDATE (12:25 PM): Logging back into Facebook and Messenger seems to be working now. No luck as yet with Instagram and Threads.
UPDATE (11:52 AM): “We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services,” Meta Spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We are working on this now.”
If you noticed you were suddenly signed out of Facebook and Messenger this morning (Tuesday 5th March, 2024), you are not alone. The platform is facing a serious outage that has logged out users in many countries. Due to this outage, re-entering your password will be rejected — but your password is not wrong. There is no need to change your password (yet). You are not being phished. This is all due to a Meta service disruption.
The outage, which started around 11:00 AM, is also affecting Messenger, Instagram and Threads — all owned by Meta. Some users found they had been logged out of their Facebook accounts this morning while others got notifications on Instagram that “something went wrong” and their feeds could not be loaded. Threads, Meta’s competitor to Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), also went down and showed users a popup that said “Something went wrong, please try again later” in place of their feed. More than 500,000 reports have hit Down Detector and X (formerly Twitter) is flooded with reports as well. While major platform outages happen relatively infrequently, they are typically the result of something benign, such as an issue with a software update. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down during a massive worldwide outage in 2021, which lasted for six (6) hours. At the time, the company said the outage was caused by “configuration changes on backbone routers.” Meta has yet to acknowledge today’s ongoing issues. More on this as it becomes available. This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates. [Source: 9to5Mac] Following an update on Wednesday (21st February, 2024), WhatsApp users can now use bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code to communicate more effectively — enabling users to message each other everything from grocery lists to step-by-step instructions in mid-conversation.
The new formatting options join the existing bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospaced formats that have been available to WhatsApp users for a while now. How to Use New WhatsApp Text Formatting Options WhatsApp allows you to format text inside your messages. However, there is no option to disable this feature. New text formatting is only available on Android, iOS and Web. Italic To italicize your message, place an underscore on both sides of the text:
Bold To bold your message, place an asterisk on both sides of the text:
Strikethrough To strikethrough your message, place a tilde on both sides of the text:
Monospace To monospace your message, place three (3) backticks on both sides of the text:
Bulleted List To add a bulleted list to your message, place an asterisk or hyphen and a space before each word or sentence:
Numbered List To add a numbered list to your message, place a number, period, and space before each line of text:
Quote To add a quote to your message, place an angle bracket and space before the text:
Inline code To add inline code to your message, place a backtick on both sides of the message:
Alternatively, on iOS, you can use shortcuts. Double tap the text you’ve entered in the text field > Format. Choose Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, or Monospace. [Source: WhatsApp] Youthere1 is excited to introduce our WhatsApp Channel: a simple, reliable, and private way to receive important news updates from us, right within WhatsApp. Channels can be found in a tab called Updates, where you’ll find Status and channels you choose to follow, which is separate from your chats with family, friends, and communities. The Youthere1 WhatsApp Channel is a one-way broadcast tool for us to send followers breaking news and important information, including text, links, photos, videos, stickers, and/or polls. Followers can turn on notifications, forward messages and/or react to them. Following a channel (including ours) won’t reveal your phone number to the admin or other followers. Who you decide to follow is your choice and it’s private. We also offer a separate WhatsApp Alerts service which can notify you as soon as we post breaking news or other important articles on Youthere1. Read about that free service here.
UPDATE: TSTT has issued a statement, denying that hackers were able to gain access to its cyber systems, which it says holds terabytes of data. Details here.
Minister of Public Utilities, Marvin Gonzales, is denying reports of a ransomware attack on the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), saying they are “not true.”
However, according to FalconFeeds.io, a cyber security firm that offers a feed on X (formerly Twitter), reporting on breaches, tstt.co.tt and bmobile.co.tt were compromised by ransomware group Ransomexx, with a reported 6GB of customer lines, ID scans, gitlab projects and database dumps as part of the haul.
Asked about this today (Monday 30th October 2023), Minister Gonzales responded by saying, “It is not true.” He added that TSTT will issue a statement on the matter soon.
In March 2022, there was a malware incursion at TSTT, but at that time, Minister Gonzales had said no one's data was compromised. More on this as it becomes available. [Source: Newsday] The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus is advising that the Student Portal is currently experiencing an issue when accessed via the Google Chrome browser.
In a Student Notice issued on Wednesday (4th October 2023), The UWI said, “As a result, we kindly ask that students access the Portal using any other browser until this issue can be resolved.” Please be guided accordingly. Apple released several major software updates for its various devices this afternoon (Monday 18th September 2023), including iOS 17.0 (21A329) and iPadOS 17.0 (21A329). iOS 17 contains hundreds of new features and is compatible with the following iPhones:
Some of the new features in iOS 17.0 include the following:
Apple’s description of iOS 17 states: “iOS 17 brings big updates to Phone, Messages, and FaceTime that give you new ways to express yourself as you communicate. StandBy delivers a new full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to view from a distance when you turn iPhone on its side while charging. AirDrop makes it easier to share and connect with those around you and adds NameDrop for contact sharing. Enhancements to the keyboard make entering text faster and easier than ever before. iOS 17 also includes updates to Widgets, Safari, Music, AirPlay, and more.” Tech YouTuber Brandon Butch has an in-depth (over 2 hours long) video breakdown of the 400+ new features and changes in iOS 17, which you can watch in its entirety below, along with a separate video showing step-by-step instructions on how to update to iOS 17. In addition to iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple also released the following software updates this afternoon:
Meanwhile, macOS 14 Sonoma is scheduled to be released to the public on 26th September 2023. Will you be updating your devices to the new software versions today? Let us know in the comments below. [Source: iSoftware Updates/X] Apple held its ’Wonderlust’ iPhone launch event today (Tuesday 12th September 2023) at Apple Park, the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California. The company announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, complete with USB-C charging, starting at US $799. It also unveiled the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, starting at US $999. Another key announcement at today’s event was the brand-new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, as well as updated AirPods Pro 2 with a USB-C charging case. iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus features improved performance, the Dynamic Island (previously seen on iPhone 14 Pro), a range of new colors, and a USB-C port which replaces the Lightning connector. Like last year, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus sport 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays. However, Apple said that maximum brightness can now go up to 2000 nits. Apple’s color finishes are now embedded throughout the glass, to form an impressive new colorful finish. The iPhone 15 is offered in pink, yellow green, blue, and black. iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max The new Pro models utilize a brushed titanium case in place of stainless steel. Apple says the new iPhone 15 Pro is the lightest Pro model ever. It also features the thinnest bezels yet. The overall dimension has been reduced without shrinking the display size. The new iPhone 15 Pro also features the rumored Action Button in place of the mute switch. It can launch the camera app, invoke Shortcuts or accessibility features, start a voice memo, and more. iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max also include the all-new A17 Pro chip — Apple’s first 3nm chip. USB-C I/O supports up to 10Gbps data transfer with the optional USB3 cable. 20% faster GPU includes mesh shading and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Apple says the new camera system has the equivalent of seven (7) camera lenses (using three actual lenses). A new nano coating reduces lens flare. The 48MP sensor has improved low light performance. 48MP HEIF is now supported (no longer just ProRAW). 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm shots are supported by the main camera. iPhone 15 Pro gains next-gen Portrait with 2x low light performance and focus control. The telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max features 5x optical zoom at 120mm focal length. The periscope lens is called a tetra prism design. Optical image stabilization is also enhanced with movement in three (3) directions — a smartphone first. The ultra wide sensor shoots macro and 13mm shots, rounding out the seven (7) focal lengths mentioned before. Photos and videos can now be directly saved to a Mac or external storage. ProRes also goes up to 4K60 now — Blackmagic camera level. For Vision Pro, iPhone 15 Pro also captures “spatial video” now. It uses the ultra wide and main camera to create 3D videos. The feature will be available sometime after launch. Other facts about the new Pro models:
Apple Watch Series 9
The new version of the Apple Watch comes in a design that’s identical to the previous generation, but now with a faster processor and improved sensors. Apple has not introduced a faster chip since the Series 6 in 2020. This year, however, the S9 SiP (System in a Package) in the Apple Watch Series 9 features a faster GPU and GPU. This means that users will notice reduced loading times when opening apps or rebooting the system. The S9 SiP also has a new version of Apple’s ultra-wideband chip. Similar to the U1 chip, the new chip provides “spatial awareness,” allowing the device to precisely detect the location of other devices nearby, equipped with the same technology. With ultra-wideband, Apple is making this technology even more precise, which enables new features when using Find My. Although Apple Watch Series 9 has not been equipped with any new health features, the heart rate sensor has been improved to be more accurate. Apple has also added a new gyroscope that enables a double-tap gesture with your fingers to control the Apple Watch without touching the screen. Another new feature is a brighter display that reaches up to 2,000 nits of brightness, or just 1 nit when the Apple Watch is not in use. Prices for the new Apple Watch Series 9 start at US $399, and it comes in 41mm and 45mm versions, available in aluminum and stainless steel. Pre-orders start today (Tuesday 12th September 2023) with the official launch in stores set for next Friday (22nd September 2023). Apple Watch Ultra 2 The new Apple Watch Ultra 2 replaces the top-end model first introduced a year ago. The new model gets improved internals, shared with the Apple Watch Series 9. As with the Series 9, this year’s Apple Watch Ultra gets the same S9 processor for “super-smooth animations”and U2 ultra-wideband location chip. Siri is now processed on-device thanks to a new neural engine in the S9 chip. Siri can now also provide access to your health data, a feature which will be available “later this year.” The new U2 chip can find your iPhone with ultra-precision, along with media suggestions when you get close to a HomePod — or Now Playing controls if the speaker is already playing audio. The Watch also introduces a double-tap gesture for things like answering and ending phone calls and snoozing alarms, again in common with the S9 model. Battery life in low-power mode is now up to seventy-two (72) hours. Apple says Apple Watch Ultra 2 production is 100% carbon neutral. AirPods Pro 2 with New USB-C Charging Case As the iPhone 15 is getting USB-C to replace the Lightning connector, Apple is also updating some of its accessories with USB-C — and that includes AirPods. During Tuesday’s special event, the company introduced a new USB-C charging case for AirPods Pro 2, which will be available by default for those buying new AirPods Pro. Apple announced AirPods Pro 2 last year alongside the iPhone 14. And while the AirPods Pro 2 themselves are not getting any hardware upgrades, they will now come with a new charging case that features a USB-C port instead of the Lightning connector. According to Apple, “The new AirPods Pro are updated with a USB‐C connector, so it’s easy to use a single cable to charge Mac, iPad, AirPods, and the iPhone 15 lineup. Users can even charge AirPods directly with iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, which also come with a USB‐C connector.” Apple is still selling AirPods Pro 2 for US $249. Unfortunately, contrary to what was first rumored, Apple would not be selling the AirPods Pro USB-C charging case separately. Customers can now order the new version of AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C charging case. Apple says shipments will begin on Friday 22nd September 2023 for orders placed today. [Source: 9to5Mac] Apple is expected to unveil its iPhone 15 lineup today (Tuesday 12th September 2023) at its highly-anticipated ‘Wonderlust’ event, where it could introduce the biggest change to the phone’s design in eleven (11) years. Industry experts are predicting Apple will introduce USB-C charging to its smartphones for the first time. The change could ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices and brands. Additional updates to the battery life, camera and displays are also likely. The event will take place at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, and will be live streamed starting at 1:00 PM ET. Watch it below and keep reading for what we can expect to be revealed today. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, and their switch from Lightning to USB-C, are expected to be the star of the show. The iPhone 15 Pro models are also rumored to feature a new titanium design with dramatically slimmer bezels around the display. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will reportedly get an all-new periscope camera system as well. Meanwhile, the regular iPhone 15 will get the Dynamic Island, which was exclusive to iPhone 14 Pros last year.
iPhone 15 Pro is widely rumored to ditch the mute switch on the side of the phone, in favor of an Action Button, that can be assigned to any of the following:
The Pro models, which may get a new blue color this year, are said to feature Apple’s new A17 Bionic chip, which is a staggering 3nm process. Regular iPhone 15 models will stick to last year’s A16 chip, however, which were exclusive to iPhone 14 Pros. In addition to shiny new iPhones, Apple is also expected to unveil a new Apple Watch Series 9 during today’s event, as well as an updated version of the Apple Watch Ultra, a new USB-C version of AirPods Pro, and more. Below is a last minute rumor-roundup of some other things we can expect today:
iPhone pre-orders could begin this Friday (15th September 2023) and arrive next Friday (22nd September 2023). iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, which were previously unveiled at WWDC on 5th June 2023, could be released on Monday (18th September 2023). More on this as it becomes available. This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates. |
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