TecQ is our weekly round-up of the top technology stories.
1. Facebook Admitted to Storing Millions of User Passwords
Facebook's problems with data security never seem to come to an end. After a report by Kerb on Security, the company has admitted to have stored hundreds of millions of user passwords in plain text within its internal data storage systems.
Reports estimate that about 600 million Facebook users’ passwords may have been stored in plain text and searchable by more than 20,000 Facebook employees.
Facebook, however, says that it has fixed the issue and found no evidence of the passwords being misused internally or being accessed by anyone outside of Facebook.
Read the story here to know more.
2. Netflix Tests New Mobile-Only Plans With Select Indian Subscribers
Streaming platform Netflix is testing a separate mobile-only subscription plan for select users in India, in order to expand its user base in the country.
The mobile-only plan will cost Rs 250 per month, which is half of Netflix's cheapest Rs 500 subscription plan. The mobile subscription will allow users to watch only standard definition (SD) content on a single mobile or tablet at a time.
Netflix had tested a similar subscription plan in Malaysia in November 2018. Chief Product Officer Greg Peters had earlier said they will be experimenting with their pricing to grow its user base in India.
Read the story here.
3. Google Unveils Stadia, a ‘Netflix-like’ Game Streaming Platform
Tech Giant Google took an ambitious leap into the competitive, console-driven gaming industry on Tuesday, 19 March, by unveiling its new game-streaming service at a press event during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The new service, called Stadia, will look to take on Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Switch by eliminating the console altogether.
Google plans to create a ‘Netflix-like’ platform designed as a way for ‘people to play and watch games together’.
The service will enable gamers to ditch their hefty, expensive consoles and GPUs, and access a library of games through an array of devices with a chrome browser and an internet connection – desktops, Chromecast-enabled devices, laptops, TVs, tablets and phones.
Read the story here to know more.
4. Xiaomi’s UPI-Based Payments System Mi Pay Launched in India
Xiaomi has launched its own UPI-based (Unified Payments Interface) payments platform called Mi Pay in India. The company announced the service before it launched its cheapest Android smartphone, the Redmi Go.
The app complies with the data localisation requirements, and to bolster its claims about the app's safety, the Mi Pay app has been approved by the National Payments Council of India (NPCI) .
Moreover, the app has also been ratified by cyber security consulting firms EY and Lucideus. The company has also said that all the data on Mi Pay app will be stored in India.
Read more on the product over here.
5. Has PUBG Mobile Started Limiting Playtime for Gamers?
Various users of PUBG Mobile this week are reporting that the popular mobile game is putting a time limit on their game time, and asking them to return after a break.
While the makers of the game are yet to confirm the feature, users on social media have shared their concern, citing screenshots of the game, asking them to a take a break after playing for hours.
This is likely to be PUBG Mobile’s way of dithering users from getting addicted to the game, and definitely sounds like a sensible ploy, compared to banning the game and arresting kids for playing it, something which we’ve seen lately.
This feature, even though it will annoy kids, is likely to be welcomed by parents, who’re definitely bothered by the rise in popularity of this mobile-centric game.
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