TecQ is our weekly round-up of the top tech stories of the week
Think You Deleted WhatsApp Messages for Good? Well, Think Again
If you thought gone are the days when your ‘accidentally sent’ WhatsApp message wasn’t going to become the talk of the town (thanks to the ‘delete message’ feature that WhatsApp has rolled out), I have bad news for all of you!
Earlier, users were under the impression that they would be able to delete WhatsApp messages, where both the sender and the recipient wouldn’t be able to view the message after it was deleted.
To the horror of the callous WhatsApp users, a loophole has been discovered by ‘The Next Web’, which shows that there is a way you can view the deleted message.
The only catch – the message can only be deleted for everyone within the first seven minutes of it being sent. After that, you can only delete it at your end.
Read the full story here.
Chatbots Are Booming, but Can They Coexist With Voice Assistants?
Smartphones now come powered with the latest technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Most of this is visible to us in the form of chatbots and voice assistants, like Siri and Alexa.
While the advent of chatbots has piqued a lot of interest, it’s rather intriguing to see their relevance at a time when voice assistants are gaining better mileage and market traction. So, the question is, can these two technologies – chatbots and voice assistants (VA) – exist together for different purposes, or will the VAs takeover from chatbots to lead the future of the technology sector?
Read the full story here.
No, Your Mobile Numbers Aren’t Going to Have 13 Digits Now
Recently, there have been rumours suggesting that all mobile numbers in India are going to be switched from 10-digit numbers to 13-digit ones. Reports with clickbaity headlines have caused some to fret. However, as it turns out, the media reports have clearly given you half-baked information.
After clarifying with our sources in the industry and going through the fineprint, we can assure you that there’s nothing to worry about.
Yes, the length of mobile numbers is changing, but only for M2M or machine to machine connections, which are mainly used by enterprises for their automated communication. Your 10-digit mobile number will remain as it is.
Read more on this here.
SWIFT – The Catalyst Behind Nirav Modi’s PNB Scam in India
Everyone in India, including bank officials, have been jolted by the recent Rs 11,300 crore banking scam involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and Punjab National Bank, but there’s more to the story than what meets the eye.
Granted that various bank officials have been found culpable in the scam, but you would be surprised to know that all that money was moved from one country to another with a global banking technology named ‘SWIFT.’
SWIFT – or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication – is a well-known electronic payment messaging service used by banks to transfer big-ticket transactions. This is the same banking technology which was allegedly misused by hackers in the $81 million Bangladesh Bank heist last year.
So, what is SWIFT and how is it used? We tell you everything there is to know here.
India Still Below Pakistan in 4G LTE Speeds, Says Report
India might be flourishing as one of the largest consumers of 4G data in the world but the picture isn’t pretty when it comes to 4G LTE speeds!
A recent report by UK-based wireless coverage mapping experts, OpenSignal, puts India behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as one of the slowest countries in terms of 4G LTE speeds for the month of February, 2018.
See here how slow India’s 4G LTE data speeds have been.
(The Quint, in association with BitGiving, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for an 8-month-old who was raped in Delhi on 28 January 2018. The baby girl, who we will refer to as 'Chhutki', was allegedly raped by her 28-year-old cousin when her parents were away. She has been discharged from AIIMS hospital after undergoing three surgeries, but needs more medical treatment in order to heal completely. Her parents hail from a low-income group and have stopped going to work so that they can take care of the baby. You can help cover Chhutki's medical expenses and secure her future. Every little bit counts. Click here to donate.)
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