What’s new
Facebook is banning all ads promoting cryptocurrencies
Facebook is banning all advertisements for cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and initial coin offerings, as part of an “intentionally broad” policy against deceptive marketers. Product management director Rob Leathern explained the decision in a blog post, saying Facebook will no longer accept ads that “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”.
You can read more here.
Google removed 700,000 malicious apps from the Play Store in 2017
The company took down over 700,000 apps that violated Play Stores policies last year (a 70 percent increase over 2016) and 99% of the apps were taken down before a single user could install them. Similar to other products and services Google is involved with, a lot of this success can be attributed to the company’s machine learning systems.
More info are available here.
New products
Meizu 15 Plus
The phone will have Snapdragon 845 processor and dual-camera along with a 10-LED flash placed vertically on the rear panel. It will be launched at China’s Spring Festival.
More info here.
Fujifilm X-A5
The X-A5 has a 24.2MP APS-C sensor with an ISO range that extends up to ISO12,800. It comes with phase-detection autofocus, automatic Bluetooth image transfer, and 4K video recording.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
Google will launch a digital store to sell cloud-based software
Google Cloud and MobileIron Inc., which offers a cybersecurity tool for cellphones, are partnering on a new online marketplace that will allow businesses to buy cloud services and distribute them to employees, while keeping corporate data secure. The platform will be launched in the second half of the year.
You can read more here.
Amazon Alexa adds ability to send SMS messages by voice
Amazon updated its Alexa service with support for sending SMS text messages using the users voice. The new feature only works for Android devices that also have the Alexa app installed. It comes just days before the launch of Apple’s HomePod, which will feature the ability to send iMessage and SMS messages through Siri.
More info can be found here.
