Skype 5.1 For iPhoneAnnounced

Skype continues to improve on their iOS offerings by rolling out Skype 5.1 for iPhone (which is a 44MB download), where it will introduce a slew of new features and improvements, where among them include a new press and hold action so that users are able to do away with conversations from recent chats – pretty nifty for those “empty” chats, no? Apart from that, you are also able to perform an edit on a chat message. Sneaky! Apart from that, one is able to tap the “add favorites” link in order to easily fill up your favorites screen with those whom you happen come into contact the most. 

The People list is now capable of matching the desktop better, since there is a spanking new “Skype” filter, while the “online” filter will be able to include users set to online, away and do not disturb. 

These filter settings can be saved too, of course. Microsoft’s Skype intends to continue rolling out additional features to the app, and when the time comes, they will roll them out in order to deliver maximum benefit to the masses. 

Interestingly enough, it was just slightly more than last week that Skype introduced Skype 5.0 for iOS , so it is refreshing to see how fast the next update came about.

EU, South Korea join forces to develop 5G technology

The European Union and South Korea are expected to unveil a new partnership today which focuses on the development of 5G networks.

According to draft documents viewed by the Wall Street Journal, South Korea and the European Union will set up a joint research group for 5G system development, the creation of technology standards and radio frequency preparation to ensure 5G technology can be accommodated in the future.

The joining of forces will be overseen by two major groups: Europe's 5G PPP and the South Korean 5G Forum. Overall, the group's target is to play a dominant role in setting a "global consensus" and vision by the end of next year.

According to the EU, while one hour of high-definition footage can be downloaded on 4G networks in approximately six minutes, 5G technology would cut this time down to only six seconds or less. It is hoped that speeds of up to 1Gbps can be achieved, and mobile 3D images, Ultra-HD, hologram transmission and "cutting edge" social networking services will be supported.

A report released by network monitor OpenSignal suggested that as of February 2014, there are 76 countries with LTE currently active -- but coverage and user experience varies. South Korea -- which has a mobile penetration rate of over 100 percent -- is the best performer, with the average user experiencing LTE 91 percent of the time. The EU is no longer a top dog in terms of communications technology, and 4G is patchy at best across the bloc. Unless the EU catches up, economic growth is likely to suffer, something EU businesses have criticized for years.

In January, the South Korean government said it plans to be the first entity to introduce 5G networking technology to the masses, and hopes the technology will be ready for launch by December 2020. Local firms, including the country's three major telecommunications firms and technology giants such as Samsung and LG have long been in talks with the government, and $1.49 billion in total is expected to be invested within 5G through 2020.

The plans announced earlier this year also stipulate partnerships with the U.S., China and Europe in order to establish standards and avoid future patent disputes.

In 2013, South Korean technology giant Samsung claimed it has made breakthroughs in the development of next-generation networking technology, and was able to transmit data at a speed of 1Gps through the 28 gigahertz (GHz) band. 

Hackers compromise messaging app Viber's App Store listing

After targeting the website of popular
messaging app Viber earlier this week,
hackers seem to have compromised
app's listing on the App Store as well.
The Description and What's New
section of Viber 3.0 on the App Store
has been modified to to read "We
created this app to spy on you, PLEASE
DOWNLOAD IT!", as first reported by
9to5mac . The compromised listing was
still live in the App Store at the time
of filing this report. It's not clear if
the damage is limited to app's
description only, or if the app itself
has been compromised in some way as
well.
It's not clear at this point if this
latest attack is the work of the same
group that compromised Viber's website
earlier this week. On Tuesday, reports
emerged that Syrian Electronic Army
had defaced Viber's support forum and
placed the following message:
Dear All Viber Users,
The Israeli-based "Viber" is
spying and tracking you
We weren't able to hack all Viber
systems, but most of it is
designed for spying and tracking
Screenshot of a hacked system:
[screenshot]
Viber later responded that one of its
employee's fell victim to a phishing
attach and attackers could gain access
to customer support panel and support
administration system, insisting that no
sensitive user data was exposed. Here's
Viber's statement in full:
Today the Viber Support site was
defaced after a Viber employee
unfortunately fell victim to an
email phishing attack. The
phishing attack allowed access to
two minor systems: a customer
support panel and a support
administration system.
Information from one of these
systems was posted on the
defaced page.
It is very important to emphasize
that no sensitive user data was
exposed and that Viber's
databases were not "hacked".
Sensitive, private user information
is kept in a secure system that
cannot be accessed through this
type of attack and is not part of
our support system.
We take this incident very
seriously and we are working
right now to return the support
site to full service for our users.
Additionally, we want to assure all
of our users that we are
reviewing all of our policies to
make sure that no such incident is
repeated in the future.

Line app vs WhatsApp evaluated for 2013 chat

There are some great social
networking and communication apps
available for smartphone and tablet
users, and two that are of interest are
LINE and WhatsApp. These are both
extremely popular and are available
for Android and iOS devices from
Google Play or the App Store. We
thought we’d take a look at the Line
app vs. WhatsApp, giving an idea of
what they each have to offer and
evaluating them for 2013 chat. What
we’d really like to know is what
readers think of these apps?
We’ll begin with the LINE app, and this
one is available for both Android and
iOS devices. It offers a good
experience for social networking with
unlimited calling and messaging 24
hours a day, that’s free voice calls
and free messages. LINE is now
available in more than 230 countries
around the world and has over 180
million users. Features include high
quality voice calls, a message
function with icons, photo sharing,
location information, ways to express
yourself with stickers and Emoji, and
much more.
LINE also has a timeline feature and
you can leave messages and
comments, and there are now LINE
official accounts for popular
celebrities, and also money saving
opportunities via coupons. Data
transfer fees may be incurred though
so if you have an unlimited mobile
price plan that’s good news. LINE is a
free app and for Android devices it’s
available from Google Play here. This
is compatible with devices running
Android 2.1 or later. For iOS devices
head to iTunes here. This one is
compatible for iPhone, iPad and iPod
touch running iOS 4.3 or later. Both
the Android and iOS apps have
recently been updated with minor bug
fixes.
Moving on to WhatsApp Messenger,
and this is another app that is highly
rated. As its title suggests this is a
smartphone messaging app, and it
uses 3G or WiFi where available, to
enable you to easily communicate
with family and friends. If you switch
from SMS to WhatsApp you get the
first year free and it’s then $0.99
yearly afterwards. Once you’ve
downloaded the app, chat is unlimited
and there are no hidden costs. You
can send photos, videos and voice
notes to your contacts and enjoy group
chat, and there are also no
international charges if your friends
are also using the WhatsApp
Messenger app.
WhatsApp integrates with your
existing phone address book and
there’s no need to log in and out as
you are always connected. If you
miss a push notification, messages
can be saved offline for later retrieval,
and other features include location
sharing, contact exchange, custom
wallpaper, custom notification sounds
and much more. The Android
WhatsApp Messenger app is available
free from Google Play here and is
compatible with devices running
Android 2.1 or later. WhatsApp for iOS
devices is available from iTunes here
priced at $0.99. It’s compatible with
iPhones running iOS 4.3 or later.
Taking a look through user reviews of
these apps we can see that both apps
have a lot of fans. LINE for Android
manages a rating of 4.1 stars while
WhatsApp attains an extremely high
4.6 star rating. Many of the comments
about LINE have a lot of positive
things to say about the stickers
available. Looking at comments for
WhatsApp reveals that many also
people love this app. However, in
reviewing comments from the last few
days it seems that there are some
complaints about the app crashing
lately and some iOS users regret that
the app cannot be used with the iPad
or iPod touch.
We’d like to gauge opinion about LINE
vs. WhatsApp by asking readers to get
involved. If you use either of these
apps, what do you think about it?
Maybe you’ve used both apps but
have settled on your favorite? If so,
which do you prefer? Let us know with
your comments.