Author: Anna Galvez

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Crypto News

SiaCoin (SC) Blockchain Upgrade Aims To Combat Centralization Of SC Mining

Yesterday, October 31st, Sia successfully implemented the v.1.3.7 upgrade on its network to the height of block 179,000. With it, Sia has blocked the ASIC equipment manufactured by Bitmain and Innosilicon from mining on its blockchain. The crypto exchanges Binance, Poloniex, Bittrex, and UPbit, have confirmed their support for this SiaCoin (SC) fork.

Sia team indicated on its Twitter account that Bittrex, Poloniex, Binance, and UPbit successfully installed the update. Other exchanges that have been shown in favor of this update are HitBTC, Lbank, Vebitcoin, Bitbns, and Okex. Users who own SiaCoin (SC) on these platforms will have access to the new blockchain.

The team will give flexibility to people who store their files on the Sia platform to upgrade to the new Sia network. However, all hosts who have not updated to the new version will no longer offer hosting services to users who have upgraded to the new Sia blockchain. For SiaCoin (SC) mining, Obelisk will enable a firmware update that will comply with the new algorithm that introduces this fork.

SiaCoin (SC) Blockchain Upgrade Aims To Combat Centralization Of SC Mining

In September, SiaCoin (SC) developer David Vorick announced the arrival of a hard fork in the Sia network to end Innosilicon’s monopoly on the hashrate. The fork established Obelisk as the only authorized ASIC miner for SiaCoin (SC).

However, the Sia blockchain v 1.3.7 upgrade caused controversy in the SiaCoin (SC) community, leading to the creation of two new projects from the previous network. The first of them was called SiaClassic which stated that “there should be no discrimination regarding the ASIC miners.” For SiaClassic, the main concern is the loss of thousands of US dollars in SiaCoin (SC) mining equipment.

For its part, the other resulting currency, SiaPrime, said that it could be mined by all miners, including Innosilicon, Halong and Bitmain. The developers of this cryptocurrency announced that its blockchain is already operational. According to CoinMarketCap, SiaCoin (SC) has registered only a 2.56% drop yesterday and official statistics indicated that in the last 24 hours the hashrate of the Sia network is 75.46 PH/s and the difficulty is 45.63 EH, lower than usual.

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Tech

Google Partnered With iRobot To Map Houses For Improving Their Smart Devices’ Behavior

One of Google’s greatest successes has been its mapping system, which has led to applications such as Google Maps, Google Street View or Google Earth. With time we have gone from only having images and maps of the main roads and cities of the world to being able to see even inside some locations as we can also enter into buildings open to the public, such as shopping malls, airports, and car parks. And little by little the scale went down, and we can now visit shops, bookstores, cafes, and so on. Google wants to scan and map as much as it could. But there was one place it hadn’t tried to get into until now – your home. But now, however, Google allies with iRobot to map houses.

The company led by Sundar Pichai, Google, has stated along with iRobot, the company that manufactures the famous Roomba vacuum cleaners, to share the data that these devices collect in users’ homes through their sensors and cameras. One of the latest models of this manufacturer, the Rumba i7 Plus, can scan the house by the distance it travels and a low-resolution camera. That allows it to establish cleaning routines for each of the rooms on the house.

Google teams up with iRobot to map houses

With this new partnership, Google will be able to access the planimetry data, that is to say, in 2D, but it is not interested in using the images of the iRobot products’ cameras or the volume generated by the vacuum cleaners. According to the two companies, the reason why Google is interested in these data is to improve the behavior of their devices, such as Google Home.

Through the information obtained by Google from the iRobot’s vacuum cleaners, the company can recommend the best place to put a loudspeaker, automatically set up the smart light systems when we install them and promote future uses that may be generated in the smart homes of the future. However, both Google and iRobot have made it clear that they will not use the data for malicious purposes.

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Tech

New MacBook Pro Models to Incorporate AMD Radeon Vega 16 and Vega 20 Graphics Cards

During its last event of 2018, where it presented the new MacBook Air, Mac mini, as well as the iPad Pro 2018 model, Apple also unveiled the new graphics configurations for the 15-inch MacBook Pro. For the first time in a long time, Apple incorporates an AMD graphics cards, more specifically the Radeon Pro Vega 16 and Vega 20.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro variants with Radeon Pro Vega 16 and Pro Vega 20 graphics cards would come out somewhen in November. These new graphics configurations for the Apple MacBook Pro boast considerable improvements in performance, in comparison with the current versions. According to the benchmark tests, the new graphics cards offer a 60% increase in speed, if we were to compare them with the current Radeon Pro 560X, that we find in the top-end configurations.

As reported by AMD, the Vega 16 and Vega 20 are just the “starting units of the next generation of Vega graphics cards.” They both boast the Rapid Packed Math feature which speeds up the GPU, accelerating the processes and implying a lower resources consumption.

New MacBook Pro models to incorporate AMD Radeon Vega 16 and Vega 20 graphics cards

The second feature that gives us more speed, is the HBM2 memory. The performance is higher than the previous GDDR5, which we find in other more common graphics cards. The gain is produced by having more bandwidth compared to their predecessors. But at the same time, it consumes less energy. Finally, HBM2 is housed within the GPU and, therefore, takes up less space.

According to some rumors, the Vega 20 will boast the first GPU to run on 7-nanometer technology in the world. On the other hand, the desktop version of the Vega 20 will come with either 16GB to 32GB of HBM2 but requires between 150 and 300 watts, so it is unlikely that we will see this model running on a laptop.

Also, as rumored, the new version of MacBook Pro would come out on November 14th.

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Tech

Locker For WhatsApp App Allows Users To Protect WhatsApp Chats With a Password or Fingerprint

None of us are safe when using an instant messaging app. Of course, WhatsApp is the world’s leading instant messaging app on Android, iOS, and PC, as well, via WhatsApp Web service, and more and more users are wondering how can they protect specific chats with a password to increase their privacy. Locker For WhatsApp is the ideal solution to protect WhatsApp chats with a password or fingerprint.

The Locker For WhatsApp app is available for free on the Google Play Store and is a safe application to install.

The first thing the application will ask you to do is to grant permissions. That is the fundamental step we must take to be able to use a fingerprint or password protection of specific WhatsApp chats. Once granted, it is not necessary to establish a new fingerprint because the application uses automatically the one we have configured on the phone if you have one previously set up.

Locker For WhatsApp allows users to protect WhatsApp chats with a password or fingerprint

Once you have granted Locker For WhatsApp with all the required access permissions, you only have to go to the Locker For WhatsApp’s home screen and tap on the (+) symbol to add contacts or groups. We can add as many chats as we want to protect them with password or fingerprint. But, to use the system, you must first establish a 4-digit PIN to be the only one who can access the app.

Once these steps are completed, whenever you access WhatsApp, the WhatsApp chats and groups chosen within Locker For WhatsApp will be inaccessible even by the instant messaging app itself unless you enter the same PIN configured in the previous step or check your fingerprint.

If you want to remove the protection of any conversation, go back to Locker For WhatsApp and tap on the “Select” menu in the top right corner. Choose all the WhatsApp chats or groups and remove the password or fingerprint verification on them.

Categories
Tech

Apple Asked Developers To Support iPhone XS Max, iPad Pro 3, and iOS 12.1 by March 2019

During the recent Apple event, the giant tech company revealed its new iPad Pro 2018 model, dubbed as iPad Pro 3, along with the new iOS 12.1 version. Besides presenting the device’s new design with no Home Button, Apple also asked developers to support iPhone XS Max, iPad Pro 3, and the new iOS 12.1 by March 2019.

According to the Apple devs web page, the developers must build new apps with the iOS 21.1 SDK by March 2019, thus, supporting the new Apple devices, including iPad Pro 3 and iPhone XS Max, along with the newly released iOS 12.1. The devs must focus on the new iPad design which lacks a home button, so the new apps must center on that, leaving thin extra space at the bottom of the screen to allow users to use gestures to navigate the new tablet.

However, there are more new features the developers must focus upon, including the new Apple Pencil functions and the higher screen-to-body-ratios the new iPhone XS Max and iPad Pro 3 boast.

Apple Asked Developers To Support iPhone XS Max, iPad Pro 3, and iOS 12.1 by March 2019

Apple also asked developers to concentrate on the other new features both iPhone XS Max and iPad Pro 3 boast, besides the new functions of the iOS 12.1 version. Accordingly, the devs must also create apps with the new features of the Apple Pencil in mind but also with a focus on the new functionality of the iPad Pro 3 which allows users to connect external hardware via USB-C.

When researching on the new Apple’s developers guidelines referring to the new devices such as iPhone XS Max and iPad Pro 3, besides iOS 12.1, surprisingly, there is nothing about the new 11-inch iPad Pro which is, in reality, featuring an entirely new aspect ratio when compared to the previous iPad Pro models and even to the new iPad Pro 3.

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