PhoneSpeck Press Release

Monday, July 22, 2019

Italy drafts Nomophobia law to overcome the excessive use of smartphones

Italy drafts Nomophobia law

Five Star Movement (M5S), a web strategist-led political party of Italy has drafted a law to end the smartphone addiction, such as excessive use of social networks, messaging, gaming and other apps among the young people in the country, reports The Local.

The report published on Sunday suggests that government has drafted a bill - so-called "no-mobile-phone phobia" (also known as "nomophobia") which is aimed at to spread the awareness program among the parents so that they can easily detect the excessive use of mobile phones in children.

Italian lawmakers are considering implementing strict rules for young people, designed to prevent the overuse of smartphones at bedtime. The new law that's being formulated in the country will also create plans to drive awareness and educational programs in schools, colleges, and universities. This program will help students understand the proper use of social media and the Internet.

According to the several research reports quoted by The Local, half of Italians aged 15-20 consult their mobile phones at least 75 times a day.

"Around 61 percent of Italians use their tablet or mobile phone in bed, according to another report published in June, with the figure rising to 81 percent among 18-34-year-olds", the report reads.


Why do we need to end smartphone addiction?

A Greek philosopher once said, 'A sound mind in a sound body' – Smartphones have not only revolutionized our lives, but they also have the potential to explore our abilities more efficiently when connected to the Internet. But at the same time, overuse of a smartphone could be very dangerous for our health. It can affect our eyesight, brains, and could cause anxiety and other physical as well as psychological disorders.

Due to the excessive use of the internet, sleep deprivation (lack of sleep) has became a common problem among addicted-smartphone users. To overcome this situation, smartphone addiction (nomophobia) must be ended.

Source1, 2

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Tiktok and Helo are being used for anti-national activities in India, says SJM

tiktok ban

Short video sharing social platform TikTok and a San Francisco-based app Helo has been asked to answer 24 questions received along with a notice issued by the Government of India over anti-national activities allegedly carried out in the country by the said apps, reports Gadgets 360.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has received a complaint filed by Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in which it states that TikTok and Helo are being used for anti-national activities in the country.

In response to the notice issued by the MeitY, the platforms in the question, however, have jointly said in a statement that they will invest $1 billion to develop technology infrastructure in the next three years in order to prevent such activities, the report reads.

Following the complaints submitted by SJM, the executive agency of the central government MeitY has sought an appropriate response from TikTok and Helo by 22 July. If the government does not receive an appropriate response to the notice within a given time, both apps will be banned in the country, according to the report.

TikTok, the Chinese internet company ByteDance-owned app, was previously banned by the Madras High Court for circulating pornographic videos on its platform, but the app was restored soon after being removed from the app stores.

Source1, Source2

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Jio launches Digital Udaan Initiative to train first-time internet users in India

Jio digital udaan

Jio, LTE Mobile network operator has started a new program in India to teach first-time internet users how things work on the internet. Digital Udaan, the name of this digital literacy initiative, has been started in partnership with social media giant Facebook.

Program Digital Literacy initiative will guide the first-time Internet users about Jio phone features, use of important apps and Facebook security. Digital Udaan is primarily designed to help Indian users gain knowledge of technology, Android apps, and cybersecurity.

The company will deliver the training sessions every Saturday. Training sessions include visual contents, such as videos and information brochures. The program will feature highly advanced studies that are aimed at to uproot the digital illiteracy in the country.

According to the reports, the Jio's Director and its marketing strategist, Akash Ambani said in a statement that the purpose of this program is to educate people from three angles: education, information, and entertainment. No Indian will be left behind, he added.

Digital Udaan initiative is reportedly going to be available across the country in different regional languages, Digital Literacy, however, will only reach a few cities and will start a broader rollout in the upcoming weeks/months.

Source

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Unwanted call blocker Truecaller launched VoIP calling feature for Android users

truecaller voice calling

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The Swedish-based company and anti-spam mobile app Truecaller has launched VoIP calling features for its Android users, allowing people to make IP calls when connected to the Internet. This feature is already available in Android app but limited to premium subscribers.

Now Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam founded company is going to offer internet calling service to all android users via its dialer pad (on-screen). The new feature will be introduced in upcoming weeks, which is likely to rollout across the android ecosystem, suggests Telecom Talk.

The app was initially introduced in 2009 to identify unknown callers but now it offers many services like spam blocking, intelligent dialer, instant payment system, call recordings and now voice calling.

The app also gives the ability to identify unsaved number via its web search, but the VoIP (Voice over IP) is accessible only on the Android app. The company has not revealed whether it will also roll out this feature for the web. The Truecaller voice will be added to iOS, company revealed in a press release.

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Google Duo, Viber, and other similar apps are offering the same functionality, but when it comes to one-to-one communication technology Videotelephony, Truecaller lacks it.

Source   Via

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Firefox to launch a premium level subscription before the end of the year

mozilla firefox

Firefox, a free open source web browser available across all major operating systems, including Android and windows, announced that it will introduce a new subscription with premium features, TechRadar quotes the T3N report.

The Firefox CEO Chris Beard unveiled the company's plan while talking to T3N. He confirmed the premium features have been set to launch in October 2019. The current features offered by the company will remain free across all operating systems.

Advanced features will be completely optional and will not affect the user's budget. Users can choose whether to switch between the premium version or the free version.

The premium features include storage solution, VPN and much more. The company unveils the VPN will be offered in two subscriptions; a free and a premium one. Free VPNs will also offer the same advanced features, but only for a specified bandwidth.

As we know, the Opera Desktop web browser offers a free VPN for the user, but by default, it's disabled, which requires users' authentication. The firefox's virtual private connection (VPN) could come with not-seen-before browser security, such as traffic encryption and anti-tracking tools.

Mozilla recently released a latest version of the software that blocks Google Analytics by default. When asking why the company blocks the analytics, Mozilla explained that the this setting has been intentionally added to the software in order to keep users' data safe and secure, SEJ reports.

Source (in German)  Via

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Google silently introduces 'Related Searches' for Images

Google has quietly added new features called "related searches", making it easy to find related images on Google. Like a related blog post, Google has now added related keyword terms to Google Images searches. This feature will enable users to find relevant images for which they are looking for.

This feature is already available for Google searches that you can find at the bottom of search results pages, however, now it has been added to "images searches" which looks a little different than the "google keyword suggestions". The company had already added related keyword search, which you can find at the top of the image search page to find related photos on the platform.

As you might have noticed, this feature enables us to find related images by clicking on single keywords available  horizontally at the top of the page. The new feature is more reliable and easier than regular searches as it helps the users find related photos associated to the search queries done by the a searcher.

The new photo search functionality is available among the images you search on Google. 2 to 7 or more keywords (keyword phrases) are available on Google Photos Search. It can only have 2-3 keywords depending on the search query.

It is not yet confirmed whether this feature is also available on mobile devices.

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