Whatsapp To Introduce Voice calls... First Upgrade from Facebook....

WhatsApp is arguably the most popular cross-platform mobile messaging solution out there and while it currently lacks a desktop client (unlike its rival Viber), it’s just become a whole lot more useful by introducing a significant new feature: voice memos, a pet project of its CEO over the past six months.

Unlike Facebook’s Messenger iOS app that requires three taps to make a voice recording, it only takes a single tap to record and send a voice memo in WhatsApp. And no, it’s not a staggered release: the new WhatsApp with push-to-record voice messaging is available now simultaneously on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Nokia…

Simply push the recording button, start speaking and let go when done. To cancel the recording in progress, swipe to the left and the voice memo gets deleted.

Even better, The Mountain View, California messaging startup that employs 45 people said the new version puts no length limit on voice memos. For example, you could leave your significant other a short clip just a few seconds long, but also a five-minute video or even half an hour footage for that matter.

That’s in stark contrast with other popular messaging apps which impose pesky length limits for voice recordings. Skype Video Messages, for example, can be up to three minutes long. And Facebook’s Messenger has even shorter voice messages, up to only a minute in length. WhatsApp (voice messaging, iPhone screenshot 001)

I like how the volume automatically switches from speaker when you hold the device a few inches away to soft when you press it against your ear.

Another nice touch: a blue microphone icon tells you when the recipient has played your voice message. 

Speaking to Liz Gannes of AllThingsD,
WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum shared a few noteworthy stats:
• WhatsApp now has 300 million monthly active users
• 20 million active users across Germany, Mexico, India and Spain
• users now send 11 billion messages and receive 20 billion messages per day, up from 27 billion total in June
• 70 percent penetration across the entire population of Brunei (not even limited to residents who have smartphones) and 50 percent penetration in Hong Kong
• people now sharing 325 million photos per day via WhatsApp

Although Koum wouldn’t disclose the number of users who have paid so far, he did assure that he has no interest whatsoever to monetize users with ads. Up next for the startup: more “media-focused” products that, according to the CEO are building on all the photos WhatsApp users are already sending. Count me excited!
WhatsApp is free during the first year – after that, it will run you $0.99 per year. The app can be downloaded from the App Store.

As commenters pointed out, the feature may have already been in place because the voice recording ability seems to be appearing without the need for an App Store update, so it was likely a server-side update.

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Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion.

In a play to dominate messaging on phones and the Web, Facebook has acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion.

That's a stunning sum for the five-year old company. But WhatsApp has been able to hold its weight against messaging heavyweights like Twitter, Google and Microsoft's Skype.

WhatsApp has upwards of 450 million users, and it is adding an additional million users every day. Referring to WhatsApp's soaring growth, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call, "No one in the history of the world has done anything like that."

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app for smartphones, according to OnDevice Research.

Buying WhatsApp will only bolster Facebook's already strong position in the crowded messaging world. Messenger, Facebook's a standalone messaging app for mobile devices, is second only to WhatsApp in its share of the smartphone market. Similar to traditional text messaging,

WhatsApp allows people to connect via their cellphone numbers. But instead of racking up texting fees, WhatsApp sends the actual messages over mobile broadband. That makes WhatsApp particularly cost effective for communicating with people overseas. That kind of mobile messaging services have become wildly popular, with twice as many messages sent over the mobile Internet than via traditional texts, according to Deloitte. But most of the messaging industry's revenue is still driven by text messaging.

On the conference call, Facebook said it is not looking to drive revenue from WhatsApp in the near term, instead focusing on growth. Zuckerberg said he doesn't anticipate trying to aggressively grow WhatsApp's revenue until the service reaches "billions" of users.

WhatsApp currently charges a dollar a year after giving customers their first year of use for free. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said on the conference call that WhatsApp's business model is already successful. That indicates Facebook bought WhatsApp to add value to its existing messaging services, as well as for the long-term potential of the company.

Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 for similar reasons: As young social network users gravitated towards photo-sharing, Facebook wanted to scoop up what could have eventually become a big rival. Like Instagram, WhatsApp will function as an autonomous unit within Facebook, with all the existing employees coming in as part of the deal.

Facebook said it will pay WhatsApp $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in stock. WhatsApp's founders and staff will be eligible for for another $3 billion in stock grants to be paid out if they remain employed by Facebook for four years. Koum will also join Facebook's board of directors. 

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Apple Siri Records Everything you Say to Her... Hmmm.. Now Obama might Be In Apples Office to Continue with His Spy Work....

Did you know what the word ‘Siri’ means in Swahili? It means secret. But this is not the case with Apple’s Siri app, because, Big Brother is listening. Whenever you whisper to Siri, everything you say ends up on the tech giant’s servers. Apple revealed that the voice prompts are stored for as long as two years. 

Apple-Siri-stores-information-on-servers-for-two-yearsApple’s Mueller noted that privacy advocates have no reason to panic since this data is not connected to a user’s Apple ID, email address or any other personal information. Instead, it’s linked to a key generated at random. The random ID is also stripped once the data has reached a six-month mark threshold.

What happens is whenever you speak to Siri, it transports the command to Apple’s data farm for analysis. The company generates a random set of numbers that represent each user and it associates the voice files with that number. This is the number that represents you as far as the Apple personal voice-activated digital assistant’s back-end voice analysis system is concerned.

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FishHunter Sonar Makes Your Smartphone a True Sonar...

Anglers looking to get the edge over the fish they are trying to catch, might be interested in this new fish tracking device called the FishHunter Sonar, that could provide you with the edge you have been waiting for.

The FishHunter Sonar is a small portable sonar device that connects to your smartphone’s companion applications displaying the location of fish, just waiting to be caught under the waters surface.

The FishHunter Sonar has been designed to float on the top of the water and has a range of about 20-40m of so from your smartphone and supports both Apple and Android smartphones. Once in the water the FishHunter Sonar can relay information back about fish locations to a depth of 30m for up to 6-9 hours on a single charge.

The FishHunter Sonar is now available to purchase for $230 and is suitable for ice fishing, shore fishing, lake fishing, kayak, canoe and off your boat fishing say it manufactures.

“Finally, FishHunter has evolved a sonar device so small it floats, so smart it can speak to mobile phones from 30 meters(80 ft) away (via Bluetooth), and so powerful it can track fish 30-40 meters (100-120 ft) below the surface.

Engineered with military Sonar technology, FishHunter Sonar is a powerful downward facing sonar transducer combined with a world-class fishing app. We provide users adjustable depth ranges with automatic pulse width adjustment.

The adjustable depth ranges allow the users to choose the optimum range profile to produce the most precise data for the body of water they are scanning. At present, we’re officially providing 10, 20 & 30m depth.” For more information on the new FishHunter Sonar jump over to the FishHunter website for details and to place an order.

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