Uber Is Planning on Audio-recording Trips for Safety Uber is reportedly planning on audio recording trips in order to improve the safety of both riders and drivers on its platform. The report comes from the Washington Post, which claims that it got access to Uber’s internal communications regarding the planned feature. The company is planning on testing the feature in some Latin American cities starting next month, wherein it will allow users to opt-in to audio recording on a particular trip, or on all their trips from within the Safety Toolkit....

Amazon’s New Fire TV Blaster is an IR Blaster to Control Your TV Amazon has launched a new Fire TV accessory called the ‘Fire TV Blaster’ and as cool as the name is, this is basically just an IR blaster that can talk to Alexa, so you can essentially use your Echo devices to control your TV. The Fire TV Blaster brings a bunch of features to users including, obviously, the ability to control things like the power, volume, and playback using simple voice commands....

Android Vulnerability Allowed Attackers to Secretly Record Videos Leading application security firm, Checkmarx, has detailed multiple vulnerabilities in the camera apps of Android smartphones from several leading vendors, including Google and Samsung. Originally spotted on Google’s Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 3 smartphones, the vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-2234) stem from‘permission bypass issues’that can potentially allow attackers to use third-party apps for taking photos, recording videos and listening to phone calls without permission....

ColorOS 7 Announced with Refreshed UI, Video Editor, and Performance Upgrades After teasing its next custom software skin over the past week, Oppo hastoday taken the wraps offColorOS 7 at an event in China. I know, you must have expected a stock-ish UI experience from Oppo, but the company is sticking to its custom icon and font designs. It has refreshed the interface, improved the performance, and added some new features as well....

Echo Flex Plug-In Smart Speaker With Amazon Alexa Launched in India For Rs 2,999 Afteroriginally unveiling itat its annual hardware event in late September, Amazon has finally launched itsEcho Flexsmart speaker with Alexa support in India. The Echo device plugs directly into a standard wall outlet to bring the power of Alexa all-around your household. It houses a tiny speaker, far-field mics, two buttons up-front, an LED light and a standard USB port to enable users to charge their phones or connect accessories....

Facebook Launches ‘Whale’ App to Create and Share Memes As part of its plans to possibly woo back young users leaving its platform in droves,Facebook has launched a meme-making app called Whalethat the company says enables folks to use their own images to create and share memes on social media. Available only in select markets on iOS, the free app also has a stock photo library alongside annotation tools, filters, effects and more to help in the meme-creation process....

Google Plans to Use Mainline Linux Kernel For Android to Improve Updates, Security At this year’s Linux Plumbers Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this month, Google announced plans to use the mainstream Linux kernel as the base for future versions of Android rather than the highly customized one being used right now. According to the search giant, the generic Linux kernel will bring a lot of positive changes to the platform by reducing technical overhead for Google and making updates faster and more timely....