WhatsApp adds two-step authentication to beta app

Whenever an online service adds two-factor authentication, we encourage you to enable it. WhatsApp gets a version of that in its beta app (at least starting version 2.16.341). It isn’t the two-factor authentication you know but it at least offers a form of security. Since WhatsApp uses your phone number to log into your account. Someone can gain access to it if they take your phone. What two-step authentication does is let you create a six-digit PIN you need to enter every time you log into your account alongside your phone number.

Source: Lifehacker

Snap sells Spectacles through pop-up vending machines

Snap Inc., the company that owns Snapchat, is taking an unusual route to promote its Spectacles. These glasses are the company’s own wearable device to take Snaps (photos and videos) with. Snap starting selling the devices by setting up a big yellow vending machine called the Snapbot on a beach boardwalk in Venice, California. The glasses sell for US$130 and were quickly sold out. If you don’t try and buy the wearables from sellers who have started selling these on eBay for $1,000, the only way to buy Spectacles is through these vending machines. It’s said these will be brought to different locations for a day and the locations will only be shared 24 hours in advance.

Source: Reuters

BlackBerry might be coming out with another Android-powered phone with a physical keyboard

While BlackBerry has shifted to software instead of hardware, it seems there is one more keyboard smartphone heading our way. BlackBerry CEO John Chen told Emily Chang of Bloomberg TV that there is still one keyboard phone coming and it might just be the last one the company builds in-house. The DTEK50 and DTEK60 were built by TCL. Before those two Android smartphones, there was the Priv. We don’t know yet what kind of smartphone BlackBerry plans to release, whether it’ll take the Priv’s design or pay an homage to the likes of the Classic.

Source: Android Central

Patch adds background blur to iPhone-shot photos

The iPhone 7 Plus comes with a dual rear camera and a new Portrait mode that creates a faux depth-of-field effect for, well, portraits. If you don’t have that version of an iPhone, there’s an app that replicates that. Called Patch, the app makes use of neural networks to analyze a photo and determine the subject matter. It’s not as serious a tool as you would expect, it’s more a fun thing to play around with. And since developers anticipated it won’t always accurately find the outline of your subject, you can adjust the mask manually by highlighting or erasing areas affected by the blur. It works best when taking a picture of a person straight on. The app comes with an in-app purchase option ($0.99) to get rid of the tiny watermark Patch adds to the photos you edit on it.

Source: Lifehacker