General Motors installs Apple CarPlay, Android Auto in more cars

General Motors said it will offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in more of its Chevrolet models next year, as tech firms seek to expand their reach in the auto world. The smartphone-compatible systems will be offered in 14 models, including the soon-to-be-released Cruze compact car, GM said in a statement.

The technology allows drivers to connect to their smartphones in their cars from an installed touch screen.

“For most of us, our smartphones are essential,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. She said the partnerships with Apple and Google, which owns Android, “is a great example of how Chevrolet continues to democratize technology that’s important to our customers.”

Android Auto allows users to use Google Maps, Google Now and to access various messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Skype.

With Apple’s CarPlay, drivers can make calls, send and receive messages, and listen to music from either the touch screen or by commanding Siri. Users can also access their apps on the car’s touch screen.

Many functions can be controlled from the steering wheel, GM added. With the expansion, Chevrolet will offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in more of its cars than any other auto manufacturer, the company said.

Other models to receive the technology include Chevrolet’s Spark, Malibu, Camaro and Silverado. Various models will receive either seven- or eight-inch MyLink Infotainment systems.

Chevrolet’s new Cruz model will also be outfitted with the technology when it is unveiled on June 24.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel reveals IPO plans

The chief of vanishing-image service Snapchat said the company has a plan for going public with an offering of stock but did not reveal when it might happen.

“We need to IPO, we have a plan to do that,” chief executive officer Evan Spiegel said on-stage at a Code Conference in California when asked about the potential for an initial public offering of stock.

“An IPO is really important,” he added, according to a live blog of the exclusive technology conference. Snapchat rejected a $3 billion take-over offer from Facebook in 2013.

Earlier this year, news reports surfaced that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba committed to a $200 million investment in Snapchat that valued the Los Angeles-based company at $15 billion.

Spiegel acknowledged plans for a Snapchat IPO during a talk in which he agreed with the notion there is a tech industry bubble that will at some point burst, with low interest rates, easy money, and risky investments calling for a “correction.”

Snapchat rocketed to popularity in the United States, especially among teenagers, after the initial app was released in September 2011. Smartphone app Snapchat late last year began letting users in the United States send money to friends by simply typing dollar amounts into new “Snapcash” messages.

The new feature came from a first collaboration between Snapchat and Square, a mobile payments company headed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

The new service was added as Snapchat worked to boost the money-making capabilities of its popular app, which sees messages disappear shortly after being viewed. Snapchat has become a popular way for people to share videos or photos, and has nearly 100 million people using it each day, according to Spiegel.

Snapchat began weaving ads into the service last year.

New Chrome extension can pinpoint your Facebook Messenger locations

Stalkers are likely in for a treat as a new app is going to help them creep up on their Facebook friends. As if Google wasn’t enough. A new Google Chrome extension called Marauders Map, inspired by the map in the "Harry Potter" franchise, will allow users to see exactly from where their contacts are messaging them, without their permission or consent.

Created by a student developer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Aran Khanna, the extension will grab a user’s location data from Facebook Messenger and will quickly plot it out on a map. The location is said to be extremely precise and makes it super easy to stalk a person’s vicinity. To make things more easy, it can fetch location data from the past as well as long as location sharing was enabled, which is mostly on by default on iOS and Android apps.

Image: Google Chrome Store

Aran Khanna mentioned in a blog post on Medium, “Everyone I have shown this extension to has been anywhere from surprised to appalled that this much of their very personal data is online for their friends (and even complete strangers) to access.” A report by Engadget points out that this is not real-time tracking method by any means. The extension simply compiles the embedded data into a cohesive map.

If users find the whole idea of being stalked on Facebook Messenger too creepy for their taste, they can opt out from the feature by turning off the GPS location service and disable it in their smartphone’s settings as well.

Microsoft to open first digital experience centre in India

Microsoft will open the country’s first Digital Experience Centre here in collaboration with the Vadodara Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Managed by Microsoft’s distributor Ingram Micro, the centre will help businesses, institutions, partners and individuals gain a first-hand experience of modern technologies on devices running Microsoft software, including Windows apps and Office 365.Microsoft,” Manohar Hotchandani, Director, Business Development at Microsoft India announced here.

The centre aims to bring to life these experiences for SMEs, entrepreneurs and educational institutions and help them leverage contemporary cloud technology to drive business growth as well as enhance skills and promote learning.

In addition to SMEs, Microsoft and VCCI will also help educational institutions to adopt technology that will prepare future generations for the mobile-first, cloud-first world.

As a part of this initiative, Microsoft’s latest innovative cloud-computing based offering Edu-Cloud will help education institutions enhance digital learning and teaching by providing them with access to digital content and free access to Office 365 on Windows-powered tablets.

Apple finds bug that causes iPhones to crash

Apple has found a bug which can cause iPhones to crash when a message containing a specific string of text is received.

The bug, which includes symbols and Arabic characters, was first reported by Apple news blog MacRumors on Tuesday night, adding that it was noticed on social news hub Reddit earlier in the day.

“We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update,” an Apple spokesperson said in an e-mail.

“If Messages was opened to the conversation list view, the app will crash when you attempt to open it. You can fix this by having someone send you a message or by sending a message to yourself. There are several options for sending a message to yourself, including sending yourself a message via Siri or through the Share sheet in any app,” adds MacRumors.

“We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update,” an Apple spokesperson told iMore.

Apple is addressing the bug with a software update.

Google puts zero rating plan on hold in India after public backlash against Airtel, Facebook

After the masses reacted strongly against the decision to introduce zero-rating platforms in India, Google has reportedly decided to hold its plan to provide free data to users by zero-rating a few apps. The company also fears a backlash from the public, as seen previously by Airtel and Facebook.

Citing two people familiar with the development, Economic Times reported that Google was in early discussions with telecom operators and applications developers to launch a zero rating platform but stalled their plan of action for a more ‘wait and watch approach’.

One of them stated that, “Google has shelved the idea of any kind of zero-rating tieup because they are very scared of the backlash which came up against (Facebook’s) Internet.org in India”. However, a Google spokesperson declined to comment on any rumours or speculation.

According to the report, Google hoped to create an environment where ‘telecom operators could put up their zero rating plans and app developers could purchase them to zero-rate the mobile data used by their apps and gain access to a wider customer base.

It was earlier reported that the Government was to block zero rating plans to support Net Neutrality. Citing a senior official from the telecom department, an Economic Times report revealed that the government may disallow zero-rating plans in its final policy, but with the exemption of certain government services aimed at education and health.

Gaana.com reportedly hacked

One of India’s popular music streaming service Gaana has been reportedly hacked and its massive database, about 10 million users, has been compromised. The hacker goes by the name MakMan who appears to be based in Lahore, Pakistan who posted a link to his Facebook page of what appears to be the entire database of Gaana.com’s users containing personal details.

The reason behind the hack is unknown. If a person enters the registered email address of a Gaana.com account, they can have access to their full name, email address, date of birth, MD5-encrypted password, along with Facebook & Twitter profiles as well. According to a report by The Next Web, the hack appears to be a SQL injection-based exploit of Gaana’s systems.

The hacker had updated his database page with the following message: “The vulnerable parameter I was using here, has been patched by the Admin. Now the question is, Was this the only vulnerable parameter I had .. ? ;)”

However, when we checked, the following message appeared.

In any case, users are advised to not simply change their Gaana.com password but rather deactivate their account till the problem is solved. Also, users should change their email, Facebook and Twitter passwords if they’re the same as on Gaana.com. At the moment, there is no official statement from Times Internet Limited, which owns Gaana.com. As of now, website displays, “Site is down due to server maintenance. We will be back shortly. Kindly bear with us till then”