Quick Shots-4

WhatsApp can finally transfer chat data between iOS and Android

After being rumored for several weeks, WhatsApp finally enabled message history and content to be transferred between Android and iOS. The feature was officially announced today during Samsung’s Unpacked event. The Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 will be the first to allow this, covering transfers from iOS devices to the new foldables.

The feature will gradually roll out to Samsung devices on Android 10 or above before eventually reaching all other Android devices and iPhones “in the coming weeks”. There’s no clear time frame for this new option, but it seems like Samsung pulled strings to hold exclusivity in hopes that it might finally convince iPhone users to make the switch to Samsung. WhatsApp hasn’t made clear when Android users will be able to transfer data to iPhones.

Transferring chats will be possible when both the iOS and Android devices are physically connected via USB-C to Lightning cable (the one conveniently included with all modern iPhones).You won’t be able to transfer across platforms over the internet.

If you’ve got more than one cloud backup of your chat history, images, and voice messages, the backups won’t be merged. Rather, the transferred data will overwrite the existing backup once a new backup is performed.

Read More at Gsmarena

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 won’t work with iPhone, and that’s not the only problem

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic could be two of the most exciting smartwatches we’ve seen in years, packing a new version of Wear OS, a new chipset, and new health features. But if you have an iPhone you won’t be able to experience any of this.

Samsung confirmed as much to ArsTechnica, saying that you won’t be able to pair an iPhone with either the Galaxy Watch 4 or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. That’s a major change, as previous Samsung Galaxy Watch models did work with iPhone (and will continue to do so according to this report).

Of course, these new ones run Wear OS rather than Tizen, but previous Wear OS watches also work with iOS, so it’s still a surprising change. What’s not yet clear is whether other watches running the new version of Wear OS (dubbed Wear OS 3) will work with iPhones or not, but we’d guess they won’t, otherwise this would be an even odder restriction for Samsung to place on its new wearables.

Read More at Techradar

Twitter has changed, and it is for you to see

Twitter has brought out yet another feature to the platform, but this time it’s a refreshed design across the web and its apps, featuring a new color scheme, slightly updated layouts and a new typography that the company has designed itself.

The company has been working on a multitude of features lately, with paid Spaces, the discontinued Fleets and Super Followers all created with an aim of expanding Twitter and its use to the millions of users that go on each day.

However, while the design has been welcomed by many, some aren’t too happy with the new font, which the company has named Chirp.

Read More at Techradar

Wireless Earbuds Charge Themselves

As more and more ports are removed from our smart devices, it seems that we have one of two options available for using peripherals: either buy a dongle to continue to use wired devices, or switch to Bluetooth and deal with perpetually maintaining batteries. If neither of these options suits you, though, there’s a third option available as [befinitiv] shows us in this build where he integrates a tiny solar panel to his earbud case to allow them to automatically charge themselves.

Read More at Hackaday

Tesla Claims It Can Now Recycle 92 Percent of Raw Materials from Batteries

In its 2020 Impact Report, electric carmaker Tesla claims that it can now recycle up to 92 percent of raw materials that go into its battery cells, a process that the company’s factories have already begun to implement.

The process could have a major impact on the environmental cost of building battery packs for electric vehicles. Not only is the process very energy intensive, but Tesla’s current crop of batteries require cobalt, a rare metal associated with questionable mining practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and elsewhere.

Read More at The Futurism

Spotify will soon let you download music to your Wear OS smartwatch

Spotify for Wear OS is set to get a major update in the coming weeks as it will allow you to download songs and podcasts directly to your smartwatch for the very first time.

Spotify just announced the feature, saying it’ll be coming in the next few weeks – so, likely in late August or early September. There isn’t a firm release date for these features, but it should be available if your Wear OS smartwatch is running Wear OS 2 or higher.

You’ll need to update your Spotify app to be able to get the feature, and it’s also only available to those who are Spotify Premium subscribers. 

Read more at Techradar

Motorola’s latest G series phone brings swift 50W charging to the table

Where the Motorola G60S does trump its sibling is the charging stakes. The company claims the 50W charging system can give the phone 12 hours of charge in 12 minutes. In contrast, the G60 packs 20W charging support. However, the G60S does have a smaller 5,000mAh battery compared to its 6,000mAh-toting sibling.

Finally, the phone arrives with Android 11 out of the box and is available in dark blue or silvery green colorways.

Read More at Android Authority

Android 12 features: Everything confirmed so far

At Google I/O 2021, the company confirmed that the design of Android 12 would be its biggest visual overhaul in years. The revamp is part of the next iteration of its design language, known as Material You. The idea of Material You is that the users themselves should influence the design.

With Android 12, the OS will use a color extraction protocol to lift design elements from your installed wallpaper. This means that colors across the whole system will change depending on your home/lock screen background. This will allow an easy and automatic way for your phone to feel unique to you.

Along with color extraction, there are numerous new design tweaks, animations, spacing changes, etc. We have a full roundup of what to expect here.

Read More at Android Authority

Man hunts down stolen scooter using Apple AirTags

Guido works at the New York City-based Trail of Bits, a cybersecurity research and consulting firm that serves clients in the defense, tech, finance and blockchain industries. He chronicled his hunt for the scooter in a series of tweets Monday, sharing both the challenges and successes of his wild journey. 

“My scooter was stolen last week,” Guido tweeted. “Unknown to the thief, I hid two Airtags inside it. I was able to use the Apple Find My network and UWB direction finding to recover the scooter today.”

When Guido began his search the next day, he tried to enlist the New York City Police Department, but they weren’t willing to work with him if he entered stores or knocked on doors. “They weren’t familiar with Airtags, thought I might be enlisting them to steal something,” Guido tweeted. Neither Apple nor the New York City Police Department immediately responded to a request for comment.

Read More at Cnet

Huge crypto exchange hack sees $600m stolen

Hackers have stolen an estimated $600 million what is thought to be the largest cryptocurrency heist ever. 

Poly Network, a decentralized cross-chain protocol and network that helps facilitate swapping tokens across multiple blockchains, revealed it has been robbed of $273 million of Ethereum tokens, $253 million in tokens on Binance Smart Chain and $85 million in USDC on the Polygon network.

“We call on miners of affected blockchain and crypto exchanges to blacklist tokens coming from the above addresses,” it posted PolyNetwork on Twitter, while publishing the wallet addresses of the culprits.

Read More at Techradar