Google suggested this week that they are in the process of "accelerating Android updates." It's possible they're set to move the future of Android updates to a more speedy place with deployment across all devices - but their wording remains vague enough that they'll find plausible deniability should a major smartphone ever appear in the news for its lack of movement in the Android OS updates ecosystem.
![Crashing iPhone apps blamed on Facebook: Tinder, Spotify and others impacted [Update: Fixed]](https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/apple-iphone-11-5-1280x720.jpg)
A Facebook SDK glitch is causing popular apps like Spotify, Waze, Nextdoor, Pinterest, and others to crash on iPhones, even if users don't have Facebook accounts themselves. It's the second time this year that problems with the Facebook SDK - which many apps rely upon for user authentication - have led to uncontrollably crashing software.
In addition to detailing new features for its Teams software, Microsoft has also taken the wraps off Microsoft Teams displays, which are small portable displays that include high-quality microphones, speakers, and webcams for use with video chats. According to the company, these new displays are all-in-one devices made specifically for Teams users, offering them voice access to Cortana and a touchscreen.
Apple has released the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 public betas, giving eager iPhone and iPad owners an early taste of the latest software. While Apple isn't planning to launch the final versions until the fall, its public beta program offers the cutting-edge a few months before that - albeit with the proviso that not everything may work exactly as intended.
For all its benefits in security, performance, and openness, the Linux operating system is still avoided by many computer users because of its software catalog. It's not that Linux lacks app but it lacks the sort of apps that people are used to on Windows and Mac or even on Android and iOS. There is no shortage of projects that try to bring some sort of compatibility with those apps, like WINE for Windows and Anbox for Android. A different strategy, however, is writing apps in a way that makes them run on all or most platforms. That's the premise behind Flutter and it's now coming to Linux, at least on the Ubuntu flavor of Linux.
Long gone are the days when Windows is the only vulnerable operating system or at least the most reported one. Mac and Linux computers have their own share of vulnerabilities, some worse than others, but recent times have made them just as enticing to data and money thieves as Microsoft's platform. And then there is Android and iOS which is home to even more personal and sensitive data than our desktops and laptops. A new ransomware has popped up that specifically targets Macs and its mere existence is reason enough for both users and developers to wake up and be on guard.
Chrome is probably the most used web browser on all platforms but it's not exactly because it is the perfect browser. Although it has considerably improved over the years especially in memory management, it's still notorious for being a huge drain on battery life, something that the pre-Chromium Microsft Edge tried to capitalize on. That may soon be a thing of the past if the latest update makes it to the stable version of Chrome, saving users 30 minutes to even 2 hours of battery life even with dozens of tabs open.
With Microsoft Edge, Microsoft was supposedly heading in a fresh new direction without the gigantic baggage that Internet Explorer brings with it, both technically and legally. After a brief attempt at carving its own path, Microsoft decided to cut its losses and build upon the same Chromium base used by Google Chrome. Now that Microsoft Edge is finally out of its testing phase, however, it seems that Microsoft may have fallen back to its old habits and is giving non-Edge users no small amount of headache and stress over its installation practices.
Olympus might have called it quits making cameras themselves but it hasn't exactly walked out of the camera market completely. In addition to focusing on interchangeable lenses, no pun intended, the company continues to support its existing cameras already out there in the wild. In fact, it has even announced a new feature that puts it on the same level as its rivals, allowing owners of some of its OM-D shooters to use those for video conferences or live streaming at home.
This week Facebook admitted to wrongly sharing the personal data of thousands of app users with thousands of developers. The issue here isn't as simple as Facebook selling your personal information to advertisers, or Facebook allowing political advertisers to publish inaccuracies and lies on their platforms. Instead, it's more like a little mistake. A little mistake that lends more evidence to the idea that when a company is as big as Facebook, a little mistake can have big consequences.
There has been some speculation, even worries, about how the Windows 10 Start Menu would be changing but Microsoft is now calming those fears by confirming that nothing much is changing. At least nothing yet as far as big sweeping design and behavioral changes are concerned. The latest preview build for Insiders shows off a slightly refreshed Start Menu but it's the new multi-tasking behavior that may have some users a tad annoyed instead.
Today we're taking a peek at what you need to know about the next update for WhatsApp for multiple platforms. This update adds new Animated Stickers, upgrades QR codes, and adds Dark Mode for WhatsApp web and desktop platforms. If you're working with video calls, you'll find the newly upgraded ability to include 8 people on a call. If you're one of the growing pack of people using a phone with KaiOS, you're in luck - a new feature, at last!