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Tag: asia

  • Woman obsessed with Tim Cook accuses him of fathering her twins

    Woman obsessed with Tim Cook accuses him of fathering her twins

    There are Apple fans, there are Apple fans, and then there are those that need some kind of mental help. A woman named Julia Lee Choi has been stalking Apple CEO Tim Cook since October 2020 according to court documents. Choi, who lives in Virginia, claims that Cook was the father of her twin children. Choi calls herself Julia Lee Cook and threatened the executive on social media.

    Choi has sent approximately 200 emails to Cook with some of them including photos of loaded handguns. On Monday, Santa Clara County Superior Court issued a restraining order against Choi on behalf of Cook and all Apple employees. A court hearing has been scheduled for March 29th.

    Choi, 45, started tweeting about Apple’s CEO on Halloween in 2020 when she sent out 18 tweets calling him her “husband” and “bed man.” Posting about Cook on that one day, she wrote, “‘My bed MAN! My bathroom MAN! My kitchen MAN! My Cleaning MAN! My Husband! My MAN is Tim Cook ! My kids Daddy~!’” It is no secret that Cook is gay, having announced his orientation back in 2014.

    It seems obvious that Choi has some issues. She got upset at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for sending a  tweet to Cook and wrote, “You should unfollow my husband Tim Cook as soon as possible.” She also sent a tweet to Google CEO Sundar Pichai apparently thinking that he was a female named Sandra Pichia. With her claws out, Choi wrote, “While we two of us reached our love final decision, and in progress, Sandra Pichia, CEO of Google insisting to interrupt Cook’s love and tried to hurt me several times.”

    The court said that the emails demonstrated ‘a significant escalation in tone.’ Some of the messages, described by Cook’s attorney as ‘threatening and highly disturbing,’ were sexual in nature, and some were downright violent. One of the messages reportedly read: ‘What you have done is criminal defense, murdered.’

    Lawyers for the Apple CEO, in a petition for a restraining order, stated that on November 3, 2020, she emailed him a photo of a package of ammunition: the following day, she wrote: “I warned and told you stop trying to kill me. You made me to buy this instead of going for Christmas. I will NEVER forgive forget you.” Choi then started to register fake corporation names described as “highly offensive.”

    The fake corporations that she filed were located in California, New York, and Virginia, and each one listed Cook as a chief executive or director and used his home address or an Apple corporate address. And her actions became even more frightening. Last September she sent Cook an email that said that she was filing to become his roommate in Palo Alto.

    And in the application for the restraining order, it was noted that “she drove from Northern Virginia to Palo Alto twice within two months in a Porsche Macan; the second time, in October 2021, she showed up at Cook’s home and told security officials that she wanted to speak to Cook. She remained on the property until Palo Alto police arrived on the scene, and said she ‘could be violent’.”

    Last month Choi amped up her threats by sending an email to Cook that said, ‘we do not have to meet. give me 500 millions cash. then I will forget and forgive all better listen to me.’ She continued to threaten the CEO and even sent a tweet threatening to burn down Cook’s home. Apple believes that she is still in the South Bay and might be armed.

    The temporary restraining order was filed last Thursday and was granted on Friday. It requires Choi to stay away from any Apple employee or any Apple-owned building.

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  • Moody’s Expects Tesla To Stay At EV Leader Spot, Upgrades To ‘Ba1’

    Moody’s Expects Tesla To Stay At EV Leader Spot, Upgrades To ‘Ba1’

    Moody’s upgraded Tesla Inc’s debt rating by two notches to “Ba1” from “Ba3” on Monday, reflecting the ratings agency’s expectations that the Elon Musk-led company will maintain its position as the leading battery electric vehicle manufacturer. Moody’s affirmed in a note that Tesla’s outlook remains positive and the company will continue to increase its scale rapidly and improve its profitability notably.

    Tesla’s financial policy is likely to be prudent and liquidity would remain very good, Moody’s said, adding that a more competitive offering of battery electric vehicles by other automakers could start to exert some pressure on the company’s margins in 2023.

    In January, Tesla reported record quarterly deliveries that far exceeded Wall Street estimates, riding out global chip shortages as it ramped up China production. It was the sixth consecutive quarter that the world’s most valuable automaker posted record deliveries.

    The ratings agency also anticipated that Tesla will deliver nearly 1.4 million vehicles in 2022, up from about 936,000 in 2021.

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  • iPhone 12 Pro, Pro Max out of stock in Vietnam

    iPhone 12 Pro, Pro Max out of stock in Vietnam

    Major iPhone authorized resellers in Vietnam have stopped importing iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max models, seeking to boost iPhone 13 sales.

    “Most retail chains told me iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max are out of stock. Some chains still sell them but in only a few stores,” said Que Chi in Hanoi.

    The salespeople she talked to all referred her to the new iPhone 13 models, which are readily available.

    iPhone 12 Pro Max, the best-selling iPhone model in Vietnam last year, is now marked as “out of stock” on the websites of major retail chains.

    A media representative of FPT shop said iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max are sold out and the chain does not plan to import more.

    The same comment was given by other chains like ShopDunk and Minh Tuan Mobile.

    Although there is still high demand for these products in Vietnam, most buyers now only have the option to buy used phones or pay more for the latest iPhone 13, a media representative of Minh Tuan Mobile said.

    Nguyen Lac Huy, the media representative of CellphoneS, said the chain still has iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max but in low quantity.

    “We cannot buy more as Apple does not have plans to continue production of these models.”

    iPhone 12 Pro Max with a storage of 128 gigabytes is being sold at around VND28.5 million, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max with the same storage is on sale for just VND2 million higher, which explains why distribution chains are focusing on the newer model.

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  • UBS Acquires U.S. Digital Wealth Platform for Affluent Segment

    UBS Acquires U.S. Digital Wealth Platform for Affluent Segment

    UBS has agreed to acquire California-headquartered digital-only wealth platform Wealthfront, amidst broader plans to tap into the affluent segment worldwide.

    UBS has signed an agreement to acquire Wealthfront in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.4 billion, according to a statement.

    The deal will allow UBS to accelerate its growth plans in the U.S., increase reach into the affluent segment as well as expand distribution and other capabilities.

    Wealthfront complements our core business in the U.S. providing wealth management to high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors through trusted relationships with financial advisors, and will enhance our long-term ambition to deliver a scalable, digital-led wealth management solution to affluent investors, said UBS group chief executive Ralph Hamers.

    After the transaction, which is expected to complete in the second half of 2022, Wealthfront will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS and operate as a business within UBS Global Wealth Management Americas.

    Based in Palo Alto, California, Wealthfront is a digital-only platform providing access to financial planning capabilities, banking services and investment management solutions with a focus on affluent millennial and ‘Gen Z’ investors.

    Currently, Wealthfront has over $27 billion of assets under management with more than 470,000 clients in the U.S. Following integration, Wealthfront clients will also benefit from access to UBS’ wealth management capabilities including content from its chief investment office, its global footprint alongside its shelf of products and services.

    The newly signed agreement follows recent comments by Hamers about UBS’ plans to target mass affluent customers worldwide via an offering that combines digital capabilities and access to human advice.

    It is clear that we should cater for the entrepreneurs, but we should also cater for that segment of the market that may not be completely digitally engaged, but also doesn’t want to have 100 percent client-advisor coverage, but something in the middle, he said during the bank’s third-quarter results last year, calling the segment a sweet spot.

    According to Hamers, the plan is to first make a push in the U.S. before rolling out an offering to target affluent clients globally.

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  • FLC launches jewelry brand

    FLC launches jewelry brand

    Conglomerate FLC on Wednesday entered the jewelry industry with the new brand FJC, establishing its first store in Hanoi.

    Located at Bamboo Airways Tower in Cau Giay District, FJC’s first store sells 24-karat gold, jewelry, diamond and fengshui accessories.

    The jewelry business will help FLC complete its ecosystem, which already includes real estate, aviation and tourism, said FLC Deputy Chairwoman Dang Luu Van, who is also the chairwoman of FJC.

    More FJC stores will be set up at FLC resorts and urban areas across the country, she added.

    The main competitors of FJC will be long-established jewelry brands like Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) and DOJI.

    FLC targets a revenue of VND27 trillion and profit of VND2.1 trillion this year, double from last year.

  • iPhone dominates smartphone market in China

    iPhone dominates smartphone market in China

    Someone over at Apple is popping the champagne as an extremely successful holiday season for the iPhone 13 made Apple the top brand in the world’s largest smartphone market — China. We’ve known that the new iPhone models (minus the iPhone 13 mini) have been doing extremely well there, but now that the numbers have been crunched, we have definitive stats.

    Apple outsold giants such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Huawei on their own turf, which probably stings a little bit. The market used to be dominated by Huawei, but the company has sadly been in a freefall in the past couple of years, and we can see it falling all the way down to the sixth spot in Q4 of 2021.

    This isn’t the first time that Apple sells crazy amounts of iPhones in China. Back in 2014, the iPhone 6 Plus made huge impact in Asian markets, since it was a long-awaited big-screened iPhone. Up until then, Apple simply refused to upsize its screens, despite the fact that phablets were the obvious future trend — especially in Asia. When the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus launched, they became the new craze in China. No joke — some retailers would bundle the iPhone 6 Plus with free tailor services to enlarge pants pockets!

    At the height of the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6s craze (2015), Apple was the top smartphone brand in China. The No1 spot was later taken by Vivo, then Huawei. Now, six years later, Apple is back with a vengeance, taking 23% of the market share — that’s the highest it has ever had.

    As per Counterpoint’s report, Apple rose to the top as soon as the iPhone 13 series launched and held the top spot for most of Q4 2021. The reasons for the wild success are a perfect storm of Huawei customers jumping ship, good pricing strategy by Apple, the 5G implementation in the new iPhones, and the new camera, which is highly praised.

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  • Cebu Pacific cancels 24 flights due to workforce shortage

    Cebu Pacific cancels 24 flights due to workforce shortage

    Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific canceled 24 domestic and international flights on Wednesday, citing workforce shortage.

    “Cebu Pacific continues to manage the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) on its workforce with employees who are either sick or under home quarantine,” it said in an advisory Tuesday night.

    The following flights have been canceled:

    5J893/894 Manila – Boracay (Caticlan) – Manila
    5J905/906 Manila – Boracay (Caticlan) – Manila
    5J787/788 Manila – Butuan – Manila
    5J567/568 Manila – Cebu – Manila
    5J581/582 Manila – Cebu – Manila
    5J975/976 Manila – Davao – Manila
    5J447/448 Manila – Iloilo – Manila
    5J373/374 Manila – Roxas – Manila
    5J653/654 Manila – Tacloban – Manila
    5J506/507 Manila – Tuguegarao – Manila
    5J5054/5055 Manila – Narita (Tokyo) – Manila
    5J310/311 Manila – Taipei – Manila

    Affected passengers may rebook or refund their tickets, or store the value in a travel fund, until 30 days from the original flight schedule.

    The airline said because the situation is still fluid, those with flights until January 23 may also opt to refund their ticket or rebook their flight for travel within 60 days.

    They can also store the amount to a travel fund valid for two years.

  • Gold prices hit new peak

    Gold prices hit new peak

    Vietnam’s gold price hit a new historic peak of VND62.7 million ($2,769.32) per tael Tuesday, surpassing the previous record in August 2020, even as global rates went flat.

    Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) sold its gold at VND62.7 million per tael Tuesday, up 1.2 percent to a new record. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Jewelry company DOJI sold its gold at around VND62.6 million and Phu Nhuan Jewelry, for VND62.3 million.

    Global rates were little changed at $1,840.49 per ounce Tuesday afternoon as concerns about a faster pace of policy tightening by the U.S. central bank countered safe-haven demand, fueled by escalating tension over Ukraine.

    Vietnam’s gold is now VND12 million, or 23.7 percent, higher than global rates.

  • Uniqlo set to come to Hai Phong

    Uniqlo set to come to Hai Phong

    Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo plans to open its first store in the northern city of Hai Phong this summer.

    It will be a 2,000-square-meter outlet at Aeon Mall Le Chan.

    Uniqlo, which came to the Vietnamese market two years ago, now has 10 stores in Hanoi and HCMC.

    Globally, it has over 2,300 in 25 countries and territories.

    German research firm Statista estimates Vietnam’s fashion industry to grow at an average annual rate of 22.5 percent in 2017-22 to reach US$988 million.

  • Twitter’s Trusted Friends feature is now called Flock

    Twitter’s Trusted Friends feature is now called Flock

    Last year, Twitter showed an early concept of a feature called Trusted Friends. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to tweet to a close group of friends, instead of spamming all your followers.

    This pre-announced feature now has a new name – Flock. Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has dug up parts of the feature and posted examples on his Twitter page. As you can see from the screenshots, Twitter Flock allows users to add up to 150 people to this privileged group.

    It’s worth noting that people will get a notification when they have been added to somebody’s Flock but won’t get one if they’ve been removed. The idea behind this feature is quite logical and it’s been implemented in other social networks such as Instagram (Close Friends).

    Unfortunately, there’s no official information about a potential rollout date, or whether this feature will be available across all platforms from the get-go. Chances are you’d need to use the official Twitter app on your mobile to get the Flock feature (when it’s officially released).

    Twitter keeps on adding new features lately, with the social network launching Super Follows and Safety Mode last Autumn, and finally starting to roll out the Twitter Spaces record and replay feature earlier this month.

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  • Another Apple Car engineer quits, this time, joining Meta

    Another Apple Car engineer quits, this time, joining Meta

    Okay, so far, we’ve had a lot of information about the reported turnover at Apple’s mysterious project for self-driving vehicles. Many engineers have reportedly left the project to join other firms. Now, AppleInsider reports about yet another Apple Car engineer leaving the company, and this time, he will be joining Meta (former Facebook).

    The long-rumored project for a self-driving car from Apple seems to be having a lot of setbacks recently, mainly due to losing engineering managers and other key staff and an overall quite consistent employee turnover.

    It seems this pattern is continuing in 2022. This time, it’s the head of software engineering of Apple Car, Joe Bass, who has reportedly left Cupertino to go join Meta. Joe Bass was the Lead Engineering Program Manager for Autonomous Systems over at Apple since the beginning of 2015. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has now left Apple for a new start.

    His new position is Director of Technical Program Management, Mixed Reality Technologies over at Meta (formerly Facebook). The departure of Bass comes after several other engineers did the same back in December, with a majority of them seemingly going to air-taxi startup Archer Aviation, and another similar company, Joby Aviation.

    Keep in mind that the Apple Car project is still just rumored, and has not had an official announcement. The most recent news about it is the report that the company is looking to announce its key partners for the project sometime this year. This information is coming from South Korean sources: it seems Cupertino has been looking into South Korean carmakers to possibly strike a deal with them for Apple Car components.

    This information seems to indicate Apple has plans to ship an Apple Car by 2025. The possible announcement of the partnerships could give us more information about the time frame in which we expect to see this ever-so-mysterious self-driving car. And from this high level of turnover, one can not help but assume things aren’t going exactly according to plan for the Apple Car.

    This image is a part of the newly-created Apple Car renders that we reported on earlier, coming from British car leasing firm Vanarama, and of course, they are based on patents filed by Apple plus previously released Apple devices.

    It is, indeed, a very early stage to know for sure if the Apple Car will look anything like the image shown above, but it looks cool, don’t you agree?

    There have been many people leaving and joining the supposed Apple Car project in recent months, especially in November and December of last year. Some of its key engineers have been leaving to join air taxi startup companies, while other ex-Tesla engineers have joined to take their place.

    Just to name a few, Eric Rogers, who was Apple’s chief engineer for radar systems for the project for the self-driving vehicle has left to go join Joby Aviation Inc, a flying taxi startup. Alex Clarabut, who was an engineering manager for the team’s battery systems group, has now joined Archer Aviation, another company working on air taxis.

    The third person who recently left Apple is Stephen Spiteri, who was a hardware engineering manager, and he has also gone ahead and joined Archer. The two flying taxis companies have confirmed the appointments.

    All these staff changes serve to show how many challenges the Cupertino tech giant is facing as it is expanding into an entirely new industry. Of course, building and selling a self-driving car represents a massive new sales opportunity, one of its famous “next big thing”. We will see how Apple will face the challenges coming with it.

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  • TikTok testing new Video Avatar Tools, audio-only live streams, and more

    TikTok testing new Video Avatar Tools, audio-only live streams, and more

    TikTok is testing a couple of new features, and thanks to social media expert Matt Navarra (who has a great track record of revealing them) we have some inside information on how they look and what they actually do.

    TikTok experimental features at a glance:

    1. Video Avatar Tools
    2. Keyword filtering
    3. Group Chat shareable link invite
    4. Audio-only live streams
    5. Screen sharing in live

    1. Video Avatar Tools

    The first new feature is very similar to Apple’s Memoji, and will allow users to create a digital avatar based on a selfie shot. First you’ll need to choose a face template, which you would be able to subsequently edit with expressions based on your own face.

    “The feature lets you use your phone’s camera to take a selfie with a fun facial expression which your avatar will match,” wrote Navarra on his Twitter page.

    The screenshots, posted by Navarra, don’t explain the exact way this feature works, and whether it would be capable of tracking and mimicking your face in real time, or it would only be able to pre-record short video avatars/still images.

    2. Keyword filtering

    There’s also an interesting keyword filtering feature in the works, apparently. Contrary to the way most filtering options work, the TikTok keyword filtering will allow you to hide content from your feeds.

    Adding a keyword or hashtags to your filter will result in videos containing these words in the description or stickers not showing in your For You page or Following feeds. Advertisement containing these “filtered” keywords may still appear, though.

    3. Group Chat shareable link invite

    Also in the code, dug up by Navarra, lies a string suggesting that a new Group Chat feature is being developed. TikTok users will have the option to invite people to a group chat via a shareable link.

    TikTok has a Group Chat feature but you need to manually invite people by sending a video or creating a group chat in inbox and selecting the users you want to invite. The shareable link invite feature simplifies the process.

    4. Audio-only live streams

    TikTok is experimenting with the option to allow users to join live streams with audio-only, trying to hop on the Clubhouse train, even though the popularity of the app and all of its clones has plummeted in recent months.

    Twitter Spaces is a recent example and the company recently rolled out a new feature called Record and Replay, allowing users to record their conversations and make them available for anyone who wants to listen at a later time.

    5. Screen sharing in live streams

    This one is pretty interesting, as per the code: “Screen sharing allows viewers to see what’s on your screen in real time, including camera, audio, notification, and other alerts.”

    The ability to share your screen with friends will give TikTok creators new tools to enhance their material, new ways to make tutorials, and make live streams more interesting in general.

    TikTok provided an official statement to SocialMediaToday, shedding light on the idea behind these new experimental features:

    “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Currently, we’re experimenting with ways to give creators tools to express themselves on TikTok.”

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  • A new Lenovo Legion gaming phone leaks with a new Snapdragon chip

    A new Lenovo Legion gaming phone leaks with a new Snapdragon chip

    In his tweet, Evan Blass said that the Lenovo Halo would be equipped with the Qualcomm SM8475 chipset. Although there is little information available for this chip, it is suspected that it may be an improved version of Qualcomm’s current flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s model number is SM8450 – very close to the SM8475 which the Lenovo Halo is rumored to have.

    Other possible specs of the Lenovo Halo include:

    • 6.67-inch, 2220×1080 pixels (FHD+) POLED display, which is basically an OLED display with a plastic substrate. Lenovo Halo’s display may also support a 144Hz refresh rate with a 300Hz touch sampling rate.
    • 8, 12, or 16GB of RAM, with 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage space, which offers fast read and write speeds and can also be found in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and OnePlus 9 Pro 5G.
    • 5,000 mAh battery, 68W wired charging, and 8mm thickness

    It looks like Lenovo is aiming for a more simplistic design with the Lenovo Halo. At the front of the phone, we can see a hole-punch front-facing camera, and at the back we see a triple camera array. Bearing the “Legion” label on its back means that the Lenovo Halo will be aimed at gamers, as Legion is Lenovo’s gaming brand.

    According to Evan Blass, the Lenovo Halo is suspected to be released in Q3 2022. There is currently no information regarding the phone’s price. Evan Blass also didn’t say if the Lenovo Halo would be available worldwide or only in certain markets.

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  • Soon we may be using more secure payment cards thanks to Samsung

    Soon we may be using more secure payment cards thanks to Samsung

    Samsung has announced the S3B512C security chip, its new fingerprint security chip developed in partnership with Mastercard, designed primarily for payment cards. According to the company, the chip is the ‘industry’s first all-in-one security chip solution’ and would be able to provide faster and safer interactions while making purchases. Because Samsung’s chip uses biometric authentication, the chip would also remove the need to enter your PIN code on a keypad.

    The S3B512C chip has a fingerprint sensor as well as a tamper-proof secure element (SE) that meets international security requirements, and a secure processor. The chip captures the user’s biometric data via its fingerprint sensor. Then, using the SE, it stores and authenticates the received information. After that, the chip analyzes the data by using its secure processor.

    With its biometric authentication, Samsung’s security chip may prevent fraudulent transactions which could otherwise be made with lost or stolen traditional cards. Because it has securely saved the owner’s fingerprint, a card using Samsung’s chip will check if the person performing the transaction is indeed the rightful owner. The chip also utilizes anti-spoofing technology, which prevents unauthorized users from fooling the security system using tactics such as artificial fingerprints.

    According to Samsung, although the S3B512C chip is primarily designed for payment cards, it could also be used in cards intended for highly secure authentication, such as student or employee access cards. In addition, by utilizing a fingerprint sensor, a tamper-proof secure element, and a secure processor, the S3B512C may assist card makers in reducing the number of required chips in manufacturing biometric payment cards and might help optimize card design processes.

    Although Samsung’s new security chip sounds very promising, currently, there is no information on when Mastercard will implement Samsung’s new chip.

    Currently, Mastercard offers fingerprint-authenticated payment cards, but they are not as secure as the new Samsung chip and don’t use anti-spoofing technology.

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  • WhatsApp’s latest update brings Focus mode support to iPhones and iPads

    WhatsApp’s latest update brings Focus mode support to iPhones and iPads

    Although WhatsApp typically rolls out updates simultaneously on both Android and iOS platforms, the latest update is one of the exceptions since it brings specific features aimed at iPhone and iPad users. Two important new features are now making their way to iOS users and are expected to be generally available over the coming weeks.

    The first one is the ability to pause and resume while recording voice messages. Surprisingly, such a nifty feature wasn’t available until the latest update, so if you’re downloading WhatsApp v22.2.75, you can try it out by swiping up to lock a recording and then tap the “pause” and “resume” buttons.

    Another important new feature rolling out to iOS users is support for Focus mode. This has been added in iOS 15 and allows selected users to message you when you have set a Focus mode. When this mode is enabled, you can set notification, call, and message filters, as well as auto-reply to others when you’re not available. Think of it as a more efficient Do Not Disturb feature.

    In other news, WhatsApp is gearing up for yet another important new feature for its users: the ability to transfer Android chats to iOS. However, the feature is still being tested internally, so it might take a while until WhatsApp will be ready to make it available to everyone.

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