Articles by Stephen Warwick

The update is available from the App Store and WhatsApp’s website for Android.

What you need to know

WhatsApp now lets you video call with up to 8 people.
The feature is being released to the public after some beta testing.
It’s available to both iOS and Android Users.

WhatsApp is now rolling out group video and voice chats for up to eight people across both iOS and Android.

WhatsApp expanded group calling to eight people in its beta on April 21, after previously announcing support for up to four people.

Now, group video and voice calling for you and seven friends has been released to the general public on both iOS and Android. According to the app’s iOS release notes for version 2.20.50:

Group video and voice calls now support up to 8 participants. All participants need to be on the latest version of WhatsApp.
Visual improvements for iOS 13 users including updated message action menu.

The iOS update is available now from the App Store, and will likely show up as…

What is contact tracing? Should I be concerned about it? How does it work?

With the coronavirus pandemic perhaps showing signs of letting up in some countries throughout Europe and beyond, you might have heard a good deal of conversation around contact tracing. Particularly, in the context of reducing lockdown and stay at home measures as countries look toward life after COVID-19. But what is contact tracing? How does it work? What’s that thing Apple and Google are doing? Should I be concerned about my privacy? For answers to all these questions and more, check out our deep dive into the world of contact tracing.

Tracing contact

In essence, contact tracing does exactly what it says on the tin, it traces contact. It’s used the world over to chart and manage the spread of infectious diseases (including sexually transmitted ones) by establishing who an infected person has had contact with. This, in turn, allows people who’ve potentially been exposed to a disease or virus to be notifi…

The pair strongly rebuffed calls to support centralized contact tracing technology.

What you need to know

An EU official has said that Apple and Google are holding EU states hostage.
That’s after they rebuffed calls from France and Germany to back their contact tracing solutions.
Apple and Google will not accommodate solutions that involve holding personal data on a central server.

An EU official has said that Apple and Google are holding EU states hostage after they rebuffed further calls to support contact tracing solutions offered by France and Germany.

As Reuters reports:

A standoff between the two largest nations in the European Union and Silicon Valley escalated on Friday as Apple and Google rebuffed demands by France and Germany to back their approach to using smartphone technology to trace coronavirus infections.

Countries are rushing to develop apps to assess the risk that one person can infect another with the coronavirus, helping to isolate those who could s…

“…a key milestone in our 90-day plan to proactively identify, address, and enhance the security and privacy capabilities of the Zoom platform.”

What you need to know

Zoom has today announced a big new update to its platform.
Zoom 5.0 will bring support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption.
Zoom’s CEO says “this is just the beginning” on making its platform the most secure platform there is.

Zoom has today announced its new 5.0 update, bringing robust new security features including AES 256-bit GCM encryption.

In a blog post, Zoom stated:

Today we announced robust security enhancements with the upcoming general availability of Zoom 5.0, a key milestone in our 90-day plan to proactively identify, address, and enhance the security and privacy capabilities of the Zoom platform. By adding support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption, Zoom will provide increased protection for meeting data and resistance against tampering.

On the announcement, CEO Eric S. Yuan said:

I am proud to re…

Who knew, 5G has nothing to do with COVID-19 and is actually totally safe…

The internet in recent weeks has been awash with harrowing reports of 5G conspiracy theories making the rounds. Whilst there has always been some kind of 5G skepticism lurking in less-savory parts of Facebook and Twitter, the recent COVID-19 epidemic has compounded many people’s fears and pushed the narrative into the mainstream media, both in the US and across the pond in the UK.

We’ve heard quite enough about these theories and the tragic material consequences that have unfortunately followed (workers and engineers threatened, the burning of masts, people being cut off from loved ones). Rather than give any more airtime to the nonsense, we sat down with two 5G experts to debunk these myths once and for all. Strap in.

The experts

Our two heroes are Iqbal Bedi and Saul Friedner. Iqbal is the Director of Intelligens Consulting Ltd, and has worked as a digital and telecoms advisor in both the UK’s public a…

“This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times…”

What you need to know

Netflix has announced it has set up a $100 million fund amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
The money will go towards “hardship in the creative community”.
Much of this money will go to workers on its own productions, but at least $15 million will go to third parties and non-profits.

Netflix has announced the creation of a $100 million coronavirus fund to help the creative community during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a press release Friday, March 20 it said:

The Covid-19 crisis is devastating for many industries, including the creative community. Almost all television and film production has now ceased globally – leaving hundreds of thousands of crew and cast without jobs. These include electricians, carpenters, drivers, hair and makeup artists and more, many of whom are paid hourly wages and work on a project-to-project basis.

This c…