MacRumors

Popular messaging app Viber today launched a new commercial account format to enable businesses and brands to communicate with users (via TechCrunch).

Approximately 1,000 Public Accounts including the likes of the BBC and The Weather Channel were launched with the v6.5 update, allowing users to subscribe to them and share stories with users in their contacts list.

Public Accounts are also set to introduce chat bots to the messaging service, as Japanese-owned Viber rolls out its scalable API to companies which will include tools for bot developers.

Public Accounts come on the back of a feature Viber introduced in 2014 called Public Chats, which allow people to carry on a conversation with the general public. However, unlike the latter, users will be able to interact with the new commercial accounts without needing to add them as a contact.

Viber was bought in 2014 by Japanese internet company Rakuten, the owner of online retailer Play.com. The Cyprus-based messaging service has over 800 million users.

Apple recently inked a deal with Cuscal Payments Group, which will see Apple Pay expand to more than 30 small banks and credit unions in Australia in the near future. Apple Pay is expected to be available for up to four million Australian customers through the partnership.

Some of the banks and credit unions that will accept Apple Pay include Credit Union Australia, Bank Australia, Beyond Bank Australia, QT Mutual Bank, and Central West Credit Union, with a full list available on the Cuscal website. In a statement, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said Apple is eager to expand the payments service in Australia.

"We want as many Australians as possible to be able to use Apple Pay," she said.

"Today more than 3500 banks across 12 countries already support Apple Pay and we think Cuscal's customers will really love using Apple Pay for everyday purchases in stores, apps and on the web."

While Apple Pay has been available in Australia since November of 2015 through partnerships with American Express and ANZ, other major banks in Australia have not signed on to accept Apple Pay and are embroiled in a dispute with Apple.

Three of Australia's largest banks, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac, have filed an application with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to collectively negotiate with Apple to gain access to the NFC hardware in iPhones.

The banks want customers to be able to use already-established bank-run digital wallets rather than being limited to Apple Pay, but Apple does not allow third-party services to access the NFC chip built into the iPhone.

The banks have argued that Apple's refusal to allow access to the iPhone's hardware is an anti-competitive restriction, while Apple has told the ACCC that allowing the banks to "form a cartel" to dictate the terms of new business models would "set a troubling precedent," delay the introduction of "potentially disruptive technologies," and compromise security.

Snapchat is joining in on the augmented reality craze today with an update to its iOS app that lets Snapchatters use both their outward-facing and self-facing cameras to discover objects hidden in the world around them through their iPhone screens. Called "World Lenses," the options include an Election Day filter, rainbow-vomiting clouds, floating glitter, snow, hearts, and a horror-themed lens that turns your environment dark or light with the use of a flashlight (via The Verge).

Also discovered hidden within the update is a menu option to sync with Snapchat's upcoming Spectacles, sunglasses that will let users record 10 seconds of video at a time. As found by Mashable, the menu reads, "Spectacles are sunglasses that Snap! Learn more about Spectacles here," before directing users to Spectacles.com. There's still no confirmation of when the $130 device will launch.

The update also includes two new UI interactions for users, letting them press and hold on any snap to forward it to a friend so they can check it out. To cancel the process, simply press on the left side of the screen to return to the snap's normal playback loop.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been championing AR in recent months, calling the technology "profound" in its potential to encourage and better stimulate human contact, not replace it. Apple is said to be investing a lot in AR as it moves forward, and the most recent rumors peg the company's potential efforts in the field as a focus on an assisted driving system that would have some kind of augmented reality user interface.

For now, more entertainment-based apps like Pokémon Go and Snapchat are the best examples of the technology. Users who don't have it yet can download Snapchat for free on the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

In a lengthy blog post about Facebook's ten-year plan to "accelerate innovation and power new experiences with AI," chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer mentioned that one update coming to the company's mobile apps will be a "style transfer" tool that turns normal photos and videos into works of art using "high efficiency neural networks," all running directly on iOS and Android smartphones.

Facebook's impending update will, according to Schroepfer, run entirely on the user's smartphone and not be dependent on the content to be sent to servers, creating long load times and frustrating users. The CTO described this as the most demanding and "technically difficult" hurdle to clear in the process of adding the feature to the company's mobile apps, but Schroepfer said the company has done just that, and the result is a deep learning platform called "Caffe2Go."

Just three months ago we set out to do something nobody else had done before: ship AI-based style transfer running live, in real time, on mobile devices. This was a major engineering challenge, as we needed to design software that could run high-powered computing operations on a device with unique resource constraints in areas like power, memory and compute capability. The result is Caffe2Go, a new deep learning platform that can capture, analyze and process pixels in real time on a mobile device.

We found that by condensing the size of the AI model used to process images and videos by 100x, we’re able to run deep neural networks with high efficiency on both iOS and Android. This is all happening in the palm of your hand, so you can apply styles to videos as you’re taking them.

Schroepfer said that the alternative of sending the content to data centers to be analyzed and filtered was "not ideal for letting people share fun content in the moment." In addition to basic image and video filtering capabilities, the new deep-learning platform will also feasibly be able to understand gesture controls when taking a selfie, for instance. In today's blog post, an example is given of a user swiping right and left between various artistic filters for a selfie (all running live, in real-time) and even snapping a picture when the user smiles.

As a comparison, the update sounds largely similar to Prisma, an app that launched over the summer and impressed many with its ability to turn photos, and eventually videos, into stylized images. Originally, Prisma used a server-side combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence to apply the different filters to user photos, but an update also introduced offline image processing, meaning users could use some of the app's filters to alter their images right from their smartphones.

For Facebook, the announcement follows a year of video-first announcements from the company, most recently embodied in CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's plan to make the camera more prominent in the app. No specific timeline was given for a possible launch of the new features on Facebook's mobile apps, but the company is clearly looking to lay the groundwork for its future, calling its new AI initiative, along with virtual reality, "new technologies that will shape the next decade."

Samsung has issued a full-page ad in three major U.S. newspapers and published an open letter on its website apologizing to its customers for the Galaxy Note 7 debacle (via The Verge).

The print letter was signed by Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, and appeared in Monday editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

"An important tenet of our mission is to offer best-in-class safety and quality. Recently, we fell short on this promise. For this we are truly sorry. We will re-examine every aspect of the device, including all hardware, software, manufacturing and the overall battery structure. We will move as quickly as possible, but will take the time needed to get the right answers."

The online letter was signed by Y H Eom, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Europe, and apologized similarly to "a small number of affected customers" on the continent, where the Note 7 had yet to go on general sale.

Samsung still doesn't know exactly what caused some Note 7 handsets to spontaneously combust, but says it will continue to investigate the device's design and manufacturing process to determine what went wrong.

Released in August ahead of Apple's latest iPhone, the Note 7 quickly found itself at the center of a quality control crisis after reports emerged of phones setting on fire, causing injury and property damage.

Samsung permanently discontinued the phone after replacement units started exploding as well. Samsung says about 85 percent of all devices have now been returned. Analysts believe the recall will cost the company $5.4 billion in profit through the first quarter of 2017.

Samsung's letter of apology also covers reported issues with various models of top-load washing machines, which have also been subject to a company recall. According to Bloomberg, 2.8 million machines in the U.S. were recalled by Samsung last week after it was found that the top could become detached from the chassis during use.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said there had been nine related reports of injuries and that Samsung had received more than 700 reports of faulty machines since the problem came to light.

Facebook has agreed to pause data collection from WhatsApp users in the United Kingdom following a government probe into the company's privacy policy (via Engadget).

Back in August, Facebook-owned WhatsApp updated its terms of service and privacy policy to reflect that it would begin sharing select data with the social media network, including the phone number a user verifies during the registration process and the last time a user accessed the service.

Facebook argued that the new policy would allow it to better fight spam and abuse, deliver better friend suggestions and more relevant ads. However, the company soon came under fire from European Privacy watchdogs who cited "serious concerns" over the policy change, while the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is now eight weeks into its own probe.

The U.K.'s Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham explained the reasons for the probe on the ICO website:

"I had concerns that consumers weren't being properly protected, and it's fair to say the enquiries my team have made haven't changed that view. I don't think users have been given enough information about what Facebook plans to do with their information, and I don't think WhatsApp has got valid consent from users to share the information. I also believe users should be given ongoing control over how their information is used, not just a 30-day window."

ICO said it was "pleased" that Facebook had agreed to pause using data from U.K. WhatsApp users for advertisements or product improvement purposes. As part of the inquiry, the ICO has also asked Facebook to sign an "undertaking" that describes how it will collect and use data and give users "ongoing control" over what is shared.

We also want individuals to have the opportunity to be given an unambiguous choice before Facebook start using that information and to be given the opportunity to change that decision at any point in the future. We think consumers deserve a greater level of information and protection, but so far Facebook and WhatsApp haven’t agreed. If Facebook starts using the data without valid consent, it may face enforcement action from my office.

WhatsApp's updated terms and privacy policy did not affect its encryption policy. All messages sent through the service continue to be end-to-end encrypted, a measure that has been in place since April.

Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have climbed to their highest level on record, bucking a global slowdown in the smartphone market.

Bloomberg reports that TSMC's profits are attracting investors as demand for Apple's new iPhones fuels orders for its A10 processor on the back of a broader rally in technology companies over this year.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker has surged 32 percent, and the $156 billion company now accounts for 16 percent of Taiwan's entire equity market value, which is said to be the biggest proportion according to data stretching back 13 years.

Analysts are said to be unanimous in their recommendation that investors keep hold of their TSMC shares, and with Samsung Electronics faltering after discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7, market watchers predict the stock has room to rise further.

"Samsung's issues and the perceived benefit for Apple is surely creating some optimism," said Sandy Mehta, chief executive officer of Value Investment. "TSMC is the best in class. Valuations are not very high for TSMC, and rising estimates have led to investor optimism. The shares could still have upside."

Analysts predict the company's net income will increase 30 percent this quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit reportedly climbed 28 percent in the previous three months to $3.1 billion from a year earlier.

TSMC has reportedly secured exclusive orders for the A11 processor expected to power Apple's 2017 "iPhone 8". A TSMC spokesperson told Bloomberg the company will "soon" start mass production of chips using 10-nanometer processors, which will be used to build the A11 chip.

Readers interested in how TSMC won exclusivity with Apple for the A10 chip in the iPhone 7 can read MacRumors' article on the story here.

Twitter last week announced plans to shut down Vine, but it looks like the video sharing service could potentially live on as Twitter is currently entertaining multiple purchase offers.

According to TechCrunch, Twitter is vetting term sheets from several companies who are offering to buy Vine and "hopes to make a deal soon." Its not known which companies have made offers for Vine, but one rumor suggests Japanese company Line is in the running.

One source says that at least some of the offers are for under $10 million, indicating Twitter might not generate significant revenue directly from selling Vine.

However, Vine could still benefit Twitter even if it's owned by someone who would help it thrive and retain the strong integration between the two apps. Vine content plays instantly in the Twitter stream, bolstering its current parent company's quest to serve more video that could attract user engagement.

First introduced in 2013, Vine lets users capture six-second-long looping video clips that can be shared on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Vine has had some stiff competition in recent years from companies like Snapchat and Instagram, leading to Twitter's decision to shut it down.

Should Vine not be sold, Twitter plans to shut it down "in the coming months." The Vine website will remain intact so Vines will continue to be available to watch and download, though no new content will be able to be created.

Vine's demise comes in the midst of significant layoffs at Twitter. In October, Twitter let go of nine percent of its staff, or 350 people, in an effort to cut costs and restructure its priorities.

Verizon has introduced two new prepaid data plans with 5GB for $50 per month and 10GB for $70 per month. Both plans include unlimited talk and text in the United States, Always-On Data, Carryover Data, Mobile Hotspot for 4G LTE tethering, and messaging to more than 200 countries at no additional cost.

Carryover Data allows Verizon customers to keep their unused data for an additional month. The feature automatically rolls your unused data for one month into the next. If you have 1GB of unused data remaining in November, for example, it would be added on top of your regular December data bucket.

Always-On Data provides unlimited data at up to 128 kbps speeds at no additional charge when a customer meets their monthly limit for high-speed data.

All prices require signing up for automatic payments with Verizon.

Verizon's postpaid data plans, by comparison, include 2GB for $35/month, 4GB for $50/month, 8GB for $70/month, 16GB for $90/month, and 24GB for $110/month. Each plan includes unlimited talk and text in the United States.

Verizon customers can review and make changes to their account using the revamped My Verizon app, available as a free download on the App Store [Direct Link].