Sean Keane

WhatsApp group chat adds option allowing only admins to send messages

WhatsApp will soon let you set up group chats where only the admin can send messages. Once iOS and Android users update to the latest version, they’ll be able to set up groups where only one member has the power to talk to members — giving them a captive audience. “One way people use groups is …

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Dell is going public after 5 years as private company

Dell is going public again after a five-year stint as a privately held company. The PC maker announced Monday that it will be converting existing Class V tracking shares in the company into a different type, known as Class C common stock. The company said that with the transaction it would have a market capitalization of $21.7 billion. The Class …

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Walmart introduces 3D virtual online shopping

Walmart added a 3D virtual shopping tour to its website Wednesday, giving customers the chance to explore a nonexistent apartment filled with products they can buy. The tour showcases about 70 items from various brands and Walmart’s own offerings. Customers can click their way around the one-bedroom apartment and click on products to buy them from the site. The items …

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Instagram Lite launches on Google Play, offers slimmed down option

Instagram Lite launched on the Google Play Store without announcement Wednesday, offering users a cut-down version of the photosharing app. The Lite app is just 573KB, compared to the regular Instagram’s 32MB. Users can post photos, add filters, view stories and use the Explore tab. The ability to message friends and share videos will be added later, the Google Play …

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LG reportedly supplying 2

LG Display will reportedly supply between 2 million and 4 million organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays for Apple iPhones. This number is small relative to Apple’s phone sales, Bloomberg notes, but solidifying LG as an OLED supplier would make Apple less reliant on Samsung, the sole source of displays for the iPhone X and its main rival in the smartphone …

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AT&T quietly adds extra $1.23 onto wireless customers’ bills

AT&T has more than doubled its administrative fee from 76 cents to $1.99 for its 64.5 million wireless customers. The increase, noticed by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk and first reported by Fortune, could add $800 million onto the carrier’s annual revenue. Piecyk notes that the increase only applies to monthly customers, not those with prepaid accounts. USB Type-C has …

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Amazon Alexa iOS adds voice control

You can now control Alexa’s iOS app with your voice, three months after its release. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPad you can now use spoken commands to ask Alexa questions, play music and communicate with your Echo and other devices. But since Apple has its own assistant, Siri, you’ll still have to physically tap the app to activate …

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AT&T could launch another video streaming service after buying Otter Media

AT&T may be preparing to launch another video streaming service after acquiring all of Otter Media, a report suggests. The company’s plan to take full control of the streaming video venture, first reported last week, will give it a streaming distribution platform — Otter Media owns VRV, which hosts anime service Crunchyroll and digital star network Fullscreen. VRV has also …

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Oculus Go launches in UK, Europe and Canada

Oculus Go has arrived in stores in the UK, Europe and Canada, less than two months after its US debut. Prices for the standalone VR headset start at £199 (€219/CDN$270) — the Facebook-owned Oculus designed Go as an affordable option. It’s available from a variety of retailers in all the new countries: Austria: MediaMarkt Belgium: Cool Blue Canada: Best Buy …

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Instagram estimated to be worth more than $100 billion

Instagram has been estimated to be worth more than $100 billion if it was a standalone company, according to Bloomberg. The photo app was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012 and recently reached a billion users a month. Now playing: Watch this: Why Instagram’s $100 billion valuation isn’t so crazy 1:27 Instagram has been drawing in new users …

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