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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year over year. This Week in Apps will finally be a newsletter!  » Read More

Josh Pieters & Archie Manners/YouTube/PAKnown anti-vaxxer Piers Corbyn has been exposed following a prank from YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners.The brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Corbyn is arguably the UK’s most infamous antivaxxer. He has repeatedly spread harmful misinformation and conspiracy theories about coronavirus vaccines, claiming that all jabs are dangerous.Now Pieters and Manners, who have previously pranked right-wing media personality Katy Hopkins, have exposed Corbyn simply by using £10,000 worth of Monopoly money.Check it out below:Putting his morality to the test, Pieters and Manners offered Corbyn a ‘dodgy donation of £10,000’, after convincing him that they were rich individuals with financial interests in AstraZeneca.The pair promised that Corbyn could have the cash if he left AstraZeneca well alone, focusing his attentions instead on Pfizer and Moderna.Starting by using their ‘brilliant PR firm Geld and Yapp’, the YouTuber pranksters sent Corbyn an email professing to be from the representatives of a very rich and powerful individual with connections to a vaccine company.Having been led to believe this wealthy person wanted to make a donation to his campaign, Corbyn appeared ‘delighted’ to meet up, and so they arranged a meeting in London’s Sloane square.After ordering Corbyn a pizza,…

Mercy Eke’s new Mercedes Benz E450 4matic coupePhoto credit: Mercy Eke By Funmilola Olukomaiya Former Big Brother Naija housemate and winner of its fourth season, Mercy Eke, has acquired a Mercedes Benz Coupe. Mercy took to her social media to share photos and videos of her 2020 Mercedes Benz E450 4matic coupe on Friday, July 30, 2021. The reality star in a video via her Snapchat account is seen test-driving her new whip. This is her second Mercedes Benz in three months. In April, she bought a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon. She already owns a Mercedes Benz GLC which she bought in March 2020. Then a Range Rover Velar which she acquired in September 2020. Eke’s new Mercedes Benz E450 4matic coupe Several cars websites have evaluated her latest car to cost about N30M – N33M. Eke emerged as the winner of BBNaija season 4, themed Pepper Dem, held in 2019. She became the first female to win the reality TV show since its inception.

This is the story of one of many rangers around the globe whose hard work is celebrated on World Ranger Day on July 31. HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 31, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ranger Margaret Darawanda has not looked back since she joined the International Anti-Poaching Foundation's all-female Akashinga conservation program that is expanding its footprint across southern Africa, protecting the natural world. The International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), founded by former Australian special forces soldier Damien Mander, is inching closer towards its goal of deploying 1,000 Akashinga rangers across 20 reserves throughout the region by 2026. Last month, 25 new rangers graduated from basic training, and in early September they will be joined by 46 more, enabling three reserves under IAPF management to begin receiving full and regular patrols. Ms Darawanda, 24, who was part of the first intake of Akashinga rangers to start patrolling Phundundu Wildlife Area in the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe in 2017, said: "I think it's a special thing protecting something that cannot protect itself." After completing her training, Ms Darawanda soon found her stride patrolling, collecting and keeping records, tracking and arresting poachers, investigating and educating the local community about the importance of wildlife. She has also become the proud breadwinner for her entire family…

Facebook and Instagram weren't designed for people under the age of 13 Topics Facebook | Artificial intelligence | Social Media IANS  |  New Delhi  Last Updated at July 31, 2021 12:11 IST Admitting that it is not easy to detect and remove accounts belonging to people under the age of 13, Facebook has said that it is looking at ways to convince people under age 13 to not lie about their age, including using the artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Facebook and Instagram weren't designed for people under the age of 13, so the company is now creating new ways to stop those who are underage from signing up. "We're developing AI to find and remove underaged accounts, and new solutions to verify people's ages. We're also building new experiences designed specifically for those under 13," said Pavni Diwanji, VP of Youth Products at Facebook. Facebook is also working with operating system (OS) providers,  » Read More

A heartwarming account of how a man managed to track down ‘Rahul’ in London to return his wallet has managed to capture the attention of thousands of people on Twitter. It all started when Ghazi Taimoor, whose Twitter bio identifies him as the Head of Professional Education at Lahore University of Management Sciences School of Education, took to the microblogging platform on Thursday about finding a wallet on a street in London."Guys! Just found this wallet on Shoreditch High street," he wrote on Twitter, sharing a picture of the wallet. "Name on the bank card suggests the wallet belongs to a Rahul R******. Time to HUNT RAHUL DOWN," he added.Guys! Just found this wallet on Shoreditch High street. Name on the bank card suggests the wallet belongs to a Rahul R******. Time to HUNT RAHUL DOWN. Will update y’all pic.twitter.com/Z7u2aUpZHK— Ghazi Taimoor (@ghazi_taimoor) July 29, 2021He began by searching for Rahul on Google and different social media platforms, but in vain. No Rahul R****** on Facebook or Instagram. Very private individual with no social media. Common Rahul, could do better than that.— Ghazi Taimoor (@ghazi_taimoor) July 29, 2021Having had no luck on Facebook and Instagram, Taimoor turned to LinkedIn and found a Rahul who worked…

Ex-couple Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora’s son Arhaan Khan dropped a new photo on Instagram with his friends on Friday. The picture comes almost exactly a year after his previous post, which was shared on August 4, 2020.“Free dress day,” Arhaan captioned his Instagram post. He wore a dark blue sweatshirt over a white shirt and jeans as he posed next to two of his friends.“Looking so gooood Arhaan!!!!!!” Shanaya Kapoor commented, while her mother Maheep Kapoor dropped heart-eyes and heart emojis. Arhaan’s aunt Seema Khan wrote, “Oh helloo,” along with heart-eyes and kiss emojis.Some fans noted the long gap between Arhaan’s posts. “How has he posted after 10 years,” one joked. “Yar I can’t believe ke apny post ki (that you posted),” another said. Arhaan also got several compliments. “That caption cracked me up. You guys look lovely though,” one wrote, while another called him ‘most adorable man’. + Last year, in September, Malaika contracted Covid-19 and had to socially distance herself from Arhaan and their dog Casper. She had posted a picture of the two of them and written, “‘Love knows no boundaries’. With our social distancing and self quarantine in place, we still find a way to…

GLOVERSVILLE — More people are interested in the Fulton County Center for Regional Growth’s website, Facebook, internet outlets and other social media platforms, officials said. Ken Adamczyk, CRG economic development specialist, recently told his agency’s board of directors about analytics and other data coming in through CRG sites. Those sites impacted include the CRG website — www.fccrg.org; and the CRG’s blog and the agency’s LinkedIn account. He said people are seeking more information about Fulton County, N.Y. “They want to know what’s within an hour radius of us,” Adamczyk said. “They want to know what’s around us.” The CRG official said users of these platforms are seeking information about the area food industries and what’s local. “It kind of gives us an idea of what they’re looking for,” he said of the data collected. Adamczyk shared information with the board demonstrating how usage of CRG social media outlets is up. They included Facebook, and the blog on Google, which was “still climbing.” “A lot of the Facebook and social media are each growing without me doing anything,” he stated. Adamczyk said the CRG is doing digital work with Fulton County and National Grid through emails, LinkedIn and getting promotional videos…

Getty Images The No. 27 overall pick in the NBA Draft is a crapshoot. Often, that player won't even stick in the league. When they do, it's usually as a fairly unspectacular player. But the Los Angeles Lakers found someone special at No. 27 in the 2017 NBA Draft when they selected Kyle Kuzma. Over the past four seasons, they've watched him grow from an unheralded rookie into a key member of a championship team. Now, Kuzma is headed for Washington after being included in a trade package for Russell Westbrook. After years playing a supporting role on a contender, he will have the chance to prove what he's learned on a younger team that will expect him to play a bigger role. But before his next chapter as a Wizard begins, he wanted to thank the Lakers for four great years. He did so in a lengthy Instagram post on Friday. "Man oh man where do I begin???" Kuzma wrote. "Lakeshow we've had a journey. I was 21 and just a young pup coming here and you guys opened up your arms openly and accepted me into the LA community! Coming into to this league I told Robby, Jeanie and Magic…

Sir, – The unlawful use of a person’s image, whether to promote a cryptocurrency by fraudulent means, through anonymous ads, or to suggest wrongly that a person has died, is an issue large social media platforms like Facebook and others must start to take seriously (“Gavin Duffy and Facebook resolve case over ads that claimed businessman was dead”, News, July 30th). As someone who has experienced abuse and threats on Facebook, even though I know longer use it, I’m sure the case resonates with a large number of people. All too often when we complain to the likes of Facebook or others, they are slow to take decisive action or slow to acknowledge complaints. For ordinary lay complainants with little or no financial means, they will have to go through the process of obtaining a court order to find out who is behind the use of their image, abuse or threats through a privacy or defamation action which is extremely frustrating and costly. The e-commerce directive of 2003,  » Read More