Telegram Update Boosts Size of Supergroups to 5,000 Members

Telegram last month hit 100 million monthly active users and alongside announced a bunch of updates for the app as well. The instant messaging service has now announced another update, focusing on the Supergroups feature.

As a part of Telegram v3.7 on Android and iOS, the company has now increased the number of people who can join a Supergroup from 1,000 to 5,000. The admins of the group can now also let other members know some important news or any other information by pinning it at the top. In addition, all the members in the Supergroup will receive a notification for the pinned message, even if they have muted ordinary messages from the group.

The app update also brings the ability to make a Supergroup 'Public' and share them via a short link with others. This will let the link recipient read the entire chat history and also join to be able to post messages. Since, this would lead to an increase in spammers in Supergroups, Telegram has also introduced some 'powerful moderation tools' for admins. "From now on, they can quickly delete all messages from a specific member, block and report them," says the company blog post.

Further, an admin of any group can now convert the group into a Supergroup. Group admins are shown in group members list after the app update. The company has added that the public groups feature will be rolling out gradually. It is for now available in the US and Europe, and will soon reach several countries in Asia as well. The updated app is available to download from Google Play and App Store.

Last month Telegram gave users the ability to edit their messages after it has been posted. The post however, can be edited a short while after they have been posted. A single tap on Android and double tap on iOS would let them edit the sent messages.

Flexible Camera Developed That Can Be Wrapped Around Objects

A team led by an Indian-origin professor at Columbia University has created a novel sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with one or more conventional cameras. "Cameras today capture the world from essentially a single point in space. While the camera industry has made remarkable progress in shrinking the camera to a tiny device with ever increasing imaging quality, we are exploring a radically different approach to imaging," said Shree K Nayar, computer science professor at Columbia University. "We believe there are numerous applications for cameras that are large in format but very thin and highly flexible," added Nayar who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, in 1984. Nayar's team designed and fabricated a flexible lens array that adapts its optical properties when the sheet camera is bent. This optical adaptation enables the device to produce high quality images over a wide ...

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo back Apple in its fight over encryption with FBI

The nation's leading tech companies joined security experts, independent programmers and civil liberties advocates who filed court papers backing Apple in its fight with the FBI over an encrypted iPhone used by an extremist killer. Several law enforcement groups, meanwhile, filed briefs in support of federal authorities who are seeking Apple's help in hacking an encrypted iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino mass shooters. These "friend of the court" briefs come in advance of a March 22 hearing in which Apple is asking U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym to reverse an order requiring Apple to create a software program that overrides iPhone security features. That program would let authorities try to unlock Farook's phone by guessing its passcode; Apple says it would make all other iPhones more vulnerable to future attacks. Relatives of five people who were killed, along with one survivor of the December 2 attack, also filed a brief saying the FBI's ...

Samsung Galaxy S7: 5 Features That Stand Out

Klutzes of the world should rejoice Friday, as Samsung officially starts sales of its new water-resistant Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The phones, which the company first unveiled last month, are now widely available in all their dunkable glory. The latest two Samsung's high-end smartphones are supposed to be able to withstand submersion up to five feet for as long as 30 minutes. So you're in luck if you drop your phone in the drink - as long as you fish it out reasonably fast. Samsung provided me with a review unit of the Galaxy S7, a 5.1-inch smartphone. Once I opened the box, I duly dropped the high-performance, expensive phone into my sink while doing the dishes. Apart from the mild palpitations I gave myself, there was no damage at all. The phone's touchscreen didn't work under water, but it continued on without a hiccup and was unharmed and still working perfectly when I pulled it out. It was just as impressively zippy as ever and no worse for ...

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