Email or Blackmail? Your Suspicious Emails are Just Popping ‘MALWARE’

The internet world is expected to receive a huge number of junk emails that are claimed to be spam in the upcoming years after 2022.

Besides being annoying, spam emails are like unwanted messages sent excessively from different sources which are somehow for commercial purposes but nowadays users are advised to be cautious of them as they are alert of the danger. Not every spam email is worthy because half of them are not secure and lead you to phishing websites with just one click.

Many people do not even know the existence of the harmful email and get scammed by viciously dangerous email attachments. Zip as an archive file has the largest ratio of 28% and HTML site links of approximately 21% are included. Files based on text are also used to fool people. For instance, Microsoft programs together make up 35.5% of spam emails.

The average person spends a significant portion of their day checking and responding to emails related to work. However, a recent study has claimed many of them are just spam which is alarming for all working personalities. Since the use of email has exceeded over the past few years, the way people do business has also changed completely. As there is not much time for businessmen to communicate directly with their employees and business partners, they prefer interacting through emails. However, unwanted emails can cause massive destruction to the firms’ data and employee information.

The study, conducted by the research firm Hornet Security, found that 40.5% of 25 billion business emails are malicious and can lead to drastic challenges for all. The company CEO Daniel Hofmann emphasizes restricting scammers from exploiting people’s faith in Microsoft and other systems. He further suggested that continuous awareness and counseling must be implemented. Additionally, he made explicit reference to Microsoft signifying the backup feature for the security of exchanged material via the platform as it is also crucial.

To protect your devices and accounts from harmful spam links, one should install and take help from various antivirus services. Instead of being unwarned, these services at least could inform you to stop for a while and think before visiting any insecure website.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp: These were the most downloaded apps of the past 30 days

The report for the most downloaded applications in October 2022 has finally been released. With Twitter trending all over the media, now it’s time to analyze what other applications have achieved so far in the previous month.

Based on the top 10 combined results, ByteDance’s TikTok has once again topped the chart after securing 53 million new downloads, followed by meta-owned Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Instagram, being in the second position with 49 million new downloads, was able to leave Facebook behind as the social media platform secured the third position with 42 million installs, followed by another Meta-owned application, WhatsApp, with 37 million downloads. Surprisingly, ByteDance’s CapCut was also among the top 5, with 31 million new downloads.

However, the individual results on Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play showed a different kind of story. On the App Store, only 2 out of the 5 most downloaded applications were social media platforms, including TikTok at number 1 with 25 million downloads and Instagram at number 3 with 15 million installs. Whereas the remaining three applications belonged to Google, including Google in the 2nd spot with 17 million installs, Google Maps in the 4th, and YouTube at number 5.

On the other hand, things on Google Play portray a different story from the App Store, as 4 out of the top 5 applications were social media platforms. Not only this, but on Google Play, Instagram was at the top of the list with the most installs. After getting 34 million new downloads, Meta's application let TikTok slide to third place with 28 million downloads. Instagram was shortly followed by Facebook, which added 31 million new users. The famous instant messaging application from Meta, WhatsApp, was at number four with 24 million installs. Google’s Google Sheet successfully entered the top 5 clubs with 21 million installs.

While Snapchat was not able to make much of a difference on the App Store, the platform successfully got itself in the top 10 on Google Play, which paved its way into the top 10 combined total list. Twitter, which is a hot topic nowadays, couldn’t get itself on any lists.

H/T: AppFigures
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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Offers Direct Explanation Of What Its Play Services Do To Android Devices

The term Android and Google Play are usually taken synonymously. We’ve seen Google Play power multiple key features across various phones and most users aren’t even aware of it.

Now, Google is providing a major explanation to users about what its Play Services are capable of as a part of a new approach. And we must warn you that it’s plenty of detail on everything and anything being done.

The company says that the services are designed to ensure all users’ devices are not only safe to use but also super reliable. It wouldn’t be wrong to mention that this is an integral aspect of your devices’ features and it’s different from how the usual Google Play Store works.

Remember, you need to realize that switching services off can really affect the end way your phone functions. And when people end up disabling it, you’re bidding farewell to a lot of capabilities that could have been good for your device.

Out of all Android devices seen today, it’s only the Android 13 variant of Pixel Phones that are providing so much detail of what users can expect with their Play Services. So let’s give you a little rundown of the sort of things to expect.

For starters, let’s look at Account Management. The whole purpose is to ensure safe sign-ins and more control of the user’s Google accounts.

Next up we’ve got the tab for Ads which allows users to reset the advertising feature, delete irrelevant details, and allow for debugging of ads.

The Autofill tab is used to complete details of information like passwords and payments. It shows up on settings and asks if you’d like to allow or disable the Autofill feature on Google. This means any sensitive details like passwords and payments could or could not be stored.

Users can sync contacts on their Google Account or other phones and even Restore old contacts lost in the past. There’s even a feature that allows you to back up data and transfer it to other devices. Simply go to the Settings menu, click on System, and then press Backup.

Developer features entail those offerings that are designed for the betterment of apps and are even more reliable. And then we’ve got device connections where users may link to other devices like a watch, tab, or a vehicle perhaps.

Fitness Enthusiasts can make the most of health-related apps like those that keep a close eye on their workouts and diet plans. And there’s even a separate tab for Games that’s great for those having the best gamer profiles and are keen on entertainment offerings.

The Play Services even make your location accuracy better and can allow or disallow a user’s location accuracy details. If you don’t wish to share your location, you may always switch it off. Similarly, alerts for natural disasters, pandemics, poor weather conditions, and a lot more interesting everyday trends can be activated for the purpose of user safety.

Security is and has always been a top priority for Google and that’s why its Play Services are always setting out unique features that help in locating lost phones, tracking verification, and even blocking spam content that can be a nuisance.

Lastly, there’s the tab for Support, System Diagnostics, and Management which is designed to ensure users’ phones are up to date, diagnosing any major problems, and keeping other things in order. You’ll even have an option for Wallet that sets out funds for in-app purchases and allows contactless payments to arise.

So as you can see, there’s a lot on offer and while we may take Google’s Play Services for granted, one glance over this detailed outline shows how pivotal of an aspect this has turned out to be.

H/T: 9to5Google

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Data Shows Talking Tom & Friends Is The Best Mobile Games IP And Outfit7 Is The Best Franchise Of This Decade

Mobile gaming has been skyrocketing over the past decade. Everyone loves playing games and that's the reason that mobile gaming is about 60% of all global gaming spend. The thing which determines which game is more played than the other is IPs. IP of a game tells us how much a game is being played. When you think about some famous mobile games, a lot of them come to your mind including candy crush, angry birds, PUBG, subway surfers, etc.

But you may get shocked by knowing that Talking Tom And Friends is the best game among them, reports DataAI.

The franchise of Talking Tom & Friends is Outfit7 and the first game of the franchise was launched in 2010 called Talking Tom. The main theme of the game is a pet cat that can repeat whatever we are saying on the screen. This game became an absolute hit among children as well as adults. Because this game became a hit, Outfit7 started updating the game with new features and added new characters, mechanics, and tools to the game. As of now, Talking Tom & Friends has about 20 different games in the same franchise. One thing worth mentioning is that as this became a hit, Outfit7 has gained around 10 billion mobile downloads of Talking Tom & Friends. That's how it has become the most popular and successful game IP of this decade.

From 2013 to 2022, Talking Tom has come across many off-genre IP games like Angry Birds, PUBG, and Candy Crush but it has remained at the top. According to the data for 2022, Talking Tom 2 comes at the 9th spot of most downloaded games of the year while Talking Tom & Friends is at 12th. As both of these games were released in 2018 and 2020 respectively, their spots in the most downloaded games of the year are remarkable. By rankings by MAU (Monthly Active Users), Talking Tom & Friends app has remained in the top 100 most downloaded games. In 2021, this game peaked at the 7th spot. This is how much you can imagine that the Talking Tom & Friends IP is going strong. As Talking Tom is getting praise, their franchise Outfit7 is also gaining popularity and earning great amounts because many of its games are featuring in the top 100 spots in 2021 and that's what made them the number 1 franchise of 2021.

Over many years, Outfit 7 has continually worked on Talking Tom & Friends. Many new games were made out of the original idea but it was noticed that Talking Tom fans play the original game mostly. It doesn't mean that they do not play other ones, it's just that they prefer the original. This came as an advantage to Outfit7 too because now they have a big user base all around the world. For Outfit7's CEO, Xinyu Qian, the Talking Tom & Friends' success was all due to the hard work developers working on the game have done since 2010. He says that up to 470 million users engage with the Talking Tom & Friends universe every month and it is all because of the people who have maintained the qualities of the game. He also said that this game is for the people as we have created it for the users to enjoy some time of their day.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Instagram Adds AMA Feature for Influencers, Improves Story Privacy Settings

Instagram has been battling it out with many competitors for a while now, and Snapchat’s resilience was replaced by the meteoric rise of TikTok for platform to contend with. Two new features are now coming into the mix that can indicate the future direction that Instagram might be taking, and they can be quite useful for influencers as well as general users with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The first feature that beta testers have noticed is the inclusion of an AMA feature underneath the account bio. This will look like gray text that says “Ask Me Anything” and it will be depicted next to a question mark in the same font and color style, reports Alessandro Paluzzi. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this can really improve an influencer’s ability to connect with their audience by providing a streamlined method for people to get in touch with them.

The second feature is a bit more geared towards the average user, since it has to do with the Stories feature that is quite popular across the board. This update will allow users to restrict access to their Stories to only those who have followed them back. Some Stories are only meant for people that you know personally, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it has been difficult for users to obtain that level of privacy whilst using Instagram.

This second feature will help make Instagram stories more private than might have been the case otherwise. It is quite markedly similar to Snapchat because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up enticing Snapchat loyalists into giving Instagram a try, although some might suggest that it is yet another example of Meta platforms failing to come up with something new.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact these features are going to have. Meta needs all the help that it can get to restore its flagging fortunes, and these updates might be useful for that.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

SEO tricks make Internet surfing difficult for visually impaired users

John Mueller, Search Advocate and Developer Relations at Google, has recently posted on his Mastodon account about his experience when he met someone dependent on screen readers to surf the Internet.

John described how outdated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features make web surfing a bad experience for people who use screen readers. As per his post, tricks such as adding keywords or using alternative texts in small images are not even visible with stuffed keywords.

According to Randy Resnick, one of John’s followers on Mastodon, hashtags are read for those who rely on screen readers. He believes that they should be allowed to change this setting and turn it off, as it won’t be much of a problem to get this thing done. The use of hashtags is becoming more frequent on many platforms, and such people are the ones who suffer the most due to this trend.

However, Mueller did add that the person he met with told him that things are getting better, making the SEO experience less of a torture as the use of these old SEO tricks is beginning to decline on several webpages and platforms.

It is important to understand that screen readers are different from the text-to-speech feature available on a computer. These screen readers use a speech synthesizer or a braille display through a software programme that assists visually impaired users to read what is being shown on their device screen. It is the interface linking the operating system with the apps and the user behind the computer. To add an input for the command, the user will simply press keys on the keyboard or on the braille to guide the speech synthesizer on what to read aloud whenever any change takes place on the screen. because the braille is not fixed and can be refreshed in sync with the screen.

Those who are visually impaired and want to browse the Internet, can install screen-reading applications such as JAWS or NVDA and have an experience of their own with SEO tricks.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

The psychology of color in planning marketing strategies

It is a known fact that colors can trigger different psychological effects on a person. This is why big brands are always conscious of their color theme, as they aim to generate a positive response via color marketing.

Color psychology is an important field that marketers and brand managers should be familiar with. The field focuses mainly on the buyer's response to a brand after looking at their branding.

According to research, it was discovered that, in almost 90 percent of the cases, consumers' responses towards a brand are based on how effectively they utilize the color theme.

However, the individual impact of a color can be hindered by factors such as cultural differences, personal experiences, and the idea behind the theme. This is why it is not necessary that colors have the same effect on everyone.

To give a better idea of which color has what impact on someone's psychology, the marketing group at LuxurySoCalRealty shared an infographic highlighting the effect of different colors.

Starting off with red, the data shows that it is one of the most common colors used by brands. Since it can be seen from far away, the shade easily gets attention and triggers emotions such as courage or boldness.

Green, as the color of nature, is also very popular with customers. It stimulates the emotions of nature-friendliness, growth, and health. It is believed that this hue promotes calmness, which is why it is often used in customer care situations.

If a brand wants to show loyalty, they should go with blue. Blue brings up characteristics such as trust, loyalty, and peace. Ford, one of the oldest running businesses, uses this theme.

Everyone's favorite color, black, has its own set of characteristics. It highlights authority, strength, and power. The color shows luxury; however, it is one of the trickiest colors and is difficult to carry. But those who know how to use it are doing well.

While black shows strength, white, on the other hand, suggests purity and innocence. It is mostly used in real estate as it makes the room appear much larger.

To promote happiness, yellow is the go-to color for many brands. However, according to some sources, it can do the opposite as well. Whereas purple poses luxury and wisdom along with authority.

Once a brand is familiar with how well they can utilize these shades, they can easily create strategies that can have a strong impact on their consumers. This is why it is important to be familiar with how psychology is affected by colors.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World