A couple years back, it felt like everything in tech was metaverse-this, metaverse-that. Buzzwords have a way of absolutely derailing the attention of the tech industry, whether we’re talking about AI or NFTs. For a little while in there, lots of players were looking to capitalize on the potential of Web3 — the idea of bringing proper decentralization to the internet, breaking down barriers, and enabling everyone to publish and access content on a level playing field. Fast forward to 2024, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Web3 has lost nearly all of its momentum. Well, don’t tell that to Telegram, as the service announces the latest updates to its app — including a new Web3-enabled browser.
Telegram is sharing a ton of new functionality coming to its apps across platforms, including the ability to gift Telegram Stars to your friends, choose specific thumbnails for video stories, and even to brighten up your screen for extra illumination when filming with your selfie cam. But the one the company leads with is this new in-app browser, which it feels particularly proud about.
Your phone already has a perfectly good browser? Yeah, ours too. But Telegram seems to be targeting its very most dedicated users here, as the selling points are largely about its ability to keep you deeply enmeshed in its own ecosystem, jumping between tabs, messages, and the service’s mini-apps, all while you avoid distraction from anything that’s not Telegram.
What about that Web3 business? Telegram creator Nikolai Durov is also behind The Open Network (TON), the decentralized network this new browser is ready to tap into. While that sort of integration is admittedly probably exposing the project to more potential users than ever before, we’re still not sure where the demand is — what are they going to be looking for on TON that they haven’t found elsewhere?
Finally, speaking of those mini-apps we mentioned earlier, Telegram has built a new app store to help you find some. Just look for an Apps tab in Search to get started discovering.
A couple years back, it felt like everything in tech was metaverse-this, metaverse-that. Buzzwords have a way of absolutely derailing the attention of the tech industry, whether we’re talking about AI or NFTs. For a little while in there, lots of players were looking to capitalize on the potential of Web3 — the idea of bringing proper decentralization to the internet, breaking down barriers, and enabling everyone to publish and access content on a level playing field. Fast forward to 2024, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Web3 has lost nearly all of its momentum. Well, don’t tell that to Telegram, as the service announces the latest updates to its app — including a new Web3-enabled browser.
Telegram is sharing a ton of new functionality coming to its apps across platforms, including the ability to gift Telegram Stars to your friends, choose specific thumbnails for video stories, and even to brighten up your screen for extra illumination when filming with your selfie cam. But the one the company leads with is this new in-app browser, which it feels particularly proud about.
Your phone already has a perfectly good browser? Yeah, ours too. But Telegram seems to be targeting its very most dedicated users here, as the selling points are largely about its ability to keep you deeply enmeshed in its own ecosystem, jumping between tabs, messages, and the service’s mini-apps, all while you avoid distraction from anything that’s not Telegram.
What about that Web3 business? Telegram creator Nikolai Durov is also behind The Open Network (TON), the decentralized network this new browser is ready to tap into. While that sort of integration is admittedly probably exposing the project to more potential users than ever before, we’re still not sure where the demand is — what are they going to be looking for on TON that they haven’t found elsewhere?
Finally, speaking of those mini-apps we mentioned earlier, Telegram has built a new app store to help you find some. Just look for an Apps tab in Search to get started discovering.
Usually, people blame Samsung’s mid-range smartphones for costing too much for what they offer. However, there have been a few mid-range phones from the brand that offered an excellent set of features for their price. The Galaxy A52 is one of them, and because of that many people bought it. However. We didn’t know that the Galaxy A52 was so magnetic that even CEOs of big companies bought it.
The CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has revealed that he has been using the Galaxy A52 for the last two years. According to him, he chose this smartphone because it is “one of the most widely used phones among Telegram users” and he “wanted to understand their experience to serve them better.” So far, so good. However, what he revealed after that is very concerning for Samsung and Galaxy A52 users.
In the post, Pavel revealed that the back panel of his Galaxy A52 got separated from the phone due to Dubai’s heat, as you can see in the image above. His exact words were “My phone got “unlocked” by the Dubai heat.” Dubai is indeed very hot. However, the build quality of a smartphone should be good enough that it doesn’t pop open in such heat. Sadly, the Galaxy A52 doesn’t couldn't take that torture.
With that, the CEO of Telegram says that he will now have to upgrade to a new smartphone. It would be interesting to see which phone he goes for this time around. We would be surprised if he goes for a Samsung smartphone once again.
The post from Pavel suggests that the Galaxy A52 was one of the highest-sold smartphones as it was one of the most widely used phones among Telegram users. However, it also reveals that the Galaxy A52 isn't as well built as many of us thought.
The post Telegram CEO’s Galaxy A52 couldn’t take Dubai’s heat appeared first on SamMobile.
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
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In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
Although Telegram is a niche messaging service in the US and Canada, it’s absolutely gigantic worldwide, with over 104 million users in India alone. If you’re new to the service, stats like that can be a little intimidating — but they shouldn’t be, at least not on their own. Here’s what you need to know about Telegram’s security, including how to stay safe day-to-day.
Mostly, if we’re going to boil things down. All calls and chats are encrypted to some degree, and that escalates to end-to-end encryption for calls or Secret Chats between two people, effectively preventing interception in those situations — even by Telegram. You can also require that messages, photos, videos, and other files sent in Secret Chats “self-destruct” a fixed amount of time after they’ve been seen.
Group conversations (i.e. between three or more people) don’t enjoy end-to-end encryption or self-destruction features, but they’re nevertheless one of the app’s selling points. People regularly set up permanent groups as well as Channels, the latter of which can be used to broadcast messages to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.
Both groups and Channels pose some unique safety issues. They can be used to spread scams, porn, and misinformation, and they’ve been implicated as fueling violence or even genocide in places like India, Pakistan, and Myanmar. Telegram does have rules and algorithms to guard against these things, including promoting any kind of violence, but it doesn’t seem to be able to enforce them consistently. Ultimately, it’s up to end users to be skeptical about other people and the messages they spread, and report anything problematic.
For those reasons you should probably steer kids towards alternative platforms. If that’s impractical, you still can go to Settings > Privacy and Security in the app and toggle on options like group controls and Restricted Mode, the latter of which censors content like nudity and violence.
An option you should probably leave disabled is People Nearby. This lets you see other Telegram users in your area, but in the past it’s been demonstrated that a hacker could exploit this to find a person’s exact location. You can make sure your location is hidden by going to Contacts > Find People Nearby and choosing Stop Showing Me.
One last point is that while Telegram is sometimes labeled open-source, that only applies to the client software. On the server side, Telegram uses a proprietary protocol called MTProto for message encryption. As a rule, security experts prefer standardized encryption libraries where all of the potential vulnerabilities are known and being addressed.
Yes. By necessity, the company stores data like your username, device info, usage habits, and connecting IP address. If applicable it also records other Telegram apps you’ve used, along with your history of username changes. This metadata is stored for up to 12 months, but it’s not used for advertising or other commercial purposes.
Be aware that law enforcement and spy agencies could potentially ask Telegram to turn over server-side data, or else directly target you by seizing your phone or launching phishing and surveillance attacks. These things are true with any online service, but real-world incidents have previously occurred involving Iranian dissidents.
Generally speaking, you should have no problems on Telegram as long as you follow these principles:
No. The company’s founders, Pavel and Nikolai Durov, are originally from Russia, but they ultimately fled the country and divested themselves of VKontakte, a popular social network there. At the moment Telegram is legally based in the British Virgin Islands, but functionally headquartered in Dubai.
If you know and fully trust the other person, yes. Secret Chats offer end-to-end encryption as well as the option of “self-destructing” photos and videos. Be mindful that a person could still use screenshots or screen recordings to save things you don’t want shared.
You can operate pretty anonymously if you want to. You no longer have to use a phone number to sign up, and you can easily hide details like your real face. One-on-one calls and Secret Chats provide end-to-end encryption, making them impenetrable to Telegram, let alone outside parties.
The company has been a target of hackers in the past, but generally speaking it should be okay. For maximum security, there are now alternatives to your phone number when creating an account.
Although Telegram is a niche messaging service in the US and Canada, it’s absolutely gigantic worldwide, with over 104 million users in India alone. If you’re new to the service, stats like that can be a little intimidating — but they shouldn’t be, at least not on their own. Here’s what you need to know about Telegram’s security, including how to stay safe day-to-day.
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