A hoax message has been rattling around popular instant messaging app WhatsApp, urging people who use the app to forward a message to all their contacts or face having their accounts deleted, Indian tech site Firstpost reports.

The viral message appears to be from the CEO of WhatsApp, one 'Jim Balsamic', and reads, "We have had an over usage of user names on whatsapp Messenger. We are requesting all users to forward this message to their entire contact list.

"If you do not forward this message," the shady message continues, "we will take it as your account is invalid and it will be deleted within the next 48 hours.

"Please DO NOT ignore this message or whatsapp will no longer recognise your activation," the fake communcation orders, warning, "If you wish to re-activate your account after it has been deleted, a charge of 25.00 will be added to your monthly bill."

The message followed a glitch that sprung up earlier this week, breaking contact statuses. WhatsApp acknowledged that issue on Twitter, and said the spam appears to be an opportunistic play on people's worries following that bug. I've reached out to WhatsApp for confirmation of the hoax, and I'll let you know if I hear anything back.

This message has surfaced before, with WhatsApp confirming on its blog that a very similar message was also spam way back in January, while the passage is also cited on debunking site Hoax-Slayer. Based on the text, the spam may have started on BlackBerry messaging service BBM -- hence Jim Balsamic, a vinegar-flavoured corruption of Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of RIM.

Have you spied any other spam on WhatsApp? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.

@4llerbuntu, thanks for the info. i used droidwall and couldn't find any abnormal process seeking internet access but will keep checking

4llerbuntu: short answer, yes.

.......and the long answer??

The vulnerabilities in whatsapp as yet discovered apply to spoofing people's id.

Abi u want geekalese answer? E go long ooo. Na u go tire

how do we get rid of the damn thing?

Naah just stay cool. Nothing is going down right now. Its just a glitch.

Just refrain from sending broadcasts u received from pple. And be careful with installing edited whatsapp .apks

gracias. Just got this email from them

Thanks for your
email. This message is a hoax and did not come from WhatsApp. Please
disregard the message and do not
resend it. For more information,
please read our blog: http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/01/it-is-a-hoax-really-it-is/

Thanks 4ller baba 4 ur help. I've rooted my s2 and installed superuser, tatinium back up, rom manager and flashed clockworkmode recovery through rom manger. but when i try to make rom back up it shows a warning with press volume up to contiune or volume down to cancel but nothing happens after when i press either of the keys. I av to press vol up, home, and power button for the phone to show the samsung logo.

This warning sign comes up every time even when i switch the phone off, it comes back up itself with the warning. so the phone is always on unless i remove the battry.

I av tried to do factory reset but the phone keeps askin for samsung password and the guy who sold me the phone said he has forgotten the password that i should go and flash the phone.

pls will flashing generally like flashing a nokia phone remove this.

I thinking of flashing a stock rom on it but since it will require wiping data im thinkin the samsung password issue may arise in the process of flashing the stock rom.

I cant even download from google play cus its reports authentication error: u must log in to gmail acct. found the only solution to that is fsctory reset but i cant do dat now cus of this samsung password request popin up.


Thanks boss....

Thanks 4ller baba 4 ur help. I've rooted my s2 and installed superuser, tatinium back up, rom manager and flashed clockworkmode recovery through rom manger. but when i try to make rom back up it shows a warning with press volume up to contiune or volume down to cancel but nothing happens after when i press either of the keys. I av to press vol up, home, and power button for the phone to show the samsung logo.

This warning sign comes up every time even when i switch the phone off, it comes back up itself with the warning. so the phone is always on unless i remove the battry.

I av tried to do factory reset but the phone keeps askin for samsung password and the guy who sold me the phone said he has forgotten the password that i should go and flash the phone.

pls will flashing generally like flashing a nokia phone remove this i.e the phone engineer.

Im thinking of flashing a stock rom on it but since it will require wiping data im thinkin the samsung password issue may arise in the process of flashing the stock rom.

I cant even download from google play cus it reports "authentication error: u must log in to gmail acct". found the only solution to that is fsctory reset but i cant do dat now cus of this samsung password request popin up.


Thanks boss....

how do i dowload latest whats app without visiting google play pls.

I would recommend that you flash a stock ICS rom.

No it will not require any password. To flash a samsung phone you will need to.put it in download mode which is pressing the power, volume down and home button till download mode appears from the.screen when the.phone.is off.

I recommend you do this instead of wasting ur time and effort so much. All dis wahala n questions.should disappear if u do that.


For whatsapp, u xan google for the apk, or better still download from xda, search. There are threads where some guys mod whatsapp and change themes in it.

I advice against it cos the apk may be modded with a virus or keylogger........ But i once used one like that and i had no issues sha...

Thanks boss but ma problem is that those key combinations powers on the device into samsung scren and home screen. I even flashed clockworkmod recovery through an app "rom manager" yet those key combo just power on the device. Thanks for your time 4ller

In the coming days, I will lay my hands on the ZTE V98 which supposedly will be released in 2013 with Windows 8 Pre-installed. On request mine will come with the most recent Android OS from the ZTE factory.

I will post my findings here to get reviews from NL Members.

When u use the 3 button combo, u hold on to all three buttons till the phone gets into downlosd mode.

My first samsung phone i posted three threads on xda asking and insisting that they did not work, until out of frustration i held them.

Most times when i use it when i hold them the phone comes on with the bootscreen twice fore getting into download mode!!!!!


When u try it, hold the three buttons, the bootscreen will come on, then go off, then come on again, and off then bring up download mode


All samsung phones even come with a recovery mode, using the Vol up button instead of down. Guaranted it will boot into recovery mode or download mode as long as its working.

pls pls pls help me,have been admiring android phone 4 long,nw i want 2 buy and i dnt knw wic 1 to buy,maybe htc sense,samsung galaxy y duos or....ur suggections.Thanks in advance

how can I use mtn bis on ma fone

YEBOKO: pls pls pls help me,have been admiring android phone 4 long,nw i want 2 buy and i dnt knw wic 1 to buy,maybe htc sense,samsung galaxy y duos or....ur suggections.Thanks in advance

I was at slot yesterday and I handled tecno N3. its dual sum 3MP. camera. full touch 3.5 inches. android 2.3.5, it has access to play store. I really liked it and it was just 14k. even with dat it comes with 8Gig memory card.

I'm suggestin dis cus I see u are not looking for high end android device

AAAHHHHH!!!! GOD BLESS GOOGLE!!!!!!

believe you me, google saved my bacon today.

so i got an assignment weeks ago to create some resource materials. as an aid i got a sample, big brochure of 35 pages.

so i somehow forgot to work on the damn thing for over two weeks. then i received a call asking for the work.


i had earlier decided that i would transfer the text on the sample and modify to suit my needs. but now i have to type 35 pages in 3 hours and edit and add lots of stuff by tomorrow? WTF!!


i started thinking about shortening the process efficiently. i thought of scanning the damn brochure. no scanner in sight.

i remembered my phone could do that. There are lots of apps that scan via the camera......

so i loaded up a couple and tried. the worked al right and output pdfs for me.

till i fired the pdfs up and realised i could not edit the texts, could not even copy them out. 2 hrs gone


i went to source a scanner.. same result. i was FCKED!!!

then i was staring at my beautiful phone and wondering why it could not help me, then i googled OCR (optical character recognition)

then it caught my eyes somewhere that it was built into google drive(docs)

so i fired up my drive app, looked through and really did not see what i wanted, so i took a picture of a page of the doc, and uploaded it.

got to a desktop pc and opened my drive, then i opened the picture there. it still was not editable...... was wondering WTF

then i scrolled down and BLESS MASTER JESUS, KISS MOHAMMED AND GIVE THE DALAI LAMA A HIGH FIVE THE TEXT WAS THERE EXTRACTED IN BLACK N WHITE baring a fewt typos!!!!

Eureka, I AM SAVED!!!!!


this are some of the little "insignificant" things that make me love google. u see this is INNOVATION, FULLSTOP!!!!. which other company adds value to life for free like that?

How to Extract Text From a Picture Using OCR in Google Docs (or Drive) in Android

Of course, you can scan the document and then use a free online OCR tool to convert the picture to text but chances of finding a scanner nearby could well be bleak. Chances of having a smartphone near, may be an Android, are considerably higher and that’s enough to convert the document to digital format using OCR.



This feature was there in Google Docs for Android and is now there in Google Drive too, which is what Google Docs became a part of recently. Let us see put this feature to use.

Extracting Text From Photo
Step 1: Download and install Google Drive App on your Android device (formerly Google Docs). Once the app is installed, launch it and press the menu button to select New option.


Step 2: You will be then asked for the type of New document or Upload that you would like to perform. Here, select Take photo to open your phone’s default camera.


Step 3: This may be a tricky part. You will now have to click the photo of the document on which you want to perform the OCR. For the best results, make sure you are on autofocus mode and that the image is sharp. Hold your hands steady and then shoot the photo.


Note: After processing the photo the app MAY prompt you that your photo may be blurred and would you like to take another photo. So you will have to trust your instinct, and if you think you took it well, press the continue button.


Step 4: Finally, name the document and select the option that says convert file to Google Docs document. The photo will then be uploaded to Google Drive and processed at the same time. Once the upload is complete you can open the document on your phone or your computer to see the recognized text.


On an average, depending upon the clarity of the photo and the format of the text, the accuracy of the recognized text will be around 70% to 90%. You might have to edit the document manually at places, but that’s nothing when compared to writing the full document altogether.

Furthermore, the feature MAY not work on handwriting and artistic fonts and the best results are achieved when the document is in Times New Roman, Arial, Calibre or other such simple fonts.

4llerbuntu:
this are some of the little "insignificant" things that make me love google. u see this is INNOVATION, FULLSTOP!!!!. which other company adds value to life for free like that?

You need to keep your ignorance under wraps and stop airing it for the world to see.

Apart from the fact that Microsoft OneNote offers OFFLINE OCR with just the click of a mouse (seriously, put a document in OneNote and Right Click), SkyDrive users can do this with ease with the OneNote version of Microsoft Office Web apps.

Not to mention there are several other websites that do OCR also on documents.


Innovation my buttowski.

hehehehe

who dunit first?

like i said, its FOR ANDROID PHONES IN GOGGLE'S ECOSYSTEM

1st paragraph:

Of course, you can scan the document and then use a free online OCR tool to convert the picture to text but chances of finding a scanner nearby could well be bleak. Chances of having a smartphone near, may be an Android, are considerably higher and that’s enough to convert the document to digital format using OCR.

suck a lemon, it cures rabid anti-goog beef

i could have posted this anywhere, heck i tink i opened a thread sef so pple like u can share OTHER METHODS like skydrive, but have to go and beef el-goog eh?

all the anti-ish u post wont detract from the usefulness. simples


ALL HAIL GOOGLE.

NB: who uses skydrive sef? tex and a few other misguided elements

4llerbuntu: hehehehe

who dunit first?

like i said, its FOR ANDROID PHONES IN GOGGLE'S ECOSYSTEM

1st paragraph:

suck a lemon, it cures rabid anti-goog beef

i could have posted this anywhere, heck i tink i opened a thread sef so pple like u can share OTHER METHODS like skydrive, but have to go and beef el-goog eh?

all the anti-ish u post wont detract from the usefulness. simples


ALL HAIL GOOGLE.

NB: who uses skydrive sef? tex and a few other misguided elements

You said it was 'innovation' from Google and they were the only ones to give it away for free. I've just shown you how it can be done offline and online by others. What's the verbal diarrhea for?

Accept your error and move on Jare.

PS: More people use Skydrive than Google Drive.

mhozzis: Thanks 4ller baba 4 ur help. I've rooted my s2 and installed superuser, tatinium back up, rom manager and flashed clockworkmode recovery through rom manger. but when i try to make rom back up it shows a warning with press volume up to contiune or volume down to cancel but nothing happens after when i press either of the keys. I av to press vol up, home, and power button for the phone to show the samsung logo.

This warning sign comes up every time even when i switch the phone off, it comes back up itself with the warning. so the phone is always on unless i remove the battry.

I av tried to do factory reset but the phone keeps askin for samsung password and the guy who sold me the phone said he has forgotten the password that i should go and flash the phone.

pls will flashing generally like flashing a nokia phone remove this.

I thinking of flashing a stock rom on it but since it will require wiping data im thinkin the samsung password issue may arise in the process of flashing the stock rom.

I cant even download from google play cus its reports authentication error: u must log in to gmail acct. found the only solution to that is fsctory reset but i cant do dat now cus of this samsung password request popin up.


Thanks boss....

When you flash a Rom, everything will be wiped off, no password will be required afterwards.
If you can't enter play store, check if their is gmail account on the phone, add new if forgotten the former one. but flashing a Rom erase all these.

mhozzis: how do i dowload latest whats app without visiting google play pls.

I can send you the file if you want

3kay945:

I can send you the file if you want

Thanks boss

texazzpete:

You said it was 'innovation' from Google

Accept your error and move on Jare.

PS: More people use Skydrive than Google Drive.

OOH LALA, ooh google my nigga,
its drugs ma nigga
oh google my dealer
fo' realz ma nigga

Hi guys, if you need android tablets you can check out this link https://www.nairaland.com/1122860/complete-asus-transformer-tf101-tablets Prices are very competitive and tablets are top of the line. Go ahead and check it out.

pls make una help me ooooo i have a problem with my htc wildifre S, it was charged full lats night before i went to bed and when i woke up around 2am it was still on working but when i woke up this morning i discovered it was off so i tried switching it on but i couldnt since, i even tried charging its not bringing out any indicator that it is charging though the battery is full.......what might be the problem and how do i go about it? Waiting to hear from you or any other members on this site. thanks

see what this classless twats actually tweeted.

LMAO.

^
You need to chill with this your fandroid thing.

Bawss1: ^
You need to chill with this your fandroid thing.

HUnh? what are u on abt?

That was a tweet from the official windows phone twitter account. is it not classless?

which one is fandroid about pointing out the poor attempt at cheap propaganda by a company as big as microsoft?

so what would u call whosoever posted that tweet? fan-dows?


na u sabi o. all these una labeling rhetoric, whatever rocks ur cradle mehn....