The Tribune

• WHATSAPP is using a powerful form of encryption to protect the security of photos, videos, group chats and voice calls in addition to the text messages sent by its more than a billion users around the globe.

The popular service owned by Facebook began applying “end-to-end” encryption to standard messages sent on Android smartphones in 2014. After gradually expanding to other formats, WhatsApp has confirmed that its encryption now works with all forms of communication on its app for Android phones, Apple’s iPhones and other devices.

A handful of less-popular services, including Signal, Wickr and Telegram, use end-to-end encryption, while others don’t use encryption at all.

• HTC is promising a better camera and refinements in audio and design as it unveils its latest flagship phone, the HTC 10.

The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. The HTC 10 tries to strike a balance with a 12 megapixels camera, the same as the latest iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones.

Announced yesterday, the HTC 10 phone is expected to be available in late April. Other notable features in the HTC 10 include a powerful battery - promised at two days - and the ability to customise the home screen so that app icons don’t all have to stay in a grid.

• ADELE’S album ‘25’, the world’s best-seller last year, has helped music revenues record their first significant growth since the dawn of the digital age two decades ago.

Figures released yesterday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) show that the British singer sold 17.4 million copies, five times more than runners-up Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, whose albums “X’’ and “1989” both sold 3.5 million copies.

The IFPI said global revenues from recorded music rose 3.2 per cent between 2014 and 2015 to $15 billion, as an industry decimated by the digital revolution returned to growth.

• COULD the next “House of Cards” be coming to your phone?

That’s what Verizon hopes now that it’s paid more than $100m for a piece of the online-video studio AwesomenessTV. It’s the latest attempt by a maturing, mainstream corporation to find growth in non-traditional video programming that can reach younger audiences on smartphones and tablets.

The investment gives Verizon a 24.5 per cent stake in AwesomenessTV and more original video for its Go90 streaming service, which launched in September. It will also help it make use of its $4.4 billion purchase of AOL last year, which gave Verizon a new capability to deliver ads on top of video.

• MINECRAFT continues to top the list of weekly top paid-for iPhone apps in the Apple store.

The top 10 best sellers for last week were:

1 Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Mojang; 2 Heads Up!, Warner Bros; 3 Face Swap Live - Switch faces with friends and photos in live video, Laan Labs; 4 Radiation Island, Atypical Games; 5 Plague Inc, Ndemic Creations; 6 Minecraft: Story Mode, Telltale Inc; 7 Chameleon Run, Noodlecake Studios Inc; 8 Geometry Dash, RobTop Games AB; 9 BWA Emoji, Shadreka Haynes; 10 Bloons TD 5, Ninja Kiwi.