In mid-July at the construction site at 1 Java Street in Brooklyn, New York, the outside temperatures can reach sweltering highs in the 90s. But 500-feet underground, it's 55 degrees all year round.

WhatsApp has unveiled a major update that will allow users to hide intimate conversations in a secret folder. The Chat Lock feature, which parent company Meta announced on Monday, means selected messages can only be accessed with a password or biometric identification, like a fingerprint or face scan. Any incoming messages will also be hidden on the receiver’s phone or computer screen to prevent bystanders from seeing what they say or who they are from. “We believe this feature will be great for people who share their phones from time to time with a family member, or in moments where someone else is holding your phone at the exact moment an extra-special chat arrives,” Meta wrote in a blog post announcing the WhatsApp update. “Over the next few months, we’re going to be adding more options for Chat Lock, including locks for companion devices and creating a custom password for your chats so that you can use a unique password different from your phone’s.” The new WhatsApp feature will be rolling out globally this week to more than 2 billion people who use the messaging app. “New locked chats in WhatsApp make your conversations more private,” Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Facebook. “They’re hidden in a password protected folder and notifications won’t show sender or message content.” The latest update comes just days after widespread concerns emerged from WhatsApp users about a “creepy” feature relating to the app’s privacy settings. Messages on people’s phones appeared to show that WhatsApp was listening to users while they were asleep, with notifications of the app activating the device’s microphone displayed on the privacy menu within Google’s Android operating system. WhatsApp blamed the issue on a bug within Android, claiming it would never access a user’s microphone without their consent. “Users have full control over their mic settings,” WhatsApp posted in response to a tweet about the issue. “Once granted permission, WhatsApp only accesses the mic when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video – and even then, these communications are protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot hear them.” Read More Creepy WhatsApp update sparks fears users are being listened to through their phone

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At this point, the setting of Grand Theft Auto 6 isn't up for debate. It'd be a huge shock to see Rockstar Games swerve the much rumoured Vice City, Florida setting. Of course, there's been no official confirmation of the game's setting or any further details as fans await a hotly-anticipated trailer in early December, but a number of big leaks have pointed directly to GTA 6 following up on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City with a trip to the Sunshine State. With only 'unofficial' signs pointing to Vice City, fans have taken a recent post from Rockstar Games as a pre-trailer confirmation that the GTA series is heading back to Florida, and that the map will be based around Vice City. An X account, GTA 6 Trailer Countdown, posted a capture of a Rockstar Games with the following message: "Rockstar Games just dropped some merch including “IVC” sticker and Vice City-themed socks ahead of the GTA 6 reveal in December." This has lead to speculation that Rockstar have all but 'confirmed' Vice City as the setting of the game. However, some fans aren't convinced that the merch drop means anything at all: For now, it seems like all signs point towards a Vice City comeback judging on the leaks that have already occurred, and a return that should be announced very soon. In the meantime, you can pick up your Vice City merch here. Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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