While there are several superheroes blessed with the uncanny power of elasticity, two of the more iconic stretchy comic book heroes are One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy and the Fantastic Four's leader Mr. Fantastic. Naturally, since their powers are based on their ability to stretch and contort themselves in unworldly forms, the question becomes, whose stretchability is the strongest.Neither Luffy nor Mr. Fantastic were born with their powers. Instead, each came onto their powers as a result of an outside event. In the case of Luffy, that event occurred when he ate the "Gum-Gum Fruit" as a child. As a result of eating the fruit, Luffy's body was rendered in a rubber-like state that allowed him to stretch, bend, elongate, and inflate his body. In contrast, Reed Richards' transformation occurred after he piloted an authorized flight into space with his future wife Sue Storm, her brother - Johnny Storm, and Reed's college roommate Benjamin Grimm. The flight, which was conducted without proper protection, was pelted by gamma radiation. That radiation transformed Reed's DNA to give him the ability to stretch every part of his body as if he were a rubber band. On the surface, it might seem that there is little difference in the stretching ability of Luffy and Mr. Fantastic.  Both Luffy and Mr. Fantastic's power of elasticity allows them to reform their bodies into any shape that they wish. In addition, their rubbery consistency makes them immune from most "blunt" attacks such as a punch, kick, or even a bullet. Moreover, their elasticity allows them to transform their bodies into effective weapons. For instance, both can use their bodies to redirect bullets and shells back towards the shooter. In addition, both can use their bodies to wrap up and constrain others from moving. However, a deeper dive into the abilities of Luffy and Mr, Fantastic reveals that not all stretching abilities are equal.Despite the similarities, there is one crucial metric that separates the top-rated from the runner-up, namely maximum stretch distance. Indeed, how powerful is one elasticity, if one's ability to stretch covers only a short distance. In this respect, Luffy comes out as the clear winner. Indeed, Luffy has the ability to stretch without restriction. That is, he can stretch as far as he deems necessary to accomplish the task. Conversely, while there is no official limit to how far Reed can stretch, it has been demonstrated that there are limits upon which Reed can effectively control his stretching abilities. There is a distance where Reed loses his ability to effectively control these body parts. Conversely, there is no such known limitation for Luffy.While there is no argument that both Luffy and Mr. Fantastic have incredibly powerful abilities of elasticity, not all rubber-like abilities are the same. The Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic might be able to use his powers to wrap up a villain across the street, chances are that One Piece's Luffy can do the same a block or even a city away.

 Photo by Anton from PexelsWhatsApp had been planning to introduce a feature called "Community"; however, someone leaked the underdevelopment, WABetainfo reported Monday."We wanted to wait for some screenshots to introduce it," it said on its official Twitter handle.Someone leaked "Community", under development for WhatsApp. We wanted to wait for some screenshots to introduce it.Community is a way for users to organize their WhatsApp groups better. Nothing more, it's not something like Twitter and Facebook. Updates will be following soon...— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) October 11, 2021  According to WABetaInfo, the community feature is a way for users to organise their WhatsApp groups better.However, addressing the rumours that this feature is like Twitter, WABetaInfo — the main independent portal where you can discover the news and real-time updates about WhatsApp — said: "It is not something like Twitter and Facebook."The portal added that more details of the feature will be revealed soon.

Marketing the trick to read deleted WhatsApp messages might be seen as concerning to many users but one can look back at any messages, embarrassing or not, they quickly deleted. Try the steps below if you do.What is a deleted message?You can delete messages instantly from both individual chats and from groups no matter if you’re using on Android or on iOS phones.It comes with the condition that recipients are told  “this message was deleted”, which can be triggering.But this message even after being deleted by the sender is stored on the phone, and can be seen using WhatsApp’s backup feature.How do I read deleted messages?If you’re really desperate and impatient to read that deleted message(s), you need to first uninstall WhatsApp and then re-install it and restore chats from backup.Simply select the restore option and your chats will be restored, including deleted messages, which are shown as if they were never removed.Also, there are various third party apps that you have to have installed in your phone before that message was deleted. So it’s like preemptive action. These apps record all your chats and do not acknowledge the sender’s right to delete them.Apps like Notification History Log and Notification Log show you all of the notifications stored in your gadget’s notification register.But the apps do have their limitations: You have to have interacted with the notification to read it.Nevertheless, this has the security hazard because you’re allowing apps to read into your personal space only so you can have an eye on some deleted messages.

Google and Microsoft released their latest OS updates this week. While Android 12 is yet to roll out to most users, Windows 11 is now generally available on compatible devices. Considering the XDA community is chock full of early adopters, it won’t be wrong of us to assume that many of you have already installed the updates on your devices. If that’s the case, which of the two updates do you think was the bigger and better release?Before you answer that question, let’s take a quick look at some of the cool new features included in the latest software releases from Google and Microsoft.Android 12Image Credit: XDAAndroid 12 is undoubtedly one of the most significant updates to the Android operating system in years. It brings a ton of new features and changes, including a massive Material You redesign, scrolling screenshot support, a native one-handed mode, and a Game dashboard. It also brings several privacy and security improvements, like the new Privacy dashboard and the camera and microphone indicators.In addition, Android 12 brings with several new widgets, a better auto-rotate system, URL/image sharing support in the recent apps overview, a new Internet panel, stretch overscrolling effects, app launch splash screens, and much more. While it’s still too early to say how Android 12 will perform on Google’s Pixel phones and devices from other manufacturers, we already know quite a bit about the update to decide whether it is a bigger and better upgrade than Windows 11 or not.Windows 11Image Credit: XDAMicrosoft’s latest software release is also a pretty significant upgrade over the previous version. Like Android 12, Windows 11 also brings some massive design changes. It also includes a boatload of new features, including Android app support (which isn’t live in the current release), updates for several stock apps, and gaming improvements. Furthermore, Windows 11 packs a revamped Microsoft Store, Snap Layouts and Snap Groups, and new widgets.While Windows 11 also brings a ton of other smaller changes, it also suffers from some issues. Since it has already started rolling out to users, we’ve seen several reports claiming that early users are facing performance issues on AMD CPUs, gaming performance has taken a hit, etc. Although we can’t say that Android 12 won’t face similar problems when it reaches more users, the chances of that happening are rather slim.Windows 11 review: Fixing the wrongs of the past decadeAndroid 12 or Windows 11: Which is the bigger and better upgrade?Keeping all these things in mind, which one do you think was the bigger and better upgrade? Can you think of any other reasons to pick one over the other? Or are you of the opinion that one shouldn’t draw a comparison between the two? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Source: XDA Pranob Mehrotra

 Social media giant Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg became a laughing stock at Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment.Hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che didn’t hold themselves back in ridiculing the company after an eventful week at the Facebook HQs over a whistleblower’s revelations about the firm and the application facing an outage as well.“This week we found out that sometimes a guy in a hoodie actually can be dangerous,” begam Jost.Jost—also a Harvard graduate like Zuckerberg—said he was at the Ivy League school around the same time as the young tech mogul in 2004."I feel terrible. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could go back to college and find Mark and say, ‘hey man!… Can I be part of your company?" he said."Which explains their rival’s new slogan, ‘TikTok, bring your fat [expletive] over here," he quipped.Che chimed in to the mockery of Facebook, saying: "This week, Instagram was down for an entire day, forcing many Instagram addicts to fill their time with Twitter, TikTok or hosting ‘SNL,’" he said, subtly pulling guest host Kim Kardashian’s leg. 

 Google has never really given ‘inferior’ treatment to iPhone users when it comes to its apps and services. Some app features, in fact, get to iPhone users first before Android smartphone users. Having said that, the Google experience on iPhone can be better and it’s something the company is working on. According to a report by 9to5Mac, staff engineering lead for Google Design on Apple platforms Jeff Verkoeyen, explained this in a long Twitter thread.Verkoeyen said in a series of tweets that “as we continued on the pursuit of cross-platform pixel parity, our iOS components were slowly drifting further and further from Apple platform fundamentals because those fundaments were also evolving year over year.”He further said that what Google realised is that how it approached the design for Apple platforms allowed it to “marry the best of UIKit with the highlights of Google's design language.” UIKit being the user interface kit that enables Google to maintain or provide a specific user interface across it apps.As a result, “app bars become UINavigationControllers. Standard controls just need light branded touches,” explained the engineering lead for Google design. He further said, “Simplification, while still affording distinction where it matters.”Verkoeyen said that with the introduction of SwiftUI and significant UIKit improvements in iOS 14+, “it's never been easier to build a great branded experience with a tiny amount of code.”Google is not really making custom code for Apple platforms but is rather “now invested in the long tail of UX details that really make products feel great on Apple platforms.”Google has been quick to update its apps to have better integration with iOS 15. For instance, it has updated Google apps to work with Focus mode and make notifications as relevant and timely as possible. “For example, if you’re navigating somewhere with Google Maps, we’ll still let you know when you need to make a turn or if there are changes to your route — like road closures or unexpected traffic. Focus mode won’t silence these helpful, timely reminders,” Google explained.Source: Times Of India

It's not too often that astronomers are at a loss for words when making a space-related discovery, but the above image from NASA's Hubble telescope managed to do precisely that. Of all the tools at our disposal for exploring outer space, Hubble has repeatedly proven to be one of the best. The 31-year-old telescope has made countless discoveries over the years, whether it be answering questions about our own Solar System or investigating galaxies millions of light-years away.In 2021 alone, Hubble has been up to a lot. It's captured a large 'eye' in the middle of a constellation, learned new information about Jupiter's Great Red Spot, and even identified a 'ghost' galaxy utterly devoid of dark matter. All of this has happened despite a scare earlier this year — one that caused Hubble to go offline for a month due to a nasty computer glitch.NASA just shared one of Hubble's latest discoveries, and it may be one of the most head-scratching of the entire year. Looking at the photo above, all seems pretty normal at first. The picture shows a large cluster of galaxies deep in space, with Hubble focusing on two of them. The first one, labeled 'single image,' is a run-of-the-mill galaxy with a bright center and numerous stars surrounding it. Where things get interesting is with the galaxy labeled 'mirrored image.' Not only does it look like a galaxy mirroring itself, but it's also a copy of the 'single image' galaxy above it. In other words, there are three sightings of the same galaxy for no apparent reason. After first spotting the 'double' galaxy in 2013, astronomer Timothy Hamilton admitted he and his team "were really stumped."If it sounds impossible for there to be three instances of the exact same galaxy, that's because it is. What's really happening here is something called 'gravitational lensing'  — a visual trick that occurs when a large amount of matter distorts light from other galaxies. Gravitational lensing is a fairly well-known thing today, but in 2013 when Hamilton discovered these perplexing galaxies, that wasn't the case.In this particular situation, NASA explains the lensing as follows: "A precise alignment between a background galaxy and a foreground galaxy cluster produces twin magnified copies of the same image of the remote galaxy. This rare phenomenon occurs because the background galaxy straddles a ripple in the fabric of space." Another way to think about it is like wavy reflections present in a swimming pool. When the afternoon sun is shining bright on an outdoor pool, the light from the sun appears on the bottom of it with swirling, wavy reflections. As Richard Griffiths from the University of Hawaii explains, "The ripples on the surface act as partial lenses and focus sunlight into bright squiggly patterns on the bottom."This is essentially what's happening in the image at the top of this article, albeit on a much larger scale. A ripple in space is taking light from the single image galaxy, magnifying and distorting it, and that's what's seen with the mirrored image galaxy. That's a great oversimplification of all the science and research that went into getting to this answer, but that's ultimately how the photo is explained. If anything, it's a great reminder of how much we still have to learn about space. In just 8 years, astronomers went from not understanding this photo to having a logical explanation for it. In the next 8, 16, or 32 years, who knows what other mysteries we'll also have answers to.Source: NASA

If xXx 4 wants to evolve the series, it should take a page out of The Fast And The Furious playbook and bring in some of Xander Cage's family. The original xXx was custom built for Vin Diesel as a star vehicle, following the surprise success of 2001's The Fast And The Furious. Plans to turn it into a James Bond-style series came to halt when the star passed on a sequel, with Ice Cube taking over for State Of The Union in 2005. This follow-up was a box-office dud, but Diesel was later lured back for 2017's The Return Of Xander Cage.While that appeared to right the ship, xXx 4 has been delayed due to lawsuits. Despite being one of Diesel's most well-known franchises, he's only played Cage twice over a 20-year span. Compared to his run as Dom in the Fast & Furious movies - who throughout that series has evolved from street racer to saving the world multiple times - has barely scratched the surface of Cage as a character. Outside of his fondness for tattoos and extreme sports, there's not much depth to Xander.xXx 4 doesn't have to go to Shakespearian depths to get under Cage's skin, but he could use some fleshing out. Given the popularity of the ongoing Fast And Furious saga, the next xXx could dig into his past and explore some of his family ties. Outside of briefly mentioning an aunt in the original movie, the xXx series hasn't revealed much about Cage's clan and a sequel that sees him connect with his family could bring some emotional heft to the movies. Given that F9 focused on Dom going head to head - and eventually somewhat reconciling - with his estranged brother Jakob (John Cena), maybe that's too familiar a beat for xXx 4. That said, a younger brother or sister he barely knows, or even a son or daughter he's never met, could be one direction to explore. Given that Xander's taste for mayhem is one of his defining traits, a xXx 4 where he has to connect with or somewhat keep a child of his own under control has potential. xXx 4 will likely carry on from the events of The Return Of Xander Cage and see the title spy working with his fellow former agents like Cube's Darius Stone. The series is ultimately going for more over the top thrills than the more recent James Bond movies, but it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of heart mixed in. The next sequel doesn't have to be a straight rip of the Fast And Furious formula, but a Xander Cage family member or two could give some more stakes to the saga.