iWorld
Viu enters Middle East, to provide buffer-free content
MUMBAI: Video-on-demand (VOD) service provider Vuclip has launched Viu, a direct to consumer VOD service, in the Middle East. The platform is already available in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In the Middle East, content will be available without charge, while premium content can be viewed without advertisements, after paying a monthly subscription fee. Users across the region now have access to tens of thousands of hours of local, regional and international premium entertainment, built on Vuclip’s patented Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding technology to offer viewers a buffer free viewing experience.
The platform offers regional, international and local entertainment on-demand content, including Egyptian, Syrian, Khaleeji and Tunisian TV dramas.
Users can access classic movies and recent blockbusters, as well as curated music videos for over 6,000 songs from artists such as Nicole Saba, Amr Diab, Hassan El Shafei, Nancy Ajram, Ramy Sabrya and Maya Diab. Bollywood content can also be streamed, with films, popular TV shows and music videos featuring stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone.
The company recently sealed a deal with Indian content house Shemaroo to add more content to the Viu platform.
Vuclip regional director for Middle East Sherif Dahan voiced that the expansion will be exciting as they plan to bring new ideas to life and offer viewers a whole new experience in entertainment.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
