Twitter’s new change will hide the tweets from public figures that violate its community guidelines

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Micro-blogging website Twitter has started rolling out a new notice today for the tweets that belong to public figures and breaks its community guidelines. With this, if any public figure – a Prime Minister or President or Actor – tweets something that breaks the guidelines set by Twitter, it would notify the users about the violation. In addition to this, the reach of the tweet will also be decreased. Although this change is not rolling out for the platform yet, but according to the company’s executives, it will be coming soon.

The notice released by Twitter is applicable for tweets from the accounts of the political figures, verified users and the accounts with more than 1,00,000 followers. If any tweet from these accounts gets flagged for violating the rules of Twitter, then a team of people from the company will decide whether it is a “matter of public interest” or not. If it is indeed in public interest, then a light grey box will appear before the tweet itself and will notify the users who see the post that it violates the rules of the company. However, the tweets will not be removed and they will remain on the platform. According to the micro-blogging platform, this new change will preserve the tweet as a part of the public record without allowing it to be promoted to new audiences.

If any tweet from a public figure found to be violating the rules receives this notice, then the platform will feature it less for the audience. The posts from that account will not appear in the Safe Search, the Top Tweets timeline, live events pages, recommended push notifications, the notifications tab, or the Explore page altogether. This new change is applicable on Twitter starting today.

According to Twitter’s safety team, ‘In the past, we’ve allowed certain Tweets that violated our rules to remain on Twitter because they were in the public’s interest, but it wasn’t clear when and how we made those determinations. Serving the public conversation includes providing the ability for anyone to talk about what matters to them; this can be especially important when engaging with government officials and political figures.”

We should mention that earlier, some of the public figures were found to be violating Twitter’s rules. According to Twitter, banning such people completely might keep the public from important and relevant information. Earlier in 2018, Twitter called out to Donald Trump for some of his tweets. In that regard, Twitter wrote in a blogpost, “Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. By nature of their positions these leaders have outsized influence and sometimes say things that could be considered controversial or invite debate and discussion. A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable.”

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Realme X Spider-Man edition smartphone announced in China

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Chinese smartphone maker Realme has today announced its special edition Realme X Spider-Man handset in its home country. The company has collaborated with Sony Pictures to launch the Realme X Spider-Man: Far from Home special edition in China. The new handset is all set to go on sale on July 9. As of now, there is no word on where else this edition of Realme will be launched.

Realme India CEO Madhav Seth confirmed the news about the launch of the special edition device on his official Twitter handle. We should also mention that soon; Marvel Studios is going to release the Spider-Man: Far from Home movie across the globe.

The Realme X Spider-Man: Far from Home smartphone will be available for purchase in a custom gift box. The exclusive edition will be available in a single 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant that will cost CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs 18,100).

The Chinese smartphone maker launched the Realme X handset in its home-country last month. Now, the company will be launching this new smartphone in India on July 17.

Realme India’s CEO Madhav Sheth confirmed that the device will be released in India and will come with a different set of specifications and features than the model that was unveiled in China. The flagship smartphone will be launched in India with onion and garlic finish too. The company’s CEO also confirmed that there will be a special edition of the Realme X that will also be launched in the country. So, we can keep our fingers crossed and hope to see the Realme X Spider-Man: Far from Home edition.

Realme X Price

To recall, the regular variant of Realme X smartphone is available in three storage models. The 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant costs CNY 1,499 (approximately Rs 15,100), and the 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage option has been priced at CNY 1,599 (approximately Rs 16,100). The 8GB RAM/128GB storage version of the device bears a price tag of CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs 18,100).

Realme X specifications

Realme X features 6.53-inch Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 710 SoC that comes with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. The device runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with ColorOS 6. Realme X houses a 3,765mAh battery that has support for VOOC 3.0 fast charging.

On the imaging front, the device sports a dual-rear camera setup that comprises of a 48MP main sensor and a 5MP secondary sensor. There is also a 16MP pop-up selfie camera on the front. For connectivity, the device comes with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS, USB Type-C port, and Dolby Atmos audio.

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HP launches the world’s first dual-screen gaming laptop in India: Price and specifications

HP has today launched its OMEN X 2S in India, that is the world’s first dual-screen gaming laptop. HP OMEN X 2S laptop has a standard display along with a secondary screen that is touted to enhance the gaming experience of the device. Other than that, the company has also launched its OMEN 15 and Pavilion 15 laptops in the country. Here’s a look at the price details and the specifications of the newly launched laptops in India. Take a look:

HP OMEN X 2S, OMEN 15 and Pavilion 15 laptops price and availability

The starting price of HP OMEN X 2S in India is Rs 2,09,990. On the other hand, HP OMEN 15 can be bought at a starting price of Rs 124,990 and the HP Pavilion Gaming 15 can be picked up at Rs 70,990. While the former will be available starting July 1 on HP.com, the other two can be bought already

HP OMEN X 2S, OMEN 15 and Pavilion 15 laptops specifications

As we mentioned earlier, the laptop comes with a standard display as well as a secondary screen. While its standard screen is 15-inches in size, the secondary one is a 6-inch touchscreen display that has a 1080p resolution. It lies right above the keyboard and provides an improved gaming experience. It is also the first 15-inch diagonal gaming laptop in the world to come with an applied liquid metal compound to the thermal system by way of Thermal Grizzly Condactonaut.

The secondary display of the laptop can be used for a number of functions including streaming videos, playing music, monitoring system performance or even act as a zoom-in tool for games that need the player to be precise and accurate.

HP Omen X 2S is the company’s flagship device and it comes packs some very powerful specifications. The laptop is powered by a ninth Gen Intel Core i9 CP and comes with up to 16GB of RAM. It has an SSD storage of up to 1TB and is equipped with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics with 8GB of VRAM. In other words, the laptop will be able to deliver heavy amounts of gameplay even at high framerates.

HP has also added a new keyboard that comes with upgraded sound hardware that packs dual custom-tuned stereo speakers from Bang & Olufsen. It also comes with a number of ports and a new system for streaming between PCs and TVs. The laptop runs Windows 10 operating system.

HP OMEN 15 is also powered by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 that features a Max-Q7 design and is powered by the 9th Gen Intel Core i9 processor. Much like HP OMEN X 2S, it has eight cores and 16 threads and houses up to 16GB of RAM.

Coming to HP Pavilion Gaming 15 laptop, it comes with a thinner frame than its predecessor. The laptop will be powered by the latest 9th Gen Intel Core i5/i7 high-performance mobile CPUs and also has the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti paired with Max-Q design.

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Apple to sign a $100 million deal with Japan Display: Here’s more on it

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Apple has recently started putting AMOLED display panels on its iPhones to make them more premium than devices that come with LCD screens. Till now, Apple has depended on Samsung for providing it with the AMOLED displays for iPhones. But it seems like things are set to change. A recent report suggests that Apple is planning to make a deal with Japan Display worth $100 million (approximately Rs 6,89,85,00,000) for using its LCD display panels on its iPhones.

The news comes from a Japanese publication named Asahi. According to the report, Japan Display is currently going through restructuring and Apple’s $100 million deal will be a huge benefit for the company. However, it should be noted that this is not the first time that Apple is conducting business with Japan Display. The Cupertino-based technology giant has been doing business with the display maker for quite some time now. Apple is one of the major buyers of Japan Display and is also responsible for around 60% of Japan Display’s business. The abovementioned business deal will turn a new page for both the companies.

The new business deal between Apple and Japan Display will help the American technology giant to move the bulk of its LCD display orders from China to Japan. According to 9to5Mac, earlier in 2015, Apple had funded most of the $1.5 billion LCD screen-making factory for Japan Display. Apple also asked for assurance from the display maker that the company will pay back the received funding by giving a percentage of sales from each display to it. Although it’s been few years since then, but Japan Display still has to pay a good amount of the funding that it received.

However, Japan Display has not been making enough profit in the past few years and is running on losses since Apple funded the billion-dollar factory. Japan Display’s new factory is reportedly running on half its capacity as smartphone makers have switched to using OLED display panels instead of the LCD ones. But even so, Japan Display is still one of the most important suppliers of Apple as the company makes OLED display panels for the Apple Watch along with LCD displays for the current iPhone XR. Earlier reports suggested that Apple will bring three new iPhones this year and among them, the affordable variant will sport an LCD panel instead of an AMOLED one. So, other than the iPhone XR and the older smartphone models, maybe one of the upcoming handsets from Apple will pack an LCD panel.

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WhatsApp’s new feature will let you share your status on Facebook

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Facebook-owned WhatsApp has started testing a new feature that permits its users to share their WhatsApp status with the other apps. The new feature has been rolled out for all the users of WhatsApp beta programme.

WhatsApp users will soon notice a new sharing option under their status, that will allow them to post and share it on their Facebook account and on some other apps too. WhatsApp status is a feature that allows the user to share their pictures and videos on their profile that disappear after 24 hours. It is a lot like Instagram Stories.

The new feature permits users to share their status directly on their Facebook Story. They will also be able to share it via Instagram Stories, Gmail and Google Photos.

According to a report by The Verge, Facebook will ensure the privacy of the user by not directly linking their two profiles. The company has assured that if the user shares their WhatsApp Status on other company-owned services like Instagram or Facebook’s app, both the posts will be categorised as separate and will not be linked.

The report says, “To be clear, WhatsApp’s new status sharing feature doesn’t do any of the data sharing that’s gotten Facebook into trouble in the past. But as Facebook moves toward allowing users from all three of its major services to message each other across a single technical backend, even seemingly innocuous features like this can risk intense scrutiny.”

Currently, this new feature has been rolled out for WhatsApp beta version 2.19.151 for Android. It is expected to come soon to iOS too.

Recently, WhatsApp also released another update for its beta version on Android. The new feature being called as Hide Muted status update. As the name suggests, it enables the users to hide all the status updates that have already been muted in the user’s contacts. With this new feature, the user can erase all the muted status updates from the Status section. The feature was spotted in WhatsApp’s latest beta version 2.19.183. For using it, one needs to be a part of the Google Play’s Beta Programme for WhatsApp and should have installed the latest version 2.19.183 update on their Android device.

If you are not a part of WhatsApp’s beta programme, then you can follow our step-by-step guide to become one. However, we should mention that while beta updates get you new features before anyone else, they also sometimes get bugs. To become a part of the programme only if you are ready for that.

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Redmi K20’s Snapdragon 730 SoC performance teased by the company ahead of launch

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has geared up to bring its upcoming Redmi K20-series smartphone in India. The smartphone was unveiled in China last month in May and the device’s India launch was confirmed by the company earlier this month. Now, Redmi K20’s processor’s performance has been teased by the company’s official Twitter handle. The tweet by Redmi India shows the comparison between the CPUs of its previous smartphones and the upcoming Redmi K20. The teased smartphone will be a mid-range device with features like a full-AMOLED display and a triple rear camera setup that has a 48MP Sony primary sensor.

Redmi India tweeted about the CPU that powers the Redmi K20 – the Snapdragon 730 SoC. The teaser displayed the official AnTuTu benchmark performance of the octa-core Snapdragon 730 SoC.  According to the company, Redmi K20’s CPU is 40% faster than the Snapdragon 710 SoC that is housed in the Realme 3 Pro and the Nokia 8.1. The image shows that while Snapdragon 730 SoC scored 2,18,625 on the AnTuTu benchmarking test, Snapdragon 675 SoC scored a total of 1,80,808. Lastly, the Snapdragon 710 SoC scored a total of 1,55,215 in the test.

The full tweet of Redmi India read, “Mi fans, you will soon see a device with @Qualcomm Snapdragon 730, one of the first in India. It’s >40% faster than SD 710 which is an year old. Yes, you read that right! Can you guess the name of the phone coming with 730?” Although the teaser revealed the performance of the CPU, it didn’t mention the exact date of the launch of the Redmi K20.

Prior to this, Xiaomi India’s Managing Director, Manu Kumar Jain had confirmed that the Redmi K20 and the Redmi K20 Pro will be launched in India in “six weeks”, and this timeline ends in mid-July. So, there is a possibility that the company might launch both the device around July 15. Some industry insiders told us that Xiaomi will be launching the smartphone on July 18.

Redmi K20 price in India (expected) and specifications

Although the Redmi K20 hasn’t been launched in India, it will most likely be a mid-range smartphone. In China, the Redmi K20 with 6GB RAM/64GB storage sells for CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs 20,200) while the 6GB RAM/128GB storage is priced at CNY 2,099 (approximately Rs 21,200). The top end variant of the smartphone with 8GB RAM/256GB storage bears a price tag of CNY 2,599 (approximately Rs 26,200).

Speaking about the specifications of the Redmi K20, it sports a 6.39-inch Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) AMOLED display. The smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 730 SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The handset packs a 4,000mAh battery that has support for fast charging. It runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with MIUI and has an in-display fingerprint scanner.

On the imaging front, the Redmi K20 features a triple-rear camera that comprises of a 48MP Sony IMX582 primary sensor paired with a 13MP wide-angle lens along with an 8MP camera. On the front, there is a 20MP selfie camera.

For connectivity, Redmi K20 comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS, and USB Type-C port.

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Apple Music surpasses 60 million subscribers: Eddy Cue

Cupertino-based technology giant Apple has today announced that its Apple Music service has surpassed 60 million subscribers. In an interview with French media website Numerama, the company’s vice president Eddy Cue revealed the latest numbers. We should mention that this 10 million more than the last known figure, as the company had announced that Apple Music had 50 million subscribers in April 2019.

Back then, it was also reported that Apple Music had more listeners than Spotify in the United States. But then, we should also point out that Spotify today has 100 million subscribers worldwide.

Speaking to the publication, Cue said, “In the Apple ecosystem, Apple Music is the number one streaming service.” With the announcement of the latest number, it is extremely evident how rapidly has grown its subscriber base in the past few months. Since the beginning of the year, Apple has slashed its prices in India and started offering free music streaming with American Airlines.

The company has also offered free Apple Music trials to Shazam users after the Grammy Awards. On the other hand, Spotify has partnered with a number of companies to increase the number of services that it offers. The New York Time, Hulu, Samsung and Starbucks are among the companies that the music streaming service has joined hands with.

We should mention that Apple Music is also expected to replace iTunes on the desktop once macOS Catalina gets launched in fall this year. However, we should mention that it will only replace the music portion of iTunes and other services by Apple will be replacing other functions.

In an unrelated piece of news, it was recently reported that Spotify has been testing a new feature called ‘Social Listening’. With this upcoming feature, multiple users will be able to add songs and make playlists in real time so that they can listen to it with each other.

But then, the feature is currently only being tested by a few employees of the company. Spotify has till now not broken its silence on when it will roll out the feature to its 100 million global users.

The feature was first found by renowned reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong who tweeted saying, “Spotify is working on ‘Social Listening’, letting friends to control music together with their own devices. Scan Spotify Code or open link for it to begin. For example, I’m listening Spotify right now. Feel free to introduce me new music.” She further shared a link with her tweet that led to a social session.

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iPhone designer Jony Ive is leaving Apple to pursue his own venture

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Cupertino-based technology giant Apple has announced that its chief design officer, Jony Ive, is leaving the company. Post the announcement, the company’s stock dropped by 1%.

It is worth mentioning that Ive is considered to be one among the most important people at Apple and he was responsible for the look and feel as well as the industrial design of all major products by the company. He even looks after the design of the iPhone and Mac. Ive has been working at Apple for more than 20 years.

We should add that Ive will be starting his own design business called LoveFrom. According to a report in Financial Times, he will be accompanied in this venture by his friend and designer Marc Newson. Apple has confirmed that the company will be a client of Ive’s business.

Speaking to Financial Times, Ive said, “While I will not be an employee, I will still be very involved — I hope for many, many years to come. This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook also spoke about Ive leaving the company. In a statement, he said, “Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998′s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care.”

Nobody would be succeeding Ive immediately at Apple. The company has confirmed that Evans Hanky, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, would be assuming the additional design responsibilities.

Apple has also said that both the designers would now report to Jeff Williams, the company’s chief operating officer. On the other hand, Ive reported directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Apple Park, the company’s $5 billion campus in Cupertino, California was one among the things Ive primarily focussed on during the last few years. Apple officially opened its new headquarters last month, for which, it also hosted a concert on the campus.

Speaking further to Financial Times, Ive said, “There were some significant projects that I feel like I’ve completed. For example, Apple Park — this was a project that started in 2004 . . . A couple of weeks ago we had our official opening of the Park. That was a really significant project, that was unlike many of our others because it was for us.”

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Fortnite brings new content update #1 with a novel Revolver and some other fresh changes

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Fortnite, the popular battle royale game from Epic Games has rolled out a new content update for it. The new update brings a number of changes, fresh features, new equipment, gameplay improvements for the Battle Royale and the Save the World game modes of Fortnite. The new content update for the game is a part of the earlier Fortnite v9.30 update that was released on Tuesday this week. The apprise is named Fortnite content update #1 for patch v9.30 and it adds a number of features to the game along with a new weapon as well.

This update of Fortnite is currently out for PC, Xbox One as well as PlayStation 4. The new weapon which comes along looks like a Revolver along with several others from the Vault. These includes Pump Shotgun in the Battle Royale game mode. The official patch notes from Fortnite reads that the newest weapon Revolver fires medium ammo and it can hold six rounds of bullets. The Revolver inflicts 63/66 damage every shot and can be found in the floor loot as well as chests, vending machines, supply drops and loot carriers.

Now, talking about the weapons from the Vault, we see the Pump Shotgun that was one of the most popular guns of the players of the game. The gun was removed at the start of Season 9 of Fortnite, but now it has been added back to the game. The Pump Shotgun can be found in floor loot as well as in the vending machines. Although the company hasn’t mentioned about why it had removed the Pump Shotgun from Fortnite, it explained why Epic has brought the weapon back into the game. Epic said, “There’s been a lot of feedback around the Tactical Shotgun and Combat Shotgun effectiveness, and so we’re experimenting with a world where the Pump Shotgun joins the current shotgun lineup”.

Other than the Pump Shotgun, Shockwave Grenade as well as Supressed SMG has also been unvaulted in the latest content update of Fortnite. However, in this update Fortnite has vaulted several other weapons from the previous slot. The vaulted weapons include – Tactical Assault Rifle, Impulse Grenades, Rift-To-Go, and Pirate Cannon.

Moreover, the Tactical Shotgun, Burst SMG, Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle, and FlintKnock Pistol have their availability adjusted and the Minigun and Heavy Assault Rifle’s player damage has also been changed. The clip size of Infantry Rifle and DrumGun has also been changed. Lastly, the 14 Days of Summer game event has also been added to Battle Royale and Save The World modes of Fortnite.

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Google will now allow its users to auto delete their location history

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Google has rolled another new update for its Google Map App. The new feature launched by Google deletes the location history on the Google Map. The company has been pressurised by many users on social media platforms to improve its data collection policies and privacy. The tech giant has been criticised for holding on to user’s geolocation information in its server for an unspecified amount of time.

Google has announced in an official blog post that says, “Whether you’re looking for the latest news or the quickest driving route, we aim to make our products helpful for everyone. And when you turn on settings like Location History or Web & App Activity, the data can make Google products more useful for you—like recommending a restaurant that you might enjoy, or helping you pick up where you left off on a previous search. We work to keep your data private and secure, and we’ve heard your feedback that we need to provide simpler ways for you to manage or delete it.”

Last month the Tech Giant announced that soon it will be launching the auto delete tool for its app aimed at privacy purposes. The auto-delete feature in the Google map lets you set a time limit after which the app will automatically delete the location history and web history on your device. The new feature allows you to choose a time limit between 3 to 18 months. After you set the time limit Google will automatically delete the location history, web history and app activity.

To activate auto-delete feature all you have to do is head to your Google Account. Now go to My Activity section. Next tap on the new feature chooses to delete automatically option, select the time limit of your choice between 3 months or 18 months. Now the app will automatically delete all the location history that you searched older than the definite time period.

You should be careful about the settings that are not set by default. This will let Google collect and control all the data that has been saved on your phone. As we mentioned earlier the company announced the new rollout in may so currently the new rollout will take time to reach all the devices.

While announcing the new feature the company in its blog post also said, “You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you–and we’re committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen.”

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Honor India announced that all Honor smartphones and tablets will receive security patches and Android updates

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Trump government’s trade ban on Huawei has put the Chinese smartphone maker in a very delicate situation. Due to the trade ban, most of the US based tech companies – Google, Microsoft, Intel, microSD Association etc have stopped their business with them. And due to this, Huawei smartphones will not receive the upcoming Android updates or Google services on their smartphones.

Honor is a sub-brand of the Chinese smartphone maker, Huawei is in the same soup. Similar to Huawei smartphones, the Honor devices too are powered by the same chipset and features mostly the same specifications, as Huawei is the parent company of Honor. And with the trade ban, Honor smartphones too were on line to not receive the Android updates and Google app support, which had put the company in a very tight situation. But today, Honor India has announced that all the Honor smartphones and tablets will continue to receive security patches as well as Android updates.

Huawei ‘s sub-brand Honor took to Twitter to make this announcement, which comes as a surprise nonetheless. The new announcement by Honor India is a bold one because the trade ban was to effect Honor as well as Huawei. Honor India’s full post reads, “At HONOR, we always put our consumers first, regardless of the challenges we face. All HONOR smartphones and tablets will continue to receive security patches and Android updates. Anyone who has already bought, or is about to buy an HONOR smartphone can continue to access the world of apps as they have always done. All devices continue to be covered by our manufacturer’s warranty and will receive full service support accordingly. Our most popular devices, including HONOR 20 Series (HONOR 20i, HONOR 20, HONOR 20 Pro) will be able to access Android Q. We fully appreciate that you may have additional questions. We will get back to you with additional information soon.”

This news should be a pleasant surprise for everyone who was planning to buy the newly launched HONOR 20 smartphone series. And with the company’s announcement, it has been made clear that the new Honor devices will continue to receive the new Android software updates along with the Google software patches. It has also been made clear that all the existing devices of Honor will also continue to receive the new Android updates and security patches as well. But it remains to be seen if Honor 20-series smartphones are the ones to receive the new Android Q updates or the previously launched smartphones too will receive the Android Q update like the ‘View’ series etc.

With this announcement, Honor has put itself back to the smartphone market, but people will still see it with some doubt until the Huawei’s trade ban is cleared out. And it also remains to be seen whether Huawei smartphone will receive the new Android Q update or not?

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Cardiogram’s health monitoring features are now available to all the Fitbit users globally

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Fitbit has partnered with Cardiogram to bring a number of Cardiogram’s suite of health monitoring features to Fitbit users globally. The partnership is made with the goal of improving the care management, empower and save lives of the users, as the Fitbit fitness bands comes with heart rate monitors (HRM).Cardiogram, on the other hand, detects health problems of the users using the HRM’s data.

Fitbit is one of the well-known smart fitness bands and activity trackers out there in the market today with more than 27 million active users. And Cardiogram is like a digital health and fitness diary. It uses the heart rate and sleep data from the wearable devices and then displays it on the user’s smartphone. Cardiogram also provides the users with insights and tracking as well. And currently, there are more than a million users who use Cardiogram to track how their heart rate is affected by anything i.e. stress, workouts, sleep, or an episode of Game of Thrones.

Brandon Ballinger, co-founder and CEO of Cardiogram said, “A brand synonymous with health and fitness, compatibility with Fitbit has been one of our top user requests, and we’re very excited to launch this partnership. Fitbit wearables have remarkably consistent heart rate accuracy, enhanced sleep tracking, and extended battery life, all of which improve a user’s experience with Cardiogram as well.”

With the partnership between Fitbit and Cardiogram, the users can access Cardiogram’s health screening tools to their advantage. Cardiogram’s health screening tools have clinically been validated to detect signs of conditions like diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and atrial fibrillation using the heart rate data from the connected Fitbit devices. If the user is flagged at risk for the health condition then they are provided convenient confirmatory diagnostic testing. However, the newly-diagnosed users are guided to condition management programs.

The users of Fitbit fitness bands have the option to upgrade to Cardiogram Premium, it is a subscription service that enables sharing of live Cardiogram data, insights, and confirmatory test results with their friends or family. Moreover, the user can also easily export the data to share it with a physician.

Adam Pellegrini, general manager of Fitbit Health Solutions said about the partnership, “For the past decade, Fitbit has made simple and engaging health and wellness solutions accessible to millions of people, helping them make the behavior change that leads to better health outcomes. Building on our success in helping people reach their health goals, we continue to work to tackle some of the most common and costly conditions in healthcare. Partnering with Cardiogram to add a health condition screening tool further enhances our growing platform of technology-enabled solutions to help Fitbit users proactively manage their health.”

Cardiogram is compatible with any Fitbit devices with a heart rate sensor. It supports the Fitbit Charge family, Fitbit Versa family, Fitbit Inspire HR, Fitbit Ionic, and Fitbit Alta HR. The users of Fitbit can download the Cardiogram app for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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LIKE rebrands itself to Likee in a bid to transform its app

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Popular short video app LIKE has rebranded itself to Likee. The Singapore based company has not rebranded its name just for namesake. The company is going to transform its app by bringing more features and functions to its app Likee.

The BIGO Technology owned company Likee commented on the rebranding, “the motive for rebranding LIKE to Likee lies in the tagline of the app – More than like. With the objective of strengthening and enhancing its value for users and content creators, it has transformed its features and functions to bring diverse, valuable and entertaining content to the market. A globally popular short video creation platform with dynamic content, Likee, in the long-run, intends to become a platform can deliver valuable information while offering enjoyable content. Its goal is to provide tools for simple and unique short video creation for users as well as help users explore a valuable content bank by discovering people nearby. Hence, the added E – for Everyone to easily create amazing videos; Explore a wider world and record amazing moments; Encounter new and interesting video discoveries. “

As we mentioned earlier the company has included new features and functions to its transformed app Likee to cater more varied, treasured, and enjoyable content to its users.

Likee has launched by Talent Creators Union to encourage creators to showcase their talent and knowledge by producing more appreciated video content. Through which they can earn monetary rewards.

The video creation platform Likee had tied up with popular celebrities and media agencies to encourage and inspire more short video content. Media agencies like ANI, Dainik Jagran, etc., and celebrities like Shakti Mohan, Zakir Khan, RJ Naved, and others can now be followed on the Likee platform while they create and posts their videos on the popular app.

At the Moment Like is the most accessed video app in India. So, to inspire more creative content, the new avatar of the app has attracted celebrity and media agency tie-ups. They can now be accessed on the Likee platform via the videos they create and posts on the app. With its somewhat domination it has in the Indian market, Likee has become the app of choice for brands to create a connect with the Indian masses. Also, its closest competition here is TikTok, which is a similar app.

Will the name change extend their fortune or will it end in devastation? The key is held by content creators and viewers.

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Airtel has launched new AirtelThanks benefits for its customers

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India’s leading telecommunication service provider Airtel has announced today its customer reward programme #AirtelThanks. As a part of the programme, Airtel customers will be getting benefits with its V-Fiber Home Broadband.

Airtel Thanks benefits for V-Fiber Home Broadband customers are as follows:

Airtel V-Fiber Plan Rs 1099

The plans of Rs 1099 and above will be benefited with 100 Mbps superfast data speeds, 300 GB/month with rollover 500 GB one-time bonus data and superior service. That includes three months subscription gift from Netflix, One-year Amazon Prime membership with full entertainment and online shopping benefits, access to premium content from ZEE5, Airtel TV and much more.

Airtel V-Fiber Plan Rs 1500

Airtel V-Fiber plan of Rs 1,500 and above will get 300 Mbps of data speed plus 600 GB/month with rollover and will also get 1,000 GB one-time bonus data. The customers will also get three months subscription for Netflix, one-year Amazon Prime, full access to ZEE5 and Airtel TV premium.

Airtel V-Fiber Plan Rs 1999

The Plan of Rs 1999 will get 100mbps data speed plus unlimited data benefit and will enjoy all the benefits like other plans are offering.

On the launch of #AirtelThanks rewards George Mathen, CEO – Broadband, Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to bring some exciting #AirtelThanks benefits to our Homes customers and deliver a truly differentiated experience backed by quality service. Digital entertainment and online shopping are amongst the biggest use cases for Home Broadband and we are now bringing a bouquet of top content and e-commerce platforms to our customers as part of their plans. With this, we Airtel has set a new industry benchmark when it comes to value proposition for the customer.”

The Telecom company also stated that when the customers of airtel opt for the annual rental package they will get 15% additional discounts. Over that, the Airtel Customers opting for the six months rental package will get additional benefits up to 7.5%.

In August last year, the company has announced similar offers for its post-paid and broadband customers, too. The post-paid customers were benefited with free Netflix subscriptions. Although broadband users received offers like free Netflix subscription, bonus data, and Amazon Prime membership.

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Canon India launched a new portrait prime lens named Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM in India: Price and features revealed

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Canon India, the Camera and lens maker has launched a new RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens in the country. The new lens is aimed at professional photographers. It comes with the new RF mount technology and provides superior optical performance with its large aperture. The new Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens is a good choice for photographers who do wedding or people photography.

Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens price and availability

The new Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens holds a price tag of Rs 2,19,995 and it will be available for purchase from this week onwards.

Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens specifications and features

The Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens is a portrait prime lens that makes it a perfect lens for wedding, portrait, people photography. The company launched the portrait prime lens seeing the growing trend of portrait photography in the country. And since the Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens being a prime lens with a fixed 85mm of focal length, the photographers can capture great shots. When combined with Canon’s EOS R system, the photographers can create good bokeh effects using the Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens.

This lens utilises the wide diameter and short back focus distance of the RF mount to give the 85mm lens bright aperture of f/1.2. Other than that, it is also capable of producing ultra-high resolution images and comes with an autofocus function.

Since the Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens has a large f/1.2 aperture, it allows more light to enter through the lens. This allows the photographers to control more light exposure during photography. The lens has 9-blade circular aperture that delivers a good soft bokeh. The Canon lens is also capable of capturing sharp and crisp images even in low lighting conditions using a higher shutter speed.

The Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens has a minimum focusing distance of 0.85m and a maximum magnification of 0.12x. This expands the shooting and capturing capabilities of the lens from close-ups to shooting small objects. Furthermore, the new prime lens from Canon also comes with the Canon’s Air Sphere Coating (ASC), it helps reduce the lens flare and ghosting caused by the reflections while improving the lighting clarity and contrast of the image when shooting into a backlight.

Moreover, the Canon RF85mm f/1.2L USM lens comes with a RF mount and a new control ring that is found in new its RF lens series. The photographers can use it to assign different settings including aperture value, shutter speed, ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation. And lastly, the lens has a dust and drip resistance that ensures high durability even when shooting outdoors.

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Realme Leap Days sale is live on Flipkart, Amazon.in and Realme.com

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Realme has come up with a new sale called the Realme Leap Days sale and is being hosted on Amazon India, Flipkart as well as Realme.com. The Realme Leap Days sale will go on from June 27 till June 30, Sunday and in the sale Realme is offering various offers on the purchase of its smartphones. All three platforms will hold varying Realme devices, but the offers will be available on three podiums. If the user purchases the smartphones from Realme.com, they will get15% cashback from MobiKwik in the form of SuperCash. While Flipkart is offering no-cost EMI and Complete Mobile Protection for Rs 99.

Realme C2 which holds a price tag of Rs 6,993 will be available for Rs 5,999 on June 28 at 12pm (noon) on Flipkart and Realme.com. Flipkart is also offering exchange offers, no-cost EMIs along with 5% off if the purchase is made using Axis Bank Buzz credit cards. If purchased from Realme.com, the users will get the aforementioned MobiKwik offer.

Realme C1 on the other hand holds a price tag of Rs 7,590 is being offered at Rs 6,999 on Flipkart and Realme.com in the Realme Leap Days sale. While the Realme 2 with 3GB RAM/32GB storage is bring offered at Rs 8,999 instead of Rs 9,499. The new price is available only on Realme.com. It will also be getting the MobiKwik offer as well. The 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant of the device is selling for its original price of Rs 10,990.

The Realme 2 Pro with 4GB RAM/64GB storage is being offered at Rs 10,490 instead of Rs 11,990 on Flipkart. While the 6GB variant of the device now sells atfor Rs 12,490. That is also down from its original price of Rs 13,999.

The Realme 3 is now selling for a starting price of Rs 8,999 on Flipkart. Whereas the Realme 3 Pro is selling at a starting price of Rs 13,990 in the Realme Leap Days sale on Flipkart. Both these devices are getting the no-cost EMI option up to 6 months along with an exchange offer. There is also a 5% instant discount if the purchase was made using ICICI debit or credit card EMI transaction. The consumers will also get a 5% discount if the Axis Bank Buzz Credit cards are used for the purchase.

Coming to Amazon India, Realme is offering a discount of Rs 1,000 on the Realme U1. The starting price of the device in the Realme Leap Days sale is Rs 8,999 and it is also up for Exchange offer, no-cost EMI and 5% cashback on Citi Credit Card EMI.

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Honor 20i Review: A mid-ranger with an impressive camera performance

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Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has made quite a name for itself in the Indian smartphone market with its mid-range and entry-level smartphones offering good performance. Honor, unlike Huawei offers the users with pocket friendly devices with the latest software and smartphone technology, Huawei on the other hand makes premium and top-end smartphones. Honor takes the technologies used by Huawei’s top-end smartphones and packs them in a mid-range devices offering respectable performance. Recently, the company launched its Honor 20i in the Indian market which is part of Honor 20-series of smartphones. We spent some time with it to find out how good it is, what it offers and where it lacks. Read our review to find out whether you should go for it or not:

Design and Display

The Honor 20i has a build of a premium smartphone and it doesn’t look like a mid-range smartphone. The rear panel is made up of plastic-like material and yet it has a glossy finish that looks like glass. The smartphone is light in weight and it is encased in plastic frame. We held the Phantom Blue variant and it was no doubt stunning to look at. The sides had a metallic blue colour while the rear has a gradient finish with blue on top and purple at the bottom.

Honor 20i

The top of the smartphones doesn’t have ports, but it holds a secondary microphone and has the hybrid-SIM slot. At the right, there are the volume rockers and power button placed and were easy to reach with one hand. The bottom of the device holds the speaker grille, a micro-USB charging port, the primary microphone and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The back side of the Honor 20i is somewhat its main attraction, it holds a triple rear camera placed vertically on the top left side of the smartphone. Under the camera module is where the LED flash is placed. And at the top-centre is where the fingerprint scanner can be found. The camera does protrude slightly but it is negligible. The Honor logo sits at the bottom of the back panel. The Honor 20i has a dimension of 154.8 x 73.6 x 8mm and it weighs 164 gms.

Honor 20i

Now, talking about the front, it holds a 6.21-inch Full-HD+ (2,340 x 1,080 pixels) IPS LED display with 415ppi pixel density but it doesn’t come with protection. So, there is a chance you might scratch it if you keep it with keys or coins. Although the display is bright, it is not bright enough. However it is enough to be visible under direct sunlight. There is a water-drop style notch placed on top of the display that holds the front camera of the device. Being an IPS display it does a fine job of displaying the right colours with accuracy, but it leans a little towards the warmer side.

Performance and Camera

Performance and camera are the departments where the Honor 20i shines. It is powered by an octa-core Kirin 710F SoC (4 x Cortex A73 clocked at 2.2GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 clocked at 1.7GHz) paired with Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. We had the 4GB RAM/128GB internal storage variant and needless to say that it did not disappoint in terms of performance. The device was able to handle most of the tasks thrown at it with ease, be it social media, browsing the internet or long gaming sessions, it handled all with ease. But it did get hot when gaming for longer duration.

Honor 20i

We ran PUBG, Asphalt 8, Asphalt 9 on Honor 20i,  it handled them well at medium settings. There wasn’t any lag if the games were played in the suggested settings, either. The Honor 20i also comes with GPU Turbo 2.0 feature that helped the gaming performance of the device.

Talking about the benchmark scores, the Honor 20i we held gave an AnTuTu score of 1,16,063 while on GeekBench 4 it scored 1,526 on single-core and 4,901 on multi cores. And it is fairly decent, it has a better score than some of the other smartphones available at the same price point.

Honor 20i

The calling and connectivity of the Honor 20i was also fairly good, it was able to receive networks in most of the places and the earpiece volume was loud enough to be heard properly. Talking about the loudspeakers, although it has a single placed speaker at the bottom of the device, it is fairly loud. You won’t have any problems listening to loudspeaker calls or YouTube videos or even music with it. But it does loses some clarity when the speakers are put on full volume.

Honor 20i

Now, talking about the cameras, this is the place where the Honor 20i gleams and outperforms most of its competitors. The Honor 20i features a triple rear camera setup, which comprises of a 24MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture paired with an 8MP secondary camera with an f/2.4 aperture and a 2MP tertiary camera with an f/2.4 aperture. While on the front, there is a 32MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture and it is capable of clicking pictures at 6,528 x 4896 pixels resolution. The camera quality of the Honor 20i was impressive, it was able to click pictures with proper lighting pretty well. The triple-rear cameras of the Honor 20i also has the AI support. The AI adds proper dynamic range, boosts the colours and overall gives an impressive picture quality.

Honor 20i

Although the selfie camera doesn’t come with the HDR mode, it produces impressive selfie shots nonetheless. The AI of the camera is able to distinguish between the places and is able to tell if you are taking the picture in a room, at a park or in sunlight and adjusts the white balance accordingly. The low light performance of the Honor 20i is also decent but it does lose some details and quality. But being a mid-ranger and for the price point it is being offered at, that can be overlooked.

Honor 20i

The Honor 20i packs a 3,400mAh battery and it is capable of giving full day of battery life on light to moderate usage. On heavy usage, you can get a battery life of around 6 hours. But the only downside of the Honor 20i is that it doesn’t come with a fast charger and it takes around 2 hours to charge the device from 0% to 100%. Also, it comes with the old micro-USB charging port instead of offering a USB-Type C port, which most of its competitors are offering. The Honor 20i also runs Android 9 Pie skinned with EMUI 9 and it offers somewhat a clean Android experience. News is that the smartphone might get Android Q update too, but that is a story for sometime later.

Honor 20i

Verdict

The Honor 20i is one impressive smartphone considering the price it sells for, the smartphone holds a price tag of Rs 14,999. And it is one of the best camera smartphones in the current mid-range market in India. Although there are some issues with the battery life, the UI and some other minor things, but it is still a decent device. So, if you are looking for a good camera phone with a good performance then you can go for the Honor 20i.

Honor 20i Honor 20i

 

Although Honor had said that the Honor 20i will receive the Google Play Services and software updates globally but since the US hasn’t lifted its ban from Huawei nothing can be said. And in future, there will come a time when the device won’t be getting newer software updates and the newer Android versions Google will bring. So, if you are okay with it then you might want to go for the Honor 20i.

Pros:

Great rear and front camera performance

Build quality and light in weight

Good overall and gaming performance

Cons:

Hybrid SIM slot

No Fast charging

No USB Type-C

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How to install an app on your Android device that is not present on Google Play Store?

Google’s Play Store is one stop shop for all the Android device users. It is the place from where they can download a new app on to their devices or update an old one. Android being a part of Google’s family and also one of the major operating systems has more than a million applications. Although Google Play Store has many apps, which can be downloaded and used by the user, but it doesn’t hold all the apps. And there might come a time when you are trying to look for an app on the Google Play Store but it doesn’t show any result.

Many do not know but Android OS also allows its users to download the applications from  sources other than the Google Play Store and install them on to their devices. So, here is what you should do when you don’t find an app you want to install to your Android device.

Before downloading any app from an unknown source, keep in mind that the apps installed from other bases might have viruses or malware and it might damage your device. So, download the applications from a trustworthy third-party platform only. And you should use the Google Play Store as much as possible to download your apps and only use the third-party platforms in case of extreme need.

Here’s how you can download an app from a third-party platform:

  1. First, you need to find a trustworthy third-party platform to download the app from, you can go to APKMirror.com for example.
  2. Once there, you can look for the app by going through the list of apps they have or you can type the name of the app you want in the search bar. Once the search results are out, you can click on the app you are looking for.
  3. But keep in mind that third party platforms will have multiple versions of the same app. The versions are listed by their release dates mentioned there. Find the app version you are looking for and click on it.
  4. After that you can download the app by clicking on the Download button present on the platform.
  5. Before downloading your phone will warn you about the risks of downloading and installing unknown apps. You can press OK to proceed with the download.
  6. After the download finishes you would need to tap on the notification to begin the installation process.
  7. Your phone will then again warn you about the risk of installing the unknown apps. To install the app, you first need to go to Settings and activate the toggle on the Install from Unknown sources option.
  8. Once done, you can proceed with your installation process and tap on the app to install.
  9. After the installation completes, you will get a confirmation screen saying that the app was successfully installed. You can then open and use the app from the app drawer.

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Portronics launches Wireless Portable compact Speaker PICO in India

The Indian Consumer electronic maker Portronics has launches Wireless Portable Speaker PICO. The wireless portable speaker is a compact audio device that can be connected to Bluetooth for wireless connectivity and has powerful sound output, as company states.

According to the company, the user can enjoy movies on their Smartphone, Tab, laptop or computer, all within their personal space. The portable speakers are small and cylindrical in shape and have a diameter of just 5.5 cm and a height of 4.2 cm. It weighs only 50 grams, which the company says makes them portable and easy to carry in the palm while walking in the park. The Bluetooth speakers boast 3W RMS that is said to deliver crisp, loud and clear audio with reasonable bass.

Portronics Wireless Portable Speaker PICO specifications and details

APPEARANCE & TEXTURE:

The new Portronics wireless speakers come with a silicon body that the company says makes it look velvety and smooth touch. This makes up for steadiness on higher volumes. The product comes in three colour variants red, grey and black colours. The product also has a LED light indicators.

Sound Quality: 

Portronics PICO boasts of a 3W inbuilt speaker which the firm claims produces an astounding loud output for such a deceptively small size. The user can relish movies and videos in their personal space on the laptop or mobile without worrying others around.

Long Playtime and compatibility:

The Portable PICO speakers are powered by 300mAh inbuilt battery which charges in 60 minutes flat. This means it can play up to two to three hours non-stop. The product is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows devices. The device can be charged from its Micro USB charging port.

CONNECTIVITY: 

Portronics PICO has Bluetooth 4.2 BLE connectivity option for low energy consumption and faster speed. If the user wishes to play music from their mobile, it can play music from a distance of up to 30 feet with the help of Bluetooth 4.2 feature.

Pricing and Availability:

The new Portronics PICO speaker comes with a price-tag of INR 999. The device is available at all leading online and offline stores in India. Over that, the speaker comes with a warranty that lasts for 12 months.

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Check Point Research and CyberInt finds a big vulnerability in EA’s Origin gaming client, 300 million user accounts in danger of exploitation

Electronic Arts (EA) is the second largest gaming company in the world with popular titles under its name like FIFA, NFL, UFC, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, NFS and so on. The company has more than 300 million users on a global scale. But recently, Check Point Research and CyberInt has found a major vulnerability in the EA (Electronic Arts) Origin gaming client. The chain of vulnerability in the gaming client would have exposed more than 300 million EA’s user accounts. The vulnerabilities could then have been exploited and used to take over, and identify theft of the user’s accounts on a global scale.

Origin is the gaming client of EA and it allows the users to purchase the games from EA’s stores, and play across various platforms. Other than that, the gaming client also comes with features such as profile management, networking with friends, chatting, direct game joining etc. Origin also has integration with some of the world’s most well-known social media and gaming platforms such as Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Network, Facebook etc.

Once the vulnerability was found, the CyberInt and Check Point researchers forwarded it to the EA itself so that the company could roll out a new update for Origin before someone took advantage of it. The researchers also supported and helped EA to develop the fix for the vulnerability and protect the gaming community. It should be noted that the vulnerability was not taken advantage of, and EA is currently developing a fix for it. But it posed a major threat to the user accounts on Origin as someone could have used the vulnerability and taken over the user’s account.

Adrian Stone, Senior Director, Game and Platform Security at Electronic Arts said, “Protecting our players is our priority, as a result of the report from CyberInt and Check Point, we engaged our product security response process to remediate the reported issues. Working together under the tenet of Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure strengthens our relationships with the wider cybersecurity community and is a key part of ensuring our players stay secure.”

Talking about the vulnerability in the EA’s Origin gaming client, it did not require the user to give his login details. Instead, it took advantage of the abandoned subdomains and EA Games’ use of authentication tokens in conjunction with the OAuth Single Sign-On (SSO) and TRUST mechanism built into EA Games’ user login process. If exploited, the hackers could take over the user’s profile and access his financial and personal details, which could be a big problem for both the company and the users as well.

Although EA is developing a fix for the vulnerability, but Check Point and CyberInt has advised the users to enable their two-factor authentication and only use the official EA website to download or purchase the games. Check Point and CyberInt has also asked the users to “be vigilant when receiving links sent from unknown sources”.

“EA’s Origin platform is hugely popular; and if left unpatched, these flaws would have enabled hackers to hijack and exploit millions of users’ accounts,” said Oded Vanunu, Head of Products Vulnerability Research for Check Point. “Along with the vulnerabilities we recently found in the platforms used by Epic Games for Fortnite, this shows how susceptible online and cloud applications are to attacks and breaches. These platforms are being increasingly targeted by hackers because of huge amounts of sensitive customer data they hold.”

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YouTube’s new rollout gives viewers more control over suggested videos

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According to the YouTube’s official blog post, that was published on Wednesday, announced that it has made few changes on its platform to help its viewers get more control over videos recommended by the app. Currently, the new feature will be available in both Android and iOS apps only. But soon the desktop users will also get this feature. The users are always worried about what videos appears on their YouTube’s homepage so they have been constantly asking for control over the shown videos from the video streaming platform. So, in its latest step, the company has rolled out three new features to its platform for the users.

The first change that the social network made is that now the users can explore related topics such as—  baking videos, the latest late-night talk shows or enjoy your favourite music category, and other videos that the user loves to watch on YouTube. The choices that you get are founded on your present personalized suggestions and are intended to assist you to search, what the user is looking for.

The suggested videos could be the ones that the user is currently watching, the channel’s other user is watching or the videos related to the topics that may interest the user. When the user scrolls up on the homepage or on when browsing next one the above might trigger. This new feature is currently available for signed-in users in English on the Android and will be available on iOS and desktop and other languages soon.

The second effort the social platform has made is now it gives more control to remove the videos suggested by the channels that the users don’t want to see. All you have to do is just tap the three-dot menu next to a video on the homepage or Up Next, then “Don’t recommend channel.”

After that, the viewer no longer gets videos from that channel recommended to you on YouTube. The company also added that the user can still get to see the videos if they have subscribed the channel, search for them, or visit the page of the channel or its trending tab. This new rollout is available worldwide on the video streaming app for Android and iOS and will be accessible on desktop shortly.

The platform stated that “Our goal is to explain why these videos surface on your homepage in order to help you find videos from new channels you might like. This new feature is available globally on the YouTube app for iOS today, and will be available on Android and desktop soon.”

YouTube will also give you the reasons why a video may be recommended to you. Sometimes the viewers see videos from the channels that they may not have visited based on the user’s similar interests or might have watched in the past recommended by YouTube. Whenever YouTube suggests the videos the views will now see more information under the video in a small box.

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WhatsApp is testing a new feature for its Android beta version called Hide Muted Status Updates

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Facebook-owned instant messaging platform, WhatsApp tests all its new features on the beta version of its application. That’s one of the reasons the beta version of WhatsApp is constantly making headlines, as the company adds new and unique features to the application, both for Android and iOS. Now, the company has brought out a new beta version of WhatsApp for Android with version number 2.19.183.This has a new feature called Hide Muted Status Updates. The new beta version of WhatsApp is currently available on the Google Play Store.

According to a report by WABetaInfo, the instant messaging platform is working on a new feature called the Hide Muted Status Updates as it does what its name suggests. By using this feature, the users will be able to hide all the status updates that has already been muted in the user’s contact list. Once enabled, the users can press the “Hide” option on the muted status updates section. The users can tap on the hide option to hide all the muted status updates from his list of contact’s updates. Once hidden, it will be removed from the user’s status updates section.

If the users want to restore the visibility of the hidden muted status updates then he/she can do so by pressing the “Show” button. Currently, this new feature is out only for the Android beta version of WhatsApp. There is no exact timeline of its launch for the stable version of the application. But, since the feature is already out for the beta version, we might see it coming to a  stable version soon enough.

Earlier this week, WhatsApp was testing a new feature for its Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode that would allow the users to minimize an ongoing video chat screen. Once minimized, the users can then chat with others at the same time. But this feature was being tested for the beta version of the Android application. With this feature, the users won’t be limited to the workings and functions of the smartphone when video chatting with someone.

The new PiP feature would allow the users to do other tasks inside the app while the video chat screen was minimized. As mentioned above, the feature was exclusive to the Android version of WhatsApp beta version 2.19.177 and it is still in its testing phase. But we might see this feature along with the abovementioned Hide Muted Status Updates feature in the stable version of the app soon enough.

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Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition receives a new update with June 2019 Security Patch and a new AI Night camera mode

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Oppo brought its sub-brand Reno to India couple of weeks ago  with the launch of two new smartphones – the Oppo Reno and the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition. Both the smartphones packed serious specifications for the prices they were offered at. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition was known for its impressive camera and imaging functions and now, the smartphone is getting a new software update that further improves its camera capabilities.

Other than that, the new software update for the device is also bringing the new June 2019 Security patch with it. Currently, the new software update for the device is being rolled out for the Indian users of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition so the users of the device can update it to the latest software.

The most important change the new software update brings for the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition is the AI Night Mode camera feature. It lets the user take better pictures when in low light conditions and during night time. The new update holds a build number CPH1919EX_11_A.10 and it is 247MB in size, but it should be noted that since it is being rolled out through over-the-air (OTA) it might take some time for the update to reach all the users.

According to the update’s changelog, it brings June 2019 Android Security patch, camera optimisations, and stability improvements along with addition of a new AI Night Mode, improves the compatibility of some operators, and optimises network stability.

The users of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition should receive the notification of the new update. But if they don’t then they can manually check for it by going to the Settings and then to Updates. Once done, the phone should start searching for the new update and if found, it will update the device to the new software.

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition specifications and features

Talking about the specifications of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition, it sports a large 6.6-inch panoramic AMOLED display. It is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 855 SoC. The device comes with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. It runs Android 9 Pie and has an in-built fingerprint scanner as well. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition packs a large 4,065mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 support.

But the main attraction of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition is its cameras, the device packs a triple-rear camera setup at the back, which comprises of a 48MP Sony IMX586 (0.5-inch) sensor with an f/1.7 lens and laser autofocus as its main camera. It is paired with a 13MP periscope telephoto lens along with an 8MP super wide-angle lens. The camera of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition is capable of 10x lossless optical zoom and offers 16-160mm of full focal length.

Other features of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition includes 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, dual GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port.

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OnePlus is accepting application for its Closed Beta Programme to test it’s upcoming software OxygenOS: Here is how to apply

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OnePlus has decided to recruit 250 people into its Closed Beta Programme to test its upcoming software. Closed Beta Programme, users will get OxygenOS updates for the recently launched smartphones OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.

An executive on the official Forum of the company stated “Closed Beta Programme is an opportunity for us to listen to your feedback and refine or revise our product strategy based on that. It also helps us to find major bugs at an early stage and release more stable Open Beta and MP (official) builds.”

The company has started accepting applications from the users of its 7 series smartphones to be a part of its Close Beta Programme. The users will get the opportunity to test the upcoming software updates for OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. The company will be recruiting 250 users those will share their feedback that will help the company to improve and review the new software. This will also help to find major bugs at an early stage and enables them to improve the product.

The company explained that currently, it handles three separate streams of builds that run simultaneously. These are Closed Beta, Open Beta, and the MP (official) builds. A closed beta group is a closed group that is handled by the OnePlus elite staff members. “This group needs absolute secrecy, as testers will often get builds and features weeks or even months before they are released to the public.”

For this programme the selected 250 applicants will be required to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with OnePlus to be part of this program. The participants are required to share their feedback with the OnePlus community members for better development of the OxygenOS. The applicants need to have some experience with flashing and associated things because they may often require to clean the phone that will ultimately cause loss of data. As said, OnePlus is accepting 250 applications globally for the Closed Beta Programme.

In order to be eligible, the chosen applicants will need to meet certain requirements below:

  • Use a OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro to test the new OxygenOS
  • Be an active OnePlus Community member
  • Furthermore, be willing to constantly communicate and provide feedback to the OnePlus team on Slack

If you are excited to join this programme and you meet all the requirements then all you have to do is visit the SurveyMonkey to apply for the Closed Beta Programme.

 

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Motorola One Vision to go on its first sale today on Flipkart: Know all the details here

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Motorola launched its Moto One Vision last week and it added a new smartphone to the Moto One smartphone series. The Motorola One Vision is the first smartphone from the company that houses a hole-punch camera setup in the front and has a 21:9 aspect ratio display. The device is about to go on its first sale today, the users can purchase the Motorola One Vision from Flipkart from 12 noon onwards.

Motorola One Vision price, launch offers and availability

The Motorola One Vision’s lone variant with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage holds a price tag of Rs 19,999 and it will go on sale from 12 noon today on Flipkart.

The device comes in two colour options – Bronze Gradient and Sapphire Gradient. But it should be noted that the Sapphire Gradient variant will be available for purchase today while the other Bronze Gradient variant will be made available in the coming weeks.

Talking about the launch offers of the Motorola One Vision, the customers who purchase the device in the first week of sale (June 27 to July 4) will get a no-Cost EMI for 6 months on all major credit and debit cards. Other than that, the Vodafone Idea subscribers will also get up to Rs 3,750 cashback along with an additional data of up to 250GB.

Motorola One Vision specifications and features

The Motorola One Vision sports a 6.3-inch Full HD+ (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) display with an aspect ratio of 21:9. The device is powered by Android 9 Pie and it is also part of Google’s One Program so it will receive Android security and software updates on a regular basis. The smartphone is powered by Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 9609 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz paired with 4GB of RAM.

As said, the smartphone holds 128GB of internal storage with support of microSD card of up to 512GB. But it comes with a hybrid SIM slot. The Motorola One Vision packs a 3,500mAh battery with 15W TurboPower fast charging provision.

On the camera department, the Motorola One Vision features a dual-rear camera setup. This comprises of a 48MP main camera sensor with OIS paired with a 5MP secondary sensor. While on the front, there is a 25MP camera for selfies and video calls.

Other features of the Motorola One Vision include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS, and a 3.5mm audio jack and Dolby Audio support. The newly launched smartphone also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

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