Facebook has announced that it is shutting down Direct, a camera-centric messaging app that could be used to send Instagram Direct Messages. Announcing the shutdown of the app, the company said, “In the coming month, we’ll no longer be supporting the Direct app. Your conversations will automatically move over to Instagram, so you don’t need to do anything.”
Facebook first launched the app in 2017 and the primary aim behind the rollout was to take on Snapchat, whose core functionality is sending and receiving photo messages. The app also had a number of filters that seemed inspired by Snapchat, but it also enabled users to swipe down from the top of the screen to add messages for their Instagram contacts.
We should mention that this isn’t the first time that Facebook got inspired by Snapchat. It has made apps like Slingshot to take on it, and eventually closed them down because still preferred Snap Inc’s photo-messaging app. In 2016, it borrowed the Stories features from Snapchat and rolled it out on Instagram. Instagram Stories became an instant hit and then, the social media giant also got the feature to its other apps including Messenger, WhatsApp and Facebook app.
Coming back to Direct, Instagram has not said why it has decided to close it down. The app was available in Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, and Uruguay. It never made it to a global rollout. A spokesperson from the company said that Instagram is “rolling back the test of the standalone Direct app” and is “focused on continuing to make Instagram Direct the best place for fun conversations with your friends.”
The spokesperson also added that all the features from the Direct app are already available on the main Instagram app, so it’s not like users will miss anything. A report in TechCrunch also says that the company will continue to work on Direct features, however, it would be adding them in the main app.
When Instagram first launched Direct, it seemed like the company wanted to disintegrate messages from its main app, just like Facebook did with Messenger. However, that did not happen because Direct messages functionality was present in the main Instagram app.
Facebook has also announced this year that it will be merging teh messaging systems of Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook so that people on any platform can message people on another.
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OnePlus and Amazon India have extended the deadline to pre-order the newly launched OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone following user complaints about not being able to buy the Nebula Blue version of the smartphone because the validity to book was limited. Earlier, interested customers who had pre-booked had to buy the smartphone till May 18, while the Nebula Blue model of the device will be made available only on May 28.
So, OnePlus and Amazon have today announced that those who had pre-booked the smartphone can now buy the OnePlus 7 Pro till May 31. The Chinese smartphone brand also said that customers who pre-booked the device at OnePlus offline stores, Croma and Reliance Digital will not have to adhere to any deadline and can buy the handset whenever they want.
Before OnePlus 7 Pro’s Prime Early Access sale started today, a number of people took to Twitter to express frustration over the face that pre-bookings will lapse by the time the Nebula Blue variant of the handset even becomes available because the deadline to buy the smartphone ends ten days earlier to the release date of the said variant. But now that they do have time till May 31, the issue seems resolved.
OnePlus 7 Pro has been launched this week after months of reports and rumours. It runs Android 9.0 Pie with OxygenOS on top and sports a 6.67-inch curved Quad HD+ Fluid AMOLED display. The company has announced that the display of OnePlus 7 Pro has a refresh rate of 90Hz, can support HDR10+, is also certified for Netflix HDR content and has the A+ quality rating by DisplayMate.
Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, the handset comes with an Adreno 640 GPU, and has up to 12GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 256GB of internal storage. OnePlus 7 Pro has support for UFS 3.0 storage, that is claimed to deliver enhanced read-write speeds.
On the camera front, OnePlus 7 Pro comes with a triple rear camera that has a 48MP primary Sony IMX586 sensor with 7P lens with OIS and EIS, an 8MP telephoto sensor with 3X zoom with OIS, and a 16MP wide-angle sensor that has a field of view of 117 degrees.
For selfies and video calls, there is a 16MP pop-up selfie camera. The smartphone houses a 4,000mAh battery that is backed by Warp Charge 30W fast charging technology.
Video streaming platform Netflix has now enabled its Android users to share their favourite movies and TV shows to their Instagram Stories. The new ability will be going live via the Netflix app for Android. In order to start sharing your movies and TV shows, you need to have the latest Netflix app on your Android smartphone or tablet. It is worth noticing that the iOS version of Netflix app had got Instagram Stories integration earlier this year in January.
The reason why the new development has been added to Netflix is to make it easier for audiences to share movies and shows. To share a movie or a TV show, you have to open your Netflix app and then click on the ‘Share’ button. The app will then show you a list of platforms on which you would want to share your content. From here, you can choose the option of ‘Instagram Stories’.
By doing this, you can share the cover art of the movie or the platform as a Story on Instagram. After this, you will be taken straight to the Instagram app on your Android smartphone. You can then personalise it and then share it with your followers, close friends or even with specific users.
Like every other Story that is shared on Instagram, the stories you share via Netflix will also remain toll 24 hours. However, they will also have a ‘Watch on Netflix’ link back to the title page which will take users to the Netflix app.
The Instagram Stories option is reportedly available in Netflix for Android version 7.9.0. But then, it is also being said that the experience is coming through a server-side update.
The company said in a statement, “You can share the Netflix shows and films you’re in love with directly from the Netflix app to your followers. Pop in a quiz for your friends to guess your favourite characters from a show, or a GIF to reflect your mood after a movie.”
As we mentioned earlier, the iOS version of the Netflix app already has this feature as it was rolled out in January.
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OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro have been launched and they have some of the latest technologies and features with them. They have already managed to impress many with their design, display, features and price. One among the impressive features of the OnePlus 7 Pro and PnePlus 7 is Zen Mode. The Chinese company has confirmed that it will be bringing the Zen Mode feature to OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T. Both the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T will be receiving the new Zen Mode via a software update. Other than the new feature, the company has confirmed that it won’t bring the Nightscape 2.0 camera mode introduced in the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Speaking about the Zen Mode, it is a feature introduced for the first time in the OxygenOS for OnePlus 7-series. This feature follows Google’s Digital Wellbeing initiative and it works in such a way that it makes the smartphone unusable for everything for 20 minutes. It means no photos, no messages, no email, and no social media; it completely cuts off the user from the smartphone. According to the company, this feature will let the users experience and appreciate the outside world or the physical world rather than being stuck in the digital world.
The company has also said that once activated, the Zen Mode can’t be cancelled and it mutes all the notification for the duration the mode is active i.e. 20 minutes. But even when the Zen Mode is active, the users will be able to receive the incoming calls or make emergency calls. Besides calls, all the other apps will be disabled except for the camera. Once this mode is active, it can’t be un-activated and even restarting the phone doesn’t get it out of the Zen Mode.
Although the company has confirmed that this new feature will be coming to the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T, but they haven’t given the exact timeline when it will be available.
Zen Mode
Other than that, the OnePlus 7 Pro has also received a better and upgraded version of the Nightscape mode – the Nightscape 2.0. This new camera feature will allow the users to take better low-light images. In a way, it is similar to Google Pixel’s Night Sight. But the company has also said that this feature will be limited to the OnePlus 7-series smartphones only.
WhatsApp will be removing the ability to save profile photos in its upcoming versions. This change is already being pushed out in the WhatsApp Business beta version for iPhone version 2.19.60.5. This new change has been spotted on the beta version of WhatsApp as well. Moreover, the instant messaging platform has updated its regular iPhone application with a new feature which lets the user preview the stickers directly from the Notification Centre. Other much-awaited feature that the beta version of the app has received is the Night Mode.
These new changes were first spotted by WABetaInfo and according to reports, WhatsApp has removed the ability to save a profile picture in the new beta version of the app. WhatsApp Business for iPhone version 2.19.60.5 is already being rolled out with this new change. While the other versions and the stable version of the application will soon receive this new change.
Earlier, the application gave the user the ability to open someone’s profile photo and share it using different medium/ channels. There was also an ability to save the profile picture to the gallery. But the new beta version has removed the sharing icon completely.
Furthermore, WhatsApp’s new update for iPhones come with the ability to preview the stickers directly from the Notification Centre. For that, the user need to long-press the WhatsApp notification, this will let the user see the Sticker in its full size.
The new updated version of WhatsApp for iPhones comes with the version number 2.19.51 and is 154.1MB in size. It can be downloaded from the App Store.
Earlier this week, we saw that WhatsApp has brought 155 redesigned emojis in its new update. While a beta version of the application was reportedly testing the Night Mode. The Night Mode feature is a long-awaited feature for the application and it will reduce the strain on the user’s eyes while suing the application. The new Night Mode will change the light-coloured application to a darker (black) shade which in turn will be easy to look at and will consume less battery.
Although the Night Mode and all the other new features are still in their beta phase now and the instant messaging platform, WhatsApp is still testing it but there is a big chance that we might see these features in the recent future.
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Gmail has added a number of useful features to its service and one among these is the option of scheduling emails. This new feature does what its name implies – it enables you to schedule an email to send later. You can write an email and then you can choose the date and the time you would like the email to be sent. Once done, the email will be scheduled and it will be sent on the day and time it has been scheduled for. You can schedule an email to 49 years in advance. While we don’t see anyone scheduling an email that in advance, we acknowledge that this feature is indeed very useful. Here’s how you can schedule an email in Gmail:
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How to schedule an email if you are using your PC’s browser
Write and compose your email and choose the recipients.
Once the email is ready to be sent, you need to click on the arrow button beside the ‘Send’ button. Once done, click on the ‘Schedule Send’.
Once you do this, choose the data and time. Few dates will be already be assigned which you can choose or click on the ‘Pick date and time’.
After that you will be taken to the window where you can choose the date, month and year and time at which you want the email to be sent.
Once it is done, you need to click on ‘Schedule Send’.
The email will be scheduled for the chosen date and time.
How to schedule an email if you are using the Gmail app in smartphones
Click on the ‘Compose’ or the big ‘Plus’ button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Compose the email, add the recipient’s name and put an appropriate subject line. Basically get the email to be sent ready in place.
Once you have written the email, click on the ‘three vertical dots’ icon on the top right of the screen. This icon is right beside the send icon.
On doing this, a window will drop down with many options. Tap on ‘Schedule Send’.
After that, you will be given pre-set date and time of the schedule. You can choose from any of them if it meets your criteria.
If not, then you need to choose the ‘Pick date & time’.
You will be given the option to choose the date, the month, the year and the time at which you want the email to be sent.
After choosing the desired date and time, you need to click on ‘Schedule Send’ and the email will be scheduled to the time set.
OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7 are finally here. It is the first time that the Chinese smartphone brand has launched two of its smartphones together. Naturally, it is confusing for the fans to decide which one to pick. Here, we compare OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7 so that you can know which one among the two is the right buy for you:
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Display
OnePlus 7 Pro has a 6.67-inch Fluid AMOLED display that has a refresh rate of 90Hz, support for HDR10+ and comes with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on top. OnePlus 7, on the other hand, has a 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED screen which is also protected with Gorilla Glass 6. Here, we would say that naturally, the winner is OnePlus 7 Pro. This doesn’t come as a surprise as the company had already said that the display used in the smartphone is more expensive than the screens of all the other smartphones. The Fluid AMOLED display filters out the BlueLight filter.
Processor
Both OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7 smartphones are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, which is the most powerful processor in the world right now. This means that both the handsets have very smooth performance and will be able to handle almost anything.
RAM and Storage/microSD card support
OnePlus 7 Pro is available in 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB RAM variants. It has two storage variants: 128GB and 256GB. OnePlus 7 just does not have a 12GB RAM variant, but the other models are the same as its elder sibling. While 12GB RAM is definitely a plus, we think 8GB RAM isn’t any less RAM too and does guarantee a powerful performance. You can really pick whatever suits you. Both the smartphones do not support a microSD card so we would recommend going for the 256GB storage variant if you like having too many apps, games and media files on your handset.
Cameras
OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone sports a triple rear camera module that comprises of a 48MP primary sensor that has an f/1.6 aperture, OIS and Dual Pixel PDAF; an 8MP telephoto sensor with an f/2.4 aperture and OIS; and a 16MP wide-angle sensor with an f/2.2 aperture with 117-degree field-of-view. OnePlus 7 has a dual rear camera setup with the same primary camera, but the secondary sensor has a 5MP lens with an f/2.4 aperture. If you are someone who loves to do smartphone photography and your Instagram is full of photos taken by you instead of your pictures, then obviously OnePlus 7 Pro makes a better choice. But if you only use your device to click regular images, the 48MP primary sensor of the younger sibling will keep you happy. Both the handsets have a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
Battery
As far as the battery goes, OnePlus 7 Pro is the clear winner. It houses a 4,000mAh battery that is heavier than OnePlus 7’s 3,700mAh cell. Both the devices come with support for the company’s Warp Charging technology so getting them to charge quickly would not be any problem. But then, while the elder sibling has USB-C 3.1 with 30W support, the younger sibling has USB-C with 20W support. Like we said, OnePlus 7 Pro is the clear winner here.
Price and verdict
OnePlus 7 Pro starts at Rs 48,999, while the base variant of OnePlus 7 is priced at Rs 32,999. We should mention that this is even lesser than the starting price of OnePlus 6T, which is its predecessor.
The devices are meant for different budget segments. If you are looking to buy a device in the premium segment, OnePlus 7 Pro will offer you powerful specifications at a price that is lesser than Samsung Galaxy S10’s or iPhone XR’s. However, if you want to stick to the mid-range segment, OnePlus 7 is surely among the best buys that are there. It has the same processor and primary camera as its elder sibling and comes with a good battery and enough RAM too. It’s rare to see a handset that costs lesser than its predecessor and still offers upgraded specifications.
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Tata Sky launched a new service in India called the Tata Sky Binge which offers digital content from multiple apps on Amazon Fire TV Stick – Tata Sky Edition. This new service promises to give users the ability to stream digital content from a diversity of applications for a single subscription fee.
Tata Sky has partnered with Hotstar, Eros Now, Hungama Play and Sun NXT to bring their content on to the Tata Sky Binge platform. Other than that, the subscribers of the service will also get over 5,000 titles from the Tata Sky VOD library along with favourite TV shows of the last 7 days. The new service, Tata Sky Binge will cost Rs 249 per month for the Tata Sky subscribers. New subscribers of Tata Sky will also get 3 months of Amazon Prime bundled with no extra charges. With it, Tata Sky has hoped to bring different content from various providers to one platform for one subscription fee. As mentioned above, the Tata Sky Binge can only be enjoyed using the Amazon FireTV Stick- Tata Sky Edition.
Speaking at the launch, Pallavi Puri, Chief Commercial Officer of Tata Sky said, “Tata Sky has always been committed to bringing the best entertainment to the big screen, powered by the finest technology and packaged in the most user-friendly interface. We are now extending the superior ‘Tata Sky experience’ to the world of apps with Tata Sky Binge. It is a unique platform that bridges internet and television content bringing a premium viewing experience of the best internet app videos to large screens. Tata Sky Binge is available to our subscribers through the world-class Amazon Fire TV Stick, which comes along with the Binge subscription. We are sure that this unique partnership will bring a new entertainment experience to life across millions of Tata Sky homes.”
As mentioned above, the new subscribers of Tata Sky will also get 3 months of free subscription of Amazon Prime which will not just include shows. It will also include benefits on shopping, shipments, entertainment, shows, movies, Amazon Prime originals, Amazon Prime Video and so on. Other than that, the subscribers will also get ad-free unlimited songs and access to Prime Music, eBooks with Prime Reading, and deals before other users.
The introductory pack of the Tata Sky Binge will include the Amazon FireTV Stick – Tata Sky Edition as well as Alexa Voice Remote with Tata Sky Binge app pre-installed. The device is powered by a quad-core CPU and offers Wi-Fi connectivity for streaming the content with no compromise on the picture quality. The subscribers will get access to digital content from every category including Bollywood, Hollywood, Cricket, regional cinema, web-series, English & Hindi TV series and Kids content through Tata Sky Binge.
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PUBG Mobile Season 7 is here and it is being rolled out in update version 0.12.5. The company has said in a press note that PUBG Mobile Season 7 update 0.12.5 will reach all regions by 9:30 PM IST. PUBG Mobile Season 7 brings a number of new weapons, in-game changes and improvements and also the Royale Pass of the new season.
Prior to the roll out of the Season 7 of PUBG Mobile, some leaks about it were also posted by YouTuber Mr.GhostGaming which revealed the update version of the game and time when it would start rolling out.
If you want access to PUBG Mobile Season 7, you down download the version 0.12.5 through the App Store, Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. The update is 201.6MB in size for Android and 283.98MB for iOS. And the new update will bring new weapons, skins, avatar customization tools and rewards for the users who purchases the PUBG Mobile Season 7 Royale Pass.
PUBG Mobile India earlier tweeted about the upcoming update. According to the tweet, Season 7 of PUBG Mobile will roll out to all regions from (GMT +8) 4pm onwards (01:30pm IST).
The new update of PUBG Mobile will bring changes in the appearance of the Curse of Dawn and Twilight Escape settings in Survival Mode. However, the Survival Mode can only be played by the players who have reached Level 5 or higher. There is also an addition of the ‘Trail Smoke’ feature which will leave a trail of smoke when the player is jumping from the plane. The update also adds a new ‘Middle-East’ server to the game servers.
The Royale Pass of Season 7 can be bought a day after the day the update arrives but its registrations are live now. The Royale Pass will be bringing new rewards and missions to PUBG Mobile. There is a new Friend Bonus in the Weekly Challenge mission which will give additional RP points to the layer if he completes the missions with a friend.
There is introduction of a New Ranking System, but it will be available once the Royale Pass starts. The Shop in the game has also been tweaked and much changes has been made to it. Other than that, there will be new skins for AKM, Kar 98K, M4 and UZI along with helmets. There is also a new weapon called Skorpion – a machine pistol which fires 9mm bullets and it drops in all the maps. At the completion of PUBG Mobile Season 7 Level 100, the players will get two exclusive new costumes – Urban Scavenger or Assault Squad.
PUBG Mobile season 7 update
Official Patch Notes of the PUBG Mobile 0.12.5
What’s New:
1. New Royale Pass Season is here with the new EZ Mission License, character beard, and parachute/flight trails.
2. New Weapon: Skorpion, a machine pistol that fires 9mm rounds. Drops in all maps.
3. Added dedicated servers for players in Middle East.
Other Improvements:
1. The Subscription feature has been tuned.
2. Added category tabs to the Shop.
3. Adjusted audio to reduce interruptions.
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Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has announced that it will be launching its Redmi Note 7S with a 48MP primary camera in India on May 20. After releasing some teasers of its upcoming smartphone, the company has now confirmed that its much-talked-about 48MP primary camera smartphone will be the Redmi Note 7S. The new handset will be joining that Redmi Note series that was launched in India in February this year.
It is worth mentioning that even back then, Redmi Note 7 Pro featured a 48MP primary camera. Much like the Pro variant of the smartphone, the Redmi Note handset will also come with dual rear camera setup.
Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain took to Twitter to say that the Redmi Note 7S will be the company’s next 48MP camera smartphone in the Redmi Note series. He further confirmed that the upcoming smartphone will be launched in India on May 20.
So we've decided to get you both! 😎#RedmiNote7S – An all-new SUPER Redmi Note for all our India Mi fans is coming! #48MPForEveryone unveils on 20th May. Mark your calendars! 🗓️
As we mentioned earlier, the series already has Redmi Note 7 and Pro variant in their lineup in the country. The upcoming handset is speculated to be somewhere between the two in terms of specifications and pricing in an attempt to attract more customers.
Along with Jain’s tweets, an image was also posted that confirms the presence of a dual rear camera setup on the upcoming smartphone. However, as of now, we don’t know about the megapixel count of the secondary sensor of the smartphone.
But that’s not all that’s up Xiaomi’s sleeve. The company is also reported to be working on a smartphone with a triple rear camera setup. A recent teaser by the company also confirmed this. The Chinese smartphone brand has also teased that it would be launching a smartphone in India that will be powered by Snapdragon 730 or Snapdragon 730G SoC.
To recall, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is the first smartphone by the company to come with a 48MP primary camera in India. The device launched along with its younger sibling Redmi Note 7. As of now, there is no word on the pricing details and specifications of the Redmi Note 7S smartphone, but we are expecting it to be in the sub-Rs 15,000 segment.
Which Xiaomi smartphone are you looking forward to the most? The one with 48MP primary camera or the one with the triple rear cameras and Snapdragon 730/Snapdragon 730G processor? Let us know in the comments below.
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Although Chinese smartphone maker Realme has already launched the Realme X in China, but it is not available in India yet. The Realme X was launched earlier this week in China and it is powered by the Snapdragon 710 SoC. But now, the CEO of Realme India, Madhav Sheth has announced that the Realme X will be launching in India as well. However, he didn’t reveal the exact date of the launch or the venue. Other than the Realme X, another smartphone was launched alongside it, the Realme X Youth Edition which is just a rebranded version of Realme 3 Pro. The Realme X is the first smartphone from the company which features a pop-up selfie camera.
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Realme X price and availability (expected)
Realme X’s price in India is currently unknown. But in China, the device’s 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant is priced at CNY 1,499 (approximately Rs 15,400) while the 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage is priced at CNY 1,599 (approximately Rs 16,400). The top-end variant of the Realme X with 8GB RAM/ 128GB storage holds a price tag of CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs 18,500). Although these are the Chinese pricing of the device but it would hold similar pricing when launched in India.
Realme X comes in two colour options – Punk Blue and Stream White.
Realme X is about to go on sale in China from May 20 onwards and its India launch is imminent. The device is expected to come to the Indian markets in the coming weeks.
Realme X specifications and features
The Realme X sports a 6.53-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) AMOLED screen with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and Gorilla Glass 5 protection on top. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 710 SoC paired with 4GB/ 6GB/8GB of RAM. The Realme X runs Android 9 Pie out of the box skinned with ColorOS 6. The handset houses a 3,765mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charging support.
On the camera front, the Realme X features a dual-rear camera setup at the back which features a 48MP primary lens with an f/1.7 aperture. The secondary camera has a 5MP lens with an f/2.4 aperture. On at the front, there is a 16MP selfie pop-up camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
Chinese electronics maker 1MORE has launched its new True Wireless Earbuds in India. The newly launched wireless earbuds from 1MORE comes with advanced titanium composite driver for superior audio quality. It has a waterdrop design, comes in four colour options and delivers good quality sound. The newly launched wireless earbuds from 1MORE comes with Bluetooth 5.0 support and offers more than 6 hours of music and talk time.
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1MORE True Wireless Earbuds price and availability
The 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds comes with a price tag of Rs 5,499 and they can be bought from the official 1MORE website and headphonezone.com. The earbuds are currently selling in India and interested users can buy it from the platforms mentioned above.
Frank Lin, CEO of 1MORE [Headphones] said, “The 1MORE team is setting the standard for a quality True Wireless Earbuds that meets all the needs of the consumer. Attractive style, great sound, fast and convenient connection, all-day battery life, and a fantastic price brings together everything that consumers have been waiting for. It’s a great addition to our Stylish line of earbuds.”
1MORE True Wireless Earbuds specifications and features
The 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds comes with a 7mm dynamic driver with titanium composite diaphragm. According to the company, the newly launched earbuds delivers a powerful bass with good sound clarity. The 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds can offer more than 6 hours of usage on a single charge and it comes with a portable charging case which can be used to charge the earbuds up to three times. According to the company, the 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds supports fast charging and can offer 3 hour of usage on a 15 minutes charge time.
The 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds are portable and lightweight. It comes with three different sized ear tips which the user can choose from according to his fit and comfort. There is also on/ off power buttons onboard and they automatically turn on and connect with the smartphone once they are taken out of the case and turn off when put back in the case. Each earbud of the 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds comes with environmental noise cancellation microphones.
The 1MORE True Wireless Earbuds support Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity and supports aptX and AAC audio transmission. Since it is a Bluetooth earbud, it can connect with both – Android and iOS.
It’s no secret that Game of Thrones Season 8 has been very disappointing for its fans across the globe. The series, which once left users waiting for the next episode and season had a lacklustre pilot episode this time, which was followed by the much-anticipated Battle of Winterfell ending too early. After episode 4 was aired, a lot of fans across the globe complained about the bad writing on part of Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B Weiss. However, the latest episode got tremendous backlash and some fans have started an online petition to remake the entire season, which has already been signed by more than 2,50,000 users (at the time of writing).
The petition on Change.org specifically states that the creators of Game of Thrones – David Benioff and D.B Weiss – should not be involved in the remake. The petition has called the duo to be “woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on”. This is not the only place where the Game of Thrones creators are facing this backlash. A highly-upvoted thread on Reddit has been created only to put them on Google Search each time someone looks for ‘Bad Writers’.
This isn’t even the first time when Game of Thrones fans have expressed that they are not happy with the Season. To recall, Season 7 of Game of Thrones got a lot of criticism too, but then, most fans and critics were not too harsh because they expected a fantastic ending of the show which tied up all the loose ends and perfectly finished each character’s story. Now that they know that this really is the end, they are not happy with it and are taking to social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter to express their dislike.
Although it’s nothing new for people on social media to troll any show or film, Game of Thrones has been getting severe backlash particularly after the last two episodes – ‘The Last of the Starks’ and ‘The Bells’. The rush in narrative and spoiled character arcs are being blamed for the episodes being so bad and completely defying logic in some scenes hasn’t helped the show much either.
What makes it even worse is the fact that some of the Game of Thrones cast members have also voiced that they don’t think that Season 8 is good too. Conleth Hill, who played Varys on the show spoke about his character to Entertainment Weekly saying, “If he was such an intelligent man and he had such resources, how come he didn’t know about things? That added to my dismay.”
Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow, was asked in a pre-season interview what Game of Thrones Season 8 will be like and he said “disappointing” before he half-heartedly added, “Epic, I dunno, one of those.”
Nikolaj Coster Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister on the show also expressed that he has had disagreements about his character with the creators. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he was quoted saying, “And I’d get into all these arguments and fights with the writers and they’re like ‘Yeah, we hear you and we respect you, but we don’t care. You’re an actor, just say the words.’ They didn’t say it like that, but that was the gist.”
Game of Thrones Season 8 concludes on May 20 on HotStar in India.
Google is revamping its Google Express services and is focusing greatly on the e-commerce business. The search giant has launched a new redesigned and personalised Google Shopping experience for the users. It has also introduced the idea of a universal cart across its various platforms like the Google Search, Images, YouTube etc. Using Google’s Shopping the users can find and discover the products of their choice, compare them and then checkout instantly using their Google account.
In a blog post, Google wrote, “With this new experience, we’re merging the best of Google Express with Google Shopping.” Google’s shopping experience comes after an increase in popularity of Instagram and Pinterest for promotion of products. Although they both are photo-sharing apps, businesses tapped on their popularity to promote their products. In other words, the use of Instagram and Pinterest have increased in the recent times for e-commerce purpose. That’s why Google too is revamping its Shopping Experience to offer an e-commerce platform holding its name.
Other than that, the company has also launched a new app and website for Google Trips. Trips combines all of Google’s travel-related platforms and offerings like Google hotels search, Google flights and more. Google Trips caters to all the travel-related need under one platform.
The Google Trips app works similar to how it used to earlier – it uses the trip confirmation and receipt of the trips from the Gmail’s inbox to build a timeline of the trip. Other than the application, the user can even see and access all his trips information from his desktop as well. The search giant is further planning to extend its Trips service and features so that it would be able to makes records and accessible trip information about the hotels and restaurants reservations in Google Maps.
Google continues to experiment with its services and applications as it brings new ones and discards/ cancels the old and unused ones. In the past couple of months, the California-based tech giant has discontinued and cancelled many of its services including Google Allo, Google Inbox, Google+, goo.gl URL shortner among others. But it has also introduced several new ones like the Google Bolo.
Furthermore, the company is also planning to migrate the users of Google Play Music to YouTube Music. This could mean that the Google Play Music could be canceled and shut down as well. We might see many other products and services from Google in the coming future and it would be exciting to see what new services the search giant comes with next.
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Would you buy a four-year-old smartphone just because a premium brand is manufacturing it in India? Even if you won’t, Apple certainly thinks that you would. The Cupertino-based technology giant has launched a new marketing campaign around its iPhone 6S in which it is prominently advertising the fact that the smartphone is manufactured locally.
Although this is very much in line in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, we should mention that iPhone 6S is four years old. Even though after being manufactured locally it falls in the budget segment and may be one among the most affordable iPhones available for purchase. But then, we should point out that the budget segment of the Indian smartphone market is the most competitive one and a lot of handset makers are aggressively launching a lot of devices in the said range.
The budget smartphones from companies like Samsung, Nokia, Asus and Xiaomi are more upgraded than Apple iPhone 6S. They have bigger displays and batteries, their cameras come with features that are far more enhanced and they even offer more RAM and storage.
Apple only has an edge over them in one aspect: iOS is more secure than Android. However, it is also worth pointing out that most people who are buying budget smartphones are not really bothered about security too much. They usually are looking for smartphones with powerful specifications and features.
Apple first started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 with the iPhone SE. Last year, it also starting producing the iPhone 6S here. However, both the smartphones are very old and as we just mentioned, face stiff competition from newer Android devices.
The move to manufacture in India was taken by Apple and a number of other technology companies like Samsung and Xiaomi after the import duties were hiked by the Indian government. Since the devices by these companies started costing a lot more, they had to manufacture in India to avoid losses.
But then, Apple choosing to manufacture smartphones that are so old may not fetch it the results that it is aiming for. The company will only be able to earn profits in India with current import tariffs if it either starts manufacturing some newer, more upgraded iPhones in India or it comes up with a mid-range device exclusively for the market and produces it here too. Or maybe it can do both at the same time.
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Earlier this week, it was reported that Facebook-owned instant messaging app – WhatsApp – was used by hackers to install spyware in users’ devices. The hackers had used a security flaw in the application’s calling feature to install spyware into the handsets without the user noticing. The Israeli spyware named ‘Pegasus’ was then used to gather information, details of their chats, calls and even mails. But were the hackers able to hack into one among the most popular and supposedly safe apps?
The hackers used or exploited the buffer overflow vulnerability inside the application. WhatsApp had said that it fixed the vulnerability quickly as soon as the attack was noticed. A buffer overflow issue occurs when an application is overloaded with data in its buffer/ temporary storage space. When the app overloads, it starts storing the extra amount of data to the adjacent storage which in turn corrupts the earlier data held there by overwriting it.
This causes the application to crash, corrupt or open a way for the hackers/ external parties to enter into the app/ system. In WhatsApp’s case, the hackers exploited the same buffer overflow flaw within the app’s call feature to install spyware into the smartphones without the knowledge of the user. The security flaw was in the calling feature of WhatsApp and it got activated once the user initiated or received a call even if he didn’t answer the call or it didn’t connect.
WhatsApp’s calling feature uses the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) similar to many applications which uses the internet for calling instead of the standard telephone lines. According to Business Insider, when the user receives a telephone call on WhatsApp, the application sets up the VoIP transaction and the encryption which goes with it. The application then notifies the user about the incoming call and he then can choose to accept, decline or ignore the call.
The code used in WhatsApp’s spyware attack however, was developed by the Israel’s NGO Group who developed the Pegasus. The Pegasus is a spyware which can activate the smartphone’s camera along with its microphone. This spyware had already been used to manipulate devices of the activists. Other than that, the spyware has been used by the Israeli government to spy on, manipulate, extract information from people on a global scale.
Currently, WhatsApp hasn’t said anything about the number of users who have been affected by the issue. But the company is asking its users to update their application to the latest version.
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Smartphone companies have been coming up with new and innovative ways of giving their handsets an all-display experience. We have seen a number of designs in the last few months that can make a smartphone go all-display including pop-up selfie cameras, slider cameras, and rotating cameras. Another way to do it is housing the selfie camera of the smartphone in its display itself with a hole-punch design. While Vivo has a number of smartphones that come with pop-up selfie cameras, its upcoming Vivo Z5x will sport a hole-punch display.
According to a leak that has surfaced online, Vivo‘s upcoming smartphone will come with a hole-punch display and house a massive 5,000mAh battery. The Chinese tipsters have said that the handset will be a part of the Z series from Vivo. If the leaks are true, then Vivo Z5x will be the first smartphone in the company’s Z series to sport a hole-punch display design and house such a powerful battery. As of now, no more details about the upcoming smartphone is available.
We should mention that earlier this month, Vivo Z3x was launched and it is rather surprising to see the company coming up with another smartphone from the same series so quickly. However, since the device is still being worked upon, a few more leaks about Vivo Z5x are expected to surface online before it is unveiled. Just like other smartphones in the series, Vivo Z5x is speculated to be priced aggressively.
To recall, Vivo Z3x is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The newly launched smartphone comes with a dual camera setup on its back panel that comprises of a 13MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there is a 16MP sensor that can be used for selfies and video calls.
The Vivo Z3x also comes with features like AR mode, Beauty mode, Portrait mode, and a Dynamic Photo. In addition to this, the Chinese smartphone brand has also claimed that the newly launched Vivo Z3x has AI algorithms that are capable of identifying 22 scenes and more than 240 scene combinations which can be used to optimise them.
The Vivo Z5x is expected to come with a more powerful processor than Vivo Z3x and have enhanced camera capabilities. It has also been reported that the smartphone will run Android 9.0 Pie skinned with the latest Funtouch OS 9.
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Let’s face it Xiaomi is a “massy”, not a “classy” brand. They cut corners and do a lot of eyewash. Yes, they might be the biggest smartphone makers here currently, but that is mostly because of Samsung’s fault. Why? Because Samsung pulled out many of its smartphones from the budget segment couple of years ago, to focus more on the mid and premium segment. This is where Xiaomi gained momentum and lucked out. Yes, they had some smart people at the time, who sowed the seeds and now the tree is bearing fruit.
The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi quickly seized the opportunity and went all gung-ho in the Indian market trying to woo the college-goer and the under 25-year olds who were graduating from a feature phone to a smartphone. Basically, the super budget and budget segment, where most started adopting smartphones. But the Chinese brand really does not appeal to others who have better spending power and want better performance, ‘no ads on the OS’ and healthier after sales.
According to a lot of reports (like Blanco), Xiaomi has one of the highest smartphone failure ratings. Which leads to the customer dissatisfaction and discontent. The users have no option but to go to shoddy Xiaomi service centres, requesting for a repair. And we all have read and seen how Xiaomi service centres treat customers. So, we will not get into that.
But what we will talk about is the cutting corners and eyewash part, because of which the Xiaomi smartphones fail or users get the horrible advertisements on their Xiaomi smartphones. Yes, if you do not know about this the company does give or try to give you “honest pricing”, but at the price of the worst user interface experience on the planet. Every morning when you see your Xiaomi smartphone you will be greeted with an advertisement. When you want to run an app, an advert will popup and when you are planning to listen to some music another pesky advertisement will show its ugly face. Yes, the truth is that that is how the Xiaomi makes money off its customers, by showing them more and more ads.
Let us explain further, you get a Xiaomi smartphone cheaper than its competition (maybe, as they claim), but in the end you are paying for that Rs 1,000 less with your sukh and chain (your peace). Xiaomi knows that many in the country will go for anything that is cheaper, even if it means compromising on quality. They play on it and have been successful in doing so. We spoke to few dealers in Punjab and Haryana, on the basis of anonymity, they told us that the maximum people who are crying after buying a smartphone from them is the under Rs 10K Xiaomi smartphone buyers. But hey, that is a topic for another time.
Today, let’s talk about the above 20K market for Xiaomi. We all know what happened to Poco F1 (Xiaomi’s sub-brand smartphone) when it was first launched. There were no buyers. Because in that price segment of 25K plus there are brilliant players like OnePlus and Asus, who actually give you good premium devices with the best in class UI and technical specifications. These are device makers that have built trust in the segment and they hardly faulter.
Another great example of Xiaomi’s extreme failure in the around Rs 20,000 market is its Mi Mix series. All the phones in the series got rebuked and there were just no buyers. Maybe because no one mature wants to hold a Xiaomi brand in their hands, they are happy with a Samsung or a OnePlus, which can last them for 2-3 years easily. We know numerous people who still hold a OnePlus 3T and love the experience. But when it comes to Xiaomi or Redmi, many of their phones will not even see the morning light after six months.
Also, as said before, Xiaomi on the other hand is the only brand in the whole of India that is serving pesky ads on its UI. Their smartphones are extremely bloated, the looks are not premium at all (are very plasticky) and they are prone to breakdowns. And we have already spoken about the horrible after sales service. Also, as much as they say their smartphones do not overheat, they do to quite an extent (cutting corners on the machinery) and constantly lag. Because of which even the most powerful of batteries inside their smartphones dumb down or completely die super quickly.
A sub 15K or 10K smartphone buyer might overlook all these things. Since their budget is limited and only on paper Xiaomi or Redmi devices seem good. However, as soon as you enter the Rs 20K plus market, the user profile changes and people in this price bracket want better performance, premium looks and if something goes wrong with their smartphone, a decent service centre. Which still is a pain point with Xiaomi. This year is looking weak for the Chinese brand, since the Koreans have woken up to the challenge and they have flooded the Indian smartphone market with some of the best hardware driven mobiles, which will appeal to most.
Moreover, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, Asus and Samsung (who is back in the game) are dominating the market from early 2019. The premium pie is being driven by these brands. We all know what happened to Maruti 800. It was the best seller in the country, till people got fed up of the shoddy interiors, low performance and no space inside the car (to name a few). And bought something better, something that is pleasurable to drive and is comfortable to use.
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Taiwanese technology company Asus will be seen launching its Zenfone 6 smartphone today at an event in Valencia, Spain. Till now, there have been several leaks about the smartphone which show that Asus Zenfone 6 will come with a bezel-less front display and a pop-up selfie camera.
If you are a fan and would like to watch Asus Zenfone 6 getting launched, you would be happy to know that the company will be livestreaming the event. So you can watch it no matter where you are.
The launch event of Asus Zenfone 6 is all set to begin at 8 pm CEST today, which is basically 11.30 pm IST. You can head to the company’s website to watch the live stream of the launch event of the much-talked-about smartphone. Here’s a look at other details of the handset that we know about till now:
As we mentioned earlier, there have been a number of reports and leaks about the smartphone that have surfaced online. The price of the device has been leaked too. According to a report, the 6GB RAM/128GB storage model of Asus Zenfone 6 will be priced at TWD 19,990 (approximately Rs 44,880), while the 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant will cost TWD 23,990 (approximately Rs 53,862). The 12GB RAM/512GB storage model is reported to cost TWD 29,990 (approximately Rs 67,333).
Asus Zenfone 6 specifications
While we still don’t know about all the specifications of the Asus Zenfone 6, some of them have been confirmed and some have been leaked ahead of launch.
A few days back, it was confirmed by a company executive that Asus Zenfone 6 will come with a dual rear camera setup with a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP secondary sensor. He also said that the handset will come with a 5,000mAh battery.
It has also been confirmed that the Zenfone 6 smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC clubbed with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
However, a leak suggested that the upcoming smartphone will come with Android 8.1 Oreo, which we think is highly unlikely.
One of the most unique features of the smartphone is reported to be a flip camera module. The leak says that this will enable users to utilise the rear cameras for taking selfies. However, we will have to wait to find out if it works like Samsung Galaxy A80’s camera or a little differently.
Instagram is known to be the most popular photo-sharing app and Facebook constantly updates it with new features and improvements. The app is all set to get another update. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform is setting up its e-commerce site which will have @shop extension. This will make it easier for shoppers and merchants to make transactions and carry out other business-related processes on Instagram itself.
According to Instagram, the @shop is inspired by the community of shoppers. The company in a blog post wrote, “@shop is a celebration of small businesses and the creators behind them. It is a real-time reflection of our community’s interests across top shopping categories like fashion, beauty, home decor and more.”
Instagram’s e-commerce platform will allow business owners and merchants to connect with their customers and consumers in a better and more convenient way. The products on the @shop will also have product tags which in turn helps the customers and the users shop by the categories of the products. According to Instagram, “On @shop, you’ll find emerging brands like Feel jeans, products like Glossier Play Colorslide, founders like KJ Miller and Amanda Johnson of Mented Cosmetics, and the latest trends.”
The new account was made on Monday this week and till now, it only has 15 posts on it. But in just two days, the account has 50.2K followers. Earlier, in March the photo-sharing platform also launched a beta version of the application with a new feature. This new beta version of the app came with the in-application shopping feature “Checkout with Instagram”. But in the beta version, the new feature was launched in the US only and wasn’t launched for any other markets. This beta version of the application allowed Instagram’s users to buy products tagged in the images or videos without leaving the platform.
Currently, the new feature in Instagram is still being tested in the US and the details of the new feature are still unknown. In addition to this, the rollout of the new feature is currently not known but it should be out in the coming months.
The new feature is similar to WhatsApp’s Business feature, it allows the business owners to set up pages and accounts of their shops and businesses. This feature will also the business owners to get more customers for their businesses and shops while also advertising more about their shops.
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Super Mario Maker 2 is expected to be a solid upgrade over the original build-your-Mario-game. At the Nintendo Direct video that happened earlier today, the company spoke in detail about a number of features that it will be adding to the Super Mario Maker 2 game for Switch. The most prominent one among them is that Nintendo will be giving users an option to co-op play, which will enable them to build and design levels with other players on the same console.
With this feature, you will also be able to play through the created levels that are available online with up to four more people.
There are several other changes that are coming to the game, however. These include a range of new themes like desert, winter and forest; a new option of nighttime that alters how some aspects of the game work; more characters like Red Yoshi and Angry Sun; customised scrolling for all levels and on/off switched. The game will also be getting a new single-player story mode and nee music from Koji Kondo.
Super Mario Maker 2 is scheduled to launch on the Switch on June 28 and it will come with a slew of changes including the ones that we have mentioned here.
It is worth mentioning that the company is also expected to launch a more affordable version of its Switch gaming console in June this year. But then, as of now, it is not known what changes Nintendo will be adding to its portable console. It has been speculated though that the new Switch will come with a smaller display and remove the dock capability completely. It is also expected to work with smartphones.
If Nintendo comes wup with a new affordable model of the Switch, its sales would definitely increase. The company has also used this strategy in the past with its 2DS, and it did work. Back then, the comappny opened up the console’s vast library of games to customers, who had to pay less for them.
We should alse mention that another report says that Nintendo may have plans of launching as many as 12 games for its Switch gaming console this year. Three games among these are set to be launched as eShop-only titles, while one will be Nintendo Labo kit and two will be Wii U ports. The remaining six are big retail games.
The much awaited and talked about OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7 have finally been launched. The Chinese technology brand also launched its Bullets Wireless 2 along with them. Right after that, the company has silently launched its Warp Charge 30W car charger in India.
The new Warp Car charger does what its name suggests, it can charge the OnePlus smartphones inside the cars. The new OnePlus Warp car charger is the successor of the Dash Charge car charger that the company launched in 2016. But the 2019 version of OnePlus Warp Charge comes with a new design and adds a new red LED ring light. The red LED light represents the backlight of a car. The Warp Charge 30W car charge offers the same 30-Watt (5V-6A) output as the OnePlus’s smartphones Warp Charge 30 charger. Here are more details about it:
In This Article
OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger price and availability
The OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger is priced at Rs 1,990. It is listed as ‘Coming Soon’ on the official website. The company has also put a ‘Notify Me’ button for customers who want to buy the charger.
Currently, it is not available for purchase but the customers will be notified once it is available in the stores. The Warp Charge comes with Type-C cable inside the box.
OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger features and design
The charger comes with a longer silver-colored metal grip and has a USB port for the charging cable. There is also a red LED light at the back of the charger which lights up once it is plugged in the vehicle’s charging port. According to the company, the OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger can charge the OnePlus 7 Pro from 0% to 50% in just 20 minutes. And it shouldn’t be a surprise as it is similar to the original Warp Charger the company provides with the smartphone.
The OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger comes with a smart chipset and provides variable voltage capability to amplify safety. The charger also integrates features such as overcurrent protection, overcharging protection, overheating protection, short-circuit protection, temperature control, and cold temperature charging. OnePlus also said that the USB port of the OnePlus Warp Charge 30W car charger has been stress-tested over 5,000 times while the lighter plug has been stress-tested over 2,000 times.
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Popular gaming brand MSI has come up at the most reliable high-tech brand in the notebook sector in Europe. The company has also said that it has become the largest supplier in the gaming notebook market as far as shipments are considered.
The survey on reliability was conducted by UFC-Que Choisir, which is a French consumer organization that interviewed nearly 43,000 people across Europe. The results of the survey say that MSI is the most reliable laptop brand, and it is worth pointing out that the company has left Apple and Microsoft behind.
In addition to this, a market survey that was performed by Digitimes, which is one among the largest tech-media in Taiwan, said that MSI has shipped a total of 1.2 million gaming notebooks in 2018. The survey also indicated that MSI left behind Asustek Computer “to become the largest supplier in the gaming notebook market in terms of shipments.”
The company has recently launched a number of gaming devices with latest Intel processors and graphics cards from Nvidia.
The newly launched MSI laptops include the MSI GT-series, MSI GS-series, MSI GE-series, MSI GP-series, MSI GL-series and MSI GF-series. The new laptops from MSI are powered by the 9th Generation Intel Core CPUs. The company has claimed that besides gaming, the newly launched laptops also excel at heavy audio composition, video editing and multitasking with ease. They also house the NVIDIA GTX-16 series GPUs which enhances the performance of the laptop by 50%.
We should mention that the new gaming laptops start at Rs 77,990 and go up to Rs 3,99,990. If you are interested in buying the new laptops, you can pick them from Flipkart and Amazon along with MSI exclusive stores in New Delhi, Pune, Kolkata and Bangalore.
Speaking about the new laptops, Chang-Ching Lin, Regional Marketing Manager said, “We are excited to announce that MSI is the first brand to debut the 9th Gen. Intel® Core™ i9 Processors in the gaming series. Furthermore, the GTX 16 series graphics cards will provide a more affordable graphics solution for gamers while still attaining a high level of performance. With these new additions to our product portfolio, we not only aim at offering gamers the best experience but also want to make gaming more inclusive. India is a key focus market for MSI and we will continue to bring in our latest line of products in the country in line with the global launches.”
Paytm Mall has said that it has been hit with a cashback fraud in the range of Rs 5-10 crore. According to a company spokesperson, the fraud got detected with the use of a tool that Paytm developed in partnership with EY, which is a global professional services firm that was earlier known as Ernst and Young.
He also said that Paytm conducted a deeper audit after it found out that some of the smaller sellers were getting a large percentage of cashbacks offered at Paytm Mall. The audit also revealed that a number of employees had actually colluded with some junior employees of the company to earn the cashbacks.
The spokesperson told IANS that the fraud “is in the range of Rs 5-10 crore.”
We should mention that Paytm Mall is a brainchild of Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The platform’s losses have been increasing and in the financial year 2018, Paytm Mall posted a loss of Rs 1,800 crore on revenue of Rs 774 crore.
In addition to this, Forrester Research’s findings said that the market share of Paytm Mall fell from 5.6% in 2017 to 3% in 2018.
In a statement, Srinivas Mothey, Senior Vice President – Paytm Mall, said, “Our partnership with E&Y will help benchmark with global best practices as we build a technology-driven fraud prevention system to scale our operations. Our teams continue to work closely with E&Y to share our learnings and insights. We are committed to building a trusted commerce platform and will take strict action wherever needed.”
We should mention that Paytm Mall has admin, finance, business operations team and various other support functions. Its business operations team works closely with partnered merchants to plan and execute cashback offers and promotions. This is exactly what leaves scope for collusion.
PUBG Mobile has been facing constant backlash from various countries and governments for being too violent and addictive. Earlier we saw how Rajkot in Gujarat has banned the game and then Nepal became the first country to put a nation-wide ban on the PUBG. And earlier this week, we saw that China has banned the game and replaced it with another game which supports its government and rules.
Earlier this year, PUBG Mobile announced that it would introduce a feature which would promote healthy gaming behaviour to make sure that the young players of the game doesn’t spend too much time on it. And now, PUBG Mobile is officially rolling out the new ‘Gameplay Management’ system which encourages the players to adopt a more balanced mobile gaming.
The new Gameplay Management system for PUBG Mobile is being rolled out for Asian and North African countries, including India, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This feature will be rolled out in other countries in stages until it is rolled out globally.
The Gameplay Management system will help the players stay informed about the time they spend on the game. It will be activated when the user logs in the game for the first time and then they will be asked to enter their age. The players will need to fill the necessary information asked to activate the system. And if the game finds out that the player is underage or below 18 years then it will acknowledge a gaming advisory before the player is allowed to play. The game will also use pop up notifications to remind the players when they need to stop playing the game.
Speaking on this, Vincent Wang, General Manager of Global Publishing Department, Tencent Games said, “PUBG Mobile is committed to being a responsible interactive entertainment provider. With experts worldwide examining the impacts of technology and video games on players of all ages, our team wants to ensure our community is equipped to make informed choices when it comes to PUBG Mobile. Today’s announcement is a proactive step in ensuring that hundreds of millions of players worldwide can continue to enjoy PUBG Mobile in a sustainable manner.”
We saw this feature earlier in 2019 when some players in India were stopped from the game from playing more than 6 hours in a day. At that time, the feature was not made official and people thought it was a bug. But people knew that this will be the new feature PUBG Mobile will bring to stop the young players from spending too much time on the game. PUBG Mobile is also planning to launch new features and ways that will educate the players on the benefits of Gameplay Management system.
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