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A new Covid-19 feature in Google Maps to show the amount of outbreak in a state.

By
Ramana Rishi
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0
Image Credit: 9to5google.com

A few days back Google and Apple made clear that they will be integrating the detection technology for Covid-19 without the use of a specific app. Tech companies like Google have been trying to develop technology that could make the detection much easier and also help people to avoid areas through which the spread of the virus can be contained. In an effort to make detection technology for Covid-19 better, Google is now trying to prepare a new map specifically for Covid-19 which shows the area affected by the virus. 

Also, the user will be able to differentiate between the areas being hit the hardest and areas which are still better in the containing of the virus. The new preview of the feature will work alongside transit, traffic, biking, 3D, and Street View and is simply titled “COVID-19”. The feature is being experimented in the US and the feature shows distinct lines between the states highlighting the states with a unique color where the number of cases is much more. It was found that Google is currently using the data of the New York Times, Wikipedia, John Hopkins University, and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to identify the number of cases and spread of the virus in a specific state. 

It is unclear if the feature is only meant for US or global use, but currently, the feature is in the experimental stage and only designed for the US. Once the feature has been completely designed, it will be interesting to see Google using this feature globally.

Facebook adds DropBox and Koofr option in photo porting tools.

By
Sriram
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0
Image credit: techcrunch.com

Facebook is really trying to add a lot of features to its platform and related tools. As per the new details, Facebook’s photo and video portability tool has added support for two more third-party services like DropBox and Koofr. The tech was launched last year by Facebook which allows them to directly upload the pictures to Google Photos. Although the global update to the feature was only provided in June, it seems like Facebook is ready to add a lot more functionality and third party support to the feature. Facebook users are now presented with three different options to transfer their photos. 

They can either transfer media to Google Photos, Dropbox, or Koofr. The company has already made it clear that more announcements regarding the partnership are going to be announced in the coming few months. The transfer tool is based on code developed via Facebook’s participation in the Data Transfer Project, which is also backed up by tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Twitter. To access the feature the user will have to log in to Facebook and simply go to ‘Your Facebook Information’ menu, and select ‘Transfer a copy of your photos and videos’. Once done, the platform will prompt you with three choices. 

You simply need to select one, enter the password and the photos will be uploaded to the selection made. Once the transfer is complete, you will also get the notification for the same. The transfer of the photos will completely be encrypted for security. It is also expected that the same feature will be available for Instagram users as well in the future. The step of porting the media from one platform to another will simply help in the expansion of the Facebook platform.

Realme launches a new M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush, Tote Bag, and an Adventurer bag.

By
Shanmugam
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0
Image Credit: technosports.co.in

Realme has recently launched its Realme 7 series, which aims to be the next big thing in the premium mid-range market. Apart from smartphones, the company is also looking up to many other categories of consumer products that can be used in day-to-day lives. Today, in an event, the company unwrapped a lot of new products such as the M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush, Realme Adventurer Luggage, and Realme Tote bag. These aren’t the products that come to one’s mind when thinking about the Realme brand. But the company is surely looking to branch out into many different categories, something that is very similar to Xiaomi. 

The company has already launched an adventure backpack in India in June and is going to launch many new products in the future. The electronic toothbrush comes with an advanced sonic motor that vibrates 34,000 times a minute and has Dupont bristles which have antibacterial properties. The bristles have a 10° stable swing to penetrate deeper and clean better. The toothbrush works in three different modes as per the preference of the user. The product had been fairly priced at $27. The company has also offered a new Adventurer Luggage with 37L capacity. 

The bag is made from Makrolon Polycarbonate and has a dynamic appeal and lightweight FlexiCube design. The luggage case will be available for $40. The company also launched a tote bag made from TPU material making it extremely durable and resistant to wear and tear. The tote bag comes with an adjustable nylon belt and has been widened to make it comfortable to hold even with weight. The bag comes with 12 liters capacity and comes at a price tag of $13. All these products and a lot more are going to be on sale on September 10, through both Realme.com, except the toothbrush, which will also be available on Flipkart.com.

New Redmi Note 10 with Dimensity 820 chipset might soon launch in the market.

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: telecomtalk.info

Although Xiaomi is currently focusing on their latest in the line of offering, the Redmi 9 series, they have already made sure that their upcoming series of Redmi 10 series is ready. The information has been given by the Leakster Digital Chat Station, where Redmi Note 10 was detected with benchmark results. The phone was found to be powered by the all-new Mediatek Dimensity 820 chipset. Another Redmi device is already in development which is known to be using the Density 720 chipset. The new Density series of Chipset will also bring the 5G technology to the Redmi Note series.

It is also expected that along with the Redmi Note 10, another variant called Redmi 10 can be launched.  The company could also launch a Redmi Note 10 or Redmi Note 10 Pro. The company has already launched a new phone in China which is named the Redmi 10X 5G, therefore, one can expect a lot of the same features to be brought into these models. Mediatek Dimensity series seems to be taking charge this year with the new 5G chips and Redmi seems to be helping it in doing so. 

There is also news that Xiaomi, apart from its sub-brand Redmi, can use the Density chipset in other sub-brands as well. However, no such details have been leaked about any such device. However, it seems that both Mediatek and Xiaomi are going forward, which seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship between the two.

These six apps have been detected to steal your banking information.

By
Shanmugam
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0
Image Credit: forbes.com

There are millions of apps on the Google play store, promising you a variety of features that will make using your smartphone easier. However, Google Play store regularly removes any such apps from their platform which does not follow their terms or have been using their apps to install malicious code and software to users’ phones. Such apps not only steal the data from the user’s phone but also sell the user information to many other countries. Now a list of six apps has been detected which can steal your banking information and lead to a loss of all your money immediately. 

Researchers from Pradeo were the ones who reported the issue in the apps and asked the users to immediately remove them. These apps have a malicious bot called “Joker” or Fleeceware which simulate clicks and intercept SMS to subscribe to unwanted paid premium services unbeknownst to users. The bot uses the least code and is easily hidden, which makes it very difficult to detect it. The six apps that should immediately be removed from the phone as per them are Emoji Wallpaper, Convenient Scanner 2, Safety AppLock, Push Message-Texting SMS, Separate Doc Scanner, Fingertip GameBox. 

All these six apps were detected to be carrying this malicious bot, which can easily scan the details used by the user on a smartphone and grab the details from the banking apps. Therefore, it is suggested that these apps should immediately be removed from the smartphone to make sure that you are not caught under a banking fraud.

Apple to allow app developers to provide free or discounted subscription via offer codes

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: theverge.com

Apple has recently announced good news for app developers. As per the announcement, Apple will let developers offer discounts or a free subscription to the users or new potential users through offer code physically or electronically. This step will help the developers to get new subscribers for their apps and even retain the existing ones. Apple has confirmed that this feature will be available to the developers in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, later this year. It is not that the developers have not offered any kind of discount to the users before. 

Discounted pricing and introductory offers were available for Apple device subscription. However, the new codes will give more control to the developers. The developers will be the ones who can choose to send the codes in person or online. The codes could be provided alongside the purchase on the App store and sent through an e-mail to the user.

These codes will be redeemable on the App Store, while the customer is trying to purchase any other service. The new model of providing discounts will not change the 30% commission model that Apple has been following for a long while but will give more flexibility to developers for attracting more users and subscriptions. 

The move has been supported by a lot of app developers for iOS, but also has a lot of haters, similar to the likes of app developers Epic Games. However, Apple will be launching the feature soon in the iOS upgrade and hopes that it would make managing discounts easier for developers.

WhatsApp coming up with new features like Vacation mode and more.

By
Shanmugam
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0
Image Credit: bolnews.com

Many new features have been under development for WhatsApp and many more are on the way. The company recently announced some of its new features that will be coming to its messaging platform soon. The company has already announced a lot of new features in the beta version in the last few months like animated stickers, QR codes, search filters, and a lot more. Now more details have been provided about the new features that the company has been working on. One of the new features to make its way to WhatsApp is the all-new Vacation Mode. 

This feature will allow the users to mute archived chat even in the event of receiving new messages. Currently, the users only have the option to archive chats but when a new WhatsApp message arrives, a notification will pop up. The new feature will be coming to the platform in a few months as it is still under development. Similarly, the company will also be adding a lot of new wallpapers to select from into the chats window. It will allow the users to select different kinds of wallpapers for each chat. Since it is currently under the beta version, it might take some time before it is finally released. 

WhatsApp is also working on the Storage Usage section with a list of options to let users easily organize their storage and delete unnecessary files. It will have a new storage bar on the top of the app which will showcase the storage consumption by media on WhatsApp. Not only this, but it will also have the cleanup option to remove the files.

Microsoft’s new deep fake detection tool will detect fake videos through a confidence score.

By
Sriram
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0
Image Credit: fossbytes.com

Microsoft has recently announced new features for videos, which has been used by companies for a long time for detecting fakes among news, agencies, politicians, and meme-makers. The feature is called DeepFakes and Microsoft has now optimized it to detect AI-powered bogus videos manipulated to look realistic. The new tools have been launched just before the US presidential elections to make sure that any manipulated video related to political campaigns and media organizations could easily be detected. 

The tool would be called Microsoft Video Authenticator, which is the detection tool for Microsoft. It will analyze videos frame-by-frame and will give a confidence score to show if the video is real or modified. Microsoft has been able to create such an algorithm with the help of Microsoft’s Responsible AI team and the Microsoft AI, Ethics, and Effects in Engineering and Research (AETHER) Committee. It uses features like publicly available datasets such as Face Forensic and was tested on the DeepFake Detection Challenge Dataset. Microsoft will also be launching Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure tool, which allows the creators to sign a piece of content with a certificate. 

There will also be a reading tool to certify that content is authentic or not. Currently, Microsoft is working on AI Foundation’s Reality Defender 2020 so that the electrical organizations could get the tool. It will also be partnering up with BBC and New York Times to detect any manipulated media during the elections. These kinds of tools could be a perfect initiative to detect fake news and media roaming on the internet.

Qualcomm launches the all-new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G for ARM-based laptops.

By
Sriram
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0
Image Cerdit: thetechstreetnow.com

Qualcomm Snapdragon has been one of the major chipset manufacturers when it comes to Android mobile phones and they are known for their increased performance and low power consumption. Apart from focusing on smartphones, the company was also interested to make their mark in the category of laptops, and due to that, they announced their new Snapdragon 8cx two years ago. Although the chipset has not been launched in two years, the company is finally ready to launch the Gen 2 version of the chipset in this year’s IFA 2020. The new chipset is called the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, which the company states is a major improvement in when compared to version one. 

The company has mentioned that the chipset will have “generational performance and efficiency gains”. The company also claims that the chipset would be perfect to use in Windows-based laptops and can perform equally when compared to an Intel Chipset. As per them, the chipset can provide exceptional performance, especially when compared to their 10th Gen Core i5 chip from Intel as well as Intel’s Lakefield chips. The second generation of Snapdragon chipset will also provide an improved battery life. The company has promised that a single charge could provide users with 25 hours of continuous use. However, the usage area could change as per the usage and preference. 

It would also support Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6, along with Qualcomm’s Aqstic audio technology and support for dual 4K external monitors. The chipset also offers X24 LTE modem and X55 5G modem options, but it will be a laptop manufacturer’s decision on what type of connectivity to provide. With so much to offer through the new chipset, it will be interesting to see how the chipset works in the real world and against various competitors. However, looking at the specs, the offering by Qualcomm could really give a big challenge to Intel and other chipset companies.

Redmi about to launch SmartBand in India on September 8.

By
Ramana Rishi
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0
Image Credit: twitter.com

Xiaomi Mi band has been one of the most popular fitness bands and now their sub-brand Redmi is going to launch a new Smart band in India on September 8, 12 PM (IST). The information was given through the official Redmi channel on Twitter. It will be the first smart band to be released under the Redmi brand. The same device was launched in China in April this year. It is very likely that the company will be launching the same device with almost the same kind of specs. 

Although the company has not shared any kind of technical specification about the product, they have only confirmed the launch date. If we consider the same Redmi Smart Band that was launched in China in April this year, the price of that device was somewhere around Rs 1,100. If the price remains the same, other fitness band companies in the same category could see some really serious competition. The company simply added an event page on the Mi website with the title “What’s your score?“, which one can easily presume is a fitness score. It might also be a new feature of measuring one’s fitness through a score. 

The page also teases colorful straps in the color green, blue, and red. Other features it teases about are long battery life, water-resistance, and heart rate monitoring with a lightweight build. The expected battery life could be anywhere between 15-20 days, which would meet their claim of long battery life. 

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