Sunday, February 28, 2021

Oppo F19 Pro series teased on Amazon, India launch expected soon

Through the teaser poster on Amazon, Oppo has confirmed that its F19 series is set to arrive soon. This series is going to include two handsets — Oppo F19 Pro and Oppo F19 Pro+. Out of the two, the F19 Pro+ is being teased to come with 5G support. https://ift.tt/3kxJvKo

SpaceX Delays Launch of Falcon 9 Carrier Rocket With Starlink Satellites

SpaceX has cancelled the planned launch of a Falcon 9 carrier rocket with 60 Starlink satellites. https://ift.tt/3dSJEXC

OnePlus 9 Pro Alleged Specifications and New Camera UI Surface Online

OnePlus 9 Pro alleged screenshots show that the smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage, a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display and 48-megapixel... https://ift.tt/37VuU6D

Oppo F19 Pro+, Oppo F19 Pro Teased to Launch in India Soon

Oppo F19 Pro+ and Oppo F19 Pro will launch in India soon, a dedicated Amazon page reveals. The Oppo F19 series was first in the news back in December of 2018 but only now has been confirmed to launch... https://ift.tt/301S0UO

Golden Globes 2021 Winners - the Full List of All the Awards

The full list of the 2021 Golden Globes winners. Netflix's The Crown won four of its six nominations. Nomadland and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm are the best picture winners. Chadwick Boseman won... https://ift.tt/3uFoZMA

Realme X9 Pro Key Specifications Surface Online, 108-Megapixel Camera Tipped

Realme X9 Pro may feature a full-HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate. It may sport a hole-punch design with the cutout placed on the top left corner of the screen. The leak reiterates that Realme X7... https://ift.tt/2MzZ8EL

Pres. Biden says there should be "no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda" by Amazon amid its warehouse workers' vote on whether to form a union in AL (Jennifer Epstein/Bloomberg)

Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg:
Pres. Biden says there should be “no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda” by Amazon amid its warehouse workers' vote on whether to form a union in AL  —  - ‘The choice to join a union is up to the workers,’ Biden said  — Mail-in voting for 6,000 workers began in mid-February



Japanese companies go high-tech in the battle against food waste

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Bitcoin extends retreat from record high to hit lowest in 20 days

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App spending to reach $270 billion annually by 2025

Global consumer spending on premium apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions across Apple's App Store and Google Play will reach $270 billion annually by 2025, nearly 2.5 times what consumers spent in 2020 as Covid-19 accelerated mobile trends. https://ift.tt/302GQPo

International Space Station Being Prepped for New Solar Panels

Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Sunday to install support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels arriving at the International Space Station later this year. https://ift.tt/2PgynG9

GameStop and Other 'Meme Stocks' Hyped by Social Media Bots, Analysis Shows

Bots on major social media websites have been hyping GameStop and other "meme stocks," although the extent to which they influenced prices was unclear. https://ift.tt/3qYWCXv

Russia Launches Its First Arctic-Monitoring Satellite Arktika-M

A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday carrying Russia's first satellite for monitoring the Arctic's climate, the Roscosmos space agency said. https://ift.tt/3r8qIYO

A look at Biden's efforts to partner with allies to boost key tech sectors and counter China, going beyond Trump-era measures like restricting sales of SMIC (Bob Davis/Wall Street Journal)

Bob Davis / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Biden's efforts to partner with allies to boost key tech sectors and counter China, going beyond Trump-era measures like restricting sales of SMIC  —  Combined efforts in semiconductors, artificial intelligence seen as way to thwart Beijing's ambitions



An oral history of #hugops and the growing community of operations engineers who offer support for their peers before and during major cloud service outages (Tom Krazit/Protocol)

Tom Krazit / Protocol:
An oral history of #hugops and the growing community of operations engineers who offer support for their peers before and during major cloud service outages  —  When something breaks on the internet, the people who know how to fix it just want to give their colleagues a hug — even if they're a rival.



Flipkart quiz March 1, 2021: Get answers to these five questions to win gifts, discount coupons and Flipkart Super coins

Only the first 50,000 participants will be eligible for the quiz prize. https://ift.tt/37YGqOt

Amazon app quiz March 1, 2021: Get answers to these five questions and win Rs 10,000 in Amazon Pay balance

Name of the winner of today’s quiz will be announced on March 2. https://ift.tt/3kEFioj

How Apple may get an iPhone to do an ‘important’ task without a port

As per the report, the Cupertino-based tech giant is working on something called Internet Recovery that will enable iPhone users to make the iPhone enter a mode that will allow it to recover. https://ift.tt/3ky9zFt

This is the world’s most 'popular' Android phone

As per Omdia, Samsung shipped 23.2 million units of the Galaxy A51 in 2020 to earn the top spot in the list of Android phones. The highest selling smartphone in the world was the iPhone 11. The list of top 10 smartphones has five Android phones and five iPhones. Out of the five Android phones, four were from Samsung and one was from Xiaomi. https://ift.tt/3bRjvG3

17 data vouchers from Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vi offering 1GB data or more

https://ift.tt/37Vre4J

Indoo Ki Jawani, Pagglait, and More on Netflix in March

Indoo Ki Jawani, Pacific Rim: The Black, Pagglait, Bombay Begums, Bombay Rose, Sky Rojo, Moxie, Yes Day, The Irregulars, Brave New World, Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 3, Diego Maradona, The... https://ift.tt/3dUmPmk

Twitter Super Follows and Clubhouse portend a shift from algorithmic, scale-focused, low-attention feeds to low-volume, high-attention relationships with users (Will Oremus/OneZero )

Will Oremus / OneZero :
Twitter Super Follows and Clubhouse portend a shift from algorithmic, scale-focused, low-attention feeds to low-volume, high-attention relationships with users  —  Products like Clubhouse and Twitter's “Super Follows” offer a new kind of engagement  —  Open Facebook, Instagram, TikTok …



Profile of Discovery+, which has hit 12M paid subscriptions globally and offers a reality TV-focused catalog with 55K episodes, rivaling Netflix in sheer volume (Ben Smith/New York Times)

Ben Smith / New York Times:
Profile of Discovery+, which has hit 12M paid subscriptions globally and offers a reality TV-focused catalog with 55K episodes, rivaling Netflix in sheer volume  —  Discovery's new app has taken off largely because viewers love watching people fix houses, tour diners and bicker about their relationships.



Profile of lawyer and activist Cori Crider who is suing Facebook and outsourcing company CPL in Ireland's High Court on behalf of traumatized content moderators (Ed Siddons/The Guardian)

Ed Siddons / The Guardian:
Profile of lawyer and activist Cori Crider who is suing Facebook and outsourcing company CPL in Ireland's High Court on behalf of traumatized content moderators  —  Whether it's the CIA or Facebook, lawyer and activist Cori Crider is never one to shy away from a fight



How Reddit, at ~$6B arguably one of the most undervalued companies in world, can unlock the next step-change in valuation and protect against niche competitors (Mario Gabriele/The Generalist)

Mario Gabriele / The Generalist:
How Reddit, at ~$6B arguably one of the most undervalued companies in world, can unlock the next step-change in valuation and protect against niche competitors  —  One of social media's oldest companies is also its most undervalued. … ‍  —  “You ever stop to realize how fragile all this is?”



Skydio raises $171M led by a16z at a valuation of $1B+, the first significant fundraising by a US-based drone maker after China's DJI was blacklisted by the US (Patrick McGee/Financial Times)

Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Skydio raises $171M led by a16z at a valuation of $1B+, the first significant fundraising by a US-based drone maker after China's DJI was blacklisted by the US  —  Placement of DJI on trade blacklist has opened new opportunities for US manufacturers  —  California-based Skydio has become …



Verizon support is now advising its users on Twitter to "turn on LTE", which would turn off 5G, to preserve battery life (Kim Lyons/The Verge)

Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Verizon support is now advising its users on Twitter to “turn on LTE”, which would turn off 5G, to preserve battery life  —  This, despite the carrier's relentless promotion of its 5G network  —  Despite its relentless promotion of 5G phones and the fact that it spent …



Huawei planning foray into electric vehicles: Sources

China's Huawei plans to make electric vehicles under its own brand and could launch some models this year, four sources said, as the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, battered by U.S. sanctions, explores a strategic shift. https://ift.tt/3uAL9zL

Modi's government is abetting a vicious campaign against Indian climate activists simply for using organizing tools like shared Google Docs and WhatsApp groups (Naomi Klein/The Intercept)

Naomi Klein / The Intercept:
Modi's government is abetting a vicious campaign against Indian climate activists simply for using organizing tools like shared Google Docs and WhatsApp groups  —  The bank of cameras that camped outside Delhi's sprawling Tihar jail was the sort of media frenzy you would expect to await …



Report: the number of malware strains written in Go have increased by around 2,000% since 2017, after APTs and cybercrime groups adopted the language (Catalin Cimpanu/ZDNet)

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Report: the number of malware strains written in Go have increased by around 2,000% since 2017, after APTs and cybercrime groups adopted the language  —  There's been a 2,000% increase of new malware written in Go over the past few years.  —  The number of malware strains coded …



The person behind "Your Fave Is Problematic" Tumblr blog, which listed regrettable actions by celebrities, says she looks back on her blog with shame and regret (Liat Kaplan/New York Times)

Liat Kaplan / New York Times:
The person behind “Your Fave Is Problematic” Tumblr blog, which listed regrettable actions by celebrities, says she looks back on her blog with shame and regret  —  What was I trying to accomplish with my anonymous Tumblr?  —  If you were on Tumblr in the early 2010s …



How to Apply for High Security Registration Plates

Delhi Transport Department has made it mandatory for all vehicle owners in the national capital to install the high security registration plate (HSRP) on your vehicle. Car owners can apply for one by... https://ift.tt/37VXvsf

How to Check Your Vi Balance, Plan, and Validity

There are three ways to check prepaid balance for a Vi prepaid account. The first is through the Vi app, the second one is by dialing *199#, and the third one allows users to chat with the company on... https://ift.tt/3q6emPf

Saturday, February 27, 2021

How platforms like Spotify and tools like Community, Audigent, and Unitea help artists find their superfans and target them for monetization opportunities (Tatiana Cirisano/Billboard)

Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard:
How platforms like Spotify and tools like Community, Audigent, and Unitea help artists find their superfans and target them for monetization opportunities  —  New tech that allows artists to interact with superfans — and turn their data into dollars — promises to open long-term revenue streams



How to Check Your Airtel Balance, Plan, and Validity

There are three ways to check prepaid balance on Airtel. The first is through the MyAirtel app, the second one is through the web, and the last is by dialing *121*13# - read on for detailed... https://ift.tt/3bQ3lNf

Deep Nostalgia Brings Historical Photos to Life Using AI

Deep Nostalgia uses AI to apply facial animations to still portraits, giving you a Harry Potter effect and bringing historical figures to life https://ift.tt/3b1XKUU

A look at Clubhouse's privacy flaws: room audio is "temporarily" saved for trust and safety purposes, user accounts or personal data can't be deleted, and more (Jason Aten/Inc.com)

Jason Aten / Inc.com:
A look at Clubhouse's privacy flaws: room audio is “temporarily” saved for trust and safety purposes, user accounts or personal data can't be deleted, and more  —  Clubhouse was sort of perfectly made for the pandemic.  People aren't going out, and they're desperately searching for social connections and entertainment.



Sonam Wangchuk’s latest creation is a solar-heated military tent for hill warfare

Ladakh-based engineer Sonam Wangchuk has introduced his indigenous innovation: solar heated tents that offer easy mobility. What’s interesting is that these tents do not use any solar panels or batteries to provide heating. https://ift.tt/3reUivP

Clubhouse app may come to Android soon

The Android version of Clubhouse, the audio-only chat app by Alpha Exploration Co., is currently in the works and may come to the platform in the near future, as per a report by 9To5Google. To date, the app has only been an iOS-exclusive. Clubhouse cofounder Paul Davidson confirmed in an interview that an Android app for the currently popular social media app is the “top feature” in development. https://ift.tt/3kwMov5

Apple wants students to use these AR-based apps to learn science

February 28 is celebrated as National Science Day to commemorate Raman’s discovery and Apple has curated a list of apps from the App Store, which would aid the development of a scientific temper in children. https://ift.tt/37UEvKI

New social media rules, Samsung and Realme’s new phones, and more in top tech news of the week

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10 best-selling smartphones in the world

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How to enable auto-delete feature on Telegram

Enabling the auto-delete timer in Telegram chats will automatically erase messages for all participants either 24 hours or 7 days after sending. So, if you also want to enable the auto-delete feature in your Telegram app the follow the below mentioned steps, https://ift.tt/3aY16YT

From Godzilla vs. Kong to Snyder's Justice League, What to Watch in March

Godzilla vs. Kong, Justice League Snyder Cut, The Flash season 7, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Married Woman, Teddy, Pagglait, Bombay Begums, Bombay Rose, Raya and the Last Dragon, Cherry,... https://ift.tt/3kuHuyu

How ACLU and activist Kade Crockford convinced Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a police reform bill banning the use of facial recognition tech in criminal cases (Kashmir Hill/New York Times)

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
How ACLU and activist Kade Crockford convinced Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a police reform bill banning the use of facial recognition tech in criminal cases  —  Massachusetts is one of the first states to put legislative guardrails around the use of facial recognition technology in criminal investigations.



Golden Globes 2021: How to Watch Live, Key Nominations, and More

The 2021 Golden Globes are taking place on Monday, 6.30am IST, to honour some of the best movies and television shows of the year. Unlike previous editions, this year's ceremony - the 78th Golden... https://ift.tt/3r2tqPo

Apple, Croma announce joint programme on Steve Jobs' birth anniversary

Croma, Indias first omnichannel electronics retailer from the Tata Group today announced the launch of its #AppleYou&Croma programme to commemorate the birth anniversary of Apple founder Steve Jobs. https://ift.tt/3uDLotx

Judge approves $650 million Facebook privacy lawsuit settlement

A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. https://ift.tt/3uCuhZj

McDonald's considers selling part of digital startup

Dynamic Yield, run as a standalone company within McDonald's, personalises customers' experience by changing offerings on the chain's Drive Thru menu displays, according to time of day, weather, customer traffic and trending choices. https://ift.tt/3sppOY2

NASA picks California-based Astra Space to launch TROPICS mission

NASA has selected California-based space company Astra Space to provide a launch service for the agency's TROPICS mission which consists of a constellation of six CubeSats and will increase the scientific community's understanding of storm processes. https://ift.tt/3uKV6uz

Facebook launches TikTok-like app for creating, sharing raps

The app makes it easy to create and share raps so that rappers can focus on and experiment with the content. https://ift.tt/3pZoj0Y

Facebook Brings Another TikTok-Like App Specifically for Creating Raps

Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) team has introduced a new app called BARS can be used to create professional-style raps. The new app competes with TikTok, which has been a known... https://ift.tt/3b109PD

Friday, February 26, 2021

How Anduril and other startups are building military ready, self-piloted drones, away from Silicon Valley, where such projects have become politically untenable (Cade Metz/New York Times)

Cade Metz / New York Times:
How Anduril and other startups are building military ready, self-piloted drones, away from Silicon Valley, where such projects have become politically untenable  —  While much has been made of tech's unwillingness to work with the Pentagon, start-ups are still plumbing the industry's decades-long ties to the military.



Some schools and organizations are abandoning exam monitoring software made by Proctorio amid a barrage of complaints from students over privacy (Todd Feathers/VICE)

Todd Feathers / VICE:
Some schools and organizations are abandoning exam monitoring software made by Proctorio amid a barrage of complaints from students over privacy  —  Proctorio has cashed in on remote learning since the start of the pandemic.  Now, some schools are abandoning the company's controversial software.



Facebook to Pay $650 Million in US Privacy Lawsuit Settlement

Facebook has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a privacy lawsuit in the US over allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. https://ift.tt/3kqy8UG

Britain to Offer Fast-Track Visas to Bolster Fintech Companies After Brexit

Britain has announced a fast-track visa scheme for jobs at fintech firms after a government-backed review warned that financial technology firms will struggle with Brexit and tougher competition for... https://ift.tt/2ZWkaQY

New Social Media Rules Could Threaten Free Expression in India, Say Critics

Critics have come down hard on a set of new rules announced by the government that could force social media and online streaming platforms to remove content it deems objectionable. Tech companies will... https://ift.tt/3aZILe8

In a hearing with US lawmakers, ex-SolarWinds CEO blamed an intern for the "solarwinds123" password leak discovered in 2019 that had exposed a SolarWinds server (CNN)

CNN:
In a hearing with US lawmakers, ex-SolarWinds CEO blamed an intern for the “solarwinds123” password leak discovered in 2019 that had exposed a SolarWinds server  —  FireEye CEO on how the SolarWinds hack was discovered  —  Washington (CNN)Current and former top executives …



Genealogy tracker MyHeritage releases Deep Nostalgia, a Live Photo-like feature for old photos, which uses AI to show subjects prepping for their portrait (Andrew Liszewski/Gizmodo)

Andrew Liszewski / Gizmodo:
Genealogy tracker MyHeritage releases Deep Nostalgia, a Live Photo-like feature for old photos, which uses AI to show subjects prepping for their portrait  —  It's hard to feel connected to someone who's gone through a static photo.  So a company called MyHeritage who provides automatic AI …



Investigation Into Apple's Payment System in Netherlands Nears Decision

Apple is being investigated by Dutch competition authorities for a requirement that developers use its payment system, which charges commissions of between 15 and 30 percent. The year-long... https://ift.tt/3kuXnVC

Public docs show that ICE used private database run by Thomson Reuters with 400M+ names, addresses, and utility service records to pursue immigration violations (Drew Harwell/Washington Post)

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Public docs show that ICE used private database run by Thomson Reuters with 400M+ names, addresses, and utility service records to pursue immigration violations  —  Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information they are not authorized to compile on their own



Bill Gates on why he doesn’t use an iPhone

In an interview on Clubhouse, Gates explained why he prefers to use an Android phone and not the iPhone. “I actually use an Android phone. Because I want to keep track of everything, I’ll often play around with iPhones, but the one I carry around happens to be Android.” https://ift.tt/3pZiIaX

Reliance Jio announces 'New JioPhone 2021' offer: Price, benefits and more

https://ift.tt/3dRxxde

Sources: Biden admin plans to allow a Trump-era rule in March enabling Commerce Dept. to ban tech business transactions with China it feels are security threats (John D. McKinnon/Wall Street Journal)

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Biden admin plans to allow a Trump-era rule in March enabling Commerce Dept. to ban tech business transactions with China it feels are security threats  —  Biden administration plans to let the Trump-era rule on technology purchases and deals take effect, despite U.S. business objections about its scope



Sources: Robinhood is planning to confidentially file for an IPO as soon as next month (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Robinhood is planning to confidentially file for an IPO as soon as next month  —  Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.'s shares, plans to file confidentially for an initial public offering as soon as March, according to people familiar with the matter.



Sources detail Google's troubles with game development as the company couldn't stomach the complicated creative process amid Stadia's poor streaming numbers (Cecilia D'Anastasio/Wired)

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:
Sources detail Google's troubles with game development as the company couldn't stomach the complicated creative process amid Stadia's poor streaming numbers  —  The tech giant hired 150 game developers for Stadia Games and Entertainment, only to lay them all off.  Sources say it never gave the studios a chance.



Sources: SentinelOne, which develops AI-based endpoint security for all devices and services in a network, is preparing for an IPO that could value it at $10B+ (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: SentinelOne, which develops AI-based endpoint security for all devices and services in a network, is preparing for an IPO that could value it at $10B+  —  - SentinelOne is interviewing banks and might list this year  — Company could seek a valuation of more than $10 billion



Google is sharing data about distortions in light waves passing through its undersea cables with seismologists to help them detect earthquakes (Justine Calma/The Verge)

Justine Calma / The Verge:
Google is sharing data about distortions in light waves passing through its undersea cables with seismologists to help them detect earthquakes  —  That data could one day warn people about tsunamis  —  The web of undersea cables that transmit data around the world could one day be used …



A look at Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42, as sources say US intelligence officials fixated on CEO Xiao Peng ahead of its China divestment and Microsoft deal (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg : A look at Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42, as sources say US intelligence officials fixated on CEO Xiao Peng ahead of its Chin...