Sunday, March 8, 2020

'Open Businesses in India' is growing on Google Search

​​​Studying a list of 606 fintech companies in India, SEMrush crunched data on Google searches over the last 4 years and carried out sentiment analysis. https://ift.tt/2IsMguk https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Extremely rare Nintendo PlayStation console sells for over Rs 2 crore

An extremely rare prototype console that was made as a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo has reportedly been sold to a buyer for $360,000 (approx Rs 2,66,42,000). According to a report by Polygon, the console is believed to be the only one in existence, which is one of the reasons for its high price. 

Of course, there is also a big history behind the console too. Here’s a little back story. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Nintendo was the biggest gaming company on the planet with only Sega giving it any competition. Around that time, the company thought about releasing a new console that would make use of CDs to play games instead of cartridges that were prevalent at the time. So Nintendo went to Sony to create a new gaming console that would make use of CDs. However, mid-way through the partnership, Nintendo pulled out of the deal and decide to work with Phillips. The result of that partnership was the Philips CD-i, which is considered to be one of the worst consoles ever. Sony, however, decided to go ahead and create its own console. It was called the PlayStation. You may have heard of it.

The report notes that the rare console, also known as the Nintendo PlayStation or the Super NES CD-ROM, was originally found by one Terry Diebold inside a box of things that were once in the possession of former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Olaf Olafsson. Olafsson would later work at Advanta Corporation, where Diebold used to work. When Advanta Corporation when bankrupt, many of its items were privately auctioned off, which is how Diebold reportedly got it.

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Twitch streamers make thousand by literally just sleeping

Twitch streamers make thousand by literally just sleeping

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Moments before falling asleep live on Twitch, streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo thought about how pissed off his mom would be if he told her that he made money sleeping.

“She thinks I do nothing now,” Rinaudo joked to his live viewers. “Wait until she finds out I literally slept and made money.”

Rinaudo enabled a bot that let his viewers submit videos if they made a cash donation, and went to bed. On the top right of the screen, the clips played on, while most of the display was taken up by Rinaudo resting on his back or side. Many hours and many cringy videos later, he woke up $5,600 richer. To show he wasn’t blind to how the whole stunt came off, Rinaudo gave a Nintendo Switch away to one of his patrons.

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https://arstechnica.com

Call of Duty: Mobile to soon get a new map called Meltdown

Call of Duty: Mobile players will soon get a new map to play on. The developers have teased the new map on Twitter and it has been correctly identified as Meltdown by players. Meltdown is a multiplayer map that was first introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The map sees players fight it out in a nuclear powerplant and is said to encourage medium to close range engagements. 

Besides a new map, the developers will also add a new weapon to the game, namely an assault rifle called the KN-44. The rifle is said to offer a slow rate of fire but makes up for it by offering high damage. The weapon should be available from next week onwards and players will be able to acquire the weapon in two ways. They can either pay for it via the Color Spectrum Draw, which would offer a legendary version of the KN-44 called Color Spectrum. Players will also be able to grind their way to the gun via the Heavy Shot event which would task players to play various modes, get kills in MP matches and more. 

By mid-March, players will also be able to try a new class in Battle Royale, called Trap Master. Details about the abilities of the new class are scarce, but judging by the name, players will most likely be able to set traps for opposing players, which might make it appealing for those who prefer stealth and tactics over straight-up firefights. It might also make for a good support class to have in a squad.  

 

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Equinix, a leading provider of colocation services, says it has closed its acquisition of bare metal cloud provider Packet for $335M in a deal announced in Jan. (Yevgeniy Sverdlik/Data Center Knowledge)

Yevgeniy Sverdlik / Data Center Knowledge:
Equinix, a leading provider of colocation services, says it has closed its acquisition of bare metal cloud provider Packet for $335M in a deal announced in Jan.  —  The colocation giant's platform-building endeavor enters a whole new phase.  —  Equinix has closed its acquisition of Packet …



Apple will now fix your iPad Airs faulty screen for free

If you own the latest third-generation Apple iPad Air tablet, you might be eligible for Apple’s latest service programme that aims to fix a faulty screen on some units for free. More specifically, you have reason to concern yourself with this new service programme only if you own an iPad Air manufactured between March and October 2019. If you believe you’re an affected iPad Air customer, you can visit an Apple Authorised Service Provider for support. Find the nearest one by clicking here.

“Apple has determined that, under certain circumstances, the screen on a limited number of iPad Air (3rd generation) devices may go blank permanently. A brief flicker or flash may appear before the screen goes blank,” writes the Cupertino-based technology giant in its recently published support page following a number of recent user complaints regarding blank screens on some new iPad Air units. Apple promises to honour this new service claim free of charge for up to two years after the first retail sale of an affected iPad Air.

Determining the manufacturing date of your iPad Air can be tricky as Apple believes it has no reason to share that information with you. You can, however, attempt to retrieve it through the following steps: visit Settings > General > About on your iPad Air. Press and hold the list item ‘Serial Number’ and copy it. Paste it in the text box found on this external website, verify you’re not a robot by checking the reCAPTCHA checkbox, and then tap Check. The page that follows should tell you when your tablet was manufactured. If you're not comfortable with sharing your iPad Air's serial number on an external websute, you can always check its warranty status using Apple’s own web utility from here.

Apple launched the third-generation iPad Air globally nearly a year ago at a starting price of Rs 44,990. Sitting between the iPad and the 11-inch iPad Pro in terms of price, the iPad Air features a 10.5-inch True Tone Retina display that is compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil. It is powered by an Apple A12 Bionic chip with up to 256GB of internal storage capacity. Like the more affordable iPad, it features Touch ID for added security. Like all other iPad models, it is available in Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi + cellular variants. You can read our review of the Apple iPad Air here.

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Nubia Red Magic 5G smartphone specification confirmed, will come with 144Hz refresh rate, Snapdragon 865 SoC and more

Nubia has pretty much revealed everything that one would need to know about it’s upcoming Red Magic 5G smartphone. The information was revealed via a teaser image that was posted on Nubia’s own website. The image has confirmed a number of features of the smartphone, before its official launch on March 12. 

As per the image, the phone will sport a 144Hz display refresh rate and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC with support for 5G and Wi-Fi 6 technology. In terms of memory, the device would offer UFC 3.0 storage and 16GB LPDDR5 RAM. 

The Nubia Red Magic 5G also packs a cooling fan, just like its predecessor. It also offers support for 55W fast charging, which should ensure that users don’t have to wait a very long time to charge the device back up to 100%. Other features include an in-display fingerprint sensor and a triple-rear camera setup with 64MP Sony sensor. 

Images of the smartphone have already been leaked a few weeks back. The images suggested that the drive would feature a ‘REDMAGIC’ logo that appears to feature RGB lighting underneath. The image also suggests that the frame of the phone will feature shoulder buttons, as well as air vents as well as pogo connector pins. 

Images of the phone were leaked a few days back and revealed a vertical camera strip that houses three cameras followed by the “REDMAGIC” logo that appears to light up in different colours. The top and bottom edges are not clearly visible. However, the edge consists of a shoulder button, an air vent, and a pogo connector. Moreover, the previous image has revealed that it will sport an air vent, a volume rocker and a power key on its red-coloured spine.

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New phones from Oppo, Realme; Xiaomi Mi Band rival; 15 tech events cancelled due to Coronavirus; WhatsApp dark mode and other top tech news

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Sony slashes PlayStation 4 Pro price, reportedly throws in Death Stranding

If you’re in the market for Sony’s high-end gaming console, you’re in luck. Sony has dropped the price of the PlayStation 4 Pro by a couple of thousand rupees, which means you can get one with 1TB storage from Amazon.in today for Rs 36,899. But that’s not all. According to a report by The Mako Reactor, Sony’s new PlayStation 4 Pro bundle will now ship with a free copy of Death Stranding. You should be able to see the new bundle with the updated price on online retail sites and offline game stores in the next few days.

Though the new Sony PlayStation 4 Pro bundle appears to offer better value at a reduced rate, it actually doesn’t. The previous bundle on Amazon.in was priced at Rs 38,710 but it shipped with an additional DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller, which is worth close to Rs 4,000, as opposed to a copy of Death Stranding, which is currently priced at Rs 1,840 on Amazon.in. The new bundle is expected to do away with the additional controller but include a copy of the new Hideo Kojima action game instead.

The bundle currently spotted on Amazon.in features the updated price tag but does not carry the new bundle information that swaps the extra controller for a copy of Death Stranding, which means you could get the old bundle (console + two wireless controllers, that is) at the updated price if you place an order today. The report, which claims that the source of the new information is part of the supply chain, says Sony is expected to make the price update official in the next few days. 

Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding went live for the PlayStation 4 platform in November last year and is expected to make it to PC in June later this year. Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, and Léa Seydoux, Death Stranding is an open world game that revolves around a courier who is tasked with the delivery of essential supplies in a world that no longer has a wireless communications network. The game has several asynchronous online functions. Read our review of it here.

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Saturday, March 7, 2020

How to get WhatsApp's new feature that 'reduces eye strain'

Most apps and smartphone interfaces have already adopted dark mode, including iOS and if you are wondering why it’s a good idea to activate dark mode and also how to do it, then read on... https://ift.tt/3cHKwvh

Profile of China-based Blued, one of the largest gay dating apps in the world, which has succeeded by navigating complex rules while staying clear of activism (Yi-Ling Liu/New York Times)

Yi-Ling Liu / New York Times:
Profile of China-based Blued, one of the largest gay dating apps in the world, which has succeeded by navigating complex rules while staying clear of activism  —  Blued, one of the biggest gay dating apps in the world, has succeeded because it plays by the ever-shifting rules for L.G.B.T.Q. China …



AutoRABIT, which provides cloud-based DevOps, backup, and recovery services specifically designed for the Salesforce platform, raises $12.5M Series A (FinSMEs)

FinSMEs:
AutoRABIT, which provides cloud-based DevOps, backup, and recovery services specifically designed for the Salesforce platform, raises $12.5M Series A  —  AutoRABIT, a San Ramon, Calif.-based provider of enterprise-grade cloud DevOps solutions for the Salesforce ecosystem, raised $12.5M in Series A funding.



ISS Astronauts Grow Earth-Like Fresh Lettuce in Space

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have managed to successfully cultivate salad crop -- red romaine lettuce -- that is free of disease-causing microbes and safe to eat, and is... https://ift.tt/32YQrre

Health Data Analytics Institute, which provides an AI-powered service to predict health care outcomes, announces $16M round, which it will use to launch an API (Kyle Wiggers/VentureBeat)

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Health Data Analytics Institute, which provides an AI-powered service to predict health care outcomes, announces $16M round, which it will use to launch an API  —  Making sense of disparate data is a task at which AI excels.  Health Data Analytics Institute (HDAI) is a case in point …



Atlanta-based supply chain tech company Dematic acquires UK-based logistics automation software company DAI for ~$133.5M, as Dematic parent KION completes deal (Jessica Saunders/Atlanta Business Journal)

Jessica Saunders / Atlanta Business Journal:
Atlanta-based supply chain tech company Dematic acquires UK-based logistics automation software company DAI for ~$133.5M, as Dematic parent KION completes deal  —  Supply chain technology company Dematic is expanding its software offerings with the acquisition of a UK-based company that specializes in logistics automation software.



PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which improves e-commerce UX; Everstone bought Wingify for $200M (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch : PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which...