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Amazon Partners with Qualcomm to put Alexa assistant in More Headphones

23Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Amazon Partners with Qualcomm to put Alexa assistant in More Headphones

Amazon is joining hands with microchip firm Qualcomm for the purpose of spreading the use of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant in wireless headphones. Following the deal, Qualcomm will release a set of chips that any maker of Bluetooth headphones can use to embed Alexa directly into the device. With this, when the headphones are paired to a phone with the Alexa app on it, the users will be able to talk to the voice assistant by pressing a button on the headphones. The functioning of the device would be similar to Apple's AirPods wireless earbuds, which enable users can tap the devices to talk to Apple's virtual assistant, Siri. Qualcomm has developed a pre-made circuit that headphone makers can drop into their device to imbue it with Alexa. "This radically reduces their cost and time t...

Facebook to Have its Largest India Office in Bengaluru

22Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Facebook to Have its Largest India Office in Bengaluru

The social media giant Facebook is eyeing to take up about 220,000 sq ft office space in Bengaluru which would be their largest office in India. The company has acquired the space in Embassy Golf Links, an office park that houses marquee clients such as IBM, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and reinsurer Swiss Re among others. With this, The city’s booming commercial market will now house all the Big Five tech firms that include Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google. The company is expected to move into the new facility next year which would supposedly have a headcount of 2,200. The exact nature of operations is not clear immediately, however, the rent stands at Rs 130 per sq ft, or Rs 34 crore a year. The Menlo Park-based company opened its first India office in Hyderabad, in 201...

Uber Introduces VoIP Calling Feature on its Platform

20Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Uber Introduces VoIP Calling Feature on its Platform

The ride-hailing major Uber has come up with VoIP calling feature on its app which will allow users to call the driver (and vice-versa) over Wi-Fi. Thus, the next time you travel via Uber, you can book a ride without having a SIM card connection as well. This might really be helpful if the users wish to save on international roaming costs or if you don't have a working phone while you are traveling. In this case, the users can simply use Wi-Fi to contact the Uber driver. The Uber VoIP call is similar to any VoIP calling apps like WhatsApp, Skype, etc. Also, the users can make use of their mobile internet pack to make calls via Uber app. This will also help both the driver and the rider to be within the Uber app for an improved experience. Uber stated that the idea behind this is t...

Sony Launches ‘World’s Toughest and Fastest’ SD Cards in India

17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Sony Launches ‘World’s Toughest and Fastest’ SD Cards in India

Sony expanded the SF-G Series with the launch of the new UHS-II SD card range that is touted to be the world's toughest and fastest. Dubbed Tough, the new SF-G series is claimed to offer read speeds up to 300MBps and write speeds up to 299MBps. Sony has also offered a bend proof build that can be bent to 180N and resist a drop of up to five metres. All this makes it the new SD cards 18 times stronger than the SD standard that withstands 10N force, Sony claims. Further, the new SF-G Series SD cards have an IP68 rating that makes them water- and dust-resistant. While the 64GB Sony SF-G64T in the new series comes with a price tag of Rs. 13,290, the 128GB SF-G128T is priced at Rs. 24,590. Both new models are already available for purchase through all Sony Center, Alpha Flagship stores, and ...

After Instagram, Facebook Messenger Eyeing to Launch the Unsend Feature

15Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

After Instagram, Facebook Messenger Eyeing to Launch the Unsend Feature

After Instagram, social networking platform Facebook is prepping up to bring in the feature of ‘unsend’ on its messaging app Facebook Messenger. And thus, soon the feature may be nearing a release. Initially, Facebook announced that it would be adding the "unsend" feature for everyone in April after it came out that messages CEO Mark Zuckerberg had sent to other users were removed from the users' inboxes while older messages that those users sent Zuckerberg were still present. The feature of deleting messages on the messenger was available since long, however, deleting those messages would not delete the message from the recipient's inbox. Photo sharing app Instagram that is owned by Facebook already has the "unsend" feature that removes the message from both inboxes, even messages f...

13Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Instagram Testing Tapping to Replace Scrolling of Posts

The photo-messaging mobile application Instagram that is owned by Facebook is reportedly testing "tapping" as a replacement of scrolling through posts on the platform. The social firm is testing the tap-to-advance feature to navigate between posts in the Explore section of the app. "We're always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and bring you closer to the people and things you love," an Instagram spokesperson stated. As of now, Instagram already provides an auto-advance feature in its "Videos You Might Like" section of Explore which automatically plays the next video when the last one finishes. "As for whether this could come to the main feed, an Instagram spokesperson said it is not something they're actively thinking about right now," the report added. The tap-...

Messenger Lite Rolled Out for iOS, Available only in Turkey

11Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Messenger Lite Rolled Out for iOS, Available only in Turkey

With all the mobile applications launching the lighter version of their apps, Facebook also came up with with the Messenger Lite app in October 2016, but it was available only for Android users back then. After two years of its existence, the lite app is being now rolled out on for iOS users as well, however, it will only be available in Turkey for now. The Messenger Lite app, like all the other lite apps, is small in size, uses less data, and works even in spotty connectivity. The Facebook messenger’s lite app is only 10MB in size whereas the normal Messenger app is huge around 140MB in size on the App Store. In comparison, the Facebook Lite app for iOS is about 16.3MB in size. The company is planning to roll out the app on iOS in other countries as well but it may take some time. T...

All About the Newly Launched Pixel 3 and Other Google Devices

10Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

All About the Newly Launched Pixel 3 and Other Google Devices

The technology giant Google launched its third edition of Pixel smartphone, a Google Home smart speaker with a display and its first tablet computer on Tuesday. The company with these launches is making a larger push into hardware. Google Pixel has been a great success since its launch and the topped Amazon in smart speaker sales in recent quarters. Google’s Android software has gone from being an also-ran to the brains of most of the world's smartphones. The new smartphone Pixel 3 is priced at $799, and its larger sibling Pixel 3 XL is priced at $899. With Google’s latest entries into a phone lineup it hopes will someday be as popular as Apple's iPhone. The new Pixel 3, Pixel Slate and Google Home Hub. All the big #madebygoogle news, right here for you. pic.twitter.com/...

Google Introduces New App Called Intra on Play Store

9Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Google Introduces New App Called Intra on Play Store

Google has always been introducing new technologies and come up with new softwares for the public. This time, Google's cybersecurity unit "Jigsaw" has launched a new application called "Intra" to the Google Play Store. This app has been rolled out to protect users from Domain Name System (DNS) manipulation attacks. Talking about DNS, it is basically the phonebook of the Internet from where users access information online through domain names. It converts domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources. "DNS manipulation attack is used to block access to news sites, social media platforms and messaging apps says Jigsaw, and this new application is expected to prevent that," Android Headlines said. The new app Intra is also expected to protect users against phishing...

9Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Microsoft May Launch Xbox Game Streaming Service

Microsoft is gearing up to fight with Google and start its own game streaming service, basically, an Xbox game streaming service, designed to bring the console’s titles to a slew of different platforms. The service is the latest offering to offer gamers the promise of cross-platform autonomy. The public trials of the service will be done next year. For now, the company is busily recruiting developers to bring content to the service and testing in private beta. “Cloud game-streaming is a multi-faceted, complex challenge. Unlike other forms of digital entertainment, games are interactive experiences that dynamically change based on player input,” said Microsoft. “In addition to solving latency, other important considerations are supporting the graphical fidelity and framerates that pres...

Microsoft Suspends Latest Windows 10 Due to Data Loss Reports

8Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Microsoft Suspends Latest Windows 10 Due to Data Loss Reports

Windows 10 was made available to the users only a few days ago and has the update has now been suspended citing various reports of user data loss. “We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating,” the company stated. Though the company hasn’t officially started pushing the update, some users who’ve downloaded the OS refresh have begun reporting the deletion of documents, photos and other info on a variety of different forums. The company opened up the latest version of the desktop/laptop operating system as part of its big Surface event this week. The company is still investigating what is going on and how widespread the issue is. Plans to begin pushing it to us...

Facebook Marketplace has Launched New AI-Powered Features

5Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments

Tech

Facebook Marketplace has Launched New AI-Powered Features

This year Facebook has been dealing with a lot of issues related to security and safety of users. Since then the company has been making efforts to improve its image and come back in the scenario clean and clear. Celebrating the second anniversary of its ‘Martketplace’, the social media giant has launched new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered features to assist its buyers and sellers complete transactions faster. Facebook Marketplace came into existence in 2016 as a place for Facebook users to buy and sell within their local communities. It has emerged to be a popular place where people around the world can discover things they love, connect with people locally, launch a business, and earn a living through Facebook. "We believe AI can fundamentally change the way people shop, and...