Tuesday, 31 January 2023

BTC, ETH Open Trading in Narrow Range on India’s Union Budget Announcement Day

Most of the popular cryptocurrencies opened trading with profits on Wednesday, February 1, the same day India is set to get its Union Budget for the fiscal year of 2023-2024. Bitcoin, with a small gain of 1.36 percent, is currently priced $23,129 (roughly Rs. 18.9 lakh). The oldest cryptocurrency also maintained a similar price point on international exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. It is noteworthy, that Bitcoin has retained its value above the mark of $23,000 (roughly Rs. 18 lakh) for the second consecutive week.

Ether grew in value by 1.01 percent as it stepped into the trade zone on Wednesday. The price of the crypto asset stood at $1,583 (roughly Rs. 1.29 lakh) at the time of writing, showed the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360.

“BTC has barely gained profits in the past seven days. ETH did rebound from its earlier lows, and its next resistance would be at the price point of $1,600 (1.30 lakh) level. Both of these top two cryptocurrencies today, continued to trade in a narrow range as investors await the US Federal Reserve's decision and India's Union Budget,” Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of crypto investment platform Mudrex told Gadgets 360.

Cardano, Polygon, Polkadot, and Litecoin reeled-in profits alongside meme coins Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.

Small gains also added to the prices of Avalanche, Uniswap, Cosmos, Leo, Monero, and Bitcoin Cash.

Meanwhile, a very small number of altcoins were struck with losses on Wednesday.

These include Binance Coin, Solana, Tron, Chainlink, Stellar, and Near Protocol.

Overall, the global crypto market cap rose by 1.01 percent in the last 24 hours. As per CoinMarketCap, the crypto sector valuation currently stands at $1.05 trillion (roughly Rs. 86,10,932 crore).

Despite the volatility element associated with crypto experimentations, people from around the world are getting drawn to this class of digital assets as instruments of investments.

Industry experts have time and again said that as more nations bring in laws to govern the crypto sector, its fluctuating nature will subside and crypto assets would become safer to invest in.

India, that taxes all profits churned out of crypto trading by 30 percent, is taking gradual steps into the cryptosphere.

Sector insiders have urged India's finance ministry to lower the tax bracket around crypto and make conditions favourable for people to establish rypto-related ecosystems in the nation.

“Last year, the government's taxation norms effectively protected investors' funds and exchanges. The crypto industry in India is now looking forward to a more progressive taxation system in the upcoming Union Budget. Classifying cryptocurrencies as an asset class, similar to other assets, and allowing offsetting gains against losses would encourage more retail and institutional participation. The current 1 percent TDS on every transaction might discourage the adoption of cryptocurrencies. It could be a great move for the government to address these issues,” Patel from Mudrex noted.


Will crypto tax hurt the industry in India? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 



from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/leDuNAL

Britain to Set 'Robust' Standards With First Regulations for Crypto Assets, Minister Says

Britain's finance ministry plans "robust" regulations for crypto assets, following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last year, which left millions of people nursing billions of dollars in losses.

Crypto is currently unregulated globally, with firms only having to carry out checks to prevent money laundering. However, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that more than 80 percent of license applicants were unable to show they could do this properly as "dark money" flows through the sector.

The draft rules, to be published on Wednesday, would ensure robust, transparent, and fair standards, consistent with the approach to traditional finance, Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We remain steadfast in our commitment to grow the economy and enable technological change and innovation – and this includes cryptoasset technology," Griffith said.

The new rules come after rising interest rates led to a string of bankruptcies in the sector in 2022, wiping $1.4 trillion (roughly Rs. 11.5 crores) off the value of the crypto market. The price of Bitcoin, the most widely traded coin, plunged 60 percent.

The market rout shook confidence in cryptocurrencies, though interest in the underlying technology, most commonly known as blockchain, for other uses like payments remains.

There will be a three-month public consultation on the new plans, followed by proposals for detailed rules from the FCA.

The ministry said its approach would mitigate the most significant risks in the sector.

"These proposals will place responsibility on crypto trading venues for defining the detailed content requirements for admission and disclosure documents - ensuring crypto exchanges have fair and robust standards," the ministry said.

There will be rules for financial intermediaries, which facilitate transactions, and custodians, which store customer assets.

The failure of FTX and other exchanges triggered calls for regulation of the industry to protect investors. Regulators are focusing on prising open "crypto conglomerates" which combine activities like trading, lending and custody under one roof, but with traditional regulatory safeguards between them absent.

The European Union is already finalising its first set of crypto rules.

Firms already authorised by the FCA would be temporarily allowed to issue their own promotions, while the new regulatory regime is being introduced, the ministry said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


Is 2023 the year when you should finally buy a foldable phone? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/tlO9aFk

Apple Workplace Rules Violate US Labour Law, Agency Finds

Apple maintains workplace policies that unlawfully discourage employees from discussing working conditions, a US labour agency has found.

The National Labor Relations Board will issue a complaint targeting the policies and claiming Apple executives made comments that stymied worker organising unless the company settles first, an agency official said on Monday in an email reviewed by Reuters.

The official had sent the email to Ashley Gjovik, a former Apple senior engineering manager who filed complaints against the company in 2021.

The NLRB investigates charges filed by workers and unions and decides whether to issue formal complaints against companies. The agency can seek to strike down workplace policies and require employers to notify workers of legal violations.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The company has said it takes worker complaints seriously and thoroughly investigates them.

An NLRB spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gjovik in an email on Tuesday said she hoped the development will spur more Apple workers to speak up about working conditions and to organise.

In her complaints, Gjovik said various Apple rules, including those relating to confidentiality and surveillance policies, deter employees from discussing issues such as pay equity and sex discrimination with each other and the media.

Gjovik also cited a 2021 email from Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook that allegedly sought to stop workers from speaking to the press and said "people who leak confidential information do not belong here."

Many tech companies have strict confidentiality policies designed to protect trade secrets.

US labour law prohibits policies that could discourage workers from exercising their right to band together to improve working conditions.

Apple is facing several pending NLRB complaints, including one claiming the tech giant unlawfully required workers at an Atlanta retail store to attend anti-union meetings. Apple has denied wrongdoing.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

 


Is 2023 the year when you should finally buy a foldable phone? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
 


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/bN0nhDS

TikTok CEO to Testify Before US Congress in March Amid Increased Scrutiny Over Security Concerns

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Commerce Committee in March, as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

Chew will testify before the committee on March 23, which will be his first appearance before a congressional committee, said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chair of the panel, in a statement on Monday.

The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns.

"ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data," McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security.

TikTok confirmed on Monday Chew will testify.

"We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address concerns about US national security before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce," a company spokesperson said, adding the company hopes "by sharing details of our comprehensive plans with the full committee, Congress can take a more deliberative approach to the issues at hand."

The company also said "there is no truth to Rep. McMorris Rodgers' claim that TikTok has made US user data available to the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party has neither direct nor indirect control of ByteDance or TikTok."

McMorris Rodgers and other Republican lawmakers have demanded more information from TikTok. They want to know its impact on young people amid concerns about harmful content, and they want additional details on the potential sexual exploitation of minors on the platform, the statement said.

For three years, TikTok – which has more than 100 million US users – has been seeking to assure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its content cannot be manipulated by China's Communist Party or anyone else under Beijing's influence.

The US government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020, ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that US user data could be passed onto China's government.

CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for more than two years aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of US TikTok users. The White House on Friday declined to comment on whether it would support a legislative ban on TikTok or the status of the talks.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/olHwhpQ

FTX Sues Voyager Digital as One Bankrupt Firm Seeks to Claw Back $446 Million in Loan Payments From Another

Bankrupt crypt exchange FTX sued crypto lender Voyager Digital on Monday, seeking to claw back $445.8 million (roughly Rs. 3,650 crore) in loan repayments that FTX made before collapsing into bankruptcy in November 2022.

FTX and Voyager both filed for bankruptcy amid a 2022 collapse in cryptocurrency markets, but Voyager's bankruptcy preceded FTX's filing by four months.

After Voyager filed in July, it demanded repayment of all outstanding loans to FTX and its affiliate hedge fund Alameda Research.

FTX said in a court filing that on Alameda's behalf, it paid Voyager $248.8 million (roughly Rs. 2,033 crore) in September and $193.9 million (roughly Rs. 1,600 crore) in October. FTX also made a $3.2 million (roughly Rs. 26 crore) interest payment in August, according to its court filings.

Because those loan payments were made so close to FTX's own bankruptcy filing, they are eligible to be clawed back and potentially used to repay other FTX creditors, according to FTX's complaint.

FTX, once among the world's top crypto exchanges, shook the sector in November by filing for bankruptcy, leaving an estimated 9 million customers and other investors facing losses in the billions of dollars.

Its founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been indicted on fraud charges, and several top executives, including Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to fraud. Bankman-Fried has denied wrongdoing and is scheduled for trial in October.

FTX initially appeared to weather the storm that brought down Voyager and other crypto firms in the summer of 2022, presenting itself as a "white knight" that could stabilize reeling crypto markets. FTX offered to buy Voyager's platform in a bankruptcy auction, but the proposed acquisition fell apart when FTX imploded in November.

In its Monday court filing, FTX acknowledged the allegations that Alameda raided FTX customer assets to cover its risky borrowing and lending. But it said Voyager and other crypto lenders were complicit in Alameda's conduct, "knowingly or recklessly" pushing their clients' assets toward Alameda.

"Voyager's business model was that of a feeder fund," FTX said. "It solicited retail investors and invested their money with little or no due diligence in cryptocurrency investment funds like Alameda and Three Arrows Capital."

Three Arrows Capital also went bankrupt in 2022, and its founders have refused to cooperate with court-appointed liquidators who are trying to recover assets for Three Arrows customers.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/drYyPpg

Michael Jackson’s Nephew Cast as Michael Jackson in Upcoming Biopic on the Late ‘King of Pop’

The Michael Jackson biopic, originally announced in 2019 and revealed as titled ‘Michael', has finally cast a lead actor to play the late 'King of Pop'. Jaafar Jackson, the nephew of Michael Jackson, has been confirmed to be playing his uncle in the biopic, which currently does not have a release date. The film is being directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer series), and is produced by Graham King, who previously helmed Freddie Mercury's biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

The announcement of the lead casting was made by Lionsgate, with producer Graham King saying "I met Jaafar over two years ago and was blown away by the way he organically personifies the spirit and personality of Michael,” as per a report by SlashFilm. "I am beyond thrilled that he has come on board to portray his uncle and cannot wait for the world to see him on the big screen as Michael Jackson,” continued King, who produced 2018's critical and commercial success Bohemian Rhapsody.

The announcement was confirmed by Jaafar Jackson himself in a tweet, which also features an image of the actor in costume. Jaafar is the 26-year-old son of Jermaine Jackson, the elder brother of Michael Jackson, and his former bandmate on The Jackson 5, the singing group comprising members of the Jackson family.

The film will be directed by Antoine Fuqua, and is reportedly being made with the approval of Michael Jackson's estate. This does mean that the film will likely be able to use the late singer's original music and footage as needed, but as suggested by the Slashfilm report, this could mean that many of the controversies surrounding Jackson and his career could be washed over or underplayed. As of now, ‘Michael' does not have a confirmed release date, but is expected to start filming this year.


The Chromecast with Google TV that runs on Android TV is here. When will Google learn how to name products? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/kF7aRl8

Monday, 30 January 2023

Poco X5 5G, Poco X5 Pro 5G India Launch Date Set for February 6: All Details

Poco had previously teased the arrival of its X5 series. Over the past few weeks, there have been several leaks and reports surrounding the phones. The series, expected to feature a base model and a Pro variant, was spotted on several certification websites indicating its impending release. It was also recently listed on a Hungarian retail website. Confirming previous leaks and speculations about the release date of the smartphones, the company has now announced the official India and global launch date for Poco X5 5G and Poco X5 Pro 5G.

The official Poco India Twitter handle (@IndiaPOCO) announced the India release date for the Poco X5 5G and Poco X5 Pro 5G via a Tweet. The launch date has been set for February 6. On the day, the online launch event will take place at 5.30pm IST. The smartphones will also launch globally the same day.

According to a previous report, the Poco X5 Pro 5G was expected to launch in India in three storage variants - 6GB RAM + 128GB, 8GB RAM + 128GB, and 8GB RAM + 256GB, and was also tipped to be priced between Rs. 21,000 - Rs. 23,000, as opposed to its predecessor Poco X4 Pro 5G, which was priced at Rs. 14,999.

Previously, the Poco X5 5G and Poco X5 Pro 5G was spotted on a Hungarian retail website that suggested a few key specifications.

Poco X5 5G specifications, features (expected)

The Poco X5 5G listing on the Hungarian retail site suggests that the phone will be available in Green, Blue, and Black colour variants. It also hints that the handsets will support nano-SIM, and run MIUI 13 for POCO based on Android 11. As per the website, the phone is said to have a 6.67-inch AMOLED full-HD+ screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels. The website hints that the phone will be equipped with a Qualcomm SM6375 (Snapdragon 695) SoC with 6GB of RAM.

Poco X5's triple rear camera setup will reportedly include a 48-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel secondary sensor, and a 2-megapixel sensor. The front camera is said to use a 16-megapixel sensor. Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC connectivity will also be reportedly available on the phone. It could have a 5,000mAh battery and fast charging support of up to 33W.

Poco X5 Pro 5G specifications, features (expected)

Expected to launch as a rebadged version of the Redmi Note 12 Pro Speed Edition, which was launched in China in December 2022, the Poco X5 Pro 5G is expected to have similar features and specifications.

The Poco X5 Pro 5G could be offered in Black, Blue, and Yellow colourways, according to the Hungarian retail website, and will run MIUI 14 for POCO, which is based on Android 12. The phone is said to come with a 6.67-inch AMOLED full-HD+ display with 16K colours and a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 pixels. It will reportedly be equipped with a Snapdragon 778G SoC and 6GB of RAM.

A triple rear camera setup is said to be available on the Poco X5 Pro sporting a 108-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel secondary sensor, and a 2-megapixel lens, as well as a 16-megapixel lens for the front camera. The Pro model, like the base model, is said to offer Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.2 support. The Poco X5 Pro could include a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging support.


Is Poco F4 5G a new best-of contender under Rs. 30,000? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/gftrxBI

Samsung Expects Smartphone Demand to Decline YoY as Firm Reports 69 Percent Plunge in Quarterly Profit

Samsung on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly profit since 2014 and said persistent macroeconomic uncertainty will make for a tough first half year, though demand is likely to start recovering in the second half.

Sluggish demand and inventory adjustment will continue to impact the chip business in the first quarter, Samsung said in a statement, adding it expects "smartphone demand to decline year-on-year due to the economic slowdown in major regions".

The world's biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones reported a 69 percent plunge in fourth-quarter profit, as consumer demand for electronic devices dropped while clients spent less in a weak economy, dragging down memory chip prices.

At KRW 4.3 trillion (roughly Rs. 29,000 crore), October-December operating profit was Samsung's lowest quarterly profit in eight years. Revenue fell 8 percent to KRW 70.5 trillion won (roughly Rs. 4.7 lakh crore).

With memory chip prices falling by double-digit percentages in 2022, Samsung's chip profit likewise tumbled - to about KRW 270 billion (roughly Rs. 1,800 crore) in the fourth quarter from KRW 8.83 trillion (roughly Rs. 58,600 crore) in the same period a year prior, marking the lowest since a 2011 change in accounting standards, Samsung's website showed.

Some analysts expect the chip business to book a loss in the first quarter, pulling overall profit below that of the fourth.

Last week, chipmaker Intel said it expects to lose money in the current quarter as the personal computer industry experiences a chip glut.

Memory chip rivals Micron Technology and SK Hynix had already said they would slash investment in 2023.

Investors will be watching for whether Samsung avoids mentioning a direct chip production cut - as is its usual stance - or rather gives a clear signal of production cuts given the severity of the memory chip down-cycle.

In mobile, Samsung said fourth-quarter profit fell to KRW 1.7 trillion (roughly Rs. 11,300 crore) from KRW 2.66 trillion (roughly Rs. 18,000 crore) a year earlier, as a decline in low- and mid-end smartphone sales were greater than expected due to "continued inflation and geopolitical instability."

Samsung plans to unveil its latest Galaxy S flagship smartphones later this week.

Shares in Samsung fell 2.1 percent in morning trade, versus a 0.2 percent drop in the wider market.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/KL74Orv

Samsung Tipped to Offer Four Exclusive Colour Options for Galaxy S23 Series on Official Online Store

Samsung Galaxy S23 series is one of the most eagerly awaited smartphone lineup this year. The series is expected to launch with three models, all of which will be revealed at the February 1 Galaxy Unpacked event. The Galaxy S23 lineup will most likely include a base model, a Plus model, and a high-end Ultra variant. Numerous leaks and hints about the upcoming smartphones have surfaced in recent weeks. According to previous reports, the phones were to be available in four colour variants. A new leak suggests that Samsung Galaxy S23 series models may have more colour options, exclusively at the online Samsung store.

Tweets by tipsters Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) and SnoopyTech (@snoopytech) suggest that the Galaxy S23 series of smartphones are likely to be available in more colour options than previously reported. The tweet by Ross Young said that the models will be available in additional Gray, Light Blue, Light Green, and Red colour options, along with the Phantom Black, Cotton Flower (Cream), Botanic Green, and Misty Lilac colourways tipped before. The tweet by SnoopyTech added that the additional colours will be available only on the Samsung online store.

A previous report said that the Samsung Galaxy S23 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant may be priced at Rs. 79,999 in India. The same report added that the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage Samsung Galaxy S23+ will be available at Rs. 89,999 and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is expected to be priced at Rs. 1,14,999.

The Galaxy S23 series is reportedly expected to have Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection for all its models. Earlier reports tipped that the phones are expected to be powered by a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC with a clock speed of up to 3.36GHz.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra is expected to feature a 200-megapixel HP2 primary sensor, as opposed to the 108-megapixel HM3 sensor in its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The top-of-the-line handset can also reportedly capture 4K quality portrait videos at 30 frames per second.


Do the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 offer enough over last year's models? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/T2i7B1t

The Last of Us Episode 4 Trailer: A Road Trip Poses Big Trouble for Joel and Ellie

The Last of Us episode 4 trailer is out. HBO has dropped a preview for next week's episode of the post-apocalyptic drama based on the eponymous PlayStation video game, teasing a new character in the form of Kathleen, a ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City. Melanie Lynskey, best known for her run on Yellowjackets, will portray the role — signifying big trouble for our survivor duo Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Titled 'Please Hold My Hand', the episode will be directed by Jeremy Webb (The Umbrella Academy) and will reportedly be only 50 minutes long — significantly shorter than the 75-minute runtime of episode 3. The Last of Us episode 4 premieres February 6 at 8:30am IST/ February 5 at 9pm ET on Disney+ Hotstar and HBO Max, respectively.

The trailer for The Last of Us episode 4 kicks off by introducing Ellie's (Ramsey) new pet peeve - a disgust for the smell of coffee, as the pair take a break, out in the woods. “It smells like burnt sh-t,” she tells Joel (Pascal), who unbothered by her comments, instantly takes a loud slurp from the flask. While not explicitly mentioned, to Ellie's credit, the coffee must have been strained using some smelly rag or his sock — seeing as they've been travelling for a while. Episode 3 introduced our unlikely greasy-haired ally Bill (Nick Offerman), who was given a surprising love story spin with his partner Frank (Murray Bartlett) in the TV series.

The Last of Us episode 4 trailer puts Joel and Ellie on the road, as they continue their journey to Wyoming. Ellie, who isn't familiar with being in a car, struggles to help with map navigation, causing the duo to halt at a hostile territory. “This is my second day in a f--king car, man. Stop,” she says, upon noticing an injured survivor begging them for help. Believing that he's probably bitten and infected, Joel resumes driving the car, crashing into some debris. “This has gone too far. It has to stop,” an unseen hostage tells the new character Kathleen (Lynskey), who is seen holding a gun to his head. “Where is he?”, she asks with tears in her eyes, presumably referring to Joel. The Last of Us episode 4 trailer then cuts to display some action sequences of our duo stealthily navigating their way across the dilapidated town, and engaging in combat with the last surviving citizens.

“We'll get through this,” Joel assures Ellie at the end of the Last of Us episode 4 trailer, before heading out onto the streets. Circling back to the new character Kathleen, over on Twitter, writer Neil Druckmann commended her performance in the series. “OMG! You crushed your episodes! Can't wait for people to see your character!”, he said, confirming that Lynskey will appear in multiple episodes.

Last week, HBO renewed The Last of Us series for a second season, with Druckmann adding that it will explore the events of the award-winning video game sequel, The Last of Us Part II. Craig Mazin, showrunner and director on episode 1 of the Last of Us also suggested that the continuation might end up being a two-parter, claiming that the story is 'more than a season's worth of television'.

New episodes of The Last of Us stream every Monday on Disney+ Hotstar, at 8:30am IST in India, and Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO Max wherever available. Season 1 comprises of nine episodes.


The Chromecast with Google TV that runs on Android TV is here. When will Google learn how to name products? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/DX3miya

Realme GT Neo 5 Launch Date Revealed via Poster, Will Feature 240W Fast Charging: Details

Realme GT Neo 5, the upcoming addition to the GT Neo series of smartphones, will soon be launched by the company. While speculation and leaks surrounding its debut have been doing the rounds for a while now, the company itself has confirmed the handset's launch via a teaser poster. The upcoming Realme GT Neo 5 will arrive in China in February. The smartphone will succeed the Realme GT Neo 3 5G that was launched in 2022. Realme has previously revealed that the phone will support 240W fast charging.

In a poster shared via Weibo, Realme Chief Marketing Officer Chase Xu confirmed that the Realme GT Neo 5 will be launched in China in February. The brand is yet to reveal the global launch date of the handset. The poster also reveals that the phone will offer 240W fast charging support, which has already been teased by the company.

The handset has already surfaced on benchmarking and certification websites, hinting at its key specifications. It has recently appeared on Geekbench with model number RMX3708. The listing has revealed that the phone will come with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC paired with 16GB of RAM. For software support, the phone will run Android 13.

The phone's chipset is said to feature a prime core with a peak clock speed of 3.0GHz, three cores at 2.50GHz and four cores clocked at 1.79GHz which suggests that the phone will be powered by a octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC.

Additionally, the Realme GT Neo 5 scored 1,279 points and 3,902 points in the single-core in multi-core tests, respectively. The Realme GT Neo 5 will reportedly sport a 6.74-inch OLED display with a full-HD+ (1,240x2,722 pixels) resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. It is said to be equipped with a triple rear camera setup led by a 50-megapixel Sony IMX90 primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. There will be a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front, according to the report.


Where did Realme go wrong with the 10 Pro+ 5G? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/kfSDu7C

OnePlus 11R Design Leaked Ahead of February 7 India Launch: Report

OnePlus has announced that it will launch the OnePlus 11R smartphone in India on February 7. At the Cloud 11 launch event, the OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 TWS earphones will also be unveiled. There have been several reports and leaks surrounding the OnePlus 11R and its release over the past few months. Some reports suggest that OnePlus 11R is the same model that is likely to launch in China as the OnePlus Ace 2. A recent leak shows a design render of the model ahead of its launch.

According to a tweet by tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce), the design for the OnePlus Ace 2 has been leaked and it is quite similar to the OnePlus 11 that was launched in China earlier this month. The phone is expected to be the successor of the OnePlus 10R 5G in India.

The design reveals that the OnePlus 11R will feature a circular camera module with a part of it extending to the side panel. The handset lacks the Hasselblad branding that is unique to the OnePlus 11 5G. The phone also seems to have no telephoto camera sensor. However, the phone is seen having the alert slider.

According to previous reports, the OnePlus 11R is expected to get an 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant and a 16GB RAM + 512GB storage option. The price for the former is expected to be around Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000, while the latter could be priced at around Rs. 45,000 in India.

The OnePlus 11R 5G is expected to have a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,412 pixel) AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It is said to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage.

OnePlus's upcoming smartphone could feature a triple rear camera setup with a 50-megapixel main sensor. An 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens and a 2-megapixel macro lens are also expected. It could also have a 16-megapixel selfie camera. The OnePlus 11R 5G is said to have a 5,000mAh battery with 100W SuperVOOC fast charging support.


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/XYbVjpH

Sunday, 29 January 2023

‘Michael Jordan of Fundraising’: Elon Musk Emerges a Money Maverick in Tesla Tweet Trial

Elon Musk's enigmatic personality and unconventional tactics are emerging as key exhibits in a trial revolving around one of his most polarizing pursuits — tweeting.

The trial, centred on a pair of tweets announcing Musk had obtained the money to take Tesla private in 2018, reeled the 51-year-old billionaire into a federal courtroom in San Francisco for three days of testimony that opened a peephole into his often inscrutable mind.

Musk, who now owns the Twitter service that he deploys as his megaphone, was often a study in contrasts during his roughly eight hours on the stand. The CEO of the electric carmaker is facing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Tesla shareholders after Musk tweeted about a company buyout that didn't happen.

Through both his testimony and the evidence submitted around it, Musk came across as impetuous, brash, combative and contemptuous of anyone who questioned his motives as a game-changing entrepreneur who has inspired comparisons to Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs.

At other times, Musk sounded like the savvy visionary that his supporters hail him to be — an intrepid rebel who by his own estimates has raised more than $100 billion from investors. They have been richly rewarded from his leadership of pioneering companies that include PayPal in digital payments, Tesla in electric vehicles and SpaceX in rocket ships.

“It is relatively easy for me to get investment support because my track record is extremely good,” Musk wryly observed.

But his confidence in his ability to get the money he wants to pursue his plans is one reason he found himself in court. The three-week trial is set to resume Tuesday and head for jury deliberations by Friday.

Here's what to know so far:

Planting the seeds

Evidence and testimony have shown Musk had started to mull taking Tesla private in 2017 so he wouldn't have to hassle with the headaches and distractions that accompany running a publicly traded company.

After a July 31, 2018, meeting with a top representative from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Musk sent a letter to Tesla's board outlining why he wanted to take the automaker private at a price of $420 per share — about 20 percent above its stock price at the time.

Musk was serious enough that he had already discussed the pros and cons with Michael Dell, who had gone through the public-to-private transition in 2013 when he led a $25 billion buyout of the personal computer company bearing his name, according to trial evidence.

The troublesome tweets

The crux of the case hinges on an August 7, 2018, tweet in which Musk declared “funding secured" to take Tesla private. Musk abruptly posted the tweet minutes before boarding his private jet after being alerted that the Financial Times was about to publish a story that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had spent about $2 billion buying a 5 percent stake in Tesla to diversify its interests beyond oil, according to his testimony.

Amid widespread confusion about whether Musk's Twitter account had been hacked or he was joking, Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent.

Musk defended the initial tweet as a well-intentioned move to ensure all Tesla investors knew the automaker might be on its way to ending its then-eight-year run as a publicly held company.

“I had no ill motive,” Musk testified. “My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.”

Guhan Subramanian, a Harvard University business and law professor hired as an expert for shareholder lawyers, derided Musk's method for announcing a potential buyout as an “extreme outlier" fraught with potential conflicts.

“The risk is that Mr. Musk timed his announcement of his (management buyout) proposal to serve his own interests rather then the interests of the company," Subramanian testified.

Where's the money?

There's another issue threatening to undermine Musk's defense. He hadn't locked up the financing for his proposed deal or even pinned down down how much would be needed to pull it off, based on testimony from Musk, other witnesses and other evidence.

That is one reason U.S. District Judge Edward Chen had decided last year that Musk's 2018 tweets were false and has instructed the jury to view them that way.

It also prompted regulators to allege Musk misled investors with the tweets, resulting in a $40 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that also required Musk to step down as Tesla's chairman.

Chen ruled that the 2018 settlement, in which Musk didn't acknowledge wrongdoing and has since lamented making, can't be mentioned to the jury.

Musk testified that he believed he had secured an oral commitment to provide wherever money was needed for a Tesla buyout during a July 31, 2018, face-to-face meeting with Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia's wealth fund.

That was reinforced in testimony from Tesla's former chief financial officer, Deepak Ahuja, who was at the discussions and took al-Rumayyan on a half-hour tour of a Tesla factory.

But a text message al-Rumayyan sent to Musk after the “funding secured" tweets made it appear that the discussions about the Saudi fund financing a private buyout were preliminary.

“I would like to listen to your plan Elon and what are the financial calculations to take it," al-Rumayyan wrote to Musk, according to a copy submitted as evidence in the trial.

Musk framed al-Rumayyan's text as an attempt to backpedal from his previous commitment. He also insisted the Saudi fund had given an “unequivocal commitment" to financing the buyout.

Money manoeuvring

After his 2018 tweets, Musk tried to get the money needed for the Tesla buyout with the help of Egon Durban, co-CEO of the private equity firm Silver Lake, which helped finance the Dell buyout in 2013. Musk also enlisted Dan Dees, a top executive with Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm that had worked closely with Tesla.

In testimony, both Durban and Dees discussed efforts to raise money for a Tesla buyout for a wide range of potential investors that included two Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, as well as Google in documents initially code-named “Project Turbo," then “Project Titanium."

The buyout would have required anywhere from $20 billion to $70 billion, according to the documents — funding that never came close to getting raised, Durban and Dees both testified, largely because Musk scrapped the proposal to take Tesla private on Aug. 24, 2018, after consulting with shareholders.

Tesla's shares are now worth eight times what they were then, after adjusting for two stock splits.

Musk still contends he could have gotten the money had he wanted and, even if there was a shortfall, he could have covered any gap by selling some of his stock in privately held SpaceX. That is a strategy Musk used in his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, except he sold about $23 billion of his stock in Tesla.

Durban and Dees both testified that they had no doubt the money for a buyout could have been raised — echoed by former Tesla director Antonio Gracias.

“He is the Michael Jordan of fundraising," Gracias testified.


Is 2023 the year when you should finally buy a foldable phone? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/pEOoe7z

Chinese Internet Giant Baidu Planning to Launch AI Chatbot Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT in March

Chinese Internet giant Baidu is planning to launch an artificial intelligence chatbot tool similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT in March, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Baidu plans to debut the application by initially embedding it into its main search services, Bloomberg News reported earlier.

ChatGPT's tech works by learning from vast amounts of data how to answer any prompt by a user in a human-like way, offering the information like a search engine would or prose like an aspiring novelist.

Microsoft has a $1 billion investment in San Francisco-based OpenAI that it has looked at increasing, Reuters has reported. The company has also worked to add OpenAI's image-generation software to its Bing search engine in a new challenge to Alphabet Inc's Google.

Last week, the company announced a further multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI, deepening ties with the startup behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT and setting the stage for more competition with rival Alphabet Inc's Google.

Microsoft in a blog post announced "the third phase" of its partnership "through a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment" including additional supercomputer development and cloud-computing support for OpenAI.

Both companies will be able to commercialize the AI tech that results, the blog post said.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the terms of the latest investment, which some media outlets earlier reported would be $10 billion (roughly Rs. 82,000 crore).

The widely anticipated investment shows how Microsoft is locked in competition with Google, the inventor of key AI research that is planning its own unveil for this spring, a person familiar with the matter previously told Reuters.

Microsoft's bet came days after it and Alphabet each announced layoffs of 10,000 or more workers. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft warned of a recession and growing scrutiny of digital spend by customers in its layoff announcement.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/G1oCe74

Saturday, 28 January 2023

Asteroid 2023 BU Just Passed a Few Thousand Kilometres From Earth. Here's Why That's Exciting

There are hundreds of millions of asteroids in our solar system, which means new asteroids are discovered quite frequently. It also means close encounters between asteroids and Earth are fairly common. Some of these close encounters end up with the asteroid impacting Earth, occasionally with severe consequences.

A recently discovered asteroid, named 2023 BU, has made the news because today it passed very close to Earth.

Discovered on January 21 by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov in Crimea, 2023 BU passed only about 3,600 km from the surface of Earth (near the southern tip of South America) six days later on January 27.

That distance is just slightly farther than the distance between Perth and Sydney and is only about 1 percent of the distance between Earth and our Moon.

The asteroid also passed through the region of space that contains a significant proportion of the human-made satellites orbiting Earth.

All this makes 2023 BU the fourth-closest known asteroid encounter with Earth, ignoring those that have impacted the planet or our atmosphere.

How does 2023 BU rate as an asteroid and a threat? 2023 BU is unremarkable, other than that it passed so close to Earth. The diameter of the asteroid is estimated to be just 4–8m, which is on the small end of the range of asteroid sizes.

There are likely hundreds of millions of such objects in our solar system, and it is possible 2023 BU has come close to Earth many times before over the millennia. Until now, we have been oblivious to the fact.

In context, on average a 4-metre-diameter asteroid will impact Earth every year and an 8-metre-diameter asteroid every five years or so Asteroids of this size pose little risk to life on Earth when they hit because they largely break up in the atmosphere. They produce spectacular fireballs, and some of the asteroids may make it to the ground as meteorites.

Now that 2023 BU has been discovered, its orbit around the Sun can be estimated and future visits to Earth predicted. It is estimated there is a 1 in 10,000 chance 2023 BU will impact Earth sometime between 2077 and 2123.

So, we have little to fear from 2023 BU or any of the many millions of similar objects in the Solar System.

Asteroids need to be greater than 25m in diameter to pose any significant risk to life in a collision with Earth; to challenge the existence of civilisation, they'd need to be at least a kilometre in diameter.

It is estimated there are fewer than 1,000 such asteroids in the Solar System and could impact Earth every 5,00,000 years. We know about more than 95 per cent of these objects.

Will there be more close asteroid passes? 2023 BU was the fourth closest pass by an asteroid ever recorded. The three closer passes were by very small asteroids discovered in 2020 and 2021 (2021 UA, 2020 QG and 2020 VT).

Asteroid 2023 BU and countless other asteroids have passed very close to Earth during the nearly five billion years of the Solar System's existence, and this situation will continue into the future.

What has changed in recent years is our ability to detect asteroids of this size, such that any threats can be characterised. That an object roughly 5m in size can be detected many thousands of kilometres away by a very dedicated amateur astronomer shows that the technology for making significant astronomical discoveries is within reach of the general public. This is very exciting.

Amateurs and professionals can together continue to discover and categorise objects, so threat analyses can be done. Another very exciting recent development came last year, by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which successfully collided a spacecraft into an asteroid and changed its direction.

DART makes plausible the concept of redirecting an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth if a threat analysis identifies a serious risk with enough warning.


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/fmc1Hux

Oppo Reno 8T Price, Specifications Leaked via Retail Listing Ahead of February 8 Launch

Oppo Reno 8T has been a part of the rumour mill for quite a while now. The company has confirmed that this handset will launch in the Philippines on February 8. However, the remaining details are yet to be officially revealed. However, it appears that a retailer has revealed the pricing of the Oppo Reno 8T. An alleged listing for this upcoming smartphone has surfaced on Facebook that also mentions some of the key specifications of the Oppo Reno 8T. It also includes supposed live images of the handset and its box packaging.

Oppo Reno 8T price (expected)

According to a report by Revü, the Oppo Reno 8T might be priced at PHP 18,999 (roughly Rs. 28,500) for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The lack of 5G branding on the leaked retail box image could mean that this is the 4G variant. Oppo is believed to be also working on the Oppo Reno 8T 5G.

Oppo recently posted a teaser video on Facebook confirming the launch of the Oppo Reno 8T in the Philippines. This upcoming smartphone is set to launch on February 8.

Oppo Reno 8T specifications (rumoured)

The leaked Oppo Reno 8T listing suggests that this smartphone might feature a 6.43-inch AMOLED display. Moreover, recent reports have hinted that the Oppo Reno 8T could be powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 SoC. It could pack 8GB of physical RAM with the option of extending it with up to 8GB of virtual memory. This smartphone is expected to run on Android 13-based ColorOS 13.

For optics, this Oppo smartphone may get a triple rear camera setup headlined by a 100-megapixel main camera. There could also be a 40x zoom 'Microlens' camera on the back as well. The alleged listing mentions that the Oppo Reno 8T might pack a 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W SuperVOOC fast charging.


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/mgGN1cP

Amazon Increases Minimum Purchase Amount on Amazon Fresh for Prime Members

Amazon is axing free grocery delivery for Prime members on orders less than $150 (roughly Rs. 12,200).

Customers who get their groceries delivered from Amazon Fresh -- and pay less than $150 — will be charged between $3.95 (roughly Rs. 350) and $9.95 (roughly Rs. 800), depending on the order size, the company said in an email to Prime members Friday.

The new policy starts on February 28.

“We will continue to offer convenient two-hour delivery windows for all orders, and customers in some areas will be able to select a longer, six-hour delivery window for a reduced fee," Amazon said in the email.

Launched in 2005, Prime has more than 200 million members worldwide who pay $139 (roughly Rs. 11,500) a year, or $14.99 (roughly Rs. 1,200) a month, for faster shipping and other perks, such as free delivery and returns.

Currently, the company offers members free grocery deliveries on orders above $35 (roughly Rs. 3,000), with the exception of New York, where it's $50 (roughly Rs. 4,000).

Under the new policy, the company said delivery charges will be $3.95 for orders between $100-$150, $6.95 (roughly Rs. 600) for orders of $50 to $100, and $9.95 for orders under $50. Amazon Fresh deliveries over $150 will remain free.

“We're introducing a service fee on some Amazon Fresh delivery orders to help keep prices low in our online and physical grocery stores as we better cover grocery delivery costs and continue to enable offering a consistent, fast, and high-quality delivery experience,” Amazon spokesperson Lara Hendrickson said in a prepared statement.

The company has dozens of Amazon Fresh stores across the US and has opened some abroad. Amazon has also owned Whole Foods since 2017.

The decision to impose new fees comes as the company attempts to trim costs amid a hazy economic environment. In the past few months, it has axed unprofitable areas of its business and paused hiring among its corporate workforce. It said this month that it will lay off 18,000 workers.


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/eO6t7C4

ChatGPT Usage Banned in French University Over Concerns About Fraud, Plagiarism

Sciences Po, one of France's top universities, has banned the use of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-based chatbot that can generate coherent prose, to prevent fraud and plagiarism.

ChatGPT is a free programme that generates original text about virtually any subject in response to a prompt, including articles, essays, jokes and even poetry, raising concerns across industries about plagiarism.

The university said on Friday the school had emailed all students and faculty announcing a ban on ChatGPT and all other AI-based tools at Sciences Po.

"Without transparent referencing, students are forbidden to use the software for the production of any written work or presentations, except for specific course purposes, with the supervision of a course leader," Sciences Po said, though it did not specify how it would track usage.

ChatGPT has already been banned in some public schools in New York City and Seattle, according to US media reports, while several US universities have announced plans to do fewer take-home assessments and more hand-written essays and oral exams.

Sciences Po, whose main campus is in Paris, added that punishment for using the software may go as far as exclusion from the institution, or even from French higher education as a whole.

"The ChatGPT software is raising important questions for educators and researchers all around the world, with regards to fraud in general, and particularly plagiarism," it said.

Microsoft last week announced a further multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI - the artificial intelligence research lab behind ChatGPT - building on a bet it made on OpenAI nearly four years ago, when it dedicated $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,200 crore) for the startup co-founded by Tesla's Elon Musk and investor Sam Altman.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/xjTl4uE

US Panel to Vote on TikTok Ban Over National Security Concerns in February

The House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of China's popular social media app TikTok in the United States, the committee confirmed on Friday.

The measure, planned by the panel's chair Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican, would aim to give the White House the legal tools to ban TikTok over US national security concerns.

"The concern is that this app gives the Chinese government a back door into our phones," McCaul told Bloomberg News, which reported the vote timing earlier.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump attempted to block new users from downloading TikTok and ban other transactions that would have effectively blocked the app's use in the United States, but lost a series of court battles over the measure.

The Biden administration in June 2021 formally abandoned that effort. Then in December, Republican Senator Marco Rubio unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok, which would also block all transactions from any social media company in or under the influence of China and Russia.

But a ban of the short video app, which is owned by ByteDance and is popular among teens, would face significant hurdles in Congress to pass, and would need 60 votes in the Senate.

For three years, TikTok - which has more than 100 million US users - has been seeking to assure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its content cannot be manipulated by China's Communist Party or anyone else under Beijing's influence.

TikTok said Friday "calls for total bans of TikTok take a piecemeal approach to national security and a piecemeal approach to broad industry issues like data security, privacy, and online harms."

The US government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020 ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that US user data could be passed on to China's government.

CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks since 2021, aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of US TikTok users.

TikTok said it had a "comprehensive package of measures with layers of government and independent oversight to ensure that there are no backdoors into TikTok that could be used to manipulate the platform" and invested roughly $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 12,300 crore) to date on those efforts.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the bill on Friday. "It's under review by (CFIUS) so I am just not going to get into details on that," Jean-Pierre said.

Last month, Biden signed legislation that included a ban on federal employees using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices. More than 25 US states have also banned the use of TikTok on state-owned devices.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/YctdnNa

Friday, 27 January 2023

Twitter to Let Users Appeal Account Suspension Starting February 1

Twitter users will be able to appeal account suspensions and be evaluated under the social media platform's new criteria for reinstatement, starting Feb. 1, the company said on Friday.

Under the new criteria, which follow billionaire Elon Musk's purchase of the company in October, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform's policies.

Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others.

Twitter said that going forward, it will take less severe action, in comparison to account suspension, such as limiting the reach of tweets that violate its policies or asking users to remove tweets before continuing to use the account.

In December, Musk came under fire for suspending accounts of several journalists over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire's plane. He later reinstated the accounts.

A few days back, Twitter owner Elon Musk also tweeted about a higher-priced subscription to the social media platform which will not carry any advertisements. Calling ads to be "too frequent on Twitter and too big," the billionaire assured that steps will be taken to address those issues in the coming weeks. It is important to note here that Twitter earns nearly 90 percent of its revenue from selling digital ads. Recently, Musk blamed rights organisations for the "massive drop in revenue" due to the pressure on brands to pause their Twitter ads.

In January, the microblogging site also announced the price for a Twitter Blue subscription for Android to be at $11 (roughly Rs. 900) per month, similar to the fee for iOS subscribers. However, the company offered a cheaper annual plan for web users when compared to monthly charges. The higher pricing for Android users is likely to offset fees charged by Android's Google Play Store, like Apple's App Store.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


The Infinix Zero Ultra has a decent set of specifications on paper, but does the phone justify its high asking price? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/YQktK9b

Apple Led Smartphone Market in Holiday Quarter Amid Largest-Ever Decline in Smartphone Demand: IDC

Global smartphone shipments reportedly declined by 18.3 percent, year-over-year (YoY) in Q4 2022. Falling consumer demand, high inventory, and market uncertainties are said to be the main reasons for the drop in shipments, according to a survey conducted by International Data Corporation's (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. While Apple topped the global smartphone shipments in Q4 with a 24.1 percent market share, Samsung and Xiaomi were in second and third spots with 19.4 percent and 11 percent of market share respectively.

According to a report published by IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global smartphone shipments have fallen by 18.3 percent YoY to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22). The quarterly drop between October and December 2022 is said to be the largest-ever decline in a single quarter. It has also resulted in an overall decline of 11.3 percent for the year 2022. The research director at the firm has cited the fallen consumer demand and the high inventory as the two main reasons for this decline.

The report has also given details of the smartphone manufacturing ecosystem with Apple leading smartphone shipments with 24.1 percent of the market share. Samsung and Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi have 19.4 percent and 11 percent of the market share, as per the report. Oppo and Vivo is said to hold the fourth and fifth spots in terms of smartphone shipments.

The report further says that smartphone shipments for 2022 closed at 1.21 billion units, which is the lowest annual shipment total since 2013. It adds that these companies need to push for a 2.8 percent recovery this year, while cautioning about downward risks to the prediction. "However, on a positive note, consumers may find even more generous trade-in offers and promotions continuing well into 2023 as the market will think of new methods to drive upgrades and sell more devices, specifically high-end models," the report states.

Last month, a survey published) by market research firm Counterpoint Research stated that Made in India smartphone shipments have fallen by 8 percent year-on-year (YoY) between July and September 2022. According to the report, Oppo has the highest market share of 24 percent in Made in India smartphone shipments in Q3, followed by Samsung and Vivo.


The iQoo 11 is currently the most powerful Android phone you can buy in India. Should you buy it right away? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/RQik2d1

DCPCR to Launch WhatsApp Chatbot for Public Interaction, Complaints Registration

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights will launch a WhatsApp chatbot to interact with people and help them register their complaints.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will launch the chatbot on February 1.

An official said, "The chatbot will help citizens and the commission to interact in a more effective manner. Some of its cases include complaint registration, searching information and tracking complaint status.

"It will be used by the commission for nudge-based awareness communications to children, women and Anganwadi workers, etc." The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights is the apex statutory authority of Delhi government to protect, promote and monitor the implementation of rights and policies related to children such as education, immunisation, protection against abuse and nutrition.

WhatsApp has been utilised in past to offer services to the public in India. In October, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited launched a WhatsApp chatbot-based QR ticketing service for Metro services. The chatbot is integrated with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) powered payments on WhatsApp and allows 'Namma Metro' commuters to purchase tickets and recharge their travel pass right within WhatsApp. BMRCL had claimed it is the first transit service globally to enable end-to-end QR ticketing on WhatsApp.

In August, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCTC) food delivery service launched a service that allowed passengers to order food via a WhatsApp chatbot without downloading any additional app and get it delivered to their seats while travelling. Passengers can enter their PNR number to place the order and the service offers real-time tracking.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


5G is now available both on Android and iPhone in India. But is it any good? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/ckSfRGP