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Delhi High Court asks to Delete Facebook or Quit Army

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Sriram
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A few days back, the Indian Government banned 59 Chinese applications based on the sensitive user data they sent to China. The same decision also applied to the armed forces, and they were immediately asked to remove all the 59 applications, with three more applications, which were Facebook, Tinder, and PUBG. As per the Indian Army, these applications can track the location and other sensitive data.

The Indian Armed forces immediately followed the order. However, it was objected to by one Indian Army officer. As per him, deleting the Facebook application will lead to the deletion of data and loss of contact from the social media account.

Due to this, a bench was set up to investigate and decide on this matter further. The bench members Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, and Asha Menon dismissed the plea of the Army Officer and said, “No. No. Sorry. Please delete it. You can always create a new one. It cannot work like this. You are part of an organization. You have to abide by its mandate“.

They also said that if the officer cannot comply with this decision that the entire Army is following, he can resign from the post. As per a statement from the bench, they said, “If you are so dear to FB, put in your papers. See you have to make a choice, what do you want to do? You have other choices which are also irreversible.“

As per the officer and his lawyer, the Indian Army cannot make such decisions, and it goes against the freedom of speech and fundamental rights of the soldiers. The next hearing on the case is on July 21 and will most probably provide a final decision on the issue. Whatever the decision may be, people have mixed thoughts on the same where some agree to the Army officer, and some don’t.

Indian Blogs unavailable as Google forgot to renew blogspot.in domain

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Sriram
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Google Blogspot is one of India’s most engaging domains, where a lot of users have maintained and created their blog. However, the last 24 hours have not been great for such bloggers as they cannot access the website. The issues occurred because Google forgot to renew its Blogspot.in domain, which was due for registration. The domain has now been purchased by domainming.com and is currently in an inactive state.

The domain is available for sale on Sedo.com, with the starting price for the domain is $5999 and can go anywhere up from there. The user with the highest bid on the domain name can buy it. It has caused a major issue for the blogger website in India, where the domain’s non-availability has led to downtime on the website.

Also, the availability of the domain will expose the blogging website to malware and scams. All indexed Blogspot.in links can easily be redirected to any other webpage as required. Google has not released any statement on this issue and rather have been silent on the issue. It is not clear whether Google is aware of the situation or not, but it seems like Google will be trying to negotiate on the domain name’s price with domainming.com.

For now, blogspot.in and all the other Indian blogs created through it are completely inaccessible. But the blogs can still be accessed by using blogspot.com instead of blogspot.in in the URL. For now, we can expect that Google will resolve the issue very soon.

New Podcast Charts on Spotify

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Sriram
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Spotify has always been one of the best ways to discover new music and find your favorite tracks. Recently, Spotify has added a new feature to its app to increase the discoverability of the podcast. They have introduced a new podcast chart to the service, which shows the top and the most trending forecast. As per the details, the Top Podcast category will show 200 shows, while the trading podcast category will show around 50 emerging shows. Spotify claims that the list will list your favorites and help you discover any new shows suggested by your friends and colleagues.

podcast charts on spotify
macrumors

The podcast charts will be rolling out in the application for 26 countries. Apart from these podcast charts, the company will also add category-based charts in Spotify for a few countries. Such as Brazil, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, the UK, and the US. These will have categories like Arts, Business, Comedy, Education, Fiction, Health & Fitness, History, Leisure, Music, News, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports, Technology, True Crime, and TV & Film. With so many categories, users can easily get to search for some new and engaging content as per their choice.

The feature can be accessed through the Podcast title in Search or through the podcast section’s Browse podcast button. These podcast charts will not limit the user to the selective podcast of their country, but they can also search and explore a different country’s podcast chart. Spotify will also be adding an improvement to the app’s notification system, which notifies the user about their favorite podcast being charted. Similarly, the notification can also be converted to a visual card as per the user’s choice. The company is also in the works to add video podcasts to its platform, which is something users have been expecting to increase the engagement.

Galaxy Note 20 may have Wireless Dex Mode

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Sriram
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Samsung Galaxy Note 20 is one of the awaited smartphones and is expected to release on August 5 at an annual conference by Samsung. Samsung introduced a DeX mode to its Galaxy S8 model in the past, which added a method to dock Samsung phones to use a PC quickly. The initial implementation of this feature required a dock. However, the requirement of the dock was removed in the next model Samsung Galaxy Note 9.

However, with the launch of Galaxy Note 20, the company is expected to introduce a wireless DeX mode. XDA Developers first provided the information that Samsung is working on wireless DeX mode to connect the phone to TV without cable by simply selecting the TV from the quick panel option.

samsung note 20

As per XDA Developers, Samsung worked on these features and was soon expected to release it in their future smartphones. Therefore, the launch of multiple devices on August 5 could be the perfect platform for Samsung to launch this feature. The feature was expected to be added to the New premium Galaxy series of smartphones.

It also appears that the DeX mode will be adding gesture controls for navigating between the home screen and recent apps. It will also come with a new three-finger swipe down feature, and a three-finger swipe up feature, which can help to use the device as a trackpad. There are many more features that have not yet been revealed and can be a part of the new Samsung devices. All we have to do and wait for the official announcement for the same in the annual Samsung event.

A new entry-level $100 e-reader by Kobo

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Sriram
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While Kobo has been trying to compete with its competitor Amazon for a long time now, it has recently launched a new E-reader to compete with Amazon’s Kindle lineup. The new model is called Kobo Nia, and it is an entry-level E-reader, which has been made more affordable with a six-inch screen 1,024 x 758 Carta E Ink display. The screen will come with the patented Kobo’s ComfortLight front lighting to make the reading experience much more pleasant. The E-reader will weigh around 172 grams and come with 8GB of onboard storage and 1000 mAh battery, which the company claims can run for weeks on a single charge.

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The product has been placed and priced by Kobo between the $90 Amazon Kindle and #130 Paperwhite. The advantage for Kobo Nia is the price of $100 and a much better and easy on eyes screen, which offers a 212 PPI resolution as compared to 167 PPI resolution in Kindle. Currently, Kobo offers 4 E-readers, which are $120 Clara HD, water-resistant models Libra H20, which is around $170, and Forma models for $250. Now the Kobo Nia is the fourth one in the lineup and is expected to match many E-reader users’ preferences. The E-reader will start shipping from July 21, and the company is currently accepting pre-orders for the device.

When compared to the Amazon E-reader series, it does provide a lot of value for money and is only $10 expensive than the Kindle; it seems to provide a much better experience in reading E-books. The reader also supports Amazon’s Overdrive, which would allow the user to borrow books from anywhere. If you are looking for an alternative to Amazon Kindle, this is a perfect replacement for it and would be a worthy contender to Amazon E-reader.

Google: Fitbit user data will not be used for targeting Ads

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Sriram
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Google has been targeted in the past to use the user’s data to target specific ads on their device and browser. The company has taken every precaution in the past and is still doing it to maintain the privacy of users’ data and do not use it without their permission. Recently, Google has announced that they will not be using the health data of FitBit users to target relevant ads.

The announcement was made in an attempt to address EU antitrust concerns about its proposed @2.1 billion acquisition. The acquisition was announced in November last year and will make Google the primary competitor of Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Samsung in wearable fitness trackers and smartwatch. Google has clarified that the deal with Fitbit is not about the data of the users who have been using Fitbit devices; it’s just about the physical device.

In an email statement to Reuters, Google said that “We appreciate the opportunity to work with the European Commission on an approach that safeguards consumers’ expectations that Fitbit device data won’t be used for advertising“. The deal with Fitbit attracted a lot of negative criticism from both Europe and the USA, as it was thought that Google would use FitBit to gain dominance in the health and fitness sector by using the users’ data.

The same data could also be used to target relevant ads, which would help boost Google Ad business. However, Google’s data pledge to the EU has provided a commitment from Google not to use the users’ data. Also, it would help them get approval on a deal from the EU. However, the European Commission will review the feedback from the rivals and decide whether any further investigation on this issue is required. Once the decision is made, the fate of the merger will be revealed.

Gmail redesigns side panel to show multiple services at once

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Sriram
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Gmail has been one of the most used email services globally, with possibly billions of users. What attracts people more towards Gmail is the easy to use UI and the simplicity of navigation. To make the Gmail services more user friendly, Gmail has been working on a redesigned model that brings in various features and services together and especially incorporates Google Chat and Meet.

Gmail has officially announced that they will be integrating the video calling feature to Gmail, and the update is rolling out now. As per Google, they are trying to make Gmail a one-stop workplace for everyone, where they can use all the features and services from one platform.

google redesign 1

The updates have been rolled out for the iOS users and will roll out for every user immediately. Apart from this, the Gmail app will now get bottom bar tabs for Chats and Rooms. The tabs will allow the user to see one-to-one and group chats with the profile avatar and the user’s status. It will also create a notification or some kind of alert for the user to check the neglected chats.

google redesign 2

Another feature in Gmail also provides the user to have a larger conversation for teams and projects. These are specific chat rooms that can be created for work and are to directly compete with Slack, which is used by professionals world over. Similar features will also be available on the Gmail web version, where the tabs in the left will provide the user quick access to multiple things at once.

Services such as Google Docs in the left bar will allow users to open a doc immediately while having an online conversation on the Gmail platform. Similarly. Users can use various Google services from the left tab while being on a video call. Features like custom backgrounds, hand raising, meeting attendance, etc., and other features will also be added to Gmail, making it a better platform for professionals.

Netflix is adding a new Shuffle Button to their Platform

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Sriram
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0

Netflix is one of the most popular online streaming apps globally and a user base of millions. The best part about the Netflix service is that the user has almost unlimited titles and series to watch from. It is what sometimes confuses the user as well. A user spends a lot of time in a never-ending catalog of what to watch before deciding a series or movie to follow.

In this activity, the user does seem to miss many exciting and engaging content, which might appeal to their interest. Netflix did acknowledge the problem and was working on it for a long time now. Finally, they have decided to roll out a shuffle button on the Netflix app. The information was first made available through The Independent UK and users on Twitter and Reddit. However, the feature has not been rolled out globally.

As per the Netflix spokesperson, the feature is still in the second phase of testing and might be revoked in the future. Once the testing is complete and the feature seems to get positive feedback from users, it will be made available to other regions. The shuffle button was added to Netflix TV shows in December last year, after which it was recently added for movies as well.

It will be a great feature for those who find it difficult to select something to watch from a big catalog of content. However, if the user is interested in watching only a specific type of genre in movies and drama series, then the shuffle feature will provide them with random suggestions. Rating shows and movies watched by the user earlier on Netflix will help show similar shows and movies in the shuffle option, as it will optimize the Netflix algorithm. Users are hoping that this feature is tested soon and rolled out globally for Netflix users.

Apple faces another penalty from Samsung on OLED Screens

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Sriram
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0

Clashes between Apple and Samsung are very common, and recently it seems that Apple paid around $1 billion penalties to Samsung for selling too few iPhones. According to a report released by Display Supply Chain Consultants, Apple paid around $950 million to Samsung as a one-time payment for purchasing fewer OLED iPhone displays than required.

As per the sources, Samsung in Q2 has released the operating profit report without including the one time gain related to display business. Last month, news from TheElec reported that Apple paid around $745 million to Samsung, which later turned out to be $950 million as per DSCC cites sources.

Samsung operating guidance could have gone into losses if Apple had not paid the amount, but now the operating guidance is up by 23% profit. The same kind of issues also repeated in Q2 of 2019, where Samsung claimed another penalty from Apple for not buying enough OLED displays as the agreed level.

However, the claim was not settled in cash at that time and was managed through increased order, equal to the penalty amount. Apple is known to make such an agreement for a minimum buying quantity to keep the minimum purchasing rates. However, due to Covid-19, Apple has not been able to sell as many units this year. It eventually leads to less production and less OLED order from Samsung, thus attracting the penalty. However, the company plans to increase sales and production in the coming months to compensate for slower sales due to Covid-19.

A Chance to win a free OnePlus Nord via Twitter

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Sriram
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OnePlus is one of the recognized smartphone brands globally, which has gained a lot of popularity and respect among users in a short period. A couple of months back, there were many rumors about OnePlus releasing a new device that is going to be affordable and will have the premium design and features. The device was called OnePlus Nord, and now the device is finally ready to be launched. There have been many rumors and leaks in the past for the phone, which revealed the design and specs of the phone slowly to the consumer way before the actual launch.

OnePlus has now confirmed that they will be giving free OnePlus Nord smartphones to their users through Twitter. They tweeted an image of OnePlus Nord with a giveaway announcement for the brand lovers.

These devices will be a special edition and will be marked by a number that will make them unique. Users have to retweet and like the post, along with an online form that they need to fill. Any person above the age of 18 is allowed to participate in the giveaway. However, another condition is that the person should have travel papers to Paris, which is surprising.

The giveaway is accepting entries until 21 July 2020, which is the official date of release for the OnePlus Nord device. The winners will be announced on the same date after the launch event. The device is expected to start at a price tag of $299 with a 765G snapdragon chipset and 8 to 12 GB RAM variant. The device can also house a 6.4 inch AMOLED display with an inbuilt fingerprint scanner. The phone will also come with 30W fast charging and a 4115 mAh battery. A triple camera setup was detected on the back and a 32 Mp camera in the front with a 105-degree lens for the group selfie feature.

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