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Sonic The Hedgehog Trailer Released, Sonic’s Appearance Leaves Fans Disappointed

Sonic the hedgehog is definitely a name 90s kids can relate to. SEGA revolutionized the 8-bit gaming industry with a lot of games, and Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the major ones. The game featured a super-powered hedgehog which has a host of abilities. For starters, he can run faster than the speed of sound. This enables him to break and smash through all obstacles in his path. What’s more, the loveable character could also curl up into a destructive ball, which is nearly unstoppable. The character has almost 70 games to himself now, and on April 30 2019, Paramount Pictures and SEGA released the first trailer for the much-awaited movie.

https://youtu.be/FvvZaBf9QQI

Now the fans were waiting for this movie eagerly, so a lot of expectations were resting on it. On top of that, the bar is still set high from all the movie fanatics still reeling in the aftermath of action and emotions present in Avengers: Endgame. However, when the trailer came out, the Sonic fans were disappointed to say at the least. To put forward a summary, the official Youtube trailer for the movie has a Dislike-to-Like ratio of 1.55. That’s a awfully high number of dislikes for a movie that a lot of fan following, especially before the trailer dropped.

Sonic has been awkwardly designed as a “human-hedgehog” fusion creature, which is more human than it is supposed to be. The trailer tries desperately to make Sonic more at home with all the humanoid expressions and actions. What’s more, the character from the movie has a set of extremely human-like teeth, which deprive Sonic of his classic “hedgehog” look. It’s almost like the movie is not Sonic The Hedgehog. It’s either Sonic The HedgeHuman or Sonic The HumanHog.

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The storyline depicts Sonic, who is voiced by Ben Schwartz, trying to save the earth from the evil Dr. Robotnik (who is played by Jim Carrey) in association with a policeman (played by James Marsden). The trailer is set against the legendary “Gangsta’s Paradise” soundtrack, which would have actually enhanced the trailer hadn’t it been for the kid-hedgehog combo leading the movie. Sonic The Hedgehog makes it way to movie theatres on November 8, 2019.

May 1, 2019
10 Avengers Endgame Facts That You Probably Didn’t Know
Avengers: Endgame is releasing in India today, and let’s admit it, we couldn’t be more excited. Amidst a ton of hype concerning the movie, tickets for the same are selling out like hot cakes on a December day. The movie is speculated to be the last one in the current series, hence, people have been looking forward to Avengers: Endgame for a long time now. What’s more, the movie has sold out a total of 2.5 million tickets in India till now, making it one of the highest booked movies in the country ever. At its peak, 18 Avengers: Endgame tickets were being sold every second on popular ticket-booking application, BookMyShow. That is indeed a feat.

Let’s have a look at some interesting and intriguing trivia about what will probably be the biggest movie of 2019.
- Most of the footage used in the movie trailers on YouTube and TV Spots is reportedly extracted from the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, which means that fans have already seen 4% of the movie so far, considering the long 181 minute runtime.
- Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are the first Hollywood movies to have been shot entirely on digital IMAX Cameras in an open-matte aspect ratio of 1.9:1
- Chris Evans (playing Captain America) has been a part of the MCU (Marvel Character Universe) for almost a decade now. He has appeared as Captain America for a total of 10 times, including Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), an uncredited cameo in Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), a cameo in Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), a cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), a cameo in Captain Marvel (2019) and eventually Avengers: Endgame (2019).
- Similar to Avengers: Infinity War, the Russo Brothers (directors) published a letter to MCU fans, urging them to not divulge any details and spoilers regarding the upcoming movie. This sparked a viral trend on Twitter, with the hashtags #DontSpoilTheEndgame and #ThanosDemandsYourSilence.
- When the first trailer for the movie came out, the name of the movie (the Endgame) was not included in the title of the trailer. Instead, it just read “Marvel Studios’ Avengers – Official Trailer”. This was formulated in order to surprise MCU fans with the title name at the end of the trailer.
- Opening night tickets for the Avengers: Endgame were resold on eBay for a lot more than their original worth. Reportedly, a pair of IMAX tickets were resold in New Jersey for about US$ 15,000, which is ridiculously high.
- The shooting of the movie was temporarily shut down on September 11, 2017 because of the Hurricane Irma.
- Avengers: Endgame is the 3rd Avengers Movie to be released in the same year as a Quentin Tarantino movie. Previously, The Avengers and Django Unchained were released in the year 2012, and thereafter, the Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Hateful Eight were both released in 2015. This year, Avengers: Endgame and and Once Upon A Time In HollyWood will be released.
- Paul Rudd as Ant-man and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk will come together for the first time in the Avengers: Endgame.
- The plot of the Infinity Stones and Thanos is expected to conclude in the movie, which means that Infinity stones won’t make an appearance in any further Marvel movies.
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Tickets for the movie are available across all major event platforms, including BookMyShow and PayTM. Since a lot of people are lined up for the movie, be sure to get your hands on the tickets in ample time. Furthermore, PayTM is giving away discount vouchers on Twitter, so users can go check that out too.
April 26, 2019
Scientists Replicate Highly Effective Anti Tumour Antibiotic To Fight Cancer

With one of the highest death rates worldwide, Cancer leads the pack as one of the most dreadful groups of diseases known to mankind. Cancer is referred to as an unwanted growth of cells in a certain organ or a part of the body. The tumours involved are generally of three types. Benign tumours are not cancerous and cannot spread to different parts of the body. Premalignant tumours are not yet cancerous but may develop cancerous traits later on. On the other hand, Malignant tumours can spread to other organs and parts of the body, making them very fatal to the human body. In recent news from the University of Lincoln, scientists have reproduced a synthetic copy of the Anti-tumour antibiotic in order to combat Drug-resistant bacteria and cancer.

About The Antibiotic – Kedarcidin

The antibiotic, or rather, the “super-substance” is called Kedarcidin. It was first discovered almost 30 years ago by a pharmaceutical company in India. Extracted from a soil sample, Kedarcidin’s natural form was unusable as a potential drug to fight cancer. In fact, most antibiotics developed in the last 70 years have been derived out of soil, but in order to use them as a drug for treatments, the antibiotics have to be reproduced via the process of chemical synthesis in the laboratory. Kedarcidin, however, is different from conventional antibiotics.

Mechanism And Structure Of Kedarcidin

For starters, Kedarcidin is capable of harming tumour cells instead of just killing the bacteria involved (like many other antibiotics). This makes it a very potential candidate as a primary drug in effective cancer treatments. The biological structure of Kedarcidin enables it to harm the DNA structure of the target tumour to a level of complexity that the tumour cannot spread at all. Because of the complex structure of Kedarcidin, scientists were unable to replicate it’s “potential drug” form, until now.

The primary scientists involved in the replication of the aforementioned drug are Dr. Martin Lear (University of Lincoln, UK) and Professor Masahiro Hirama (Tohoku University, Japan). As per the scientists, the molecular structure of the antibiotic drug resembles an egg of sorts. Moreover, Kedarcidin has a reactive core which is sheathed by a layer of protein. As per reports, almost 10 years were spent in the deduction of the molecular integrity of the antibiotic.

Also Read: You Can Now 3D Print Full Human Organs Including A Live Working Heart

It is estimated that the number of cancer cases per year worldwide will rise to 23.6 million by the year 2030. Considering the latest advancements in the “cancer-fighting” drug, the numbers may experience a steep drop, and for the better. Aggressively tackling the tumours with Kedarcidin may help scientists learn a lot more about the techniques which the antibiotic uses to counter cancerous cells in leukaemia and melanoma, for instance.

April 25, 2019
You Can Now 3D Print Full Human Organs Including A Live Working Heart

Medical health has been undergoing a lot of advancements over recent times, with the technology spanning to newer areas every day. Researchers and Scientists are using DNA modification techniques to cure acute skin diseases, whereas a technique called immunotherapy is being implemented to treat leukaemia (blood cancer) and forms of lymphomas. As per recent news, Israeli Researchers fabricated the world’s first three dimensional, or 3D-Printed Heart.

Using a patient’s own cells, the researchers from Tel Aviv University created the heart on a high resolution 3D printer. The university has announced their success story while showcasing the printed heart. The printing experiment was deduced as one of the most major medical breakthroughs to date. The research findings were published in the Journal of Advanced Science. The team involved in the experiment was led by university professor Tal Dvir.

Structure Of The 3D Printed Heart

As per Tal Dvir, this was actually the first time that human cells were incorporated with 3D printing technology to formulate a complete replica of a heart. The 3D printed heart is design to perform in the real world, so it comprises of blood vessels which help the heart to pump blood. Previously, only non-vessel tissues could be printed using the combination of medical methods and technology, but a new technique adopted by the researchers made it possible to design a life-like 3D-printed heart. Fatty tissue from patients was used as the “fuel” or “ink” of the 3D printer.

Furthermore, the lead researcher added that the heart was the size of a rabbit’s heart, and therefore cannot be transplanted into a full-sized human body. However, a full-human-sized heart can be developed quite soon because the technology used to create differently-sized 3D-printed hearts is essentially similar. using the patient’s own cells will ensure that the body’s immune system will not reject a transplanted organ.

The Future Of Organ Transplants

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3D printing was previously tested with weapons, cars and even huge parts of commercial-level machines. Using the same technology for the advancement of medical health is a much better implication of the aforementioned technology. This will help to cure heart diseases worldwide, with heart transplants becoming fairy accessible and cheaper. Looking at the progress as of now, more research and development will ensure that more body organs can be 3D printed using the same method. The researchers say that within the next ten years, organ printers will be fairly accessible all across the world’s hospitals. The implications of this will allow to replace essentially any body organ, joint or valve. This could help terminally ill patients survive longer or even better still, be fully cured. The future where the human machine is repaired by spare parts may be nearer than we imagined.

April 24, 2019
High Court Directs Indian Government To Review PUBG Mobile For Objectionable Content

On April 14, the Bombay High Court directed the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEIT) to test out the features of wildly popular mobile game PUBG and take necessary action in regard to the objectionable content in the game. The PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was represented by the father of the 11-year old boy from Mumbai, Ahad Nizam, who previously alleged that the game has elements that promote aggression, violence and immoral conduct in daily life. The PIL suggests that the game should be banned in schools for the same reason.

In response to the litigation, Government pleader Poornima Kantharia stated that most schools do not permit usage of mobile phones and the game itself. Furthermore, a division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice NM Jamdar raised a notable question against the petition, stating that parents should keep the addiction of their children to PUBG in check. Moreover, parents should stop their children from playing PUBG Mobile if the game legitimately contains objectionable content.

As the player count of PUBG Mobile increases day-by-day, the PIL is seeking to get the game completely banned from schools. The PIL is also seeking directions to the MEIT to put together an Online Ethics Review Committee to regulate all online content that may considered as “unsafe”. Consequently, the Bench directed the Secretary of the Information & Technology Ministry to test the game in its entirety and take required action against concerned authorities and service providers in case the content does not comply. The court has adjourned the case for now and will continue the hearing after the vacations.

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A lot of cases have been spotted nation-wide when indiscretion regarding the game has led to fatal consequences. Previously, 2 students were mauled by a train while they were engrossed in the Battle Royale game. In another incident, a 25-year old mistook acid for water while playing PUBG and had a narrow escape in the hospital. The game was banned in Gujarat recently, and the Police arrested students multiple times for playing the game in public. Clearly, PUBG Mobile is intended to be played by children over 16 years of age, as is mentioned on all the application stores. However, insufficient discretion is maintained regarding the same.

April 15, 2019
SpaceX Launches and Lands Three Falcon Heavy Rocket Boosters Successfully

SpaceX short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp is a privately held American aerospace manufacturer which was founded in the year 2002. The company has been rigorously working towards driving down the costs of space transportation by developing reusable space crafts and spacecraft parts. On 11th of April, 2019, the company achieved a noteworthy milestone which is the successful landing of three rocket cores on Earth.

What Is A Rocket Core?

A booster rocket is the first stage engine of a multistage launch vehicle which is used to drive the whole rocket unit out of earth’s orbit. Once the whole unit crosses the orbit, the booster separates itself from the main rocket body that carries the payload. Once separated, the rocket core enters the earth’s orbit once again which may or may not be reused depending on its landing.

Why Is The SpaceX Achievement Significant?

As previously mentioned, the company was able to successfully land all three rocket cores from the Falcon Heavy rocket. It is the first time that the company is able to achieve this feat. Last year in the month of February, the company tried to accomplish the same landing which failed due to one Rocket core running out of fuel. Consequently, the rocket core slammed into the ocean thereby rendering unusable.

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As per reports, SpaceX was able to achieve this successful landing due to the fact that all three boosters used for this flight were upgraded versions of the company’s rockets known as Block 5. The new versions are tweaked in a manner which optimises their reusability. Therefore, the company can quickly and easily turn them around for future flights.

April 12, 2019
How Did Two College Students Scam Apple Of $ 1 Million?
Allegedly, two Chinese engineering students residing in Oregon, USA scammed Apple of a huge sum, and for the exact same deed, both of them are facing federal charges. The whole scam cost Apple almost US$ 1 Million in replacement parts. As per reports, the students were indulged in malpractices since 2017 and were exploiting Apple’s return policy to a high degree.

The real question is, why was this discovered almost two years later, and how did two students manage to elude a trillion dollar technology giant?

Who Was Involved In The Scam?

Yangyang Zhou and Quan Jiang are the names of the two who are charged with multiple felonies. As per reports, Yangyang recently completed his engineering degree at the Oregon State University. Yangyang and Quan smuggled thousands of knock-off iPhones from China into the US and forwarded them batch by batch to Apple for repair/replacement. The students claimed that the counterfeit iPhones won’t power on, which was correct, so Apple sent back real iPhones as a replacement to the fake iPhones. All this cost the American technology company a whooping sum of US$ 895,800.

How Did The Students Manage To Elude Apple?

Where Yangyang channelled the counterfeit shipments into the US and the real iPhones back to China, Quan, who also studied engineering at Linn Benton Community College in the same city was responsible for managing the funds associated with the deals. The address of the shipments was provided by Quan, and when the replacements were complete, the real iPhones were sent back to China. Consequently, an associate of Quan wired the money to his mother’s account in his hometown. The money was then forwarded to Quan Jiang’s account in the US, reports say.

As per the complaints, Yangyang and Quan both claimed to be completely alien to the fact that the incoming shipments from China consisted of counterfeit iPhones. Since the charges haven’t been proved yet, both students remitted of custody, however, Quan Jiang is being monitored via GPS. The charges that the students have been accused of are given below:
- Yangyang Zhou: Illegal Export of Goods
- Quan Jiang: Trafficking of Counterfeit Goods, Wire Fraud
The Conclusion

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Reports say that Apple was unable to verify the ownership and authenticity of the counterfeit iPhones since they weren’t powering on, however, it became even more viable because Apple didn’t ask for a proof of purchase while replacing the devices. Even though both the students refuse to respond to the notices associated with the same, it is unlikely that they will be acquitted of charges.
April 6, 2019
The Best April Fools Pranks By Technology Companies In 2019

On April 1 every year, many technology companies try to prank their users and fans by showcasing some quirky and impossible seeming products. This year too, they tried their best to do that again. Here are the best gags implemented by various technology companies to get you in the April Fools spirit.

Google

The master of trolling, Google has many funny gags in store. The first one was implemented inside Google Maps. In the hamburger menu on the left-hand side, there is a new Snake game which lets users play it and take a trip down memory lane. This gag is in line with the Pac-Man and Waldo ones the company used in the year 2017 and 2018 respectively.

A unique and weirdly funny gag that Google used was the introduction of Google Tulip. With this, it showcased a service that allowed users to interact with their plants using Google Assistant. With a perfectly tailored video to support it, the Google Tulip already looks like a market-ready product and a useful gadget in its own might.

A new feature in the Files Go application has also been shown off. With the screen cleaner feature, users can finally be able to clean their filthy smartphone screen; this is achieved with the help of the ‘Smudge Detector API’ the company has put in place. What’s more, the app will also make your device smell like pineapple for some reason. With a convincingly made video and explanation, it wouldn’t be hard to hear if someone actually believes it.

OnePlus

A little over the top, but the gag by Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus was a step in the right direction. The company announced on April 1 that it will launch an electric car with some unprecedented features. The upcoming electric vehicle by OnePlus will have gesture controls and will also use the smartphone as a steering wheel. Perhaps if the company kept it down a notch it might have been a little believable; but alas, everyone saw through the gag. Despite the obvious, it was a great attempt at a gag by OnePlus and managed to keep many hooked.

Samsung

What if our mobile processor would also be able to power our PCs and laptops? Sounds like a distant dream right. This is what Samsung promised with the Extender, which would allow installing a mobile processor, like the company’s own Exynos 9820 and place it inside a desktop CPU socket. While the idea is pretty neat and may actually prove to be useful if implemented, a link to the product video redirects one to Rick Aster’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”; the song has become an iconic sign signalling when one is being pranked.

NVIDIA

Move away Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa’s of the world, because NVIDIA’s RON is here. Promising of a holographic virtual assistant, NVIDIA showed off the RON assistant in a video and through its dedicated web page. It has a few nifty features up its sleeves, like feedback in gaming, rage converter and TrollDestroyer. Although an obvious gag, if RON launches in real life, it can emerge as a PC gamer’s pipe dream.

Razer

Being an introvert isn’t easy, and gaming peripheral company Razer surely understands it better than most of us. It has announced its new service called Razer Ping; it will let users point their camera at anything and it will send a notification to everyone in their vicinity, saving them the pain of communicating. While not as brilliant of an idea as the rest of them on the list, a company well known as Razer doing something like this is highly appreciated.

T-Mobile

https://youtu.be/veGkOhffvy8

One of the largest mobile carriers in the US, T-Mobile has a great idea for many people concerned with the noisy environment around them. With Phone BoothE, the company has introduced a new way to talk. And taking a jab at AT&T’s highly controversial 5Ge networks, T-Mobile has also put an ‘E’ at the end of the name. Furthermore, the CEO of the company, John Legere himself announced the service in the video. One of the more believable gags out of the list, one cannot deny the creativity and the humour of it.

Duolingo

Missed your French lesson for today, well now you can have the Duolingo mascot, the cute green bird Duo follows you so a class is never missed again. The Duolingo Push feature will feature the bird in three modes, Encouraging, Disappointed and Passive Aggressive. With all the memes made around the application recently, the advertisement is a funny and innovative gag for the April Fools.

April 1, 2019
ISRO Successfully Launches The PSLV-C45 Rocket With 28 Third-Party Satellites

The Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO has successfully launched India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket on Monday morning. The freshly launched rocket carries the EMISAT, which is an electronics intelligence satellite for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It also had 28 third-party satellites onboard.

PSLV-QL Rocket

The PSLV-C45 rocket was launched by the ISRO from its launch base in Sriharikota. It is the first time that India has put satellites in three different orbits. The EMISAT satellite, which is developed by the DRDO, is intended for the measurement of electromagnetic spectrums. It was released into an orbit 749 km above the surface at 17 minutes after the launch. The other 28 third party satellites had a different country of origin. While 24 of them were from the US, two belonged to Lituania and one each from Spain and Switzerland. All of them had a combined curb weight of 220 kg.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the first launch vehicle of the country to be equipped with liquid stages. After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful missions by the June of 2017. During the period from the year 1994 to the year 2017, the vehicle has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad. It is recognised for launching two spacecraft named Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mangalyaan in 2013 – that later travelled to Moon and Mars respectively.

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With this launch, the ISRO will now be able to manoeuvre satellites placed in different orbits. It can also conduct various experiments which are expected to assist in future launches. The organization inaugurated a new viewing gallery a few days ago. This would help space aficionados watch future launches with a proper view. The gallery hosted around 1200 spectators at the launch on Monday.

April 1, 2019
Here’s How Dark Mode Prolongs Battery Backup While Helping You Sleep Better

In recent times, the dark mode has turned out to be high in demand feature on smartphones. Many OEMs and application developers have started to implement the mode in their devices and software respectively. Dark mode is usually a visual setting that can be turned on and off at will and what it does is make the display darker in most places. The colour generally used is Black, like done in Reddit, Greyscale like in Google’s system application or a shade of Blue like the Twitter app and website. But is using a darker theme really advantageous for your well being or is it just a gimmick?

Advantages Of Dark Mode

If we talk about the advantages of the dark mode on your health or on the devices, there are quite a few that appear in mind. Here are some of them. A word of caution though, as the feature is most effective on devices with an OLED screen, as they turn the black areas of the screen completely off. So some advantages can only be visible on devices with an OLED display.

Reducing Eye Strain

This one is a little obvious, as looking at bright light can cause a strain on eyes. Using a darker theme can help solve the problem. Countless studies have shown that Blue light can be harmful to the eyes. As it travels all the way to the retina, the light-sensitive portion of the eye, the risk of degeneration of the retina is very much possible. Many night or dark modes thus promise a Blue light filter for a comfortable viewing experience.

Sleeping Better

The bright light of electronic devices can confound sleep inducing neuron cells and activate the ones that help a person stay awake. This plays with one’s sleep cycle and while the effects might not be visible right in the beginning, they build up over time. Using a darker theme at night or around a darker environment can actually help a person sleep better as the possibility of the damaging sleep cycle reduces to a great extent.

Reducing Risk Of Migraines, Photophobia

Photophobia is a medical condition that makes the eyes of a person quite sensitive to light, so using a bright device can trigger the condition. Migraines also are increased if staring at a bright light for too long. Using a darker theme or mode reduces the risk of both cases from happening often. It also allows people with the conditions to use their electronic devices for a longer time than before.

Preventing Serious Medical Issues

Increased risks of sleep deprivation can lead to medical cases like depression, obesity and serious cardiovascular issues. To prevent that from happening, a good night’s sleep can be very helpful. A dark mode can go a long way in providing that.

Increased Battery Life

This point is mostly applicable to devices with OLED displays but is still a valid case of using a dark mode. Turning the black pixels completely off is a very good thing for electronics with an OLED display as the light is only required in certain places, which in turn leads to longer battery life.

The Future of Dark Mode

A few months ago, Google released a report which claimed serious benefits of dark mode on smartphones with OLED displays. It also admitted its fault in pushing out the material design theme so aggressively. The theme used brighter colours natively and forced developers to do the same. This realization would insinuate that the company may be planning on implementing a dark mode on Android from the ground up.

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Samsung, Huawei and OnePlus have also started to include a dark mode tailored for OLED displays. This is available natively and offers a black theme in system apps and settings. Apps like WhatsApp, which had so far stayed away from the feature, have been planning to add support for it finally. These steps indicate a change which will make dark mode added in most places at least as an option. Besides user preferences, there are no necessary downsides to the feature. Therefore, if the trend hints one thing it is that dark mode is here to stay and will only increase in devices with time.

March 28, 2019
Round Up Of The Apple Event Held On 25 March

Cupertino based tech titan, Apple held an event on the 25th of March where it announced four brand new subscription services. The list of newly announced services includes Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple Card and Apple News Plus.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade is the company’s take on a gaming service which spans across the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac computers. The paid subscription will initially provide access to over 100 gaming titles which will sprout further over time. Noteworthy, it even allows the user to play games in offline mode. This is a significant aspect as its direct competitor, the newly launched Google Stadia lacks support for this notable feature. The service will roll out in autumn this year and its pricing details are yet to be revealed. Exceptionally, family members can also share the subscription across different devices without an additional cost.

Apple Card

Apple card is a virtual credit card service which is developed for iPhone users and is an extension of the Apple Pay and Wallet services. The service is intended towards lowering interest rates, removing unnecessary fees and simplifying the process of applications in obtaining a credit card. According to the company, the service will simplify the use of existing digital payment mediums to a great extent.

Notably, it is just a credit card service and not a banking service. Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs and MasterCard that handle its financial end. As previously mentioned, the user can directly sign up for a card right from the iPhone which is generated in minutes, unlike conventional service which can take days. Reportedly, the service makes use of machine learning which can precisely reflect the spending patterns of the user and also offer rewards in cash. Distinctly, the service will not charge late fees from the however, its functioning is unclear as of now.

Apple News Plus

As the name suggests, it is a news service from Apple that again requires a paid subscription. It showcases the content in a user-friendly and elegant manner which is enriched with photographs, animations and typography optimised for Apple devices including iPhone, iPad and Mac. The news service incorporates content from over 300 established newspapers, magazines and digital publishers some of which include Vogue, WSJ, GQ, Traveller, Wired and The New Yorker. The service is currently limited to the US and Canada where the users can subscribe it at a monthly fee of $ 9.99 and $ 12.99 respectively. Admirably, six members of a family can share one Apple News Plus subscription.

Apple TV Plus

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Apple TV Plus is the company’s attempt at a video streaming service which will take on the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime. The service is set to launch in over 100 countries which will roll out in Q4 of 2019. According to the company, around 30 original projects are currently in the works which will be exclusive to the platform. Additionally, content from renowned channels including HBO, Showtime, CBS All Access will also be available on the streaming service. Like the Apple Arcade, its price is also currently unavailable.

In addition to the Apple Plus subscription service, the company has also released an all-new Apple TV application which has a completely redesigned interface. The new version of the application is designed to serve on-demand digital content, without advertisement with the option of offline downloads. The new Apple TV app is now available for the Apple TV and iOS devices. While its support for third-party smart TVs from LG, Sony, Samsung and Vizio will be available some.

March 26, 2019
PUBG Mobile Six-Hour Ban Lifted, Developers Issue Apology

A few days ago, reports were rife that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG Mobile, an immensely popular game in India is imposing a new rule. This allowed the users to play the game for a period of six hours before being banned for the entire day. Many of the players were furious because of the decision and vented it out on various social media channels. In a tweet by the official Twitter account of PUBG Mobile India, the developers of the game have apologised, claiming the restriction was a bug, which has since been fixed, along with a few other bugs that were causing a hindrance in the gameplay.

What Has Changed?

https://twitter.com/PUBGMobile_IN/status/1109350840530173952

The latest in-app update to PUBG Mobile, the official tweet claims to fix a few of the bugs that were reported in the game. The Birthday Crate, which was put in place to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the game has been changed. A bug which let misuse of the coupons to get free in-game currency has also been fixed. Because of it, the payment service is functioning again after a brief hiatus.

The biggest change and perhaps the most anticipated in PUBG Mobile is the removal of the Healthy Gameplay System error. As mentioned above, this restricted the users to play for more than six hours in a day. The official account claims the players will supposedly get to play the game without any interruptions. Despite the claimed fix, some users have reported the bug still persists. It is expected that the issue will be fixed for all users in the following days.

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Interestingly, PUBG Mobile has been all over the news the past few weeks, and all for infamous reasons. A few days ago, it was reported that two cities in Gujarat have banned the game and also arrested a few people for playing it in public. Another report claimed a person died because of playing the game for 45 days. It was expected that the six-hour ban was put in place to prevent more incidents like these from happening. Now that the developers have alleged that was not the case, it should pacify most players of the game. The new fixes can be download by starting the game and downloading an in-app update.

March 25, 2019
Apple’s Special Show Time Event, Here’s What To Expect

Apple will host its much-awaited launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater, California on March 25. Rumours have been around for a long time regarding Apple’s upcoming streaming service. The anticipated streaming service will go up against other popular services including Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix.

About The Streaming Service

As per reports, HBO and CBS, two very popular networks have agreed to partner up with Apple’s upcoming service, whereas Hulu and Netflix have chosen to stay away from the same for obvious reasons. This means that the company will source content from other channels as well as create original content for the streaming service. Reportedly, Apple spent over US$ 2 Billion to sign up major stars like Oprah Winfrey for the event that will shortly go live.

Apple is also looping a clip on the Apple Events web page, which shows a video feed from the Steve Jobs Theater itself. The stage has some sort of screen which is displaying a variety of content, including the Apple screensaver and interestingly, an incoming call from Captain America, hinting at the fact that the company has probably signed up Chris Evans for a project. It will also come forward with a host of other shows over varied genres such as drama, comedy, science fiction and movies for children.

About The News Subscription Service

Furthermore, Apple will also unveil its News Subscription service at the event, which will aim towards unifying major premium magazine content and news subscriptions. Apple News was first spotted in an iOS 12.2 beta update, confirming the existence of an idea that relates to its launch. Reports say that the company is asking for a whopping 50 percent cut from the publishers. The subscription cost hasn’t been revealed yet, but Apple may price it somewhere around US$ 10 per month.

How To Watch The Livestream?

Also Read: Apple iPhone SE 2 With Thinner Bezels Leaks Before Official Announcement

Users can watch the live stream from Apple on the company’s events page. The stream will go live at 10:30 pm IST (10:00 am PDT), and the company recommends its users to watch the stream on an Apple device, such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, MacBook etc.

March 25, 2019
HMD Releases Statement Regarding Alleged Data Breach In Nokia Devices

As previously reported, some Nokia 7 Plus devices in Norway were found inadvertently transferring information to Chinese servers. Needless to say, concerns rose around the incident, with a lot of people unknowingly accusing the Chinese hackers of attempting to steal private data from the users. On March 23, 2019, HMD Global put forth an official statement regarding the same, which cleared some doubts surrounding the issue.

Cause Of The “Alleged Data Breach”

As per the Foxconn subsidiary, FIH mobile (the Finnish company which manufactures Nokia devices in China), the device suspected of sending data i.e. the Nokia 7 Plus did not transfer any user data to the Chinese servers. Instead, the shared information included the activation data from the device. The reason why this happened was quite clear. It was just a manufacturing error that led to this “data breach” incident.

The Finnish company had mistakenly installed the Chinese device activation client on the Nokia smartphones which were intended to retail outside China. Consequently, the activation data was being sent to vnet.cn, a Chinese server located in the China Internet Network Information Center, or CNNIC. The domain is owned by the state-run Chinese Telecom operator.

HMD Global also stated that the issue was taken care of in the month of February since most Nokia 7 Plus smartphones had been updated with the bug fix. Users can check if the fix is installed in their devices by going to Settings>System>About Phone>Build Number. The build number should be “00WW_3_39B_SP03” or “00WW_3_22C_SP05“. If the build number does not match, users may need to update their device. This can be done by going to Settings> System> Advanced>System Update>Check for Update.

Reason Behind Data Privacy

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Lastly, HMD Global said that the global variants of the Nokia devices have their data stored in Singapore, which abides by very strict privacy laws (as shown in the aforementioned infographic released by the company) However, Chinese Cyber Security Laws state that the data originating in China will stay in China, so the company’s Chinese units will only send data to the Chinese servers. Moreover, the company also cleared up the doubt that Nokia devices are sharing user data with third-party servers, stating that this speculation is completely incorrect.

March 23, 2019
Apple To Phase Out iPhone 6, 6 Plus In India, Also Rethinking Market Strategy

In an effort to strengthen its premium positioning in the Indian smartphone market, Apple has planned to halt the retail of older devices like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. This may lead to a higher entry price barrier for other devices. The company is trying to shape the perception of Indian smartphone consumers towards Apple as a sumptuous brand.

The Company’s Market Strategy

As mentioned before, it has been confirmed that Apple is phasing out the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, leading to an increase in the entry price barrier for Apple devices. Consequently, Apple’s entry level smartphones will now be the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, which are already retailing at a higher price point compared to the previous entry level models, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus respectively. The American technology organization claims that even after reducing the selling prices of some smartphone models in the country, the market response is not up to its expectations. This is reflecting on the fact that Apple has a lower percentage of shares in the Indian smartphone market as compared to other countries, where Apple is the leader of market shares.

Talking about the Apple stores, the American Multinational company also plans to adopt newer strategies to improve its marketing statistics. The company will pay more attention to particular stores in a given area that have a higher chance of maximising sales. Accordingly, the company would allocate more sales executives to those outlets, consequently resulting in a sales performance boost. Also, the company wants to spread its footing via bigger stores that are more capable of increasing sales as a whole.

Partnerships

Also Read: Samsung Launches New 12GB RAM Modules For Future Smartphones

Apple is also putting an end to its distribution partnership with RP Tech for iPhones. Starting April, the company will focus on improving its partnership with Redington and Ingram Micro, both of which are reputed IT product distributors. Noteworthy, Apple has already terminated its relationship with HCL Infosystems and Brightstar as of the year 2018. Furthermore, Ashish Chowdhary (ex-Nokia Global Leadership Team Member) took charge of Apple’s India Operations in January and reportedly has been touring the market in order to strengthen trade relationships.

March 15, 2019