Category: Top Around the Web

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Apple Announces a $200,000 Bug Bounty Program

Cupertino based Apple Inc. has launched its own Bug Bounty program with a winning of US $ 200,000 for hackers and researchers who find and report security flaws in Apple products. Apple claims that they have reached a stagnation point where its own testers and even third party contract security firms are having difficulty finding bugs.

Bug Bounty and hacking seem to be becoming lucrative on the other side of the fence. Recently the FBI paid US $ 1 Million to a Hacker to hack into the San Bernardino case iPhone .

Apple’s Bug Bounty program is by far the biggest corporate bounty program announced, and will definitely get some bug bounty specialists scrambling for the prize. Other companies like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have already paid out huge sums to bug finders. Vine got added to this list recently.

August 5, 2016
Instagram Stories is Basically A Total Imitation of Snapchat

Instagram’s new feature Instagram Stories takes on what Snapchat does best. With the new stories Instagram is targeting it’s 300 Million Active users, which is double of what Snapchat currently holds.

Although Facebook, Instagram’s Main Company, is known to take “ideas” for new features, Snapchat will still hold on to a lot of exclusives.

Thanks to the acquisition of Face mapping app Looksery, Snapchat’s exclusive filters like the dog face filter are not coming to Instagram soon.

The format is pretty similar, images stay for 24 hours and then they are gone, you can add filters, stickers and even draw on your images. What’s more now while you capture on snapchat you can save your snapchats and re-post them on Instagram stories.

When watching your own story, swipe up to check out who’s seen each photo and video. You can even choose to feature a particular part of your story by posting it on your profile, which means if you decide to keep an image it goes permanent on your Instagram.

More control means you can also easily hide your entire story from anyone you don’t want to see it, even if they follow you.

Instagram seems to have found a good recipe for the 24 Hours storyline, however, this does not mean Snapchat is going anywhere soon. Instagram seems to have a completely different audience, which might change now. Also we might see a new Lawsuit headed Facebook/Instagram’s way.

August 3, 2016
Apple may Launch iPhone 6SE This Year, Instead of iPhone 7

Apple’s next iPhone is coming on Friday, Sept. 16th according to latest leaks, and the naming seems to have changed. So everything you heard about the three models of the iPhone, including the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone Pro may turn out to be just great misleads.

The next iPhone may be called the iPhone 6SE keeping the design lineage same as the previous gen iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s.

A report from Apfelpage suggests Apple may not call the device the iPhone 7 after all. It says Chinese supply chain sources have seen packaging and labelling that indicates the new phone will be called the ‘iPhone 6SE’.

All Glass iPhone Design for 2017

However, it seems unlikely that Apple will change the naming system of its flagship smartphone, And a iPhone 7 name seems more likely and on the cards. With Apple majorly overhauling the design of the iPhone in 2017, the iPhone 7 Moniker would make sense for a new design phone.

July 26, 2016
Amazon Prime Launched in India, Prime Video Coming Soon
Earlier in June iGyaan had reported that Amazon will launch prime in India, and today is the day that happens. The company has officially launched Amazon Prime in India, offering free One-Day and Two-Day delivery to its subscribing customers.

The service is free to try for two months, after which the company will charge a sum of Rs. 499 for a 1 year service for early subscribers offering a limited discount of Rs. 500 from the usual 1 year membership of Rs.999 for one year. This is also much lower than the earlier expected price of Rs 3499 based on US subscriptions.

Amazon Prime benefits include:
- FREE One-Day Delivery to eligible addresses.
- FREE Two-Day delivery to eligible addresses.
- Discounted Same-Day Delivery to eligible addresses at Rs.50.
- Discounted Morning Delivery to eligible addresses at Rs.50.
- Discounted Scheduled Delivery to eligible addresses at Rs.50.
- No minimum order value required for FREE Standard Delivery.
- Prime Early Access- Get early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon.in.
- Prime Exclusive Deals – Get exclusive Lightning Deals and Deals of the Day for Prime members on Amazon.in
While the service is relatively new in India, Amazon prime is heavily subscribed in the US and European markets. Where yearly subscription of prime is as much as US $ 49 for a year.

Source : Amazon
July 26, 2016
Sony Xperia F8331 Leak Shows New Design and Hardware for Sony Flagship

More leaks emerge this Wednesday with the next in line Sony flagship posing for pictures. The phone will feature a flatter approach to design, much like original Sony Xperia Z phones. The hardware was leaked on benchmarks a while back and the F8331 is expected to launch at IFA in berlin.

The back gets a new design as well with a clear separation for the bottom plate and a single line camera layout with dual led flash.

The phone will now sport a USB Type C port and will also have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Supposedly running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset with a 5.1 inch full HD display .

The Sony Xperia F8331 is also expected to have 4k Video capture and OIS on both rear and front cameras.

July 20, 2016
Nokia’s Android Phones Leak : 2K Display with Snapdragon 820

Nokia may finally be coming back, this time with a vengeance. The two phones leaked of the Finnish Manufacturer making a mega comeback, include a smaller 5.2-inch display model and a larger 5.5-inch model.

Both have a 2K display and will come with the Z-Launcher System UI based on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat (Android N). Specs wise the two phones will be powered by Snapdragon 820 chipset an IP68 Waterproof and Dustproof protected all metal body, so goodbye polycarbonate. The Previous leak of Nokia seems to fall into place here.

The bigger sibling of the two is reportedly sporting a 22 MP camera and will launch at a price of US $ 500 ( Rs. 34000) . The company will launch the phones at the end of the year post the official Android Nougat reveal in two months.

By that time smartphones will be working on the next Qualcomm Snapdragon 823/821. In effect Nokia will be late as usual to the party, however this time with a more meaningful product.

via

July 20, 2016
iPhone 7 Will Come Without A Mute Switch

It appears that Apple may actually be killing the mute switch on the next generation of the iPhone. If new image leaks are to be believed the next iPhone will not only cut the headphone jack but also the mute rocker switch.

New images leaked by a french website show what supposedly an accurate dummys of new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Pro and they tie in with a lot of the leaks in the past. For the iPhone 7 Pro dual cameras on the rear, an existant yet redisigned home button and no headphone jack, a new design larger single camera for the iPhone 7. However, one new fact that appears is the lack of the silent switch.

Apple already removed the switch from the newest iPad Pro, even though a virtual button exists. Apple has made no major revision to the design of the iPhone 7 to warrant the removal of the mute switch, unless it somehow hinders the water resistivity of the iPhone, which seems to be the only logical answer. Either that or the images are of a nice mockup made using current leaks, wouldnt be too difficult considering you can 3D print anything now.

The sizes of the screen remain at 4.7 inches for the iPhone 7 and 5.5 inches for the larger iPhone 7 Pro.

Source

July 12, 2016
Huawei’s Recent P9 Image Blunder Paints a Poor Picture for Mobile Brands

Huawei’s recent launch of the new P9 put a lot of attention on the brand, with claims that the smartphone camera can match DSLR quality shots.

This image recently posted by Huawei on its Facebook page, promoting the P9. Even though Huawei never directly claimed it was clicked with the P9. The caption read :

The #HuaweiP9’s dual Leica cameras makes taking photos in low light conditions like this a pleasure.

The EXIF data, however, spoke another story altogether. The photo was actually shot with a Canon 5D III using a 70-200 F2.8 L series lens. This reminds us of the bad marketing Nokia did with the Lumia 920 back in 2012.

Using DSLR images for marketing is more common than users expect. Most companies do it in their mainstream advertisements, and more so on social media.

Huawei issued an apology on the issue :

It has recently been highlighted that an image posted to our social channels was not shot on the Huawei P9. The photo, which was professionally taken while filming a Huawei P9 advert, was shared to inspire our community. We recognize though that we should have been clearer with the captions for this image. It was never our intention to mislead. We apologize for this and we have removed the image.

However, trust once broken is seldom regained, and Huawei seems to have upset a large chunk of its followers.

Claims in marketing media from brands often mislead users into expecting more from their phones. Claims like 2-day battery life, amazing cameras, and magical unicorns are made with phones that can barely manage to give average results.

With no regulations in place for marketing norms, a consumers knowledge becomes his best weapon against poor and unethical marketing warlords.

July 6, 2016
India Is Setting Up A High Tech Anti Cyber Terrorism Lab

The Indian Government and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology are setting up a high-tech cybersecurity lab to take on cyber terrorism efforts. Recently a report was placed before a meeting of home secretaries and DGPs of 12 states, which was convened by the Union home ministry at the beginning of the last month. It took note of the finding that Jammu and Kashmir had the highest degree of activity related to the ISIS in the social media, Among many other potential Online cyber threats to institutions like banking, government services, and crime.

India while ahead in terms of a number of connected users and the highest growth rate of Internet usage, lacks tremendously in cyber security. As an example, it is estimated that over 65% Indian Government websites and banks are easily prone and vulnerable to cyber attacks.

While local policing bodies often use third party cyber consultants and employ ethical hackers for various cases. A central cybersecurity center could act more efficiently and prevent attacks on various possible targets in India.

The Anti-Cyber Terrorism lab or the ACT was supposedly conceptualized after the May 17, 2012, hack, when Anonymous launched an attack against the websites of the India Supreme Court and the current-ruling Congress party.

The exact location and operations of the lab are being kept private for the time being. In the age of encryption level messaging on daily use apps like WhatsApp and iMessage. The security agencies are having a tough time tracking their targets. Let’s just hope this does not lead to a “Snowden Leak” situation right here in India, where the Anti-Terrorism lab is invading the privacy of the citizens of India.

June 27, 2016
Microsoft Buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion

Big news for the tech industry, LinkedIn the social network for professionals has been acquired by Microsoft for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at the whopping US $26.2 billion including all of LinkedIn’s current cash holdings.

LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture, and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. The complete takeover will happen by the end of this calendar year.

The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals, Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.- Nadella

We all know what came of the Microsoft-Nokia deal, and hope there is nothing similar on the books here.

Microsoft and LinkedIn will host a joint conference call with investors on June 13, 2016, at 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time/11:45 a.m. Eastern Time/9:15 p.m. IST to discuss this transaction. The call will be available via webcast at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89PWn0QaaY

June 13, 2016
Government Blocks Google Street View in India

The Indian Government has halted plans from Google to put Indian cities, tourists spots, hills, and rivers in an application in which one can explore through 360-degree, panoramic and street-level images.

According to the security agencies and home ministry, these pictures can be used for planning of terrorist attacks that might ultimately lead to events like those in 2008 that took place in Mumbai.

Street view, which was earlier just launched as a test in the US is now showcasing 360-degree panoramic views to include locations on all seven continents, covering 65 plus countries and has travelled seven million plus miles.

Google has often run into trouble with their Maps platform, in countries that take privacy, including many in the EU. In Germany, homeowners can log into street view and blur their homes.

Google with the Archaeological Survey of India has already added their street view to the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Varanasi river bank, Nalanda University, Mysore Palace, Thanjavur Temple, Chinnaswamy Stadium besides others in partnership with the Archaeological Society of India.

But now, the Government of India has blocked Google from going ahead with Street View due to fear of potential terrorist attacks. However, if the fear of terrorism holds back progress, then terrorism at a certain level has already been achieved.

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June 10, 2016
This is What Samsung’s Next Galaxy Note Looks Like

Renders of the next Galaxy Note phone from Samsung not only come with the details of the design shift but also a name shift. Samsung will reportedly call the next Note device Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to make the Galaxy S and Note series phones align with the nomenclature.

According to leaks from French site Nowhereelse.fr the Galaxy Note 7 will apparently measure 153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm and will also be available in an Edge variant which will replace the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus for 2016.

The renders which the site claims are true, show off a USB Type-C port which falls in line with many of the rumors in the past.

Source

June 8, 2016
Amazon to Launch Amazon Prime in India This Year for Rs 3999

Amazon Prime is one of the best subscription services offered by the company and there are many benefits of becoming a Prime member. Some of which include free two day shipping, Amazon Prime Video library which works like Netflix, unlimited music streaming via Amazon Prime Music and Prime Photos give you unlimited Photo storage. You will also get a 30 minute heads up to Amazon instant deals and almost a million e-books.

Amazon also delivers better customer support to Prime members, with express exchanges and returns. The company has stayed away from a membership model in India, due to several government restrictions and also due to it being a grey area with respect to success expected from said model in India. Flipkart tried and failed with a similar model offering next day shipping for a yearly fees for Rs 500 and later discontinued the service without informing the consumers.Flipkart has now brought back the Flipkart First service and claims a lot of people have subscribed to it.

The Amazon fulfilled service works in the same way however does not offer up free shipping typically charging a couple hundred rupees for overnight delivery.

Amazon is working hard to bring its prime service to what is now a large online community that is ready to consume content online, on there phones, tablets, computers and smart TVs.

Someone close to the Amazon Prime launch in India claims that the challenges are immense in bringing about the kind of awareness that is required to launch and monetise a feature like this. Netflix’s recent launch has seen great appreciation from Indian consumers and Amazon is taking that data to understand subscription trends in India.

With Amazon racing fast to reach the number one E-Commerce spot in India, services like these will possibly help the company reach new consumers. Amazon offers prime in the US for $99 for a year which roughly translates to Rs. 6700. Our source exclaims that the price may turn out to be too high for the India region, and Amazon is known to offer differential pricing based on region.

Amazon is planning to launch Prime services, most of them, in 2016, with a yearly subscription as low as Rs 3999.

While we are not sure if Amazon will be able to launch the whole suite of Prime services in the coming months, it will however, be a great add-on to what seems to be a growing appreciation for customer support and service in India.

June 2, 2016
OnePlus 3 to be Invite-Free From Day One
OnePlus CEO Carl Pei has announced on the OnePlus forums that the OnePlus 3 will finally drop the invite system for free sale from day one of the OnePlus 3 launch.

We’re releasing the OnePlus 3 invite-free, right from launch day. In addition, invites are gone forever from future OnePlus product launches.

The invite system has a special place in our history. When we first started out, our team was incredibly small. We had no idea what the demand of the OnePlus One would look like. We also weren’t fans of flash sales, where there’s a risk of everything selling out immediately, forcing fans to wait indefinitely. To address this, we designed the invite system to give customers a chance to purchase a phone as soon as we had inventory ready.

The invite system has taken a lot of flak in the past and it seems that OnePlus may either move to a flash sale model like Xiaomi or simply sell outright like bigger manufacturers.

You can read the full post in the link below. Would you like the invite system to continue or are you happy about its end let us know below.

Launch schedule for the OnePlus 3 all time zones on June 14:
- 12.30 PM EDT (New York)
- 9.30 AM PDT (San Francisco)
- 4.30 PM UTC/GMT
- 5.30 PM BST (London)
- 6.30 PM CEST (Paris)
- 10.00 PM IST(Bengaluru)
Source
June 1, 2016
Nokia is talking to Indian Telecom Operators for 5G Networks

Even though 4G networks in India have not been a real success, thanks to poor deployment and connectivity and also due to high charges, Nokia is in talks with various telecom companies to provide 5G networks in India.

While major telecos are still investing into 4G technology trying to get it up to speed with other countries, with respect to network and infrastructure.

5G technology is leaps and bounds ahead of current gen networks and, many countries are already investing heavily in the technology. With 5G users can attain 100 megabit per second speed and the infrastructure can handle 1000 times more data traffic.

India is expected to initiate 5G by 2020 and Nokia equipment will play a major role in providing this technology across the country.

It will be used for purposes beyond voice and data communications carried by people today. It will has less than 1 millisecond latency that will be used by machines for quick action like for to stop in case it identifies any obstacle, surgery from remote location etc.Discussion about spectrum (at global level) in which 5G will operate will finish by 2019. Commercial 5G deployment will start in 2020. Then you will see 100 mbps guaranteed speed everywhere : Nokia Networks Head of Mobile Broadband Milivoj Vela

For India 700 Mhz and 2.6 Ghz are currently employed for Mobile Telephony, Wi-fi generally uses between 2.4 Ghz to 5.9 Ghz. With 5G networks telepresence ill get a huge boost. Although with the poor state of network in the country many users are waiting for options like Reliance JIO that promise to offer up better connectivity and cheaper pricing.

May 25, 2016