Fox indigo

Mozilla  has announced some hard steps to ensure user privacy on its  Firefox browser . In its latest blog, the company said that over the next few months it will be rolling out certain key features which will give users more control over their data and also improve the web performance. One of the most important changes will be the automatic protection against ad tracking. In Firefox 65 version, the company plans to strip cookies and block storage access from third-party tracking content. The company said on its  blog  about ad tracking, "We've already made this available for our Firefox Nightly users to try out, and will be running a shield study to test the experience with some of our beta users in September. We aim to bring this protection to all users in Firefox 65, and will continue to refine our approach to provide the strongest possible protection while preserving a smooth user experience." In addition to this, future versions of Firefox will also cut ...

Ride-sharing provider  Ola  on Thursday announced a policy research and social innovation unit called Ola Mobility Institute. The think tank would initially focus on understanding the social and economic impact around mobility as a service, the climate footprint of mobility innovations, skill development and job creation, transportation-oriented urban planning and digitisation of mobility, the company said in a statement. "The ongoing revolution in the sector promises to improve the lives of citizens, create significant employment and livelihood opportunities and reduce congestion and pollution in cities and Ola Mobility Institute will work to ensure innovations continue to have a positive impact," said Anand Shah, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Ola. The institute is recruiting a global advisory board of mobility experts consisting of strategic thinkers, researchers, academics, and policy specialists trained from around the world including IITs, Ha...

Russia is experimenting with more precise technology to block individual online services after an  attempt  to shut down banned messaging service  Telegram  failed, but Moscow has yet to find a way to shut it down without hitting other traffic. Telegram, which has 200 million global users and has been popular in countries including Russia and Iran, has been banned in Russia because it refused to comply with a court order to give security services access to users' encrypted messages. Russia's authorities started trying to block the service in April but they inadvertently blocked Russian users' access to a slew of unrelated online services, including voice calls on the  Viber  messaging service, cloud-based applications for Volvo cars, and apps that control Xiaomi video cameras. Because of that hiccup, the attempt to block Telegram was put on hold, and the service is still accessible to Russian users. Since August 6, Russian state communications wat...

British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt accused  Google  on Thursday of abandoning its moral values by failing to remove child abuse content while  launching  a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites. The British government has repeatedly criticised online platforms such as  Twitter ,  YouTube , and  Facebook  for failing to remove abusive material or sexual content posted online even after they were notified. "Seems extraordinary that Google is considering censoring its content to get into China but won't cooperate with UK, US ... in removing child abuse content," Hunt said on Twitter. "They used to be so proud of being values-driven." Alphabet's Google plans a search engine in China that will block some search terms and websites, two sources told Reuters earlier this month, in a move that could mark its return to a market it abandoned eight years ago on censorship concerns. Google said in a statement they agre...

Tencent Holdings'  market value slumped by around $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1.4 lakh crores) on Friday after China  intensified a crackdown  on online gaming citing rising levels of myopia, heightening regulatory risks for companies in the world's biggest gaming market. China's Ministry of Education, in a notice late on Thursday, directed the publishing regulator to limit the number of new online video games, take steps to restrict the time young people spend playing games and explore an age-appropriate system for players. Beijing's directive was included in a document published on the website of the ministry outlining how China should respond to worsening rates of myopia, or near-sightedness, among young people, and blamed the spread of mobile phones and other electronic devices partly for it. The curbs are the latest challenge for Tencent, China's largest gaming and social media firm, which earlier this month blamed a freeze on new game approvals for the te...

Sennheiser , though a bit late to the party, has finally unveiled its first truly wireless earbuds. Called as Momentum True Wireless, the new set of earbuds were launched at IFA 2018 in Berlin. The company claims that the new Bluetooth-enabled earphones bring the audio performance and as well as the design of its Momentum headphone lineup to a truly wireless form. With these earbuds, you will be able to access voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant with one tap. The earbuds have a four-hour battery life, but they come with a charging case that, according to Sennheiser, powers them for over 12 hours of listening time. However, all of this comes at a price. The  Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless  costs a whopping $299.95 (roughly Rs. 21,300). Alongside Bluetooth support, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless earbuds come with AAC codec support and Qualcomm aptX and aptX Low Latency compatibility, delivered via 7mm drivers. When on the move, the Transparent Hearing f...

Looking at the depths of the Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm that has been raging on the planet for over 350 years,  NASA  scientists have found water above the planet's deepest clouds. The team led by Gordon l. Bjoraker, Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight centre in Maryland, US, were looking from ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupiter's persistent storm, when they detected the chemical signatures of water above the planet's deepest clouds. The pressure of the water, combined with the measurements of another oxygen-bearing gas, carbon monoxide, imply that Jupiter has two to nine times more oxygen than the sun. This finding supports theoretical and computer-simulation models that have predicted abundant water (H2O) on Jupiter, the scientists said. "The moons that orbit Jupiter are mostly water ice, so the whole neighbourhood has plenty of water. Why wouldn't the planet - ...

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the merger of  Idea Cellular  and the Indian unit of  Vodafone Group , according to television channels. Idea, a part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, and Vodafone signed a merger agreement last year, which could create the country's biggest telecom operator. The merger followed a broader trend by India's network operators, who are rushing to consolidate amid a year-long price war sparked by the entry of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's  Reliance Jio . Idea was not immediately reachable, while Vodafone had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

If you feel the list of people you follow is exploding,  Twitter  may soon help you ease that burden by suggesting users you can unfollow. The platform is testing a new feature which suggests accounts you might want to unfollow. It is aimed at those who want a more relevant Twitter timeline and one way to do that is by unfollowing those whom they don't engage with regularly, Slate  reported . Although the limited scale test has concluded, it is not clear if the company has decided to bring a full-fledged version of the feature to all users. Last week, Twitter  rolled out  a new filtering tool for Direct Messages on its platform. The social media giant has introduced a new feature where users will be able to filter out unwanted messages. Twitter will now show two sections - Inbox and Requests. While the Inbox tab will be filled with messages from users you follow, the Requests tab will contain messages from people you don't. Twitter says that the requests...

Online bus ticket booking platform  Redbus  on Thursday announced that it has joined hands with  Google Maps  to provide users all the necessary transport information required to travel between two cities. With this partnership, Google Maps would now be able to assist travellers with inter-city bus transport information along with the driving and train route statistics, the company said in a statement. "The tie-up with Google Maps is a natural step towards organising information in the most meaningful way. We are confident that the practical use of this technology will also facilitate better trip planning resulting in greater convenience to travellers," said Krishnan Ramaswami, Senior Vice President, Products, Redbus. Redbus has over 2,300 bus operators across the country, including government-run buses, and Google will be able to present data on buses between cities with the exact time and information on where to board the bus. Founded in 2006, Redbus is p...

Fashion brand  Diesel  on Wednesday announced the launch of its latest premium touchscreen smartwatch - the Diesel Full Guard 2.5 - globally, and on Thursday, announced its launch in India. With Diesel's trademark bold design, key highlights of the Full Guard 2.5 include heart rate tracking, NFC payment capabilities, and GPS tracking. The smartwatch is powered by  Google's Wear OS  and is compatible with Android phones as well as Apple's iPhone. The Diesel Full Guard 2.5 smartwatch has been priced at Rs. 24,495 and will be available in select stores in India starting November 2018. As is the case with this new Diesel smartwatch, all Wear OS wearables are compatible with Android phones running Android 4.4 and above (excluding Go edition) and iPhone variants running iOS 9.3 and above. The Diesel Full Guard 2.5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, and comes with features such as rapid charging, music playback control, customisable watch faces, and smar...

The  Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  and its commercial wing  Antrix  on Wednesday said they are willing to outsource manufacturing of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) so that the space agency could focus on the proposed human space programme. ISRO held discussions a week ago with a consortium of industries regarding PSLV industrialisation with the objective of easing ISRO to focus on human space programme and research and development activities. "Definitely, in my opinion, in the ISRO activity, industry is going to play a major role. If only the industry is taking the load, ISRO can work out on human space programme and research and development activities," ISRO chairman K Sivan said. He said the industry should help in manufacturing PSLV as well as SSLV, adding ISRO had already worked out a model. With this model in a year, the PSLV was supposed to be produced by the industry. "That is our ambition...

Ahead of  IFA 2018 ,  Sony  on Thursday launched the  Xperia XZ3  smartphone expanding its flagship portfolio. Sony is also following the recent trend of a six-month upgrade cycle, and has launched the successor of the Sony  Xperia XZ2 in Berlin. The Sony Xperia XZ3 does not see much of an upgrade in terms of design, but the smartphone runs on Android Pie out-of-the-box. The smartphone comes in four colour options, has a dedicated shutter button, and is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC. Sony Xperia XZ3 price, availability The Sony Xperia XZ3 pricing still remains a mystery, but the smartphone will be made available in selected markets globally from end of September and will be among the first devices to ship with the latest Android 9 Pie. It will be available in Black, White Silver, Forest Green, and Bordeaux Red colour options, however colour options may vary depending upon region. It has a dedicated shutter button, alongside the power and volume bu...

Vodafone  has been rethinking its prepaid offerings recently to combat the tough competition faced from  Reliance Jio , and  Bharti Airtel . After  introducing the new Rs. 159 recharge , the company has now introduced a new Rs. 597 recharge with a validity of 168 days. This plan looks to  compete with Airtel's Rs. 597 recharge , so much so, that it even offers the same benefits. However, there are some tweaks that differentiate the Rs. 597 Vodafone recharge from Airtel's, including its separate validity for feature phone and smartphone users. Vodafone's new Rs. 597 recharge offers 10GB of 4G data, 100 SMS messages per day, and unlimited local, STD, and roaming calls within India. The validity for smartphone users is 112 days, while it offers 168 days of validity only for feature phone users. Furthermore, the telecom operator has an FUP on unlimited calling at 250 minutes per day, 1,000 minutes per week, and calling is limited to only 100 unique numbers durin...

At Gamescom 2018, Microsoft announced that  PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) for  Xbox One  is getting a physical release on disc. Thanks to retailer listings, the PUBG Xbox One disc India release date and price has been revealed. Much like the rest of the world, you can buy PUBG on disc for Xbox One from September 4 and the price is Rs. 1,999. You can pre-order PUBG on disc for Xbox One right now on sites like  Games the Shop , with pre-orders on Flipkart and Amazon going up shortly. Comparatively, you can buy a code for the game on Xbox One for  Rs. 1,799 . With the price difference being so little, and this being the only version of the game on disc, makes it a bit of a collector's item for fans of the battle royale game. PUBG Xbox One disc - what you get New cover art : The retail boxed version featuring an all-new colorway of the game’s iconic key art. Xbox #1.0/99 Set DLC : featuring an exclusive collection of clothing and accessories inspired b...

After being asked by the central government to take steps to stop the spread of disinformation on its platform,  WhatsApp  on Wednesday roped in New Delhi-based non-profit Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) to create awareness among its users about the need to verify information. "Our goal is to help keep people safe by creating greater awareness about fake news and empowering users to help limit its spread," Ben Supple, Public Policy Manager at WhatsApp, said in a statement. In a  meeting  with WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels on August 21, Union IT Minister  Ravi Shankar Prasad  instructed the Facebook-owned platform to comply with the law of the land and take "suitable" steps to prevent its misuse. The meeting took place after several lynching incidents were linked to the spread of misinformation on the instant messaging platform which has over 200 million monthly active users in India. As part of the new partnership with WhatsApp, DEF has committe...

Xiaomi  is all set to unveil its  Mi Pay digital payments platform in India, if a new report is to be believed. Launched  initially in China in 2016 , Mi Pay is said to arrive in India powered by the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface ( UPI ) in an attempt to take on the likes of  Paytm ,  WhatsApp ,  BHIM ,  PhonePe , and other similar service providers. As per a report, Xiaomi is currently awaiting licence approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and will look to tie up with several private lending firms in the country. The fierce Indian digital payments space is ready to get an all-new player,  reports  Hindu Business Line citing people familiar with the matter who claim the Chinese phone maker is indeed looking to launch Mi Pay in India soon. The report claims that Xiaomi has started conducting trials and tests for its upcoming UPI service and is awaiting RBI approval for an official launch. Xiaomi has invested in p...

Amazon.com , looking for ways to offer more films on its streaming service, has held discussions with at least two major Hollywood studios about options that could include co-financing movies in exchange for certain online rights, according to people familiar with the matter. The company held exploratory talks with executives at  Sony Corp.'s  studio division and Viacom's Paramount Pictures, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are at an early stage. The options included development funds, as well as money for film production, said one of the people. Obtaining more movies from the studios would help Amazon attract viewers to its streaming service, which trails  Netflix  in popularity. The online retailer will spend more than $5 billion (roughly Rs. 35,000 crores) on video programming this year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Sony, in fifth place at the box office this year, releases the Spider-Man movies and had s...

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5  was  launched in India  back in February and the smartphone arrived with competitive specifications, good design, among other features. However, the weak link in the Redmi Note 5 was that it ran  Android Nougat -based  MIUI 9  at launch. But now, Xiaomi has been seen keeping its promise, and rolling out an MIUI version based on  Android 8.1 Oreo . Redmi Note 5 users are reportedly receiving a notification for the latest update to the MIUI (version 9.6.5.5.0). To recall, the  Redmi Note 5 Pro  that was announced alongside the Redmi Note 5, had already received an MIUI 9.5.6 update based on Android 8.1 Oreo  in June this year . Redmi Note 5,  also known  as  Redmi 5 Plus  in China, earlier shipped with Android Nougat out-of-the-box, even though the smartphone was launched after Google had already made Android Oreo available. However, as per an XDA Developers  report , a stable Android 8.1 O...

In what comes as a surprise, Capcom has  announced  a high-definition remastered version of PS2 classic Onimusha: Warlords, the 17-year-old game that was the first entry in the action-adventure series out of Japan. It will release on  PC ,  Nintendo Switch ,  PS4 , and  Xbox One  on January 15, 2019 at $20 (about Rs. 1,400). Beyond the aforementioned HD graphics, the Onimusha: Warlords remaster will have widescreen support and new display options – players can switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios at any time, though some menus will be fixed to one of the two – as well as a ‘screen scroll’ feature for widescreen setups to show “areas that can't be fully displayed from certain positions”. The remastered version also has a new soundtrack and more Japanese dialogue in addition to support for analogue sticks and the option to begin your game in ‘Easy Mode’ – it was only unlocked later in the original release – making Onimusha: Warlords more acces...

Airtel  postpaid users will soon be able to access  Netflix  content through the Airtel TV and MyAirtel apps. The telecom operator has partnered with Netflix to introduce new content consumption benefits for its postpaid and V-Fiber Home Broadband plan subscribers. Airtel users will now be able to sign up to Netflix through the two apps and pay for its subscription using their Airtel bill. Furthermore, customers on eligible Airtel plans will receive three months of free Netflix access through the Airtel TV app and the MyAirtel app as well. The operator already has a partnership with Netflix rivals Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar. Airtel is offering this 3-month free access to Netflix to postpaid and home broadband users on select plans. The company says that the details of eligibility will be announced in the coming weeks. Subscribers of these eligible plans will get to access Netflix for three months through the Airtel TV app and MyAirtel app....

In a new development,  Facebook  has finally introduced support for Android notification channels. This support was launched by  Google  with  Android Oreo , and it basically allows users to decide which notifications they should receive from a specific app. Moving forward, users can now decide which notifications they want to receive from Facebook, apart from switching on and off all notifications altogether. This feature is buried in the Android Settings menu, and allows users to choose whether they want to receive notifications of birthdays, people you may know, video suggestions, friend requests, comments, and more. A Reddit  thread  suggests that notification channel support was enabled with version 185.0.0.39.72, but many users even after the update, couldn't see the feature on their phone. It could be a server-side update, or a slow rollout, and hence we recommend users to be patient. Check if you have a pending update on your Android phone,...

Xiaomi  on Tuesday announced that it has sold more than half a million Mi TV units in India in over six months. Xiaomi has three Mi TV models in the country, including two in  Mi TV 4A  series and one  Mi TV 4 , that it had launched earlier this year across Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home stores, in  March  and  February respectively. March The combined sale of  Mi TV 4 55-inch ,  Mi TV 4A 32-inch, and Mi TV 4A 43-inch  accounts for over 500,000 sold units, Xiaomi has announced. "This achievement marks an industry first, and is a key milestone for Xiaomi India," the company said in a press statement. The flagship 55-inch Mi TV 4 is priced at Rs. 44,999 in India. It sports a 55-inch Ultra-HD display panel that supports HDR and measures only 4.9mm in total thickness. The TV is powered by a 64-bit quad-core Amlogic Cortex-A53 SoC, coupled with Mali-T830 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It has 8GB of onboard storage and offers features such as Dolby+DT...