Technology news

When Aditya Dubey took up a job in Sydney five years ago, his elderly parents had mixed feelings — they were happy for his success, but saddened by the fact that he would be so far away and practically inaccessible.
There was, of course, the telephone, but even the weekly calls were a financial burden.
So Aditya’s father Dharam Prakash Dubey, 68, and his mother Manjushree, 69, though not exactly tech-savvy, began using technology to keep in touch — first experimenting with emai

Scientists have detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars (Source: NASA)
Scientists have detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time since the last observation 40 years ago.
These atoms were found in the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere known as the mesosphere.
Atomic oxygen affects how other gases escape Mars and therefore has a significant impact on the planet’s atmosphere.
An instrument onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astrono

Reliance Jio’s employee referral programme offers Jio 4G ready SIM card to new users
The latest offer from Reliance Industries where each employee can invite 10 friends to sign up for Jio 4G services will propel usage and hype ahead of the commercial launch that is expected sometime this year, a leading investment group and brokerage has said.
“A similar strategy was implemented by OnePlus, a new entrant in the smartphone market, in 2014-15 during the launch of its handsets, which h

Reliance Jio’s employee referral programme offers Jio 4G ready SIM card to new users
The latest offer from Reliance Industries where each employee can invite 10 friends to sign up for Jio 4G services will propel usage and hype ahead of the commercial launch that is expected sometime this year, a leading investment group and brokerage has said.
“A similar strategy was implemented by OnePlus, a new entrant in the smartphone market, in 2014-15 during the launch of its handsets, which h

Soon, you’ll be able to play Temple Run by swiping your finger across your arm as a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has developed a new wearable technology that can turn the entire lower arm into a touchpad.
Called SkinTrack and developed by the Human-Computer Interaction Institute’s Future Interfaces Group, the new system allows for continuous touch tracking on the hands and arms. It also can detect touches at discrete locations on the skin, enabling functionalit

Mother’s Day special: Facebook Messenger’s new feature beautifies all messages with flowers (Source: David Marcus/Facebook)
Facebook is rolling out new features for Mother’s Day, including one to send your mom flowers via its chat application Messenger. Facebook is reportedly testing a new flower reaction that will be rolled out on International Mother’s Day.
The company has added a new flower button which appears next to the text messaging box. The icon animates your me

Mother’s Day special: Facebook Messenger’s new feature beautifies all messages with flowers (Source: David Marcus/Facebook)
Facebook is rolling out new features for Mother’s Day, including one to send your mom flowers via its chat application Messenger. Facebook is reportedly testing a new flower reaction that will be rolled out on International Mother’s Day.
The company has added a new flower button which appears next to the text messaging box. The icon animates your me

Reliance Jio’s employee referral programme offers Jio 4G ready SIM card to new users
The latest offer from Reliance Industries where each employee can invite 10 friends to sign up for Jio 4G services will propel usage and hype ahead of the commercial launch that is expected sometime this year, a leading investment group and brokerage has said.
“A similar strategy was implemented by OnePlus, a new entrant in the smartphone market, in 2014-15 during the launch of its handsets, which h

Scientists have detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars (Source: NASA)
Scientists have detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time since the last observation 40 years ago.
These atoms were found in the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere known as the mesosphere.
Atomic oxygen affects how other gases escape Mars and therefore has a significant impact on the planet’s atmosphere.
An instrument onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astrono

Mercury will be seen as a small black dot travelling from one limb of the solar disc to the other, which is a rare event. (Source: NASA)
Planet Mercury will be seen as dot on the solar disc from several parts of India on Monday, a rare astronomical phenomenon that occurs only 13 times in a century.
The planet will be seen as a small black dot travelling from one limb of the solar disc to the other as the Sun, Mercury and the Earth will be lined up in one plane.
The last transit of Mercury had o

Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials (Source: Reuters)
Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials, at a time when it is facing some setbacks in its most important overseas market, a source familiar with the matter said.
Cook has frequently traveled to China since taking the helm of Apple five years ago, but his latest visit comes during a critical period.
From weakening sm

Russia’s Mail.ru denies tens of millions of users were at risk after researchers found its data circulating among cyber criminals (Source: Thinkstock Images)
Russia’s top Internet company, Mail.ru said on Friday a sliver of its users’ email accounts was vulnerable while denying that tens of millions of other users were at risk after researchers found its data circulating among cyber criminals.
The company said in a statement credentials tied to its email accounts appeared to h

Facebook Messenger’s new feature beautifies all messages with flowers (Source: David Marcus/Facebook)
Facebook is rolling out new features for Mother’s Day, including one to send your mom flowers via its chat application Messenger. Facebook is reportedly testing a new flower reaction that will be rolled out on International Mother’s Day.
The company has added a new flower button which appears next to the text messaging box. The icon animates your message with flowers. The flow

Social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a “global sleep crisis,” according to a new study based on research collected through a smartphone app. (Reuters) Social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a “global sleep crisis,” according to a new study based on research collected through a smartphone app.
It enabled scientists from the University of Michigan to track sleep patterns around the world &m

COAI has requested DoT to take proactive steps to stop calls through apps
Mobile operators’ body COAI has requested DoT to take proactive steps to stop calls through apps, like the one recently planned by state-owed BSNL, saying they are against rules.
In a letter to Telecom Secretary JS Deepak, it has said that connecting Internet calls with networks using numbers assigned for mobile or landline phones violated current interconnection rules and causes loss to terminating operator and exc

Mercury will be seen as a small black dot travelling from one limb of the solar disc to the other (Source: NASA)
Planet Mercury will be seen as dot on the solar disc from several parts of India on Monday, a rare astronomical phenomenon that occurs only 13 times in a century.
The planet will be seen as a small black dot travelling from one limb of the solar disc to the other as the Sun, Mercury and the Earth will be lined up in one plane.
The last transit of Mercury had occurred on November 6, 2

Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials (Source: Reuters)
Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials, at a time when it is facing some setbacks in its most important overseas market, a source familiar with the matter said.
Cook has frequently traveled to China since taking the helm of Apple five years ago, but his latest visit comes during a critical period.
From weakening sm