Technology news

Condé Nast Traveler
Clip-Air's Rail-to-Sky Technology Could Revolutionize Air Travel
Condé Nast Traveler
Clip-Air "pod planes" take inspiration from the latest in modular technology—and shipping containers. Courtesy EPFL. The Clip-Air plane would be able to carry three separate capsules, containing passengers or cargo. Something tells us we're on the ...and more »

Reliance is offering discounts across the line of Lyf phones
While the full-scale launch of Reliance Jio’s 4G service is still awaited, Reliance Lyf phones have seen a price-cut. The price-cut is listed on the company’s website and Reliance Jio confirmed with IndianExpress.com, that the same will also be applicable in Reliance stores.
The interesting bit with the price-cut is that users can buy a Lyf phone for as low as Rs 2,999 and will get a Jio SIM free with 3 months of unlimited

Reliance is offering discounts across the line of Lyf phones
While the full-scale launch of Reliance Jio’s 4G service is still awaited, Reliance Lyf phones have seen a price-cut. The price-cut is listed on the company’s website and Reliance Jio confirmed with IndianExpress.com, that the same will also be applicable in Reliance stores.
The interesting bit with the price-cut is that users can buy a Lyf phone for as low as Rs 2,999 and will get a Jio SIM free with 3 months of unlimited

Ziox Mobiles launched its latest smartphone, the Zi5003 priced at an affordable Rs 4,990. Company claims smartphone is packed with state of the art features in an ‘aesthetically appealing’ design.
The Dual SIM Ziox Mobiles Zi5003 smartphone promises seamless multitasking with highly advanced 1.3 GHz Quad Core processor. It enjoys increased efficiency, higher performance, high browsing speed and smooth multitasking even on the go. Its 5” FWVGA display with a terrifically respons

New York Times
Times Insider|A Clutter of Documents. What's a Reporter to Do? Technology Has Two Good Answers.
New York Times
The Kemper power plant, being built in Mississippi, was promoted by the Obama administration as part of its climate plan. Credit Josh Haner/The New York Times. Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how news, features and opinion come ...and more »

Ringing Bells CEO says if the government is willing to dole out Rs 50,000 crore, he can ensure that 750 million Indians would become part of Digital India by owning a smartphone at Rs 251.
As consumers wait to see the cheapest smartphone at its scheduled launch in the capital on Thursday, its Noida-based makers have made another pitch for the government’s support to make their loss-making venture “work for millions” who don’t own such a phone.
According to Ringing Bells

Reliance Jio 4G speed test: I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range of 14Mbps for download and 6.90Mbps for uploads.
Finally, we got our hands on a Reliance Jio SIM thanks to a helpful, and really lucky, colleague. I have been dying to use the service, just to figure out how fast the 4G speeds are on what is supposed to be a gamechanger for the Indian market.
I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range

Reliance Jio 4G speed test: I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range of 14Mbps for download and 6.90Mbps for uploads.
Finally, we got our hands on a Reliance Jio SIM thanks to a helpful, and really lucky, colleague. I have been dying to use the service, just to figure out how fast the 4G speeds are on what is supposed to be a gamechanger for the Indian market.
I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range

Reliance is offering discounts across the line of Lyf phones
While the full-scale launch of Reliance Jio’s 4G service is still awaited, Reliance Lyf phones have seen a price-cut. The price-cut is listed on the company’s website and Reliance Jio confirmed with IndianExpress.com, that the same will also be applicable in Reliance stores.
The interesting bit with the price-cut is that users can buy a Lyf phone for as low as Rs 2,999 and will get a Jio SIM free with 3 months of unlimited

NASA Kepler Twitter account’s display picture and username were also changed.
The official Twitter account maintained by NASA to provide rolling updates about its Kepler mission appears to have been hacked on Wednesday. Users noticed the hack after a lewd image was tweeted from the account with the accompanying caption “Ready for ya…”. The account’s display picture and username were also changed.
An image of an unidentified women was uploaded by suspected hackers

Search far and wide and capture as many Pokemon as you can
Nintendo’s Pokemon Go “augmented reality” mobile game is out and is available in selected countries for now. The game is already available for both Android and iOS to users in New Zealand and Australia. Nintendo has made the game in association with Niantic – maker of Ingress, and The Pokemon Company.
The game will use your smartphone’s camera and sensors along with location algorithms to place Pokemon&rsqu

The Hyperloop is claimed to cover ~500 kilometers in less than half an hour
Hyperloop One, which is a startup working on the Hyperloop idea proposed by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, has run a pre-feasibility study showcasing how such a system would work. The company claims it could connect Helsinki and Stockholm in just 30 minutes.
The Hyperloop One and KPMG report claims the Hyperloop system will be able to cover the 485 Km distance between the two capital cities in 28 minutes reaching speeds in exces

Google has bought out Moodstocks, a start-up that helps machine recognise images.
Google today announced a deal to buy Moodstocks, a French startup behind technology that helps smartphones recognise whatever they are aimed at.
Moodstocks caught the US technology giant’s eye for its work in computer vision and machine learning, as well for accomplishments in enabling smartphones or other mobile devices to recognise images and objects.
Google is among Silicon Valley titans investing in ways

Apple iPhone 7 rumours: A 32GB  base model, water-resistance are some of the features being promised. (Representational Image. Source: AP)
Apple iPhone 7 is set to get 32GB storage in the base version, reports Wall Street Journal. It seems like Apple has finally heard the complaints of consumers who find the current 16GB storage too less for a phone that can capture 4K video.  Apple is expected to continue making the 64GB and 128GB versions of the phone.
WSJ also reports iPhone 7

Reliance Jio 4G speed test: I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range of 14Mbps for download and 6.90Mbps for uploads.
Finally, we got our hands on a Reliance Jio SIM thanks to a helpful, and really lucky, colleague. I have been dying to use the service, just to figure out how fast the 4G speeds are on what is supposed to be a gamechanger for the Indian market.
I started with a speed test while at home in East Delhi and the speeds were in the range

Skype Meetings will allow conference call even without Office 365 subscription
Microsoft has announced the introduction of free Skype Meetings – an online tool that will enable small businesses to hold HD video conferencing on its Office Blogs.
Skype Meetings will give the users ability to share screens over the conference calls. Different participants can join in on a Skype meeting using a personalised URL that can be quickly set up for a conference call.
Over the duration of the ca

Ashley Madison, hit by a devastating hack last year, is now the target of a US Federal Trade Commission investigation. (Source: Reuters)
The parent company of infidelity dating site Ashley Madison, hit by a devastating hack last year, is now the target of a US Federal Trade Commission investigation, the new executives seeking to revive its credibility told Reuters.
The breach, which exposed the personal details of millions who signed up for the site with the slogan “Life is short. Have an

With android 5.0 Lollipop OS and 1.3GHz quad-core processor, the tab is available on Flipkart.
In a bid to make technology a fun activity for children in India, educational technology company ConveGenius on Tuesday launched a learning device ‘CG Slate’ in collaboration with global PC and smartphone maker Lenovo.
Priced at Rs 8,499, the product centres around a “gamified” approach to learning where a child engages self through games and learns important concepts through v

A majority of Indian travellers spend the bulk of their time on Facebook as compared to other social media channels, a survey has revealed.
Released by Hotel.com – an online accommodation booking website, Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker survey has revealed that travellers spend 50 per cent more time glued to their smartphone than to their sunbed while travelling.
The global study of 9,200 travellers across 31 countries, reveals that while away on a holiday, the travellers turn into social

Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp aims to boost sales of automotive products to reduce its proportion of smartphone-related business to 30 percent of revenue from 40 percent, its new chief executive said on Wednesday.
“We hope to raise the weight of the automotive business, currently just 17 to 18 percent, to 30 percent as early as possible,” Shigenao Ishiguro told Reuters in an interview.
Japanese electronic components makers such as TDK and Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd prospe

The mobile messaging app Snapchat is gaining popularity among US smartphone users aged 35 and above even as the app is likely to continue being popular among teenagers due to its concept of “self-destructing content”, a media report said.
According to a Wall Street Journal study, 14 per cent of US smartphone users over 35 years old use Snapchat — up from just two per cent three years ago.
The study also claimed that 70 per cent of all US smartphone users today

Xiaomi Mi Max will go on first flash sale today in India. Price starts at Rs 14,999. (Source: Shruti Dhapola)
Xiaomi Mi Max, the large 6.44-inch display smartphone will be going on flash sale today. Mi Max smartphone comes with a starting price of Rs 14,999 for the 3GB RAM+ 32GB storage version, while the 4GB RAM+ 128GB version is priced at Rs 19,999.
Xiaomi is going for a flash sale today, and it will start at 2 pm. However from next week onwards Mi Max will be available on open sale.
Xiaomi Mi

Invisibility cloaks inspired by Harry Potter franchise are not able to cloak large objects, such as a human body or a military tank.
If you were longing for the Harry-Potter invisibility cloak, then it’s time you pop your bubble as a recent study has some heart-breaking revelations.
The University of Texas researchers have been able to quantify fundamental physical limitations on the performance of cloaking devices, a technology that allows objects to become invisible or undetectable to e

Ten million represents a mere drop of Twitter’s 310 million total active users, of which 65 million are in the US, with the remaining 245 million overseas, technology website Tech Crunch reported. (representative image; source: Express)
Though banned in China since 2009, micro-blogging website Twitter has estimated that it has nearly 10 million Chinese users, a media report said on Wednesday.
Ten million represents a mere drop of Twitter’s 310 million total active users, of which 65

Ringing Bells Freedom 251 will be delivered from July 8, claims the company.
Freedom 251, the cheapest smartphone in the world, will launch on July 7 followed by first set of shipments going out a day later. Despite all the scepticism, and ridiculousness of the pricing, Ringing Bells, a little known company in the Delhi suburb of Noida, is confident of being able to deliver the phones.
While the company will make losses running into crores on this certain device, there might be shrewd business

Though banned in China since 2009, micro-blogging website Twitter has estimated that it has nearly 10 million Chinese users, a media report said on Wednesday.
Ten million represents a mere drop of Twitter’s 310 million total active users, of which 65 million are in the US, with the remaining 245 million overseas, technology website Tech Crunch reported.
“That number itself is an estimate, one that is used internally because even Twitter isn’t fully sure. That’s because it

OxygenOS 3.2.0 upgrade kinks being worked on by OnePlus
OnePlus 3’s new OTA firmware update, OxygenOS 3.2.0, that was released yesterday has been temporarily rolled back due to reports of issues after the upgrade. OnePlus has announced it will rollback the update for now, while it investigates the issue as reported on the company’s online forum.
OxygenOS 3.2.0 is set to add features including better RAM management, an sRGB mode for the display and an improvement in GPS performa

Notion Ink Able 10 will be Snapdeal exclusive, and is priced at Rs 24,990.
Notion Ink has launched Able 10, a 2-in-1 device with Intel’s latest X5 CherryTrail 8300 and Windows 10.
Notion Ink Able 10 will be Snapdeal exclusive, and is priced at Rs 24,990. The limited edition device will be available from July 5 on the website.
The Able 10 two-in-one has a 10.1-inch IPS LCD display featuring 1280×800 pixels of resolution, Intel CherryTrail 8300 processor (2M Cache, up to 1.86 GHz Burs

Now smart phones will have inbuilt toxic chemical sensors. (Wikimedia)
MIT researchers have developed new low-cost chemical sensors that can enable smartphones or other wireless devices to detect trace amounts of toxic gases.
Using the sensors, researchers hope to design lightweight, inexpensive radio-frequency identification (RFID) badges to be used for personal safety and security.
Such badges could be worn by soldiers on the battlefield to rapidly detect the presence of chemical weapons &nda

Blackberry’s last classic model. (File)
Smartphone pioneer BlackBerry Ltd will stop making its Classic model, the company said on Tuesday, some 18 months after launching the device it had hoped would entice users who prefer a physical, rather than touchscreen, keyboard.
Blackberry’s move shifted its focus further away from its money-losing handset business and toward its software. Still, shares in the Canadian technology company fell more than 3 percent after an executive confirmed

A view of the LHC in its tunnel at CERN. To perform this research, the LHC physicists used the full set of data collected during the first LHC run, from 2010 to 2012.
Scientists have observed three new “exotic” particles and confirmed the existence of a fourth one, using data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider.
These particles seem to be formed by four quarks – the fundamental constituent of the matter inside all

Apple adds an easy sign-up button to the health information app. (File)
Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a software update that will add an easy sign-up button to the health information app that comes installed on every smartphone the company makes.
CEO Tim Cook says he hopes the new software, set for limited release this month, will help ease a critical and longstanding donor shortage. He said the problem hit home when his friend and former

If you were longing for the Harry-Potter invisibility cloak, then it’s time you pop your bubble as a recent study has some heart-breaking revelations.
The University of Texas researchers have been able to quantify fundamental physical limitations on the performance of cloaking devices, a technology that allows objects to become invisible or undetectable to electromagnetic waves including radio waves, microwaves, infrared and visible light.
The researchers’ theory confirms that it is

Chinese tech firm Alibaba’s internet-connected car will set the Chinese e-commerce giant up to quickly introduce driverless vehicle technology, Chief Technology Officer Wang Jian told Reuters on Wednesday.
Alibaba and the country’s largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp demonstrated their jointly developed car equipped with the YunOS operating system, which can link up with smart phones, at an event in eastern China’s Hangzhou on Wednesday. The car is slated to go on sale later this