Technology news

Google Hangouts for Android now supports video message of one minute length (Source: Google Play)
Google has finally updated its Hangouts app for Android with support for video messages. Google had updated its Hangouts app for iOS with similar feature back in February 2014.
The update has started rolling out on Google Play Store, and now allows Android users to record a video message of one minute duration from within the app. Users can also send a pre-recorded video in the form of reply.
Googl

The Tiny1 camera shows stars and constellations in real time and has built-in search too (Source: Indiegogo)
Tiny1, a camera from a little known company called TinyMos is billing itself as the smallest astronomy camera. Tiny1 is being listed on Indiegogo and has already been funded 365 per cent.
TinyMos is calling Tiny1 as the world’s smallest, smartest and social astronomy camera. Tiny1 offers an interactive star map which allows users to easily locate and shoot celestial objects.
The ti

Google is reportedly working on its own Android Wear smartwatches and could launch after Nexus debut (Source: Android Police)
Google is reportedly working on its own smartwatches powered by Android Wear. At I/O 2016, Google showed the next version of Android Wear 2.0 which makes smartwatches more standalone devices.
Reports hinting at Google’s own smartwatches had surfaced last week and now images confirming the development have been made public. According to Android Police, Google’

Apple tops smartwatches while Samsung ranks highest in fitness band devices when it comes to overall satisfaction.
Fitness bands and smartwatches are slowly becoming must-have devices across the world. But is every device offering the kind of satisfaction consumers are expecting?
As per the J.D. Power 2016 Fitness Band Device Satisfaction and J.D. Power 2016 Smartwatch Device Satisfaction reports, Apple tops smartwatches while Samsung ranks highest in fitness band devices when it comes to overa

Cisco readies plans to set up its manufacturing unit in India. (Source: File photo)
Technology major Cisco is working on a plan to establish a manufacturing facility in India and is in talks with the government for the same, a top official of the company has said.
Terming India as one of its “best bases”, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said the company is “very actively involved in India across the board” and working on a broader base from digitisation to smart cities in the co

Android Marshmallow is now powering 13.3 per cent devices but it is still way behind Lollipop and KitKat (Source: Google)
Google had announced last month that its Android 6.0 Marshmallow has reached 10 per cent devices. Now the updated Android Developers Dashboard lists Marshmallow at 13.3 per cent which makes it clear that latest Android version is growing steadily.
However, Android Marshmallow is way behind Android Lollipop and Android KitKat in terms of market share. For record, Android Loll

Pokemon GO lets you chose your Pokémon master’s look before you start your journey
Pokémon GO mania has taken over the world, even though technically it has only launched in US, Australia and New Zealand. But everyone is playing Pokémon GO thanks to switching App Stores on iOS, fake Apple IDs, APK files on Androids and other tricks.
A recent WSJ report says the game will launch in Asia and Europe in the next few days. Hopefully India won’t be left out of th

Ola rides can be hailed by customers for local and outstation travel on the Via.com platform
 
Omni channel online travel and assisted e-commerce company Via.com, entered into a partnership with Ola. With this collaboration, more than 75,000 travel agents and millions of customers can book Ola rides for local and outstation travel on the Via.com platform.
The integration will give customers, access to availability, booking, estimation and tracking across categories, directly on the Vi

US-based research devices a “sand” that can inexpensively provide improved cooling for power-hungry electronic devices.
A US-based researcher has devised a new “sand” that can inexpensively provide improved cooling for power-hungry electronic devices.
Baratunde Cola, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, devised silicon dioxide nanoparticles coated with a high dielectric constant polymer that could be used potentially for heat dissipation from power

LG Stylus 2 Plus, the latest edition of LG’s large-format Stylus series, which was first launched in Taiwan in June, is headed to India. According to a tweet by well-known Mumbai retailer Mahesh Telecom, the LG Stylus 2 Plus will cost Rs 25,990 in India.
Check out the tweet below:NEW LAUNCH – #LGStylusII plusAvailable for Rs. 25990/- only*The Super SELFIE phone*
📲 *Fully Metallic Slim Desi… pic.twitter.com/bGG1ncng7Z
— Manish Khatri (@MAHESHTELECOM) July 12, 2016

Google Hangouts for Android now supports video replies up to 1 minute length (Source: Google Play)
Google has finally updated its Hangouts app for Android with support for video messages. Google had updated its Hangouts app for iOS with similar feature back in February 2014.
The update has started rolling out on Google Play Store and now allows Android users to record a video message of upto a minute length from within the app. Users can also send a pre-recorded video in the form of reply.
Goog

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launch is set for August 2, confirmed the company.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be launched on August 2, confirmed the South-Korean company in a new blogpost announcing the big release. Leaks and rumours had indicated the Galaxy Note 7 will launch on August 2, and they got the date right.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be the new smartphone in the Note series, and the company is technically skipping a number in this generation. While the previous version was Note 5, Samsung has

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launch is set for August 2, confirmed the company.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be launched on August 2, confirmed the South-Korean company in a new blogpost announcing the big release. Leaks and rumours had indicated the Galaxy Note 7 will launch on August 2, and they got the date right.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be the new smartphone in the Note series, and the company is technically skipping a number in this generation. While the previous version was Note 5, Samsung has

ARmKeypad Air is ideal for professions where wearing devices on the arm is not advisable
Japan’s, NEC Corporation has announced the development of their new ARmKeypad Air. With the ARmKeypad Air – “smart glasses” are used to turn the arm of a wearer into a virtual keyboard, allowing for contact-free operation.
In recent years, smart glasses have been introduced that enable users to perform operations at sites without using their hands. NEC introduced a trial model of the

Lenovo Vibe C2 is powered by MediaTek MT6735P processor coupled with 1GB RAM (Source: Lenovo Russia)
Lenovo has officially launched its budget Vibe series smartphone, Vibe C2 in Russia. The smartphone was previously reported to launch as 2016 Moto E.
Lenovo Vibe C2 has all the specifications one has come to expect from a budget smartphone. It features a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.
Lenovo Vibe C2 is powered by MediaTek MT6735P processor. The quad-core processor is cloc

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was the most popular smartphone globally in the first half of 2016 (Source: Antutu)
Antutu, the popular mobile benchmarking app has announced its list of popular smartphones. According to the release, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is the most popular smartphone globally, while Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 ruled the popularity index in India and China.
Samsung dominated the list of Top 10 popular smartphones in the world with six of its devices in the list. Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was followe

Portronics PowerNote has dual USB outputs – 1 A and 2.1A.
Portronics has launched PowerNote, a power bank with 16000 mAh capacity. PowerNote features LCD display, which shows the battery status; and an on/off switch.
Portronics PowerNote comes with in-built Lithium-Polymer cells. Portronice claims the device can charge iPhone 6s eight times or Galaxy S6 more than five times on a single recharge.
Portronics PowerNote has dual USB outputs – 1 A and 2.1A. It is priced at Rs 3,299 and i

Pokemon GO lets you chose your Pokémon master’s look before you start your journey
Pokémon GO mania has taken over the world, even though technically it has only launched in US, Australia and New Zealand. But everyone is playing Pokémon GO thanks to switching App Stores on iOS, fake Apple IDs, APK files on Androids and other tricks.
A recent WSJ report says the game will launch in Asia and Europe in the next few days. Hopefully India won’t be left out of th

Google is rolling out new features to make hotel and flight bookings easier, ahead of the holiday season.
Google is rolling out new features to make hotel and flight bookings easier, ahead of the holiday season. The most significant features – Hotel Deals and Flights price tracking – will help users to find specific type of hotels and track flight rates.
Hotel Smart filters will allow users to search for hotels using specific queries such as ‘pet-friendly hotels in San Francisc

Google has acquired Kifi in order to boost its ‘Spaces’ app, which is aimed at group sharing.
Google has acquired Kifi in order to boost its ‘Spaces’ app, which is aimed at group sharing. The Kifi team confirmed the acquisition, and announced it will join Google soon. Financial details of the deal have not been revealed.
For those who remember, Spaces is a Google app launched in May of this year, which combines Search, Chrome and YouTube into one place. The idea with

WhatsApp is shutting down its support for these mobile devices as they no longer ‘offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future’, according to the blog post.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp had earlier said it will end support for its app for BlackBerry and Nokia’s Symbian operating systems by the end of 2016 (December 31). Now, the company has started notifying users of the same.
Reports say Symbian users all over the world have started getti

Transcend JetFlash 890S is a USB flash drive with a Type-C connector at one end. (Source: Nandagopal Rajan)
Ever since Apple launched its latest Macbook, the USB type-C ports have been gaining currency. However, that means these devices will still have a struggle interacting with legacy devices.
This is where the Transcend JetFlash 890S has an opportunity. This USB flash drive has 3.1 on one end, and USB Type-C on the other. So MacBook users can use this to copy stuff to traditional devices and

JunoCam is a colour, visible-light camera designed to capture remarkable pictures of Jupiter’s poles and cloud tops. (Source:NASA)
JunoCam – the camera aboard NASA’s Juno mission – has sent back some of the first images of Jupiter along with three of its four largest moons taken after the spacecraft entered orbit around the king of planets on July 4.
Juno’s visible-light camera was turned on six days after Juno fired its main engine and placed itself into orbit aro

MobiKwik has reduced the app size to 5MB, and the company claims this is the lightest mobile wallet app available in India.
MobiKwik has launched a new app for Android. MobiKwik has reduced the app size to 5MB, and the company claims this is the lightest mobile wallet app available in India.
MobiKwik app comes with features like bus booking, recharge, utility bills payments and more. It also allows users to access ongoing offers and locate nearby stores for offline payments.
Users can now easil

Apple Watch currently needs to be tethered to an iOS device and shows notifications on the wrist (Source: Apple)
Researchers at Canalys estimate that 7.5 million connected smartwatches will ship this year. The analysts at Canalys believe Apple Watch will spearhead the smartwatch industry growth, which is estimated to grow at an annual rate of 63 per cent from 2016 to 2020.
Smartwatches, in their current state are nothing more than a device to see mobile notifications on their wrist and Can

Twitter sign a deal with Bloomberg to live stream financial news. (Source: File Photo)
The micro-blogging website Twitter and Bloomberg Media have signed a deal to live stream several media company’s TV news shows on Twitter platform.
The partnership includes streaming rights shows like “Bloomberg West”, “What’d You Miss?” and “With All Due Respect”, along with the network’s daily stock market coverage.
Although the amount of the deal was no

Solar Impulse 2, the solar powered plane, piloted by Swiss pioneer Andre Borschberg is seen during the flyover of the pyramids of Giza on July 13, 2016 prior to the landing in Cairo, Egypt in this photo released on July 13, 2016. Jean Revillard/SI2/Handout via Reuters
Solar Impulse 2, which is on a world tour landed in Cairo today for its penultimate stop. The solar-powered plane set off from Spain two days back before as it completed the first solo trans-Atlantic flight. The Solar Impulse 2 is

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launch is set for August 2, confirmed the company.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be launched on August 2, confirmed the South-Korean company in a new blogpost announcing the big release. Leaks and rumours had indicated the Galaxy Note 7 will launch on August 2, and they got the date right.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be the new smartphone in the Note series, and the company is technically skipping a number in this generation. While the previous version was Note 5, Samsung has

About 1,300 Pokemon Go users had reported problems accessing the game in Australia over the last two days, according to website aussieoutages.com, which tracks digital service disruptions. AP Photo
Growing numbers of Pokemon Go players in Australia, one of three countries where Nintendo Co’s smash-hit mobile game is available, are complaining they’re having trouble logging in, raising concerns the Japanese firm may not be able to roll the game out globally as quickly as planned.
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Picture for representative purposes only
China’s Tiangong-1 space station could be headed towards Earth, says reports. According to Space.com – satellite trackers are of the view that Tiangong-1 has lost control and is on a trajectory back to Earth.
The 8-ton space lab and testbed, is one of only two space stations – the other being the ISS (International Space Station). The observations of its gradual fall were made by amateur satellite tracker, Thomas Dorman. Dorman has been

Pokémon GO: Before the mania, there was the Google April’s Fool joke.
Pokémon GO might have taken over the world, but the idea of going around the world to catch Pokémons was first part of an Google April Fool’s joke.
In April 2014, one of Google’s pranks for April Fool’s was a ‘Pokemon style’ quest via Google Maps. The Google blogpost is still live, and it talks of how Google has worked with “Pokémon and Nintendo to develop

Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new “Pokemon Go” game. Players can stumble upon Pokemon while wandering their grounds. (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery requested Tuesday that smartphone users refrain from “catching” Pokemon when they visit.
Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new “Pokemon Go” g

EU regulators have charges that Google’s Alphabet uses its dominant Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.
Alphabet Inc’s Google has been given an extra six weeks to early September to respond to EU charges that it uses its dominant Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday.
The U.S. technology giant found itself under fire in April as the European Commission said its requirement that mobile phone manufacturers pre

Ringing Bells CEO will personally distribute nearly 200 “Freedom 251” smartphones before the event
After dispatching 5,000 units of “Freedom 251” smartphones priced at less than $4 to those who had booked the device in the cash on delivery (COD) mode. The Noida-based maker, Ringing Bells is ready for customers’ feedback and are venturing in their next big bet – HD LED TV.
According to Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel, they have booked a sports stadium in Noida wh

EU Court passed an order which would curb America’s power to snoop on EU citizens.
The European Union on Wednesday, launched a controversial deal with the United States aimed at curbing government spying on the personal internet data of European citizens.
EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker presented the final version of the deal, which replaces one struck down last October by the EU’s top court.
The court struck down the deal based on an Au

Galaxy J2 (2016) has been priced at Rs 9,750 while Galaxy J Max will be open for purchase by the end of July at Rs 13,400.
Being the leader in the Indian smartphone market, Samsung India Electronics will now focus on new launches with innovative features to maintain its position and gain more market share, a top company official said here on Tuesday.
“We continue to focus on all the segments of mobile phones with different price points and value proposition. Innovation is important and un

Pokémon GO shows what happens when the digital world mixes with the real world. A woman uses a portable battery pack to charge her phone while playing the augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” by Nintendo in New York City. (Source: Reuters)
The Pokémon Go craze has sent legions of players hiking around cities and battling with “pocket monsters” on their smartphones. It marks a turning point for augmented reality, or technology that superimposes a

The survey was conducted by Facebook’s data analysis and storytelling team Facebook IQ, which revealed that across 12 countries, 47 per cent of all smartphone players are now women.
Smartphones are the most used gaming device for people globally — and across 12 countries, 47 per c
ent of all smartphone players are now women, a Facebook study has revealed, adding that gaming on mobile devices is increasingly becoming popular among women.
Facebook’s data analysis and storytellin

Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new “Pokemon Go” game. Players can stumble upon Pokemon while wandering their grounds. (Representational Picture)
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery requested Tuesday that smartphone users refrain from “catching” Pokemon when they visit.
Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new “Pokemon Go