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Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Apple Powerbeats Pro

Apple Releases Special Edition Powerbeats Pro With ‘Black-on-Black’ Aesthetics

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Earlier this week, Apple’s audio brand Beats in collaboration with Fragment Design has launched a new and special edition of Powerbeats Pro. The company call this design “black-on-black” as these new wireless earbuds have a pure black finish featuring Fragment Design’s FRGMT branding and the lightning logo on the earbuds. Even the charging case of this Apple’s special edition Powerbeats Pro comes in a pure black monochromatic design. This new gadget is giving an enticing look but specifications are almost the same as the regular Powerbeats Pro. 

Special Edition Powerbeats Pro Specifications

Apart from the pure black aesthetic look of the new special edition totally wireless earbuds, it comes with an Apple H1 chip. This chip allows the independent function of the two wireless earbuds like changing the volume, sharing wireless audio, etc. The new Powerbeats Pro claims to have better battery life. These earbuds come with a built-in battery which will provide 9 hours playback time after a single charge. An additional 24 hours of playback time is provided by the bundled case. It will be better for the customers to understand the performance one they use it themselves.

The most catchy feature of this special edition Powerbeats Pro is the “black-on-black” design giving an extremely exquisite outlook to this gadget. Both the wireless earbuds and the bundled case have the branding of Fragment Design to make the look very exclusive and set it apart from the Powerbeats Pro already available in the market. There are four different sizes of earplugs so that the users don’t face any difficulty fitting them inside the ear. It also comes with an adjustable ear hook so that the earbuds don’t fall off. Each of the earbuds also has a built-in sensor that will stop the music if you put it out of your ear.

Image Source: apple.com

You can also use the phrase “Hey Siri” for an audio-based control of the earbuds. Since the device has the option of audio-based control it comes with dual beamforming microphones, motion and speech accelerometers. This helps in recognizing speech and background noise cancelation. The earbuds have USB A type charging port. Though Apple’s special edition Powerbeats Pro will be available from 29th January 2021, the number of units up for sale has not been mentioned by the company.

Price and availability

The special edition Powerbeats Pro is priced at $249.99 which is approximately Rs 18,200. You can order these earbuds directly from the Apple website starting tomorrow. Since the number of units to be sold is unknown, you can have a look at the regular Powerbeats Pro, in case you are planning to buy either of them.

The regular Powerbeats Pro

If you check out the Apple website, the company is currently selling the Powerbeats Pro at $199.95, $50 less from the original price. These are totally wireless high-performance earphones that also provides 9 hours of playback time with a single charge. Along with the charging case, you can listen to the audio for more than 24 hours. You can use the earbuds during workouts as these are purely sweat and water-resistant. It also comes with adjustable ear hooks which are lightweight and provides stability so they won’t fall off. The regular Powerbeats Pro also has a hands-free working system and has the Apple H1 chip for better independent performance. Apart from the exclusive design in partnership with Fragment Design, the performance of both the earbuds are almost the same.

More about Fragment Design

Fragment Design is a brand from the multidisciplinary Japanese artist and designer, Hiroshi Fujiwara. Fujiwara’s designs are famous in the fashion and lifestyle domain of the modern fashion world. He collaborates with some of the leading famous brands and magazines around the world like Vogue, Converse, Supreme, Levi’s, etc. His main designs and contributions are spotted in sneakers and menswear. Fragment Design has also collaborated with Starbucks before. It is very different and unique to bring such a brilliant designer onboard to the realms of tech thus blending it with fashion.

Google

Google to block search engine for Australian users if the government enforces new code

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Due to the new law from the Australian government, Google has said that it will shut down the search engine for Australian users if it has to pay for news. According to this new code the Australian government is trying to enforce, big tech companies like Google and Facebook have to pay local media companies for the right to use their content (Reuters). Google has mentioned clearly that if the Australian government enforces this new code, 19 million Australian users will have to face degraded search quality and YouTube experience.

Enforcement of the new code

The Australian government is preparing to pass a law that will make the big tech companies like Facebook and Google negotiate with the local publishers. This means that Google will now have to bargain a payment for these local channels and broadcasters whose contents are displayed in the Google search results. The government has further decided that if the companies among themselves cannot strike a deal then an arbitrator from the Australian government itself will fix a price.

Google is not even considering playing by the rules this time and hence completely declined to negotiate any price with the local publishers. The company has made a public announcement clearly sending the message that if the law is enforced Google search in Australia will degrade. Today, Mel Silva, Managing Director of Google Australia and New Zealand said at a public hearing that if this new code is enforced as law, Google will have no choice but to make Google search engine unavailable in Australia.

Further, Silva spoke about the impact of the new proposed law, that is, the News Media Bargaining code on Australian small businesses, publishers, and users as well. She said that the most concerning part of this new code is to pay for links and snippets in the search which will have a negative impact on the business as well as the digital economy. Silva also mentioned that the company has already reached News Showcase agreements with 7 publishers in Australia. So, with a few slights amendments in this new code, none has to sacrifice or adjust here a great deal to use Google.

How did Australia respond to Google’s reaction?

Since Google mentioned clearly that if the new law is enforced, Google will have no choice but to block the search engine for Australian users, Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia has made few sharp comments. In response to Google’s comment, Morrison said that in Australia they have rules for “things you can do in Australia.” He further mentioned that those who will abide by these laws are most welcome to work in Australia but the country will not respond to any form of threats.

Google

Apart from Morrison’s comment in response to what Google has said, many critical views have surfaced against these tech giants. Rod Sims, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair has said that these companies tend to strike a deal when they are in full power or have full control. And according to him “that’s not a commercial deal.”

Effect on Google

Google says that the search ads contribute to Google’s annual revenue and profit largely at a global level. So, if the company even offers a limited search tool for Australian users without any revision of this new code, it will be risky for the company. Google has called this new law very overly broad and hence it wants revision before the company is in a position to negotiate. The United States government has also asked the Australian government to scrap this new law and bring a more voluntary code instead. Australia proposed this new legislation last month after an investigation on the media market.

The government realized that companies like Google and Facebook have too much power in the media industry which might turn into a big threat in a democratic country. It is also noted that the statement from Google to limit its search engine for the Australian users came only hours after it struck a deal with some French news publisher. This content-payment deal is a three-year, $1.3 billion agreement to support publishers. (Reuters)

Xiaomi

US government blacklisted Xiaomi and eight more Chinese companies

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Though Joe Biden won the last presidential election in the US, Trump is not making his departure easy on China. From last year especially with the breakout of COVID-19, the US government has taken many harsh decisions against China. First, it started with Trump accusing China of the breakout of the novel coronavirus which was followed by attacking their trade relation. Trump issued the ban of TikTok and similar apps from the US and recently he barred any US transaction using Alipay and 8 other Chinese apps. Last weekend, which was the last week for Trump in the White House, he blacklisted Xiaomi and 8 eight Chinese companies in the US.

The US government blacklisted these nine companies due to alleged military links which also include Commercial Aircraft of China and one of the largest Chinese oil companies. Blacklisting these companies also put the US investors in a big dilemma who put their money in these Chinese companies.

Xiaomi on defense statement

Banning Xiaomi from the US will affect both the company and its stakeholders. After Trump and his government decided to blacklist these nine Chinese companies, Xiaomi put out a statement on Twitter that they are “not owned, controlled, or affiliated” in any way to the Chinese military. The company further mentioned that they will take proper action in the best interest of its stakeholders. Xiaomi is a very popular company for its smartphones and has a market across 90 countries so far. Last year, the company even outrun Apple in terms of selling smartphones in the third quarter. Even in the pandemic, the company has made huge sales as it rose to CNY 53.54billion in the second quarter of 2020.

The question is how the citizens of the US will respond to this since Trump lost the last election to Biden. There has been a huge tension growing between Beijing and the White House putting giant tech companies and their stakeholders in the crosshair. Though Biden didn’t make any comments even when transactions with Alipay and other Chinese companies were banned last month, people are curious to see how Biden responded to this Sino-US tension.

Xiaomi
Image Source: ft.com

Blacklisting China National Offshore Oil Corp

CNOOC is one of the other 8 Chinese companies that the Commerce Department has but in the entity list. Being added to the entity list means the US firms are now barred from trading with these companies. The US firms don’t have the permission to transfer technology without any further notice or grant from the US government. Under Trump’s administration, the list seems neverending as every month we find banning of some other Chinese companies on the news headlines.

According to Gadgets 360, CNOOC has been involved in many activities having connections to the disrupted waters of the South China Sea. CNOOC carried out offshore drilling operations in this region which confirms the soring relationship between Beijing and other nations like Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, etc. This proves that not only the Sino-US relation is under a lot of stress but also many Asian countries have an objection to China’s territorial claims. A few months ago, tension escalated between India and China due to the dispute in LAC. US thinks that these reckless actions of China for militarisation will have an impact on the US’s national security as well.

China’s militarization efforts

Responding to the territorial claims of China and actions in the South China Sea, US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, commented that China’s rigorous attempts to acquire “sensitive intellectual property and technology” possess a threat to the national security of the US as well as the international community. He further adds that CNOOC acts like a bully trying to intimidate the neighboring nations of China so that the Chinese military “continues to benefit from government civil-military fusion policies” with evil motives.CNOOC denied commenting at the moment. Skyrizon, another Chinese company in aerospace technology has also been blacklisted.

Both China and the US are very powerful nations that now seem to stop at nothing. Over the past year, many decisions to suppress the influence of Chinese companies in the US have been taken which will affect the economy of China. But, if China retaliates and the stakes are high, both nations will shift from multilateralism to bilateralism. It will become the competition of power and the collateral damage will become unfathomable. 

Signal

People are switching from WhatsApp to Signal. Should you too?

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By now all of us have heard the name Signal for at least one time. We are hearing that people are switching from WhatsApp to Signal after WhatsApp announced the new privacy policy for the users. According to this new privacy policy, some of the users’ data in WhatsApp will be given to the parent company, Facebook. This became a big concern as privacy matters to the users when they are using a personal messaging app. So, here is everything you need to know about Signal and how secure it is, and should you too move from WhatsApp to Signal?

What is Signal?

Signal is a messaging app similar to WhatsApp where the messages are end-to-end encrypted. The security system of the Signal app is very strong and the code is accessible to all since it is an open-source application which any independent programmer or expert can view and contribute from time-to-time. Signal also claims that it does not collect any user data like contact details, messages, profile information, etc. There are only two details that Signal collects and those are how long Signal has been installed in someone’s phone and the last date of installation.

Signal
Image Source: play.google.com

Like WhatsApp, the Signal app is available on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux. After downloading and signing up in Signal via phone, you can connect it to your Windows or Mac. Once linked with your PC, you can chat from your computer even if the phone is switched off.

Now, the question of the hour is why people are shifting from WhatsApp to Signal?

Why are people switching from WhatsApp to Signal?

A wave of fear rose among the WhatsApp users last week when a pop-up notification came on WhatsApp that it may share some of the user data with Facebook. This notification came with a yes or decline option to agree to the new privacy policy in WhatsApp. Since then a strong migration movement of the WhatsApp users to other messaging apps like Signal and Telegram increased gigantically. Telegram is mostly preferred for group chats while WhatsApp users are installing Signal for its highly secure system. If this migration continues, it will weaken the strength of big tech companies like Facebook and WhatsApp. A chain of messages has been spread that says Facebook could read the messages of WhatsApp users which increased the tension and fear among individuals. Though WhatsApp tried to reach out to people that they couldn’t see the encrypted chats or calls, it seemed like damage control.

Users are growing on Signal

Signal is witnessing the biggest number of new users in the past two years. Last year, Signal witnessed a download of 50,000 per day which rose to 1.3 million users on Monday alone. Among the new users, Signal said that India is one of the biggest areas from where most of the new users are coming in. After the news of privacy concerns broke out on the net last week, Signal became the top app in 70 countries for iOS users and in 45 countries for Android users. (The New York Times)

On the other hand, with the rising popularity of end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal, it becomes hard for the government or similar authorities to investigate crimes. It becomes a safe hiding place for the criminals as law enforcement authorities can’t play any strong part in this. Louis Grever, head of the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, said that these encrypted platforms “does allow groups that have an ill intent to plan behind the curtain.” So, the pros and cons of these highly encrypted messaging platforms have become a hot topic of debate for everyone.

Brian Acton, Founder of Signal and WhatsApp

Signal founder Brian Acton
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Signal was created by an American cryptographer called Moxie Marlinspike which today is a part of the Signal Foundation. Signal Foundation is a non-profit foundation that was founded in 2018 when Brian Acton, the former co-founder of WhatsApp, loaned initial funding of $50 million to build this foundation and became the co-founder of Signal.

Privacy policy of WhatsApp

With the growing concern among WhatsApp users, the company has answered and cleared all the queries of the citizens. WhatsApp said that though the privacy policy of WhatsApp has been recently updated that does not affect the end-to-end encrypted chats among your friends and family. This new privacy update is especially for the business messaging in WhatsApp which is both optional and provides full transparency on how they collect the user data.

WhatsApp has made it loud and clear that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read out messages or hear our calls. WhatsApp doesn’t share our contact with Facebook and they cannot see our shared location as well. What WhatsApp is doing is providing an option for the business accounts to use a secure hosting service from Facebook. And, at times some data can be used for marketing purposes on Facebook. You can always know more if you check out the privacy policy website of WhatsApp.

Experts view on WhatsApp privacy policy

Many experts after studying WhatsApp’s new privacy policy have said that misinformation has been spread. Pranesh Prakash, Affiliated Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project has said that the new privacy policy of WhatsApp concerns business interactions thus giving new ways to handle transaction and payment data. He further said that privacy has been more tightened after Facebook acquired WhatsApp as the company willingly decreased its power to access chats and calls to identify business content.

So, now it is up to the users to choose the right app based on security concerns, privacy, and convenience. They shouldn’t decide by paying heed to the misinformation and rather get informed about it from genuine sources.

AMD

New Ryzen 5000 series mobile processors by AMD released in CES 2021

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The new AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series mobile processors promise the best gaming experience for 2021. Most of the new processors in this new series are based on the architecture of 7nm ‘Zen 3’ and the company claims this model to be both energy-efficient and high in performance. AMD revealed this big announcement at the virtual event of CES 2021. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, said that the new Ryzen 5000 mobile series is the most powerful processor ever built.

These new processors will be available in the early Q1 2021 from manufacturing companies like Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Dell, and HP. Su also mentioned that about 150 models will be launched this year showing a 50% increase in growth over the previous generation. Apart from the new series of mobile processors, AMD also showed a glimpse of upcoming Radeon GPUs for both desktops and laptops. Along with this, the company showed a teaser of the next-gen Epyc data centers CPUs.

AMD Ryzen 5000 series

AMD
Image Source: digit.in

The 5000 series of AMD processors have two main categories, namely, the H series and the U series. Laptops of the H series are extensively used by gamers and content creators whereas the U series laptops are more of ultraportable notebooks.

Ryzen H, HS, and HX series

As the H series processors are specially designed for high-performance gaming laptops, the company is focusing on Ryzen HX as a differentiating brand to represent the choice for ultimate gaming laptops. The battery life of this new series of laptops is outstanding so that the gamers are not interrupted while playing. The processor of the H series has 3 cores and 16 threads. As compared to the last generation processors, Ryzen 9 5980HX has a 23% increased capability to perform single-thread performance and a 17% boost in performing multi-thread functions.

While the new HX series is all focused on gaming quality with a boost speed of 4.6 GHz, 45W TDP, 20MB of L2+L3 cache, the HS-series processors are designed for thin and light systems. On the HS-series, Ryzen 9 5980HS also has 8 cores and 16 threads. It allows a top boost speed of 4.8 GHz and like AMD says “the fastest mobile processors you can get.”  Some of the new processors in the H-series, HS-series, and HX-series are Ryzen 7 5800H, Ryzen 9 5980HX, and Ryzen 9 5900HS respectively.

The U-series from Ryzen

According to the company, the new Ryzen 7 5800U from the U-series is rated for a high battery life of 17.5 hours of general usage and 21 hours in case of video playback. This new processor of the U-series also has 8 cores and 16 threads with a boost speed of 4.4 GHz slightly lower than the H-series. AMD claims that this processor will deliver the fastest productivity in ultrathin notebooks. Targeting mainly the general consumers like students and office goers, the new processors of the U-series will provide a 16% boost in the single-thread performance and 14% in the multi-thread performance. Till now, 5 new models of the U-series have been announced by the company but some of them will still run on the Zen-2 architecture. Models like Ryzen 7 5700U, Ryzen 5 5500U, and Ryzen 3 5300U will run on Zen-2 architecture.

Apart from the new H-series and U-series processors, AMD has also introduced new Ryzen desktop processors. The company revealed new variants of Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X for a better experience for desktop users. AMD claims that the desktop process Ryzen 9 5900X will increase the 1080p gaming performance by making it 24% faster than the previous generation.

New Intel processors

With introducing so many powerful processors this year, it will give a tough competition for the Intel processors. In the virtual event of CES 2021, Intel also introduced the new Tiger Lake H systems. Last year, Intel launched the 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors and in CES 2021, the company released the H-series of the 11th Gen Core chips. Intel is introducing 35W H-series chips so that the performance is enhanced for the lightweight small laptops. The details are not very clear about the upcoming models for 45W chips which AMD needs to look out for.

Envy 14

HP announced the launch of Envy 14, Elite Folio 2-in-1 tablet, and Elite Wireless Earbuds in CES 2021

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For the first time in the history of CES, the event goes completely online this year due to the pandemic. CES 2021 officially started on Monday. This three-day event will provide updates about major tech companies around the globe and their new products. The tech lovers wait patiently for this event where big companies like Sony, Intel, HP, etc make big announcements followed by press conferences and exhibitor showcases.

With that being said, currently, HP becomes the center of attraction as it launches a series of new laptops in the Envy and Elite range. The company also announced the launch of the new Folio 2-in-1 tablet and truly wireless earbuds. Apart from these, HP has also announced the launch of Elite Dragonfly G2 and Elite Dragonfly Max laptops. So, let’s have a look at the features of these newly launched products.

Specifications of HP Envy 14

HP Envy 14 is powered by the 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 SoC. This new laptop is a 14-inch WUXGA which has a multitouch-enabled IPS display. Envy 14 comprises 16GB DDR4 RAM and SSD storage of 256GB. The operating system of the laptop is Windows 10 Home and it can integrate up to NVIDIA GTX 1650 Ti Max Q discrete graphics. The laptop has a 720p HD camera available with a camera shutter. The camera system is integrated with dual-array digital microphones.

Envy 14
Image Source: androidauthority.com

Apart from these features, the laptop has WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 connectivity options. The company claims that the fully charged laptop can offer 16.5 hours of battery life. According to Gadgets 360, HP Envy 14 is starting from Rs 73,300 and is expected in the market sometime this month. You can book it via HP.com.

Laptops of HP in the Elite range

HP has introduced an impressive number of new models in the Elite range. The new products include HP Elite Dragonfly G2, HP Elite Dragonfly MAX, HP EliteBook 840 Aero G8, HP EliteBook x360 1030 G8, HP EliteBook x360 1040 G8, and HP Elite x2 G8 laptops.Along with the Elite Dragonfly G2 and Dragonfly MAX, the company plans to make available a few more models in the month of January. The EliteBook 840 Aero G8 will be available sometime in March and the Elite x2 G8 in April. The prices of these models have not yet been revealed.

The Elite Dragonfly G2 and Dragonfly MAX are powered by Intel 11th generation Tiger Lake processors. Elite Dragonfly MAX comes in two color options, namely, Sparkling Black and Dragonfly Blue. Both the laptops have a 13.3-inch display with FHD or UHD resolution. Some of the new features included by HP are a privacy shutter on the webcam and a physical security feature called Tamper Lock.

The HP EliteBook x360 1030 G8 and the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G8 are powered by 11th Gen Intel Core i5/i7 U-Series processors. The HP Elitebook 840 G8 Aero is also powered by the latest Intel 11th Generation Core processors.

The new Elite Folio tablet

Expected to be available in the market in February, the new HP Elite Folio is a notebook PC that can be used both as a tablet and as a laptop. This Elite Folio 2-in-1 tablet is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform. HP Elite Folio supports Wi-Fi 6 and optional 5G connectivity. The notebook features a 13.5-inch display integrated with an optional HP Sure View Reflect privacy panel. The price of this notebook is not yet revealed by the company.

New Elite Wireless Earbuds

This time HP has buckled up to launch truly wireless earbuds along with the new range of laptops. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have become more gadget oriented and HP is showing its best effort to make our lives better with this new range of products. According to HP, these wireless earbuds will be “the most advanced earbuds for collaboration.” The earbuds will provide customizable setting options for noise cancellation and audio tuning. Price not yet revealed by HP.

More news from CES 2021

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021 has more news to offer than just a new series of laptops or wireless earbuds. Apart from HP’s new range of products, CES 2021 witnessed LG’s transparent TV, Samsung’s Neo QLED series TVs, Mercedes’ new electric car with a 56-inch curved screen, Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Pro OLED version, etc.