Your Tech Story

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

TouchID

Apple may not bring TouchID to iPhone 15 or other high-end iPhone models

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By

As per a report by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg Apple won’t be releasing new iPhones with the TouchID feature anytime soon. Gurman revealed that TouchID will not be included on the new iPhone 15 in his most recent Power On newsletter. He also stated that it is doubtful that TouchID will soon return to high-end flagship iPhone models.

TouchID
Image Source: livemint.com

Although TouchID was tested on later iPhones by Apple internally, it was not incorporated into the brand’s high-end models. Apple improved security without sacrificing convenience when it released the TouchID feature on the iPhone 5s model nine years ago. Later on, Touch ID was added by Apple to iPads and MacBooks.

Gurman comments in his newsletter,

“Over the past few years, there have been discussions within Apple about bringing Touch ID back to high-end iPhones. The company has tested in-screen Touch ID and even contemplated putting it on the power button. At this point, I believe Face ID is here to stay, and Touch ID won’t be returning to flagship iPhones—at least anytime in the foreseeable future.”

Gurman also speculated that a Touch ID-enabled iPhone SE may still be a possibility. If so, the company’s iPhone lineup will resemble this separation of Face ID and Touch ID. However, it seems Apple will need more time to refine the Touch ID tech before it is available on the newer iPhones. Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst, had predicted that Touch ID would make comeback in iPhones in 2025. He attributed the delay to production and development issues.

The report also notes that Apple’s October event is unlikely to happen. Gurman suggests that the anticipated iPad, Apple TV, and Mac product debuts might be publicized with media releases, briefings, and Apple store updates. The Bloomberg report noted that the huge iPhone 14 event in September was probably it for Apple in terms of significant presentations in 2022.

iPhone users would like to see the Touch ID feature return to the iPhone in the future. Facial ID has improved significantly over time, particularly now that it supports face masks and functions in landscape mode too. However, even now, there are scenarios in which adding the Touch ID feature as an alternative would be beneficial. The iPhone’s inclusion of both Touch ID and Face ID has security advantages. For instance, to protect really sensitive information, users can employ both a Touch ID and Face ID authentication.

Apple Inc. built and launched the electronic fingerprint scanner feature known as Touch ID. Users can use it to unlock various iPhone devices, and make purchases from different Apple stores like App Store, Apple Book Store, and iTunes. Using Touch ID users can also verify Apple Pay transactions online or in apps.

On the iPhone and iPad, it can also be utilized to unlock and lock password-protected notes. In 2013, Touch ID made its debut on iPhones with the release of the iPhone 5S. In 2015, a speedier second-generation Touch ID was introduced by Apple in the iPhone 6S. In 2016, the Touch ID feature made its desktop debut in the MacBook Pro.

Each user account on a MacBook can have a maximum of three fingerprints, and a total of five across the system. Since the 2014 release of the iPad Air 2, the Touch ID feature has been on all iPad models. After 2017, all other iPhones since the iPhone X and the more expensive iPad Pro switched to Face ID detection. Apple retained the Touch ID feature on the iPhone 8, second and third-generation iPhone SE, and base model iPads.

Amr Awadallah

How a “geek from Egypt” built a billion-dollar data company Cloudera

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By

Amr Awadallah, an American computer scientist of Egyptian descent is a pioneer in the usage of Apache Hadoop for the analysis of data. He co-founded the company Cloudera. Today, Clouder has a valuation of over US$4.1 billion.  The company provides cutting-edge data management and advanced analytics using Apache Hadoop and the most current recent open-source technology. 

Amr Awadallah
Image Source: bizjournals.com

Early Life

Amr Awadallah worked as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Accel Partners before joining Cloudera. Prior to that, he was VP of Engineering at Yahoo!, where he oversaw a team that employed Apache Hadoop for business intelligence and data analysis across all of Yahoo’s web businesses. Amr Awadallah has a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University as well as a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University in Egypt.

Success Story

Amr’s journey is in many ways the essence of Silicon Valley. The story of a determined immigrant, a fateful turn, and the significance of being able to innovate while addressing a genuine customer problem.

Amr didn’t consider starting his own business when he was younger. Large incumbents controlled Egypt’s economy, making it difficult for newcomers to flourish. Amr moved abroad to pursue his doctorate studies because, like his father, he hoped to become a university professor. But when Amr moved to Palo Alto to obtain his Ph.D. at Stanford University, he was surprised by how close the big technology firms he had grown up hearing about were to him.

The “pivot” or change in the situation occurred at Stanford. He discovered that starting a business was feasible and that his experience as an immigrant had benefited him as an entrepreneur. Being an immigrant, he felt at ease with taking chances. He was prepared to leave his native country and everyone he knew, just like other immigrants, in order to embark on a new journey.

Amr thinks that a large number of technology companies are founded by immigrants in part because of this. At Yahoo, Amr held the position of VP of Product Intelligence Engineering. Amr was charged with creating an intelligent search feature for Yahoo, probably in an effort to take on Google.

Amr encountered numerous issues with performance, pricing, size, and flexibility when working on sizable BI and analysis at Yahoo that were caused by platforms like IBM, Oracle, and, Microstrategy. He was asked to explore Hadoop by Doug Cutting, a Yahoo coworker and former chairman of the Apache Software Foundation.

Doug built the original Hadoop software in 2004. Amr started using Hadoop at work, and over the course of the following two years, he was able to reduce the information processing pipeline and complete tasks 10 times more affordably than previously. Amr was persuaded about the effectiveness and affordability of Hadoop.

The same issues Amr had with BI and analytics were being experienced by many other businesses. The remedy turned out to be Hadoop. Soon a brand-new tech business was ready to launch; the founders presented the initial idea to Accel Partners and received the initial funding. In 2008, Amr Awadallah, Christophe Bisciglia, Jeff Hammerbacher, and Mike Olson together established Cloudera, Inc.

About the Company

American software provider Cloudera, Inc. offers enterprise data management tools that heavily rely on Apache Hadoop. Cloudera offers the Cloudera Data Platform which is a set of cloud computing and data processing-related technologies. Several of these solutions are delivered through publicly accessible cloud servers like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, whereas others are subscriber-only private cloud services. These products are marketed by Cloudera for use in data analysis and machine learning.

Moto G72

Moto G72 India to Launch on October 3, 2022: Check Specs and other features

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By

Recently, Motorola unveiled numerous smartphones all over the world. Despite this, the company doesn’t intend to stop releasing new smartphones. The company will reportedly announce yet another phone next week, according to the most recent source. Under its G series, Motorola is introducing a brand-new smartphone in India. The Moto G72 is scheduled to go on sale in the country on 3rd October. On its official Twitter account, Motorola shared the new smartphone and provided the launch date.

Moto G72
Image Source: gadgets360.com

The smartphone is also featured on Flipkart, confirming its characteristic features. With multiple launches planned, the upcoming month is going to be busy for smartphone manufacturers and enthusiasts. Google has also declared that the Pixel 7 series will debut in India. 

In advance of the Moto G72’s debut, the company has now disclosed some of the most important details, including availability. As with other Motorola smartphones, the forthcoming smartphone will be offered via Flipkart. The smartphone will be available in two colors: Meteorite Grey and Polar Blue.

It has been announced that the smartphone would have a punch-hole pOLED display with a center alignment and a refresh rate of 120Hz. The phone will feature HDR10 support, DCI-P3 color gamut, 10-bit color, and 1,300 nits of brightness. The manufacturer affirmed that the phone will support IP52-rated water-repellent and include an in-screen fingerprint scanner.

The Moto G72 will have a triple camera system with a 108-megapixel primary camera, an ultra-wide camera that also functions as a depth sensor, and a third camera. In this model, there will also be a specialized macro camera. The manufacturer has also hinted that the phone will have twin Dolby Atmos-tuned speakers. The forthcoming Motorola smartphone will be driven by a MediaTek Helio G99 SoC along with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of internal storage, providing strong performance.

The phone will come pre-installed with the stock Android 12 operating system. A 5,000mAh battery that supports 33W rapid charging will power the phone out of the box.

According to Motorola, the new smartphone will resemble the Edge 30 Fusion quite a bit, but unlike the G71, it won’t support when it debuts. However, Motorola hopes to make up for that by introducing the G72 to its sector of the Indian smartphone market for the first time with a 1,300-nit, 120Hz pOLED display with a 10-bit color rated to mimic a billion colors. The smartphone will come pre-installed with Android 12 and Motorola India’s steadfast ThinkShield security protections. 

Motorola Mobility LLC, branded as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics company, and a subsidiary of Lenovo. Motorola primarily makes and sells Android smartphones. In 2011, the company was divided into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, two independent public businesses, following a $4.3 billion loss from 2007 to 2009.

Motorola Mobility took ownership of the firm’s consumer-oriented product offerings (such as its mobile phone market, TV set-top boxes and cable modems) and Motorola Solutions took ownership of the firm’s enterprise-oriented business units. Since Motorola Mobility was spun out during the reorganization, Motorola Solutions is typically seen as the immediate successor to Motorola, Inc. Motorola Mobility( handset division) was purchased by Lenovo in 2014 from Google.

Fast Company

After an Apple News feed hack, Fast Company takes down its website

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By

Fast Company, a US-based business news publication, stated on Wednesday that two racist offensive push notifications were delivered to consumers via its Apple News alerts as a result of a high-profile media feed hack.

Fast Company
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

As soon as the situation was rectified, Apple took down the Fast Company channel from its platform. In order to offer push alerts to Apple consumers who subscribe to the news publisher’s channel, news publishers utilizing the Apple News aggregation application can link existing digital publishing tools to Apple News.

Fast Company claims that such publishing tools were compromised by hackers. Two offensive and racist push notifications were sent by hackers one minute apart, according to a tweet from Fast Company, which also stated that the Apple News stream had been suspended while the problem was examined.

Before it vanished, the hackers left a statement on Fast Company’s website explaining how they gained access by using a password that was used by numerous users, including an administrator.

The hackers gave the following message, “Wow, Fast Company. Despite the public defacement of your site, which boasts millions of visitors, all you did was hastily change your database credentials, disable outside connections to the database server, and fix the articles. What an absolute disgrace of a news source, and one that I would personally avoid due to how little they care about user security.”

The hacker behind the intrusion, who goes by the handle “Thrax,” however, released a sponsored content article before the site was taken down that described how the attackers were able to hack the magazine. According to the message, Fast Company had login details that were “ridiculously easy” and used on numerous accounts, such as an administrator.

The hacker was able to send out emails using any @fastcompany.com email thanks to the attacker’s access to a variety of sensitive data, namely authentication tokens, Apple News API credentials, and Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) tokens. The Fast Company hacker stated they were unable to access client records because they were probably kept in a database server.

The hacker claims to have earlier compromised the photo-sharing portal ClickASnap and the self-described free-speech social media platform USA Life. In a separate message posted on Sunday to a well-known hacking forum, the attacker stated they were going to release a database with 6,737 Fast Company employee information. This database included information on the employees’ email accounts, password hashes, unpublished drafts, etc.

Reuters attempted to access the Fast Company website on Tuesday night, but it was unavailable and the page gave a 404 error. Following the shutdown, Fast Company claimed that the notifications were sent using a hack of its content management system, which is used by news organizations to publish and maintain their stories.

Business, technology, and design are the main topics of the American business magazine Fast Company. It is accessible online and in print. Six print issues are published each year. Fast Company is owned by the publishing firm Mansueto Ventures LLC.

oneplus nord watch

OnePlus Nord Watch Specifications Unveiled Ahead of India Launch

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By

The OnePlus Nord Watch will shortly be unveiled by OnePlus in India. The Chinese electronics manufacturer has disclosed some of the main characteristics of the future smartwatch in advance of the launch.

OnePlus Nord Watch
Image Source: gadgetsandwearables.com

A week ago, OnePlus revealed that the OnePlus Nord smartwatch will be the company’s latest offering. Since then, the company has been gradually revealing details in an effort to keep the buzz around its forthcoming product alive.

The company has revealed that the most recent upgrade to the Nord smartwatch will have around 105 Sports modes. To help the user maintain their lifestyle, it will not only have the necessary modes, such as indoor and outdoor walking and running but also sports modes, such as cricket, yoga, etc.

The 1.78-inch AMOLED screen of the OnePlus Nord smartwatch has a 500 Nits peak brightness and a high resolution of 368448. The display will have a refresh rate of 60Hz. Additionally, the Nord Watch will offer more than 100 online changeable Watch Faces. Although the brand has not yet provided details regarding the watch’s launch date, it is anticipated to do so shortly.

The watch could debut around the end of September or the beginning of October if the current claims are to be believed. The Nord Watch, according to OnePlus, seeks to “make the hallmark OnePlus technology available to a broader set of the audience” and will “bolster OnePlus Nord’s position inside the wearables category.”

The Nord Watch has gained popularity online. It is anticipated that the next Nord-series smartwatch would feature Bluetooth 5.2 and the customizable N-Health app. Both iOS and Android devices should work with the smartwatch. It would have a side-mounted navigation button and a rectangular dial.

Given that it contains the functionality found in less expensive wearables, the smartwatch is anticipated to be less than Rs 5,000. In India, OnePlus currently offers a high-end watch for Rs 14,999, and it is getting set to introduce a brand-new model in the entry-level price range.

OnePlus isn’t new in the wearable technology market and already offers products like Nord Buds, and Nord Buds CE. With their slim in-ear design, they have a similar aesthetic to the first Apple AirPods.

The OnePlus Watch, the company’s first wristwatch, was introduced in India last year. The wristwatch has a 1.39-inch AMOLED screen, 1GB RAM, and 4GB of internal storage and is powered by a 402 mAh battery. The OnePlus Watch is optimized for Android 6.0 and higher and offers Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Among other sensors, it has a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an optical heart rate sensor, and a blood oxygen sensor.

The wristwatch, which costs Rs. 13,499, includes over 110 fitness programs, an integrated GPS, speaker, and mic for calls. It is water and dust-resistant and has an IP68 rating. It appears like OnePlus is also developing the N Health app, a new companion software for the Nord Watch that will run on both iOS and Android. According to rumors, the smartwatch would come in two colors—blue and black—and have a battery life of up to ten days.

Oneplus is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer. It is fully owned by Oppo, which, like Vivo, Realme, and iQOO, is a division of BBK Electronics. The OnePlus Nord, the company’s first mid-range phone ever since OnePlus X in 2015, was introduced by OnePlus in 2020.

iPhone 14 in India

iPhone may get cheap as Apple starts manufacturing iPhone14 in India.

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By

Apple Inc. revealed on Monday that it will make the newest iPhone 14 in India as the tech giant moves some of its manufacturing out of China. Since 2017, Apple has been producing iPhones in India, however often they were older models. Apple recently introduced the newest iPhone 14 model in its collection.

iPhone 14 in India
Image Source: macrumors.com

The device is being produced in the Sriperumbudur factory near Chennai by the company’s international partner Foxconn. Apple will sell phones made in India both domestically and internationally. In the next few days, users in India will start receiving the iPhones manufactured locally.

Apple continues to produce the majority of its iPhones primarily in China. Even while the majority of the world works to open its communities, Beijing has continued to use the tactic of lockdowns to quell Covid revivals. Production has been halted at facilities across China due to lockdowns caused by the zero-Covid policy, and certain possible weak links in Apple’s supply chain have been revealed.

Apple has been working to increase revenues in India, the second largest smartphone marketplace in the world, in the interim. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple only held a 3.8% market share in the country last year while cheaper rivals like Samsung and China’s Xiaomi continued to rule.

However, in the second quarter, Apple was the best top seller in the ultra-premium( phones over Rs. 45000) category. That’s because its iPhone 13 devices from the previous generation had good sales.

By 2025, according to analysts, Apple will gradually reduce its dependence on China, where it has been manufacturing the large bulk of its gadgets for more than a decade, and develop India into a worldwide hub for iPhone production.

According to research released earlier this month by JP Morgan analysts, Apple would increase its production capabilities in India to manufacture 25% of all its iPhones by 2025 and relocate 5% of worldwide iPhone 14 production there by late 2022. In recent years, India has drawn investments from Apple’s production partners Wistron and Foxconn by providing generous subsidies as Delhi works to establish the nation as a manufacturing hub.

JP Morgan analysts claim that India is a suitable location due to the presence of global production giants as well as “ample labor resources and competitive labor prices.”

As its capacity for domestic production of iPhone 14 in India grows, many people would anticipate a decrease in the price of Apple’s mobile devices there. The standard iPhone 14 model costs Rs. 79,900 which is equivalent to $799 in the United States. The entry-level iPhone Pro Max has a retail price of $1,099 in the United States, but it costs $1,717 in India.

Apple has boosted its investment in India during the past five years, despite the fact that it only has a small share of the country’s market. It introduced the country’s online Apple Store two years ago, and it has since announced that it’s working on the inauguration of the first-ever physical Apple Store in the nation.

Samsung, a rival to Apple, has already established one of its largest plants in India and views it as a crucial global manufacturing base. The market leader in smartphones, Xiaomi from China, as well as rivals Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus all, assemble some of their products locally.

The Information recently reported that Google also plans to move some of the manufacturing of its Pixel products to India. The business announced last week that it would introduce the next Pixel 7 devices in India after forgoing shipping flagship models there for two generations.

Apple’s emphasis on production in India demonstrates the tech giant’s intention to spread production outside of China and grow its client base in India, which is currently a minor market for the business.