Suhani Jain, Author at Your Tech Story

Sony PlayStation VR2 set to be launched in February 2023

Today, Sony‘s highly anticipated PlayStation VR2 headset received an official rollout date, price, and pre-order information.

The virtual reality partner to PlayStation 5 of Sony will go on sale officially on February 22, 2023.

It will be available in a variety of configurations, including a base model that includes the PS VR2 headset, two PS VR2 Sense controllers, and also two pieces of stereo headphones, as well as a bundle that includes all of the aforementioned items as well as a PlayStation Store discount coupon code for Horizon Call of the Mountain.

Pre-orders for the PlayStation VR2 will initiate on November 15 exclusively through the PlayStation online store for buyers in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

If you’re anxious to start the process yet, you can already pre-register to be alerted when pre-orders become available.

Buyers in areas not listed above must pre-order from authorized stores in their respective markets. Pre-orders with all these retailers will also start on November 15.

Gamers using the new PS VR2 headset will benefit from an updated 2000×2040 per eye display resolution with eye tracking, 120Hz refresh rates, and other features.

Sony also revealed a brand-new charging stand for the PS VR2 Sense controllers, in addition to pricing and release date information. Because of its stand-alone power supply, this $50 accessory can charge the controllers without using a USB port on the PlayStation 5 console.

Sony has also confirmed the launch titles for PlayStation VR2 when it arrives in stores. The debut lineup includes 11 new VR games, in addition to well-known launch titles such as Horizon Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village. Switchback VR, a physics-based and roguelike shooter, The Light Brigade, a VR port of the plainly-named city building sim Cities, rhythm-based shooter Pistol Whip, and several others stand out.

“We’ve created the PS VR2 headset with comfort in mind, in a slightly slimmer and lighter design compared to our previous headset,” the tech giant said in a blogpost.
“We’re expecting more than 20 titles at launch,” it added.
Source: businessinsider.in

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

Google Fined $275m for Anti-Competitive Practices

Umar Javeed, Aaqib, and Sukarma Thapar, three young informants, finally forced Google to pay a whopping Rs 1,338 crore fine for abusing its dominant position in different markets itself with Android mobile operating system.

Although Sukarma Thapar and Umar Javeed were working as research experts for the CCI at the time, younger brother of Umar, Aaqib, was studying law at the University of Kashmir.

The CCI, India’s national competition regulator, is in charge of encouraging competition and attempting to prevent activities that have a significant adverse effect on competition in the market. Umar and Aaqib are Valley residents. The three young informants filed a complaint in 2018 alleging that Google was misusing its dominant position in various markets.

The Competition Commission of India fined Google Rs 1,337 crore for anti-competitive practices in the Android mobile device ecosystem.

The three young subjects are all lawyers by profession now, with Umar working for a government agency, Aaqib a practising advocate in Delhi, and Sukarma an independent law and policy consultant. Umar stated that gathering evidence was difficult because they only had direct exposure to customer information to back up their case.

“We can look at an Android phone and say there are some Google-owned apps that cannot be deleted even if we wanted to, but besides that, as consumers, we have little information on how exactly Android smartphone manufacturers and app developers are affected by the role Google plays in the Android ecosystem,” he explained.
Source: latestly.com

Aaqib stated that the three of them were already interested in how India’s digital market was shaping up and how technology policies and laws influenced consumers and tech companies.

“There were many late nights and early mornings where we would just work throughout the night. “I was still a law student then and helping these guys meant I was juggling research along with studying for exams and assignments,” Aaqib said.
Compiling a comprehensive documentation of information was a difficult task that took about two months. “We had to focus on our day jobs and then research for this later in the day. That is when we would have some free time,” Sukarma said. After that, events which were related to Google attracted the trio’s attention in Europe. “In July 2018, the European Commission (the EU’s competition watchdog) imposed one of its largest fines on Google of 4.34 billion Euros for violating EU antitrust rules,” Umar said.
Source: latestly.com

After reviewing the information provided by the three informants, the CCI began an investigation into Google’s behaviour in the Android mobile device ecosystem in April 2019, which resulted in the October 20 CCI judgement and fine. Google responded by saying it would look into the competition watchdog’s decision.

“CCI’s decision is a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses opening serious security risks for Indians and raising the cost of mobile devices for Indians.”
Source: latestly.com

CCI has tightened its knot about other big technology firms such as Apple and Facebook following their hauled up by European and Australian regulators, thanks to the whistleblowing of these three informants. CCI, on the other hand, has not been successful in going all in on such anti-competitive activities by these companies.

Aside from the current penalties, Google is also under investigation by CCI in two other cases. CCI hopes that these cases will serve as a “guideline note” for other businesses that may be breaking competition laws.

Suhani Jain

Is Elon Musk planning to bring back the Vine app?

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and the current owner of Twitter, does not appear to be resting. Not even a week after accomplishing the $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal, the billionaire is now going to consider resurrecting Vine, an app that allowed users to capture and enjoy sharing an unlimited number of short, looping 6-second videos. Twitter ended up buying it in October 2012 and decided to sell it four years later.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder as well as former Chief executive officer, stated that closing Vine had been his “biggest regret.”

Now, the Twitter platform’s current owner or Chief Twit has directed Twitter engineers to get to work on a Vine relaunch, which could be ready by the end of the year. According to Axios, the developers have been instructed to take a look at the old code base of Vine, which has not been altered or updated since the shutdown.

A source told Axios that there’s a lot of work to be done. Extensive negotiations are currently happening inside the networking community about a potential Vine revival, according to a Twitter employee.

Elon Musk has been attempting to give hints about the reintroduction of the Vine app on Twitter, and he even started a Twitter poll asking if indeed the app should be reintroduced on Sunday. “Bring Vine back?” he demanded outrightly. A total of 4,920,155 votes had been cast in the poll, with 69.5 per cent in favour and one-third opposed.

The reason to reintroduce Vine

The reason Elon Musk may introduce Vine again is simple which is the revenue potential. TikTok is now not only the most popular app in the world but also one of the highest-grossing apps. According to Finbold data, the short-form video platform TikTok is one of the top social media platforms generating the most revenue.

The app obtained $2.5 million per day on Android and iPhone devices all over the world in September, excluding the iPad. This probably amounts to an hourly wage of around $104,000.

TikTok managed to earn $75.8 million in overall revenue during the month. TikTok competitors can also be found on Facebook and Google.

Why was Vine shut down?

Vine was brought down in October 2016 by Twitter. “Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we’ll be discontinuing the mobile app,” the company said in a statement.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Though Twitter never said exactly what went wrong, the app struggled to grow its user base and find ways to make money. Vine once had a commanding lead over other social video apps, but it couldn’t keep up as competitors added features.

Suhani Jain

Twitter Blue to charge $20 Per Month for Blue Tick

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Elon Musk has instructed Twitter employees to start charging more for Twitter Blue, which is the firm’s optional 4.99 USD per month subscription that provides some additional features for authenticated users. Musk has directed that the new Twitter Blue subscription, which also offers verified customers with a blue tick on the social networking platforms, cost approximately 19.99 USD, according to The Verge. The news comes as the “Chief Twit” presses to increase subscription revenue from the microblogging site.

Furthermore, verified consumers will have 90 days to sign up or subscribe to the new plan or their blue checkmark would be removed. Besides that, On Sunday, Twitter staff members who were working on that project were told that they would be fired if the feature was not launched by November 7, according to The Verge.

On Sunday, Elon Musk tweeted, “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.” At present, Twitter Blue is operational in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Source: yourstory.com

Elon Musk dismissed some of Twitter’s top executives last week, after acquiring the social media company for 44 billion USD. These top executives included CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde and General Counsel Sean Edgett.

According to The New York Times, Musk has “planned to begin laying off workers” at Twitter as soon as on Saturday. Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were asked to “draw up lists of employees to cut.”
Source: yourstory.com

Along with plans to bring back banned accounts, including that of former United States President, Donald Trump, Elon Musk hosted a poll on Monday to reinstate Vine.

Musk has acted fast to implement changes at Twitter, beginning with changing the homepage for logged-out users. He’s also planning mass layoffs of intermediate managers and developers who haven’t recently made a significant contribution to the code base with the help of Tesla technicians he’s brought in as advisors at Twitter.

Managers are already curating lists of employees to lay off, and the cuts are anticipated to begin this week. Employees tasked with carrying out Musk’s projects since his takeover Thursday evening have been operating late into the night and throughout the weekend.

The Twitter Blue Tick subscription became widely available almost a year ago as a way to see ad-free articles from selected publishers and make other changes to the app, such as changing the colour of the home screen icon.

Advertising stayed the large majority of Twitter’s revenue in the few quarters following its initial public offering. Elon Musk wants account subscriptions for half of the company’s whole revenue.

Suhani Jain

Apple’s Paid Subscribers Doubled to 900 Million in 3 years

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Apple has about 900 million paid subscribers on its platform, which has more than doubled in just three years, according to company CEO Tim Cook.

According to the company, paid subscribers are rising exponentially than transacting accounts, so paid account penetration is increasing.

“We have a great subscription business, 900 million paid subs now on the platform and growing very fast. We doubled in 3 years. This is the part that is really interesting to us because we really believe that the engine for services growth is there, foreign exchange is a temporary thing and the fundamentals are very good,” Tim Cook said during the company’s earnings call for the September quarter.
Source: business-standard.com

Services as well set a new high in the September quarter, with 19.2 billion USD in revenue.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, also said that they have reached one more record on their installed base of active devices which is all thanks to a quarterly upgraders’ record and double-digit development in switchers on iPhone, and they also reached the latest revenue record for said quarter throughout nearly every geographic segment.

In terms of silicon supply constraints, he stated that they were not noticeable in the quarter.

He also stated that he wants to admit that we are still living in unprecedented times, from the war in Eastern Europe to the tenacity of Covid-19 and also from environmental disasters all around the world to a growingly difficult economic environment.

Also, he added that, through it all, they have aimed to help their customers navigate the challenges while also providing them with the tools they need to continue driving progress for both their organizations.

Apple iPhone revenue increased 10% year on year to a September quarter record of $42.6 billion, according to the company, as the Indian market perceives bumper iPhone sales led by the new 14 series.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that customer demand was “stronger and more favorable than they anticipated. According to a report, the Apple iPhone 15 Series will have a USB-C charging port and four models with significant feature differences.

“Customers are loving our iPhone 14 line-up. Loaded with camera upgrades for sharper photos, Action Mode for smoother videos and new safety features like Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite, iPhone is even more indispensable to our daily lives,” Cook told analysts during the company’s quarterly earnings call late on Thursday.
Source: latestly.com

Suhani Jain

Overwatch 2 Halloween Terror Event: Complete Details

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Overwatch 2’s Spooky Season has kicked off. Thank goodness, Blizzard didn’t remove one of our favourite events with the Overwatch 2 update. However, some things have changed this year, which will not please everyone. To alleviate some of your concerns: Yes, there are free rewards as well. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2022 Halloween Terror event, including how to get free rewards and spooky new skins.

The Halloween Terror event began on October 25 and will end on November 9.

Everything New in Overwatch 2’s Halloween Event

Blizzard has eventually and officially announced this year’s Halloween Terror event in a recently posted blog post. For the past six years, all Halloween collectables such as spooky skins and spays have been awarded for completing challenges or made available in event loot boxes. However, now that Overwatch 2 is free to play and features a battle pass system with numerous in-game purchases, the annual event appears to be a little different this year.

The worst-case scenario has occurred. Apart from a few twitch drops, it is nearly impossible to obtain Halloween items without spending actual money. Of course, all previous Halloween-themed items will be available for purchase throughout the event.

This year’s Halloween Terror event includes the following new features:

Legendary Executioner Junker Queen Skin
New PvE Mode – Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath of the Bride.
Legendary Witch Kiriko Skin
Legendary Cursed Captain Reaper Skin
Halloween Themed Collectables

The latest PvE Mode is a 4-player co-op sequel to Junkenstein’s Revenge’s original game mode. kiriko, Sojourn, Ashe and Junker Queen appear to be the playable heroes showing pure female power.

Get Free Halloween Skins

The fact that you can just hardly get anything without going to spend actual cash on Overwatch 2 is something that everyone despises. Legendary skins are extremely costly. The majority of them cost around 1900 or 2000 Overwatch money, which is about 20 USD which is insane, right? Let’s see what the prizes are for Halloween event skins this year.

At the very least, Blizzard added a few Twitch Drops and free stuff for us, so everyone has a chance to receive something for free. Players can obtain the Cursed Captain Reaper Skin free as an apology for the botched launch of Overwatch 2.

We may not receive skins as a reward for completing in-game challenges, but we do receive Twitch Drops! They will be available on all channels streaming Overwatch 2 from October 25 to 6 November at 11:00 a.m.

After two hours of watching your favourite Twitch streamers, you will be guaranteed a Werewolf Winston spray and the iconic Werewolf Winston skin.

Hero Changes and Adjustments

Ashe

Corrected a problem where the ‘Little Red’ skin and emote performed a broken animation.

Bastion

Bastion has been reintroduced into Overwatch 2.
Fixed a problem with Bastion’s configuration: Artillery, in which an unlimited number of charges could be fired
weapon of Bastion should not vanish when using the configuration: Artillery

Junkers Queen

Friendly abilities should no longer deflect or send back jagged blades.

Kiriko

The ‘Tanpopo’ skin is now available for purchase and use.
Kiriko’s Heroic pose is now readily accessible.
Swift Step no longer consistently cleared negative side effects.
Kitsune Rush no longer correctly reduces the cooldown of Baptiste’s Immortality Field.

General Bug Fixes

Players were generally keeping 30 per cent, on control cards, of the ultimate charge between rounds, which was fixed.

Fixed a bug in which checkpoint cards didn’t shift always, to overtime correctly.

The ‘vs.’ screen no longer appears in Competitive.
It has been resolved that players could not invite other participants to a custom game.

Fixed an issue where text chat was unavailable to PC gamepad users.

When you use Pause Match in Custom Game, other menu buttons are no longer disabled.

Over time Kill Cams were not working properly.

In the Push game mode, players should no longer be able to get trapped under TS-1.

Fixed an issue where controllers couldn’t scroll.

Suhani Jain

Suhani Jain

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