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Tata Takes the Initiative to Appoint the Third CEO of AirAsia India

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AIRASIA
Image Source: thehindu.com

AirAsia India, after much controversies, appointed its third consecutive CEO, again from a non-aviation field. Sunil Bhaskaran, who is currently working as the Vice President of Corporate Services at Tata Steel, will take over as the CEO of AirAsia India from 15 November 2018.

The AirAsia India was founded five years ago in 2013, having appointed its first CEO, the then head of an advisory firm Egon Zehnder International, Mittu Chandilya. Chandilya was also from a non-aviation field, and it brought him many challenges, too. At the time he got caught into a controversy, involving the employment of a lobbyist to get an aviation rule revised.

The second non-aviation CEO of AirAsia India, Amar Abrol, was appointed in April 2016, replacing Mittu Chandilya. Abrol was working as the head of a start-up company, before joining as the CEO of the airline. In May 2018, he left the position of the CEO to accept an important position at the parent company of AirAsia India, in Malaysia.

Bhaskaran is the first CEO of AirAsia India, appointed by Tata Sons. Tata Sons holds 49 per cent shares in AirAsia India, as much as the AirAsia holds itself. CBI had registered a case against Tony Fernandes, the founder of AirAsia group, earlier this year. The appointment of the new CEO by Tata shows the shift of control. Tata Sons are also planning to buy the left two per cent shares of the company that is under Venkataramanan (Tata Trusts trustee) and Ramadorai (Chairman AirAsia India).

Bhaskaran had started his career as a management trainee, at Tata Steel, in 1987, and continued working with the company, for over 40 years. Placing a non-aviation CEO, for the third time, can be a mistake. But, as Tata is trying to get a grip on the company, AirAsia India maybe benefitted with that. Although, in the past one year, the company has generated much more revenue as compared to earlier years. Last year, it had gained a net profit of Rs 13 crore, and the company expanded its airline’s fleet to 19 aircraft.

Bitcoin Drags Down the Fellow Currencies with its Own Price Drop

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bitcoin
Image Source: mashable.com

Bitcoin successfully being steady at a higher value for a few months has faced a price drop in its value. Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency, and on Wednesday it experienced a sudden plunge in its value, shedding $400 within 30 minutes.

According to the CoinDesk data, the Bitcoin’s price drop has wiped billions of dollars from its market capitalization within minutes. It has also affected the values of other cryptocurrencies including Ripple (XRP), Ethereum, EOS, Stellar and Litecoin, dragging the value of each of them down, losing billions of dollars.

Bitcoin had attained a stability in its value, as recorded at the beginning of the month, the fall it has experienced has hit its 17-months volatility. The volatility comes when the value of the cryptocurrency gets into a state of stability, to end its stable trading. Also, the cryptocurrency trading by the whales (the people holding a huge share of cryptocurrency), also affects the price change of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin was having this stable state since September 17. The value of Bitcoin was above $6600, in the past week and has decreased sharply to $6,125. However, after some time of the price drop, Bitcoin recovered its value to an extent and reached briefly to $6,200.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had already published a warning that the rapidly growing value of the cryptocurrency assets can create “new vulnerabilities in the international financial system”. The warning came to be true when Bitcoin’s value dropped to 4.65 per cent, over the 24 hour period. Bitcoin, with its price drop, is hardly maintaining any gains this month. In just thirty minutes the cryptocurrency market capitalization fell from $214 billion to $205 billion.

Google Unveils the Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL & a New Chrome OS Tablet

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After much of the leaks of Google’s Pixel 3 phones, finally, Google has launched the new smartphones in an event, held in New York City, yesterday. The new Google collection unveiled at the event includes two new Pixel phones, a new Chromebook and a new Google Home Hub, along with a few accessories.

The new, third generation Google Pixel smartphones, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, have bigger screens than the last year’s Google Pixel phones. The smartphones have a front and back glass finish, giving them more premium look. Both of the phones possess a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, and the storage will range from 64 GB to 128 GB, with a RAM size of 4GB. The two phones are water resistant and have no micro SD slot or a headphone jack.

New-Google-Pixel-3-Xl
Image Source: gadgetstouse.com

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, both support wireless Qi charging with a 2915mAh battery and 3430mAh, respectively. The two are also having a similar camera set, a 12.2-megapixel rear camera and a dual 8-megapixel front camera. Having all the similarities the two phones differ in the screen size. The Pixel 3 has a 5.5-inch OLED screen, whereas the Pixel 3 XL has a 6.3-inch OLED display. The starting price for the Pixel 3 is $799, and the Pixel 3XL starts at $899, for its basic model. The Pixel 3 and Pixel XL will be the first phones to receive the latest Android updates, possessing no bloatware.

At the event, Google also launched its first Chrome OS tablet, named as Slate. The 12.3-inch display Google Slate is a laptop that can be converted into a tablet. The detachable keyboard is connected to the tablet through the magnet connectors and is empowered with the internal battery of the tablet, itself. The device has come with a better wide-angle front-facing camera, and has the highest pixel density, as compared to the other devices in the same category.

The tablet will be available in a variant of 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of RAM, built on an Intel Core m3, i5, or Celeron processors, and the available storage will be up to 256GB. The tablet alone will cost approximately $599, and the keyboard will cost $199. Also, you can get a styler pen worth $99.

Along with the Google smartphones and the tablet, Google also announced the Google Home Hub enabled with the Google Assistant. The Google Home Hub does not support video calling as it does not have any camera, and also, it has a smaller screen. The cost of this gadget will be $149. With all these new gadgets, Google also released the Chrome set, but there was no mention of it in the event. The Chrome set costs $35 and still supports 1080p streaming, but with faster 5GHz Wi-Fi network support.

The pre-orders for all Google’s new gizmos will start from October 11 and will go on sale starting November 1 in India.

Yahoo Back into the Chat Business with its New Yahoo Together App

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As they say, “It’s never too late”. Yahoo has followed this phrase by launching its new messenger app. Yahoo launched ‘Yahoo Together’, a messenger app, on Thursday, shutting down its older Yahoo Messenger, due to the reduced usage of the app. Yahoo Together is a Yahoo and Oath’s product that it was testing a few months ago, as the invite-only Yahoo Squirrel app. Now, the Squirrel app is out of beta, and Yahoo has launched the same as the Yahoo Together app.

Even, after the data breach happened, on Yahoo’s messenger, in 2013, Yahoo has gathered some courage to enter back into the business. Yahoo and Oath, together have made an effort in the field of chatting, when there are so many messenger apps already available online.

Yahoo Together
Image Source: 9to5mac.com

The Yahoo Together is similar to other chatting apps, except providing more organized experience for the group chats. The app is having way more similarity with the enterprise level chat apps like Slack than any other simple chat apps. But, the app is specially designed for the personnel groups, like family and friends. The look and feel, as well as the custom reactions below the messages, seems to be directly adopted from Slack only.

Like Slack, it supports private and public group chats, that has been named as Topics. One can easily share audio and video files, on these group chats. The Activity View feature of Yahoo Together shows the user every time his/her name is mentioned in the chat. Like any other chat app, the user can mute the notifications for a particular group or a person.

The only feature that differentiates the app from other chatting apps is the smart reminder feature that notifies the user about different events, or of any particular message in the group, by sending the group members a notification about that message. Also, there is no voice calling feature as well as no third-party app integration, available in the app.

The app is created by the Yahoo’s old Communications Team, but with better functionality and features. Although with the chat apps like What’s App, Facebook Messenger and Slack, already available online, the launch of another chat app from Yahoo have raised many questions on its success, in such a competitive environment, Yahoo’s effort is commendable. But, the app surely needs a lot of improvements to survive in the market.

Mercedes Showcased the Third-gen Merc B-Class at the Paris Motor Show 2018

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The Paris Motor Show 2018 has started, and every automobile company is all set to showcase their new products and inventions in the event. In between the Mercedes has already unveiled its new Mercedes-Benz B-class MPV, as the fourth member of the Mercedes’ range of eight new smaller cars.

The Benz B-class is a hatchback silhouette, made under the internal codename W247. Having a similar shape as its predecessors, it has come with better interiors and fresh sheet metals outside. The vehicle is based on the A-class platform, with new engines, autonomous tech and powertrain options.

Merc MVP
Image Source: yahoo.com

The B-class has adopted the older multi-beam LED headlamps from the A-class and has the split tail lamps at the back. This time, it has avoided the strange side sculptured look from the previous models of the series, giving the car a cleaner and upfront profile. The new Mercedes MPV is 1,557mm taller, 4,359mm longer, and 1,786mm wider, having a wheelbase of 2,929mm and a reduced drag coefficient of 0.24. The roof of the B-class is slightly lower and the wheels of the car range between 16 inches to 19 inch for the different variants.

The overhangs are also shorter, offering more interior space for people and cargo. The Merc MVP has been embedded with the voice recognition, augmented reality features and Mercedes Me connectivity. Similar to the S-class, it also includes the safety features and the driver aid for semi-autonomous driving.

The different variants of the B-class will offer five engines, two petrol and three diesel type, ranging from the 136-horsepower gasoline B180 to the 190-horsepower, 295 pound-foot B220d. Both types of engine cars will have a 7-speed automatic gearbox.

There has been no announcement of the launch of the B-class in India yet. But, we can expect the availability of this new Mercedes model in India, in the coming year, maybe after the launch of A-class hatchback or the A-class sedan.

Microsoft Unveils the Addition of New Products in its Surface Series

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Microsoft hosted its annual event, in the New York City, on Tuesday 2 October. In the event, the company launched a pack of four surface gears, including the Surface Pro 6 tablet/laptop hybrid, the Surface Laptop 2, the Surface Studio all-in-one desktop and also a $349 Surface Headphones, while the rumoured Surface Phone is still under the wraps.

Starting with the new Surface Pro 6 laptop/tablet, it consists of Intel’s quad-core 8th Gen processor, with an improved battery life that can last for 13.5 hours, when fully charged. The laptop has a 12.3-inch display, and no USB-C ports, like its predecessor, Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2. It supports up to 16GB of RAM, and it is 1.5 times faster than the other previous laptops of the same series. The laptop is the first of its family to have a matte black finish. The laptop/tablet is available at a starting price of $899.

microsoft-surface
Image Source: idgesg.net

The Surface Laptop 2 is a striking black matte finish laptop, having a 13.5-inch touchscreen. The laptop operates on the quad-core 8th Generation processor. Microsoft has again neglected the USB-C port in the Surface Laptop 2, instead, it has a USB-A. This time Microsoft has introduced a more silent and easier to type on Alcantara fabric-covered keyboard. The laptop costs $999, for its basic model.

The second version, in the Surface Studio range, the Surface Studio 2, is an all in one desktop that converts into a flat drawing panel with the help of its classic Studio hinges. The desktop has a 28-inch display screen, similar to the Surface Studio, but, brighter and with better contrast. The desktop has the 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor, and a speedier SSD storage that can range between 1 TB to 2TB, based on the model. The system has the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 chipset, specially designed for the creative professionals. Also, the system has got the inbuilt Xbox Wireless support and a USB-C port. The price of the Studio Pro 2 is $3,499 for the base model and may vary with the higher models.

Microsoft has also announced its first smart Surface Headphones. Having the noise-cancelling feature, the user can adjust the sound of the headphones, using the dial on the left ear cup, to eliminate noise. It supports the hands-free voice commands, with the help of the Hey Cortana technology. The headphones consist of the USB Type C port that is used for the charging purpose. It stops the track or the music as soon the user removes it from the ears. It also consists of the touch controls on the ear cups. The headphones can work for 15 hours after they are fully charged. The Surface Headphones costs approximately $350.

Microsoft has also launched the ‘All Access’ payment plan for the Surface products. This is not a monthly subscription plan, but similar to one, as the buyer will pay a fixed amount every month, till the completion of 2 years, to buy any of those Surface products. The buyer will also avail the access to Office 365. But, in this plan, the buyer cannot upgrade to the newer version of the Surface series.

All the new Surface Series gadgets have been available for pre-orders, starting on Tuesday, in the US, with shipments expected later this month.