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Apple Gadgets Receives the Much-Awaited Updates in Apple’s Hardware Event 2018

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First time ever, Apple’s hardware event held at the Brooklyn city, in New York. The event has just taken place after about a month of its previous hardware event held in this year. Apple during the event unveiled the refreshed version of its iPad Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini. For the past few years, the gadgets were getting only a few changes in their features. But this time the products have been redesigned, loading them with new air.

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The MacBook Air is now having a 13.3 inches screen and a narrow black glass bezel. After spending six years with the same high-resolution feature, the MacBook Air is now has got the Retina display with 4 million pixel resolution. The device is also equipped with the touch ID sensor, on the third-gen Butterfly Keyboard, with a larger trackpad. The device has been upgraded to the 8th Gen 1.6-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. The storage variant for different versions of the MacBook Air ranges from 128GB to 1.5TB, and the RAM size is between 8GB to 16GB. The MacBook Air also consists of two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and 3.5 mm headphone jack. The device has got updates on its looks, too, and is available in Gold, Silver, and Space Gray colours.

Apple has also announced the redesigned iPad Pro, having two different screen sizes 11-inch and 12.9-inches, having a retina display. The new iPad Pro is solely inspired by the new iPhones. The home button is all gone and is replaced by the swipe up gesture. The iPad has got the face ID feature and black slimmer bezels. The iPad can be paired with the smart keyboard Folio and other Bluetooth keyboards, making it work as a laptop. The iPad also has got the stylus support with a second generation Apple Pencil that is enabled with the gesture control. Sadly, the new stylus is only compatible with the new devices and does not support the older ones. The storage available with the iPad ranges between 64 GB to 1 TB. The device comes with a USB-C port and no headphone jack.

The Mac Mini also gets its share of updates, after its launch with the iPhone 6, back in 2014. The Mac Mini is a small but stylish grey desktop PC, powered by the Intel Core i3 processor. The basic model of Mac Mini consists of 8GB of RAM and a 128 GB hard disk. The new Mac Mini is sleeker and has accomplished with more hardware facilities. The Mac Mini now does have the 4 USB-C Thunderbolt ports and two USB-A ports as well as the HDMI for displays.

Apple claims that the MacBook Air as well as the Mac Mini, both have been built with 100 per cent recycled Aluminium, costing $1,200 for the basic model of MacBook Air and $799 for the basic model of Mac Mini. The iPad Pro is at the higher end of the price, costing $799 for the 11 inches iPad Pro and $999 for the 12.9 inches iPad Pro. As the launch of the Apple gadgets has taken place before the starting of the holiday season, the availability of the same can be expected during the holiday season.

Google to Reward $25 Million to the Winners of AI Impact Challenge 2019

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Artificial Intelligence holds a great contribution to the world of technology. But like the sci-fi movies, the AI has got various hazardous impacts to the world, too. Maybe thinking of that, Google is inspired to obtain something better from the AI, and at an event called AI for Social Good, held at the company’s Sunnyvale, California office, it announced a competition for the AI developers, called the AI Impact Challenge.

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According to the announcement, the competition will include non-profit organizations, like universities and colleges, and the other organizations that are not related to the corporate world. The teams will participate in the competition with ideas that will focus on solving social problems with the help of AI.

Google will provide the participants with cloud resources for their projects, and the winners will be rewarded with an amount of $25 million. The initiative is a part of Google’s charitable unit Google.org. The company has said that the participants can be professional AI experts or maybe with no AI skills, as the company will provide the competitors with guides who will help them with their projects. During the event, Google said, “An international panel of experts, who work in computer science and the social sector will assess the proposals to select top winners in the spring of 2019.”

The initiative taken by Google is a part of the ‘AI for Social Good’ and will address the issues like data security, environmental conservation, human trafficking, health care, and other serious issues like controversial military works. In the competition, the participants will be finding the best solution for those issues, using the AI.

Google’s artificial intelligence chief, Jeff Dean, said, “Artificial intelligence is not just helping people create more useful products, we use it in a lot of ways throughout many Google products but is also emerging as a really powerful tool for improving the society that we live in.”

Google is accepting the applications for the competition from today, and the names of the accepted grantees will be announced at the Google I/O developer conference next year. Also, after the competition, the participants may receive some job offers from the Google AI research centres, established earlier this year, in places like France and Ghana, etc.

IBM to Acquire Red Hat to Become World’s Number One Hybrid Cloud Provider

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IBM, on Sunday, has announced that it is planning to acquire the American’s multinational open-source software development company, the Red Hat, to create the leading hybrid/multi-cloud provider. The Red Hat is the publicly traded company that has a market cap of $20.5 billion, with 176 million its shares are outstanding.

Noticeably, Red Hat is the software provider for the largest tech giants including Google, Amazon and Microsoft. That means after, IBM and Red Hat join their hands, IBM will automatically be delivering services to its rival companies.

The changing technology within the past few years has brought many changes the users used the technology. And, in no time the user’s data was moved from the hard disk of their desktops to the clouds. The Dropbox, Netflix, Flickr, Google Drive, Microsoft Office 365, Yahoo Mail are all cloud services and are the most used applications by the users. The only difficulty in using those cloud services is the moving of the data between those applications. But the deal between IBM and Red Hat will be a hybrid cloud arrangement, that will focus on solving the issue, as they together will provide the facility to move the data between various cloud services.

Ginni Rometty, IBM’s chairman, president and chief executive said, “The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer, It changes everything about the cloud market.” The companies have called the deal, but IBM has to get approval from the other shareholders too, for that it has scheduled a conference call with investors on Monday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

The deal will be closed by paying Red Hat $190 a share in cash, with an enterprise value of about $34 billion. The deal will accelerate the IBM’s high business model and will make it world’s number one hybrid cloud provider. Red Hat will still retain its open-source legacy and operate as a distinct unit. The deal is expected to close by the end of the half of 2019.

Failed to Protect User Data Facebook got Fined by the UK Govt.

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Facebook has been facing a lot due to its data privacy issues for the past few months. This time it has been attacked by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. According to the UK’s security watchdog, Facebook has supported some major security breaches of the data protection law, in the past. For this, the ICO has fined Facebook for $644,000 (£500,000). Facebook has been imposed with the maximum amount of fine, to be paid for the breach of the data protection law in the UK after it was found guilty in an investigation.

According to the investigation, Facebook is responsible for the stealing of 1 million Facebook users’ personal information, in the UK. Also, between 2007-2014, Facebook carelessly allowed the third-parties to use the data of the Facebook users, without their consent.

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The ICO carried out the investigation after the security breach, by GSR developer, in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, earlier this year. The scandal included the harvesting of private data, from up to 87 million Facebook users, around the world without their knowledge. The report included the stealing and misuse of the personal data of the Facebook users, during the referendum on the U.K.’s membership of the European Union, for the political campaign in 2016.

The UK’s Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, confirming the news, said, “Facebook failed to sufficiently protect the privacy of its users before, during, and after the unlawful processing of this data. A company of its size and expertise should have known better, and it should have done better.”

Before the Cambridge Analytica’s scandal was officially out, the Guardian investigation, in 2016, had already provided a report, on the bases of the statement of a whistleblower from the company who described how the data of the Facebook users was stolen to target the voters.

About the fine imposed on Facebook, the CEO of Mark Zuckerburg has said that they are reviewing the whole situation. “we have a lot more work to do to safeguard personal data,” he added. A spokesperson from Facebook also said, “While we respectfully disagree with some of their findings, we have said before that we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and taken action in 2015. We are grateful that the ICO has acknowledged our full cooperation throughout their investigation.”

ICO will present further evidence regarding the case in the coming November, in front of the UK government. Also, it has summoned Mark Zuckerberg, to testify about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that is scheduled for the month of May in 2019.

AT&T Planning the Trials of New Android-based Streaming Device in 2019

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AT&T, after facing a decline in its traditional pay-TV business, has decided and buckled up for launching its new streaming device, that, AT&T is, currently, beta testing. The streaming device, named as Osprey, is a set-top box, that targets to run on the Android TV and allows the access to other streaming apps. The news was officially announced by John Donovan, the CEO of AT&T Communications, on the third earnings call of AT&T.

Android TV
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AT&T went through a net loss of 346,000 traditional TV customers. Still, it has gained 49,000 for its DirecTV Now, streaming service and with the increasing popularity of Android TV, AT&T has figured out the way to recover its losses and lost customers. Developing a device basically to run with an Android TV can be considered a remarkable move for the business of AT&T.

Donovan said, “we expect this service to be EBITDA positive, and over time, it should lower the acquisition cost of our premium video service.” Last year, Variety reported the development of such device that was later, confirmed by AT&T.

The set-top box will support the voice remote, 4K playback, and also, will run the third-party Android apps. The company is more focused on improving profitability and will adopt more deliberate strategies, to break the deals. Donovan added, “Evaluating our channel lineups and taking a fresh look at how we can align content cost with the price.”

The device will be running on the DirecTV Now and the new DirecTV streaming version. AT&T will provide the same contracts and number of channels, in the new set-top-box, but mainly it is focused on eliminating the traditional satellite dish. The trial for the device is expected to start in early 2019, and there has been no statement about the final launch of the device in the market.

The Chinese Amphibious AG600 Completes its First Waterborne Take-off

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AG600
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China, on Saturday, successfully, completed the first takeoff and landing of its amphibious aeroplane, on water, at a reservoir in China’s central Hubei province. The plane is called the Kunlong AG600. Kunlong is a Chinese word, that means Water Dragon. The AG600 is the world’s biggest amphibious plane and has been built by China independently. The aircraft is one of the three largest aircraft of China, including the Y-20 military transport aircraft and the C-919 commercial passenger airliner. During the Saturday’s trial, the AG600 completed a 14-minute ride, successfully.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) began the production of the prototype of the seaplane, in 2014, after China announced the AG600 program, in 2011. The aircraft was first unveiled in July 2016, in Zhuhai city of southern China. The Aircraft carried out its first trial flight, in August 2018, from the Zhuhai airport in the Guangdong province of China, to the Jingmen airport in Hubei province of China.

The aircraft possesses four WJ-6 turboprop engines, the Chinese-made versions of a Russian engine. It is 37 meters long, and the wings are 38.8 meters widespread. The plane can carry 50 people and can hold a maximum take-off weight of 59 tons on land, and 54 tons on the water. AVIC has claimed that the AG600 can stay airborne for up to 12 hours, and its cruising speed can reach up to 500 kilometres per hour. Without the refuelling, the operational range for the aircraft can be about 4,500 kilometres at max.

The production of the AG600 targets at bringing out the maritime search-and-rescue operations and the aerial fire-fighting operations. The aircraft requires a water depth of 2.5 meters for landing and take-off. And, is capable of taking off and land in waves up to 6.5 feet high. The AG600 can resist two-meter-high waves. The aircraft is useful for carrying supplies and military personnel, during any of the Chinese maritime military operations. However, China claims that the AG600 will only be a part of the marine monitoring and safety patrol, the development of the world’s largest amphibious aircraft has raised many eyebrows as well.