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Magic Leap Opens Up New Options for People to Buy its AR Headsets, Including From Selected AT&T Stores

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Many of you might have heard of augmented reality headset Magic Leap One that the company Magic Leap launched last year. The company has partnered with AT&T and has announced that the company is going to exclusively sell this mixed reality headset in some of the flagship AT&T stores in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago starting from April 1st.

magic leap
Image Sourec: magicleap.com

Though many early buyers have already got their hands on the Magic Leap One Creator Edition AR headset a few months ago, the company has opened up new options for its buyers to get access to the same in the coming month. In fact, the company has also teamed up with the HBO to deliver the Game of Thrones fans a next level experience with this AR headset, i.e., the company will demo the GOT White Walkers through the MAgic Leap One at the AT&T stores. As the GOT final season is also about to premiere in April, teaming up with HBO is a clever marketing move that the company has opted for.

The availability of the Magic One headset won’t be right away. It will be available at the Boston store on Boylston Street on April 1st, at the AT&T store of the Chicago location on Michigan Avenue from 3rd April and from the 5th April, the headset will be made available at the AT&T store of the San Francisco location at 1 Powell Street. People will also be able to buy the headset online from the AT&T website from the 5th of April.

The Magic Leap One is a $2,295 AR headset, which is on an expensive side. But if you are also interested in buying the same without paying such a big amount at once, the company is also offering people to buy the headset on affordable monthly instalments.

Though there are already many other VR headsets available in the market which are exceptionally great at user experience, including Oculus and Valve, Magic Leap is also trying to hit the market with a new experience. But still, it has not made much of the efforts as there is not many great gaming contents on Magic Leap. So there are lesser reasons people would invest such a huge amount on Magic Leap One except to explore the new technology.

ASUS Released the Fix for ShadowHammer Malware Pushed on Thousands of Computers

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According to a recent report from Kaspersky, more than a million Asus computers running on Windows operating systems are under a malware threat. A malware named ShadowHammer has been injected to a pre-installed Asus utility software by some unknown hackers, making the software vulnerable to hack attacks.

asus malware

According to the Kaspersky, over 57000 Asus laptop and desktop users reported the issue, and the attack took place between the month of July and November, last year. However, Asus denied the number of reported issues saying that the number of affected laptops is lesser and now, it has finally developed the fix for the malware.

As per the reports, the hacker planted the malware through a back door to the Asus Live Update Utility software, such that whenever there is a new update for the system, the malware is pushed into the system as a new update itself. The size of the malware has also made equal to the utility software.

The company has released a patch in the form of an actual security update, which the users can download through a Live Update software tool. The Live Update software tool has also been updated to the V3.6.8 version. Also, the company has rolled out an online security diagnostic tool that can be used to scan the system for any malicious software.

“We have also updated and strengthened our server-to-end-user software architecture to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future,” stated Asus in a statement.

Though the Taiwanese laptop maker Asus unknowingly pushed the malware to the systems of its customers, it was expected from the company to be apologetic about the matter. The company stated in the news post, “Asus customer service has been reaching out to affected users and providing assistance to ensure that the security risks are removed.”

Asus has also asked the ones with the infected Asus systems to take the backup of their data on the computer. They can fix their systems by simply resetting the system or reinstalling the Window to their computers, as it’s a software-level malware attack.

Gmail Finally Releases its AMP-based ‘Dynamic Emails’ for its G-Suite User

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After a year-long time, of the announcement, Google is finally has released the AMP support in Gmail for its G Suite audience. The company announced that it is going to release the beta of its fast-loading AMP tech to Gmail starting from today. The new feature is specially designed to provide users with more interactive messaging experience.

According to Google, these Dynamic Emails will give the user more web-based interactive encounter such that the user can fill out forms, browse image carousels, RSVP to an event, reply to Google Docs comments or even browse catalogues, without leaving their inbox and following any external link to a separate website.

The AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) technology will help Gmail to keep the content fresh and latest information will be displayed on the screen every single time, like new job recommendations, latest comment threads, product listings or social network recommendations within the email irrespective of the time the mail was received.

According to Google, its other products like Google Docs will also automatically gel with the new AMP feature and can be embedded in the messages directly. Hence, the user will not be receiving new emails every single time they are mentioned in a document, rather the thread will get refreshed every time and the user will be able to reply to the mentions from within the inbox.

For the dynamic emails, the company has partnered with other social networks including Doodle, Pinterest, Booking.com, etc. For now, Google has only rolled out the new AMP feature for its desktop G suite users, but according to the post-Google released on Tuesday regarding the same, the mobile version of the new dynamic emails will also roll out soon.

Apple Announced a New Sleek Titanium Built Credit Card Offering Rewards & Cashbacks to its Users

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Apple hosted an event on Monday at the Steve Jobs Theater in its Apple Park campus headquarters, in Cupertino, California. The event included many new launches along with Apple’s new credit card named Apple Card.

Apple has been a leader in the field of computers and smartphones, and now, it has put its steps into a new business line with the new credit card, i.e. finance. For the financial services, the company has partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. According to Apple, the Apple Card will not have any annual fee, international fee, over-limit fee or late charges and will provide the lowest interest rate to its users.

Apple Card
Image Source: cnbc.com

It is an off-white coloured credit card, with all new sleek design and is build with Titanium. Apple is trying to provide full security for the transactions through the card and has stripped off all the numbers like the card number, CVV, expiration date, or signature bar on the back from the card.

The company has also introduced an app to function in sync with the card, as like any other credit cards, the card can be used to make payments physically as well as digitally. The user just needs to signup for the new Apple card with their iPhone, and they are good to go.

After signing up for the card, the user can see a rainbow gradient card on the screen. For every digital transaction, the digital wallet will ask for face Id or touch Id along with a secure pin. The users are able to easily pay their dues for the Apple Card through the app, where they are given multiple payment methods. The users will also be provided with 2% cashback with transactions on Apple pay and 3% cashback on Apple Store purchases using the app. And for the physical card, the cashback on every purchase will be 1% of the purchase.

The app will also allow the users to track their transactions through the card on the app. The transactions will be segmented into categories like ‘food and drinks’, ‘entertainment’ as well as ‘shopping’. The app will show all the details about the user’s spending through the card, mentioning the time, date, merchant and the location of the transaction. The user can also track the weekly and monthly spending summary through the app.

The card is available for users all around the world, and the users will also receive 24/7 customer support from Apple. The new Apple Card is a creative and innovative kind of credit card, that like every other Apple product is on the way to become a status symbol.

Netflix is Testing Cheaper Mobile-only Subscription Plans in Selected Countries

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Reportedly, Netflix is testing its cheapest mobile-only subscription plan in a few selected countries, including India. The company will be reducing the costs of its plans up to 50 per cent, i.e. the basic plan provided by Netflix will now cost $3.63 a month.

netflix
Image Source: fortune

The cheapest Netflix plan in India costs Rs. 500 per month, which will now cost Rs. 250 per month, maintaining the quality of videos purely SD. The cheapest plan will work only on a single mobile device, and there is no option for HD video streaming.

Even though the prices have been reduced by 50 per cent, Netflix still is the most expensive streaming plan in India. One of Netflix’s competitor in India, Hotstar offers a yearly subscription of Rs 365, which is way cheaper than Netflix, offering Re. 1 per day streaming. On the other hand, Amazon Prime is available for Rs 1000 per year, Zee5 for Rs 1188 per year, and AltBalaji Rs 400 per year.

“We will be testing different options in select countries, where members can watch Netflix on their mobile device for a lower price, and subscribe in shorter increments of time. Not everyone will see these options, and we may never roll out these specific plans beyond the tests”, stated a Netflix spokesperson.

However, the original content has been tempting many Indians, who are already paying the ‘expensive’ monthly charges to access it, and Netflix itself has expressed earlier that the company is not facing any pricing issues in India. So people who are already using it will be the happiest, and the ones who wanted to get the subscription, but were not convinced to pay the costly fee every month, may also get their hands on it now.

But, currently, the cheaper plans are only being tested, and only a few Indians have got access to them. And, only if the tests go right, the company will make those changes permanent. Till then, we can only hope for the prices to lower down for every subscriber.

T-Mobile Starts to Roll Out its Invite-only Home LTE Internet Service

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T-Mobile, on Thursday, announced that it is piloting a new in-home invite-only internet service on LTE, for the rural and underserved areas in the U.S., through a news post. According to the post, though the service the company intends to connect 50,000 homes this year. The service is only available for T-Mobile‘s existing users and will get the service through invites-only.

T-mobile
Image Source: wsmv.com

This limited service will cost $50 a month for its subscribers, and it is a trial for the company’s future cable internet business. Since it is about to launch its 5G service, soon, ahead of that, it is also the test for the company that it is capable of delivering the 5G services to its huge user base.

The new wireless technology will help the home users get rid of the broadband wires, and they will not have to roam around the router to get the full coverage. For now, the company is providing a 50 Mbps over the 4G LTE network, with no data caps, and after the launch of the 5G network, the speed will, eventually, be raised to 100Mbps.

“For now, only a limited few T-Mobile customers – the goal is to reach 50,000 households this year, less than .04% of U.S. households. But the New T-Mobile plans to cover more than half of U.S. zip codes by 2024 with the capacity for 9.5 million households to cut the cord.” stated the company in the news post.

Earlier this month, T-Mobile had also announced that if it fulfils its pending merger with Sprint, it will launch its 5G home internet soon. So the in-house 4G home internet can be a hint on that the company is ready for its 5G home internet service. By providing the internet service to the rural areas, the company is also trying to warm FCC decision makers up to the merger.

Currently, AT&T and Verizon are already bracing up for the launch of their home internet service, and if the merger succeeds, there will be lesser competition left for T-Mobile in the wireless service industry. The company also claimed that this new service will help Americans choose better internet service and will save billions of dollars.