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Apple recently announced the launch of its iPhone 8 and iPhone X, which come with sleek, new features. Apple also hopes to start a new community around the iPhones. Ahead of the launch, Angela Ahrendts, head of retail at Apple, said their stores will be called “Town Squares,” and would double as public spaces, complete with outdoor plazas, indoor forums and boardrooms. The much-anticipated product launch was followed by millions who watched the event via livestream and on internet forums, blogs and in the news media. I, too, was among them. So, what draws people to these phones? Surely, it is not just the groundbreaking design or the connection with a community. As a minister, psychotherapist and scholar studying our relationship with hand-held devices, I believe there is much more going on. In fact, I’d argue, as I do in my book “Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age,” the phones tap into our basic yearnings as humans. Here are my three re

Reliance Jio has a big surprise for those interested in buying Apple's iPhone 8 in India. Jio will buy back Apple Inc's latest iPhone models from its customers within a year for 70 percent of the retail price of the smartphone, the company announced on Friday. Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani's son Akash Ambani said the buyback offer would be available for customers of iPhone8 or iPhone 8 Plus through Reliance Digital, Jio.com or the Jio Store. Under this scheme, users will receive 70 percent of the purchase price of the devices upon using it with a Jio SIM card and returning it after a year. In other ways, this buyback scheme allows iPhone users to get 70 per cent of their money back when they upgrade to next iPhone.The buyback offer is valid for one year. This partnership between Apple and Jio brings two companies that have revolutionised their respective industries, because we both think customer first," said the Ambani scion. Chairman of Relianc

In a Dussehra-eve tragedy, at least 22 commuters were killed in a stampede on a narrow railway foot overbridge connecting the Parel-Elphinstone Road stations of Western Railway here on Friday morning, officials said. At least 32 others were injured, many critically, and casualty figures could go up, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corp (BMC) Disaster Control said after the morning peak hour tragedy. Among the dead were 18 males and four females while 23 men and nine women were injured and undergoing treatment, a BMC official said. The victims were rushed to the KEM Hospital in Parel. A Railway Board official in New Delhi announced a probe into the incident. The exact cause of the stampede was not known but witnesses claimed that a sudden rumour of a suspected electrical short-circuit triggered a panic run. Officials, however, blamed it on overcrowding on the footover bridge due to torrential rains as people took shelter there. The crowds increased as much more att

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to resume investing in AIF-II or Category-II Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs). It means that banks can again invest in equity and debt funds of private equity (PE) firms. This follows a master risk circular by the RBI on Monday which provides a cap on every type of investment banks can make. The 2016 risk circular had excluded the main category of AIF — AIF-II by not mentioning it. For the past one year, banks could not invest in private equity or credit funds, say managers at PE firms. ‘‘It is an important development, as 60 per cent of funds pooled goes into AIF-II — PE and credit funds,’’ says Gopal Srinivasan, chairman, Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA). He is also the founder and chairman and managing director of PE firm TVS Capital. Since the new AIF regulations in 2012, they have received commitments of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, of this, Rs 58,000 crore got pooled in AIF-II. ‘‘Banks are a significant source, they p

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is inviting applications for the post of Marketing Officer (Group-III) (Oils and Fats) to be hired by Directorate of Marketing and Inspection for Department of Agriculture and Cooperation & Farmers Welfare under Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Candidates willing to take up the post can apply for the same till October 12, 2017 (Thursday). The number of vacancy is 3 reserved for UR (1), OBC (), SC (1) and ST (1). The qualified candidate would be paid as per Level 7 in Pay Matrix with entry pay Rs. 44,900/- The post carries probation of one year. The location is Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Dept. of Animal Husbandry, Dairying Fisheries, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi. The post involves All India Service Liability. However, currently the post is vacant at Central Cattle Breeding Farm. Eligibility Parameters: Age: Not exceeding 30 years as on normal closing date. Not exceeding 35 years for Scheduled Castes

A two-12 months-lengthy wait for Samsung notice enthusiasts in the end got here to an quit when the South Korean large introduced its top rate flagship Galaxy be aware eight to India this month. Set to provide the newly-released Apple iPhones a near fight with regards to the Indian marketplace, the Rs 67,900 word 8 is surely the nice device yet from Samsung. let's find out why Galaxy note eight is going to charm you. Galaxy notice eight has industry-first "Infinity show". The 6.3-inch display with a decision of 1440 x 2960 pixels delivered sharp and deep hues. the threshold-to-side show with 18.five:9 thing ratio offered maximum viewing area. You can't ask for a higher display screen on the subject of looking movies, playing games or social media use. The tool with 6GB RAM and 64GB in-built garage (expandable as much as 256GB) houses a sixty four-bit Exynos 8895 octa-core SoC (gadget on chip), managing heavy-images games effectively with "

Film: "Spyder": Writer-Director: A.R. Murugadoss; Cast: Mahesh Babu, S.J. Surya and Rakul Preet Singh; Rating: **** there's nothing like a perfect secret agent thriller. but " Spyder " comes close. it is svelte, swanky and slick in a manner that Telugu cinema is currently studying to be. most vital of all, the main guy none apart from Mahesh Babu, arguably Andhra's no.1 superstar, plays it so cool, he is almost the antithesis of Prabhas' sweaty over-exertve performance in "Baahubali". An intrinsic aptness is applied to this film about intelligence and espionage. even though there are huge passages of improbable visual spectacle and plot twists that coil and balk through a maze of unrepentant incredulity, there may be despite the fact that on the center of "Spyder" a yarn that induces an adrenaline rush within the target market while it rushes to go where angels fear to tread. "Spyder", for all its overweening pursu

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company will debut on the bourses on Wednesday after it concluded its initial share sale offer last week. The initial share sale offer of ICICI Lombard was oversubscribed 3 times during September 15-19. The insurer had fixed the price band at Rs 651-661 per share for the Rs 5,700-crore IPO. ICICI Lombard General Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Canadian NRI Prem Watsa-promoted Fairfax Financial Holdings. For the ICICI Bank group, this was the second public offer this fiscal. Its life insurance arm ICICI Prudential had raised Rs 6,000 crore through an IPO earlier. CLSA India Private, Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial Institutional Securities were the books running lead managers of the IPO.

A system One racing group is using era that facilitates racing drivers survive excessive velocity crashes to create a new tool that keeps newborn infants secure at some stage in emergency transportation. The device, known as the Babypod 20, is made from carbon fiber — the identical fabric utilized in method One motors’ bodywork. it can resist a 20 g-pressure effect and provides newborns with a at ease, temperature-controlled surroundings for ambulance transportation. It turned into designed and built by Williams superior Engineering, an arm of the UK-based Williams F1 crew, in collaboration with fitness care firm superior Healthcare generation (AHT). “ This mission of supplying a light-weight, sturdy pod to position toddlers in to be moved around is honestly the same task, certainly, as we’re trying to tackle in the foremost chassis of a system 1 car,” Paul McNamara, Technical Director at Williams superior Engineering, stated. “ We want it to be sturdy, mild, and crash-proof.

India's Aadhaar identity system rivals the growth of other platform innovations like Windows, Android or Facebook , Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said. Nadella, in his book 'Hit Refresh', which was released during the ongoing Microsoft Ignite 2017 conference, has praised India's leap forward in the digital and technological arena. "Aadhaar now has scaled to over one billion people, rivaling the growth of other platform innovations such as Windows, Android or Facebook, the 50-year-old wrote in his book that hit the book stores today. He praised the creation of the new digital ecosystem IndiaStack. IndiaStack is a set of APIs (application programming interface) that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise an unique digital Infrastructure to solve Indias hard problems towards presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery. "China strategically used the global supply chain and their own domestic market

IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) examination is without difficulty the largest and the most famous banking recruitment exam in India. IBPS which stands for Institute of Banking employees choice affords recruitment answers to many public zone banks, Cooperative banks, insurance corporations, Rural Banks, authorities departments and private players as well. The primary goal of IBPS is to assess and pick the proper skilled personnel for unique customer corporations. For the yr 2017 IBPS has announced IBPS PO exam dates and different details. the web registration become open from 16th August 2017 and the last date for registration became September 10th 2017. Eligible applicants who have implemented on line will now put together, down load their admit playing cards and then seem for preliminary and most important exam for recruitment of3, 562 probationary officers (PO) in numerous public quarter banks. IBPS PO exam Syllabus IBPS examination syllabus is similar to SBI PO exam

Hyderabad-based Vaya Finserv is set to launch microfinance operations, also marking the comeback of Vikram Akula into the sector he’d substantially influenced not long before. Debuting as a banking correspondent (BC) in 2015, Vaya is opening its first set of 15 microfinance branches this week in Bihar, a state where it sees a big need for such loans. Akula is co-founder and chairman of Vaya. The entity currently operates 50 BC branches in five states and managed Rs 436 crore of a combined micro loan portfolio for YES Bank, RBL Bank and Reliance Capital. It recently got a non-bank finance corporation microfinance licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In 2012, Akula quit as chairman of Bharat Financial Inclusion (formerly SKS Microfinance), which he’d founded and led to a successful initial public offering (IPO) of equity in 2010. It was a result of differences triggered by the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis. Vaya has prepared a three-year growth plan, ba

The Reserve Bank on Monday amended the statutes making it possible for lenders to invest in Reits and InvIts capping such exposures to 10 per cent of the unit capital of such instruments, and also to regulate their commodity derivatives play. In amendments to the Master Direction- Reserve Bank of India (Financial Services provided by banks) Directions, 2016, the central bank said banks should not invest more than 10 per cent of the unit capital of a real estate investment trust (Reit) or an infrastructure investment trust (InvIt) subject to overall ceiling of 20 per cent of its net worth. The master directions first issued in May last year did not provide for investments in the Reits and InvIts, both newly introduced instruments. The RBI also prohibited banks from becoming a professional clearing member of commodity derivatives segment of Sebi-recognised exchanges unless it satisfies certain prudential criteria. These include bank satisfying membership criteria of th

Russian supermodel and philanthropist Natalia Vodianova surely had a memorable trip to India! The 35-year-old, an ardent fan of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan , met her 'teenage crush' as she attended the Vogue Woman Of The Year Awards. She also got the opportunity to present him with Vogue Entertainer of the Year Award. 'Supernova' shared the special moment on her Instagram account and also gave a beautiful caption to describe her feelings of meeting King Khan. She wrote, "Meeting last night my teenage crush, the king of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan His films Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai used to make me dream of India, true love and passion, made me love dancing and colors Today I was honored to meet him in person and give him Vogue's Entertainer of the Year Award. He is even more charming in real life and now he is on a mission to empower women in India and beyond. Thank you @iamsrk we are grateful @vogu

Bollywood's Mr. Perfectionist has revealed a fresh track from his upcoming production venture, 'Secret Superstar'. Titled 'I'll Miss You,' the song portrays a school time love story featuring Zaira Wasim and young actor Tirth Sharma. Aamir Khan shared the track on Twitter and wrote alongside, "Introducing Tirth from Baroda in I'll Miss You. This song takes me back to my 1st love. Happy Navratri. Love.a" Sung by Kushal Chokshi, 'I'll Miss You' has lyrics by Kausar Munir with composing credits to Amit Trivedi. Directed by Advait Chandan, 'Secret Superstar' also stars Aamir as a music producer. The flick releases on October 19.

In a bid to accelerate self-employment opportunities, the finance ministry has decided to organise Mudra Promotion Camps across the country beginning September 27 from the Prime Minister's constituency Varanasi. As part of the special drive, 50 camps, including one each in state capitals, will be organised between September 27 and October 17, official sources said. Besides, the camps will facilitate various modes of digital payments enabling users to transact from anywhere and create awareness on various financial inclusion instruments, the sources said. The campaign will help promote not only Mudra loans but spread awareness about digital payment method, financial inclusion and social security schemes, the sources added. It is to be noted that banks have sanctioned Rs 74,601 crore to 1.59 crore beneficiaries across the country since April this year. Since the launch of Mudra Yojana by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2015, banks have disbursed Rs 3.66

S.S. Rajamouli is not disappointed that his magnum opus "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" was not chosen as Indias official entry to the Oscars for the foreign language film category this year. The filmmaker says his aim is to take stories to a wider audience, and making money for the team, instead of winning awards. "(I am) Not at all (disappointed at losing out the race to Oscars this year). When I make a film, I never think about awards. It is not my aim. The aim is to first satisfy myself with the story and then next is to see that it reaches the maximum number of audience and makes money for everyone who has put their life in it," Rajamouli told IANS here. "That is my most important thing. If awards come, then I am happy. If they don't, I don't mind that because they are not at all my criteria," he added. "Newton", a Hindi film set against the backdrop of elections in the world's largest democracy, has been announced

Ranbir Kapoor and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan are breaking the Internet with their "smoke-break" on the streets of New York City. In the pictures that went viral recently, the tired-seeming duo is seen smoking together. The 'Raees' actress was wearing a backless white dress, while Ranbir sported a simple T-shirt. While many netizens were quick to comment on their rumoured romance, some took to the social media to 'smoke-shame' and 'slut-shame' the 32-year-old actress. One twitter user wrote, "If ranbir and mahira are actually dating that'll be the first interesting bollywood gossip of 2017," while another said, "Ranbir and Mahira dating would be the biggest plot twist. You ban our actors and your actors start dating them." While smoke-shamming the actress, a user wrote, "And do you support Mahira Khan "a mother","Pakistani actress" smoking in public with Ranbir Kapoor?" Ho

Hold your breath guys! Deepika Padukone 's first look as Rani Padmavati is out and it is surely a perfect sync with the commencement of the auspicious festival of Navratras. The Mastani of Bollywood star took to Twitter and shared the first look of herself from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus 'Padmavati'. The makers came up with the look and she posted it on her social media handles, captioning it in Hindi, which says, "On the auspicious occasion of Navratras, meet Queen padmavati Devi." Two posters that are set to bring in royalty to its truest sense, sees Deepika as Ran Padmavati, in her ghaghra-choli and exquisite jewelry. Yesterday, the film's lead cast Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor announced, "Queen Padmavati will appear at sunrise" on their social media accounts. Helmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the movie stars Deepika as Rani Padmavati, Shahid as Raja Rawal Ratan and Ranveer as Alauddin Khijl

Actress Sunny Leone , who will be attending the fourth season of Big Boys Toys Expo, says she has always loved gadgets and is fascinated with the way technology is having an impact on automobile, gadgets and electronic sector. "I love fast cars and sportsbikes and gadgets and I hear its all going to be there at the Big Boys Toys expo. So, I am excited to a part of the show," Sunny told IANS. The actress will be attending the lifestyle expotainment show, an initiative of Event Capital, Laqshya Live Experiences and Yes Expo. The three-day event will be held at the MMRDA grounds, Mumbai from Friday. Talking about her love for gadgets, Sunny said: "I have always loved gadgets and it's fascinating the way technology is having an impact on automobile, gadgets and electronic sectors. I love the smart wearable devices that exist today, they make life much more simpler and convenient. Everything is just a click away." "I love cars and that has b

Google says its new payments app for India, Tez, garnered 410,000 active users who made transactions worth Rs 1.8 crore in the first 20 hours of the app being launched. Tez was one of the most anticipated apps of the year, marking the entry of Google in India's fast-growing digital payments space. The unprecedented traffic the service encountered led to a temporary delay in allowing new users to sign up. "We are really happy with the numbers. I wish we hadn't had some of the ups and downs we had yesterday, but still, we're very happy with the first few hours of engagement. We're working on a number of different user experience features in the coming months," said Caesar Sengupta, Vice President of Product Management at Google. Sengupta said that while the digital payments space in India seemed crowded, considering the extremely small size of the market, there was enough room for everyone to grow. Moreover, he said that the digital payments spa

After garnering success from Bharat-2 smartphone, Micromax on September 18 expanded the Bharat-series with the launch of Bharat 3 and Bharat 4 smartphones. The smartphones are prices at Rs 4,499 and Rs 4,999, respectively. Both the phones will go on sale through retail channels starting today. Designed to offer value for money, the budget-friendly smartphones are aimed for first time smartphone users or feature phone users who want to move to smartphones. Here are the detailed specifications and features of the smartphone: Bharat-3 The Bharat-3 smartphone sports a 4.5-inch screen with 2.5D curved glass on top for ease of use. The smartphone is 9.6mm thick, which makes it comfortable for one-handed operation. The smartphone incorporates a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 5 MP front camera for selfie. The primary camera supports autofocus and has an aperture of f/2.4. The smartphone is powered by MediaTek MT6737 quad core processor coupled with 1GB RAM. The Bharat-3 i

Expanding its tablet portfolio, Lenovo on Monday launched four new devices in its Tab 4 series in India. 'Tab 4 8' (Rs 12,990), 'Tab 4 8 Plus' (Rs 16,990), 'Tab 4 10 Plus - 3GB variant' (Rs 24,990) and 'Tab 4 10 Plus - 4GB variant' (Rs 29,990) will be available on Flipkart. The devices are equipped with fingerprint quick-login feature to keep data secure with multi-user and multi-space functionality. "Tab 4 is designed to be a one-stop solution for multiple-user functionality which is relevant for an Indian family," said Bhaskar Choudhuri, Director, Marketing, Lenovo India, in a statement. The 8-inch 'Tab 4 8' comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, while the 10-inch 'Tab 4 10 Plus' features 3GB+16GB configuration. Both run on 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad-Core processor. Powered by 2.0GHz Qualcomm Octa-Core processor, 'Tab 4 8 Plus' and 'Tab 4 10 Plus' come with 4GB RAM and 64GB

Tez (fast), the India-specific payments app built by Google, turned slow on the first day of its launch on Monday, and this angered users, who complained that they could not sign up on the service. Hundreds of users took to Twitter and other social networks to vent their displeasure, with a few of them even offering Tez a one-star rating on Google’s Play Store. Within a few hours of its launch it had notched up close to 600 one-star ratings and only a little more than 700 five-star ratings. A Google spokesperson told Business Standard that the large number of failed registrations were due to a surge in the number of users trying to sign up on the service. A team at Google India was working round the clock to identify and fix bugs that users were unearthing. The launch was significant as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled the app, highlighting that it tied in well with the government’s move to digitise payments and bring in more people into the formal econ

Pradipta Sarkar, 37, is saving Rs 10,000 every month, one-fifth of his take-home salary, in a fixed income-linked systematic investment fund (SIP) to build his retirement corpus. But being a soccer fan, his dream is to cheer for his favourite team, Germany, from stadia in the World Cup matches some day. Would Sarkar, an information technology sector employee, set aside Rs 3,000 in high-return investment schemes, and reduce his monthly retirement savings to Rs 7,000, to materialise his soccer dream? Banks now have a powerful tool — behavioural science — to figure that out. Lenders are of the opinion that by knowing short-term private dreams of their customers and giving personalised attention to achieve them, the stickiness of customers will improve. Psychologists say there is a science behind it. “Most people tend to choose short-term goals over long-term objectives, and the propensity for immediate gratification is very powerful in human psyche,” said Dr Jawaharlal Me