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Business Standard : Nokia, a brand owned by Finnish start-up HMD Global, recently refreshed its Nokia 5-series with a notch-based screen. In retrospective, this is the same series that marked the beginning of Nokia smartphone with Google Android operating system. This series has since then been upgraded thrice – from Nokia 5 to Nokia 5.1 and now Nokia 5.1 Plus. With every successive upgrade, the Nokia 5-branded smartphone has become better, and the new Nokia 5.1 Plus has turned out to be one of the most balanced smartphones in its segment. Design The Nokia 5.1 Plus has a glass on the front and back and a thick glossy frame sandwiched in between them. The chassis is thick and has a curved profile that makes it easy to hold in hand. However, the glossy paint job and glass build attract fingerprints easily, therefore requires regular cleaning. At first impressions, the front of the phone, with the screen turned off, looks similar to the iPhone 7. It has a compact form factor...

Business Standard : Flick through a story of thwarted desires, of love and its loss, of losing and finding oneself, and of falling and learning to rise; read the story of a man whose dead wife's messages come to him though another woman; read a story around an arranged marriage , where the the twenty-year-old bride-to-be discovers that she has no say in the matter and decides to carve out the unlikeliest of silver linings; and know of an unusual tale, set in the last years of the British Raj, about being torn between two worlds. The IANS bookshelf has interesting reads of love and romance to offer this weekend. 1. Book: Tides Don't Cross; Author: Simar Malhotra; Publisher: Rupa; Price: Rs 250; Pages: 252 A vapid marriage. A whiz-bang romance. An unfulfilled dream. An insatiable ambition. Sparks fly immediately when Rukmani -- fierce and assertive in the best and worst possible ways -- meets the gentle Ayaan in the magical city of Paris. Meanwhile, back in India,...

Business Standard : The Xiaomi Redmi Y2 will go on sale on Amazon India today at 12.00 noon. The selfie camera-centric budget smartphone is priced at Rs 9,999 and Rs 12,999 for the 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB RAM and storage configurations, respectively. The smartphone, successor to the Redmi Y1, will be available in three different colours — Dark Grey, Gold and Rose Gold. The Redmi Y2 targets the young and the stylish with a 16MP front shooter, dual rear camera and fingerprint and face unlock features. The phone's USP is the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered camera technology that promises to automate the beautification process in images based on the user's age and gender. BS Business Standard earlier reviewed Redmi Y2 and found its camera and battery life impressive. On the negative side, the phone has a mediocre HD+ screen and fails to keep background apps active for longer periods of time. ALSO READ: Xiaomi Redmi Y2 review: A budget smartphone with great ca...

Google on Thursday turned 20 and celebrated it with a nostalgic video feature of interesting searches through the years -- from holidays, events, achievements and people to the best dance moves, food to eat, planets and languages. Google has answered all our queries since it came into being in 1998 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Ph.D. students at the Stanford University, US. The new search engine had a bold mission to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Over the years it changed drastically -- going from being a simple search engine to a global tech titan and offering searches in more than 150 languages in over 190 countries -- though there has been one thing that has remained constant from the very first day: the homepage Doodle. Thursday's video Doodle took a stroll down the memory lane exploring popular searches all over the world throughout the last two decades -- whether it be the statu...

Karan Johar has shared a rare, memorable frame, which he has called the "biggest blockbuster ever" as it features him along with Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt , Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone . Karan shared the photograph on Wednesday. "The biggest blockbuster ever," Karan captioned the image, which has all the stars devoid of their glamorous avatars, and they seem to be relaxed. While Alia and Karan are seen hugging Shah Rukh, who is at the centre of the photograph, Ranbir held on to Deepika and Ranveer, who has struck the most unique pose. On the work front, Karan is busy with his various ongoing productions, including "Simmba" with Ranveer and Sara Ali Khan, and "Kalank" with Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Alia and Varun Dhawan. He is also producing "Brahmastra", which stars Amitabh Bachchan, Alia and Ranbir. Readmore

Breastfeeding is majorly correlated with positive health outcomes in infants, but it might not be the causal mechanism. Researchers from the University at Buffalo found that the benefits of breastfeeding, reported in the vast majority of prior research, could be influenced by the mother's characteristics, such as what they know about health and nutrition. "It's important to understand that we are not trying to imply that just intending to breastfeed is what's leading to these health outcomes," said Jessica Su, co-author of the study. "What we found is that intending mothers had more information about nutrition and diet; they more frequently consulted their physicians; and had better access to information related to infant health than those moms who did not intend to breastfeed." This access to health care is an important policy focus. By channelising so much energy into getting moms to breastfeed, we miss something very important: that...

Chinese handset maker Vivo on Wednesday refreshed its popular V series with the V9 Pro smartphone in India for Rs 19,990 . The device will be available at a special price of Rs 17,990 during Amazon India's "Great India Festival" next month. "With the Vivo V9 Pro, we hope to provide an all-round, immersive smartphone experience backed by powerful performance, while offering affordability and reliability," Jerome Chen, CMO, Vivo India, said in a statement. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 60 AIE processor powers the device, backed by a 3260mAh battery. The phone runs the company's proprietary "Funtouch 4.0 OS" based on Android 8.1 Oreo and is available in a single configuration of 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, which can be expanded up to 256GB. The smartphone sports a 16MP selfie shooter and has 13MP + 2MP sensors at the rear. The V9Pro features 6.3-inch FHD+ "FullView" display with 19:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone has ...

Actor Ranveer Singh says he had a fan moment meeting Indian star shuttler P.V. Sindhu and added that he loves her spirit. Ranveer met Sindhu on Tuesday at the Forbes India Tycoon Of Tomorrow event, where he was feted with the Youth Icon Award. Sindhu shared a photograph of herself with the actor and captioned it: "Finally we meet! It was such a pleasure meeting you and an absolute fan moment.I congratulate you for all the success and I wish you all the very best for your future endeavours. I would rather call you 'rockstar' than Ranveer Singh." To which, Ranveer replied: "Yes, finally! it was a pleasure indeed! and likewise, a fan moment for me too... You make us so proud, champ! Love your spirit. May you continue to shine bright." On the acting front, Ranveer is currently busy shooting for filmmaker Rohit Shetty's "Simmba", which also features actor Saif Ali Khan's daughter Sara. Read Complete Article

Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor , who will play the title role in the Hindi remake of Telugu blockbuster "Arjun Reddy", says he was both curious and excited about the movie. "I wanted to try this part and see what I can do with this. I was curious enough to take it on and excited enough to not let it go." The "Batti Gul Meter Chalu" actor said he thoroughly enjoyed "Arjun Reddy" as a viewer. "I usually don't watch too many films in Telugu and it surprised me with its tonality, rawness, simplicity and the fact that it was so real and believable. The character is very fascinating for me as an actor because the emotional arc... is very original. I loved it and Vijay Deverakonda, who played Arjun, did it so well," Shahid told IANS in an interview. Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the remake will go on floors next month. The original film, starring Vijay and Shalini Pandey in the lead, revolves around a medical student who fal...

Actress Alia Bhatt , who is busy shooting for "Brahmastra" has said the film will take cinema in India to another level. "We all are very excited for the film...I think ' Brahmastra ' is a step ahead. It will take cinema to another level so, I am very excited for the next year," Alia told the media at the preview of "East Greets West - A Conversation Through Calligraphy" on Tuesday here. The cast of "Brahmastra" including Amitabh Baachchan, Alia and producer Karan Johar keeps posting pictures of the film's shooting in progress on the social media, but the actress said: "Hopefully, none of them are from the film." Attending the calligraphy exhibition, in which two strangers come together depicting a story through decorative lettering even though they do not speak the same language, Alia said: "It shows how art has no boundaries and there is only language and that is art..." She also revealed th...

Business Standard : When your minds match, you make magic. And that's what happens when DirectorGifty works with popular singer Guru Randhawa. DirectorGifty and Guru Randhawa have earlier too worked on many singles and they have connected hugely with masses. While everyone knows Guru and his music, the mastermind behind the videos (most of them) is DirectorGifty, who shots these videos so well, that they become intant hits. 'Ishare Tere', Guru's recent single was shot by DirectorGift again and the song has already caught up with the young crowds.They decided to shoot the video and Guru who was travelling on an India tour came back to shoot fot it because DirectorGifty wanted that he only feature in it. Guru shot for the video continously for 20 hours and then decided to leave. Since the song did so well on the charts, Guru was persistent at giving this his best, and making it a video that people will always remember. BS The song has crossed the 100 million m...

"I don't want to be fined," said Mahendra Singh Dhoni as umpiring howlers became as much a talking point as Afghanistan's dogged resilience in the exciting tie between the two sides in what was an inconsequential Asia Cup match here. Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik were given leg before by the on-field umpires -- Gregory Brathwaite of West Indies and Anisur Rahaman of Bangladesh -- even though TV replays clearly indicated that the ball was missing the stumps in both the cases. Dhoni was dismissed by part-time off-spinner Javed Ahmadi and the delivery seemed to have gone over stumps while Karthik's dismissal of Mohammed Nabi was bigger blunder as the ball missed the leg stump by a couple of feet. Kedar Jadhav's run-out was also a case of bad luck as his bat got stuck near the crease while he was dragging it in. India were set a target of 253 and the match ended in a tie after the team was bowled out for 252. "There were a couple of run-outs, and a fe...

BS : When I was 16 years old, I started dating a guy I met at the Puente Hills Mall in a Los Angeles suburb. I worked there after school at the accessories counter at Robinsons-May. He worked at a high-end men’s store. He would come in wearing a gray silk suit and flirt with me. He was in college, and I thought he was charming and handsome. He was 23. When we went out, he would park the car and come in and sit on our couch and talk to my mother. He never brought me home late on a school night. We were intimate to a point, but he knew that I was a virgin and that I was unsure of when I would be ready to have sex. On New Year’s Eve, just a few months after we first started dating, he raped me. I have been turning that incident over in my head throughout the past week, as two women have come forward to detail accusations against the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Christine Blasey Ford said he climbed on her and covered her mouth during an attempted rape when they...

A seemingly 'angry' Kajol on Tuesday responded to husband Ajay Devgn's prank on her. The 'Baadshaho' star, who had stirred a storm on social media after apparently tweeting his wife's number, has been warned by the actress. "Looks like your pranks are out of the studios now... But there is No Entry for them at home!" wrote Kajol, followed by an angry emoticon. On Monday, the 49-year-old had shared a message on Twitter writing, "Kajol not in country co-ordinate with her on WhatsApp 98********," following which Twitterverse went berserk. Some even shared screenshots of their messages sent to the number, cautioning Kajol, to switch off her phone, if it is indeed her number! On the work front, Kajol will next be seen in 'Helicopter Eela', which is slated to hit screens on October 12. Ajay, on the other hand, is set to star in an upcoming football drama film in which he will play India's legendary football coach Sy...

Business Standard : It's confirmed! Bollywood actor Kiara Advani is all set to star opposite Shahid Kapoor in the Hindi remake of Telugu blockbuster ' Arjun Reddy '. Advani who was recently seen in Netflix's 'Lust Stories' will essay the role of Preeti. Shahid confirmed the same on Twitter, 'welcoming her to the madness.' "Welcome to the madness @Advani_Kiara aka Preeti. Team Arjun Reddy is now officially complete. Let's do this," wrote the 'Udta Punjab' star. The original blockbuster starred Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey in lead roles. The story revolved around Arjun Reddy, a successful young medical surgeon, who sets out on the path of self-destruction when his lady-love is forced to marry another man. The flick which went on floors in August will hit the theatres on June 21 next year. Shahid was last seen in comedy-drama 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' which did not have an impressive start at the...

Business Standard : Increasing life expectancy makes for a great economic metric, but can throw up a major challenge for the individual or household. Let's face it, your employability tapers off as you age, and there will likely come a time when no company will engage you, no matter how willing or able-bodied you are. At the same time, you're going to have to start dealing with mounting medical bills and a higher cost of living, driven by inflation. Alright, so you know all that and have already invested in stocks and mutual funds, made contributions to your provident fund, made some fixed deposits, bought yourself a health policy. What other options do you have take care of your post-60 years? One such is the National Pension System (NPS), a long-term investment scheme for retirement planning. Regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), it was rolled out by the government in 2004 to offer citizens an affordable social security plan. ...

Business Standard : Chinese smartphone brand Realme recently separated from Oppo and launched the Realme 2 in India at a starting price of Rs 8,990. At the launch, the company also announced its plans to launch a Pro edition. The Realme 2 Pro , scheduled to be unveiled on September 27 in India, is expected to be major upgrade. Based on the teasers shared by the company on its social media platforms, the Realme 2 Pro is expected to get a waterdrop design notch-based screen, unlike the wide notch screen in the Realme 2. The phone is also confirmed to get a dual camera module on its back. However, the lens configurations are not yet confirmed. A recent teaser also confirmed that the smartphone would get an 8GB RAM variant. Powering the device would be a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 system-on-chip (SoC) with artificial intelligence capabilities. The Realme gradient design has been one of the key differentiating factors in the company's smartphones. However, the Realme 2 Pro ...

Business Standard : Taking its digital payments platform to the next level, One97 Communications Limited, which owns the Paytm brand, is experimenting with facial recognition technology to unlock the payments application. This is expected to enhance the security of accounts, said source in the company privy to this development. To begin with, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned company is testing the face login feature on its Android beta app, the person said. This will be an important security update for Paytm users that is designed to prevent phishing attacks by providing an additional security layer of biometric security, said a security expert. According to sources, the company has tested this feature with over 10,000 faces and witnessed nearly 100 per cent accuracy. To achieve this, the app maps over 200 distinct parameters on the human face for high accuracy. The feature is likely to be rolled out soon. ALSO READ: Paytm's losses rise by almost 80% on the back of ma...

Business Standard : Motorola, a Lenovo-owned smartphone brand, launched the Motorola One Power with mammoth 5,000 mAh battery at Rs 15,999 on September 24. The Flipkart-exclusive smartphone will go on sale on October 5 at 12 noon. The Android One smartphone is the first Motorola offering to feature a notch-based screen. The phone also boasts a metallic build with a dual camera module at the back. The phone will be available only in black colour, with 64GB of internal storage and 4GB RAM. The handset supports Google Treble project for consistent software upgrades in timely manner, including security updates. Being an Android One smartphone, it gets unlimited storage for high resolution photos on Google drive. In terms of design, the Motorola One Power differs from previous generation Moto-branded smartphones. It boasts a completely new design with a tall stance, thanks to 19:9 aspect ratio screen on the front. The screen has a notch on top, accommodating the earpiece, front came...

BS : In no respite to the citizens, fuel prices in the country touched new heights on Monday morning, especially in Mumbai, as the petrol price in the metropolitan city crossed Rs 90-run mark. In Mumbai, the petrol price has touched Rs 90.08 per litre , while diesel is being retailed at Rs 78.58 per litre. Meanwhile, the prices of petrol and diesel in New Delhi are Rs.82.72 per litre and Rs.74.02 per litre respectively. Keeping the people's suffering in mind, the West Bengal government on September 11 reduced the excise on petrol and diesel by Re 1 per litre each last week. Similarly, the Karnataka government had also announced that the petrol and diesel prices across the state would be cheaper by Rs 2 per litre each, following the reduction in cess on these fuels. As per India's pricing mechanism, the domestic fuel prices depend upon the international fuel prices on a 15-day average and the value of the Indian rupee. Fuel prices have been witnessing a steep rise sinc...

BS : Mobile broadband subscriber base growth since last year clearly shows that Jio has continued to get the benefit of the closure of smaller operators as the increase in subscriber base of Jio is way ahead in speed and scale compared to that of incumbents as shown by Trai’s July subscriber addition numbers. Broadband subscriber net addition (in mn) Mobile broadband subscriber net addition, over the past few months, clearly shows that Jio has benefited from the twin impact of telco consolidation and the change in the Jio feature phone offer, which has positively impacted its numbers Data subscriber base growth in July 2017-18 (%) Data subscriber base growth over the last year has been phenomenal for all other telco players, but Jio has continued to lead the growth Active customers as a proportion of subscribers(%) Active subscriber base numbers indicate that Jio still has some catching up to do in terms of becoming the primary usage SIM of consumers. Readmore Business...

Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi is gearing up to announce five new products in India on September 27. These products include a new smartphone, air purifier, television, security camera and a fitness band. Teaser page of these products, except for the smartphone, is already live on Amazon India, confirming that at least four of these products would be available exclusively on the e-commerce platform. Xiaomi has been teasing the upcoming products on social media channels, sharing hints on what to expect from the upcoming devices. The company’s Twitter channel now has a new cover image with a title ‘Smarter Living’ embossed on a red background featuring at least four products i.e. a fitness band, voice-enabled television, smartphone and a security camera. Xiaomi Mi Band 3 The upcoming fitness band is expected to be the Mi Band 3, a successor of the Mi Band 2 that was launched in India in 2016. The Mi Band 3 was launched in China earlier this year. Compared to th...

In the first match of the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2018 , Rohit Sharma’s India will take on Masrafe Mortaza-led Bangladesh at Dubai International Stadium in United Arab Emirates. For Bangladesh, it will be back-to-back contest after they played their last league game on Thursday in which they were thrashed by Afghanistan by 137 runs. On the other hand, India are coming into the game with a day's break after they beat arch-rivals Pakistan quite easily in their last league fixture. India and Bangladesh have played 33 ODI matches, of which India has won 27 matches and Bangladesh five. These statistics might look skewed in India's favour and seem to undermine the recent cricket rivalry between the two neighbours. It all started with a no-ball in the ICC World Cup 2015 quarter-finals and spilled over to India's tour of Bangladesh when debutant Mustafizur Rahman ripped through India’s batting line-up. The rivalry between the two cricket fanatic nations peaked in the 2016 W...