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China's  OnePlus  said on Monday it would launch the  OnePlus  8-series  smartphones  in a global online event scheduled on April 14. The event shall be streamed live on company’s official web portal and YouTube at 8:30 PM (IST). The announcement came amidst on-going coronavirus pandemic outbreak, which has disrupted supply chain and logistics industry globally, forcing many smartphone makers to postpone their product launches. The  OnePlus  8-series is expected to bring several upgrades, especially with regard to imaging and connectivity. The upcoming  smartphones  were long rumoured to be 5G-ready, and today’s announcement finally confirmed that all the  smartphones  under the OnePlus 8-series would indeed have 5G connectivity. Display is another feature that the announcement shed light upon. OnePlus will unveil a new display boasting an enhanced refresh rate of 120Hz, a natural upgrade to last year’s screen of 90H...

Microsoft  on Tuesday introduced a refresh version of Office 365. Built on the foundation of Office 365, the  Microsoft  365 gets artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences to empower people in various ways. The  Microsoft  365 is a subscription-based service, available for personal and family usage. The Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will be available from April 21, at starting price of Rs 4,199 a year. For the best value, a family of up to six people can use Microsoft 365 Family for Rs 5,299 a year, the company said in a statement. The new Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will include access to Outlook and the Office desktop apps for Windows and macOS, 1 Terabyte of OneDrive storage per person and 50 Gigabytes of Outlook.com email storage, Skype call recording and 60 minutes of Skype landline and mobile phone calls. In addition, Microsoft also introduced two new Microsoft 365 ...

While we get to watch new films all the time, the lockdown could be a golden chance to catch up with a few classics across genres. Digital platforms are overflowing with them, and you would literally be spoilt for choice selecting some really enjoyable stuff that has come out of Bollywood over the decades. Twenty-one days, it would seem, is too short a time to catch up with what really defines vintage Bollywood and is available in the OTT libraries. Here is a list of old films that you might want to revisit, that will let you relax and bust the stress of lockdown. Of course, this is not a definitive list. Chupke Chupke (1975) Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the comedy film is about a man pretending to be a driver and fooling his wife's brother-in-law as an attempt to prove that the brother-in-law is not as smart as he claims to be. The film stars Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Om Prakash. It is available on Netflix. Munna Bhai...

IITs across the country have joined the fight against Covid-19 , activating their incubation centres to develop solutions that could help contain the virus. While some researchers are developing prototypes for ventilators to overcome their shortage, others have teamed up to develop testing kits. A team of innovators from IIT Kanpur’s incubator company Nocca Robotics has developed a ventilator prototype, currently in the testing phase. “Our next step is to test the prototype and get it validated with the doctors to fine-tune the design, which will take at least two more weeks. Once the testing is over, we will begin mass-scale manufacturing,” said Abhay Karandikar, director of IIT Kanpur. Given that almost all components are locally sourced, the price will be much less compared to imported ones that cost over ~4 lakh, he added. IIT Guwahati, which is set to get a Technology Innovation Hub at the campus, has developed a mask in line with World Health Organization guideli...

Cupertino-based tech giant Apple is reportedly planning to include a touch ID fingerprint sensor into the crown of its upcoming Watch Series 6 smartwatch. The Apple Watch already unlocks when the iPhone is unlocked, but unlocking it on a standalone basis requires a numerical code to be entered. It is not clear how the alleged Touch ID fingerprint sensor would be implemented, as the Digital Crown is already used for capturing an ECG in the current Apple Watch models, reports MacRumors. ALSO READ: Apple revokes purchase limit restriction on iPhone, iPad outside China Apple is also reportedly planning to bring blood oxygen detection and an improved ECG to its next Watch Series 6. The technology for blood oxygen detection has existed in the Apple Watch since the first version, it has never been used, but now the upcomming Apple Watch may have the ability. Read Complete Article

Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Monday announced Rs 150 crore donation to the PM-CARES Fund to fight the coronavirus outbreak and said it has set aside over Rs 500 crore per month to support about 1.60 lakh contract workers. L&T joins a list of other corporates including Tata Group and Reliance Industries who have come forward to offer their support to fight this unprecedented crisis. The company said it has set aside an outlay of over Rs 500 crore per month to support about 1.60 lakh contract workers by continuing to pay their wages during the ongoing lockdown and providing them with food and basic amenities at labour camps, while maintaining the COVID-19 prevention and containment protocol. "Responding to the call given by Prime Minister of India, the company will donate Rs 150 crore to the PM-CARES Fund," the company said in a statement. The diversified conglomerate said it is committed to participate in corp...

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will now join the Government of India (GOI) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an investor in one of the instruments of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India. ADB will invest $100 million equivalent in the NIIF Fund of Funds (FoF). With ADB’s investment into the NIIF platform, the FoF has now secured $700 million in commitments. NIIF's FoF is targeted at India-focused PE fund managers who rely on international investors for large-scale fundraising as domestic institutions such as Indian pension funds and insurance companies have not been significant investors in PE funds. "Mid-market entrepreneur-led companies are the backbone of most growth sectors in India and are responsible for millions of jobs. These companies are hungry for growth equity, and efficient allocation of capital to them, tied-in with good governance, highest environmental, and social standards and strong business principles,...

A body suit developed by India's premier research and development organisation DRDO can protect doctors and other health workers attending on Covid-19 patients. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said the body suit can shield doctors, medical staff, sanitation workers and others. According to a DRDO statement, the body suit developed earlier for medical and paramedical staff to manage and evacuate the causalities in the event of radiological emergencies has now been converted into a full body suit to stop contamination. "The suit is washable and has passed the ASTM International standards. The suit is widely tested by DRDO and other agencies and found suitable for the cause," it said. Each suit costs Rs 7,000. Frontier Protective Wear Pvt Ltd, Kolkata and Medikit Pvt Ltd, Mumbai are producing 10,000 suits per day. Read Complete Article

FMCG major ITC on Friday announced setting up of a Rs 150-crore coronavirus contingency fund for vulnerable sections of society. Apart from setting up of the fund, the company said it will collaborate with authorities to provide assistance to district health and rural healthcare eco-system that reaches out to the weakest sections of society. "Over the past few weeks several initiatives have been implemented in response to the crisis. We are now happy to announce that ITC is setting up a contingency fund of Rs 150 crore to address and manage the challenges arising out of this adversity," the company said in a statement. This fund will be utilised primarily to provide relief to the vulnerable and most needy sections of society who have been harshly impacted by the pandemic and have faced significant disruption in their livelihoods, it added. The resources under this fund will be channelised towards the protection and well-being of the ground forces who are doi...

In a bid to help its employees during Covid-19 lockout, Cognizant has announced an additional payment of 25 per cent of the base pay for April for employees up to associate level in India and the Philippines. The company said it will be reviewing this approach monthly. This applies to more than two-thirds of the India workforce. The company has allowed work from home for the majority of its offshore teams to ensure employee health and safety, and to maintain continuity of service for clients, while safeguarding their data and protecting access to their systems. The WFH measures include provisioning new laptops and encrypting desktops and moving them to associates' homes, enabling the use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), providing additional bandwidth connectivity and air cards — all with the appropriate client permissions and security protocols, said the company. Cognizant, like all global companies, is also experiencing the effects of this public health emergency...

The year 2020 seems more about nostalgia than anything else, especially for the kids of the 1990s. Old phones are making a comeback in new avatars (we're talking about the Moto Razr (not Nokia, as it's long gone, and people have moved on), Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag opening the innings in a cricket match together, even if not for the national team (in the Road Safety World Series), and yes it’s happening: the F.R.I.E.N.D.S cast is reuniting for an exclusive special on HBO Max. In the middle of all this, Sony has brought its new Walkman, the Sony NW-A105, which has a nostalgic appeal that takes us back to the good ol' days when things were simple and easy. One might wonder... what's the deal with Sony? Why would it launch a Walkman in the streaming age? We had the same question, so we spent a month with Sony's first Android Walkman and tried to find the answers. I do not have one of the sharpest memories when it comes to dates, but if ...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday went all guns blazing to arrest a potential slowdown caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19), lowering the policy repo rate by 75 basis points to 4.4 per cent. "Given the Covid-19 stress, the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) advanced their March 31-April 3 meetings to meet on March 24-26 and 27, and voted 4:2 to cut the policy repo rate to 4.4 per cent", Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, who addressed the media through video streaming, said. At the same time, the reverse repo rate, which is the rate at which banks keep their excess funds with the RBI, was lowered by 90 basis points to discourage banks from keeping their excess liquidity with the central bank. The idea is that banks must lend funds for productive needs. Apart from the rate cuts, the central bank also announced a number of liquidity infusion measures, putting Rs 3.74 trillion of liquidity in the banking system. The total liquidity ...

An international team, including scientists of Indian origin, has  identified 69 drugs  and experimental compounds which may be effective in treating COVD-19. According to the researchers, some of the medications are already used to treat diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and repurposing them to treat COVID-19 may be faster than trying to invent a new vaccine. In the new study, published on the pre-print website bioRxiv, the scientists investigated 26 of the 29 coronavirus genes, which direct production of the viral proteins. "The team took a different approach, targeting host proteins, not viral proteins. 26 out of 29 SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins were studied in human cells to find out what human proteins they interact with," Gina T Nguyen, Assistant Director of Communications & Events, Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the US, told PTI in an email. Around 332 human proteins were found to ...

India's central bank and major lenders are considering shutting down most branches across the country to prevent tens of thousands of employees from getting infected with the coronavirus, four sources familiar with the plan told Reuters. India is still very much a cash society and banks have been exempted from a 21-day lockdown that began this week as they are considered an essential service. Under the plan, in major cities there would likely be only one bank open every five kilometres, the sources said, declining to be identified as it has not yet been publicly disclosed. In the countryside, where 70% of people live and often rely only on cash, banks will likely operate on alternate days and redeploy staff to only allow disbursal of welfare cash to the poor, one of the sources said. Read Complete Article

India and the US are working together on combating the deadly coronavirus and collaboration is underway in the areas of diagnostics and therapeutics of the disease, which so far has taken the lives of more than 20,000 people globally, according to the Indian envoy here. The deadly coronavirus that first emerged in China's Wuhan city has drastically spread around the world, infecting 471,518 people and causing 21,293 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker. "In the present context of COVID-19 pandemic, close collaboration in the areas of diagnostics and therapeutics of the disease is underway, India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu told PTI. ALSO READ: Wall Street bonuses to plunge 30%, layoffs likely as Covid-19 hits markets "India and the United States have had a long-standing productive partnership in the healthcare sector, especially between the research institutions and industries of both countries, he said....

The coronovirus pandemic has brought civil society to a grinding halt. While cases in Iran and Italy have blown up, India is still managing to contain the spread. Critics say that is because enough people aren’t being tested. This is set to change as the government recently allowed more laboratories to conduct tests for Covid-19. As new cases come to the fore, one of the prime necessities is to determine the patient’s activity over the past two weeks. The people the infected person came in contact with at the various places he or she visited are then tested for potential contamination and put on quarantine. The problem is that one gets to know very late whether he or she is a carrier of the virus. Nav Chatterji, a New Delhi-based technologist, has come up with a solution. He is rolling out an app that will track a user’s location history over the past 14 days, with the capability to present the data in a readable list-like format. Read Complete Article

Apple has lifted purchase limits on its phones, tablets and laptops for customers outside China, the media reported. The company last week imposed a purchase limits across several of its products, reports MacRumors. The new MacBook Air and Mac mini were limited to five orders per customer, the new iPad Pro was limited to two 11-inch models per customer and two 12.9-inch models per customer, and iPhones were limited to two of each model per customer. Meanwhile, some purchase limits have yet to be lifted in China. The restrictions were imposed to better manage the demand-supply ratio following a slowdown in production due to factory shutdowns in China. Additionally, Apple is still on course to launch a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display later this year. A new supply chain report says that Apple will utilize mini LED in an iPad Pro and the source further claims that this is only the start of Apple adopting this display technology, as the company aims ...

Amazon has finally introduced Netflix-like user profiles for its Prime Video audience . The feature is currently limited to certain countries and is rolling out to users gradually, reports XDA Developers. With this new feature, up to six different profiles can be created, letting users track their viewing progress, manage watch lists, and receive personalized recommendations. Kid profiles can also be added which may prohibit content that is deemed unsafe for children under 12. As per report, out of the six profiles, there needs to be at least one adult (admin profile) while the rest can either be profiles for kids under 12 years of age or adults. A new profile can be created either through the Prime Video's app or the web browser by tapping on the "My Stuff" button and then the "+" icon in the drop-down menu. Amazon along with Netflix, YouTube and Apple has reduced the streaming quality in Europe in order to lessen the load on broadb...

Over the past few weeks, Medimix , the low-key medicinal soap brand that was once the staple of budget hotels and rail travel has found itself thrust into the limelight. Born and sold as a cure for skin ailments, the brand that turned 50 last year has never seen such a massive crush at its shelves. So much so that the company is struggling to keep up with demand. Medimix is owned by two companies. Cholayil in the North run by the son of founder V P Sidhan, who is said to have mixed herbs and oils on his kitchen counter to make a medicinal mix and then named the soap thus, and AVA, in the South, owned by his son-in-law. Although the two are run as separate businesses, they share the brand name. And while Ava has seen a huge surge in demand, for Cholayil, there is a perceptible shift in the way the brand is being perceived. A V Anoop, managing director, AVA Group says demand for the products, especially for hand wash (liquid soap) has increased by nearly 25 per cent. “The gro...

Mukesh Ambani promoted Reliance Industries on Monday announced an initial support of Rs 5 crore to the state’s chief minister relief fund. In addition, the company looks to ramp up production of face masks and other personal protective equipments (PPEs) for the health care sector, to aid India’s battle with Covid-19. The firm looks to boost its production capacities to produce 100,000 face-masks a day and a large number of personal protective equipments (PPEs), such as suits and garments. Through Reliance Life Sciences, the group has also started importing additional test kits and consumables for effective testing. In its statement, the company added, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has set up a dedicated 100-bedded centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai for patients who test positive for Covid-19. The statement said RIL has built a fully-equipped isolation unit in Lodhivali, Maharashtra and handed it...

From being a brand that has traditionally associated luxury with wealth and framed itself within a class-led social hierarchical system, Mercedes Benz is looking to define itself afresh, for its millennial buyers. With a new campaign Mercedes Benz wants the young to be ‘restless for tomorrow’ or in other words, pull the brand off their wish lists and drop it into the purchase cart. Santosh Iyer, vice president, sales and marketing at Mercedes Benz India says “One clear insight from the market research was the spirit of restlessness. It’s not about been-there-done-that any more. People are constantly challenging themselves, be it a start-up or an established business. They aren’t averse to risks.” The company’s market research indicated that new buyers are unlikely follow the traditional purchase route that used to be to first buy a mass market model and then upgrade to a luxury brand. Iyer says that close to 10 per cent of auto buyers are those that are straight away buyin...

Hydroxychloroquine, a drug whose largest manufacturer is an Indian firm, has shot into the limelight after the US president advocated it as potential therapy for COVID-19 . Ipca is the biggest producer of the drug. Cadila Healthcare, based in Ahmedabad, too is a major player. Both are gearing up to meet the demand and have said there will be enough supplies. On top of this, a combination hydroxychloroquine and azithro­mycin, a common antibiotic, is being considered. Vadodara-based drug major Alembic is the domestic market leader with its brand Azithral, with an almost 30 per cent share. Sources said the country’s apex health research body, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), had included the drug in its protocol for treating COVID-19. The ICMR, however, has not confirmed this. Pankaj Patel, chairman of Cadila Healthcare, said the firm was producing 20 tonnes of Hydroxy­chloroquine per month, and had started ramping up production. Read Complete Article ...

The roll-out of Disney Plus, the streaming platform from Disney, in India through Hotstar has been put on hold, the company said on Friday. Some of the Disney Plus content, including Star Wars series "The Mandalorian", that became available to Hotstar users ahead of the streaming service's launch in India on March 29, is no longer available on the app. "We recently announced that Disney+ would launch in India through the Hotstar service in conjunction with beginning of the Indian Premier League cricket season. Given the delay of the season, we have made the decision to briefly pause the roll-out of Disney+ and will announce a new revised premiere date for the service soon", Uday Shankar, President - The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star & Disney India, said in a statement. Though he did not specify, the IPL season was put on hold due to coronavirus scare , which has led to cancellations and delay in events, movies and film festivals...

With social media networks buzzing with misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government is tying up with social media firms and others to ensure that citizens have access to authentic data and details about the spread of the disease. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday tweeted the initiatives that Google India, Facebook/WhatsApp and Twitter have taken to ensure people have access to authentic sources of information on COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus that causes it. Google has been putting out simple tips on handwashing for Android users, believed to be the best defense against contracting the virus, Twitter India has set up a "dedicated COVID-19 page that provides essential real-time updates to people from various authorities across India," while Facebook-owned WhatsApp has partnered with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to launch a chatbot on the lines of the one launched by...