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  The Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) Main for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) has begun with precautions amid COVID-19 on Tuesday, despite protests by Opposition parties and some students. Before entering the exam halls, the temperature of students was checked and sanitisers were also given to them in Delhi. "I am carrying my own sanitiser and I had also undergone a temperature check," said Pranjal while speaking to ANI outside his examination centre at Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Sr Sec School in Vivek Vihar in New Delhi. Even in Kolkata, candidates appearing for the exam were seen standing in queues while abiding by the social distancing norm at TCS Gitobitan. In Gorakhpur as well, announcements were being made for the candidates to maintain social distancing and other measures in the wake of COVID 19 spread. In Kaluchal Chenab College of  Education  in Jammu, the candidates appearing for the  JEE Main exam  were standing at a di...

India’s 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund (9Unicorns) announced its first close of Rs 100 crore ($14 million). The fund will invest in over 100 early stage start-ups, with the goal of writing the first external cheque. 9Unicorns is targeting a total corpus of Rs 300 crore ($42 million), with the rest of corpus to be targeted from multiple sources including corporations, family offices and institutions from across the ten countries and beyond that have already participated in the first close. The fund intends to offer US$100,000 for 5-7% equity per start-up. They would go through 3 months of its acceleration programme while being mentored by successful founders. Performing start-ups would then be eligible for a follow-on round of US$500,000 to $2 million funded by a syndicate of VCats Network and global VC funds. The fund is sector agnostic and geared towards Indian startups. 9Unicorns is founded by the Venture Catalysts (VCats) founding team including Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anuj Golecha, Anil...

Specialty chemicals  manufacturers have been left bleeding, as demand from most end-user industries has dried up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which make up as much as 30-35 per cent of the industry, have been hit particularly hard. Many SMEs have reduced capacity utilisation as downstream demand fell, and are expected to see realisation decline amid lower crude oil prices. Additionally, SMEs are having difficulties in accessing working capital, and may face a liquidity crunch. While the world is slowly opening up, there has been no major recovery in demand from key end-user industries such as automobiles, electronics and textiles. We expect demand from the food-packaging and health care segments to sustain, though. In this milieu, exports offer a ray of hope. India’s chemical exports logged a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 13 per cent between 2015 and 2019, compared with about 7 per cent for China. The key sub-segment...

  American chipmaker  Qualcomm  on Monday unveiled the Snapdragon 732G mobile processor. Successor to the Snapdragon 730G, the Snapdragon 732G is touted to bring processor and graphic related improvements and it will debut on the upcoming smartphone from Chinese mobile phone maker POCO. “Snapdragon 732G will deliver a powerful gaming experience, sophisticated on-device AI, and superior performance,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management,  Qualcomm  Technologies, Inc. He added, “We’re excited to work with POCO on the new POCO smartphone powered by the enhanced Snapdragon 732G globally.” The Snapdragon 732G will get following enhancements over the Snapdragon 730G: ·         Qualcomm  Kryo 470 CPU Prime core clock speed at up to 2.3 GHz ·         Bolstered Qualcomm Adreno 618 GPU for improved graphics rendering Besides, the Snapdragon 732G brings Qualcomm Snapdrag...

  Ahead of the upcoming Assembly  elections  in Bihar,  Rashtriya Janata Dal  (RJD) leaders have said that the ticket distribution for each constituency would be done on the basis of the popularity of candidates. Tej Pratap Yadav, the state's former Health Minister and elder son of  RJD  chief Lalu Prasad, said that an internal survey is currently underway in  Bihar  and the agency involved in the exercise is interacting with voters and taking their feedback. "Based on the reports, the party's core committee will decide the eligibility of candidates. It is a democratic process to choose winning candidates for the party. It will also minimise chances of less eligible candidates to bag ticket on the basis of good contacts with top leadership," he said. Tej Pratap also said that "ticket distribution is extremely secret operation within the party". "Even, I did not know from which constituency I would be fielded," he added. In the 2015 ...

  Walmart-owned PhonePe, said that it will enable digital payments for over 25 million small merchants across India in the next one year. The Bengaluru-based firm will also onboard them on its  PhonePe  for Business app, offering them end-to-end control of the payment process including instant payment confirmations, receipts, and reconciliations. The company plans to reach 5,500 talukas via its merchant acquisition team that will lead to over 10,000 jobs being created in semi-urban and rural areas. “Kiranas and merchants across small villages and towns are striving to progress and prosper. We are really excited to partner with them in this journey and take digital payments to the last mile of India across every village and town,” said Vivek Lohcheb, vice president, offline business development,  PhonePe.  “This is also in line with our brand ethos of '’Karte Ja. Badhte Ja'’ which reflects the role played by  PhonePe  in India’s progress, helping br...

  Samsung  dropped to the second spot in the Southeast Asian smartphone market in the second quarter of the year, as Chinese brands expanded their presence with budget devices, a report said on Monday. OPPO  edged out  Samsung  to become the top vendor with a 20.3 per cent market share. Samsung  was the second-largest smartphone vendor in Southeast Asia with a market share of 19.5 per cent in the April-June period, according to industry tracker  Counterpoint  Research. OPPO  edged out Samsung to become the top vendor with a 20.3 per cent market share. ALSO READ:  OPPO F17 series set to launch in India on Sept 2: Know features, and more Chinese phone makers took four of the top five spots. Vivo came in third with 17.9 per cent, followed by Xiaomi with 14 per cent and Realme with 12.8 per cent. Samsung first gave up its top vendor position in the Southeast Asian market to  OPPO  in the fourth quarter of 2019. Read...

  The ongoing pandemic and work-from-home scenario has seen laptops flying off the shelves. The rising demand for notebooks led to several new players, including smartphone makers, foray into the laptop making business. Chinese smartphone brand  Honor  is the latest entrant in the market. The brand launched the MagicBook 15 in India recently. The  notebook  has 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a hidden pop-up webcam, 2-in-1 fingerprint power button and a 65W fast charger. Launched at Rs 42,990, the laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor and Radeon Vega 8 Graphics competes in sleek and lightweight category. It weighs 1.53 kg and is 16.9 mm thick, which makes it one of the lightest 15-inch laptops. For working professionals and multi-taskers, it is a real good deal. The MagicBook 15 is packed with the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor and houses Radeon Vega 8 Graphics for better performance. The laptop is equipped with an ultra-fast PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive w...

  Chinese smartphone maker  OPPO  is gearing up to launch the  OPPO  F17 series in India on September 2. Successor to the  OPPO  F15 series, the OPPO F17 series will come in two models, the OPPO F17 Pro and its vanilla edition the OPPO F17. The  smartphones  will launch through an online event, which will livestream on company’s social media channels and YouTube. The livestream will start at 7 pm (IST). With regard to changes, the OPPO F17 Pro and the OPPO F17 are set to bring several improvements over the predecessors. However, design seems to be one of the areas where the phones improve by leaps and bounds. According to the OPPO F17 Pro listing pagea on the company’s official portal, the Pro edition will measure 7.48 mm thick and touted to be the slimmest smartphone of 2020. Interestingly, the company also give away expected price in a disclaimer where it mentioned that the phone will be slimmest in under Rs 25,000 segment. Besides, t...

  Lifestyle accessories maker  Fossil  on Thursday announced to roll out a software update for its Gen5 smartwatch. The update is touted to improve user experience by bringing new utility tools, updated health tracker and battery optimisation features. The software update is now available for the company's  Gen5 (review)  smartwatch in India. Here are the new features that comes with the update: Optimised activity tracker The update brings new ‘Welness App’, which monitors heaalth and fitness related metrics in real time and optimises battery life by shifting power consumption off the main processor. It tracks the essential health readouts like heart rate, pace, distance, steps, calories and more. Sleep tracking The is a new addition. The sleep tracking feature track sleep history, monitor restfulness and lets you set sleep goals. As for the battery optimisations, the Gen 5 supports quickly charge and features multiple battery profiles for varied usage c...

  Sony  has opened invite-only online registration for customers to be one of the first to pre-order the upcoming PlayStation 5 console directly from the company. According to the company, there will be a "limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order" this holiday season. The invitation programme is a chance for existing PlayStation customers to get their shot at being able to order the upcoming console. "There will be a limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order, so we will be inviting some of our existing consumers to be one of the first to pre-order one from PlayStation," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. "Pre-order reservations will be taken on a first-come-first-serve basis, so once you get an invite via email, we encourage you to follow instructions and act fast," he added. Read Complete Article

Chinese smartphone maker  Xiaomi  on Thursday launched in India the Redmi 9 smartphone. Second in the Redmi 9 series, the smartphone will be available in Carbon Black, Sporty Orange, Sky Blue colours at  Xiaomi  online portal, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios from August 31. The phone will be available in 64GB and 128GB internal storage variants, both with 4GB RAM, priced at Rs 8,999 and Rs 9,999. “With each Redmi device, we are moving closer to making sure technology is available for everyone. The Redmi 8 series has shipped nearly 25 million units globally, which is a testimony to the trust that our consumers have shown in us. With Redmi 9 we want to build upon the legacy of the number series,” said Sneha Tainwala, Redmi India Lead. ALSO READ:  Xiaomi profit grows in second-quarter, boosted by premium phone sales The Redmi 9 features Xiaomi’s Aura Iconic Design. It sports a 6.35-inch IPS HD+ display of a 20:9 aspect ratio. The display is TÜV Rheinland cert...

  To help students, journalists and researchers,   Microsoft  has added an audio transcription feature into Word for the web. Available as part of   Microsoft  365 account, the feature is touted to save time and effort with transcription and voice commands in Word. The  Microsoft  365 users can record conversations directly in Word for the web and transcribe them automatically. The transcribe feature will also be available Office mobile by the end of the year, the company announced on Tuesday. Currently, there is a five-hour limit per month for uploaded recordings and each uploaded recording is limited to 200MB. Transcribe detects different speakers so after you finish recording, you can easily follow the flow of the transcript. After the conversation, one can revisit parts of the recording by playing back the time-stamped audio and can even edit the transcript if see something amiss.

  Taiwanese electronics maker   Asus  is set to unveil its Zenfone 7 series smartphones on Wednesday at 11:30 am (IST) in its home country. The series is expected to bring at least two smartphones; a pro model and its vanilla edition. Successor to the Zenfone 6   (Asuz 6z review) , the phones are expected to bring seasonal upgrades with regard to design, display, imaging, performance and battery. Asus  Zenfone 7 series specifications (expected) Asus  has not officially confirmed anything related to the Zenfone 7 series but the smartphones’ launch teasers reveal some information regarding its design and expected features. Based on teasers, it is safe to say that the phones would look similar to yesteryear Zenfone offering with flip camera module and distraction free display. As for the changes, the camera module shows triple array set-up, which might be similar to the  ROG Phone 3 (review) . If true, the Zenfone 7 series would bring a 64-megapixel prima...

  Wearables brand   Fitbit  has introduced an advanced smartwatch called the   Fitbit  Sense, which comes with electrodermal activity (EDA) to measure daily stress and comes with a heart rate tracker, electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor and skin temperature sensors. The company also introduced Versa 3 and Inspire 2 wearables. All three wearables will be available globally starting late September and will arrive in India in the festive season, according to the company. Fitbit  Sense is priced at Rs 34,999 while the Fitbit Versa will cost Rs 26,499. The Fitbit Inspire 2 fitness band is priced at Rs 10,999. "Our new products and services are our most innovative yet, coupling our most advanced sensor technology and algorithms to unlock more information about our bodies and our health so you can be in control," said James Park, co-founder and CEO, Fitbit. The new EDA sensor on Fitbit Sense measures electrodermal activity responses.

  Aarogya Setu has rolled out a new feature that will enable organisations to get the health status of their employees or any other user without violating their data privacy, an official release said on Saturday. Aarogya Setu has now emerged as the most downloaded contact tracing app in the world, with more than 15 crore users, it said. The new feature called 'Open API Service' will help people, businesses and the economy to return to normalcy, and aims to address the fear/risk of COVID-19 infection. The service can be availed by organisations and business entities, who are registered in India with more than 50 employees, and they can use it to query the Aarogya Setu application in real-time and get the health status of their employees or any other Aarogya Setu user, who have provided their consent for sharing their health status with that entity, the release added. "In order to help businesses and economy to start functioning while being safe, the Open API Service...

  Microsoft Corp on Sunday said in a court filing that Apple Inc's threat to cut off the creator of "Fortnite" from Apple's developer tools would hurt Microsoft's gaming business, as well as other game developers. The filing came in a dispute between Apple and Epic Games. Apple removed Epic's titles from its App Store after the game maker violated the iPhone maker's in-app payment rules. Epic says that Apple has also threatened to cut off its access to Apple tools needed to maintain "Unreal Engine," software that many game developers license to create better graphics. Microsoft said the move would hurt at least one of its own game titles called "Forza Street" that uses the engine for the iOS version of the game. ALSO READ:  Apple hits $2 trn market valuation, but the next trillion won't come easy Kevin Gammill, Microsoft's general manager of gaming developer experiences, said Microsoft has an "enterprise-wide...

Karnataka CET  Result 2020 |  The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) will release the Common Entrance Test (CET) result today. Earlier Karnataka  Education  Minister had said the results would be announced on Thursday. The  Karnataka CET  Result 2020 or KCET Result 2020 will be announced on the KEA's official website kea.kar.nic.in. Soon after  Karnataka CET  Result is declared, the merit list will be out. The Karnataka CET Result 2020 is valid for one year to get admission in government engineering and technology, B Pharma colleges across the state. Karnataka CET examination was conducted in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (July 30 and 31)after the Karnataka High Court allowed the state government to go ahead with its plans. Karnataka CET Result 2020: Steps to check your KCET score Step 1 : Visit the official websites kea.kar.nic.in or  karresults.nic.in Step 2:  Click on the ‘KCET Result 2020’ link Step 3: ...

  There was just a small ripple across the technosphere when  Microsoft  (MS) announced it would retire its Internet Explorer (IE) browser, shutting down all support by August 2021. MS also stated that the IE successor, the MS Edge browser, would move completely onto Google’s open-source Chromium platform. Neither IE nor Edge are popular anymore. Barely 1.3 per cent of the world’s surfers (desktop plus mobile) used IE in July 2020, and cynics would suspect that many of those IE windows were opened by accident. MS Edge only has about 2.2 per cent market share. Google’s Chrome, (also based on Chromium and integrated with the Android operating system), is by far the most popular of browsers, with 66 per cent market share across all platforms. Apple fans prefer Safari (16.65 per cent). Geeks use Mozilla’s Firefox (4.26 per cent), or Opera (2.05 per cent), or Vivaldi (0.04 per cent). Both Opera and Vivaldi are built on top of Chromium, so Google’s dominance of this sp...

  Google  is bringing its 'Kormo Jobs' Android app to India to help job seekers find and apply for positions across India. The tech giant, which introduced 'Jobs' last year in India as part of  Google  Pay to connect job seekers with opportunities in industries like on-demand businesses, retail and hospitality, said the offering will be rebranded to 'Kormo Jobs'. Google  Regional Manager and Operations Lead (Kormo Jobs) Bickey Russell said Jobs was originally piloted in Bangladesh (in 2018) and subsequently launched in Indonesia, under the brand Kormo Jobs. Last year, Google also made available a similar offering in India under the brand 'Jobs as a Spot' on  Google Pay  app. ALSO READ:  Gmail services disrupted across the globe, company says probing issue Companies like Zomato and Dunzo have found candidates with the required skills, experience and location preferences using the service, with over two million verified jobs posted on...

  The Cupertino-headquartered firm’s manufacturing partner, Taiwan-based Wistron, has already begun a trial run for the  iPhone  12 project at its new facility near Bengaluru. The contract manufacturer, with a planned investment of over Rs 2,900 crore, has also initiated the hiring process for the same. It plans to employ some 10,000 workers at the new facility in a phased manner, while around 1,000 are already at work. The plant has already received over half of its planned investment and is expected to be fully operational by October. Expansion of Wistron’s production capacity is in line with Apple’s mid-term goals - adding newer models quickly into its ‘Made in India’ portfolio. The American multinational had recently confirmed that its next-generation iPhone 12 would be delayed beyond September in global retail stores. The iPhone 12 (5G) range is expected to start at Rs 70,000. Sources said while the new facility in Narasapura (Karnataka) could be dedicated for the ...

  The PlayGo T44 is a pair of affordable true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones imported from China by Play, an Indian lifestyle products brand. Priced at Rs 2,999, these earphones have semi in-ear earbuds with stems, a design made popular by  the Apple AirPods (review) . These, however, do not look anything like the AirPods (and that is a good thing). As for performance, the earphones are tuned for a neutral output and they seem best suited for music tracks where emphasis is on acoustics and not vocals. Interestingly, the earphones are one of the few in the budget segment that are not bass-heavy. Unfortunately, there is no way to tune or customise the output for lack of an app support. Moreover, the equaliser settings on connected devices (smartphone, laptop or tablet) sometimes distort the audio output, so it is best to use them as is. The PlayGo T44 supports audio sub-band codec (SBC) and advance audio codec (AAC). They have Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity, and they w...

  The  Logitech  G502 Lightspeed is a wireless mouse for PC gamers that promises a performance matching wired mice. For perspective, wired mice are considered good for gaming due to limited or no latency issues. By comparison, wireless mice are flexible to use but have latency issues, which lead to sub-par performance while gaming. The  Logitech  G502 Lightspeed is a one-of-its kind wireless mouse for gamers that seems to have beaten these latency issues. The  Logitech  G502 Lightspeed has a response rate of 1 ms, which is even better than some wired mice. Technical jargons aside, this mouse is responsive and shows no latency. While reviewing, I did not come across any moment where the PC took time to respond to mouse inputs. Besides stellar response rate, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed is accurate and sensitive, thanks to its Hero 16K optical sensor that covers wide dots-per-inch (DPI) coverage spectrum (from 100 to up to 16,000). It is the best sen...

  South Korean electronics maker  Samsung  has announced to roll out three-generation of  Android  operating system upgrades for its Galaxy devices, including smartphones, foldable screen devices and tablets. Usually, only select original equipment manufacturers on  Android  One platform deliver three-generation of  Android  OS upgrades, while most smartphone brands stick to two-year of OS upgrades and three-year of security upgrades from  Google.  Before the announcement,  Samsung  also promised to service its Galaxy devices with Android updates for a maximum period of two years. However, the select Galaxy devices will now get up to three-generation of Android OS upgrades from  Samsung. Galaxy devices eligible for three-generation of Android OS upgrades: Galaxy S series:  Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, S20 Ultra, S20+ 5G, S20+, S20 5G, S20 in addition to S10 5G, S10+, S10, S10e, S10 Lite and upcoming S series devices ...