General Knowledge and Current Affairs

Air India facing cash deficit of Rs 250 crore every month

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 06:19:00 +0000

Air India is unable to purchase all the spares it needs, resulting in idling aircraft, due to a monthly cash deficit of Rs 200-250 crore that affects availability of funds for maintenance, the civil aviation ministry has candidly admitted.

The ministry has told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that a restricted cash flow was responsible for inoperational aircraft despite a turnaround plan (TAP) being in force since 2011 while fleet expansion had been hit by viability issues and an ongoing CBI probe into previous acquisitions.

“There is a cash deficit of Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore every month which affects availability of funds for procurement of spares,” the ministry told the PAC even as it said that “every attempt” was being made to devote maximum financial resources to availability of spares to improve utilisation of aircraft.

It needed $300 million accessed through external commercial borrowings to liquidate outstanding dues of foreign suppliers in 2015 to improve the situation as maintenance expenditure soaked up Rs 2,500 crore or 12% of the debt-laden airline’s operating expenditure.

An examination of AI’s functioning by the PAC is significant in the light of the government’s decision to disinvest 76% stake in the carrier.

A parliamentary committee on transport, tourism and culture headed by Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien had opposed the plan but the draft report was “rejected” by NDA MPs on the panel.

The ministry told the PAC that aircraft engines earlier sent abroad for overhaul and repair were being maintained domestically. “AI is also in constant dialogue with its suppliers to remove the credit hold in order to maintain a smooth supply of spares for sustained and uninterrupted operations,” it said.

The ministry also stated that aircraft acquired on lease were grounded for around two months at the time of redelivery as a number of conditions had to be satisfied.

With a total debt totalling Rs 48,876 crore (government-guaranteed Rs 25,388 crore and non-GOI guaranteed Rs 23,488 crore) AI’s cash situation remains perilous despite improvements in operating profits.

AI’s debt remains high as akey assumption or objective of the TAP — accumulation of Rs 5,000 crore by way of monetisation of properties — has not happened.

As against Rs 500 crore being monetised every year, AI has managed only Rs 725 crore till date and reason is “defective title deeds” and a bar by the ministry of urban development on sale of property given the airline on “perpetual lease”.

Though AI’s turnover has been increasing, and the TAP and financial reconstruction plan has helped improve on time performance, load factor, aircraft utilisation, hiving off non-core assets and gaining equity support, cash losses remain high despite a declining trend.

Aarti Solanki Eliminated from Big boss Marathi

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 06:07:00 +0000

The debut season of Bigg Boss Marathi had a remarkable first week. The show hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar witnessed its first elimination in its 'Weekend Cha Dav' special episode on Sunday, 22nd April.

Out of the four contestants, who were in danger zone, comedienne Aarti Solanki became the first contestant to get eliminated from Bigg Boss Marathi.

Aarti received the least number of votes as a result she had to leave the house.

After eliminations, Aarti shared her views about the show and all the contestants. She said, "I made some really good friends like Rutuja Dharmadhikar, Usha Nadkarni and Sai Lokur in the Bigg Boss Marathi house. But inspite of having good relations, some old friends did not support me, so I am really upset. Most of them just played the mind game."
She added, "I completed my task successfully, I helped in kitchen and entertained people, still I have to leave the house. This has hurt me a lot."

After Aarti's elimination, she was given a special right where she could save one contestant from the coming week's elimination. Aarti saved veteran actress Usha Nadkarni.

Aarti's elimination came as a shock for most of the contestants which left them teary-eyed. But some of the contestants still believe that Aarti will make a come back in the show as a wild card entry.

After twin boys, Krushna Abhishek and wife Kashmera Shah to adopt a baby girl

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 06:01:00 +0000

Actor Krushna Abhishek and Kashmera Shah turned parents to twin boys via surrogacy last year. Ever since then, the proud parents have been beaming with joy and enjoying parenthood to the fullest.

Looks like the happy four are all set to add a new member to the family. Krushna and Kashmera are planning to adopt a baby girl.

"We have always wanted a girl," said Kashmera. "Both Krushna and I were really keen on adding a girl member to our family. When our little sons were born, we couldn't control our excitement and I was completely happy taking care of my three boys, my twins and Krushna, " laughs Kashmera.
After twin boys, Krushna Abhishek and wife Kashmera Shah to adopt a baby girl
Actor Krushna Abhishek and Kashmera Shah turned parents to twin boys via surrogacy last year. Ever since then, the proud parents have been beaming with joy and enjoying parenthood to the fullest.

Looks like the happy four are all set to add a new member to the family. Krushna and Kashmera are planning to adopt a baby girl.

"We have always wanted a girl," said Kashmera. "Both Krushna and I were really keen on adding a girl member to our family. When our little sons were born, we couldn't control our excitement and I was completely happy taking care of my three boys, my twins and Krushna, " laughs Kashmera.

Krushna Abhishek and Kashmira Shah welcome twins via surrogacy

"But honestly, you know having a little girl is always a bliss. We always wanted a girl and a boy. So, now with two little boys, we are keen on a baby girl, too. You know it's all together a different feeling while dealing with a baby girl of your own. Though that's definitely on the cards but not so soon, as currently all my time, energy and focus is divided amongst my little boys."

She further said, "Sometime soon, w e shall definitely bring a little girl to our family and you never know, I might just get pregnant. God's ways are always unpredictable. Actually not many know that we were going ahead with adoption, if surrogacy wouldn't have worked out for us. But thankfully, it did and I am the happiest mother today. My boys are the best thing that have happened to me," says the proud mother.

How to turn off read receipts in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple iMessage

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 05:54:00 +0000

send messages each day in the form of texts, images, videos and audio notes. We communicate with others and want them to read out the messages like we do for theirs. But at times, things can be annoying if the read receipts in certain apps are turned on. This means that as soon as you read the sender’s message, he/she comes to know about it and may annoy you to give a feedback or a reply. To prevent those situations, apps have given users the ability to turn the feature off. So here is how you can do it on nearly all the major social networking websites/apps.

Facebook Messenger
This is slightly tricky. The app doesn’t really have a proper method to turn off ‘read receipt’ feature but a nifty trick to read messages without letting the sender know. All you need to do is to switch on the ‘Airplane mode’ on your handset and then open the app to read the text. Once read, close the app by swiping it out from the multi-window section so the apps are turned off completely. Now you can switch off the Airplane mode and the sender won’t get to know as the app won’t sync back till you open it again.

WhatsApp
This one’s pretty easy. You can simply open the app, head to the Settings page, go to accounts, privacy, and tap on Turn of Receipts. That’s it. This will however, will not let you see if the other person has read your message or not.
Apple iMessage
For Apple iMessage users, one can head to the main Settings app and tap on Messages and turn off the read receipts option. You cannot turn on/off this feature for individual Messages chats but for all at once.

Instagram
If you want to turn off the read receipts on Instagram, it is not actually possible. However, like Facebook Messenger you can trick others by switching on the Airplane Mode and looking at the messages, closing it completely from the multi-window section and turning off the Airplane Mode.

Twitter
On Twitter, this feature can be turned off for Direct Messages. You need to open the app, tap on your profile picture to open the account settings, under settings tap on Privacy followed by Direct Messages and Turn off Read Receipts. And voila!

TCS becomes first Indian company to breach $100 billion market capitalisation

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 05:38:00 +0000

Highlights

TCS created history on Monday by becoming the first Indian company to reach the $100 billion market capitalisation (m-cap) mark
At 10.30 am, the market value of the company stood at Rs 6,79,332.81 crore ( $102.6 billion)
NEW DELHI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest IT outsourcing company created history on Monday by becoming the first Indian company to reach the $100 billion market capitalisation (m-cap) mark. The shares of the IT behemoth were trading 4 per cent above previous closing mark at Rs 3,545 on the BSE at 10.30 am, thus hitting an all-time high.

By definition, market capitalisation is the value of a company that is traded on the stock market, calculated by multiplying the total number of shares by the present share price.
At 10.30 am, the market value of the company stood at Rs 6,79,332.81 crore ( $102.6 billion).
Last week, when the markets closed on Friday, the company was at the verge of the milestone as the m-cap stood at slightly above $99 billion. TCS stock had surged more than 6 per cent on Friday.

The rise in the TCS scrip's fortune came after the it posted a rise of 4.5 per cent in its Q4 net profit. In the January-March quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 6,925 crore, up 4.57 per cent against Rs 6,622 crore posted in the same quarter last year. On top of that, the company announced a 1:1 bonus for its shareholders. This is the third bonus share offering by the company since its listing in 2004. TCS had allotted 1:1 bonus shares in 2006 and 2009.

Bollywood Movies Releasing in October-November and December 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:50:00 +0000

Flipkart Big 10 Sale: Big discounts on Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Motorola smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 15 May 2017 16:17:00 +0000

Flipkart is celebrating its tenth anniversary with the Big 10 Sale. The company began the sale on May 14 and will continue giving out offers till May 18. Today, the e-commerce giant is giving out offers on smartphones, tablets, electronics and fashion; giving up to 90 per cent discount on select products.
Flipkart will also introduce buyback guarantee during the sale. Under the scheme, Flikart promises to buyback your smartphone at an assured price. This offers you a guaranteed value for your phone when you make your next smartphone purchase on Flipkart.

Here are the best deals according to us:
Apple
iPhone 7: Flipkart had promised that the Big 10 Sale will offer the iPhone 7 at the lowest price yet and it has stood to its promise. The iPhone 7 32 GB is available at a price of Rs 43,999 and the iPhone 7 128GB is available at Rs 50,999. The iPhone 7 256 GB is available at Rs 61,999. Over and above the discount, Flipkart is also giving up to Rs 20,000 off on exchange.
The offers extend even to its elder sibling, the iPhone 7 Plus. The 32 GB variant of the iPhone 7 Plus is available at Rs 54,999 while the 128GB variant is available at Rs 65,999. The iPhone 7 Plus 256GB is available at Rs 73,999, 20 per cent down from its launch price.

Lenovo
Lenovo Vibe K5 Note 64GB: Coming to the lower mid-segment, Lenovo is offering the Vibe K5 Note at Rs 11,999 with a discount of Rs 2,000 on the previous price tag. The device is also available with exhange discount of up to Rs 10,500.
Another offering from Lenovo, the Phab 2 and Phab 2 Plus are also available at a flat discount of Rs 3,000. The Phab 2 32 GB is available at Rs 7,999 and the Phab 2 Plus 32 GB is avialable at Rs 11,999.

Motorola
Moto G5 Plus: Though there is no discount on the selling price, Flipkart is offering a massive exchange offer of up to Rs 15,000.
Moto M: The device is available at a flat discount of Rs 2,000. The price is slashed from 17,999 to Rs 15,999 for 64GB variant. The 32GB variant is available at Rs 13,999, Rs 2,000 lesser than the original price.

Samsung
Samsung Galaxy On Nxt: The device is available at a flat discount of Rs 3,000; down from Rs 17,999 to Rs 14,999. The offer is available on both Black and Gold variants.
Samsung Galaxy J5- 6 (2016 edition): The 16GB Black variant is available at a discount of Rs 3,300 at a price of Rs 9,990. However, the Gold variant of the same device is available at Rs 10,990.

Google Pixel
Google Pixel XL smartphone with 4GB RAM and 32 GB ROM is available at Rs 53,999 at a discount of 19 per cent. Over and above the discount users can also get up to Rs 29000 off with the exchange offer on this phone.

Gadget deals to look out for in Flipkart's Big 10 Sale shopping festival

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Mon, 15 May 2017 16:15:00 +0000

New Delhi: After Amazon’s 4-day Great Indian Sale last week, it is now Flipkart’s shopping event called Big 10 Sale (it will run from 14-18 May). In addition to flat discounts, exchange offers, there is an instant discount offer of up to Rs1,500 on payments made with HDFC Bank credit cards and cashback of up to Rs300 on purchases made using the PhonePe mobile payment wallet. Most of the deals in electronics have been around smartphones so far. Here are some of the top deals you can consider.

Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Rs54,999 (earlier Rs72,000)
One of the top deals of the Big 10 Sale is the 23% flat discount on the 32GB storage variant of the iPhone 7 Plus. The deal is only valid on black, gold and silver colour options. There is an exchange offer on old smartphones and one can save up to Rs20,000 more on it. The iPhone 7 Plus still remains one of the best big-screen smartphones around. It has a 5.5-inch (1,920x1,080p) Retina display, is powered by Apple’s powerful A10 chipset, runs iOS 10.3.1 and has dual cameras
.
Google Pixel
Rs43,999 (earlier Rs57,000)
Flipkart is offering a flat discount of 22% on the 32GB storage variant of the Google Pixel smartphone. There is an exchange offer too, which can save buyers up to Rs29,000 more. The Pixel has a 5-inch (1,920x1,080p) display and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip with 4GB RAM. Its key highlight is that it runs Android 7.1 and is likely to get all Android updates on time. It is available in black and silver colours.

Lenovo Phab 2
Rs7,999 (earlier Rs10,999)
If you are looking for a truly big-screen smartphone, the Phab 2 is the most affordable option right now. After a direct discount of 27%, this smartphone with a 6.4-inch (1,280x720p) display is selling at Rs7,999. You can also get up to Rs7,500 off on exchange. The Phab 2 comes in gunmetal grey and champagne gold colours and has a metal finish. It runs on MediaTek’s entry-level MT8735 chipset with 3GB RAM and a 4,050mAh battery. It has 32GB internal storage and supports microSD cards of up to 128GB.

Apple Watch (42 mm; Series 1)
Rs19,900 (Earlier Rs25,900)
There is a flat discount of 23% on the 42mm grey colour variant of the first-generation Apple Watch. Its case is made of aluminium and has a water-resistant coating over it. The 1.65-inch OLED Retina display supports touch. The watch can also track your activity, steps and heart rate. It runs Apple’s Watch OS and works with all Apple iPhones that came after iPhone 5 and run iOS 10 and above.

Vu (50) Ultra HD (4K) Smart LED TV
Rs48,999 (earlier Rs64,000)
Vu’s 49-inch Ultra HD LED TV has a 23% flat discount on it. Buyers can get up to Rs22,000 off on exchange with older TVs. This makes it one of the most affordable TVs with 4K resolution you can buy right now. It is also a smart TV so you can run 4K content directly through Amazon Prime, Netflix or YouTube. Its display has a brightness level of 450 Nits and refresh rate of 50 Hz.

Dell Inspiron 3467 Notebook
Rs29,990 (earlier Rs33,990)
There is a direct discount of 11% on the Dell Inspiron 3467. It runs Windows 10 and comes pre-loaded with one-year free subscription of MS Office Student 2016 edition and 15-month free subscription of McAfee anti-virus. It is powered by Intel’s 6th Gen Core i3 Processor with 4GB RAM and offers 1TB HDD. The 14-inch LED display has a resolution of 1,366x768p. The notebook has all the connectivity options such as LAN port, HDMI, USB 3.0 and optical drive.

Sony PlayStation 4 Slim
Rs29,990 (earlier Rs32,990)
The recently launched 1TB variant of the Sony PlayStation 4 Slim is selling at a discount of 9%. The gaming console comes with a wireless controller and a set of five games such as Uncharted series and The Last of Us Remastered. The PS4 Slim runs on the same AMD Jaguar octa-core processor and AMD Radeon Graphics used in the original PS4, but has lower power consumption.

Ransomware Virus Also Strikes India, Systems Of Andhra Pradesh Police Hit

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:55:00 +0000

New Delhi: The unprecedented global wave of cyberattacks, which have affected over 45,000 computers in at least 74 countries since Friday evening, have also spread to India. Over 100 systems of the Andhra Pradesh police have been affected by the virus, called ransomware.

Confirming the attack, Gulshan Rai, Director General of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), said "We held an assessment meeting today and have found that 102 systems of Andhra Police have been infected with ransomware, particularly those using the Windows operating system."

Cyber attack crisis 'isn't over'

Mr Rai added that it is not just the Andhra Pradesh Police system that would be affected but "while our experts are trying to debug the hacked systems, we will only know the real magnitude of the damage once offices re-open on Monday and systems are turned on."

The ransomware virus infects computer files and then demands anywhere between $300- $600 bitcoins to unblock them. It has struck targets from Russia's banks to British hospitals and French carmaker Renault's factories.

The incident is being described as the biggest cyber ransom attack ever.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at the Helsinki-based cyber security company F-Secure, told news agency AFP that that Russia and India were hit particularly hard, in large part because the older Windows XP operating software is still widely used in the two countries.

The attacks apparently exploited a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Indian-Origin Doctor Warned Against Cyber Attack That Hit Central London Health Body

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:52:00 +0000

LONDON: An Indian-origin doctor based in London had warned against the cyber-hack of the UK's state-run National Health Service (NHS) just days before it crippled the country's network.

Dr Krishna Chinthapalli, a neurology registrar at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, had warned that an increasing number of hospitals could be shut down by ransomeware attacks in an article on the vulnerability of the NHS network in the 'British Medical Journal' on Wednesday, two days before the major cyber-hack.

He had highlighted an incident at Papworth Hospital near Cambridge where a nurse clicked on a malicious link and malware infected her computer and started to encrypt sensitive files. "Fortunately, the hospital's daily data backup had just been completed. The IT director admitted that they were very lucky, saying, 'Timing absolutely was everything for us'. We should be prepared: more hospitals will almost certainly be shut down by ransomware this year," Mr Chinthapalli wrote.

The revelation came as experts said they are working round-the-clock to restore the IT systems of NHS after they were hit by a large-scale cyber-hack by an international criminal gang that wreaked havoc around the world including India. Patients of the state-funded country-wide service are facing days of chaos as appointments and surgeries were cancelled after nearly 45 NHS organisations from London to Scotland were hit in the "ransomware" attack on Friday.

Ciaran Martin, who leads the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, said his team was doing everything in their power to get "vital services" back up and running. "We are very aware that attacks on critical services such as the NHS have a massive impact on individuals and their families, and we are doing everything in our power to help them restore these vital services," he said.

"It's important to understand that cyber attacks can be different from other forms of crime in that their sometimes highly technical and anonymous nature means it can take some time to understand how it worked, who was behind it and what the impact is," he told the BBC.

Critically ill patients are being diverted to unaffected hospitals as computer systems failed in Accidents & Emergency (A&E) units and doctors were locked out of test results, X-rays and patient records. NHS England said patients needing emergency treatment should go to Accidents & Emergency (A&E) or access emergency services as they normally would.

However, there have been some reports of ambulances being diverted from affected hospitals and individual NHS trusts have asked registered patients not to attend unless it is urgent. London's Barts Health NHS Trust, the largest trust in the UK, cancelled all outpatient appointments at its five hospitals today.

The NHS has not been affected in Wales and Northern Ireland. The assault is part of an attack that has affected organisations in about 100 countries, including the United States, India, China, Russia and Spain, disrupting power and telephone companies.

26 Pakistanis go missing in Mumbai, police launch manhunt

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:49:00 +0000

Police in Mumbai are on high alert, scouring the city for 26 Pakistani nationals, who have gone missing for the past two to three weeks. Among them is a man who stayed in Juhu for nearly 10 years and ran a shop in the area.
Police said none of them provided accurate details about where they were staying or who they had come to meet while filling up the C-forms, a document all Pakistanis entering India have to fill.
This came to light when security agencies tried to trace them, said official sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is leading the manhunt, which was triggered by alerts from intelligence agencies about threats emanating from moles in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.
The search for the 26 people intensified when security agencies could not trace them based on information provided in the C-forms. The C-form has the address of the person or hotel in India where a Pakistani national is staying, the duration of the stay and a copy of the passport, visa and residential permit.
The Maharashtra ATS has sent teams to all hotels and lodging houses in Mumbai to look for them.
The alert centres around reports that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) cadre, believed to be from Bhatkal in Karnataka, had conducted reconnaissance in the city in the past few months.
Although the IM is no more the force it once was, its founders Riyaz Shahbandri alias Riyaz Bhatkal and his elder brother Iqbal are still in Pakistan and reportedly under the protection of the ISI.
Besides, two other Bhatkal natives, Sultan and Shafi Armar, are suspected to have been the Islamic State’s main recruiters in India. The two are believed to have been killed in Syria a few months ago.

Cyber attack crisis 'isn't over': Warning from researcher who found ransomware 'kill switch'

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:45:00 +0000

A cybersecurity researcher appears to have discovered a "kill switch" that can prevent the spread of the WannaCry ransomware - for now - that crippled the NHS on Friday and affected almost 100 countries .

The researcher, tweeting as @MalwareTechBlog, said the discovery was accidental, but that registering a domain name used by the malware stops it from spreading.

ALSO READ: Ransomware attacks reported worldwide

"Essentially they relied on a domain not being registered and by registering it, we stopped their malware spreading," @MalwareTechBlog told Agence France-Presse in a private message on Twitter.

The researcher warned, however, that people "need to update their systems ASAP" to avoid attack .

"The crisis isn't over, they can always change the code and try again," @MalwareTechBlog said.

It's very important everyone understands that all they need to do is change some code and start again. Patch your systems now! https://t.co/L4GIPLGKEs
— MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) May 13, 2017

Friday's wave of cyberattacks, which affected dozens of countries, apparently exploited a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

The attacks used a technique known as ransomware that locks users' files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin.

So long as the domain isn't revoked, this particular strain will no longer cause harm, but patch your systems ASAP as they will try again.
— MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) May 13, 2017

Affected by the onslaught were computer networks at hospitals in Britain, Russia's interior ministry, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and the US delivery firm FedEx and many other organisations.

Rail passengers in Germany were confronted with the ransom message when looking up train information at stations after Deutsche Bahn was targeted.

"I will confess that I was unaware registering the domain would stop the malware until after I registered it, so initially it was accidental," @MalwareTechBlog tweeted.

I will confess that I was unaware registering the domain would stop the malware until after i registered it, so initially it was accidental.
— MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) May 13, 2017

Unfortunately however, computers already affected will not be helped by the solution.

"So long as the domain isn't revoked, this particular strain will no longer cause harm, but patch your systems ASAP as they will try again."

The malware's name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry .

Forcepoint Security Labs said in a Friday statement that the attack had "global scope" and was affecting networks in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

In the United States, FedEx acknowledged it had been hit by malware and was "implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."

Also badly hit was National Health Service, which declared a "major incident" after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations.

Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 in Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!"

It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message.

A hacking group called Shadow Brokers released the malware in April claiming to have discovered the flaw from the NSA, according to Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity provider.

Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu cited 45,000 attacks in 74 countries as of Friday evening.

Heroic Man Saves Suicidal Woman From Jumping In Front Of Train

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:41:00 +0000

A quick-thinking man saved a suicidal woman's life in China. Footage captured on station surveillance camera shows the woman, reportedly a college student, running towards the train tracks just seconds before a high-speed train reached the station.
Seeing her racing towards the tracks, the alert man runs behind her and grabs her arm just seconds before she is about to leap.
In his attempt to save the woman, the man hits his head on the concrete but doesn't let go. Just seconds later, the train arrives on the platform and two more people rush towards the pair to help them out.
According to CGTN, the incident happened on May 10 at Putian station in Fujian province in Southeast China.

The man, reportedly a railway worker, got injured while trying to save the woman.

North Korea launches missile from test site, U.S. officials confirm

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 14 May 2017 04:33:00 +0000

North Korea launched a missile from a test facility near the country's west coast early Sunday morning, U.S. officials tell CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

The launch came just days after South Koreans went to the polls to elect a new president.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: North Korea vs US

U.S. officials said they were still assessing whether the launch was successful and trying to determine what kind of missile was tested. The last North Korean missile test on April 28 failed minutes after launch.The South Korean military says the missile flew about 435 miles, or 700 kilometers, according to Reuters. The missile flew for 30 minutes before landing the Sea of Japan, Reuters said, citing a Japanese official.

The flight was not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile, said Maj. Rob Shuford, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command.

Although the type of missile is not known, the U.S. had been expecting the North to fire a KN-17 medium-range ballistic missile, Martin reports.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, Shuford said.

Moon has taken a much more conciliatory position towards the North compared to his predecessor Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office in a corruption scandal. South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office on Wednesday following his victory in Tuesday's closely watched presidential election. Moon, the country's first liberal leader in a decade, said he would be open to visiting the rival North.

"I will quickly move to solve the crisis in national security. I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean Peninsula -- if needed, I will fly immediately to Washington. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo. If the conditions shape up, I will go to Pyongyang," Moon said in his first address to the country's National Assembly.

The Trump administration has called on China to apply more pressure to the North Korean regime. China remains Pyongyang's primary benefactor and trading partner.

In an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation" in April, President Trump said that pursuing China's help with North Korea is more important than securing better trade agreements.

"I think that, frankly, North Korea is maybe more important than trade," he said. "Trade is very important. But massive warfare with millions, potentially millions of people being killed? That, as we would say, trumps trade."

Mr. Trump also referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as a "pretty smart cookie."

Airtel-Micromax tie up offers 1-yr free 4G service on Canvas2.

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:51:00 +0000

Telecom major Bharti Airtel will offer one year free 4G service along with unlimited calling within its network to buyers of Micromax Canvas 2 smartphone that has been launched today. "Micromax Canvas 2 will come with one year of unlimited Airtel to Airtel calling, unlimited data at no extra cost for both existing and new Airtel customers," Shubhajit Sen, Chief Marketing Officer, Micromax told reporters here.

Micromax today launched its dual SIM 4G VoLTE smartphone Canvas 2 for Rs 11,999 to foray in the device segment priced between Rs 10,000-15,000 a unit.

Under the pact, Airtel will offer 1GB of 4G data every day and thereafter the speed will get reduced, Sen said.

Customers purchasing Canvas 2 device will also get 400 minutes of calling per day to any network in India for one year with weekly limit of 1,500 minutes.

"We saw huge queues in front of the Reliance (Jio) stores when they launched 3 months free offer. For 1 year, we dont know what would be the response. After that three-month offer has become norm but for 1 year no one has seen the response," Micromax Informatics co-founder, Rahul Sharma said.

The company started shipping Canvas 2 from today for sale on retail stores. "By the end of next week, it will be available across 40 -60 per cent of our market in the country. This is first phone in India with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. We will be disappointed if at least 1 million Canvas 2 are not shipped till Diwali season," Sen said.

Micromax Canvas 2 will be sold only through offline retail channel.

The phone will run on Android Nougat. It comes with MediaTek quad core chipset, 3,050 mAh battery promising talk time of up to 11 hours, 3GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and 64 GB expandable memory.

"We will sell this phone offline only because offline buyers are looking for something more. With this phone, we are offering them 1 Year of screen replacement and 30 day smartphone replacement," Sen said.

Micromax has plans to launch around 15 smartphones within one year with focus on consumers buying smartphones in the range of Rs 10,000-15,000, Sharma said.

OnePlus 5 beats Samsung Galaxy S8, in leaked Geekbench score for smartphones: Here's what it means.

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:45:00 +0000

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus will be launching the new flagship smartphone in the summer of 2017, and it will be called as OnePlus 5. Reports, leaks and rumours about the device have been doing the rounds for a while now. Meanwhile, Geekbench scores of the OnePlus 5 have been leaked online by GSMArena. the report has claimed that it got the screenshots from a 'credible source'. According to the report, OnePlus 5 has scored 1963 in single-core on Geekbench and got 6687 in multi-core on the test. Samsung had rolled out the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus on March 29 this year.

If we consider the GSMArena report to be true and the images to be actual Geekbench results, OnePlus 5 has beaten Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones. Incidentally, the Samsung devices are at the top of the list on the 'benchmark'. Samsung Galaxy S8+ has scored 1978 in single-core on Geekbench but got 6375 score in multi-core on the test.

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor in the US, but in India, they use the Exynos 8995 processor. So the results may vary. Additionally, even if the leaked results are considered true, the report does not provide full information on the Benchmark scores. Also, these scores usually do not paint the full picture of the actual performance of a smartphone. While some smartphones might score high on a test, there might be other factors and issues which can make it a bad device.

However, OnePlus has been making quite a name for itself because of its reliable devices which come at reasonable prices. It has been known to bring in smartphones which offer features contained in premium devices and offers them with mid-ranged price tags.

In terms of specifications, the OnePlus 5 might feature a ceramic body with 4,000mAh battery alongside a 6GB RAM. Another report in Chinese publication PCPop claimed that OnePlus could come in an 8GB RAM model as well. The phone might also have a 16MP front camera, a 5.5-inch display ( Full HD (1080p) SAMOLED display we saw on the OnePlus 3 and 3T) and the Snapdragon 835 processor, according to various reports. The phone may not have the 2K display as the prices would increase by a big margin.

Meanwhile, the biggest change might be the dual-rear camera, according to various leaks. OnePlus 5 might have a camera setup like the iPhone 7 Plus with a wide-angle and a telephoto lens or it might go for a monochrome and RGB lens. We will have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Kumamoto Technology on Weibo had claimed that the two rear cameras will be placed horizontally. Additionally, there have been rumours that a 23MP rear camera might be present in the device, but again that is not confirmed.

Apple iPhone 5s is the top smartphone in India: report.

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:39:00 +0000

Would you believe if we told you that the Apple iPhone 5s is the number one smartphone in six states and the capital territory of Delhi? Chances are, you wouldn’t. Perhaps because of the perception that only latest smartphones sell—the iPhone 5s was launched in September 2013. However, that is exactly the case, as the latest report by CyberMedia Research (CMR) suggest.

The Mobilytiks Insights report covered Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, as well as the territory of Delhi. The Apple iPhone 5s is the top premium smartphone in India across all the regions covered in this report, based on the cumulative installations (simply put, this means sales) basis, as of March.

In Delhi, it is Apple all the way, with 5s in the lead, and the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 5 and the latest iPhone 7 making up the top five.

In Gujarat, too, it is pretty much the same, barring one minor change—the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 6s have swapped places, with the former selling a bit more. There is some hope for the Android ecosystem, with the OnePlus 3T making its way into fourth place in Karnataka, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 taking fifth place in Maharashtra, the Samsung S4 Mini slotting into fourth place in Tamil Nadu and there is also enough traction for the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 in Uttar Pradesh for the phone to get the fifth spot.

It is interesting that the OnePlus 3T has registered so much success in such a short span of time, considering it was launched only towards the end of 2016.

CMR also adds that “various versions of iPhone fill up the top 5 Premium category Smartphones in the states of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, indicating that iPhone is not a metro affair only in India.”

In what seems to be a decisive Apple-wave (if we may call it that), West Bengal is the only state where two Android phones make it to the top three—the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 and the Samsung S4 Mini getting enough sales and installations in that region.

Clearly, the love for the iPhone 5s isn’t only restricted to Delhi or just the metros, with the lower price tag (Rs15,999 on Amazon.in, but prices vary significantly at stores) coupled with the premium iPhone experience, far too enticing for buyers to resist. It will be interesting to see how these numbers change when Apple starts manufacturing the iPhone SE locally, because that could bring down the SE’s price significantly—by as much as 10-12%.

CMR also suggests that Chinese brands such as Oppo and Vivo are registering strong numbers as well, but not enough to break into the top five spots in any of these regions just yet. The likes of Xiaomi are not doing well enough to even warrant a mention, though there is always considerable noise around their smartphones—but that doesn’t necessarily translate into sales and activations.

The CMR Mobilytiks Insights report overturns many perceptions about what makes a smartphone popular with buyers. Clearly, the fact that Android phones are available at significantly lesser price points hasn’t had much of a difference—people don’t mind paying a bit more for a decidedly premium experience, as the strong performance of various iPhone versions indicates. Also, we often get to hear that iPhone is considered expensive in a price sensitive market such as India—but that clearly isn’t the case, as the iPhones are clearly outselling the affordable Android phones, barring the strong performance from the OnePlus 3T, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 and the Samsung S4 Mini.

Apple may launch 2017 iPhone SE variant with new camera setup.

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:35:00 +0000

Apple may launch a new 2017 edition of the iPhone SE with a new camera setup at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5.

According to leaked images from China, the new iPhone SE will come in a body made of glass, which could mean that Apple might ditch the metal body in favour of the glass panel in the upcoming device. The iPhone 8 is also expected to come with a glass back. There are two holes aligned vertically, which is meant for the primary camera and LED flash.

The image also reveals that the shell is made of Ion-X glass, the same material used for Apple Watch Sports.

In terms of specifications, the Apple iPhone SE comes with a 4-inch display, weighs just 113 grams, 0.3 inches thick, 4.87 inches wide and 2.31 inch tall. The LED backlit display has 1136x640 pixels resolution, thereby offering 326 ppi pixel density.

The Apple iPhone SE is powered by the A9 Chip that is made in 64-bit architecture and has the M9 motion co-processor. It has a 12-megapixel iSight rear camera that has 1.22Âµ pixels, autofocus, panorama mode (can create images in up to 63 MP), f/2.2 aperture, five-element lens, Hybrid IR filter, auto image stabilisation, geotagging, noise reduction and face detection features. This camera can record 4K videos as well as full HD and HD videos. Besides, the iPhone SE can record slow motion videos in full HD at 120 fps and HD videos in 240 fps.

For selfies and video calls, the Apple iPhone SE is armed with a 1.2-megapixel front camera that can record HD videos. It has f/2.4 aperture, backside illumination sensor, burst mode, timer, Auto HDR, exposure control and face detection features.

The Apple iPhone SE also has a fingerprint sensor which is built into the Home button. The iPhone SE has NFC, Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi (a/b/g/n/ac). It has GPS with GLONASS, Digital Compass and LTE with VoLTE as well.

Apple is expected to shed some light on new versions os iOS, macOS and a Siri-based smart speaker during the conference.

Bajrang Punia gives India first gold medal at Asian Wrestling Championship 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:28:00 +0000

Bajrang Punia ended India’s gold medal drought on the penultimate day of the Asian Wrestling Championship, taming South Korea’s Seunghui Lee 6-2 in the men’s 65kg freestyle category at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here on Saturday.

Sarita, meanwhile, bagged a silver medal in women’s 58kg category.

After registering a fabulous 6-2 win, Bajrang Punia celebrated by taking a victory lap with the tri-colour on his shoulders.

In his gold medal bout, the 23-year-old Indian conceded two points in the opening half to lag behind 0-2 at the break.

However, Bajrang made a strong comeback in the second half as he did not allow his rival from Korea to earn any more points.

He first pushed his opponent out of the mat to take one point and then took the Korean down for two more to lead 3-2. From there on, Bajrang displayed an attacking game and never let his rival come back into the contest. He subsequently added three more points to his credit to wrap up the bout in style.

London Olympics medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt was present at the gallery to witness his prodigy win the gold medal.

“I asked him (Bajrang) to attack all the time and not be defensive and that paid dividends. Winning a gold medal in the Asian Championships is a really big thing,” Dutt said.

Bajrang earlier made the final of his weight division with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Kukgwang Kim in the semifinal round.

Putting up a brilliant show on his way to the gold medal round, Bajrang got the better of last edition’s Asian Championship gold-medallist Meisam Nassiri of Iran 7-5 in the quarterfinal after beating Uzbek wrestler Sirojiddin Hasanov 4-3 in the qualification round.

However, gold medal eluded Indian women wrestlers even as this was their best ever performance at the Asian Championship with six medals, including four silver and two bronze. In the 2003 edition, India had won a total of five medals that included two silver and three bronze.

Sarita lost 0-6 to Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the final of women’s 58kg to settle for a silver.

Having climbed down two kilograms to 58kg from 60kg after Sakshi Malik and she interchanged their respective weight categories, Sarita came up with a fine performance before going down tamely in her gold medal bout.

“Coming down two kilograms is not a big deal. It is natural for us to jump up and down 2-3 kilograms and right now my original weight is 58kg, so I was comfortable fighting in this category. I want to continue the good show and prepare to qualify for the World Championship in August,” said Sarita.

She failed to put up a fight and was completely outplayed by the Kyrgyzstan wrestler. Sarita was lagging behind from the very beginning as her rival clinched two points twice in the first half by taking her down to lead 4-0 at the break.

In the second half also, the wrestler from Kyrgyzstan continued to dominate and earned two more points to seal the match in her favour.

Sarita’s journey to the final was a cake walk as she thrashed Uzbekistan’s Asem Seydametova10-0 in the quarters before defeating Thi Huong Dao of Vietnam 12-0 to make the gold medal bout.

In men’s 97kg category, Satywart Kadian, Sakshi Malik’s husband, went down in his repechage bout to lose out on a place in the bronze medal play-off. He lost to Batzul Ulziisaikhan of Mongolia 5-8 in a closely-fought contest.

In the qualification round, Satywart lost to Magomed Ibragimov 2-2, but since the Uzbek grappler made the gold medal round, the Indian got a chance to fight in repechage.

Meanwhile, Olympian Sandeep Tomar suffered a knee injury to bow out of the tournament early in men’s 57kg.

Tomar was in a winning position when he sustained the injury and that resulted in him losing 5-6 to Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov of Kyrgyzstan.

In the men’s 74kg, Jitender crashed out of the tournament after losing to Tsubasa Asai of Japan in the quarterfinal round 7-8.

Xiaomi opens first Mi Home store in India, and you can buy the next Redmi or Mi smartphone offline.

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:23:00 +0000

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has opened its Mi Home store in Bengaluru, the first in India. Xiaomi Mi Home Store is an exclusive offline retail store, where the company will showcase its products including the Mi and Redmi series of smartphones. The store will also have Mi Air purifiers and other electronic accessories. According to Xiaomi, it is planning to open 100 similar Mi Home Stores in the country, in the next two years. At an event in Bengaluru, Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi Managing Director, informed that the next series of Mi Homes will open in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. In the upcoming stores, Xiaomi will include 'Experience Zone', but as of now, in the Bengaluru store, you can only find products which are sold in India.

By Experience Zone, the company means that it will also show the customers, products which are not sold in India. However, which exact products will be displayed in those stores, are still to be known. Xiaomi has built an ecosystem of products in China which are not sold here. The products include TVs, Water Purifiers, even Electric bicycles as well. Xiaomi feels that it can understand the response of Indian consumers by showcasing those products through its stores.

Jain told IE.com, "When we started five years back in China, we disrupted the mobile internet business. We started selling online. A lot of people asked us why online? We wanted to sell directly to consumers with Mi.com. We wanted to bypass inefficiencies in offline retail like multiple layers, huge manpower cost, information asymmetry, etc." Jain had pointed out that in China, after Alibaba and JD.com, Mi.com is the third biggest e-commerce company.

The company has claimed that in India, its website has received 100 million visits in April 2017, with more than one million daily active users. It has also claimed that more than 5lakh people visit Mi.com during the special Mi Fan Festival sale in India. Yet, Xiaomi's plans are towards shifting focus to its offline sales, and that too using a different method than that used by other companies.

Jai told IE.com, "In traditional offline, consumers often end up paying 2X for the price of a phone, thanks to the complicated distribution network. In our model, we are looking at going directly to the retailer, and reducing the number of partners between us and the consumer.

Amazon Great Indian Sale: Apple iPhone 5S available for just Rs 15,999

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:19:00 +0000

Amazon India kicked off the 'Great Indian Sale' today and it is offering a wide range of discounts on the products in its platform. While there are several deals on electronics and smartphones, the hugely popular Apple iPhone 5S is available for purchase at just Rs 15,999. The sale on Amazon India's website will go on until May 14. Under the Great Indian Sale, the e-commerce platform is offering huge discounts on smartphones, laptops, accessories, televisions and fashion products. The company is offering special deals on brands like Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and Coolpad. The website is also hosting a sale of the Xiaomi Redmi 4A smartphone, but it is available only for Amazon Prime members. Under the Xiaomi sale, even Idea Cellular has offered a free 28GB 4G data offer.

Best deal of Smartphones and Gadgets

The Great Indian Sale by Amazon comes after September-October in 2016, during the festival season on Dussehra and Diwali. In the latest offering, Amazon has put up several deals and discounts on the products present on its portal. There are offers on consumer electronics including smartphones have deals with 50 percent discount.

Amazon Great Indian Sale: iPhone 7, iPhone SE and other gadget deals

This includes the heavy discount on Apple iPhone 5S too. The company is offering discounts which go upto 70 percent on fashion and lifestyle products. Discounts on large appliances are in the range of 30 to 40 percent, and there is a discount of around 60 to 70 percent on women's and men's fashion. Deals under the sale include Indian brands like Bajaj, Prestige and Fastrack, and also foreign brands like Adidas, LG among others.

Amazon Great Indian Sale: iPhone 7, iPhone SE and other gadget deals

Huge discounts on everything you need. Here!

Here is a list of offers on smartphones under the Amazon Great Indian Sale:

Apple iPhone 5s (16GB): Rs 15,999

Apple iPhone 7 (32GB): Rs 43,999

Apple iPhone 7 (128GB): Rs 52,999

Apple iPhone 6 (32GB): Rs 26,499

Apple iPhone SE: Rs 20,999

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro: Rs 25,999

Samsung On7 Pro: Rs 8,740

Moto G4 Plus: Rs 11,499 (exchange discount of Rs 9,112)

Moto G Plus (16GB): Rs 11,499

Moto X Force (64GB): Rs 20,999

Intex Cloud Q11: Rs 4,999

Lenovo Z2 Plus (32GB): Rs 11,999

The Apple iPhone 5s is the number one smartphone in six Indian states including Delhi, according to a report by CyberMedia Research (CMR). The Mobilytiks Insights report covered Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Delhi.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A to go on sale on Amazon

On Amazon, Apart from smartphones, there are deals on laptops, TVs, Apple Watch and the Kindle. In TVs, there is a sale on Sanyo 43-inch full-HD LED TV and 55-inch TCL Ultra-HD smart LED TV. In terms of Kindle, a flat Rs 2,000 discount can be availed on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (now Rs 8,999) and Rs 999 off on the All-New Kindle (now Rs 5,000). In laptops, there are discounts on the MacBook Air 13, as a part of Amazon Lightning deal.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus review: Towards redemption, with infinite poise

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:12:00 +0000

Those gorgeous concepts that we used to see on the internet, about how smartphones will evolve in the future, are now very real. At first glance, it may look that the Galaxy S8+ is inspired from some of the other ‘Edge’ series predecessors, but the bold design can’t be ignored. Whether it stands the test of time (and rough use) remains to be seen, it certainly is a device well dressed to put Samsung on the road to redemption. With a price tag of Rs64,900, this admittedly gorgeous phone doesn’t come cheap, and it is hard to ignore the new LG G6 (Rs49,999; amazon.in) too. However, it certainly isn’t an experiment that’ll go unnoticed.

Design: Longer, but not much wider

The newest trend with smartphones is to use even wider aspect ratio display (when you look at the phone in landscape mode), which makes the phone taller when you hold it in portrait mode (which is most of the time, unless you’re watching a video). This means that the Galaxy S8+ is narrower than usual, but taller as well, with a rather large 6.2-inch display.

The LG G6 is already doing that, with the taller-than-usual 5.7-inch screen (2,880x1,440 resolution) FullVision display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, unlike the 16:9 aspect ratio that most 5.5-inch displays have. Samsung has gone a step further with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, which is wider. But to add to that novelty aspect ratio, Samsung has done a lot more to refine the design.

Drawing from the previous experience of curved screens on Galaxy flagship phones, they deploy this Edge display while eliminating the bezels to the right and left of the screen. This means the phone snuggles well into the palm. Despite the extra vertical length, anyone with long enough fingers will have no problems reaching the further corners of the display with the same hand that is holding the phone—it is almost the same length as the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.

There is a symmetry to the S8+ design that cannot be ignored. At just 8.1mm thickness and tipping the scales at 173 grams, this is at par on the spec sheet with most rivals. However, the slick design and even weight distribution make this feels both thinner and lighter when you hold it up. Even though you have 6.2 inches of display, the S8+ doesn’t feel much bigger than a 5.5-inch phone, and that itself is unique.

The only problem with the design of the S8+ is the fact that the fingerprint sensor has been positioned at the back, next to the camera. And you will, at multiple times, end up smudging the camera instead. Even LG deploys the fingerprint sensor below the camera module, and that is a better position comparatively.

Display: Doesn’t stretch into infinity, but amazing nonetheless

If it wasn’t for the wider aspect ratio, it would have been nigh impossible to convince anyone that a 6.2-inch display smartphone would be comfortable to use. But this doesn’t suffer from that problem. Samsung calls it an Infinity Display, and it is, to be honest, brilliant. This has the largest real estate among all the current Android flagship phones. Typically, on the lines of what we must expect from a nicely saturated Super AMOLED display, you will get deep and inky black levels, excellent contrast, pin sharp text, this is one of the brightest screens and it just shines—irrespective of what lighting condition you are using this in.

Samsung gives you the flexibility to even change the display resolution. To save battery, you can switch to fairly low 1,480x720 pixels, or a more up-to-date 2,220x1,080 resolution. At the maximum, you will get to use all 2,960x1,440 pixels, though the latter will take up a bit more battery in the larger scheme of things. Also, the resolution gets reduced when the power saving mode switches on, depending on how aggressive you want the battery saving to be.

The length of the screen really improves the multi-window feature, that lets you place two windows on the same screen at the same time—the extra space just helps a lot.

The Infinity Display is HDR compatible, which means you will technically be able to stream HDR content from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. However, things are a bit more complicated. High dynamic range (HDR) is being rapidly adopted by the newer smartphones, and what you’ll get to view are the more vibrant colours and contrast for certain content.

The Galaxy S8+ supports the HDR10 standard, but not Dolby Vision, which the LG G6 has. While Samsung’s Infinity Display panel is UHD Alliance’s “Mobile HDR Premium” certified (it is the first phone display to get that certification), the phone might still have issues getting access to Netflix HDR content. The streaming service has very strict rules to be able to view the 4K content package in terms of the hardware, and the Infinity Display with the 2,960x1,440 resolution QHD+ screen is still less than a 4K screen. However, these are the sort of hurdles that first-generation trendsetters tend to face, we are sure Netflix and Amazon will also work to make the content available on the newer HDR compatible phones.

Software: Modernism finally shows up

Over the years, Samsung’s TouchWiz custom interface wrapped over Android has been given a complete overhaul—and a much needed one at that. What we now get is a more streamlined software, everything is better organized, slight visual tweaks make icons look better, fonts are more comfortable to read and the app drawer icon has been removed as default from the home screen in favour of a swipe-up gesture to get to the apps (very similar to what we have seen in the Google Pixel smartphones).

Preloaded app clutter is significantly less too, but Samsung is still restricting how many preloaded software you may be able to remove or disable, compared to the likes of the OnePlus 3T or even the LG G6. We were a bit perplexed to notice occasional stutter on Touchwiz, particularly when returning to the home screen from the camera app or while opening the gallery app—but this could be something that can be ironed out with a software update.

Performance: The burning desire

The Galaxy S8+ is powered by an Exynos 8895 Octa processor, with 4 cores running at 1.7GHz while 4 higher power cores running at 2.3GHz. Paired with this is 4GB RAM. This processor is also built on the 10-nanometer process, the same as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip that powers the same phone in certain other countries such as the US.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A to go on sale on Amazon today, with Idea 4G data offers: All you need to know

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:08:00 +0000

Xiaomi Redmi 4A smartphone will go on sale in India today and will be sold via exclusive online retail partner Amazon. Incidentally, Amazon India is also conducting a sale on its platform, called the Great Indian Sale.

However, the e-commerce portal has limited the availability of the Xiaomi Redmi 4A only to Amazon Prime members. The smartphone by the Chinese manufacturer was launched in India in March this year and has been priced at Rs 5,999.

Amazon Great Indian Sale: iPhone 7, iPhone SE and other gadget deals

Following the launch of the hugely popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, Xiaomi had unveiled its second big phone in the country in 2017. The Redmi 4A had first launched in China in November 2016 and is a successor to the Redmi 3.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4A (Review) will go on sale on Amazon's India website, starting at 3 PM. As earlier informed, the sale will only be available to Amazon Prime members. However, Amazon has said that users in their free trial can also buy the smartphone, so you still have time to sign up for it.

Huge discounts on everything you need. Here!

During the Amazon Great Indian Sale, users with Citibank credit and debit cards can avail an additional 10 percent cashback on purchases made using the desktop site, and 15 percent on shopping via the app. However, Amazon, on its website writes, that the Citibank cashback offer is not applicable on the smartphone.

Interestingly, there is an offer by Idea Cellular, which buyers can avail. The network provider is offering 1GB of 4G data per day with recharge of Rs 343 to Idea prepaid users. Apart from data offered, the Redmi 4A buyers will also get 300 minutes of free calls on Idea, per day and 3,000 local and STD SMSes each month. The recharge pack is valid for 28 days.

On the specifications front, Redmi 4A features a 5-inch IPS LCD screen along with HD resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) and has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor along with 2GB RAM and an internal storage of 16GB. There is also an option of using a microSD in the slot provide. The Redmi 4A has a 13-megapixel camera at the back and 5-megapixel front shooter. The new smartphone by Xiaomi has a 3120 mAh battery and runs Android Marshmallow along with the company's own MIUI 8 on top. Redmi 4A is powered by a 3120mAh battery with fast charging support.

Incidentally, Xiaomi had recently said it plans to ramp up its offline distribution channel in India and has set the target of around 25 per cent of its turnover from this segment, according to an IANS report. Right now, the company, that crossed the $ 1 billion revenue mark in the country in 2016, is selling its smartphones through 8,500 multi-brand outlets across the country.

Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) launched at Rs 11999; offers free Airtel 4G data for 1 year

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sat, 13 May 2017 17:03:00 +0000

Micromax is back, with the Canvas smartphone lineup. The homegrown phone manufacturer has just launched the Canvas 2 (2017). The Micromax Canvas 2, was a hugely popular device which is said to have built the reputation of the company. Micromax has revamped and relaunched the phone in partnership with Airtel, where it will be offering a year of free 4G data and calling minutes with no additional costs. The best part about the new device is that it features the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 2.5D cover glass. Such a feature is usually not offered in this price range.

The Micromax Canvas 2 has been priced at Rs 11,999 and comes with a one-year one-screen guarantee. The display is able to withstand falls from up to 1.6 meters, according to the company. This height is considered an average 'selfie taking height'. Also, it is scratch resistant. Meanwhile, under the Airtel tie-up, new and existing users will get unlimited prepaid talk time and 4G data. The is a cap of 400 minutes of talktime and 1GB of data per day. Also, for calls, there is a weekly cap of 1500 minutes and 1GB data a day.

MO Shubhajit Sen told IE that the new Micromax Canvas 2 will plug a gap Micromax had in the Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 segment. This is a budget range which is saturated with plenty of smartphones from rivals. In terms of specifications, the Canvas 2 comes with a 5-inch HD display with 400nits brightness. The camera at the back is 13 megapixels with f2.0 aperture as well as a software driven bokeh effect. The phone has a 5-megapixel wide selfie shooter with a 4P lens. It has an 8.5mm thickness and weighs 160 grams. An interesting feature the phone has, is the ability to pull up a control pad where users can access the most commonly used apps.

The Canvas 2 runs the Android Nougat, which is a first for Micromax. The phone is powered by the quad-core 1.3GHz Mediatek 6737 processor. In terms of memory, the phone comes with 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. It also contains a fingerprint scanner and is fueled by a 3050mAh battery. The phone is 4G VoLTE as well.

Micromax Canvas 2 (2017), which comes in Chrome and Champagne colour variants, will be available across offline channels.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will suspend its flight between Karachi and Mumbai from Monday due to commercial considerations

noreply@blogger.com (Vishal.Kalgutkar) — Sun, 07 May 2017 08:09:00 +0000

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will suspend its flight between Karachi and Mumbai from Monday due to commercial considerations, a senior airline official has said.

PIA operated two flights in a week – on Monday and Thursday – between Karachi and Mumbai.

However, the PIA’s Lahore-Delhi flight operation will continue as traffic volume on this route is satisfactory, the PIA official told PTI.

The suspension of Karachi-Mumbai route may add traffic to Lahore-Delhi route, he said.

“There will be no PIA flight between Karachi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Karachi from May 8. The PIA has stopped booking for flights on this route,” the official said.

The PIA management has decided to suspend the flight on the Karachi-Mumbai route because of extremely low traffic (on the route).

“Since we have been bearing financial loss on this route for the last six months or so, we have arrived at a decision to suspend this route,” the official said, adding that unless a special subsidy is not given by the government on this route, it may not be restored in the near future.

The move comes amid a strain in Indo-Pak ties following the beheading of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan military in Jammu and Kashmir.

The PIA administration, however, dismissed media reports that the Karachi-Mumbai operation is being suspended due to tense relations between India and Pakistan.

“The reasons behind the move are purely commercial,” PIA spokesperson Danyal Gillani said.

The proposal to suspend the Karachi-Mumbai flight may have been made for commercial purposes, but deteriorating ties indirectly have affected traffic on the route.

PIA was a profit making entity and earned more than Rs 2 billion in 2004 but after that it went into deficit and could not recover.

Since 2013, when the current Nawaz Sharif government took over, the carrier has suffered more than Rs 100 billion in losses, according to officials.