Monday, August 24th, 2020, is a date that will remain etched eternally in the memory of Indian-American Velchamy Sankarlingam. In fact, his work involves striving to ensure that what happened on that day doesn’t repeat. Zoom Video Communications, the popular video conferencing service, where he has been President, Product, and Engineering, had suffered a major global outage.

This, at a time when the service was being used by over a 300million daily meeting attendees, amid a pandemic that had forced people across geographies into Lockdowns. In an exclusive conversation with WION, he threw light on his experience of helping improve Zoom’s services, while also improving its privacy and security, amid widespread concerns.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/parents-didnt-go-to-college-but-let-me-pursue-my-dreams-zooms-president-of-product-and-engineering-419269">Also read |&nbsp;'Parents didn’t go to college, but let me pursue my dreams': Zoom’s President of Product and Engineering</a>

Having joined Zoom in June 2020, on the insistence of his longtime friend and ex-colleague and Zoom’s Founder, CEO, Eric Yuan, Velchamy had to hit the ground running. The challenge at hand was unenviable - help scale up a product that was witnessing a 30-fold growth, in terms of the number of daily meeting attendees and attending to the growing concerns of privacy and security, expressed by individual users and Governments.

“Even prior to my joining Zoom and after my joining, there are nights when we built capacity to handle the next day’s needs. However, a lot of credit goes to Eric(CEO), as the product is built really well. Zoom can run on our own data center and on the public cloud, this ensures flexibility to expand” Velchamy recalls about the beginning of his tenure at Zoom.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-metaverse-to-nft-here-is-all-you-need-to-know-about-tech-buzzwords-of-2021-439134" hreflang="en">From metaverse to NFT: Here is all you need to know about tech buzzwords of 2021</a>

He admits that it was a lot of pressure on the team to scale up rapidly, however, he also believes that it is their company culture to do what’s right and keep customers happy. “When the pandemic hit, Eric could have prioritised his premium customers and shut down the free service. Instead, he went on to expand the free service and offer it free-of-cost for schools” he explains.&nbsp;

Hailing from Virudhunagar, in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, Velchamy had moved to the US after completing his engineering from Anna University, in the Southern Indian metropolis of Chennai. With a specialised qualification in Computer science and business, Velchamy worked at leading firms in the Software-as-a-Service industry(including IBM, Webex, VMware).

According to him, WebEx acquiring Presenter.com (the startup he was working for) was a major turning point in his career. It provided him the opportunity to help WebEx grow, while also being mentored by renowned tech industry leaders. It was at WebEx that Velchamy had met and worked with Eric Yuan (Zoom’s Founder, CEO).

“If you’re not paranoid, then this isn’t the job for you”

24th September 2020 happened to be a Monday, when even Zoom, which enabled WFH for millions across the globe, suffered Monday blues. During the morning hours, outages were reported across America, Europe and also in India and Australia. The service is said to have been restored by noon. “It was caused due to an error we made in our billing. It took us a couple of hours to resolve… It was not a full disruption, but a significant one” Velchamy recollects.&nbsp;

Learning from their own mistakes and those of others, Zoom worked towards ensuring that availability of service remains a top priority. “We will be able to run the service even if a data center goes down… Our product is resilient and can run from different data centers worldwide. There’s a lot of architecture built-in… Its not about feeling good about what is right, we must always look at what can go wrong… If you’re not paranoid, this job isn’t for you… ” he quips about the nature of his work.

That might sound like a lot of work-related stress, but playing a few hours of Golf is all he needs to get back with renewed vigour. But, when faced with challenges and in need for motivation, he looks to icons from his part of the world - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam(Former Indian President and aerospace scientist) and K.Kamaraj (Indian freedom fighter and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu). “Since I am from Virudhunagar, I know a lot about Chief Minister Kamaraj. I have also read a lot about Dr. Abdul Kalam. I admire both of them for their integrity, values and selflessness” Velchamy says with pride.

True to its name, the company just Zoomed ahead during the pandemic - going from 10million daily meeting attendees(pre-pandemic) to nearly a 300million, during the pandemic. In India, the growth in daily meeting attendees was more than 60-fold. To cater to this user base, Zoom established data centers in India cities and even began accepting the Indian Rupee as a mode of payment. However, this growth was not without widespread concerns - the company’s alleged China ties, Security and Privacy issues, among others.&nbsp;

Queried about the China ties and related controversies, Velchamy said that Zoom is an American company and that it was built so by Founder, CEO Eric Yuan, who is also an American citizen. He added that the company had its major data centers in the US and how the company was funded by mainstream US investors and meant to provide service globally.&nbsp;

Elaborating on the China issue, he said that security options were provided for both Free and Premium users- For all the free users, none of the traffic goes through China, whereas we’ve given our paid users the option to join from 20 data centers around the world. “If you have meeting attendees in China and want them to join from China, you can. If you don’t have meeting attendees from China, then you have the choice to pick which country(data center) and how the data flows” he explained.

On the questions raised over privacy and security of the service, he responded that the company had spent 90 days on enhancing these facets and ensuring that a slew of new features were added. “Now, meeting hosts can lock the meeting room once all guests are in, attendees can be sent out of a meeting, the meeting can be frozen and hosts can find out who is doing what. We also have a Trust and Safety team to investigate any reports that come in” said Velchamy.

Asked specifically on the number of Governments that use Zoom services, he said, “Parts of the US Government, UK Government and Singapore use Zoom and recently the Indian Government had also issued an advisory saying Zoom was safe for use for Government purposes. A lot of Governments worldwide use Zoom”.

Immediately after the service outage in 2020, Zoom had sent an apology e-mail to its affected customers, but the responses overwhelmed the Zoom team, recalls Velchamy. “Pretty much all responses were about how Zoom helped them(the users)… We felt even worse(to have let them down), after reading their replies.. We realized how big a difference Zoom is making and that’s what makes us work harder” he signs off.

Monday, August 24th, 2020, is a date that will remain etched eternally in the memory of Indian-American Velchamy Sankarlingam. In fact, his work involves striving to ensure that what happened on that day doesn’t repeat.

Monday, August 24th, 2020, is a date that will remain etched eternally in the memory of Indian-American Velchamy Sankarlingam. In fact, his work involves striving to ensure that what happened on that day doesn’t repeat. Zoom Video Communications, the popular video conferencing service, where he has been President, Product, and Engineering, had suffered a major global outage. This, at a time when the service was being used by over a 300million daily meeting attendees, amid a pandemic that had forced people across geographies into Lockdowns. In an exclusive conversation with WION, he threw light on his experience of helping improve Zoom’s services, while also improving its privacy and security, amid widespread concerns. Also read | 'Parents didn’t go to college, but let me pursue my dreams': Zoom’s President of Product and Engineering Having joined Zoom in June 2020, on the insistence of his longtime friend and ex-colleague and Zoom’s Founder, CEO, Eric Yuan, Velchamy had to hit the ground running. The challenge at hand was unenviable - help scale up a product that was witnessing a 30-fold growth, in terms of the number of daily meeting attendees and attending to the growing concerns of privacy and security, expressed by individual users and Governments. “Even prior to my joining Zoom and after my joining, there are nights when we built capacity to handle the next day’s needs. However, a lot of credit goes to Eric(CEO), as the product is built really well. Zoom can run on our own data center and on the public cloud, this ensures flexibility to expand” Velchamy recalls about the beginning of his tenure at Zoom. Also see | From metaverse to NFT: Here is all you need to know about tech buzzwords of 2021 He admits that it was a lot of pressure on the team to scale up rapidly, however, he also believes that it is their company culture to do what’s right and keep customers happy. “When the pandemic hit, Eric could have prioritised his premium customers and shut down the free service. Instead, he went on to expand the free service and offer it free-of-cost for schools” he explains. Hailing from Virudhunagar, in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, Velchamy had moved to the US after completing his engineering from Anna University, in the Southern Indian metropolis of Chennai. With a specialised qualification in Computer science and business, Velchamy worked at leading firms in the Software-as-a-Service industry(including IBM, Webex, VMware). According to him, WebEx acquiring Presenter.com (the startup he was working for) was a major turning point in his career. It provided him the opportunity to help WebEx grow, while also being mentored by renowned tech industry leaders. It was at WebEx that Velchamy had met and worked with Eric Yuan (Zoom’s Founder, CEO). “If you’re not paranoid, then this isn’t the job for you” 24th September 2020 happened to be a Monday, when even Zoom, which enabled WFH for millions across the globe, suffered Monday blues. During the morning hours, outages were reported across America, Europe and also in India and Australia. The service is said to have been restored by noon. “It was caused due to an error we made in our billing. It took us a couple of hours to resolve… It was not a full disruption, but a significant one” Velchamy recollects. Learning from their own mistakes and those of others, Zoom worked towards ensuring that availability of service remains a top priority. “We will be able to run the service even if a data center goes down… Our product is resilient and can run from different data centers worldwide. There’s a lot of architecture built-in… Its not about feeling good about what is right, we must always look at what can go wrong… If you’re not paranoid, this job isn’t for you… ” he quips about the nature of his work. That might sound like a lot of work-related stress, but playing a few hours of Golf is all he needs to get back with renewed vigour. But, when faced with challenges and in need for motivation, he looks to icons from his part of the world - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam(Former Indian President and aerospace scientist) and K.Kamaraj (Indian freedom fighter and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu). “Since I am from Virudhunagar, I know a lot about Chief Minister Kamaraj. I have also read a lot about Dr. Abdul Kalam. I admire both of them for their integrity, values and selflessness” Velchamy says with pride. True to its name, the company just Zoomed ahead during the pandemic - going from 10million daily meeting attendees(pre-pandemic) to nearly a 300million, during the pandemic. In India, the growth in daily meeting attendees was more than 60-fold. To cater to this user base, Zoom established data centers in India cities and even began accepting the Indian Rupee as a mode of payment. However, this growth was not without widespread concerns - the company’s alleged China ties, Security and Privacy issues, among others. Queried about the China ties and related controversies, Velchamy said that Zoom is an American company and that it was built so by Founder, CEO Eric Yuan, who is also an American citizen. He added that the company had its major data centers in the US and how the company was funded by mainstream US investors and meant to provide service globally. Elaborating on the China issue, he said that security options were provided for both Free and Premium users- For all the free users, none of the traffic goes through China, whereas we’ve given our paid users the option to join from 20 data centers around the world. “If you have meeting attendees in China and want them to join from China, you can. If you don’t have meeting attendees from China, then you have the choice to pick which country(data center) and how the data flows” he explained. On the questions raised over privacy and security of the service, he responded that the company had spent 90 days on enhancing these facets and ensuring that a slew of new features were added. “Now, meeting hosts can lock the meeting room once all guests are in, attendees can be sent out of a meeting, the meeting can be frozen and hosts can find out who is doing what. We also have a Trust and Safety team to investigate any reports that come in” said Velchamy. Asked specifically on the number of Governments that use Zoom services, he said, “Parts of the US Government, UK Government and Singapore use Zoom and recently the Indian Government had also issued an advisory saying Zoom was safe for use for Government purposes. A lot of Governments worldwide use Zoom”. Immediately after the service outage in 2020, Zoom had sent an apology e-mail to its affected customers, but the responses overwhelmed the Zoom team, recalls Velchamy. “Pretty much all responses were about how Zoom helped them(the users)… We felt even worse(to have let them down), after reading their replies.. We realized how big a difference Zoom is making and that’s what makes us work harder” he signs off.

Exclusive: A global outage, privacy and security concerns, how Zoom Video set it right

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Microsoft on Thursday warned thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies, that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, according to a copy of the email and a cyber security researcher.

The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos DB database. A research team at security company Wiz discovered it was able to access keys that control access to databases held by thousands of companies. Wiz Chief Technology Officer Ami Luttwak is a former chief technology officer at Microsoft's Cloud Security Group.

Because Microsoft cannot change those keys by itself, it emailed the customers Thursday telling them to create new ones. Microsoft agreed to pay Wiz $40,000 for finding the flaw and reporting it, according to an email it sent to Wiz.

"We fixed this issue immediately to keep our customers safe and protected. We thank the security researchers for working under coordinated vulnerability disclosure," Microsoft told Reuters.

Microsoft's email to customers said there was no evidence the flaw had been exploited. "We have no indication that external entities outside the researcher (Wiz) had access to the primary read-write key," the email said.

“This is the worst cloud vulnerability you can imagine. It is a long-lasting secret,” Luttwak told Reuters. “This is the central database of Azure, and we were able to get access to any customer database that we wanted.”

Luttwak's team found the problem, dubbed ChaosDB, on Aug. 9 and notified Microsoft Aug. 12, Luttwak said.

The flaw was in a visualization tool called Jupyter Notebook, which has been available for years but was enabled by default in Cosmos beginning in February. After Reuters reported on the flaw, Wiz detailed the issue https://www.wiz.io/blog/chaosdb-how-we-hacked-thousands-of-azure-customers-databases in a blog post.

Luttwak said even customers who have not been notified by Microsoft could have had their keys swiped by attackers, giving them access until those keys are changed. Microsoft only told customers whose keys were visible this month, when Wiz was working on the issue.

Microsoft told Reuters that "customers who may have been impacted received a notification from us," without elaborating.

The disclosure comes after months of bad security news for Microsoft. The company was breached by the same suspected Russian government hackers that infiltrated SolarWinds, who stole Microsoft source code https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-solarwinds-microsoft-idUSKBN2AI2Q0. Then a wide number of hackers broke into Exchange email servers while a patch was being developed.

A recent fix for a printer flaw that allowed computer takeovers had to be redone repeatedly. Another Exchange flaw last week prompted an urgent U.S. government warning https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/current-activity/2021/08/21/urgent-protect-against-active-exploitation-proxyshell that customers need to install patches issued months ago because ransomware gangs are now exploiting it.

Problems with Azure are especially troubling, because Microsoft and outside security experts have been pushing companies to abandon most of their own infrastructure and rely on the cloud for more security.

But though cloud attacks are more rare, they can be more devastating when they occur. What's more, some are never publicized.

A federally contracted research lab tracks all known security flaws in software and rates them by severity. But there is no equivalent system for holes in cloud architecture, so many critical vulnerabilities remain undisclosed to users, Luttwak said.

Microsoft on Thursday warned thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies, that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, according to a copy of the email and a cyber security researcher.

Microsoft on Thursday warned thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world's largest companies, that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, according to a copy of the email and a cyber security researcher. The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos DB database. A research team at security company Wiz discovered it was able to access keys that control access to databases held by thousands of companies. Wiz Chief Technology Officer Ami Luttwak is a former chief technology officer at Microsoft's Cloud Security Group. Because Microsoft cannot change those keys by itself, it emailed the customers Thursday telling them to create new ones. Microsoft agreed to pay Wiz $40,000 for finding the flaw and reporting it, according to an email it sent to Wiz. "We fixed this issue immediately to keep our customers safe and protected. We thank the security researchers for working under coordinated vulnerability disclosure," Microsoft told Reuters. Microsoft's email to customers said there was no evidence the flaw had been exploited. "We have no indication that external entities outside the researcher (Wiz) had access to the primary read-write key," the email said. “This is the worst cloud vulnerability you can imagine. It is a long-lasting secret,” Luttwak told Reuters. “This is the central database of Azure, and we were able to get access to any customer database that we wanted.” Luttwak's team found the problem, dubbed ChaosDB, on Aug. 9 and notified Microsoft Aug. 12, Luttwak said. The flaw was in a visualization tool called Jupyter Notebook, which has been available for years but was enabled by default in Cosmos beginning in February. After Reuters reported on the flaw, Wiz detailed the issue https://www.wiz.io/blog/chaosdb-how-we-hacked-thousands-of-azure-customers-databases in a blog post. Luttwak said even customers who have not been notified by Microsoft could have had their keys swiped by attackers, giving them access until those keys are changed. Microsoft only told customers whose keys were visible this month, when Wiz was working on the issue. Microsoft told Reuters that "customers who may have been impacted received a notification from us," without elaborating. The disclosure comes after months of bad security news for Microsoft. The company was breached by the same suspected Russian government hackers that infiltrated SolarWinds, who stole Microsoft source code https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-solarwinds-microsoft-idUSKBN2AI2Q0. Then a wide number of hackers broke into Exchange email servers while a patch was being developed. A recent fix for a printer flaw that allowed computer takeovers had to be redone repeatedly. Another Exchange flaw last week prompted an urgent U.S. government warning https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/current-activity/2021/08/21/urgent-protect-against-active-exploitation-proxyshell that customers need to install patches issued months ago because ransomware gangs are now exploiting it. Problems with Azure are especially troubling, because Microsoft and outside security experts have been pushing companies to abandon most of their own infrastructure and rely on the cloud for more security. But though cloud attacks are more rare, they can be more devastating when they occur. What's more, some are never publicized. A federally contracted research lab tracks all known security flaws in software and rates them by severity. But there is no equivalent system for holes in cloud architecture, so many critical vulnerabilities remain undisclosed to users, Luttwak said.

Microsoft warns thousands of cloud customers of exposed databases

Sony's new portable party speaker offers booming sound that may irk the neighbours but those 'raging' at home will love it.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
SONY SRS-XP500: Rs 26,990

<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 200px;">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>
			Pros&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
			</td>
			<td>
			&nbsp;Cons&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Great battery life</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Heavy to lug around</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Powerful sound</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Only&nbsp;front-facing&nbsp;speaker</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Aux in, USB charging</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Karaoke feature</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

&nbsp;

<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 200px;">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Tech Specs: SONY SRS-XP500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Sound direction:&nbsp;Front-facing speaker</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Battery: 20 hours</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Quick charging: 80 mins playtime on 10 mins charge</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>IP rating: ipx4</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Weight: 11.2kg</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

&nbsp;

"Don't play that too loud, you'll wake up other family members!"

"The neighbours are telling us to turn it down!"

"Crank up the volume to max and let's&nbsp;workout!"

"Mama, let's play&nbsp;Floor is Lava&nbsp;at full volume!" 
 
These few exclamatory remarks have dominated my life ever since the Sony SRS-XP500 came home.&nbsp;Meet the new-age boombox, party speaker, giant audio beast. Call it whatever you want, Sony's new speaker offers powerful, immersive sound.

So much so that my humble bedroom was not prepared to be shaken to its core when we played&nbsp;Arena&nbsp;by Fabian Mazur and Snavs, a high-adrenalin track for exercise.

Neither was my home prepared to listen to&nbsp;The Floor is Lava&nbsp;with such enthusiasm because we were all blown away with the beats and couldn't help but join my three-year-old in jumping and squealing with glee.

What I am trying to say is, I am not a "rager" or a "party animal" or any other millennial terms associated with the act of head-banging to loud music. And yet, even I couldn't resist the urge to invite my fully-vaccinated, mask-wearing friends over to enjoy some powerful beats on this speaker.

The speaker is priced at Rs 26,990 which is decent for a speaker this size with a bucket-load of features. Remember, flagship wireless earphones are known to cost more than this. So here is why the Sony SRS-XP500 is the ideal speaker for you if you like to entertain and enjoy music to its full potential. 
 
<img alt="Sony" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="67b1a91b-1ab2-4f08-a883-bcd925a73aa1" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/7771.jpg" />

Portable only if you exercise

The Sony SRS-XP500 is portable which means you can lug it around to parties and big gatherings in a post-pandemic elusive world. It doesn't need to be connected to a power source at all times though&nbsp;the sound quality is much more impressive when it is tethered to power.&nbsp;

At 11.2 kilograms, it isn't something you can easily move around unless of course, you lift weights! It's a big black beauty if you will, with LED lights for those that like that kind of vibe. For an old soul like me, it was a real pleasure listening to some&nbsp;Nora Jones&nbsp;classics with dimmed lighting and letting the LEDs set the mood.

For those wondering where to park this beast, you can set it up vertically or horizontally. The IPX4 rating guards the XP500 against water so if you're headed to a dinner with the XP500 as your date, don't panic if someone spills their beverage on it. Or in my case, when my son spilled Apple juice while dancing to&nbsp;Cocomelon&nbsp;beats.

Get creative

The market for party speakers, believe you me, is surprisingly large and well-documented with big brands diving into the space. It may be hard to justify spending money on a party speaker when we're mostly stuck at home avoiding a lethal infection.

So make use of the other features that the XP500 offers such as using the mic and guitar input to turn the speaker into a karaoke machine! This can be a great tool if you're calling a few guests over -- who are vaccinated of course -- and can make for great in-house entertainment.

Battery that won't give up

You had me at battery life! The XP500 comes with 20 hours of battery life and after 10 minutes of charge, gives you 80 minutes of uninterrupted play because of its Quick charging feature.

So if you're taking this out camping, on a holiday in the distant future or even enjoying some online workouts through the Bluetooth mode, the speaker won't let you down.

Sound which can wake up the neighbours!

Pro tip: this isn't for small bedrooms or spaces since you're bound to annoy other members and relatives unless you're disciplined with the volume. This is a testament to the powerful sound offered by the speaker. We used it while hosting a dinner with some friends and had plenty asking us about the features.

I used it for a few kickboxing and Zumba workouts and the immersive sound kept my energy levels high.

The tech here is packed in two high-efficiency Tweeters along with two X Balanced Woofers. Every thump, click, crack, yelp and yeah can be heard with pristine clarity!

Imagine what you could do with this speaker in a big party when it's safe to attend one?&nbsp;

The sound quality here leaves very little room for complaints (audio purists, here's looking at you) despite being a front-facing speaker alone.

Should you buy it?

This is a question that's difficult to answer at this point in time. Are we ready to party? Not yet, I think. The country has opened up, people are stepping out, to malls, restaurants, exotic destinations. So the market for such a speaker is ripe even now and if you are looking for one, the Sony SRS-XP500 is the new-age boombox for you priced well at nearly Rs 27,000.

While I recommend the product, I do not endorse disturbing others with loud music. Do not attend crowded parties at this point even as cases decline. So be adventurous, not careless.

Buy this speaker to enjoy amazing sound, be wary of the virus, and host a socially responsible gathering of fully jabbed friends who will enjoy the sound and belt out a few out-of-tune numbers with you!

Sony's new portable party speaker offers booming sound that may irk the neighbours but those 'raging' at home will love it. SONY SRS-XP500: Rs 26,990 Pros Cons Great battery life Heavy to lug around Powerful sound Only front-facing speaker Aux in, USB charging Karaoke feature Tech Specs: SONY SRS-XP500 Sound direction: Front-facing speaker Battery: 20 hours Quick charging: 80 mins playtime on 10 mins charge IP rating: ipx4 Weight: 11.

Sony's new portable party speaker offers booming sound that may irk the neighbours but those 'raging' at home will love it. SONY SRS-XP500: Rs 26,990 Pros Cons Great battery life Heavy to lug around Powerful sound Only front-facing speaker Aux in, USB charging Karaoke feature Tech Specs: SONY SRS-XP500 Sound direction: Front-facing speaker Battery: 20 hours Quick charging: 80 mins playtime on 10 mins charge IP rating: ipx4 Weight: 11.2kg "Don't play that too loud, you'll wake up other family members!" "The neighbours are telling us to turn it down!" "Crank up the volume to max and let's workout!" "Mama, let's play Floor is Lava at full volume!" These few exclamatory remarks have dominated my life ever since the Sony SRS-XP500 came home. Meet the new-age boombox, party speaker, giant audio beast. Call it whatever you want, Sony's new speaker offers powerful, immersive sound. So much so that my humble bedroom was not prepared to be shaken to its core when we played Arena by Fabian Mazur and Snavs, a high-adrenalin track for exercise. Neither was my home prepared to listen to The Floor is Lava with such enthusiasm because we were all blown away with the beats and couldn't help but join my three-year-old in jumping and squealing with glee. What I am trying to say is, I am not a "rager" or a "party animal" or any other millennial terms associated with the act of head-banging to loud music. And yet, even I couldn't resist the urge to invite my fully-vaccinated, mask-wearing friends over to enjoy some powerful beats on this speaker. The speaker is priced at Rs 26,990 which is decent for a speaker this size with a bucket-load of features. Remember, flagship wireless earphones are known to cost more than this. So here is why the Sony SRS-XP500 is the ideal speaker for you if you like to entertain and enjoy music to its full potential. Portable only if you exercise The Sony SRS-XP500 is portable which means you can lug it around to parties and big gatherings in a post-pandemic elusive world. It doesn't need to be connected to a power source at all times though the sound quality is much more impressive when it is tethered to power. At 11.2 kilograms, it isn't something you can easily move around unless of course, you lift weights! It's a big black beauty if you will, with LED lights for those that like that kind of vibe. For an old soul like me, it was a real pleasure listening to some Nora Jones classics with dimmed lighting and letting the LEDs set the mood. For those wondering where to park this beast, you can set it up vertically or horizontally. The IPX4 rating guards the XP500 against water so if you're headed to a dinner with the XP500 as your date, don't panic if someone spills their beverage on it. Or in my case, when my son spilled Apple juice while dancing to Cocomelon beats. Get creative The market for party speakers, believe you me, is surprisingly large and well-documented with big brands diving into the space. It may be hard to justify spending money on a party speaker when we're mostly stuck at home avoiding a lethal infection. So make use of the other features that the XP500 offers such as using the mic and guitar input to turn the speaker into a karaoke machine! This can be a great tool if you're calling a few guests over -- who are vaccinated of course -- and can make for great in-house entertainment. Battery that won't give up You had me at battery life! The XP500 comes with 20 hours of battery life and after 10 minutes of charge, gives you 80 minutes of uninterrupted play because of its Quick charging feature. So if you're taking this out camping, on a holiday in the distant future or even enjoying some online workouts through the Bluetooth mode, the speaker won't let you down. Sound which can wake up the neighbours! Pro tip: this isn't for small bedrooms or spaces since you're bound to annoy other members and relatives unless you're disciplined with the volume. This is a testament to the powerful sound offered by the speaker. We used it while hosting a dinner with some friends and had plenty asking us about the features. I used it for a few kickboxing and Zumba workouts and the immersive sound kept my energy levels high. The tech here is packed in two high-efficiency Tweeters along with two X Balanced Woofers. Every thump, click, crack, yelp and yeah can be heard with pristine clarity! Imagine what you could do with this speaker in a big party when it's safe to attend one? The sound quality here leaves very little room for complaints (audio purists, here's looking at you) despite being a front-facing speaker alone. Should you buy it? This is a question that's difficult to answer at this point in time. Are we ready to party? Not yet, I think. The country has opened up, people are stepping out, to malls, restaurants, exotic destinations. So the market for such a speaker is ripe even now and if you are looking for one, the Sony SRS-XP500 is the new-age boombox for you priced well at nearly Rs 27,000. While I recommend the product, I do not endorse disturbing others with loud music. Do not attend crowded parties at this point even as cases decline. So be adventurous, not careless. Buy this speaker to enjoy amazing sound, be wary of the virus, and host a socially responsible gathering of fully jabbed friends who will enjoy the sound and belt out a few out-of-tune numbers with you!

How loud is too loud?

A computer game called&nbsp;"Escape COVID-19" is helping&nbsp;health workers&nbsp;not only get a distraction but also garner knowledge to battle about the novel coronavirus&nbsp;in real life.

Players of the game&nbsp;are guided through a series of scenarios that health workers at hospitals and long-term care facilities encounter on a daily basis.&nbsp;

Each challenge, from before leaving the house to their commute and especially on the job,&nbsp;is geared towards helping frontline staff change their real-world behaviour to better protect against spreading the virus.

Researchers at the&nbsp;Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) have&nbsp;developed the "serious game", which is available online in French, German, Italian and English, to help healthcare workers internalise the best practices for avoiding outbreaks on the job.

Professor Stephan Harbarth heads the infection prevention unit at the hospital and his team helped provide the protocol and procedural expertise underlying "Escape COVID-19".

"Classical hospital hygiene and inter-hospital infection prevention are not always the most sexy of topics," he acknowledged.&nbsp;

"We see that a playful game, along with other communication methods, is more effective in helping people change their behaviour."

A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research earlier this month indicated that the game was far more effective than regular information manuals in inspiring behavioural change among staff.

"Those who played the game were three times more likely to say they wanted to change their behaviour compared to those who received the regular material."

Inciting behaviour change among health professionals is vital.&nbsp;

Since the start of the pandemic, hospitals and care facilities have tragically become incubators of COVID-19 outbreaks.

In the beginning, Harbarth said most of the focus was on protecting doctors and nurses from getting infected while caring for COVID-19 patients.&nbsp;

But after a while it became clear that asymptomatic health workers were spreading the virus too, and often to non-Covid patients.

"We realised we needed to be very careful that the personnel didn't become vectors, or mosquitos if you will, infecting patients," Harbarth said.

There was a need to dramatically change attitudes among health professionals, who are accustomed to working long hours and not letting a cough or sniffle keep them away.

Now, they were asked to stay away at the slightest symptom, and to get tested even without symptoms.

"It is really a complete change of our normal paradigm," Harbarth said. "The game has helped us do that."

In fact, he said, the game deserved some of the credit for the dramatic drop in hospital-sparked Covid infections in recent months.

Looking forward, Harbarth said he hoped games would be more widely used to reinforce important medical messages, including on vaccination.

"This is a huge challenge," he said, pointing out that not all hospital employees agree to get a Covid jab.

"A playful game... might be a good tool for distributing accurate information."

It involved nearly 300 emergency room workers in Geneva who were either provided with written material about the proper procedures to follow or asked to play the computer game.

"The study measured a real benefit," said Suppan.

(With inputs from agencies)

A computer game called "Escape COVID-19" is helping health workers not only get a distraction but also garner knowledge to battle about the novel coronavirus in real life.

A computer game called "Escape COVID-19" is helping health workers not only get a distraction but also garner knowledge to battle about the novel coronavirus in real life. Players of the game are guided through a series of scenarios that health workers at hospitals and long-term care facilities encounter on a daily basis. Each challenge, from before leaving the house to their commute and especially on the job, is geared towards helping frontline staff change their real-world behaviour to better protect against spreading the virus. Researchers at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) have developed the "serious game", which is available online in French, German, Italian and English, to help healthcare workers internalise the best practices for avoiding outbreaks on the job. Professor Stephan Harbarth heads the infection prevention unit at the hospital and his team helped provide the protocol and procedural expertise underlying "Escape COVID-19". "Classical hospital hygiene and inter-hospital infection prevention are not always the most sexy of topics," he acknowledged. "We see that a playful game, along with other communication methods, is more effective in helping people change their behaviour." A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research earlier this month indicated that the game was far more effective than regular information manuals in inspiring behavioural change among staff. "Those who played the game were three times more likely to say they wanted to change their behaviour compared to those who received the regular material." Inciting behaviour change among health professionals is vital. Since the start of the pandemic, hospitals and care facilities have tragically become incubators of COVID-19 outbreaks. In the beginning, Harbarth said most of the focus was on protecting doctors and nurses from getting infected while caring for COVID-19 patients. But after a while it became clear that asymptomatic health workers were spreading the virus too, and often to non-Covid patients. "We realised we needed to be very careful that the personnel didn't become vectors, or mosquitos if you will, infecting patients," Harbarth said. There was a need to dramatically change attitudes among health professionals, who are accustomed to working long hours and not letting a cough or sniffle keep them away. Now, they were asked to stay away at the slightest symptom, and to get tested even without symptoms. "It is really a complete change of our normal paradigm," Harbarth said. "The game has helped us do that." In fact, he said, the game deserved some of the credit for the dramatic drop in hospital-sparked Covid infections in recent months. Looking forward, Harbarth said he hoped games would be more widely used to reinforce important medical messages, including on vaccination. "This is a huge challenge," he said, pointing out that not all hospital employees agree to get a Covid jab. "A playful game... might be a good tool for distributing accurate information." It involved nearly 300 emergency room workers in Geneva who were either provided with written material about the proper procedures to follow or asked to play the computer game. "The study measured a real benefit," said Suppan. (With inputs from agencies)

'Escape COVID-19': Computer game helping health workers combat virus spread

Apple may be the influential tech company that is at the forefront of innovation but when it comes top sophisticated cyberattack, Apple's interests are as vulnerable as our tech-challenged friend's computer.

The company is now facing a 'ransomware attack'. For those who don't know what this is, a ransomware attack involves cybercriminals encrypting your valuable data. After the data becomes inaccessible to you, the hackers ask ransom money to provide the key to break the encryption.

Apple has been on the receiving end because of&nbsp;an attack on one of its suppliers.

The group of hackers calls themselves 'Sodin' and the ransomware is called 'REvil'. The hackers stole Apple's data from Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that assembles some of Apple's laptops.

The hackers claim that the stolen information has to do with Apple's upcoming products. These, they say, include Apple laptops and a new Apple Watch

Quanta Computer has refused to pay the ransom and hackers are now threatening that they will make information about Apple's next launches public.

Well, well. What will Apple do next? They aren't saying anything for now that's for sure!

Apple may be the influential tech company that is at the forefront of innovation but when it comes top sophisticated cyberattack, Apple's interests are as vulnerable as our tech-challenged friend's computer.

Apple may be the influential tech company that is at the forefront of innovation but when it comes top sophisticated cyberattack, Apple's interests are as vulnerable as our tech-challenged friend's computer. The company is now facing a 'ransomware attack'. For those who don't know what this is, a ransomware attack involves cybercriminals encrypting your valuable data. After the data becomes inaccessible to you, the hackers ask ransom money to provide the key to break the encryption. Apple has been on the receiving end because of an attack on one of its suppliers. The group of hackers calls themselves 'Sodin' and the ransomware is called 'REvil'. The hackers stole Apple's data from Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that assembles some of Apple's laptops. The hackers claim that the stolen information has to do with Apple's upcoming products. These, they say, include Apple laptops and a new Apple Watch Quanta Computer has refused to pay the ransom and hackers are now threatening that they will make information about Apple's next launches public. Well, well. What will Apple do next? They aren't saying anything for now that's for sure!

Apple faces ransomware demand from cybercriminals

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to develop a new version of its subsidiary Instagram for kids under 13 years of age, where parents would have transparency or control over the accounts of their children.&nbsp;

Earlier, Facebook-owned&nbsp;Instagram&nbsp;unveiled technology Tuesday aimed at preventing underage children from creating accounts and blocking adults from contacting young users they don't know.

It was the latest move responding to concerns about inappropriate contact between adults and children on the platform, which like most services sets an age minimum of 13.

Instagram&nbsp;will begin using artificial intelligence to determine a user's age at signup in an effort to find underage users.

"While many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth. We want to do more to stop this from happening, but verifying people's age online is complex and something many in our industry are grappling with," a blog post said.

"To address this challenge, we're developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help us keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features."

Additionally, the California giant said it would introduce a new feature that prevents adults from sending messages to people under 18 who don't follow them, to prevent unwanted contact.

"This feature relies on our work to predict peoples' ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up,"&nbsp;Instagram&nbsp;said.

Instagram&nbsp;is also looking at ways to make it more difficult for adults who have been exhibiting "potentially suspicious behaviour" to interact with teens, including restricting these adults from seeing suggested teen accounts.

The image-focused network indicated it will alert teens to potentially suspect behaviour by adults, including the sending of large numbers of private messages.

"We'll use this tool to alert the recipients... and give them an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult,"&nbsp;Instagram&nbsp;said.

This is not the first time that Mark Zuckerberg owned company has tried to experiment for its young users. In 2017, the company launched an ad-free version of its Messenger chat platform for kids between the ages of 6 and 12.

However, this idea was discontinued after the Children`s health advocates criticized it as harmful for kids.

Similarly&nbsp;in 2019, a bug in the Messenger Kids app allowed children to join groups with strangers, leaving thousands of kids in chats with unauthorized users. Facebook quietly closed those unauthorized chats, after started to affect a number of users

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to develop a new version of its subsidiary Instagram for kids under 13 years of age, where parents would have transparency or control over the accounts of their children.

Social networking giant Facebook is planning to develop a new version of its subsidiary Instagram for kids under 13 years of age, where parents would have transparency or control over the accounts of their children. Earlier, Facebook-owned Instagram unveiled technology Tuesday aimed at preventing underage children from creating accounts and blocking adults from contacting young users they don't know. It was the latest move responding to concerns about inappropriate contact between adults and children on the platform, which like most services sets an age minimum of 13. Instagram will begin using artificial intelligence to determine a user's age at signup in an effort to find underage users. "While many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth. We want to do more to stop this from happening, but verifying people's age online is complex and something many in our industry are grappling with," a blog post said. "To address this challenge, we're developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help us keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features." Additionally, the California giant said it would introduce a new feature that prevents adults from sending messages to people under 18 who don't follow them, to prevent unwanted contact. "This feature relies on our work to predict peoples' ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up," Instagram said. Instagram is also looking at ways to make it more difficult for adults who have been exhibiting "potentially suspicious behaviour" to interact with teens, including restricting these adults from seeing suggested teen accounts. The image-focused network indicated it will alert teens to potentially suspect behaviour by adults, including the sending of large numbers of private messages. "We'll use this tool to alert the recipients... and give them an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult," Instagram said. This is not the first time that Mark Zuckerberg owned company has tried to experiment for its young users. In 2017, the company launched an ad-free version of its Messenger chat platform for kids between the ages of 6 and 12. However, this idea was discontinued after the Children`s health advocates criticized it as harmful for kids. Similarly in 2019, a bug in the Messenger Kids app allowed children to join groups with strangers, leaving thousands of kids in chats with unauthorized users. Facebook quietly closed those unauthorized chats, after started to affect a number of users

Facebook building a version of Instagram for children under 13

Did you know that the name of Bluetooth, one of the most significant inventions of modern times, owes its name and logo to a Viking-era king who had a bad tooth?

Sven Mattisson, one of the engineers who was behind developing Bluetooth, also revealed that the name was decided over beers.&nbsp;

In an interview with news agency AFP, Mattisson said that he and Jim Kardach presented their ideas at a seminar in Toronto in late 1997.&nbsp;

"Jim and I said that people did not appreciate what we presented," the 65-year-old said.&nbsp;

Mattisson said that the two engineers decided to hang out in Toronto after the event before returning home to get relief from their setback.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/covid-19-researchers-develop-bluetooth-based-thermometer-for-fever-monitoring-298256">COVID-19: Researchers develop Bluetooth-based thermometer for fever monitoring</a>

"We received a lukewarm reception of our confusing proposal, and it was at this time I realised we needed a codename for the project which everyone could use," Mattisson wrote in his webpage.&nbsp;

"We had some beers... and Jim is interested in history so he asked me about Vikings, so we talked at length about that."&nbsp;

Mattison said that he recommended Kardach to read a prominent Swedish historical novel about the Vikings, named "The Long Ships".

After reading the book, the story of&nbsp;the king of Denmark, Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, mentioned in the book caught Kardach's attention.&nbsp;

According to folklore, the 10th-century king's nickname referred to a dead tooth.

He is known for playing a key role in unifying Norway and Denmark, a union that lasted until 1814.&nbsp;

It's then that the idea came up for using the king's nickname for an app to unite the personal computer and cellular devices via a wireless network.&nbsp;

The reference of the king is not just limited to Bluetooth's name, but its logo is also a superimposition of the runes for "H" and "B", the ruler's initials.

Did you know that the name of Bluetooth, one of the most significant inventions of modern times, owes its name and logo to a Viking-era king who had a bad tooth?

Did you know that the name of Bluetooth, one of the most significant inventions of modern times, owes its name and logo to a Viking-era king who had a bad tooth? Sven Mattisson, one of the engineers who was behind developing Bluetooth, also revealed that the name was decided over beers. In an interview with news agency AFP, Mattisson said that he and Jim Kardach presented their ideas at a seminar in Toronto in late 1997. "Jim and I said that people did not appreciate what we presented," the 65-year-old said. Mattisson said that the two engineers decided to hang out in Toronto after the event before returning home to get relief from their setback. Also read | COVID-19: Researchers develop Bluetooth-based thermometer for fever monitoring "We received a lukewarm reception of our confusing proposal, and it was at this time I realised we needed a codename for the project which everyone could use," Mattisson wrote in his webpage. "We had some beers... and Jim is interested in history so he asked me about Vikings, so we talked at length about that." Mattison said that he recommended Kardach to read a prominent Swedish historical novel about the Vikings, named "The Long Ships". After reading the book, the story of the king of Denmark, Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, mentioned in the book caught Kardach's attention. According to folklore, the 10th-century king's nickname referred to a dead tooth. He is known for playing a key role in unifying Norway and Denmark, a union that lasted until 1814. It's then that the idea came up for using the king's nickname for an app to unite the personal computer and cellular devices via a wireless network. The reference of the king is not just limited to Bluetooth's name, but its logo is also a superimposition of the runes for "H" and "B", the ruler's initials.

Viking king and beer: Story behind name and logo of Bluetooth

It’s not every day that you’re genuinely excited about a product that has just been announced in India. I had first heard about the Sony WF-1000XM3 TWS earbuds months ago when many of my colleagues had travelled abroad for an event. They picked up these earphones on their way back and have been raving about them ever since.

Sony has launched these TWS earbuds in the Indian market a year after they were released in the USA. As the saying goes though, “better late than never”.

Let me tell you why.

It was not long ago when the Apple AirPods were the only pair of truly wireless earphones on the market. In 2020, the floodgates have been unleashed. Every manufacturer and their uncle is releasing TWS earbuds across different price brackets.

Sony recently unveiled the WF-XB700 and WF-SP800N models and those were very well-received by the media and consumers. Now, the top-of-the-line - WF-1000XM3 - goes head-to-head with the Apple AirPods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, Jabra Elite 75t, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 and others. Priced at Rs 19,990, the terribly named WF-1000XM3 from Sony are on the upper range.

Fortunately, though, the TWS earbuds from Sony have a lot going for them.

The one thing you notice right out of the box is the elegance that the case and earbuds carry. The copper and black dual-tone finish are premium through and through. The case does seem bulkier than the competition. It becomes understandable when you take the earbuds out of the case. They are larger than you’d think compared to the competition. Surprisingly, they weigh just 8.5g each and, once you find a comfortable fit, they are good to wear for hours on end.

Finding that comfortable fit though is the problem. I went through all different eartips (there are seven different sizes in the box) and tried to twist and turn the earbuds in my ear.

The earbuds come with what Sony calls a ‘tri-hold structure’, leaning upon three key parts of the ear. This is supposed to be for a better fit. Nonetheless, after fiddling with them for a couple of days, I got a fit that was comfortable enough for hours on end. Luckily, after finding the right fit, these earbuds never seem to want to fall out. Even during an intense workout.

One downside is the fact that the case is chunkier than most of the competitors’ cases. The case also doesn’t have an LED indicator for battery level. The case also lacks wireless charging, which is a strange omission for TWS earbuds at this price.

The earbuds also lack any IP rating and hence they aren’t sweat/water resistance. Another thing to note if you’re going to use these while jogging or going to the gym daily.

Active noise-cancelling leads the way

With my gripes out of the way, let me just tell you that the WF-1000XM3 earbuds sound exceptionally good. Thanks to the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e chip and Dual Noise Sensor Technology, Sony leads the way in active noise-cancellation (ANC). No competitor comes close.

The QN1e chip also allows for better battery life, which I’ll get to in a moment. There may be no aptX HD Bluetooth support but unless you’re a hardcore audiophile, you probably won’t miss is.

No matter what track you play, the balanced audio signature shines across all frequency ranges. The vocals are crisp and the instruments are distinguishable. From Iron Maiden to Bollywood hits and even Hanz Zimmer’s soundtracks, the WF-100XM3 handles every track with aplomb. There is that thumping bass as well for though who like it.

I was surprised by the fact that these tiny earbuds can have such a wide soundstage. It definitely feels like the sound is surrounding you from all sides.&nbsp;

Furthermore, it’s the ANC that shines through and through. While I was walking on the road, the traffic noises were completely blocked out. I even couldn’t hear the people talking loudly next to me.

Call quality was also something that I was impressed with. I could hear people clearly and vice-versa. There was also no lag or any sort of distortion, which is a boon in these times.

Connectivity: Good but not the best

Pairing the earphones is seamless and connecting to the Sony app is even easier. I had no problem stepping dozens of feet away from my device and still hearing the crystal clear sound. The only niggle I had was that the right earbud sometimes got disconnected. I’ve reset the earbuds and there have been no problems in the last day or so. So maybe it was just a temporary problem.

Battery life: Brilliant

With ANC turned on, I was constantly getting around five and a half hours of battery life. The charging case is good for an additional three full chargers of the earbuds. That’s about sixteen and a half hours in total. Not the best in class but pretty consistently good, I must say.

Verdict: Are these worth the premium price tag?

The only people to whom I’d not recommend these TWS earbuds are those who need it for their ‘active’ lifestyle, namely exercising. For them, the clearcut option is the Jabra Elite Active 75t. Nothing even comes close to those for fitness-oriented earbuds.

For everyone else it is totally worth it. If you can afford to spend Rs 20,000 on a pair of TWS earbuds then don’t look elsewhere. These are much better than the AirPods Pro from Apple.

A little bit lower down the price range one can find the Galaxy Buds Live and Jabra Elite 75t, both excellent in their own respect, but what Sony has, no one else has. That’s a great pair of active noise-cancelling TWS earbuds.

It’s not every day that you’re genuinely excited about a product that has just been announced in India. I had first heard about the Sony WF-1000XM3 TWS earbuds months ago when many of my colleagues had travelled abroad for an event.

It’s not every day that you’re genuinely excited about a product that has just been announced in India. I had first heard about the Sony WF-1000XM3 TWS earbuds months ago when many of my colleagues had travelled abroad for an event. They picked up these earphones on their way back and have been raving about them ever since. Sony has launched these TWS earbuds in the Indian market a year after they were released in the USA. As the saying goes though, “better late than never”. Let me tell you why. It was not long ago when the Apple AirPods were the only pair of truly wireless earphones on the market. In 2020, the floodgates have been unleashed. Every manufacturer and their uncle is releasing TWS earbuds across different price brackets. Sony recently unveiled the WF-XB700 and WF-SP800N models and those were very well-received by the media and consumers. Now, the top-of-the-line - WF-1000XM3 - goes head-to-head with the Apple AirPods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, Jabra Elite 75t, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 and others. Priced at Rs 19,990, the terribly named WF-1000XM3 from Sony are on the upper range. Fortunately, though, the TWS earbuds from Sony have a lot going for them. The one thing you notice right out of the box is the elegance that the case and earbuds carry. The copper and black dual-tone finish are premium through and through. The case does seem bulkier than the competition. It becomes understandable when you take the earbuds out of the case. They are larger than you’d think compared to the competition. Surprisingly, they weigh just 8.5g each and, once you find a comfortable fit, they are good to wear for hours on end. Finding that comfortable fit though is the problem. I went through all different eartips (there are seven different sizes in the box) and tried to twist and turn the earbuds in my ear. The earbuds come with what Sony calls a ‘tri-hold structure’, leaning upon three key parts of the ear. This is supposed to be for a better fit. Nonetheless, after fiddling with them for a couple of days, I got a fit that was comfortable enough for hours on end. Luckily, after finding the right fit, these earbuds never seem to want to fall out. Even during an intense workout. One downside is the fact that the case is chunkier than most of the competitors’ cases. The case also doesn’t have an LED indicator for battery level. The case also lacks wireless charging, which is a strange omission for TWS earbuds at this price. The earbuds also lack any IP rating and hence they aren’t sweat/water resistance. Another thing to note if you’re going to use these while jogging or going to the gym daily. Active noise-cancelling leads the way With my gripes out of the way, let me just tell you that the WF-1000XM3 earbuds sound exceptionally good. Thanks to the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e chip and Dual Noise Sensor Technology, Sony leads the way in active noise-cancellation (ANC). No competitor comes close. The QN1e chip also allows for better battery life, which I’ll get to in a moment. There may be no aptX HD Bluetooth support but unless you’re a hardcore audiophile, you probably won’t miss is. No matter what track you play, the balanced audio signature shines across all frequency ranges. The vocals are crisp and the instruments are distinguishable. From Iron Maiden to Bollywood hits and even Hanz Zimmer’s soundtracks, the WF-100XM3 handles every track with aplomb. There is that thumping bass as well for though who like it. I was surprised by the fact that these tiny earbuds can have such a wide soundstage. It definitely feels like the sound is surrounding you from all sides. Furthermore, it’s the ANC that shines through and through. While I was walking on the road, the traffic noises were completely blocked out. I even couldn’t hear the people talking loudly next to me. Call quality was also something that I was impressed with. I could hear people clearly and vice-versa. There was also no lag or any sort of distortion, which is a boon in these times. Connectivity: Good but not the best Pairing the earphones is seamless and connecting to the Sony app is even easier. I had no problem stepping dozens of feet away from my device and still hearing the crystal clear sound. The only niggle I had was that the right earbud sometimes got disconnected. I’ve reset the earbuds and there have been no problems in the last day or so. So maybe it was just a temporary problem. Battery life: Brilliant With ANC turned on, I was constantly getting around five and a half hours of battery life. The charging case is good for an additional three full chargers of the earbuds. That’s about sixteen and a half hours in total. Not the best in class but pretty consistently good, I must say. Verdict: Are these worth the premium price tag? The only people to whom I’d not recommend these TWS earbuds are those who need it for their ‘active’ lifestyle, namely exercising. For them, the clearcut option is the Jabra Elite Active 75t. Nothing even comes close to those for fitness-oriented earbuds. For everyone else it is totally worth it. If you can afford to spend Rs 20,000 on a pair of TWS earbuds then don’t look elsewhere. These are much better than the AirPods Pro from Apple. A little bit lower down the price range one can find the Galaxy Buds Live and Jabra Elite 75t, both excellent in their own respect, but what Sony has, no one else has. That’s a great pair of active noise-cancelling TWS earbuds.

Sony WF-1000XM3 review: Truly wireless earbuds for the audiophiles

Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy Note 20 Ultra smartphone at a time when the pandemic was still raging. The Note line of devices is the cornerstone of everything Samsung does in the smartphone business. While the Galaxy S line of devices are equally powerful, it’s the Note series that elevates the smartphone game year after year.

Back in August, the Note 20 Ultra was put on sale in India at a starting price of Rs 1,04,999. That’s a hefty asking price during a worldwide pandemic. Budgets may be stretched but if the product is that good, then why not?

I’ve been using the smartphone for over a month now and here’s why I think the Note 20 Ultra has a lot to offer

Design: Similar to the previous Note 10+

Let’s start with the design. The smartphone is all-screen at the front, while the back is covered with glass and has curved sides with a thin metal band. There’s the flat top and bottom. It’s one of those designs that immediately stands out despite its gigantic nature.

The 6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED display is simply stunning to look at. It’s the back of the smartphone that will attract all the attention though. It’s got an enormous camera bump. So much so that the smartphone will never lie flat on a table when on its back.

What’s best about the rear panel is the frosted glass back. Probably the best Samsung has ever used. It hides fingerprints more than most other phones and also provides for a comfortable grip in one’s hand. In certain situations - answering calls and checking notifications - one-handed usage may be possible but this is really a phone for both your hands.

Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra is the first smartphone in the world to use the new Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back. It can withstand drops up to 2 metres and is twice as scratch-resistant as compared to Gorilla Glass 6.

The camera module is covered with Gorilla Glass 6. Despite a few drops and a couple of nicks here and there, there hasn’t been a single dent on my Note 20 Ultra. It is one sturdy device.

Mystic Bronze goodness

Is the mystic bronze colour really all that it is hyped up to be? The answer to that is YES. It may look like rose gold in certain lightings but it’s got this understated elegance to it. Thanks to the matte finish, there are close to zero fingerprints.

Display: Gorgeousness

<img alt="Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a56f986f-1474-42e9-a910-cc4c38b7a7b4" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Samsung%20display%20final.jpg" />

The best-in-class display shows off its strengths on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.. It might be massive at 6.9 inches but it is pretty faultless. The colours are vivid and punchy and when maxed out at QHD+ resolution, binge-watching is a super treat.

The 120Hz screen refresh rate has been much better implemented than on the Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra. There’s the “Adaptive” motion smoothness, that adjusts the refresh rate based on the action being performed on the screen. Essentially, this saves battery in the long-run.

The one negative is the optical fingerprint scanner that is buried under the display. It’s easy to set up but the positioning is off. It’s the exact same sensor as in the Note 10+ but it’s inconsistent and slow.

Curved screens: Yay or nay?

The curved display of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra looks immersive, with its waterfall edge. But the edge-to-edge display makes it easy for accidental touches to occur. It’s more prominent when gripping the phone with one hand and typing with the other. Far too many times I unintentionally touched a part of the display I didn’t want to and it got in the way of my typic. Sometimes, an app would be closed by accident.

Some touch rejection along the edges would make this issue mostly go away.

Performance: Will breeze through any task

Despite the Indian variant of the Note 20 Ultra having the Exynos 990 chipset and not the Snapdragon 865+, the smartphone can handle any task with aplomb.

Whether it is capturing multiple photos, flipping through social media feeds, playing game after game, or just reading, the Note 20 Ultra will never slow down.

The Note 20 Ultra developed significant heat during my usage. Whether it was playing Call of Duty: Mobile, taking multiple pictures or even just charging the smartphone, the Note 20 Ultra got hotter than usual. It wasn’t too hot to hold at any point though.

Software: One UI 2.5

Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra runs the latest One UI 2.5 based on Android 10. It’s almost identical to S20 Ultra but has some nifty S Pen features such as handwriting recognition, translation and gesture support and various screen writing and screenshot tools.&nbsp;

One UI 2.5 may be filled with Samsung apps and a Galaxy Store (that basically acts as a duplicate), but the software works well and is very heavily-customised to suit the consumers’ needs. Samsung has promised three years of major Android updates and monthly security patches which bodes well for the company’s outlook.

Battery life: Middling at best

With the Galaxy S20 Ultra there was rarely a time I had to charge the smartphone in the same day. Samsung decided to stick with a 4,500 mAh despite the huge display and state-of-the-art processor. Sure, it is an improvement over the Note 10+’s 4,300 mAh battery, but was hardly an improvement in real world usage.

The Note 20 Ultra lasted me a day and over 5 hours of screen-on-time but barely any charge leftover to last through the night. I always have to put it on charge before hitting the sack.

With the S20 Ultra earlier this year, I rarely had to charge it at night. It was only in the morning, while getting ready, did I put it for charge.

The Note 20 Ultra ships with a 25W charger which means the phone takes about 70 minutes to reach a full charge from being dead. The Note 20 Ultra also supposes 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Cameras: The all-important laser autofocus sensor

<img alt="Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review:" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f590d802-1d85-448e-9486-a3e0e6523306" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Camera%20final.jpg" />

One of the biggest downfalls of the S20 Ulta’s camera was blurry shots. The S20 Ultra had 100x digital zoom but the photos were blurry in both zoom shots and general shots.

The laser autofocus helps with all kinds of shorts. It provides for less blurry photos on the whole. Even those with the shakiest of hands get a huge benefit here.

Also, the Note 20 Ultra uses pixel-binning technology. This basically means that it uses a higher lens to capture a shot as smaller megapixels. Then it combines them for a rich and detailed shot. A 108-megapixel lens delivers 27-megapixel shots. It combines four pixels into one.

The Note 20 Ultra has a triple-camera setup plus the laser autofocus sensor.

<ul>
	<li>A 108-megapixel wide-angle camera: You can shoot at full 108 megapixels or the pixel-binned 27-megapixel shots.</li>
	<li>A 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera: This can be used to capture a wider field of view.</li>
	<li>A 12-megapixel telephoto camera: This lens allows for you to capture more details (when zoomed in) and offers up to 5x optical zoom.</li>
</ul>

The Note 20 Ultra’s camera is a huge step up from the S20 Ultra’s camera setup. The speed of the capture and the transitions between the three lenses is excellent. In good lighting, the photos are rich in detail with great colours. The low-light performance has been vastly improved. Using the Night mode is a pleasure.

It is the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera that steals the show. One of the best implementations of an ultra-wide camera on any phone.

The 12-megapixel telephoto camera is definitely a step up from the S20 Ultra. The optical zoom makes a difference but going into digital zoom and anything over 30x is just not good.

Video quality up to 8K is also quite good and you get a range of shooting options. Finally, the 10-megapixel selfie camera is simply excellent.

This is by far Samsung’s best camera on any of its smartphones. It’s a reliable camera that you can just pull out of your pocket and shoot dozens of great photos in mere minutes.

S Pen: Game-changer

The S Pen on the Note series of devices has been a game changer since Day One. This time around, the latency on the S Pen has been drastically reduced making it a pleasure to use all the time. Taking notes is faster and more accurate.

The Air Actions and the physical button is great. I use it mostly to as a camera shutter

Final observations: Worth the price tag?

While I love the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, and it is Samsung’s best photo to date, expensive smartphones just don’t cut it anymore. Going down the ladder, there are plenty of other phones that offer almost as much as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra but for far less.

Samsung played it safe with the Note 20 Ultra but that isn’t to cut into the fact that this is a fantastic device. Despite some shortcomings, the Note 20 Ultra has risen to the top of the Android smartphone charts.

During a pandemic nonetheless, spending over one lakh rupees is sheer exuberance. Once the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is on discount, it will be a fantastic deal.

Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy Note 20 Ultra smartphone at a time when the pandemic was still raging. The Note line of devices is the cornerstone of everything Samsung does in the smartphone business.

Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy Note 20 Ultra smartphone at a time when the pandemic was still raging. The Note line of devices is the cornerstone of everything Samsung does in the smartphone business. While the Galaxy S line of devices are equally powerful, it’s the Note series that elevates the smartphone game year after year. Back in August, the Note 20 Ultra was put on sale in India at a starting price of Rs 1,04,999. That’s a hefty asking price during a worldwide pandemic. Budgets may be stretched but if the product is that good, then why not? I’ve been using the smartphone for over a month now and here’s why I think the Note 20 Ultra has a lot to offer Design: Similar to the previous Note 10+ Let’s start with the design. The smartphone is all-screen at the front, while the back is covered with glass and has curved sides with a thin metal band. There’s the flat top and bottom. It’s one of those designs that immediately stands out despite its gigantic nature. The 6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED display is simply stunning to look at. It’s the back of the smartphone that will attract all the attention though. It’s got an enormous camera bump. So much so that the smartphone will never lie flat on a table when on its back. What’s best about the rear panel is the frosted glass back. Probably the best Samsung has ever used. It hides fingerprints more than most other phones and also provides for a comfortable grip in one’s hand. In certain situations - answering calls and checking notifications - one-handed usage may be possible but this is really a phone for both your hands. Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra is the first smartphone in the world to use the new Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back. It can withstand drops up to 2 metres and is twice as scratch-resistant as compared to Gorilla Glass 6. The camera module is covered with Gorilla Glass 6. Despite a few drops and a couple of nicks here and there, there hasn’t been a single dent on my Note 20 Ultra. It is one sturdy device. Mystic Bronze goodness Is the mystic bronze colour really all that it is hyped up to be? The answer to that is YES. It may look like rose gold in certain lightings but it’s got this understated elegance to it. Thanks to the matte finish, there are close to zero fingerprints. Display: Gorgeousness The best-in-class display shows off its strengths on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.. It might be massive at 6.9 inches but it is pretty faultless. The colours are vivid and punchy and when maxed out at QHD+ resolution, binge-watching is a super treat. The 120Hz screen refresh rate has been much better implemented than on the Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra. There’s the “Adaptive” motion smoothness, that adjusts the refresh rate based on the action being performed on the screen. Essentially, this saves battery in the long-run. The one negative is the optical fingerprint scanner that is buried under the display. It’s easy to set up but the positioning is off. It’s the exact same sensor as in the Note 10+ but it’s inconsistent and slow. Curved screens: Yay or nay? The curved display of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra looks immersive, with its waterfall edge. But the edge-to-edge display makes it easy for accidental touches to occur. It’s more prominent when gripping the phone with one hand and typing with the other. Far too many times I unintentionally touched a part of the display I didn’t want to and it got in the way of my typic. Sometimes, an app would be closed by accident. Some touch rejection along the edges would make this issue mostly go away. Performance: Will breeze through any task Despite the Indian variant of the Note 20 Ultra having the Exynos 990 chipset and not the Snapdragon 865+, the smartphone can handle any task with aplomb. Whether it is capturing multiple photos, flipping through social media feeds, playing game after game, or just reading, the Note 20 Ultra will never slow down. The Note 20 Ultra developed significant heat during my usage. Whether it was playing Call of Duty: Mobile, taking multiple pictures or even just charging the smartphone, the Note 20 Ultra got hotter than usual. It wasn’t too hot to hold at any point though. Software: One UI 2.5 Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra runs the latest One UI 2.5 based on Android 10. It’s almost identical to S20 Ultra but has some nifty S Pen features such as handwriting recognition, translation and gesture support and various screen writing and screenshot tools. One UI 2.5 may be filled with Samsung apps and a Galaxy Store (that basically acts as a duplicate), but the software works well and is very heavily-customised to suit the consumers’ needs. Samsung has promised three years of major Android updates and monthly security patches which bodes well for the company’s outlook. Battery life: Middling at best With the Galaxy S20 Ultra there was rarely a time I had to charge the smartphone in the same day. Samsung decided to stick with a 4,500 mAh despite the huge display and state-of-the-art processor. Sure, it is an improvement over the Note 10+’s 4,300 mAh battery, but was hardly an improvement in real world usage. The Note 20 Ultra lasted me a day and over 5 hours of screen-on-time but barely any charge leftover to last through the night. I always have to put it on charge before hitting the sack. With the S20 Ultra earlier this year, I rarely had to charge it at night. It was only in the morning, while getting ready, did I put it for charge. The Note 20 Ultra ships with a 25W charger which means the phone takes about 70 minutes to reach a full charge from being dead. The Note 20 Ultra also supposes 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. Cameras: The all-important laser autofocus sensor One of the biggest downfalls of the S20 Ulta’s camera was blurry shots. The S20 Ultra had 100x digital zoom but the photos were blurry in both zoom shots and general shots. The laser autofocus helps with all kinds of shorts. It provides for less blurry photos on the whole. Even those with the shakiest of hands get a huge benefit here. Also, the Note 20 Ultra uses pixel-binning technology. This basically means that it uses a higher lens to capture a shot as smaller megapixels. Then it combines them for a rich and detailed shot. A 108-megapixel lens delivers 27-megapixel shots. It combines four pixels into one. The Note 20 Ultra has a triple-camera setup plus the laser autofocus sensor. A 108-megapixel wide-angle camera: You can shoot at full 108 megapixels or the pixel-binned 27-megapixel shots. A 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera: This can be used to capture a wider field of view. A 12-megapixel telephoto camera: This lens allows for you to capture more details (when zoomed in) and offers up to 5x optical zoom. The Note 20 Ultra’s camera is a huge step up from the S20 Ultra’s camera setup. The speed of the capture and the transitions between the three lenses is excellent. In good lighting, the photos are rich in detail with great colours. The low-light performance has been vastly improved. Using the Night mode is a pleasure. It is the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera that steals the show. One of the best implementations of an ultra-wide camera on any phone. The 12-megapixel telephoto camera is definitely a step up from the S20 Ultra. The optical zoom makes a difference but going into digital zoom and anything over 30x is just not good. Video quality up to 8K is also quite good and you get a range of shooting options. Finally, the 10-megapixel selfie camera is simply excellent. This is by far Samsung’s best camera on any of its smartphones. It’s a reliable camera that you can just pull out of your pocket and shoot dozens of great photos in mere minutes. S Pen: Game-changer The S Pen on the Note series of devices has been a game changer since Day One. This time around, the latency on the S Pen has been drastically reduced making it a pleasure to use all the time. Taking notes is faster and more accurate. The Air Actions and the physical button is great. I use it mostly to as a camera shutter Final observations: Worth the price tag? While I love the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, and it is Samsung’s best photo to date, expensive smartphones just don’t cut it anymore. Going down the ladder, there are plenty of other phones that offer almost as much as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra but for far less. Samsung played it safe with the Note 20 Ultra but that isn’t to cut into the fact that this is a fantastic device. Despite some shortcomings, the Note 20 Ultra has risen to the top of the Android smartphone charts. During a pandemic nonetheless, spending over one lakh rupees is sheer exuberance. Once the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is on discount, it will be a fantastic deal.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review: The best Android smartphone comes with a hefty price tag

There is something that many of us often worry about - should we let your phone charge overnight or should you unplug it? This dilemma exists because we have heard that it’s not safe to charge a phone for long hours at a go. A lot of people also fear that it might explode.

So, let's address this concern straightaway, along with some best practices, so that you can get the most out of your phone battery.

1. Firstly, let's address the most important question - should you leave your phone plugged in overnight? The answer is that it’s completely safe to let your phone charge overnight given that your battery isn't faulty. Understand that the battery embedded in the phone nowadays doesn’t overcharge. Once the battery hits 100 percent, it automatically stops charging. But here is a word of caution. Make sure you are using a genuine charger because there have been cases of inexpensive and fake chargers catching fire. Whenever possible, use the charger that comes with the phone as it’s tested, checked and approved. When it comes to phone chargers, avoid cheap alternatives.

2. Secondly, while it’s completely safe to charge the phone battery overnight, it might not be the smartest thing to do. It's also a good idea to not charge it to a full 100%. That's because the battery is under a lot of stress during the last 20% of charge and it can affect the battery’s lifespan. Therefore, to keep your phone’s battery healthy, it’s advisable to charge it to 80%.

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&nbsp;

3. Here's another common myth that many people believe yields good results, and that is - charge your phone battery once it’s fully drained. I would say, don't do this! Never wait for it to come down to 0 percent. This too can adversely affect the battery’s performance over time. Charge it when it’s down to 20-30 percent. So, an ideal situation is don’t let it go below 20 percent and above 80 percent.

4. Also, when it comes to Lithium-ion batteries, the ones in your phone, you don’t have to wait for it to drain or come down to a certain level. You can even charge it randomly. Let’s say, you charge it 5 percent and unplug it. After an hour or so, you charge it 10 percent and then unplug it again. That’s totally okay. There's nothing wrong with partial charging. In fact, these short top-ups work the best for modern-day phone batteries.

5. Whenever you charge your phone and especially, leave it overnight, it’s recommended that you remove your phone out of the case during charging. Charging it inside the case may generate excess heat, which could harm the battery capacity. Also, don’t put it under your pillow or a pile of books or any such thing. If you keep doing this, you can expect the phone to heat up, which could be damaging for the battery in the long run.

There is something that many of us often worry about - should we let your phone charge overnight or should you unplug it? This dilemma exists because we have heard that it’s not safe to charge a phone for long hours at a go.

There is something that many of us often worry about - should we let your phone charge overnight or should you unplug it? This dilemma exists because we have heard that it’s not safe to charge a phone for long hours at a go. A lot of people also fear that it might explode. So, let's address this concern straightaway, along with some best practices, so that you can get the most out of your phone battery. 1. Firstly, let's address the most important question - should you leave your phone plugged in overnight? The answer is that it’s completely safe to let your phone charge overnight given that your battery isn't faulty. Understand that the battery embedded in the phone nowadays doesn’t overcharge. Once the battery hits 100 percent, it automatically stops charging. But here is a word of caution. Make sure you are using a genuine charger because there have been cases of inexpensive and fake chargers catching fire. Whenever possible, use the charger that comes with the phone as it’s tested, checked and approved. When it comes to phone chargers, avoid cheap alternatives. 2. Secondly, while it’s completely safe to charge the phone battery overnight, it might not be the smartest thing to do. It's also a good idea to not charge it to a full 100%. That's because the battery is under a lot of stress during the last 20% of charge and it can affect the battery’s lifespan. Therefore, to keep your phone’s battery healthy, it’s advisable to charge it to 80%. × 3. Here's another common myth that many people believe yields good results, and that is - charge your phone battery once it’s fully drained. I would say, don't do this! Never wait for it to come down to 0 percent. This too can adversely affect the battery’s performance over time. Charge it when it’s down to 20-30 percent. So, an ideal situation is don’t let it go below 20 percent and above 80 percent. 4. Also, when it comes to Lithium-ion batteries, the ones in your phone, you don’t have to wait for it to drain or come down to a certain level. You can even charge it randomly. Let’s say, you charge it 5 percent and unplug it. After an hour or so, you charge it 10 percent and then unplug it again. That’s totally okay. There's nothing wrong with partial charging. In fact, these short top-ups work the best for modern-day phone batteries. 5. Whenever you charge your phone and especially, leave it overnight, it’s recommended that you remove your phone out of the case during charging. Charging it inside the case may generate excess heat, which could harm the battery capacity. Also, don’t put it under your pillow or a pile of books or any such thing. If you keep doing this, you can expect the phone to heat up, which could be damaging for the battery in the long run.

Phone charging mistakes you should stop making

Smartphones have made it easier for us to capture moments and file away those memories. But, here's the thing - though we are quick to whip out our phones to click those photographs, we tend to forget about them after some time.

We barely revisit those old pictures. But what if I tell you that you can print those photos with ease, bring those heartwarming moments to life, and keep them near you - in your room or at workstation?

Enter smartphone printers. I get my hands on one such device - the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link - to find out how it performs in the real world.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini Link not only lets you print photographs saved in your phone, but it also allows you to choose favourite moments from your videos and print them. It's simple to choose and print a frame from videos. The feature is edgy because not all contenders out there in the market are offering this facility.

Before I talk about its other features, let me tell you that it's easy to set it up and pair it with a phone. Place the print sheets in the allocated compartment, download the Instax Mini Link app on your Android phone or iPhone, switch on the Bluetooth and voila!

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&nbsp;

The interface of the app is intuitive. As one would expect, the app lets you edit photos before printing - you can overlay a photo with text, add a filter and even correct the brightness or contrast. And once you're ready to print, you can either tap the print button in the app or just swipe up.

Also, the Instax Camera mode lets you capture a current moment right from the app itself and print in real-time. And the gesture-based zoom controls make it easy to set up the right frame.

The Fun Mode is another feature that claims to make photos interesting. The Fun Mode is nothing but a place where you can customise your photographs before the print. You can add frames, choose a layout for a collage, and make it personal with sketches and illustrations.

The app offers various features - while some of them are useful, others are gimmicky.

I have used the gadget extensively and printed a lot of photos. I must say, the print quality is impressive. It prints pictures with great details, but don’t expect them to look as bright and vibrant as they appear on your phone. Overall, it functions smoothly and delivers nice prints.

Talking about its design, it has a nice build quality and looks good. The printer comes in three colour options - blue, white and pink - and all of them look trendy.

As you would agree, no review is complete without looking at the shortcomings. There are two things I don't like about the smartphone printer.

One is the battery as it’s not great. In less than two hours of continuous usage, the battery comes down to half. But it’s still manageable as you are not expected to use it daily for hours.

But the other pitfall is a serious one - the expensive price sheets. A pack of twenty sheets costs Rs 999. I wish it was priced a little more reasonably. But if the price isn’t a constraint for you, you can go for it.

Overall, at Rs 9,999 , it’s a good device.

Smartphones have made it easier for us to capture moments and file away those memories. But, here's the thing - though we are quick to whip out our phones to click those photographs, we tend to forget about them after some time.

Smartphones have made it easier for us to capture moments and file away those memories. But, here's the thing - though we are quick to whip out our phones to click those photographs, we tend to forget about them after some time. We barely revisit those old pictures. But what if I tell you that you can print those photos with ease, bring those heartwarming moments to life, and keep them near you - in your room or at workstation? Enter smartphone printers. I get my hands on one such device - the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link - to find out how it performs in the real world. The Fujifilm Instax Mini Link not only lets you print photographs saved in your phone, but it also allows you to choose favourite moments from your videos and print them. It's simple to choose and print a frame from videos. The feature is edgy because not all contenders out there in the market are offering this facility. Before I talk about its other features, let me tell you that it's easy to set it up and pair it with a phone. Place the print sheets in the allocated compartment, download the Instax Mini Link app on your Android phone or iPhone, switch on the Bluetooth and voila! × The interface of the app is intuitive. As one would expect, the app lets you edit photos before printing - you can overlay a photo with text, add a filter and even correct the brightness or contrast. And once you're ready to print, you can either tap the print button in the app or just swipe up. Also, the Instax Camera mode lets you capture a current moment right from the app itself and print in real-time. And the gesture-based zoom controls make it easy to set up the right frame. The Fun Mode is another feature that claims to make photos interesting. The Fun Mode is nothing but a place where you can customise your photographs before the print. You can add frames, choose a layout for a collage, and make it personal with sketches and illustrations. The app offers various features - while some of them are useful, others are gimmicky. I have used the gadget extensively and printed a lot of photos. I must say, the print quality is impressive. It prints pictures with great details, but don’t expect them to look as bright and vibrant as they appear on your phone. Overall, it functions smoothly and delivers nice prints. Talking about its design, it has a nice build quality and looks good. The printer comes in three colour options - blue, white and pink - and all of them look trendy. As you would agree, no review is complete without looking at the shortcomings. There are two things I don't like about the smartphone printer. One is the battery as it’s not great. In less than two hours of continuous usage, the battery comes down to half. But it’s still manageable as you are not expected to use it daily for hours. But the other pitfall is a serious one - the expensive price sheets. A pack of twenty sheets costs Rs 999. I wish it was priced a little more reasonably. But if the price isn’t a constraint for you, you can go for it. Overall, at Rs 9,999 , it’s a good device.

Fujifilm Instax Mini Link review: Is the smartphone printer worth your money?

By 2021 Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer. The tech giant is bidding farewell to IE 11 as well as Microsoft Edge Legacy. Watch report.

End of an Era: Microsoft to phase out internet explorer

Global tech giant Apple has become the first US company to reach 2 trillion dollars in terms of market capitalization, making it the most valuable company in the world.

Apple's valuation now 10% of US GDP

Australia uncovered a draft law on July 31 to force Google and Facebook to pay news media for their content in a "world-leading" initiative sure to prompt a confrontation with the US digital giants. Watch report.

Your Story: Australia brings law forcing tech giants to pay for news

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about&nbsp;QAnon, a fringe group that claims "deep-state" traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump.

Twitter, which announced the change on its Twitter Safety page, said it would not serve content and accounts associated with&nbsp;QAnon&nbsp;in trends and recommendations, and would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-properties-have-imported-over-8-tonnes-of-goods-from-china-since-sep-report-315020" hreflang="en">Trump properties have imported tonnes of goods from China since Sep: Report</a>

The suspension, which will be rolled out this week, is expected to impact about 150,000 accounts globally, Twitter said. More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks for violating the company's rules against spam, platform manipulation and ban evasion.

The suspensions will be applied to accounts "engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension,&nbsp;something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks," Twitter said.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/trump-campaign-runs-facebook-advertisements-asking-if-he-should-ban-tiktok-314800" hreflang="en">Trump campaign runs Facebook advertisements asking if he should ban TikTok</a>

In online conspiracies, the term "deep-state" is used to refer to a combination of elites from the intelligence, political, business and entertainment fields, with&nbsp;QAnon's theories claiming that the "deep-state" is at a secret war with Trump.

QAnon&nbsp;has also claimed that Democratic Party members are behind international crime rings. The group's content has spread widely on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Earlier this year, Facebook removed a US&nbsp;network of fake accounts linked to&nbsp;QAnon.

Last year, the FBI issued a warning about "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists" and designated&nbsp;QAnon&nbsp;as a potential domestic extremist threat.

Earlier,&nbsp;Anti-Defamation League (ADL)&nbsp;chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt had pointed out&nbsp;the social media giant's "haphazard" placement of advertising, pointing to an example in which a Verizon ad appeared next to "a video from the conspiracy group&nbsp;QAnon&nbsp;drawing on hateful and anti-Semitic rhetoric."

Facebook is under increasing pressure for its hands-off approach to misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly by US President Donald Trump.

The social media company made an estimated $70 billion annually from ads, the coalition -- which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) -- behind #StopHateForProfit claimed in a statement on the ADL website.

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about QAnon, a fringe group that claims "deep-state" traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump.

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about QAnon, a fringe group that claims "deep-state" traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump. Twitter, which announced the change on its Twitter Safety page, said it would not serve content and accounts associated with QAnon in trends and recommendations, and would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform. Also read: Trump properties have imported tonnes of goods from China since Sep: Report The suspension, which will be rolled out this week, is expected to impact about 150,000 accounts globally, Twitter said. More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks for violating the company's rules against spam, platform manipulation and ban evasion. The suspensions will be applied to accounts "engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension, something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks," Twitter said. Also read: Trump campaign runs Facebook advertisements asking if he should ban TikTok In online conspiracies, the term "deep-state" is used to refer to a combination of elites from the intelligence, political, business and entertainment fields, with QAnon's theories claiming that the "deep-state" is at a secret war with Trump. QAnon has also claimed that Democratic Party members are behind international crime rings. The group's content has spread widely on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Earlier this year, Facebook removed a US network of fake accounts linked to QAnon. Last year, the FBI issued a warning about "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists" and designated QAnon as a potential domestic extremist threat. Earlier, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt had pointed out the social media giant's "haphazard" placement of advertising, pointing to an example in which a Verizon ad appeared next to "a video from the conspiracy group QAnon drawing on hateful and anti-Semitic rhetoric." Facebook is under increasing pressure for its hands-off approach to misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly by US President Donald Trump. The social media company made an estimated $70 billion annually from ads, the coalition -- which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) -- behind #StopHateForProfit claimed in a statement on the ADL website.

Twitter announces broad crackdown on conspiracy theory group QAnon

United States and its allies have not taken sufficient measures to counter Beijing's efforts at mass surveillance and censorship, according to a report released Tuesday by the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The 58-page long report warns against China's ''mounting influence'' which will transform into "digital authoritarianism" and very soon it will ''write the rules of the Internet as a leading tech superpower if necessary steps are not taken to halt its progress.''

Also read:<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-properties-have-imported-over-8-tonnes-of-goods-from-china-since-september-report-315020">Trump properties have imported tonnes of goods from China since Sep: Report</a>

“Three and a half years into the Trump administration, the United States is now on the precipice of losing the future of the cyber domain to China,'' the report states.

''If China continues to perfect the tools of digital authoritarianism and is able to effectively implement them both domestically and abroad, then China, not the United States and its allies, will shape the digital environment in which most of the world operates.''&nbsp;

Also see:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/how-us-china-relationship-took-a-turn-for-the-worse-314882">How US-China relationship took a turn for the worse</a>

The report which was published on Tuesday is the latest glaring sign of the distrust toward China that now runs rampant in Washington, across the entire political spectrum.

At present there is a growing shift in the Western world away from Chinese technology amid concerns about mounting privacy and security risks.

According to New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the committee who commissioned the report, “If the United States fails to rally and lead the international community around our core founding principles, to respond to the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to create a new big brother, as this administration has so far failed to do, I am deeply concerned about what the future may hold,” he said when announcing the report.

He also warned of a “global dystopian future, dominated by a hi-tech, totalitarian state”.

The report highlighted China’s use of biometric and facial recognition technology,&nbsp;big data analytics, internet censorship and surveillance of digital communications.

It also explicates China's treatment of Uygurs Muslims and other ethnic minority groups and how their&nbsp;movements are tracked, communications monitored, and genetic data collected by the Chinese state.

The report comes as the Trump administration considers a ban on Chinese-owned apps like the video-sharing app TikTok and after Britain barred Huawei from its 5G networks.

United States and its allies have not taken sufficient measures to counter Beijing's efforts at mass surveillance and censorship, according to a report released Tuesday by the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

United States and its allies have not taken sufficient measures to counter Beijing's efforts at mass surveillance and censorship, according to a report released Tuesday by the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The 58-page long report warns against China's ''mounting influence'' which will transform into "digital authoritarianism" and very soon it will ''write the rules of the Internet as a leading tech superpower if necessary steps are not taken to halt its progress.'' Also read:Trump properties have imported tonnes of goods from China since Sep: Report “Three and a half years into the Trump administration, the United States is now on the precipice of losing the future of the cyber domain to China,'' the report states. ''If China continues to perfect the tools of digital authoritarianism and is able to effectively implement them both domestically and abroad, then China, not the United States and its allies, will shape the digital environment in which most of the world operates.'' Also see: How US-China relationship took a turn for the worse The report which was published on Tuesday is the latest glaring sign of the distrust toward China that now runs rampant in Washington, across the entire political spectrum. At present there is a growing shift in the Western world away from Chinese technology amid concerns about mounting privacy and security risks. According to New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the committee who commissioned the report, “If the United States fails to rally and lead the international community around our core founding principles, to respond to the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to create a new big brother, as this administration has so far failed to do, I am deeply concerned about what the future may hold,” he said when announcing the report. He also warned of a “global dystopian future, dominated by a hi-tech, totalitarian state”. The report highlighted China’s use of biometric and facial recognition technology, big data analytics, internet censorship and surveillance of digital communications. It also explicates China's treatment of Uygurs Muslims and other ethnic minority groups and how their movements are tracked, communications monitored, and genetic data collected by the Chinese state. The report comes as the Trump administration considers a ban on Chinese-owned apps like the video-sharing app TikTok and after Britain barred Huawei from its 5G networks.

United States may lose ‘cyber domain’ to China, says Senate report

India's contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu ranks No 1 with 127.6 Mn downloads. India ranks No 4 in terms of the highest adoption rate with 12.5% of its residents having downloaded Aarogya Setu. Watch report.

Aarogya Setu app records 127.6 MN downloads: India's contact-tracing app

Indian Paralympic athletes Niranjan Mukundan and Devendra Jhajharia&nbsp;optimised Twitter’s latest test feature, voice Tweets, to share how they are turning the tables on COVID-19 limitations that have brought sports to a halt and disrupted their regular training sessions.&nbsp;

Para-swimmer and former Junior World Champion, Niranjan Mukundan, whose swimming prowess is well-known to all, is choosing to swim with the current and look at the brighter side of this lockdown experience. He is eating healthy and training at home; focussing on strength and conditioning, weight workouts and cardio.

Commenting on the opportunity to share his experience using voice Tweets, Niranjan Mukundan said, “I love this new feature by Twitter. The voice Tweets will help everyone, especially the para-athletes. We have our own limitations when we have to type out a message. This feature is going to help us in expressing our views and words through our voice. It also lifts the barrier on the limited number of characters that we can capture in a Tweet. Kudos to Twitter for introducing this cool, new feature.”

Twitter recently introduced voice Tweets experiment to test a new way to start a conversation. On iOS, people can now Tweet with their voice by following a few simple steps: hit compose Tweet, record audio, and attach it to the Tweet, that’s it. This new test allows people to create a more human experience.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TwitterIndia</a> in love with this new feature 😍. <a href="https://t.co/AZ9L25I7Ev">pic.twitter.com/AZ9L25I7Ev</a>
— Niranjan_Mukundan (@SwimmerNiranjan) <a href="https://twitter.com/SwimmerNiranjan/status/1275010431006851072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

The two-time Paralympic gold medallist javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia&nbsp;also spoke about finding new ways to carry on. With limited access to the outdoors, he is reinventing his training sessions with the resources available to him at home. For instance, he is incorporating the use of makeshift equipment such as gas cylinders in his training regime. In his voice Tweet, the 38-year-old also recalled his 12-year-long wait for his second gold medal win at the Paralympics and added that he is all set to wait another year for Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TwitterIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/mBm423S54G">pic.twitter.com/mBm423S54G</a>
— Devendra Jhajharia (@DevJhajharia) <a href="https://twitter.com/DevJhajharia/status/1275016663881015298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Indian Paralympic athletes Niranjan Mukundan and Devendra Jhajharia optimised Twitter’s latest test feature, voice Tweets, to share how they are turning the tables on COVID-19 limitations that have brought sports to a halt and disrupted their regular training sessions.

Indian Paralympic athletes Niranjan Mukundan and Devendra Jhajharia optimised Twitter’s latest test feature, voice Tweets, to share how they are turning the tables on COVID-19 limitations that have brought sports to a halt and disrupted their regular training sessions. Para-swimmer and former Junior World Champion, Niranjan Mukundan, whose swimming prowess is well-known to all, is choosing to swim with the current and look at the brighter side of this lockdown experience. He is eating healthy and training at home; focussing on strength and conditioning, weight workouts and cardio. Commenting on the opportunity to share his experience using voice Tweets, Niranjan Mukundan said, “I love this new feature by Twitter. The voice Tweets will help everyone, especially the para-athletes. We have our own limitations when we have to type out a message. This feature is going to help us in expressing our views and words through our voice. It also lifts the barrier on the limited number of characters that we can capture in a Tweet. Kudos to Twitter for introducing this cool, new feature.” Twitter recently introduced voice Tweets experiment to test a new way to start a conversation. On iOS, people can now Tweet with their voice by following a few simple steps: hit compose Tweet, record audio, and attach it to the Tweet, that’s it. This new test allows people to create a more human experience. @TwitterIndia in love with this new feature 😍. pic.twitter.com/AZ9L25I7Ev — Niranjan_Mukundan (@SwimmerNiranjan) June 22, 2020 × The two-time Paralympic gold medallist javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia also spoke about finding new ways to carry on. With limited access to the outdoors, he is reinventing his training sessions with the resources available to him at home. For instance, he is incorporating the use of makeshift equipment such as gas cylinders in his training regime. In his voice Tweet, the 38-year-old also recalled his 12-year-long wait for his second gold medal win at the Paralympics and added that he is all set to wait another year for Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed. @TwitterIndia pic.twitter.com/mBm423S54G — Devendra Jhajharia (@DevJhajharia) June 22, 2020 ×

Paralympians share their lockdown-induced practice routines using the new voice Tweets feature

Today, Oppo is one of the biggest Android smartphone manufacturers in the world. Back in the day though, Oppo used to be a well-regarded player in the audio market.

It was back in March when Oppo forayed into the True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphone market with the Oppo Enco Free. I found them a worthy competitor in the market.

The latest product from Oppo is the Enco M31 earphones at an inexpensive price of just Rs 1,999. Now, these aren’t TWS earphones but they have a neckband design.

Let’s dive in to find out if these are worth your money or not.

<h2>Design: Neckband style</h2>

I know many people love their Bullets Wireless from OnePlus for many years but I was never a fan of their neckband design. I don’t want anything that is remotely heavy sitting on my neck all day long. I’d rather throw a pair of earphones into my pocket.

Still. Saying that the Enco M31’s are one of the lightest neckband earphones I’ve ever tested. During my two-week testing period, there were more than a few times where I forgot they were even resting on my neck. That’s a testament to how lightweight - coming in at just 22 grams - they are.

The Enco M31’s are not only good for listening to while on your daily walk but they’ll also not flap around when you’re running.

<img alt="Oppo Enco M31 Review: A pocket friendly, sweet sounding pair of neckband earphones" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="faf631a4-c005-4e0d-a4fb-7676dbf08089" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/0ac4a4ba-45e5-45ea-a706-7acbe65b40ac%20%281%29.jpg" />

The all-black design is somewhat boring and it isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Saying that Oppo has tried to make the pair elegant with the glossy metal trims for the button.

Oppo is offering these earphones in either black or green. Personally, I’d go with the latter, even though I’ve only seen them in images. I’ve been testing the black version.

Last but not the least, I’d just like to mention a bit about the build quality. The price may make these earbuds seem cheap but they are far from it. The build is sturdy and the neckband itself feels very solid. It doesn’t seem flimsy at all. The wires themselves are quite thick and overall these will last you a long time.

The earphones are IPX5 rating which means that they are sweat-resistant and you can work out with them without hesitation.

The Enco M31’s come with a volume rocker and a multi-function button. The buttons are quite simple to learn.

You long-press on the volume rocker for skipping or going to the previous track. A double-tap on the multi-function button enables the bass mode. A single tap on the multi-function button pauses/plays the music. Finally, snapping the earphones together via the magnets will turn off the earphones completely.

<h2>Sound quality and connectivity: Pretty good!</h2>

The Enco M31’s earphones connect over Bluetooth 5.0 and pairing was super quick. I rarely had any problems connecting to them. Even during my runs, the connection between the Enco M31’s and my smartphone rarely shuttered, and even if it did, it was hardly for a second.

The Enco M31’s come with support for LDAC coding. Something competing earphones don’t offer. That in itself makes these a better buy for audiophiles. The similarly priced OnePlus Wireless Z’s lack any LDAC coding and also have a less refined soundstage.

The best part about the Enco M31’s is the instrument and vocal separation. No matter what song you listen to - from Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days Are Over to Down The Road by C2C - the song is crystal clear. Even during Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, I could separate Mars’ voice from the crowded background noises.

It’s not to say the M31’s are perfect. In some songs, you’ll get a hollow sound coming from the instruments. It’ll feel like the song is escaping you rather than feeding into you. That rarely happened but it is noticeable whenever it does happen.

<img alt="Oppo Enco M31 Review: A pocket friendly, sweet sounding pair of neckband earphones" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e0e2ab7c-22e5-4975-8c0d-e43d235ea66a" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/7fa56557-21e0-4816-9f6a-1362af9cb64c%20%282%29.jpg" />

There is a ‘bass mode’ on the Enco M31’s but I didn’t really care much for it, to be honest. It doesn’t do enough justice as the song itself - no matter what you’re listening to - sounds a little off at all times.

One of the downsides is the call quality. I found it lacking vs competing headphones. Indoors it was perfectly fine but when I was outdoors there was a lot of disturbance at times and my voice couldn’t be heard for a large part of the call. I had to constantly repeat myself.

Funnily enough, most of my calls outdoors resolved themselves within the first ten minutes. They seemed to get better as the call went on. Still, if you need them purely for call quality, then it’s best to skip them.

<h2>Battery life: Less than stellar</h2>

Another area where the Enco M31’s disappoint. With an average volume of 50-60 per cent and LDAC enabled, the Enco M31’s struggled to pass the five-hour mark, routinely shutting down shortly after hitting four hours.

With TWS earphones, you’re given a charging case but with neckband earphones, you have to reach for a USB port somewhere.

<h2>Verdict: A must-have product</h2>

At Rs 1,999. The Enco M31’s are a must-buy. If you already have a primary pair that you aren’t willing to part with, then these are a must-have second pair.

The pros outweigh the cons and purely on from an audiophile perspective, these will never disappoint you.

The Enco M31 is much better than many wired earphones that have been praised for many years. The Enco M31’s are also much better than the competition, namely the OnePlus Bullets Z and the Realme Buds Wireless.

Today, Oppo is one of the biggest Android smartphone manufacturers in the world. Back in the day though, Oppo used to be a well-regarded player in the audio market.

Today, Oppo is one of the biggest Android smartphone manufacturers in the world. Back in the day though, Oppo used to be a well-regarded player in the audio market. It was back in March when Oppo forayed into the True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphone market with the Oppo Enco Free. I found them a worthy competitor in the market. The latest product from Oppo is the Enco M31 earphones at an inexpensive price of just Rs 1,999. Now, these aren’t TWS earphones but they have a neckband design. Let’s dive in to find out if these are worth your money or not. Design: Neckband style I know many people love their Bullets Wireless from OnePlus for many years but I was never a fan of their neckband design. I don’t want anything that is remotely heavy sitting on my neck all day long. I’d rather throw a pair of earphones into my pocket. Still. Saying that the Enco M31’s are one of the lightest neckband earphones I’ve ever tested. During my two-week testing period, there were more than a few times where I forgot they were even resting on my neck. That’s a testament to how lightweight - coming in at just 22 grams - they are. The Enco M31’s are not only good for listening to while on your daily walk but they’ll also not flap around when you’re running. The all-black design is somewhat boring and it isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Saying that Oppo has tried to make the pair elegant with the glossy metal trims for the button. Oppo is offering these earphones in either black or green. Personally, I’d go with the latter, even though I’ve only seen them in images. I’ve been testing the black version. Last but not the least, I’d just like to mention a bit about the build quality. The price may make these earbuds seem cheap but they are far from it. The build is sturdy and the neckband itself feels very solid. It doesn’t seem flimsy at all. The wires themselves are quite thick and overall these will last you a long time. The earphones are IPX5 rating which means that they are sweat-resistant and you can work out with them without hesitation. The Enco M31’s come with a volume rocker and a multi-function button. The buttons are quite simple to learn. You long-press on the volume rocker for skipping or going to the previous track. A double-tap on the multi-function button enables the bass mode. A single tap on the multi-function button pauses/plays the music. Finally, snapping the earphones together via the magnets will turn off the earphones completely. Sound quality and connectivity: Pretty good! The Enco M31’s earphones connect over Bluetooth 5.0 and pairing was super quick. I rarely had any problems connecting to them. Even during my runs, the connection between the Enco M31’s and my smartphone rarely shuttered, and even if it did, it was hardly for a second. The Enco M31’s come with support for LDAC coding. Something competing earphones don’t offer. That in itself makes these a better buy for audiophiles. The similarly priced OnePlus Wireless Z’s lack any LDAC coding and also have a less refined soundstage. The best part about the Enco M31’s is the instrument and vocal separation. No matter what song you listen to - from Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days Are Over to Down The Road by C2C - the song is crystal clear. Even during Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, I could separate Mars’ voice from the crowded background noises. It’s not to say the M31’s are perfect. In some songs, you’ll get a hollow sound coming from the instruments. It’ll feel like the song is escaping you rather than feeding into you. That rarely happened but it is noticeable whenever it does happen. There is a ‘bass mode’ on the Enco M31’s but I didn’t really care much for it, to be honest. It doesn’t do enough justice as the song itself - no matter what you’re listening to - sounds a little off at all times. One of the downsides is the call quality. I found it lacking vs competing headphones. Indoors it was perfectly fine but when I was outdoors there was a lot of disturbance at times and my voice couldn’t be heard for a large part of the call. I had to constantly repeat myself. Funnily enough, most of my calls outdoors resolved themselves within the first ten minutes. They seemed to get better as the call went on. Still, if you need them purely for call quality, then it’s best to skip them. Battery life: Less than stellar Another area where the Enco M31’s disappoint. With an average volume of 50-60 per cent and LDAC enabled, the Enco M31’s struggled to pass the five-hour mark, routinely shutting down shortly after hitting four hours. With TWS earphones, you’re given a charging case but with neckband earphones, you have to reach for a USB port somewhere. Verdict: A must-have product At Rs 1,999. The Enco M31’s are a must-buy. If you already have a primary pair that you aren’t willing to part with, then these are a must-have second pair. The pros outweigh the cons and purely on from an audiophile perspective, these will never disappoint you. The Enco M31 is much better than many wired earphones that have been praised for many years. The Enco M31’s are also much better than the competition, namely the OnePlus Bullets Z and the Realme Buds Wireless.

Oppo Enco M31 Review: A pocket friendly, sweet sounding pair of neckband earphones

Telangana IT &amp; Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday took part in a panel discussion on 'Empowering AI Leadership' at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Talking about the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-aiming-at-equipping-defence-forces-with-artificial-intelligence-138463/amp">importance of Artificial Intelligence</a> in various sectors, Minister KTR said, "No business can stay untouched from the AI revolution. AI must be factored into every policy or strategy, whether government, IT, non-IT industries. We consider AI to be integral to all our work and hence in Telangana, we have dedicated 2020 to the year of AI."

During the panel discussion, he said, "AI is expected to <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amazon-microsoft-putting-the-world-at-risk-of-killer-artificial-intelligence-study-244701">transform the global economy</a> and early adopters will have first-mover advantage. Therefore, the Telangana government is setting a vision to accelerate AI readiness and develop a conducive ecosystem in the state."

The minister asserted that AI will add 40% to the world's GDP by 2030. He also highlighted that Telangana has declared 2020 as the Year of AI to capture the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/dont-believe-the-naysayers-artificial-intelligence-will-create-23-million-jobs-by-2020-30215">global AI opportunity</a> in the coming decade. "This declaration has set in motion a bunch of coordinated initiatives with key strategic partners, to achieve the state's vision to establish Hyderabad as amongst the Top 25 Global AI Innovation Hubs," he said.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/artificial-intelligence-holds-tremendous-potential-to-transform-education-212578">Artificial Intelligence holds tremendous potential to transform education</a>

When asked about the state of AI deployment currently, the minister stated that Telangana Government has deployed AI-based systems for G2C Chatbots, identity authentication for citizen service delivery, commodity supply chain optimisation, crowd counting, criminal tracking, and other law enforcement applications.

The minister highlighted that Hyderabad City Police recently piloted an AI-enabled traffic management system, saving road time for citizens. "Effective use of citizen data helps us identify the key issues our citizens face, makes us design targeted programs and provide better citizen services," he added.

<img alt="Artificial Intelligence" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="19bc417a-439e-45aa-8fe0-becb6e470d21" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%2849%29_1.jpg" /> 
[ Artificial Intelligence to Change the Future of Business - Representative Image (Courtesy: Reuters) ]

Sharing his thoughts further, the minister said, "As an international AI community, we need to brainstorm governance models to hold AI accountable. Govt of India, in consultation with critical stakeholders, is already developing AI governance guidelines. I appreciate the WEWF C4IR network's project on Public Sector AI Procurement guidelines."

Minister S. Iswaran, Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore (MCI), Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Michael Salvino, President, and Chief Executive Officer, DXC Technology, Frans Cronje, Co-Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, DataProphet and Genevieve Bell, Distinguished Professor; Director, 3A Institute, Australian National University were the other panellists who shared their thoughts during the panel discussion. 
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Minister KTR held meetings with global industry leaders at the Telangana Pavilion in Davos.

Roche Chairman Christoph Franz met the minister at the Telangana Pavilion. During the meeting, the minister informed Franz that Hyderabad is renowned as the pharma and life sciences hub of the country. The minister also mentioned the investment opportunities in Hyderabad Pharma City and Medical Devices Park.

The minister also met Hewlett Packard Enterprise COO Vishal Lall, Apollo Tyres Vice Chairman &amp; MD Neeraj Kanwar, Carlsberg Group and Carlsberg Foundation Chairman, Prof. Flemming Besenbacher, and ProcterGamble CEO &amp; MD, Southeast Asia Magesvaran Suranjan and highlighted the investment opportunities in sectors like food processing, electronics, textile and life sciences in Telangana.

Telangana IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday took part in a panel discussion on 'Empowering AI Leadership' at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Talking about the importance of Artificial Intelligence in various sectors, Minister KTR said, "No business can stay untouched from the AI revolution.

Telangana IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday took part in a panel discussion on 'Empowering AI Leadership' at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Talking about the importance of Artificial Intelligence in various sectors, Minister KTR said, "No business can stay untouched from the AI revolution. AI must be factored into every policy or strategy, whether government, IT, non-IT industries. We consider AI to be integral to all our work and hence in Telangana, we have dedicated 2020 to the year of AI." During the panel discussion, he said, "AI is expected to transform the global economy and early adopters will have first-mover advantage. Therefore, the Telangana government is setting a vision to accelerate AI readiness and develop a conducive ecosystem in the state." The minister asserted that AI will add 40% to the world's GDP by 2030. He also highlighted that Telangana has declared 2020 as the Year of AI to capture the global AI opportunity in the coming decade. "This declaration has set in motion a bunch of coordinated initiatives with key strategic partners, to achieve the state's vision to establish Hyderabad as amongst the Top 25 Global AI Innovation Hubs," he said. Also Read: Artificial Intelligence holds tremendous potential to transform education When asked about the state of AI deployment currently, the minister stated that Telangana Government has deployed AI-based systems for G2C Chatbots, identity authentication for citizen service delivery, commodity supply chain optimisation, crowd counting, criminal tracking, and other law enforcement applications. The minister highlighted that Hyderabad City Police recently piloted an AI-enabled traffic management system, saving road time for citizens. "Effective use of citizen data helps us identify the key issues our citizens face, makes us design targeted programs and provide better citizen services," he added. [ Artificial Intelligence to Change the Future of Business - Representative Image (Courtesy: Reuters) ] Sharing his thoughts further, the minister said, "As an international AI community, we need to brainstorm governance models to hold AI accountable. Govt of India, in consultation with critical stakeholders, is already developing AI governance guidelines. I appreciate the WEWF C4IR network's project on Public Sector AI Procurement guidelines." Minister S. Iswaran, Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore (MCI), Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Michael Salvino, President, and Chief Executive Officer, DXC Technology, Frans Cronje, Co-Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, DataProphet and Genevieve Bell, Distinguished Professor; Director, 3A Institute, Australian National University were the other panellists who shared their thoughts during the panel discussion. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Minister KTR held meetings with global industry leaders at the Telangana Pavilion in Davos. Roche Chairman Christoph Franz met the minister at the Telangana Pavilion. During the meeting, the minister informed Franz that Hyderabad is renowned as the pharma and life sciences hub of the country. The minister also mentioned the investment opportunities in Hyderabad Pharma City and Medical Devices Park. The minister also met Hewlett Packard Enterprise COO Vishal Lall, Apollo Tyres Vice Chairman & MD Neeraj Kanwar, Carlsberg Group and Carlsberg Foundation Chairman, Prof. Flemming Besenbacher, and ProcterGamble CEO & MD, Southeast Asia Magesvaran Suranjan and highlighted the investment opportunities in sectors like food processing, electronics, textile and life sciences in Telangana.

No business can stay untouched from the Artificial Intelligence revolution: Telangana Minister KTR

Technology has changed our lives but not all these changes are positive. Know Is technology in modern lives Boon or Bane?

Technology in modern lives Boon or Bane?

Social media giant Facebook is planning to launch an&nbsp;unsend a message feature like Whatsapp for Facebook messenger as well.

The new feature will take several months to launch.

Facebook made the announcement after there were reports that Facebook has retracted Facebook messages sent by its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Few other executives of the organization's messages were also reportedly retracted from the recipients' inboxes.

After which the company announced that no more messages of Zuckerberg will be retracted until the features get available for all users.

The retraction of Zuckerburg's messages has reportedly struck many Facebook users as a violation of trust with Facebook.

According to a report by tech blog, 'Techcrunch' users will have an option of sending their messages by setting a specific expiration time of the sent message and the time will run out the message will automatically be the chat thread.

Though this is just an initial plan for the feature. The company may build another way to unsend their messages from the messenger.

Another subsidiary of Facebook, an instant messaging app Whatsapp has this unsend message feature from November 2017.

Whatsapp users can delete their sent texts by going to 'delete for me only' option.

The new feature will take several months to launch

Social media giant Facebook is planning to launch an unsend a message feature like Whatsapp for Facebook messenger as well. The new feature will take several months to launch. Facebook made the announcement after there were reports that Facebook has retracted Facebook messages sent by its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Few other executives of the organization's messages were also reportedly retracted from the recipients' inboxes. After which the company announced that no more messages of Zuckerberg will be retracted until the features get available for all users. The retraction of Zuckerburg's messages has reportedly struck many Facebook users as a violation of trust with Facebook. According to a report by tech blog, 'Techcrunch' users will have an option of sending their messages by setting a specific expiration time of the sent message and the time will run out the message will automatically be the chat thread. Though this is just an initial plan for the feature. The company may build another way to unsend their messages from the messenger. Another subsidiary of Facebook, an instant messaging app Whatsapp has this unsend message feature from November 2017. Whatsapp users can delete their sent texts by going to 'delete for me only' option.

After secretly deleting Zuckerberg's messages, Facebook to launch unsend a message feature for everyone

Tech giant Apple has been sued by over 60,000 iPhone users&nbspin South Korea&nbspfor damages on Friday.

The compensation that is being demanded is $12 million in total with each customer demanding $188.

The lawsuit has been lodged by a local firm Hannuri in a Seoul Central district court against the local unit of iPhone manufacturer, Appl and Apple Korea.

According to reports, four lakh users were seeking legal action against the company initially but the number fell during the course of verification of documents and other legal procedures.

The company is accused of slowing down phones through software tweak after they release new model is released to make buyers purchase the latest one.

In December last year, the company confirmed the reports of slowing certain models deliberately in order to prevent phone from aging batteries.

The company further assured users that it does to 'protect your phone' as the lithium-ion batteries age through time and after that,&nbspit can't process at the same capacity which could cause a phone to shut down unexpectdely.

 
&nbsp

The compensation that is being demanded is $12 million in total with each customer demanding $188

Tech giant Apple has been sued by over 60,000 iPhone users&nbspin South Korea&nbspfor damages on Friday. The compensation that is being demanded is $12 million in total with each customer demanding $188. The lawsuit has been lodged by a local firm Hannuri in a Seoul Central district court against the local unit of iPhone manufacturer, Appl and Apple Korea. According to reports, four lakh users were seeking legal action against the company initially but the number fell during the course of verification of documents and other legal procedures. The company is accused of slowing down phones through software tweak after they release new model is released to make buyers purchase the latest one. In December last year, the company confirmed the reports of slowing certain models deliberately in order to prevent phone from aging batteries. The company further assured users that it does to 'protect your phone' as the lithium-ion batteries age through time and after that,&nbspit can't process at the same capacity which could cause a phone to shut down unexpectdely.

Over 60,000 iPhone users sue Apple in South Korea

Google has rolled out its first preview for developers of its latest Android version &nbsp;Android P.

Devices that eligible for the Android P preview for developers&#39; update are all Pixel devices and Android Emulator.

Nexus users may not receive the update the Google had ended OS support for Nexus phones due to the end of their two-year contract.

According to the Google&#39;s statement, the second preview would be released in May and will be followed by further updates in June and July.

Android P has added various new features with improvement in its settings and notification bar, reports said.

The users will be able to see photos and&nbsp;sticker directly from the notification bar, reports added.

The update also offers smart replies, offering replies on the basis of contextual information of chat history.

For past, some time Google and lot of other apps have been criticised for gathering user&#39;s data by running in the background. New android P will also offer restricting apps from accessing mics and camera.

There are several design changes as well including changes&nbsp;in home screen and lock screen. 
&nbsp;

Devices that eligible for the Android P preview for developer's update are all Pixel devices and Android Emulator

Google has rolled out its first preview for developers of its latest Android version Android P. Devices that eligible for the Android P preview for developers' update are all Pixel devices and Android Emulator. Nexus users may not receive the update the Google had ended OS support for Nexus phones due to the end of their two-year contract. According to the Google's statement, the second preview would be released in May and will be followed by further updates in June and July. Android P has added various new features with improvement in its settings and notification bar, reports said. The users will be able to see photos and sticker directly from the notification bar, reports added. The update also offers smart replies, offering replies on the basis of contextual information of chat history. For past, some time Google and lot of other apps have been criticised for gathering user's data by running in the background. New android P will also offer restricting apps from accessing mics and camera. There are several design changes as well including changes in home screen and lock screen.

Google rolls out first Android P preview for developers

Xiaomi launched two phones, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 pro along with their new surprise tv Mi TV 4&nbsp;in an event in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The major change in the Redmi Note 5 is its bezel-less design as compared to its previous model.

The phone has 8.99-inch display with 18:8 aspect ratio.

It also has 4000mah battery and a 12-megapixel camera with LED flash.

There are two variants of this phone, one is 3Gb with 32 Gb storage and the other one is 4gb with 64 GB storage.

Users who will buy this phone will also get a silicone case free with the device.

The Redmi Note 5 pro is packed with snapdragon 636 processor and has a dual camera with 12 megapixels.

Users buying this will have only one option in storage wise with 64 GB but Redmi offers two variants with different ram. One is &nbsp;4GB and the other one is 6GB.

Xiaomi Note 5&nbsp; 3 GB variant is priced at 9,999&nbsp;and &nbsp;4GB variant at&nbsp;11,999.

Redmi Note 5 pro will be available in 13,999 for 4 GB variant and 16,999 for the 6 GB variant.

No official release date has been announced during the event but users can expect this to be available by next week in a sale on Flipkart and Mi.com.

The major change in the Redmi Note 5 is its bezel-less design as compared to its previous model

Xiaomi launched two phones, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 pro along with their new surprise tv Mi TV 4 in an event in New Delhi on Wednesday. The major change in the Redmi Note 5 is its bezel-less design as compared to its previous model. The phone has 8.99-inch display with 18:8 aspect ratio. It also has 4000mah battery and a 12-megapixel camera with LED flash. There are two variants of this phone, one is 3Gb with 32 Gb storage and the other one is 4gb with 64 GB storage. Users who will buy this phone will also get a silicone case free with the device. The Redmi Note 5 pro is packed with snapdragon 636 processor and has a dual camera with 12 megapixels. Users buying this will have only one option in storage wise with 64 GB but Redmi offers two variants with different ram. One is 4GB and the other one is 6GB. Xiaomi Note 5 3 GB variant is priced at 9,999 and 4GB variant at 11,999. Redmi Note 5 pro will be available in 13,999 for 4 GB variant and 16,999 for the 6 GB variant. No official release date has been announced during the event but users can expect this to be available by next week in a sale on Flipkart and Mi.com.

Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro launched in Delhi

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