Category: Tech Launches

At Exhibit Tech, discover the latest tech releases and new tech that you definitely won’t want to miss out on. From Apple to Android, our experts reveal everything you need to know about the latest gadgets and much more. Join us as we bring you to the best launches we had the great opportunity to be invited to.

India restricts import on laptops, tablets and PCs

India has imposed restrictions on the imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers with immediate effect. A government notice was shared not too long ago which announced the restrictions, in a bid to push local manufacturing. The notice revealed that the import of laptops, tablets, and PCs “would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports.”

India restricts imports of laptops and more

In 2023 April-June, electronic imports including laptops, tablets, and personal computers were $19.7 billion. This was an increase of 6.25% year-on-year. As per reports, electronics imports range between 7% to 10% of the country’s total merchandising imports. The former director general at MAIT, Ali Akhtar Jafri said that “The move’s spirit is to push manufacturing to India.” Jafri also added that the move was not just a mere nudge, but a major push towards bringing manufacturing in India.

India has been working tediously to push local manufacturing by giving production-linked incentives in over two dozen sectors which also include electronics. The country also extended the deadline for companies to apply for the $2 billion manufacturing incentive scheme to attract major investments in IT hardware manufacturing. This covers products like laptops, tablets, PCs and servers. Dell, Acer, Samsung, LG Electronics, Lenovo, Apple, and HP Inc. are some of the key companies selling laptops in the Indian market, a big chunk of this portion is imported from countries like China. This restriction by India triggered a rise in shares by over 5% for Indian electronic maker Dixon Technologies. As per government reports, laptops, tablets, and personal computers makeup about 1.5% of the country’s total annual reports and nearly half of these imports are brought from China.

 

 

Time to bid adieu to the domain twitter.com and its iconic blue bird logo

After joining Twitter, Elon Musk has mastered the art of sudden announcements, particularly on Sundays. Lately, he humorously advised people to detach themselves from their phones and spend quality time with their loved ones. Cut to now, the Tesla CEO announced that Twitter would soon be rebranded into “X”, and asked millions of users to prepare themselves to bid farewell to the iconic Blue Bird logo we have come to link with Twitter over the years.

Now, the domain X.com redirects you to the microblogging website Twitter. Hold on, that’s not the only thing he has changed; in the following tweet, he pinned a video on his profile that will likely be the new Twitter logo and in another tweet, he posted the same logo in the form of a text. In short, the day is not far when the domain Twitter.com will be gone, and x.com will replace it.

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino called X a second chance to make another big impression as she tweeted, “It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

The concept of ‘X’ dates back to 1999 when Musk founded an ambitious venture called http://X.com, which over the years, evolved into what we know today as PayPal. And now, after two decades and more, Elon Musk’s interest in ‘X.com’ resurfaced, leading him to rebrand Twitter as part of his grand plan to transform the micro-blogging platform into a super app.

Since Elon bought Twitter, he has brought many changes to the platform, including a paid verification system, gold ticks for brands, silver ticks for government figures, services such as peer-to-peer transactions as part of his vision for an “everything app” and whatnot. As he tweeted earlier in April, “looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app”, he is on the way to achieving it.

Netflix ends password sharing in India

Netflix users had grown accustomed to sharing their passwords with friends and family in India. It was a rather common phenomenon for one user to pay for the subscription and other members chipping in their contribution. I got my first ever Netflix account with three of my friends chipping in to get it for a cheaper price. Netflix was well aware about the password sharing amongst its subscribers for years and even promoted it once on Twitter writing ‘Love is sharing a password.’ However, the era of Netflix password sharing has now officially come to an end in India.

Netflix India ends password sharing

Netflix India announced yesterday that it is bringing additional restrictions on account and password sharing in India. The streaming giant has been tirelessly working on the password sharing crackdown globally for a while now. This restricts users from sharing passwords from people other than their family members. Netflix recently shared a press note which reads as following –

“Starting today, we will be sending this email to members who are sharing Netflix outside their household in India.

A Netflix account is for use by one household. Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday — and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices.

We recognise that our members have many entertainment choices. It is why we continue to invest heavily in a wide variety of new films and TV shows — so whatever your taste, mood or language and whoever you are watching with, there is always something satisfying to watch on Netflix.”

The company will start sending out emails and informing the users a Netflix account is meant for a single household. Members outside the household can either get a separate subscription or transfer their profiles to a new account. Netflix identifies password sharing by tracking the user’s IP address, device ID and account activity from devices signed into the account. The company’s IP address tracking makes it difficult for users outside the primary household to use the account. While the crackdown of password sharing has led to positive outcome for Netflix as it has witnessed a growth in subscriber numbers, the Indian users definitely have different viewing and spending habits. The effect of the password haring crackdown could easily result in a backlash from Indian users with people ending their subscriptions entirely. It will be interesting how this new effort from Netflix to end password sharing results in the long run for the Indian market.

Google’s ‘Genesis’ AI is capable of writing news article

At a time when major strikes are happening in Hollywood over the use of AI in film writing amongst various other issues, Google has introduced an AI that can alter journalism. Google’s Bard is already a successful generative AI tool but the Alphabet-owned company has introduced a new tool which can write news articles. The AI tool titled ‘Genesis’ is being pitched to news organizations like The New York Time and more to generate news articles.

Journalism about to change?

Why have hardworking journalists investigate matters which affect the general public to bring forward the truth when you can type in some easy prompts and get a news article in no time? The New York Times exclusive story reveals that the Genesis AI tool has the ability to create written content using data provided to it. The AI is capable of handling content from different genres and can churn out content based on any topic, be it current events or any other forms of information.

The New York Times is only one of the few organizations who has seen the demonstrations of this tool. Google has the belief that the tool can act as a personal assistant for journalists by automating few tasks, in turn making it easier to focus on other responsibilities. A Google spokesperson was quoted saying that the tool is not intended to, and can neither replace the essential role of journalists.

Google views Genesis as a responsible tool which can prevent the publishing industry from facing challenges generative AI. However, I don’t really belief issues caused by one AI can be solved by another.

Several journalists who witnessed Google’s presentation of the AI deemed it unsettling. Reports suggest that the presentation easily ignores the hard work and dedication which goes into creating well-crafted news articles. For now, Google’s AI tool remains in the testing stage, and in my opinion should be shelved entirely as the fourth pillar of democracy i.e. Journalism should not be rested on the wobbly shoulders of artificial intelligence.

Christopher Nolan calls AI the ‘Oppenheimer’ of this generation

Oppenheimer has been one of the most talked about films in recent times. While Oppenheimer Vs Barbie has been the main talk of the town, we as audience members cannot overlook the fact that the former is an important film which draws parallels from the ongoing chaos in the world. The film is all set to release later this week and the director Christopher Nolan has a warning for tech companies and the engineers working in them. Without namedropping anyone, Nolan stated that Silicon Valley should learn to take accountability.

Nolan’s warning to tech companies

When J. Robert Oppenheimer first learned that Hiroshima had been struck with devastating effects, the physicist began having deepest regrets about his role in the creation of the bomb. Oppenheimer wept his heart out and expressed his regret over the creation of the atomic bomb when he met President Harry S. Truman. However, the president deemed him a crybaby and said he would never want to see him again. Nolan wishes the Silicon Valley audience members of his upcoming film are able to draw parallels from the story of Oppenheimer.

Nolan was quoted saying, “I think what I would want them to take away is the concept of accountability” The director recently held a screening of Oppenheimer at The Whitby Hotel in New York where he had a lot to share about the technological developments in the past 15 years. Nolan stated that the rise of companies in the past 15 years “bandying” about words like algorithm do not really want to take any responsibility for what the said algorithm does.

Nolan added that these algorithms being applied in the AI infrastructure make up for a terrifying possibility. He added that during his conversation with leading researchers in the field of AI, they refer to the current AI scenario as their Oppenheimer moment. Nolan highlighted that prominent people in the AI industry are looking at Oppenheimer’s story to say what are the responsibilities for scientists developing new technologies that may have unintended consequences.

28% GST slapped on online gaming industry

The Indian government plans to impose a major 28% tax on the fund that online gaming firms collect from consumers. This is a massive blow to one of the fastest-growing industries in India. This move is already being labelled as catastrophic and unconstitutional by online gaming company leaders. The government is planning to facilitate this by bringing a legal amendment in this monsoon session. It is decided that a uniform 28 per cent tax will be applicable on full face value for online gaming, casinos, and horse racing.

Online gaming takes a hit

A group of ministers were designated to look into the matter of taxation surrounding online games. This group submitted its first report in June 2022 which was taken up by the GST council in June last year. After the submission of the report, multiple discussions and debates around the implications of taxes on online games were held. Reportedly, the discussions were centred around two major questions: whether the activities of race courses and online gaming directly translate to betting and gambling or not and secondly how should the supplies of casinos, race courses, and online gaming be valued?

What does the taxation on the online gaming industry imply?

The implications of the 28% GST on online gaming in India are monumental as it entirely changes the landscape of the industry. Firstly, taxation directly translates to increased business costs for online gaming companies. The high taxation rate could result in difficulty for smaller gaming companies to compete with larger rivals. Additionally, the government can use taxation as a way to increase regulation of the online gaming industry. This could lead to stricter rules and requirements for gaming companies. The higher tax rate could lead to consumers shifting to offshore gaming platforms which are not subject to GST.

 

 

 

Chandrayaan-3: Everything you need to know

With the launch of Chandrayaan-3 today (July 14), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is all set to make its second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon. It was back in 2019 when Chandrayaan-2’s lander and rover crashed on the moon’s surface due to issues that emerged during the last stage of descent. The entire country has erupted with anticipation surrounding the Chandrayaan-3 launch. Once the mission sees a successful ‘Soft’ landing, India will become the fourth country to do so, behind the United States, Russia, and China. Here’s everything you need to know about the Chandryaan-3 mission:

Chandrayaan-3: A Pinnacle in Indian space exploration

Chandrayaan-3’s mission is to demonstrate India’s growing technical capabilities in the field ad conduct of soft landing on the moon. The soft landing is a significant feat in space exploration and India successfully achieving it would make the country one of the key players around the world. A soft landing refers to a spacecraft coming to a near standstill and gently landing on a surface after hurtling through space at speeds 10 times faster than an aeroplane. All of this is done in a matter of minutes and without any human intervention.

The payloads on the lander and rover remain the same as they were in the previous mission. Chandrayaan-3 will carry four scientific payloads on the lander to study the lunar quakes, thermal properties, and changes in plasma near the surface. Additionally, a passive experiment to accurately measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon will also be taking place during the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

The landing site of the latest mission is also reportedly the same as the Chandrayaan-2. The landing site is near the south pole of the moon at 70 degrees latitude. If the mission is successful, Chandrayaan-3 will become the world’s first mission to soft-land near the lunar south pole.

The launch window

Chandrayaan-3 is set to take off at 2:35 PM precisely. The launch window of a spacecraft is crucial due to multiple reasons. If the spacecraft intends to get close to a space station, a planet, or other points in space, the launch needs to be carefully timed so that their orbits overlap at some point in the future. If the weather is bad or a malfunction happens during the launch window then the mission gets postponed until the next launch window appropriate for the flight.

Twitter Blue users will be able to hide likes and subscribers number soon

The ongoing turmoil between Musk-owned Twitter and Zuckerberg-owned Threads seems to be taking an exciting turn daily. It is good to see that Twitter officials are not just busy complaining about how Threads is a plagiarised application but are also actively working on bringing valuable updates. At the time of the launch of Twitter Blue, Elon had promised that additional features besides just the checkmark verification will be launched soon. However, the promises did not translate to reality all this time except for a few features here and there like uploading longer videos. According to new reports, Twitter Blue subscribers will soon be able to hide the like button and also hide the number of subscribers from the audience.

New Twitter Blue features

Twitter’s like count has been public ever since its inception. The public likes count is in itself a viral trend as many users gain attention on the platform just by liking bizarre content. The ability to be able to hide the likes tab on your profile is no less than a blessing for some users who are habitual to dropping likes on odd content. The likes tab will only be visible to a user after they’ve disabled it. On the other hand, they will still be able to like and see the number of likes on posts from other users. One thing which is a matter of concern here is whether their likes will be public for general users, there’s no clarity on that as of now. Similarly, if a Twitter Blue user decides to hide the number of subscribers then only they can see the subscriber list on their profile.

The blue tick which was earlier limited to well-known personalities and organizations was deemed as a corrupt division between people by Elon Musk. This resulted in Musk launching the Twitter Blue subscription which allows users to get the verified status on their profile by paying a monthly fee. However, this has resulted in reduced traffic on the microblogging platform with many looking for an alternative.

Google working on flight mode feature which automatically turns on during flights

How many times have you been on a flight and do not turn on fight mode right until your connection goes out after take off? I do not blame you as the constant need to stay connected to the internet is something I struggle with too. However, it looks like Google is all set to make things a little more difficult for people like us as they work on a feature which automatically turns on the flight mode on your device!

Google’s new Android feature

Google is reportedly working on a new Android feature which will help users automatically turn on Airplane mode during a flight. The technology is also designed to improve functionalities for the aeroplane mode. The company has filed a patent for this new feature via World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that is titled ‘Activating a Connected Flight Mode’. So, how exactly does this feature work?

The new patent calls for sensors on an Android device to determine whether a person is flying by tracking changes in acceleration and speed, by listening to certain sounds, and by a drop in air pressure.

According to the patent filing, the sensor triggers would enable the ‘Connected Flight Mode’ feature along with contextual factors of the user such as travel booking activity and check-in status. Google has also shared an illustration of the patent. Check it out below –

Nothing Phone (2) with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC launched in India at ₹44,999

The anticipation for the Phone (2) release has been off the charts, and now the wait is finally over. Nothing has officially unveiled the Phone (2), bringing many improvements compared to its predecessor. The Phone (2) may appear similar to the Phone (1), but it now features a rounded back, providing a more comfortable grip.

The Glyph interface has also been updated, consisting of 11 segmented LED strips with 33 LED lighting zones, which brings new possibilities for notifications, such as volume control and timer indicators. Users can assign specific apps to the top left LED for Essential Glyph notifications, which will remain lit until the corresponding notification is cleared from the notification menu.

The Phone (2) boasts a 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display with FHD+ resolution and a 1-120Hz refresh rate. The centred punch hole cutout houses a 32MP front-facing camera equipped with a Sony IMX615 sensor, enabling support for 1080p video recording at 60fps. On the rear, the primary camera now incorporates a Sony IMX890 sensor with 50MP resolution, accompanied by OIS and EIS image stabilization, as well as updated HDR and Motion Capture modes. The 50MP ultrawide camera retains the same Samsung JN1 sensor as its predecessor but gains Advanced HDR capabilities.

The Phone (2) is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which replaces the SD 778G+ found in the Phone (1). The Phone (2) now boasts an upgraded battery capacity of 4700 mAh and an increase in wired charging speeds to 45W, while the wireless charging capabilities remain at 15W.

In terms of software, the Phone (2) operates on Nothing OS 2.0, which is built on Android 13. This software update brings a range of new features, including innovative widgets, customizable theme colours, enhanced folder layouts, and visually appealing illustrated covers. The Nothing Phone (2) will be available for sale from July 21 in white and dark grey colour options and is priced at ₹44,999 for the 8/128GB variant, ₹49,999 for the 12/256GB variant, and ₹54,999 for the 12/512GB variant.

Tata group inches close to become the first Indian company to Manufacture iPhones in India

Apple Indian fanboys rejoice! Tata Group, the largest Indian conglomerate is about to crack a historic deal which will undoubtedly change India’s tech industry landscape. Tata Group is nearing an agreement to acquire an Apple Inc. Supplier’s factory. The deal could go through as early as August. This would make Tata Group the first-ever Indian company to delve into iPhone assembly.

Tata Group leaps forward

Tata already has a strong footprint in the electronics sector and the dream of transforming India into a global manufacturing hub seems to coming to reality. The company is likely to acquire Apple’s supplier factory in Karnataka for over $600 million. The factory is currently owned by Wistron Corp which is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer. The industrial unit has reportedly been the subject of negotiations for nearly a year. It has a potential value exceeding $600 million and currently employs over 10,000 people. The factory currently assembles the latest iPhone 14 models. This transition will result in the Taiwanese company Wistron officially ending all its production operations in the country.

Tata Group’s decision to move to assemble iPhones marks its entry into new territories in the tech sector. The conglomerate already manufactures iPhone chassis in Tamil Nadu. Tata Group had previously expressed its ambitions of entering the chipmaking industry. This move positions Tata as one of the prominent tech players in the global market. India’s Prime Minister has initiated several programs which incentivize manufacturing growth in the country. Tata Group’s new deal could also motivate global brands from around the world to consider India as a reliable manufacturing location.

Apple, on the other hand, has been keenly interested in increasing its operations in India. Just recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India and singled out the country as being pivotal for both being a production base and a customer market.

PRIME energy drink may face FDA investigation over high caffeine content

Influencer-backed products have become all the rage in recent years. Gone are the days when teens and preteens used to get influenced by actors and pop stars. Now, social media personalities have taken up the spotlight. Recently, KSI and Logan Paul’s PRIME drink earned viral popularity among children. Kids and their helpless parents were seen lining up for hours to get their hands on the drink during the initial launch of the drink. Beyond the launch, the drink has also faced multiple shortages in supply due to ever-increasing demand. However, PRIME is now facing scrutiny and heavy criticism for its high caffeine content and kid-friendly flavours.

PRIME under legal scrutiny

The drink has become insanely famous amongst teens and preteens despite the warning label that it’s not recommended for kids under the age of 18. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently asked FDA to look into the drink and wants a stronger warning for parents about the high levels of caffeine. Senator Schumer called PRIME drink the ‘cauldron of caffeine’ as a single 12-oz can has 200 milligrams of caffeine. This translates to drinking six cans of Coke or two Red Bull energy drinks. It’s undoubtedly too much caffeine to drink all at once.

Sadly, the drink has become a hot commodity amongst kids due to KSI and Logan Paul being associated with it. The Democratic senator in a news conference in New York shared that PRIME drinks have an “eye-popping” level of caffeine for a young kid’s body. The company in response shared a statement to Reuters that states “We welcome discussions with the FDA or any other organization regarding suggested industry changes they feel are necessary in order to protect consumers”

Exit mobile version