Tech Striker

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Commerce Committee in March, as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. Chew will testify before the committee on March 23, which will be his first appearance before a congressional committee, said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chair of the panel, in a statement on Monday. The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns. "ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data," McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security. TikTok confirmed on Monday Chew will testify. "We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to a

The Michael Jackson biopic, originally announced in 2019 and revealed as titled ‘Michael', has finally cast a lead actor to play the late 'King of Pop'. Jaafar Jackson, the nephew of Michael Jackson, has been confirmed to be playing his uncle in the biopic, which currently does not have a release date. The film is being directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer series), and is produced by Graham King, who previously helmed Freddie Mercury's biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. The announcement of the lead casting was made by Lionsgate, with producer Graham King saying "I met Jaafar over two years ago and was blown away by the way he organically personifies the spirit and personality of Michael,” as per a report by SlashFilm. "I am beyond thrilled that he has come on board to portray his uncle and cannot wait for the world to see him on the big screen as Michael Jackson,” continued King, who produced 2018's critical and commercial success Bohemian Rhap

Samsung on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly profit since 2014 and said persistent macroeconomic uncertainty will make for a tough first half year, though demand is likely to start recovering in the second half. Sluggish demand and inventory adjustment will continue to impact the chip business in the first quarter, Samsung said in a statement, adding it expects "smartphone demand to decline year-on-year due to the economic slowdown in major regions". The world's biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones reported a 69 percent plunge in fourth-quarter profit, as consumer demand for electronic devices dropped while clients spent less in a weak economy, dragging down memory chip prices. At KRW 4.3 trillion (roughly Rs. 29,000 crore), October-December operating profit was Samsung's lowest quarterly profit in eight years. Revenue fell 8 percent to KRW 70.5 trillion won (roughly Rs. 4.7 lakh crore). With memory chip prices falling by double-digit percentages in

The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Huawei has faced US export restrictions around items for 5G and other technologies for several years, but officials in the US Department of Commerce have granted licenses for some American firms to sell certain goods and technologies to the company. Qualcomm , in 2020, received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei. A Commerce Department spokesperson said officials "continually assess our policies and regulations" but do not comment on talks with specific companies. Huawei and Qualcomm declined to comment. Bloomberg and the Financial Times earlier reported the move. One person familiar with the matter said US officials are creating a new formal policy of denial for shipping items to Huawei that would include items below the 5G level, including 4G items, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, a

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is poised to kickstart Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in style, transporting us to the populated, urban megacity of Quantum Realm. In what feels like a redemption arc for the often ridiculed and not-so-popular Avenger that is Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), the film sets the first faceoff for the perils to come in the form of the hostile Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors) — in the larger Multiverse Saga. Marking the longest runtime in the shapeshifter trilogy, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases February 17 in theatres worldwide. While you wait for that superhero affair, why not treat yourself to a taste of Old Hollywood with Damien Chazelle's latest epic Babylon ? It's a wild ride, tracking the outsized ambition of eccentric characters, as they bask in the fame before eventually falling off. The film waltzes into cinemas on February 3. Coming to local fare, we've got two Hindi-language remakes of South Indian movies. First up, Kar

Samsung is known for its innovation in smartphones and has continued to amaze us with its Galaxy S series smartphones. This year is no different as the electronics giant is ready to take an epic leap with the next-generation Galaxy S series smartphones.   So, what is this article about? Well, it's about an event that all you Samsung fans are eagerly awaiting - the epic Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event. This highly anticipated event is famous for showcasing the company's latest technological advancements, pushing the limits of what's possible with a smartphone.  In the past, Samsung introduced groundbreaking innovations at the event that have transformed how users interact with their smartphones.  When and where will the Galaxy Unpacked event be held this year? Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event is set to take place on February 1 in San Francisco. The tech giant is expected to unveil new additions to its popular Galaxy S series. The event, which begins at 11:30 P

The Last of Us episode 4 trailer is out. HBO has dropped a preview for next week's episode of the post-apocalyptic drama based on the eponymous PlayStation video game, teasing a new character in the form of Kathleen, a ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City. Melanie Lynskey, best known for her run on Yellowjackets, will portray the role — signifying big trouble for our survivor duo Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Titled 'Please Hold My Hand', the episode will be directed by Jeremy Webb (The Umbrella Academy) and will reportedly be only 50 minutes long — significantly shorter than the 75-minute runtime of episode 3. The Last of Us episode 4 premieres February 6 at 8:30am IST/ February 5 at 9pm ET on Disney+ Hotstar and HBO Max, respectively. The trailer for The Last of Us episode 4 kicks off by introducing Ellie's ( Ramsey ) new pet peeve - a disgust for the smell of coffee, as the pair take a break, out in the woods. “It smells like b

OnePlus has announced that it will launch the OnePlus 11R smartphone in India on February 7. At the Cloud 11 launch event, the OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 TWS earphones will also be unveiled. There have been several reports and leaks surrounding the OnePlus 11R and its release over the past few months. Some reports suggest that OnePlus 11R is the same model that is likely to launch in China as the OnePlus Ace 2. A recent leak shows a design render of the model ahead of its launch. According to a tweet by tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce), the design for the OnePlus Ace 2 has been leaked and it is quite similar to the OnePlus 11 that was launched in China earlier this month. The phone is expected to be the successor of the OnePlus 10R 5G in India. The design reveals that the OnePlus 11R will feature a circular camera module with a part of it extending to the side panel. The handset lacks the Hasselblad branding that is unique to the OnePlus 11 5G. The phone also seems to

Elon Musk's enigmatic personality and unconventional tactics are emerging as key exhibits in a trial revolving around one of his most polarizing pursuits — tweeting. The trial, centred on a pair of tweets announcing Musk had obtained the money to take Tesla private in 2018, reeled the 51-year-old billionaire into a federal courtroom in San Francisco for three days of testimony that opened a peephole into his often inscrutable mind. Musk, who now owns the Twitter service that he deploys as his megaphone, was often a study in contrasts during his roughly eight hours on the stand. The CEO of the electric carmaker is facing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Tesla shareholders after Musk tweeted about a company buyout that didn't happen. Through both his testimony and the evidence submitted around it, Musk came across as impetuous, brash, combative and contemptuous of anyone who questioned his motives as a game-changing entrepreneur who has inspired comparisons to Apple

Chinese Internet giant Baidu is planning to launch an artificial intelligence chatbot tool similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT in March, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Baidu plans to debut the application by initially embedding it into its main search services, Bloomberg News reported earlier. ChatGPT's tech works by learning from vast amounts of data how to answer any prompt by a user in a human-like way, offering the information like a search engine would or prose like an aspiring novelist. Microsoft  has a $1 billion investment in San Francisco-based OpenAI that it has looked at increasing, Reuters has reported. The company has also worked to add OpenAI's image-generation software to its Bing search engine in a new challenge to Alphabet Inc's Google. Last week, the company announced a further multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI, deepening ties with the startup behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT and setting the stage for more competition with r

Samsung Galaxy Book 3 series of flagship laptops are slated to launch at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event, which will take place on February 1. The South Korean tech giant has opened the pre-booking for these laptops, despite not revealing any details about them. Now, a new report has surfaced that includes supposed design renders of the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, Galaxy Book 3 Pro, and Galaxy Book 3 360. The report has also shed some light on some of the key specifications of these upcoming laptops. According to a MySmartPrice report , Samsung will launch five Galaxy Book 3 series laptops at Galaxy Unpacked 2023 on February 1. The publication, in collaboration with tipster Ishan Agarwal, has shared the design renders of the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, Galaxy Book 3 Pro, and Galaxy Book 3 360. Starting with the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, the laptop will come with a stylus. As the name suggests, this upcoming convertible laptop is said to feature a 360-degree hinge. It is expected to run on Window

There are hundreds of millions of asteroids in our solar system, which means new asteroids are discovered quite frequently. It also means close encounters between asteroids and Earth are fairly common. Some of these close encounters end up with the asteroid impacting Earth, occasionally with severe consequences. A recently discovered asteroid, named 2023 BU, has made the news because today it passed very close to Earth. Discovered on January 21 by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov in Crimea, 2023 BU passed only about 3,600 km from the surface of Earth (near the southern tip of South America) six days later on January 27. That distance is just slightly farther than the distance between Perth and Sydney and is only about 1 percent of the distance between Earth and our Moon. The asteroid also passed through the region of space that contains a significant proportion of the human-made satellites orbiting Earth. All this makes 2023 BU the fourth-closest known asteroid encounter with E

Oppo Reno 8T has been a part of the rumour mill for quite a while now. The company has confirmed that this handset will launch in the Philippines on February 8. However, the remaining details are yet to be officially revealed. However, it appears that a retailer has revealed the pricing of the Oppo Reno 8T. An alleged listing for this upcoming smartphone has surfaced on Facebook that also mentions some of the key specifications of the Oppo Reno 8T. It also includes supposed live images of the handset and its box packaging. Oppo Reno 8T price (expected) According to a report by Revü, the Oppo Reno 8T might be priced at PHP 18,999 (roughly Rs. 28,500) for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The lack of 5G branding on the leaked retail box image could mean that this is the 4G variant. Oppo is believed to be also working on the Oppo Reno 8T 5G. Oppo recently posted a teaser video on Facebook confirming the launch of the Oppo Reno 8T in the Philippines. This upcoming smartphone is s

The House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of China's popular social media app TikTok in the United States, the committee confirmed on Friday. The measure, planned by the panel's chair Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican, would aim to give the White House the legal tools to ban TikTok over US national security concerns. "The concern is that this app gives the Chinese government a back door into our phones," McCaul told Bloomberg News, which reported the vote timing earlier. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump attempted to block new users from downloading TikTok and ban other transactions that would have effectively blocked the app's use in the United States, but lost a series of court battles over the measure. The Biden administration in June 2021 formally abandoned that effort. Then in December, Republican Senator Marco Rubio unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok, which would also

Twitter users will be able to appeal account suspensions and be evaluated under the social media platform's new criteria for reinstatement, starting Feb. 1, the company said on Friday. Under the new criteria, which follow billionaire Elon Musk's purchase of the company in October, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform's policies. Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others. Twitter said that going forward, it will take less severe action, in comparison to account suspension, such as limiting the reach of tweets that violate its policies or asking users to remove tweets before continuing to use the account. In December, Musk came under fire for suspending accounts of several journalists over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire's plane. He later

Global smartphone shipments reportedly declined by 18.3 percent, year-over-year (YoY) in Q4 2022. Falling consumer demand, high inventory, and market uncertainties are said to be the main reasons for the drop in shipments, according to a survey conducted by International Data Corporation's (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. While Apple topped the global smartphone shipments in Q4 with a 24.1 percent market share, Samsung and Xiaomi were in second and third spots with 19.4 percent and 11 percent of market share respectively. According to a report published by IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global smartphone shipments have fallen by 18.3 percent YoY to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22). The quarterly drop between October and December 2022 is said to be the largest-ever decline in a single quarter. It has also resulted in an overall decline of 11.3 percent for the year 2022. The research director at the firm has cited the fall

iPhone 15 series will reportedly offer Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity. The 2023 flagship smartphones from Apple are expected to include four models. There are believed to be the vanilla iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models, along with the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max/ iPhone 15 Ultra. It is unclear whether Wi-Fi 6E will be available on all iPhone 15 models or limited only to the Pro models. Apple currently offers this connectivity feature on MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models. According to a MacRumors report , Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O'Malley suggest that the iPhone 15 series will finally come with Wi-Fi 6E technology. Apple has included Wi-Fi 6E support only to a select few of its devices, including MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models. Wi-Fi 6E utilises 6GHz bands, along with the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands supported by Wi-Fi 6 technology. Its extended wireless band support enables it to deliver fast transfer speeds, low latency, and reduced signal interference. Th

Developer Naughty Dog seems to be done with Uncharted. That's according to its co-President Neil Druckmann, who confirmed in a Buzzfeed interview, that having put their “final brushstroke” on the story with the insanely popular Uncharted 4, the team is ready to move on. That fate could also befall The Last of Us franchise if the company decides not to proceed with a third mainline entry. Druckmann praises his publisher Sony for not forcing them to churn out a sequel and is okay with finishing the story with the “very strong ending,” as seen in The Last of Us Part II. “[ Sony ] have supported us every step of the way to follow our passions — meaning that just because something is successful, people think there's all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. That's not the case,” Druckmann explained in the interview . “For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — Uncharted 4 was one of our best-selling games — and we're able to put our final brushstroke on that story