Tech Striker

Samsung recently introduced skin temperature-based sensor for women's menstrual health tracker on the Galaxy Watch 5 series. The tech giant is now reportedly working on adding more health-tracking features based on skin temperature. However, there are no further details available about the update yet. Meanwhile, the menstrual cycle tracking feature is currently accessible across 32 countries including Korea, the US, and European regions. It uses an infrared temperature sensor to provide accurate data on menstrual cycles. A Samsung official, who is in charge of Samsung Health Service, has announced via the  Samsung community forum for Korea that the company will expand the usage of the skin temperature sensor to more health-tracking features. The new features using temperature sensors will be available in a future software update for the device, as per the announcement. However, he hasn't shared further details regarding the health tracking features that will be added or th

Google Pixel Fold is expected to launch soon in the market. It is being speculated that the company may unveil the Pixel Fold at the upcoming Google I/O, scheduled for May 2023. However, Google is yet to confirm any detail officially. However, despite no official announcement, there has been a number of rumours about the purported smartphone. A recent leak by a popular tipster, displaying the design renders of the Pixel Fold, has provided new insights into the smartphone's cover design. The images shared by tipster Evan Blass (Twitter @evleaks) on a personal Twitter account, via 9to5Google, appear to be taken from a press render that the company could use for marketing. The leaked image shows the Pixel Fold's outer display with a centrally aligned punch hole, the Pixel Launcher home screen with themed icons, Google's stock apps, and a blurred At a Glance widget. Additionally, the smartphone appears to have a wider aspect ratio and a thinner hinge. In the shared images,

Realme 11 series smartphones, comprising the vanilla Realme 11, Realme 11 Pro, and Realme 11 Pro+, are confirmed to launch on May 10 in China. While the smartphones' debut is still more than a week away, the company has revealed the display specifications of the Realme 11 Pro+ via a Weibo post. Additionally, the smartphone has also appeared on Geekbench listing suggesting a few more details including the processor and software support. The listing hinted that the handset could run on Android 13 OS. It could be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC. Realme has teased  the design and display specifications of the upcoming Realme 11 Pro+ ahead of its launch in China. The smartphone, which is set to make its debut on May 10, will sport a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a centrally positioned hole-punch cutout. It also gets curved edges with a 61-degree curvature. The display of the smartphone features a 120Hz refresh rate. The official poster also revealed that the Realme 11 Pro+ wil

As recently as February, generative AI did not feature prominently in EU lawmakers' plans for regulating generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as ChatGPT . The bloc's 108-page proposal for the AI Act, published two years earlier, included only one mention of the word "chatbot." References to AI-generated content largely referred to deepfakes: images or audio designed to impersonate human beings. By mid-April, however, members of European Parliament (MEPs) were racing to update those rules to catch up with an explosion of interest in generative AI, which has provoked awe and anxiety since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT six months ago. That scramble culminated on Thursday with a new draft of the legislation which identified copyright protection as a core piece of the effort to keep AI in check. Interviews with four lawmakers and two other sources close to discussions reveal for the first time how over just 11 days this small group of politicians hamme

Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that the social media platform will take a 10 percent cut on content subscriptions after the first year, as the company looks to monetize content on the website in a bid to diversify its revenue sources. Earlier this month, billionaire owner Musk said users of the social media platform will be able to offer their followers subscriptions to content, including long-form text and hours-long video. He had also said that the company will not take a cut for the first 12 months on content subscriptions. Musk has been bringing in changes at Twitter to boost revenue after the platform saw advertising income drop last year in the run up to his $44 billion (nearly Rs. 3,59,700 crore) acquisition that closed in October. He added that the company's cut from subscriptions on iOS and Android platforms will drop to 15 percent in the second year from 30 percent in the first. A few days back, Musk also has made an important announcement regarding the bl

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday blocked Microsoft's $69 billion (nearly Rs. 5,64,100 crore) acquisition of Call of Duty  maker Activision Blizzard over concerns it would hinder cloud gaming . The ruling was a shock after the regulator had already resolved its concerns about the consoles market, a sector dominated by Sony 's PlayStation and Microsoft 's Xbox , which dwarfs cloud gaming. Is the deal dead? Not necessarily. Microsoft said it remained fully committed and would appeal. The regulator's decision reflected a flawed understanding of the market, it said. How does the appeal process work? Microsoft can appeal to Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), an independent judicial body, which will only examine the CMA's decision-making process, not the merits of the merger. Microsoft will not be able to offer new remedies at this stage, such as offering to keep Activision content off its Xbox Game Pass , a subscrip

A US federal judge on Friday denied Google 's motion to dismiss a Department of Justice antitrust case focused on advertising technology, saying the government's case was strong enough to go forward. The government, which filed the ad tech lawsuit in January, has argued that Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. Google has denied any wrongdoing. "I'm going to deny the defendant's motion to dismiss," Judge Leonie Brinkema said in a federal court in Virginia. Google is a unit of Alphabet . Google's motion is the company's latest effort to end costly, time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. It also asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss claims in a 2020 lawsuit filed by the government. Arguing for Google, Eric Mahr said that the Justice Department failed to allege a high enough market share, 70 percent, to be able to say that Google had market power. Brinkema, however, said that there were factors beyond market share to consider, f

Taiwan's top chip design company MediaTek is focusing more resources on chips for cars and AI computing as its smartphone clients face a supply glut and inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty dent demand for consumer electronics. "We are definitely moving our resources very, very rapidly towards the automotive and computing areas, because those areas will provide our growth in the next three to five years," MediaTek Chief Executive Rick Tsai told an earnings call. "In this very demanding environment, we are not reducing people. We're not increasing either. The critical thing is to allocate those precious resources," he said. Tsai said everyone, including MediaTek, was rushing to claim that they were able to support generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT . "We're confident that we will be able to provide the capability to our customers," Tsai said. MediaTek is investing heavily in AI because the new areas the company is foc

Sony Xperia 1 V launch date has been announced by the company, and the next "One" branded smartphone is set to make its debut next month. While the company is yet to reveal details of its upcoming phone, leaked renders have already given us a sneak peek at the handset as well as its specifications. The phone is expected to arrive as the successor to the Sony Xperia 1 IV that was launched  by the company last year. The Japanese phone maker confirmed that it will launch the next "ONE" smartphone on May 11 at 1 pm Japan Time (9:30 am IST). The firm is evidently referring to the upcoming Xperia 1 V smartphone in the teaser video. Sony has also touted the camera performance of the phone, tweeting that it will be equipped with a next-generation sensor. However, it hasn't shared details of the camera's specifications. According to an earlier report , leaked images of the Sony Xperia 1 V hint at the presence of a triple rear camera setup along with an LED flash

Google Pixel 7a is expected to make its official debut at Google I/O 2023 alongside the Pixel Fold. Ahead of the expected launch, multiple leaks have exposed almost every detail about the upcoming smartphone. Now, a well know tipster has shared an alleged image of Pixel 7a in a new colour option. The new render leak shows off the handset in a new shade. Past leaks have suggested blue, grey, and white colour options for the Pixel 7a. It is expected to be powered by a Tensor G2 chipset. Known tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks) posted the alleged render of Google Pixel 7a on Twitter. The leaked render shows the handset in an orange shade. This colour option looks quite identical to the coral colour we've seen in past Google handsets such as the Pixel 6 and Pixel 4 . Previous leaks have also given us a look at the blue, grey, and white colourways. The Google Pixel 7a is seen with dual rear cameras similar to the outgoing Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro models. A Google logo is also placed

Online retail titan Amazon on Thursday reported that its cloud and ads units helped it beat earnings expectations in the first quarter of this year despite shoppers and businesses being more careful about spending. "For the first time in several quarters, Amazon may finally have a bit of wind at its back," said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. Amazon shares spiked more than 10 percent shortly after release of the earnings figures, only to sink slightly below the day's closing price as it warned that customers were remaining watchful of their budgets. Amazon reported a profit of $3.2 billion (roughly Rs. 26,162 crore) on revenue that climbed 9 percent to $127.4 billion (roughly Rs. 10,41,616 crore) in the quarter. The net income was about a billion dollars more than analysts had forecast. "There's a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for customers, particularly amidst an uncertain economy," said Amazon chief executive s

A delivery executive of an e-commerce firm allegedly stole 10 iPhones by replacing them with dummy phones on the way to deliver them to the customer here, police said on Thursday. Station in-charge of Matrix Finance Solution, which delivers Amazon 's parcel, Ravi in his complaint alleged that on March 27 delivery executive Lalit was handed over a customer's parcel, which contained 10 iPhones and an AirPods , at his address, they said. However, instead of delivering the parcel, Lalit replaced the iPhones with replicas and sent his brother Manoj to deposit them back to the company claiming that the customer could not be contacted, Ravi said in his complaint. Suspecting some tampering with the packaging, the parcel was opened and the delivery company found the fake phones inside, police said. Meanwhile, upon not receiving his parcel, the customer also cancelled his order, they said. An FIR has been registered against Lalit under sections 420 (cheating), 408 (criminal breach

Microsoft's president Brad Smith said the UK regulator's decision to prevent its acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard "had shaken confidence" in Britain as a destination for tech businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently from government, blocked the deal on Wednesday, saying it could hit competition in the nascent cloud gaming market. Microsoft hit back on Thursday, saying it was "probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain" and sent the wrong message to the global tech industry about the UK. "If the government of the United Kingdom wants to bring in investment, if it wants to create jobs (...) it needs to look hard at the role of the CMA, the regulatory structure in the United Kingdom, this transaction, and the message that the United Kingdom has just said to the world," he told BBC radio. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Smith's comments were

SonyLIV and Applause Entertainment on Thursday unveiled their upcoming slate for 2023, including two new series as well as the return of popular shows such as Scam , Tanaav, Avrodh, and Undekhi. The two new shows are Kafas, a social drama directed by Sahil Sangha, and a suspense thriller 36 Days, a press release stated. Kafas features Sharman Joshi, Mona Singh, and Vivan Bhatena, while Vishal Furia-directed 36 Days stars Neha Sharma, Purab Kohli, Shruti Seth, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Amruta Khanvilkar, Sharib Hashmi, Shernaz Patel, Faisal Rashid, Chahat Vig, and Kenneth Desai in pivotal roles. The project line-up also includes the second instalments of Tanaav and Scam — Scam 2003: The Telgi Story — and season three of Undekhi and Avrodh. Directed by Hansal Mehta and Tushar Hiranandani, Scam 2003 will focus on the story of the infamous stamp paper scam by Abdul Karim Telgi. “It is with great pleasure that we announce our upcoming slate for 2023 at Applause Entertainment with SonyLIV. T

Aadhaar holders have carried out nearly 2.31 billion authentication transactions in the month of March 2023, indicative of the growing usage of Aadhaar and the growth of the digital economy in the country. In a release, the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT said the March number is better than the February when 2.26 billion authentication transactions were carried out. A majority of the authentications transaction numbers were carried out by using biometric fingerprints during the month, followed by others. "Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play a stellar role for banking and non-banking financial services by providing transparent and improved customer experience and helping in ease of doing business. More than 311.8 million eKYC transactions were carried out during March 2023, a jump of over 16.3 per cent against February," said the release. Another benefit of the adoption of e-KYC is it has also significantly reduced customer acquisition costs for financial institu

Apple and its Android rivals saw sales slide in the first quarter in China, research firm Canalys reported on Thursday, as consumers continued to tighten their belts following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. The iPhone maker was the top-selling brand over the first three months of the year, with 20 percent market share. But its overall shipments in China fell to 13.3 million units, a 3 percent decrease from the same period in 2022. Sales for all other top-selling brands also fell, with total smartphone shipments dropping 11 percent year-on-year to 67.2 million units, the lowest quarterly total since 2013. Despite being the best-selling brand in the quarter, Apple saw its total market share fall 3 percentage points year-on-year. Oppo and Vivo , Android brands that trail Apple as the second and third best-sellers, saw shipments fall 10 percent and 7 percent respectively. Honor and Xiaomi , which specialise in low-end models, saw shipments fall 35 percent and 20 percent resp

A California judge on Wednesday tentatively ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be interviewed under oath about whether he made certain statements regarding the safety and capabilities of the carmaker's Autopilot features. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the family of Walter Huang against Tesla in Santa Clara Superior Court, over a car crash which killed the Apple engineer in 2018. Huang's family argues Tesla's partially automated driving software failed. The carmaker contends Huang was playing a videogame on his phone before the crash and disregarded vehicle warnings. Plaintiff attorneys sought to depose Musk regarding recorded statements that tout the capabilities of Autopilot. In a 2016 statement cited by plaintiffs, Musk allegedly said: "A Model S and Model X, at this point, can drive autonomously with greater safety than a person. Right now.” Tesla, however, opposed the request in court filings, arguing that Musk cannot recall details about statements. In

Aadhaar holders have carried out nearly 2.31 billion authentication transactions in March 2023, underlining the growing usage of Aadhaar and growth of digital economy in the country, according to an official release. The numbers in March were higher than in February when 2.26 billion authentication transactions were carried out. "While a majority of the authentications transaction numbers were carried out by using biometric fingerprint, it is followed by demographic and OTP authentications," the release said. Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play a "stellar role" for banking and non-banking financial services by providing transparent and improved customer experience, and facilitating ease of doing business. More than 311.8 million e-KYC transactions were carried out during March 2023, a rise of over 16.3 percent against February levels. Adoption of e-KYC has significantly reduced customer acquisition cost of entities like financial institutions, telecom serv

Celebrating its 100th year, Warner Bros. unveiled a packed lineup of new big-screen films at CinemaCon on Tuesday, from a live-action Barbie comedy to Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg's remake of The Color Purple . The historic Hollywood studio also used its presentation at the annual Las Vegas gathering to tease a ‘10-year plan' to relaunch its DC superhero films, which include beloved characters such as Batman and Superman. David Zaslav, who spearheaded last year's corporate merger of Warner and Discovery, took to the stage personally to court an audience predominantly made up of theatre owners. “We don't want to do direct-to-streaming movies,” said Zaslav, whose predecessor was slammed for releasing Warner films directly onto its streaming platform HBO Max — recently rebranded as Max . “We're in no rush to bring the movies to Max.” Across a two-and-a-half-hour presentation, Zaslav and fellow Warner bosses brought out A-list stars including Margot Robbie, Ry

A group of nine Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The previously unreported letter led by Senator Bill Hagerty to the Commerce, State and Treasury departments said Chinese cloud computing companies "are increasingly engaging with foreign entities - in some cases sanctioned foreign entities - that are directly challenging the national security and economic security interests of the United States and our allies and partners." Huawei Technologies and the agencies did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The senators said Huawei Cloud launched its "Sky Computing Constellation" in co-sponsorship with Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute also known as "Spacety China" in 2021. They noted Spacety was "recently sanctioned by the Treasury

Nvidia , a major supplier of chips and computing systems for artificial intelligence , on Tuesday, released a set of software tools aimed at helping chatbots watch their language. Nvidia's chips have helped companies like Microsoft add human-like chat features to search engines like Bing . But the chatbots can still be unpredictable and say things their creators wish they did not. Microsoft in February limited users to five questions per session with its Bing search engine after the New York Times reported the system gave unsettling responses during long conversations. Nvidia's software tools, provided free of charge, are designed to help companies guard against unwanted responses from chatbots. Some of those uses are straightforward - the maker of a customer service chatbot might not want the system to mention products from its competitors. But the Nvidia tools are also designed to help AI system creators put into place important safety measures, such as ensuring that ch

Twitter on Tuesday said it required users to take down over 6.5 million pieces of content in the first half of 2022, before the social media platform was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk , a 29 percent increase from the second half of 2021. Twitter disclosed the number of content removals in a blog post on the same day the European Union said the social media platform would be among 19 tech companies subject to new landmark rules that require them to share data with authorities, do more to tackle disinformation and conduct external and independent auditing. Failure to comply with the rules - some of the world's strictest regulations on online platforms - could result in fines of up to 6 percent of global revenue or even a ban from operating in the EU, according to the European Commission's website. Before Musk purchased Twitter in October and cut roughly 80 percent of its staff, Twitter normally published twice-yearly reports on its Transparency Center website, detailin

The Flash just got a new trailer in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. At this year's CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, Warner Bros. dropped the second trailer for the standalone 'Scarlet Speedster' movie, which will serve as the reset point for the DC Universe, drawing inspiration from the Flashpoint storyline. Michael Keaton's Batman gets a lot more screentime here, as he touches upon the often talked about pas of Bruce Wayne, and teams up with the two Barry Allens (Ezra Miller) on a dangerous mission to thwart General Zod. The Flash releases June 16 in theatres worldwide, with the release having been brought forward to avoid clashing with Disney's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny . The Flash trailer The trailer for The Flash opens with a voiceover from Bruce Wayne ( Keaton ), as we see two versions of Barry Allen ( Miller ) walking through the mist into Wayne Manor. “I lost my parents. That pain made me who I am,” he says, as we're treated to glimpses o