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Weekly Tech RoundUp! #4 (10 June to 17 June)

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Weekly Tech RoundUp! #4 (10 June to 17 June)

Hey fellow readers! With this Monday begins a new week. And with the beginning of this new week comes the Weekly Tech RoundUp! #4. So, let’s get going!

Weekly Tech RoundUp! #4
Weekly Tech RoundUp! #4

Weekly News…

Amitabh Bachan’s Twitter Account Hacked!

Turkish hacker group hacked Amitabh Bachan’s Twitter Account
Turkish hacker group hacked Amitabh Bachan’s Twitter Account

Some Pakistani hackers recently hacked Amitabh Bachan’s official twitter (@SrBachchan) account. They added a message “Love Pakistan ❤️” to the actor’s Twitter account’s bio and a photo of Imran Khan to his profile photo. According to PTI, the main suspect for this is a Turkish hacker group called Ayyildiz Tim, which was also earlier accused of hacking accounts of some other Bollywood celebs including Shahid Kapoor and Anupam Kher.

Mi Band 4 launched in China!

Mi band 4 Avenger's Edition
Mi band 4 Avenger’s Edition

Xiaomi launched the much awaited Mi Band 4 in China and it seems exactly similar to what was leaked. The Mi Band 4 has a 0.95” AMOLED colour display with 2.5D glass. The battery on this fitness tracker is of 135mAh. There’s also an NFC enabled variant as expected. Another main attraction of the device is Xiao AI which is Xiaomi’s AI assistant. But it seems that Xiao AI will currently be only for China and we may get Google Assistant on the band, which is pretty more useful. The Mi Band 4 also has an Avenger’s Edition which basically is the Mi Band 4 with some Avenger’s design and some more stuff like two extra Avenger’s styled bands.

The Recent Delhi HC Decision Will Not Be Able To Stop Asus From Launching The Zenfone 6!

Asus Zenfone 6 renamed to Asus 6Z
Asus Zenfone 6 renamed to Asus 6Z

The Delhi High Court recently prohibited Asus from using its Zenfone branding due to some copyright issues. But Asus came out with a different name for its new innovative smartphone. Asus has renamed the Zenfone 6 to Asus 6Z. And You can see the name change in Flipkart and Asus India website. The specs and design of this phone will be same as that of the Zenfone 6 except some country-specific LTE brands and minor tweaks. The Zenfone 6 or we should call it the 6Z has a new innovative style of rear camera that doubles a front camera.

Huawei Shipped 1Mn Devices With Hongmeng OS In China

Huawei's Hongmeng OS
Huawei’s Hongmeng OS

Following the US ban, Huawei has managed to ship 1 million of their smartphone with their all-new Android-based Hongmeng OS. The OS is said to have “increased security functions to protect personal data”. According to Rosenblatt security, the devices were just prepared for testing and are not meant for general consumers.

Beware From This Hidden Trojan Downloader Available In Google Play Store!

Recently, @Mailer360 found a trojan downloader on the Google Play Store. The app has 100k+ installs. This app once launched hides its icon, downloads other apps over HTTP and makes the user install them. The second app downloaded because of this app can make the user download additional apps as “Update Alert” and also display ads. Some have reported that after the user closes the app, it opens WhatsApp to pretend as of WhatsApp was the reason behind the ad.

@m0br3v found one of the four more apps with 220k+ downloads that does the same kind of function. The app’s name is ‘Stickman In Action’.(100k+)

Manipur Guy Gets $5000 from Facebook!

Zonel Sougaijam
Zonel Sougaijam

A 22-year-old Manipur-based civil engineer was rewarded $5000 by Facebook for founding a critical bug in WhatsApp. The bug reportedly allowed users to upgrade from voice to video calls without consent from the other party. The name of the bug detector is Zonel Sougaijam. Facebook included him in the ‘Facebook Hall Of Fame 2019’.

Pixel 4 Leaked Photos From Google Itself!

The official @MadeByGoogle twitter account has recently shown us some renders of the upcoming Google’s smartphone, the Pixel 4. In a tweet (embedded below), they posted an image with the Pixel 4 lying. Pixel 4 has two rear cameras and a flash. The rear camera design is quite similar to the ones we’ve seen in the leaks of the iPhones of 2019. Some are saying that it might be a try by Google to disrupt leaks as the Pixel series of smartphones have a record of being almost fully leaked before launch.

A DeepFake Video Of Mark Zuckerberg Trending!

A deep fake video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been floating the internet. The video was created by Bill Posters and Daniel Howe. For those who don’t know what a deep fake video is, it is a fake video or audio recordings that look and sound just like the real thing. But Instagram told Motherboard, that it will treat the video the same way it treats all other misinformation on its platform. This means Facebook will not remove the video but not show it in tag pages or the explore tab.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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[NEW RELEASE] ‘I wish I could…’ (2019) Mark Zuckerberg, founder of @facebook reveals the ‘truth’ about privacy on #facebook . This artwork is part of a series of AI generated video works created for ‘Spectre’ – an immersive exploration of the digital influence industry, technology and democracy. [link in bio] [PLEASE REPOST!] Yesterday we got global press coverage for our art project and Facebook / Instagram have now flagged our AI artworks as #misinformation which isn’t fair. This de-prioritises the videos on news feeds and searches. However we have always labelled them as artworks clearly in all posts. In response to this action by Instagram, we’ve released another digital artwork today. Please help us subvert their algorithms by sharing this post with your friends so we can keep the important conversation about data, privacy and democracy going. Art by Bill Posters & @danyelhau for @sheffdocfest @sitegallery #artnotmisinformation #thefutureisntprivate #deepfakes #deepfake #spectreknows #surveillancecapitalism #privacy #democracy #dataism #contemporaryartwork #digitalart #generativeart #newmediaart #codeart #markzuckerberg #artivism #contemporaryart

A post shared by Bill Posters (@bill_posters_uk) on

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Facebook Will Give You Money For Your Data

Screenshots of Facebook Study app
Screenshots of the Facebook Study App

Facebook recently launched an app named Study which pays users to reveal their private data. The app tracks how the user uses each app and what features he/she does. Last time when Facebook released a user tracking research app named Facebook Study, it was shut down due to a lot of controversies. On iOS, the app relied on a special certificate that allowed the app to circumvent the App Store and gain deeper access to the phone, in violation of Apple’s rules.

And this time Facebook has learnt from past mistakes and added some restrictions. The app will only be available for people above 18 years of age. And it will be available only on an Android phone. And the app will open by telling what type of data it collects how it will be used. Facebook told users that it won’t use the collected data to targets ads to you. It is really important to note that only people selected by Facebook will get this opportunity to use the service.

MacOS Catalina : Everything Thats Updated

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MacOS Catalina : Everything Thats Updated

The WWDC 2019 was a blast. The iPad got its own OS while iOS got the much awaited dark mode. iTunes got split into three separate apps, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. The super pricey Mac Pro was launched with insanely maxed out specs and price. [FUN FACT: The Mac Pro’s display’s stand costs $999 (No, it’s not a typo actually $999)]. But the update I was most excited about was of macOS. The name for macOS 10.15 is macOS Catalina.

MacOS 10.15 Catalina

Project Catalyst

Asphalt 9 Legends on MacOS Catalina
Asphalt 9 Legends on MacOS Catalina

With macOS 10.15 Catalina, Apple has made it a lot easier to port iOS or iPadOS apps to Mac. This was project started last year at the WWDC 2018. And now that iOS apps can be easily ported to macOS, you can expect that a lot of apps will be available for download in the Mac App Store this year. Some apps which were shown in this year at WWDC or will surely come are Asphalt 9 Legends, DC Universe, Jira, Tripit, and Fender Play.

As the iTunes app got split into different apps, we now have three different apps for Music, TV and podcasts.

Music App

Apple Music App on MacOS Catalina
Apple Music App on MacOS Catalina
  • Let’s you stream and download more than 50 million songs ad-free. (If you have a subscription)
  • The music player is updated with lyrics and more
  • If you want to own the music, iTunes Store is a tap away
  • Library: here you can find all your music organised

TV App

Apple TV app on MacOS Catalina
Apple TV app on MacOS Catalina
  • Library: here you can find purchased movies and shows
  • Buy or rent movies
  • Home for Apple TV+ subscription (coming later)
  • Access to Apple TV channels (if you have the subscription)
  • Watch Now: here you’ll find shows curated for you (it’s like the home of the TV app)
  • Kids: dedicated section for kids content
  • Dolby Atmos sound experience with certain Mac models

Podcasts App

Apple Podcasts App on MacOS Catalina
Apple Podcasts App on MacOS Catalina
  • Listen Now: basically the home of podcasts app where you can continue listening to your podcasts or see if a new one comes up
  • Browse: browser among 700,000 shows
  • Library: Here you’ll find podcasts you’ve subscribed to or downloaded
  • Search: Search provides better results when you’re searching for a topic or people. You can even find episodes featuring a specific guest or host.

Photos App

The All New Photos App on MacOS Catalina
The All New Photos App on MacOS Catalina

The new photos app is quite similar to the new one on iOS.

  • New photos tab
  • Day, Month, and year organisation
  • Large photo preview which uses intelligence to detect the best part of the photo to show it in preview
  • Autoplaying Live Photos and videos
  • Personalisation: Using ML on Mac, Photos can understand who’s in your photos and what’s happening
  • The Photos app shows the best shots n your library removing duplicates or clutters
  • All photos: shows all photos in a grid (zoom in for larger preview or zoom out for smaller)
  • Memory Movies: Now you can view memory movies on Mac and edit them while syncing the edits to other devices through iCloud

Notes App

Notes app on MacOS Catalina
Notes app on MacOS Catalina

The Notes app is something I use much to write my articles on. It’s fast, no need to save and basically, it does the job for me. Well, macOS Catalina updates it too.

  • Gallery View: View your notes as visual thumbnails
  • Shared Folders: Collaborate on the entire folder with different users
  • View-only Collaborations: allows you to share a note or a folder as view-only
  • More Powerful Search: Search can now recognise objects or scenes in the image you’ve added. Along with that, Search now has suggested searches
  • New Checklist Option: quickly re-order checklist using drag and drop or keyboard shortcuts

Reminders App

I personally don’t use the reminders app much. But it has got a revamp too.

  • All new Design: completely new UI
  • New Edit Button: Add times, dates, locations, flags, or even helpful attachments to reminders easily
  • Enhanced Siri Intelligence: You can now type longer descriptive sentences while Reminder provides relevant suggestions. Siri’s Intelligence on your device can also suggest you create a reminder while you’re making plans in Messages
  • Attachments: Add attachments to your reminders to make it more informative
  • Task and Grouped Lists: more options for organising reminders and grouping them
  • Smart Lists: organises your upcoming reminders as Today, Flagged etc..
  • Customize List Appearance: Customise the appearance of your personal or shared iCloud lists choosing from 12 colors and 60 symbols.

Safari

Safari logo

Safari on macOS 10.15 Catalina has something new to offer too. But let me tell you that I don’t personally use it much, I prefer Google Chrome. I know Chrome is more RAM consuming than it but it’s still better.

  • Updated Start Page: The new design includes favourites, frequently visited, and Siri suggestions.
  • Weak Password Warnings: Safari now warns you when you sign up with any website and it detects a weak or an easy to crack the password. It helps you to replace the weak password to a stronger one.
  • PIP From Tab Audio Button: A quicker way to enable PIP (Picture In Picture).
  • Switch To Open Tab From The Smart Search Field: If you start typing the address of a website that’s already open, Safari directs you to the open tab. (This feature is also in Google Chrome)

Mail App

  • Block Sender: Mail can block all email from specified senders and move their messages directly to the trash
  • Unsubscribe: An unsubscribe link for email messages from commercial lists now appears above the email header. (This feature is also in Gmail)
  • Mute Thread: Prevents notifications from overly-active email threads
  • Updated Classic Layout: arranges the Mail viewer in a column layout with a preview of the current message on the right

Sidecar

Sidecar supported apps on MacOS Catalina
Sidecar supported apps on MacOS Catalina
  • If you have an iPad you can use it as a second display for additional screen space.
  • Like if you’re working on a presentation you can see how it looks live on your iPad
  • Wired or Wirelessly: You can either you use a cable that charges the iPad also or you can do it wirelessly with up to 10 meters range
  • Use Apple Pencil: You can use your Apple Pencil to work with creative Mac apps.
  • Continuity Markup: Write and sketch on PDFs or mark-up your documents with Apple Pencil, you can see the updates live on your Mac.
  • Continuity  Sketch: Create a sketch on your iPad using Apple Pencil and easily insert it to a document
  • Gestures: Use the same Multi-Touch gestures you’re familiar with on iPad
  • Sidebar: Get easy access to most commonly used controls on the sidebar
  • Touch Bars: For apps with Touch Bar support, the controls appear on the bottom of your iPad screen (even if your Mac doesn’t have a Touch Bar)
  • Developer Support: Developers don’t need to do anything for Sidecar support

But there are some limitations, only some apps currently support sidecar, which are:

  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Affinity Designer
  • Affinity Photo
  • Cinema 4D
  • CorelDRAW
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Final Cut Pro
  • Maya
  • Motion
  • Painter
  • Principle
  • Sketch
  • Substance Designer
  • Substance Painter
  • ZBrush

Screen Time

ScreenTime on MacOS Catalina

Screen Time was launched a year back in 2018 with the iOS 12. And now Apple has included it with macOS.

  • Usage Reports shows how much time is being spent on your Mac, which apps are most used, how many notifications you receive etc…
  • Downtime: you can schedule Downtime so you or your child can only use specific apps you’ve approved
  • App Limits: you can set the amount of time you want to use your app and websites for.
  • Combined Limits: create combined limits with a combination of app categories, specific apps, or websites
  • One More Minute: When your time limit is met, but you want some time to save your work or log out or close the website, you can choose the One More Minute option
  • Manage Contact List For Children: Parents can use Screen Time to manage the contacts that appear on their children’s devices.
  • Family Sharing: Parents can configure Screen Time from any device

Security

  • Dedicated system volume: macOS Catalina runs in a dedicated read-only system volume which means it is completely separate from all other data, and nothing can overwrite your critical OS files.
  • DriverKit and user space system extensions: Previously many hardware peripherals and sophisticated features needed to run their code directly within macOS using kernel extensions, or texts. Now, these programs run separately from the operating system, just like any other app, so they can’t affect macOS if something goes wrong.
  • Enhanced Gatekeeper: Gatekeeper will ensure that all new apps you install have been checked for known security issues by Apple
  • Data Protection: macOS Catalina checks with you before allowing an app to access your data in your Documents, Desktop, and Downloads folders; iCloud Drive; etc… In addition, you’re asked before an app can perform key logging or capture a screenshot or screen recording.
  • Activation Lock: All Macs with the Apple T2 chipset will now support Activation Lock just like it was an iPhone or iPad. If your Mac is lost or misplaced, the only person who can erase or reactivate your Mac is you.

Find My

Find offline Apple devices with ease
Find offline Apple devices with ease

Apple has combined Find My Mac and Find My Friends into a single app. Let me just explain what’s new in Find My app.

Find Devices Offline: You can now locate a missing device even if it’s offline using crowd-sourced locations. Didn’t get it? Let me explain you in simpler ways. For example, you lost your iPad and it’s offline. Now with any other Apple device of yours, you’ll have to mark it as missing. Once that’s done, any other Apple device near to it that detects its Bluetooth signals will report its location to you.

  • Enhanced Location Notifications: Location notifications include the ability to schedule notifications for different days of the week, more useful place names, and enhanced privacy controls.

Approve With Apple Watch

Approve with Apple Watch on macOS
Approve with Apple Watch on macOS

Apple has this time with macOS 10.15 has added some features to use your Apple Watch with macOS. Anywhere you need to type your Mac’s password such as viewing passwords in Safari or Chrome, you can now double-click the side button on your Apple Watch to authenticate your Mac. More things you can use your Apple Watch for are to unlock a locked note, approve app installations, unlock settings in System Preferences, and modify root files.

Voice Control

At the WWDC 2019, Voice Control was among the features of macOS that was showcased on the stage. With Voice Control, you can fully control your Mac, iPhone or iPad with your voice. It’s made for people with disabilities so that they can use their devices easily.

Quick Time Player

QuickTime player logo

Apple has updated the macOS’ native video player, QuickTime Player with 5 new features.

  • PiP: macOS Catalina provides an easy way to watch videos while you’re doing something else. PIP stands for Picture In Picture and with it, you can play your videos in a resizable window that isn’t blocked by other windows.
  • Enhanced Movie Inspector: The Movie Inspector pane now shows you more in-depth technical information about the currently opened media file including video colour space, HDR format, bit depth, scale and aspect ratio.
  • Open Image Sequence: Create an H.264, HEVC, or ProRes-encoded movie file by navigating to a folder of sequentially numbered images, then choosing your desired resolution, frame rate, and encoding quality.
  • Timecode Support: When QuickTime Player opens a media file with embedded timecode, it shows the time information in the onscreen navigation controller.
  • Transparent Video Support: Transparency in ProRes 4444 files can optionally be preserved when exporting to the HEVC format.

iCloud Drive folder sharing

You can now share folders with a private link. Anyone who has access can see the folder in iCloud Drive, add new files, and get the latest versions of files.

Restore from snapshot

If your third-party software is incompatible with an update you just installed, then you can use macOS Recovery to restore from a snapshot of your computer taken right before the installation. By doing this, macOS and all your apps will work just as they did before you installed the update.

Macs That Will Get The MacOS 10.15 Catalina Update

  • 2015 and later MacBook
  • 2012 and later MacBook Pro
  • 2012 and later iMac
  • 2017 and later iMac Pro
  • 2012 and later MacBook Air
  • 2013 and later Mac Pro
  • 2012 and later Mac Mini

The Future of IoT: What Can We Expect?

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The Future of IoT: What Can We Expect?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is capable of altering society as we know it. We’re talking about everything — not just computational devices — being locked permanently into a network, churning out and absorbing information ceaselessly.

Is the Future of IoT a Rosy Picture?

Presently, the IoT can be experienced via a multitude of devices filling up homes, offices, factories, and public facilities. The list of connected devices continues to grow by the day, featuring consumer electronics, door locks, vehicle accessories, robotic factory equipment, and more.

Research shows the number of IoT devices in use across the world amounted to 15 billion in 2015. Experts predict that number will double to over 30 billion by 2020, and explode to 75 billion by 2025. As such, we can expect the IoT to bring about dramatic changes to our everyday lives in the near future.

Over 75 million IoT connected devices by 2025.
The number of IoT connected devices worldwide has increased steadily since 2015. Source:https://www.softscripts.net/blog/2019/01/future-of-iot/

Imagine an IoT set up in which several components exchange data between themselves in order to carry out pre-configured action sequences without any human intervention. For instance, during a health emergency, your vehicle’s navigation system can show the closest route to a hospital, and at the same time inform the hospital ahead of time to prepare for your emergency.

Despite such IoT wonders, some experts are decrying the complex problems that will result from an IoT future

What is the Internet of Things?

In order to get a good grasp of the IoT future that awaits us, it’s imperative to have a clear understanding of what the IoT is. Basically, an IoT set up comprises various devices that are connected to the internet, generating and sharing data between themselves.

Any item — a building, a seat, animals, and even the human body — can be embedded with chips and sensors which detect and process various types of information, and then integrated into an IoT system. As such, an IoT system can comprise a vast variety of devices, and users can monitor and control these devices from a central interface like a smartphone screen.

IoT applications are limitless.
IoT can envelop every physical object in a web of internet connections.  Image source: https://elevenfifty.org/iot-analytics-future-business/connections.

In addition, the introduction of 5G is expected to serve as a catalyst for the development of IoT systems. With low latency and high speeds, 5G will supercharge the effectiveness of IoT systems, allowing for quicker exchanges of information between larger collections of devices. This will bring about an unprecedented wave of innovations.

The future of the IoT:

The good

  • The rise of AI: Many IoT devices will be imbued with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is a highly complex algorithm that easily deduces patterns to generate predictions and suggestions. AI-powered devices can also learn to read patterns much better with more use, offering more accurate predictions and recommendations that make life easier for us.
  • Smarter routers: Routers serve as the first line of defense for connected devices in an IoT system. They provide a number of security features such as firewalls and passwords to protect vulnerable devices within an IoT system. In the near future, the need for more security in IoT devices will fuel advancements in routers.
  • Smarter cars: These days, cars come with various levels of automation, with chips and sensors in various components generating and exchanging actionable information between the parts. In the future, we can expect cars to come with more reliable autonomous capabilities.
  • The rise of smart cities: With various organizations such as governments and corporations looking to harness IoT capabilities, we’ll be seeing a rise in the number of IoT systems deployed across cities, giving rise to smart cities

The bad

  • DDoS attacks on IoT devices: In 2016, the world witnessed the emergence of the first malware specialized in the IoT. The Mirai malware hacked connected devices such as security cameras, equipment control units and more, accessing these devices through default passwords and names. Further, the malware turned these devices into a botnet used to carry out DDoS attacks on renown websites. This strain of malware is known as open source, meaning it can be modified and reused by any threat actor in the future.
  • Vulnerabilities of cloud storage: IoT systems send constant streams of data to the cloud as various components exchange information via the cloud. Massive amounts of data will be stored on the cloud in the IoT era. As a result, data breaches in data centers will have much graver consequences.
  • 5G security concerns: Experts predict that, for better convenience, people would prefer to connect to 5G networks directly rather than through a Wi-fi router, and this would expose more devices in an IoT system to cyber attacks. Further, experts believe that 5G is being rushed into the markets with the technology still being premature. They argue that it’s easier to integrate security features into network infrastructures before they’re launched, rather than doing so retroactively to deal with a fault or an attack. But be that as it may, it’s impossible to anticipate all the possible security challenges that might attend 5G without first rolling it out for public use.

The ugly

  • DDoS attacks on IoT systems will become even more dangerous: With more devices connected to the internet, cyber criminals will find more entry points to attack IoT systems with. And in a future where a whole lot more devices will be plugged into the cloud, cyber attacks will become more impactful than ever.
  • A siege on privacy: As policymakers scramble to enact laws to safeguard against widespread hack attacks, we might witness the enactment of laws that erode our control over our data and online privacy.

Conclusion

The IoT involves virtually every device that communicates with other devices via an internet connection. As basic as such a definition sounds, it’s implications are far-reaching. The IoT is responsible for smart homes and smart cities, as well as smaller consumer devices such as trackers and smartwatches. In fact, virtually any object or thing can be brought into the IoT world.

However, this also means increased security risks and data vulnerability. In general, the IoT has been cited by experts to be cause for concern in certain aspects, mostly dealing with system attacks and data vulnerability. With most technologies and concepts though, soft spots and loopholes tend to exist. The IoT is no different, but it perhaps offers a lot more good and benefits than drawbacks. Thus, the future of the IoT should be looked at with excitement, but security should always be prioritized.

Media Streaming Services taking over Traditional Cable/ Satellite TV ?

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Media Streaming Services taking over Traditional Cable/ Satellite TV ?

Netflix’s recent breathless commercial was the perfect dose of surprise for its loyal and ever devoted customers. “That’s right; we’re spending billions of dollars and making every show in the world. Our goal is the endless scroll. By the time you reach the bottom of our menu, there are new shows at the top. And then singularity will be achieved”. This is an excerpt from the ad, and it proves why ‘Netflix is the New Black’ in town.

The last decade or so has seen a boom in the number of OTT, Over the Top media service providers. These companies, including the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Hulu, Now TV, etc., all distribute media products by bypassing the traditional broadcast (television) and multichannel networking systems. Whether it is Aria Stark’s revenge, Daenerys’ Dragons, Sherlock’s unparalleled intellect, or Ross and Rachel’s ‘will it or will it not’ love story, the list can keep going on;

Sansa Bran Jon and Arya Stark
Sansa, Bran, Jon, and Arya Stark

Netflix has a show for everyone, irrespective of age, geography, or preferences. With a user base of 150 million subscribers and spending around $6 billion on new shows and productions, Netflix has revolutionized the way people get entertained. While the good old days remind us of ‘Chitrahaar’ and the one-weekend movie that we would wait to watch with the entire family, or in most cases, the whole locality,

Netflix Statistics
Netflix Statistics provided by StatistaCharts

Netflix and other OTT providers have made it possible for their viewers to watch whatever it is that they like, anytime, on any device, and anywhere in the world. This has been one of the most significant selling points for such media service providers. They have managed to cut loose the restrictions posed by traditional cable services that only allowed their users to watch their favorite shows at particular time slots and in front of their television sets. By entirely handing the control of what to watch, where to watch it, and when to watch, in the hands of the people.

Person watching Netflix

Media providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime have managed to outdo the traditional cable services, which dictated upon its viewers these terms and conditions. Moreover, the subscription and maintenance of television and cable services are proving to be much more expensive than subscribing to Netflix or any other OTT service provider.

Fifty years ago, owning a television was a matter of status and pride. If you owned one, you had to play host to scores of people during cricket matches and screening of hit films. But today the situation is very different. From not owning television sets, there are households members that own 2-3 T.V’s. To add to this, like every other technology, television is becoming obsolete.

netflix on phone

And in a dynamic world like ours, one becomes forced to ask the question ‘why not’. When the 16-inch screen of your phone can quench all your entertainment desires, the need to invest and maintain a 50-inch T.V becomes questionable? There is a belief that watching your favorite characters on a bigger screen will give you a new experience in itself. But in a world that is always on the move, it is vital that we too are flexible, agile, and ready to move.

In the years before Netflix and its companions, this meant that we had to compromise on our entertainment since we could not move with our T.V. Here again, Netflix pulled out its trump card and changed the way we were entertained while on the move. Netflix brought the content with us and even became the reason for us to enjoy those long and arduous journeys to our colleges and offices.

Watch Netflix on your smart 4k Tv

These trends and others have led many to believe that the future of the entertainment business indeed lies in the hands of service providers like Netflix. What is left to see is the extent to it,’ mainly because people still rely on the cable networks for sports and daily news’ to which these services will dominate and control traditional networks?

That our T.V’s have lost their value, is not a matter of debate, and this is seen in the graph presented above. We no longer need our T.V. to watch Will Smith weave his magic in ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ or marvel at Robert Downy Jr.’s sassiness in the Avengers. We have Netflix and other such media providers who have stepped in and not only made it possible for you to watch past content, but also give you the choice to watch and revel in the new age content that is getting created by the minute.

Weekly Tech RoundUp! #3 (2 June to 8 June)

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Weekly Tech RoundUp! #3 (2 June to 8 June)

Hello readers! Its another week and I’m back with the Weekly Tech RoundUp! #3. First of all, I’d really want to thank all you guys for the awesome support you showed us in the previous editions of the Weekly Tech RoundUp!.

Our episode 1 got 100+ views while our episode 2 has 88+ views. For the amazing support you guys have shown, I’ve added some more interesting content this time (find it in the bonus section). So, let’s get started!

1. WWDC 2019: Some Important Announcements!

Tim Cook with the Mac Pro at WWDC 2019
Tim Cook with the Mac Pro at WWDC 2019

The WWDC keynote 2019 on 3rd June was awesome. I watched it live (it was the first time for me to do watch it live). It started at 10:00AM PDT (10:30PM IST). Here’s a brief list of things that got updated!

WatchOS Updates!

  • WatchOS was updated with cycle tracking for women, new clock faces and the ability to edit a clock face among some more. Apple also created a new App Store for WatchOS 6 thereby enabling third-party app developers to create apps for WatchOS. Apple also released some bands for the Apple Watches which matches certain Clock faces.

iOS updates

  • Next up, iOS. iOS 13 got dark mode. The iOS keyboard now supports swipe typing (which Apple calls QuickPath typing).
  • The photos app got a major revamp too Apple now provides a better way to sign in in apps via your Apple account.
  • Siri is also updated. It now uses a better TTS (Text To Speech) technology called Neural TTS.
  • Learn everything that’s updated, click here.

MacOS Updates!

  • On macOS, I think that fewer things got updated this time. The name for macOS 10.15 is macOS Catalina.
  • MacOS Catalina brings ScreenTime to the Mac, along with Activation lock (it requires the Apple ID password now to unlock a Mac after a boot), Voice Control (which allows people with disabilities to work with a Mac and an iPhone easily and many more.
  • And the support for 32-bit apps is removed. The dashboard has also been removed.
  • For developers, Apple has made it easier to port iOS apps to macOS, which means many iOS apps will be coming to Mac.

iTunes Split!

  • Another major announcement: Apple split iTunes to separate apps which are Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV.

iPadOS launched!

  • And all the iPad users now have their own OS named iPadOS which is basically iOS customized for iPads.

Mac Pro!

  • Apple also launched a new Mac Pro which is a computer for extreme professionals. The device has maxed out specs and the world’s first 32” 6k Retina display.
  • But hilariously, if you buy only the screen then you’ll have to buy it stands separately for $999. (No, that’s not a typo. It’s actually $999).

Apple Arcade!

  • With Apple Arcade, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS will support Xbox One S and PS4 controllers.

2. Oppo Showed Off The Prototype Of Under-display Front Camera!

Earlier this week Oppo on its official Twitter page showed off their very first under-display front camera technology. The video they shared in the tweet had an oppo phone lying on a table that doesn’t have any front camera instead the camera was under the screen. To test it someone put his finger above the display and it showed in the camera app. I’ve added the video they shared below.

3. Following Oppo, Xiaomi Revealed Their Prototype Of Front Camera Hidden In Bezels!

Xiaomi showed a prototype phone in which the front camera was hidden under bezels. This is an innovative solution just like Oppo’s solution to notches, pop-up camera and punch-hole displays. The video was shared by Xiaomi’s co-founder Bin Lin on Weibo. He was a showing a Mi 9 phone without the regular notch. It may land in India in late 2019 or early 2020. The video shared is given below.

 

4. The flagship killer 2.0 Is Coming To India Within 6 Weeks!

Manu Kumar Jain, the head of Xiaomi India, recently in a tweet, said that the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro are coming to India within one and a half months. The most detailed specifications of the device can be found here. Most probably the Redmi K20 will start at ₹21,000 while it’s Pro variant will start at ₹26,000.

5. Sundar Pichai Refused To Take Extra $58M from Google!

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of the world’s biggest search giant, reportedly, refused to take stocks worth $58M from Google. The reason he gave for it was that he feels that he is already earning much. The last stock he was awarded was in 2016. His annual salary is $650,000. But some suspects that main reason for this is different; Some Google employees are complaining about not getting enough salary to support their life at pricey cities.

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6. Facebook Introduced A New Feature Called Avatars In Australia!

Facebook's Avatar Maker
Facebook’s Avatar Maker

This new feature from Facebook lets you create a personalized cartoon-like figure of you just like Bitmoji. But it has better options for customizations. This can be useful when anybody doesn’t want to show his/her actual image. Avatars will possibly come to India later this year.

7. Call Of Duty Mobile Closed Beta Ends!

COD Mobile

The mobile version of the amazingly popular PC/Console game named Call Of Duty had been launched under closed beta a few weeks ago. Gamers who had pre-registered for the beta were able to install it. Sometime later, many direct download links for the app and OBB files were made available through third-party sources.

From those links people who haven’t pre-registered could also download the game. But, recently, the closed beta testing for COD Mobile ended. The online battle Royale game is now no more available. The beta version was full of bugs and glitches and hope that the stable version will release some time soon.

8. Google Stadia: Launch Date, Games, and Pricing!

Stadia Logo

Google last year revealed its very own cloud game-streaming platform, Stadia. Stadia will launch in November and the price will be $9.99 per month for Stadia Pro, which will offer 4K gaming at 60fps HDR with 5.1 surround sound. The basic 1080p tier, called Stadia Base, will be free but will launch next year. Gamers residing the US can access the Pro tier by buying a $129 bundle called Stadia Founder’s Edition, which includes a Nighy-blue Stadia controller, a Chromecast Ultra, 3-month subscription to Stadia Pro and acmes to Destiny 2: The collection. Stadia will have 31 games at launch including Dragon ball Xenoverse 2, Doom Eternal, The Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XV, Tom Clancy’s division and more.

9. Android Has Pre-installed Malware!

Lets first get back to 2016 to understand this. In 2016, Kaspersky Lab researchers first uncovered one of the most advanced mobile trojans ever seen. They named the trojan Triada and explained how it existed on the Ram using root privileges to replace system files with malicious ones. Google recently, in its security blog, posted a detailed analysis of the Trojan. This confirmed that a backdoor did exist on brand new smartphones. Android system images were infected through a third party during the production process. When a device manufacturer wants to include features that aren’t the part of Android Open Source Project itself like say Face ID, it might engage third-party developers to develop the feature and send the entire system image to them for that process.

10. Bonus For The Week!

Make Android Notification Animations Amazing With This App!

I recently came across an amazing app that lets you change the notification animation on your Android phone. The app is called Notification Animations (download it here). The app has a simple interface that lets you preview and chooses the way you receive notifications from other apps. Once you’ve downloaded and opened the app, switch on the toggle at the top and tap on the name of any notification animation to preview. Tap the button beside it to apply it. Only some animations are available free and for others, you have to buy pro. There are ads inside the app but you don’t need to open the app every time, right? So they don’t matter much. For enhanced customisation, slide your finger from the left edge of your device’s screen and tap Settings. There you’ll find a few customisations including animation speed, position, text etc. The app is made in India.

Get Your Name To Mars!

It’s just for an example!

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA has some exciting to offer. NASA is sending a craft to Mars with the names of many people. If you want your name to go to Mars, tap here.

The mission will begin in 2020, while the last date for submitting names is 30th September. After you fill out the details, you’ll get a boarding pass, which basically is not an actual boarding pass it’s just to show that your name will go to Mars. A total of 6878325 have submitted their names till now.

Thanks!

With this comes the end of episode 3 of the Weekly Tech RoundUp! We’ll be back next week with some more interesting content and a few improvements. Like I’ll fix a day for the WTRU to get live on the Mobisium website, probably Monday. So, meet up next Monday to make it better! Stay tuned and if you haven’t subscribed to my mailing list do it now by tapping here.

How do I Find The Right Blog Topic?

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How do I Find The Right Blog Topic?

Especially for new bloggers, the following question is one of the hardest to start a new blog: How do I find the right blog topic? In this article, I’ll show you how to find the right blog topic. In addition, I give as always useful tips and show how to find the right blog theme using free tools. Incidentally, this article is part of the blog article series.

How Do I Find The Right Blog Topic?

If you just blog for fun or just want to test how it works with the blog, you can of course just start and do not need to plan much in advance. However, if you want to build a professional and successful blog in the medium term, or even make money from your blog, then it’s just a matter of planning properly.

Often I get emails from bloggers who like to make money from their blog and ask me to take a look at the blog. However, it soon turns out that either the prerequisites are missing or no basis for earning money has been laid. Then it’s hard and time-consuming to realign the entire blog.

Surely it is not impossible afterward to turn a pure leisure blog into a professional and profitable blog with which you can earn money. However, the chances of success are higher if you are properly prepared from the beginning and set the main course.

What Can I Blog About?

While a future blogger already has quite accurate plans and ideas about what to do on his blog, the other person may still be undecided or even completely devoid of ideas about the blog topic and do not know how to find the right blog topic.

Basically, there are two ways you can align your blog content. Either you decide on a blog topic and stick with it or you write about everything possible.

Even if it sounds tempting to talk about all sorts of trend topics, a new blog will only be able to assert itself in the meantime due to a large number of blogs, if it deals with a specific topic. Therefore, one should find a blog topic that is as limited as possible.

To find a suitable blog topic for your new blog, you can refer to some tips and best practices, which I describe below. The search for the blog topic consists of three areas: brainstorming, the assessment of ideas and the analysis of the potential.

Find Ideas For A Blog Topic

If you want to find the right blog topic your own interests and passions play a very important role. One should only shortlist blog topics that really interest you. Finally, you will spend weeks, months and even years grappling with the blog topic. In addition, one should possess certain know-how, since every blog will remember visitors if the blogger has no idea of the topic described.

Of course, that does not mean that you have to be an absolute professional in the field. However, you should at least have some basic knowledge and are so interested in the blog topic that you are always looking for more information and enjoy it in the long term.

My Tip:

a piece of paper and a pencil make you wonder!

Sit down in a quiet moment and write down all the topics that interest you, what you always wanted to tell the world, or what you are especially good at. Also, hobbies are on the slip!

Judge Blog Topic

If you have collected some potential topics that you would like to write about, you should ask yourself the following questions for each blog topic.

1. Do I want to write about the blog topic in 3 to 5 years?

A blog is a long-term project. Therefore, one should find a blog topic, which will interest you in a few years. Although you cannot say that for the most part in advance, you should, however, do without a trending theme that does not really interest you and from which there are new ones every year.

2. Can I still write about the blog topic in 3 to 5 years?

The potential blog theme should provide you with ideas for the release of new articles over a long period of time. Therefore, one should find a blog topic in which not everything is actually said after 10 articles.

3. Is the blog theme still relevant in a few years?

Nothing is more annoying than when you have found a blog topic, hundreds of articles published and at some point interested in the blog topic no one else. That’s why I’m not a big fan of blogs that pick up on every trending topic and do not really provide background knowledge on any topic. Anyway, this type of blog usually disappears just as fast as it came. With Google Trends, you can find out in just a few clicks if the blog has the potential for the coming months or if it’s already losing interest.

4. Does the blog theme offer enough potential?

In general, one should not choose a too narrow blog topic that constricts one too much later. On the other hand, it should not be too wide, so that no target group really feels addressed. It is important to find a middle ground. For example, if you want to create a new travel blog, it would not be a good idea to write about the city of Mumbai. Certainly, there would be no more than 10 to 20 articles at the latest. On the other hand, it would not be a good idea to talk about the whole world. It will be difficult to prove that you are an expert in a particular area. Instead, one could choose a middle ground and report on India or the City Mumbai.

5. Can I reach my goals with the blog theme?

Last but not least, you should find a blog topic that has the potential to reach your goals. If you want to make money with your blog, then it does not matter if you can still write about it in a few years and the blog topic is still relevant, but it is not suitable for making money.

If you have found some blog topics that are still relevant to the questions described, it is the analysis of each blog topic.

Analyze The Potential Of The Blog Topic

In addition to assessing the various ideas, one should then analyze the potential blog topic. Only if the following points are given on a topic, you should select this and create the new blog.

  1. High Search Volume

Only if as many readers as possible are interested in the blog topic, does this offer enough potential to be successful. Here is Google, of course, our first stop. After you’ve entered your blog topic into Google Search, Google returns an approximate amount of search results. This value should be at least one million results. In our example, when searching for “City Mumbai,” our travel blog provides over 3.7 million results, making it a great blog topic. However, the search volume should not be too big, otherwise, the competition is too big and you will never come to the top spots on Google with your blog.

  1. Low Competition

In addition to the search volume, the competition also plays an important role. You should find a blog topic that is not too crowded and that makes it relatively easy to become a leading blog.

  1. Financial Potential

The third point in analyzing the blog topic is financial potential. If you want to make money with your blog as many sources of income as possible are the nuts and bolts. This one should look at the number of clicks that Google pays when using AdSense. These are issued via the Google Global Market Finder and show you at a glance if the click rates for the potential blog topic are attractive. You should also look at the well-known affiliate networks like Adcell, Belboon, Register SuperClix or Zanox for free and research if there are affiliate programs on the blog topic.

Your Experiences With The Blog Topic

What experiences have you made with the choice of the blog topic? Could you find a suitable blog topic that has met all the tips described? Your opinion is in demand! This is how it continues.

 

The Last Male Sumatran Rhino in Malaysia Died

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The Last Male Sumatran Rhino in Malaysia Died

The last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia has died. Attempts to breed him, with two females one after the other had proven unsuccessful. In lack of a male, there’s an obvious loss of scope of reproduction.

Species are clouded by fear of extinction. The only Sumatran rhinos that remain, are the ones in nearby Sumatra in Indonesia. The last male specimen in Malaysia named Tam, who was resident at a wildlife reserve on the island of Borneo, was pronounced dead due to organ failure on 27th May 2019. The sole surviving specimen of its kind in Malaysia is a female named Iman.

Indochina’s other rhino species, i.e. the Javan rhinoceros is also in grievously dire straits. In fact, immediate peril looms over all species.

Following a century of deforestation and hunting, it’s reckoned that between 30 to 100 Sumatran Rhinos are left, in the wild. Five rhino species can be found today and among them three in Asia and the rest two in Africa. They were once widespread in the continent but today are confined to ever-shrinking pockets in specific regions. Of them, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis that is the Sumatran Rhinoceros is the smallest living rhino species.

The Sumatran Rhino is about 4 foot tall and 7.5 to 10.5 feet long. It weighs half a ton to one ton. It has two horns hence the generic name dicerorhinus (two-horned nose), like its two African siblings; the larger one measuring half to one foot, and the other a tiny stub. A distinctive jacket of Auburn (reddish-brown) hair covers most of its body.

Tam was aged 30 and dwelt the wildlife reserve in Sabah state on Borneo island ever since he was captured while finding roaming in a palm oil plantation. Christina Liew, state minister for tourism, culture, and environment issued a statement elucidating the same.

The Sumatran rhino, the smallest species of rhinoceros, was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015, as only three survived in captivity. Another female rhino, Puntung, died in captivity in 2017. Despite best efforts, couple compatibility couldn’t be established, perhaps owing to the stress of isolation and unnatural confinement.

The tragically declining species is now are limited to the Sumatra Island and the Indonesian side of the Borneo Isle.

Liew also stated that Tam’s genetic material has been preserved in view of tentative attempts later in the future to reproduce Sumatran rhinos.

iOS 13: Everything That’s Updated!

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iOS 13: Everything That’s Updated!

The WWDC 2019 was awesome and among the many OSs that got updated, the most awaited OS for many was iOS 13. As expected it has got a bunch of updated stuff including dark mode and enhanced privacy. Let’s have a look at what all things are updated in the brand new iOS 13 update. And check out which devices are going to get the iOS 13 update.

iOS 13: Everything That's Updated!

1. Dark Mode

Notes, Apple Music, iMessages app on iOS13
Notes, Apple Music and iMessages app on iOS13

As expected from last year, iOS 13 got the dark mode. And it looks stunning the beautiful dark color scheme. As you can see in the pictures below the iMessages app, Apple Music app and the Reminders app look awesome.

To enable the dark mode quickly in iOS 13, tap the new button in the control center. You can schedule the dark mode to automatically turn on or off depending on the time of the day. iOS 13 also has wallpapers that suit the dark color scheme. Developers can use an API to implement dark mode for their third-party app.

2. Redesigned Photos App

Photos App in iOS13
Photos App in iOS13

The native Photos app on iOS 13 is redesigned.

  • It has an all-new Photos tab which lets you browse photos with different levels of curation. You can see photos that you clicked day wise, month-wise or year-wise. The new tab will have photos organized in a better way so that you can relive the day. Live Photos and videos will be auto-played in that tab. In Days, Months, and Years option photo previews larger to help you distinguish between shots. Apple uses AI to find the best part of the photo and shows it. To see the uncropped photo, just tap on it.
  • The intelligence identifies and hides duplicate photos, screenshots, whiteboard photos, documents, and receipts, so you see only your best shots in the Photos tab.
  • The Years option shows you the pics that you clicked on the present day in past years.
  • If you have birthdays assigned to people in your People album, the Photos tab will highlight your photos of them on their birthday.
  • Now screen recordings have a different album where all the recordings automatically get organized.
  • Search Enhancements: You can now search two words like “beaches” and “selfies” without tapping each word in a search.

Now for editing photos,

  • You can now control the intensity of each filter and compare it
  • Photo editing has now been enhanced with many features including vibrance, white balance, sharpness, definition, notes reduction, vignette.
  • You can now pinch to zoom while editing a photo
  • This update also brings video editing support. You can crop, rotate, apply a filter, etc. to a video
  • Video edits are non-destructive that means you can undo them

3. Camera App

The native camera app on iOS has also been updated. You can now adjust Portrait Lighting intensity. A new portrait lightning effect named High-Key Mono has also been added.

4. Privacy And Security

1. App location permissions

Control the location data you are sharing to apps. You can now choose to grant an app access to your location once or anytime you use it.

2. App location transparency

You’ll receive a notification every time an app is using your location in the background.

3. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth location privacy enhancements

API changes and new controls will help prevent apps from accessing your location without your consent using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

4. Location controls for shared photos

You can now control if you want to share the location when you’re sharing a photo on social media.

5. Enhanced anti-fingerprinting protection in Safari

Protections related to browser fonts have been expanded.

6. New Feature: Sign In With Apple

Sign In with Apple option
Sign In with Apple

You can now sign in on apps or websites with your Apple ID for enhanced privacy. All you will give that app is your name and email ID. And if you want to hide your email too, you can with the new hide my email option.

This option creates a new email id which is given to that app and any mail which the app/website sends you will be forwarded to your actual email id. You will have different Apple-generated unique email ids for each app you wanna sign in without showing your email id.

Apple Maps: Rebuilt from the ground up!

The map in the Apple Maps app has been updated from root levels with rich details. Comes with a new feature called Look Around in which you can explore where you are going in a 360-degree photo of the place. You can now create a list of favorite places you wanna navigate to with one tap and share them in a collection.

Look Around feature in Apple Maps

For places with junctions, Junction View helps drivers eliminate wrong turns and directional misses by lining them up in the correct lane before they need to turn or enter an elevated road.

With Share ETA, you can share your ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) with anyone. Maps app offers transit schedules, arrival times, network stops, and system connections for better route planning. It even includes important real-time information like outages and cancellations. Up-to-the-moment information about your flight terminals, gate locations, departure times, and more is now available.

Siri: With a better voice!

Siri is getting a voice overhaul in iOS 13, Apple announced onstage at WWDC 2019
Siri is getting a voice overhaul in iOS 13, Apple announced onstage at WWDC 2019

Siri’s now comes with Improved voice with neural TTS making it more natural especially while speaking longer phrases. Offers personalized suggestions in Apple Podcasts, Safari, and Maps. Siri can even detect reminders in messages and events in third-party apps.

SiriKit for Audio enables Siri to play music, podcast, and audio from third-party apps and tune into the radio stations as well. For Indians, Siri now has an Indian English Voice too.

Shortcuts App

The shortcuts app is now built-in and is now even more powerful. It also has suggested automatons.

Memoji and Messages

1. Share name and photo

It now automatically shares your name and photo when you start a conversation or when the other person responds in a message. You can choose to show an Animoji, image or monogram for your photo.

2. Memoji stickers

Memoji stickers
Memoji stickers

Memoji stickers now have your face! You can customize your Memoji to match your face with improved customizations.

Keyboard

QuickPath typing

After a lot of waits, the native iOS keyboard now supports swipe typing which Apple calls QuickPath typing. QuickPath is currently supported by for English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Performance

Apple Face ID Unlock Screen 30% faster
Face ID 30% faster

  • App launches are 2x faster
  • Face ID unlock is 30% faster
  • App download sizes are up to 50% lower
  • App update sizes are up to 60% lower

Other Important Updates

1. App Store

  • You can choose to download apps and games over your cellular connection.

2. Mail

  • New format bar
  • Desktop‑class text formatting
  • Block Sender
  • Multicoloured Flags
  • Font support
  • Updated photo selector
  • Updated address autocomplete

3. Notes

  • Now you can see your notes as visual thumbnails
  • More powerful search
  • New checklist options

4. Safari

  • updated start page design
  • Download Manager
  • Photo upload resize
  • Weak password warnings
  • And more…

5. Files

  • Access files on a USB drive, SD card, or hard drive.
  • Zip and unzip
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Rich metadata
  • Create a digital copy of physical documents
  • Search suggestion

6. Accessibility

  • Voice control
  • Accurate dictation
  • Rich Test editing
  • Text and Emoji suggestions

7. Battery

  • Optimised Battery Charging

8. Game Controllers

  • Support for Xbox One S Controller
  • Support for PS4 Controller

9. Features for India

  • Indian English voice for Siri
  • Support for all 22 Indian languages
  • Hindi and English bilingual keyboard
  • Typing prediction for Hindi

10. System Experience

  • 3D Touch removed
  • Redesigned volume controls
  • Dolby Atmos Playback
  • Peek: preview emails and link by taping and holding them
  • Press and hold an app icon to quickly perform actions

Devices Compatible With iOS 13

  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8
  • iPhone 8 Plus
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 7 Plus
  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s Plus
  • iPhone SE
  • iPod touch (7th generation)

Science 101: A Gold Digger Fungi!

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Science 101: A Gold Digger Fungi!

A fungus species found worldwide amasses particles of gold along the stringy strands that it sends into the soil, researchers claim having discovered.

The gold-laden fungus, scientifically named Fusarium Oxysporum, isn’t just pretty-looking but also gains sizeable benefits from the gold bond, enabling it to spread quicker and facilitating larger proliferation than usual fungi.

“But gold is so chemically inactive that this interaction is both unusual and surprising — it had to be seen to be believed,” lead study author and researcher Tsing Bohu said.

This is the first instance of a proof emerging that a fungus may move gold through the Earth’s surface, and could furnish suggestions for detecting underground gold deposits, they reported.

Fusarium oxysporum
Fusarium Oxysporum

The biologists employed a scanning electron microscope to generate a series of highly magnified images of F. oxysporum colony from western Australia, revealing the fungus’s tendrils generously covered in a crust of its harvested particulate gold.

The fungus is thought to garner the gold through chemical reactions with minerals underneath the ground; it dissolute the gold flakes using oxidation and then secretes another chemical to solidify and reap the dissolved gold around the fungal filamentatious strands, the findings state.

The researchers are yet to figure out the exact mechanisms, vital specificities and nuances as regards the fungal gold extractions, the most important of them whether the harbored gold is actively or passively moved and if the blingy fungi avail the prerogative of a particular choice towards gold. If the fungus is established to indeed have a preference towards gold, over other minerals, the selectiveness would prove a crucial boost to probing potential untapped subterranean gold reservoirs.

Buried gold deposits can be detected via surface traces in gilded fungi, trees or insect nests, surveying and prospecting methodology substantially cheaper and significantly more environment-friendly than the conventional method of drilling and excavation probe is.
The findings were published in the “Nature Communications” journal.

Science 101: Spider that pets frogs as their own.

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Science 101: Spider that pets frogs as their own.

Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata is commonly known as the dotted humming frog. This species is found in the northeastern quadrant of South America ranging Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It naturally occurs in subtropical or tropical humid lowland forest, swamp, and intermittent freshwater marsh habitations.

Chiasmocleis Ventrimaculata
Chiasmocleis Ventrimaculata is commonly known as the dotted humming frog

The large spider, a denizen of the same habitat, the burrowing tarantula Xenesthis immanis has over time developed an understanding, forging a mutualistic association with the aforesaid frog species.

The two dwell together in a coactive relationship with the arachnid providing the amphibian safe sanctuary from predators and also ensuring a reliable and consistent food supply channel via insects attracted to feed on the remains of its myriad preys.

The frog’s scrambling enables a safeguard of the tarantula’s eggs from foraging ants. This mutualism between microhylids and large spiders is common and is enacted by various species in many different parts of the world, lying in the Neotropics.

This family of frogs is perhaps inedible owing to its toxic skin secretions and is perhaps the reason responsible for the inculcation of this mutualism in the first place. This foster kinship is also reportedly observed in the tropical forests of India and Sri Lanka.

The odd couple: spider-frog mutualism in the tropical rain forests
The odd couple: spider-frog mutualism in the tropical rain forests

It does well to bear in mind that the spider of its stature can consume the rather minute frog, but foul tasting or even potentially lethal complications of toxin ingestion likely deter it.

Individual spider specimen, borderline maturing younglings, in particular, have been known to pick, inspect, probe and “taste” (examine) these frogs occasionally, before leaving them back, unscathed and unharmed. The spiders seem to possess an intrinsic or acquired sensory cue-based reservation against these frogs, and the relationship has played out extremely fluid and streamlined.

Perhaps humans can take a leaf out of their book of friendship, amity, and synergic cooperation, particularly when they seem so biologically remotely segregated, while we fight over petty, trivial contours as ethnicity and tenet-adherence.

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