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  The state-backed Russian cyber spies behind the SolarWinds hacking campaign launched a targeted spear-phishing assault on US and foreign government agencies and think tanks this week using an email marketing account of the US Agency for International Development, Microsoft said. The effort targeted about 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations, at least a quarter of them involved in international development, humanitarian and human rights work, Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt said in a blog post late Thursday. It did not say what portion of the attempts may have led to successful intrusions. The cybersecurity firm Volexity, which also tracked the campaign but has less visibility into email systems than Microsoft, said in a post that relatively low detection rates of the phishing emails suggest the attacker was likely having some success in breaching targets. Read More

  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has decided to delay the 2022 edition of the Oscars by a month. The award ceremony, which was earlier set for February 27, will now be held on March 27, 2022, the AMPAS said in a statement. The eligibility period for Academy Awards consideration, however, will return to the standard December 31 deadline. For the previous edition, the Academy made changes to the eligibility, extending it until February 28, 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic . The rule change had enabled movies such as "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" and "Judas and the Black Messiah" to be considered for the awards. Click Here

  Looking to make a toehold in the market beyond smartphones, OnePlus is gradually expanding its products line-up. Fresh in the company’s portfolio is a smart wearable, the OnePlus Watch . Labelled a smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch covers a wide spectrum of features and services that one looks for in smartwatches. Among the most notable is the built-in storage for music, a speaker and mic set-up to attend calls, and a sensor to monitor blood oxygen saturation (SpO2). As a debutant, the OnePlus Watch seems to be a solid smartwatch. But how does it fare vis-à-vis peers? Let’s find out: What’s good Design: OnePlus has done a spectacular job in designing its first smartwatch. The Watch looks premium, especially the moonlight silver colour variant (review unit), which goes well with most outfits. It has a solid build, complemented by a circular case that makes it look more like a watch and less like a toy. Read Full Article Here

  With just hours to go before the new IT rules for social media companies take effect, large digital platforms Facebook and Google on Tuesday asserted they are working towards meeting the compliance requirements. The new rules, announced on February 25, require large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer. 'Significant social media intermediaries' -- defined as those with over 50 lakh registered users -- were given three months to comply with the additional requirements. Click Here

  Poco X2 (review) is the last smartphone from Chinese smartphone brand Poco that I tested. Though among the good ones of its time, the smartphone left me in the lurch simply because I was expecting Poco to make a comeback after a silent gap of over two years after the Poco F1. The next Poco smartphone that I used after about a year, the Poco X3 Pro, seemed to be a performance-centric package. With Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 system-on-chip in tow, the Poco X3 Pro is touted to be the spiritual successor to the Poco F1. But is it really that? Let’s find out: Poco X3 Pro : Design Poco is one of the brands that do not shy away from experimenting with radical colour themes in their smartphones. That legacy continues with the Poco X3 Pro. Aimed at young buyers, the phone comes in three jazzy colour options – graphite black (review unit), steel blue and golden bronze. Read More

  British home appliance maker Dyson on Tuesday launched two new brands of vacuum cleaners equipped with dust-detecting laser technology as the company tries to expand sales here amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. Dyson Vacuum cleaner Dyson's V15 Detect and V12 Detect Slim cordless vacuum cleaners will be sold in South Korea with price tags of 1.24 million won ($1,100) and 1.09 million won, respectively. The two vacuum cleaners were already launched in select markets earlier this year. Dyson said the latest vacuum cleaners boast a laser technology on the cleaning head that reveals micro dust and dirt particles on the floor, reports Yonhap news agency. Click Here

  Aimed at the evolving needs of users in hybrid work environments, Microsoft India on Tuesday announced the general availability of Surface Laptop 4 for commercial and education customers. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 for consumers will start from Rs 102,999 (AMD Ryzen 5 4680U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 13.5-inch size) and going up to Rs 151,999 (Intel Core i5-1135G7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 13.5-inch). The device for commercial users will start from Rs 105,499 (AMD Ryzen 5 4680U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 13.5-inch size) and go up to Rs 177,499 (Intel Core i7-1185G7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 15-inch), the company said in a statement. "Our latest line-up provides increased mobility, enhanced performance, and enterprise-grade security features to support the modern-day user throughout their transition into the hybrid era," said Rajiv Sodhi, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft India. Read More

  The OnePlus 9 Pro (review) is a solid smartphone packed with all sorts of fancy bells and whistles that you expect from a premium smartphone. Though competitively priced, some might find it expensive. For those who do, there is no harm in checking out the Pro model’s younger sibling, the OnePlus 9. Though it cuts some corners on premium features, it brings a motley mix of specifications and features for uncompromised everyday smartphone experience. OnePlus 9 review Starting with the design, the OnePlus 9 looks almost identical to the Pro model but is more compact. It has a glass cover on the front and back, but the metallic chassis of the Pro model is replaced here by a plastic one. However, the thin and lightweight design and compact form factor compensate for the slightly inferior build. Another apparent change is in the rear camera module, which looks less busy than the one present in the Pro model. Read More

  India's first Dronacharya awardee coach in boxing, O P Bhardwaj died on Friday after battling prolonged illness and age-related issues here. He was 82 and had tragically lost his wife Santosh to ill-health about 10 days ago. Bhardwaj was bestowed the highest national honour in coaching jointly with Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (wrestling) and O M Nambiar (athletics), when it was introduced in 1985. "He had been unwell for many days with a lot of health issues and was hospitalised. Age was a factor and there was also the shock of losing his wife about 10 days back," T L Gupta, a close family friend and a former boxing coach, told PTI. Bhardwaj was India's national boxing coach from 1968 to 1989 and also served as a national selector. Read More

  Xiaomi is no newbie in the premium smartphone segment, but in India it is not so well known for its flagship offerings as it wasn’t until recently that this Chinese technology company started bringing such products here. Expanding its premium smartphone portfolio, the company recently launched the Mi 11 Ultra in India . Touted as ‘the Superphone’, this flagship smartphone is brimful with industry-leading features and specifications. That said, the Mi 11 Ultra is capable of beating other premium smartphones on more parameters than one, but the real-life experience shows it wanting in some areas. Beginning with strengths, the Mi 11 Ultra is a spectacular smartphone with regard to display, audio, imaging, performance, and battery efficiency. Read Full Article Here

  Apple Inc.’s top software engineer criticized the security of his own Mac operating system in a bid to explain why the company shouldn’t be forced by a judge to loosen its hold over iPhone and iPad app distribution, as Epic Games Inc. is demanding. Apple app store Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, testified Wednesday at a trial in federal court in Oakland, California, that his experience with imported malware on the macOS system shows how security would be eroded if the company allowed iPhone and iPad users to install software from the web or other stores, as it does on the Mac. “Today we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable,” primarily because the system allows users to install software that isn’t vetted by Apple, Federighi said. That makes it less secure than iOS and iPadOS, the operating systems that power the iPhone and iPad, he said. Read More

  The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has once again asked WhatsApp to take back its new privacy policy, which has been in the eye of a storm since the messaging service first announced it in December. WhatsApp privacy policy According to sources, in a communication sent to WhatsApp on Tuesday, the Ministry has told the Facebook-owned company to withdraw its privacy policy, saying that the manner of introducing these changes, including those in the FAQ, undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens. The Ministry has also taken the same stand in the Delhi High Court, where this matter is sub-judice. The Ministry has given WhatsApp seven days to respond to their letter, and "if no satisfactory response is received, necessary steps in consonance with law will be taken". Click Here

  Google I/O is an annual developer conference where the technology giant showcases its innovation competence with regard to products and services. This year, the company showcased some futuristic technologies besides detailing the upgrades coming to Android and Wear OS operating systems for smartphones and smartwatches, respectively. The Google I/O 2021 was full of surprises and interesting announcements. Here is a quick recap of everything announced at the Google I/O 2021: Android 12 Google has come a long way enhancing its Android operating system for smartphones. The next iteration of the OS is set to get major design changes, including a revamped look called ‘Material You’ that dynamically changes the user interface and its elements based on users activity, apps, time of day, weather, etc. In retrospective, OPPO experimented with something of similar sorts in its Android 11 based ColorOS11 custom skin. The Chinese smartphone maker integrated tons of UI customisation options w

  Over the last six months, consumers have lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency to scammers impersonating Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). For years, scammers have posed as Musk to fraud social media users out of cryptocurrency, The Verge reported. They use deceptive tactics on sites like Twitter, often using the same avatar images as Musk's account and slightly misspelling his username. "Promises of guaranteed huge returns or claims that your cryptocurrency will be multiplied are always scams," the commission said in its report on Monday. Pretending to be Musk, the scammers will ask victims to send currency to a specific wallet address in exchange for receiving a larger payment in return. Click Here

  Apple has announced that its music streaming service Apple Music will get lossless audio and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in June. Both the upgrades will be available for free to the Apple Music subscribers, including those on family and student plans. According to Apple, the default Apple Music setting will let users automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an Apple H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Moreover, Apple Music will be adding new Dolby Atmos tracks and will be curating a special set of Dolby Atmos playlists to help listeners find the music they love. “Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. Read More

  Cyber-security researchers have identified a stash of 167 counterfeit Android and iOS apps being used by hackers to steal money from people who believe they have installed a financial trading, banking or cryptocurrency app from a trusted organisation. Researchers at cyber-security firm Sophos investigated the fake apps and found that many were very similar. The attackers targeted users through dating sites and lured victims into installing money-stealing apps disguised as popular brands. Some apps included an embedded customer support "chat" option. When researchers tried to communicate with the support teams using the chat, the replies they received used near-identical language. The researchers also uncovered a single server loaded with 167 fake trading and cryptocurrency apps. Read More

  Smartphone brand realme is finally foraying into its much-anticipated TechLife vertical with launching a new brand on May 25 that begins with the letter D. The brand name with 'D' letter was teased by Madhav Seth, Vice President, realme and CEO, realme India and Europe, during the 8 Pro smartphone launch last month. The new brand will have its own line of products, industry sources told IANS on Monday. Realme Latest Smartphones The launch of the first brand in realme TechLife ecosystem will not be a big splash launch owing to the ongoing Covid situation in the country, they added. The TechLife ecosystem of the company will look for innovative partners globally to provide products with a new technology experience for users through independent R&D, joint custom development and product selection. Click Here

  Swedish audio streaming platform Spotify recently announced that it is making it easier for users to share their favourite track or podcast episode with friends through social media. According to Mashable, the new updates in social sharing have been rolled out globally by Spotify for both iOS and Android users. The company announced the details of the new features on its blog post where it stated, "We're constantly evolving the Spotify experience to meet listener needs and working to provide the best possible audio experience for listeners around the world. These three updates make sharing music and podcasts easier than ever." The first feature to be added is Podcast Timestamp that will let users share podcast episodes beginning at any particular moment that they want their friends to listen to. This way the user's friends won't have to listen to the whole podcast episode. Click Here

  India’s one of the oldest and largest music labels Tips Music on Thursday announced a music licensing deal with Google for the latter’s newly introduced short-video platform YouTube “Shorts”. As part of this deal, Tips will license its large catalogue to YouTube platform allowing the huge Indian diaspora across the world to create content inspired its ever popular and superhit music library in diverse Indian languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Marathi, Gujarati, amongst many others. “The deal will allow our community of fans to create fresh new content alongside their favourite music from Tips music library. This partnership will open possibilities for creators and users to explore their creativity which may give us our next future star. What better way to celebrate our new generation of talent,” said Kumar Taurani, founder, Tips Music.  Read More

  Facebook-owned Instagram has announced to let users add up to four pronouns to their profiles, which they can then display publicly or only to their followers. It's another way to express yourself on Instagram and the feature is now available in a few countries today with plans for more. The company, however, did not specify which countries have this feature at the moment. "Now you can add pronouns to your profile with a new field. It's another way to express yourself on Instagram and we've seen a lot of people adding pronouns already, so hopefully this makes it even easier. Available in a few countries today with plans for more," said Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram. People can fill out a form to have a pronoun added, if it's not already available, or just add it to their bio. Click Here

  Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus ex-founder Carl Pei’s technology start-up ‘ Nothing ’ is set to launch its first product in June this year. Named Ear 1, it is a pair of true wireless earbuds that will debut the brand in global consumer technology market. The earphones are also touted as the beginning of a long and exciting journey that will eventually expand in other product categories, including smart electronics that are expected to arrive later this year. "Our mission is to remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future that looks, lives, and feels like nothing... It (Ear 1) is the starting point that will define the artistry, confidence, and craftsmanship that will carry our products and services for years to come," Carl Pei, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-founder of Nothing said in a blogpost. Read More

  Facebook Inc.’s internal rules for banning content are a “shambles,” and the company needs to fix the process to have credibility in enforcing them, a member of the social media giant’s independent content oversight board said. The comments by Michael McConnell, the panel’s co-chairman, follow its decision last week to leave in place a ban on former President Donald Trump for his posts surrounding the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6. “Their rules are a shambles,” McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday.” “They are not transparent. They are unclear. They are internally inconsistent.” “We gave them a series of recommendations about how to make their rules clearer and more consistent,” McConnell said. “The hope is that they will use the next few months to do that and then, when they come back and look at this, they will be able to apply those rules in a straightforward way.” Read More

  The popular invite-only audio chat app Clubhouse has finally arrived on Android after spending a year on the Apple iOS platform. Clubhouse for Android has started rolling out in beta from Monday, beginning with the US, followed by other English-speaking countries and then the rest of the world. "Our plan over the next few weeks is to collect feedback from the community, fix any issues we see and work to add a few final features like payments and club creation before rolling it out more broadly," the company said in a statement. Clubhouse for Android will remain an invite-only platform, ensuring that each new community member can bring along a few close friends. Click Here

  Facebook has taken down nine networks from six countries in April targeting people with false and deceptive information. The social network removed 1,565 Facebook accounts, 141 Instagram accounts, 724 Pages and 63 Groups. In Palestine, Facebook removed 447 Facebook accounts, 256 Pages, 17 Groups, and 54 Instagram accounts from Palestine that targeted primarily Palestine, and to a lesser extent Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, and Qatar. "In addition, WhatsApp removed multiple accounts that were part of this activity. We found this activity as part of our internal investigation ahead of the election in Palestine and linked it to Fatah, a political party in Palestine," Facebook said in a blog post late on Thursday. In Mexico, it removed 162 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, and seven Instagram accounts from Mexico that targeted the state of San Luis Potosi in that country. Read More

  India’s premium smartphone market has bolstered with offerings from brands that were not there in the competition until last year. Among many other things, imaging yet again taking the centre stage and each of the new offering in the segment has something novel to offer. Of the many new entrants in the segment, Vivo seems to a promising one, thanks to its recent partnership with German lens maker Zeiss. One of the first products to come from this partnership is the Vivo X60 Pro, a camera-first premium smartphone with Zeiss optics. Vivo X60 Pro Review Vivo calls the X60 Pro "camera in a phone". Is the phone all about its cameras, or does it utility goes beyond imaging? Let us find out: Click Here

  The Centre on Thursday issued guidelines to facilitate expeditious COVID-19 vaccination of aviation personnel working in government as well as private entities. A dedicated vaccination facility will be established by the airport operators in their respective airports to facilitate expeditious vaccination of staff, the guidelines issued by the the Civil Aviation Ministry stated. Priority during vaccination should be given to the air traffic controllers (ATCs), cockpit and cabin crews of the airlines as well as mission-critical and passenger-facing staff, it said. India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections even as hospitals in several states are reeling under a severe shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds. Click Here

  Royal Challengers Bangalore 's domestic players and support staff entered their home towns from specific pre-identified hubs as the foreign recruits left for their respective destinations via charter flights. RCB skipper Virat Kohli reached Mumbai on Tuesday, the day IPL-14 was indefinitely suspended due to multiple COVID cases in its bio-bubble. By Thursday early morning, all the other playing and non-playing staff had also left for their onward destinations. IPL 2021 "We worked in consultation with BCCI and the respective cricket boards to ensure the safe return of all our personnel to their homes. There are stringent SOPs put in place by us, for those who are transiting from central hubs to their respective cities," RCB said in a press release. "We will be in constant touch with them till they reach home and continue to offer support to our personnel whenever necessary," it stated. Read More

  The Italian Olympic Committee is making arrangements to vaccinate its entire team for the Tokyo Games. About two-thirds of the Italians qualified for the games have already been vaccinated against COVID-19 because they are affiliated with the military. The remaining athletes, as well as coaches and staff members and even athletes still attempting to qualify will begin receiving vaccines on Friday, CONI said. Tokyo Olympics 2020 As of Tuesday, 237 Italians had qualified for the Olympics, which open on July 23. Australia also recently announced plans to vaccinate its Olympians. Click Here

  The 2021 season of Indian Premier League has been suspended after some players were found Covid-19 positive, said the organisers of the marquee cricket tournament on Tuesday. "The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in an emergency meeting has unanimously decided to postpone IPL 2021 season, with immediate effect," IPL said in the statement. "The BCCI does not want to compromise on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved in organising the IPL. This decision was taken keeping the safety, health and wellbeing of all the stakeholders in mind, " it further added.  "These are difficult times, especially in India and while we have tried to bring in some positivity and cheer, however, it is imperative that the tournament is now suspended and everyone goes back to their families and loved ones in these trying times. The BCCI will do everything in its powers to

  The BCCI will reschedule Wednesday's IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals here as CSK has been forced into hard quarantine after bowling coach L Balaji tested positive for COVID-19. As per the Board's Standard Operating Procedure, anyone who has come in contact with an infected person has to undergo six days of hard quarantine and return three negative RT-PCR reports during the course of it. "Tomorrow's match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium between CSK and RR will be rescheduled as per SOP rules. As Balaji was in contact with the players, all of them have gone into hard quarantine. They are supposed to be tested everyday," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. Click Here

  Taiwanese tech giant ASUS is set to reportedly launch Zenfone 8 smartphone with a 3.5mm audio jack on May 12. When the Zenfone 7 series was announced last year, the two phones were missing the audio jack that was present on the Zenfone 6, reports GizmoChina. Apart from the audio jack, the Zenfone 8 is set to feature a punch hole at the top left corner of the screen for the front-facing camera, which means that the flip cameras will not make a comeback. The phone will also have a high refresh rate and OLED displays with 1080p resolutions. It has been reported that the Zenfone 8 Mini which is expected to be a compact model will have a 5.92-inch screen, a 4000mAh battery and support for 30W fast charging. Read More

  Monday evening’s match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is being deferred after two members of the first team tested positive for Covid-19. 2021 IPL points table and team rankings 2021 IPL latest news The match in Ahmedabad will be played later in the tournament that concludes on May 30, reported PTI quoting sources. " Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were found to be positive in the third round of testing in the last four days. All other team members have tested negative for COVID -19 ," a press release from IPL's organisers . Leg-spinner Chakravarthy and pacer Warrier, both 30, have been isolated and the rest of the KKR contingent has returned negative reports for now. Of the two, Warrier has not yet made the playing XI in any of the seven matches KKR have played. Click Here