Technology

Asia tech conference ditches Hong Kong for Malaysia

The annual RISE Conference brings together CEOs, startups and investors and has been held in Hong Kong over the last five years

Luminar Technologies becomes public company as lidar race builds

For companies such as Lumiar, which raised $590 million from the merger, SPACs have become an alternative path to public markets instead of a traditional IPO

WhatsApp new wallpaper features rolling out to users: All you need to know

Wallpapers on WhatsApp are getting four major updates - custom chat wallpapers, additional doodle wallpapers, an updated stock wallpaper gallery, and the ability to set separate wallpapers for light and dark mode settings

Google Play Store best apps, games in India: Full list here

The App for Good’ app and even the Best App of 2020 in India has been developed by an Indian developer

Twitter includes race, ethnicity to expand hate speech rules

The company banned speech that dehumanizes others based on religion or caste last year and updated the rule in March to add age, disability and disease to the list of protected categories.

AI, omnichannel strategy key in a post-covid world

• The transition has been easier for many as India was already on the path of digitization.

Reliance Jio users to get added benefits in new AR-based game ‘Yaatra’

With their mobile phone camera, players can step into the action-adventure story of Yaatra and join the quest to defeat a monster army

Surge in demand for PCs to continue in 2021: IDC

• According to IDC, most of the demand for computers will be driven by the more mobile form factor — that is notebooks
• The demand for PCs have also been driven by emerging markets like India, which have so far been mobile first markets

eSports revives inter-college competition amid covid curfew

• Following the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, many colleges shifted to online classes using video conferencing apps. Extra-curricular activities including intra- and inter-college sports are yet to resume

Ed-tech start-up eduTinker launches teacher-student management app

• Aims at providing physical classroom experience to teachers and students in the era of virtual learning

Amazon is laying the groundwork for its own quantum computer

Amazon.com Inc. is laying the groundwork for a quantum computer, deepening efforts to harness technology that can crunch in seconds vast amounts of data that take even the most powerful supercomputers hours or days to process.

Google Maps new community feed feature rolling out globally: Details here

Google Maps gets more than 20 million user contributions on a daily basis which includes favourite spots, updates to business services, fresh reviews and ratings, photos, answers to other people’s questions, updated addresses and more

WhatsApp Pay: How to enable, send and receive money

WhatsApp Pay is currently working with five banks in India - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank - and people can send money on WhatsApp to anyone using a UPI supported app

Realme confirms flagship smartphone ‘Race’ will launch with Snapdragon 888

Realme made the announcement after the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit Digital 2020

Watch and listen: India is ahead

• The smartwatch market is still at a nascent stage, say analysts

To avoid tech’s anti-trust troubles, India tries a hard 30% cap

• No single player can grab more than 30% of total payments transactions
• Every company also has to use India’s open payments platform, guaranteeing interoperability

PUBG faces govt in India battleground

The much-awaited re-launch of the Indian version of the popular mobile game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG may hit a roadblock as it may have to first seek the government’s nod

Qualcomm announces flagship Snapdragon 888 chip with integrated 5G modem

• The company had faced widespread criticism last year for not offering an integrated modem
• Qualcomm had earlier announced a partnership with Indian telco, Reliance Jio, to power 5G networks based on OpenRAN technology.

Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra, on track for launch in 2021

• Facebook's long-awaited cryptocurrency, Libra, can launch as soon as January 2021 despite setbacks
• Libra is seeking approval from Switzerland's Financial Markets Supervisory Authority to operate as a payments service

Chinese smartphone brands impress with after sales services: Survey

Oppo had with 93% satisfaction rate followed by Vivo (85%) and Xiaomi (81%), says a survey by Counterpoint Research