Digital Indian Gov

Netplus, the high-flying broadband operator in Punjab and Haryana has now announced the launch of 1 Gbps broadband plans for the first time in Punjab. Dubbed as the Net+ Giga plans, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) has launched a couple of them offering 1 Gbps speed. The Rs 4,999 plan comes with 500GB FUP while the Rs 5,999 plan offers 1000GB FUP. Both the plans offer an after an after FUP speed of 100 Mbps. As mentioned, this is the first time an ISP introduced 1 Gbps broadband plans in Punjab, but sadly, the plans are yet to be launched in Haryana. In Haryana, the maximum speed plan offered by Netplus is 500 Mbps.
CEO Mr Prem Ojha said that “we are pleased to launch super speed GIGA plans on our FTTH platform. This will take the customer experience to a new high and at par with the best in the world. We are committed to bring new technologies applications and offers for our customers and lead the broadband revolution in the region.” Netplus claims that it’s offering ten times higher speeds, four times more data at half the price when compared to other players in the cities. And with the launch of FTTH broadband plans, the company has managed to increase the speeds up to 1 Gbps for the first time. The above-mentioned plans are valid in Punjab city, but in Haryana, the maximum speed plan offered by Netplus is the 500 Mbps plan.
The Net+ Speed plan of Rs 2499 offers a download speed of 500 Mbps along with a FUP of 500GB. Users will still get 50 Mbps speed even after the completion of FUP. Besides the 1 Gbps plans, all other plans are similar in both Haryana and Punjab. Below the 500 Mbps plan, there’s another plan of 200 Mbps which is priced at Rs 1,599 and offers 500GB FUP, 50 Mbps after FUP speed. Netplus is also providing its users with a 100 Mbps connection at Rs 1,099 with 500GB FUP and 20 Mbps after FUP speed. The ISP also has a couple of unlimited plans without any FUP limit on offer, and the plans are Net+ New Speed 20 and Net+ New Speed 50. As the name itself suggests, they offer with 20 Mbps and 50 Mbps speed at a price of Rs 899 and Rs 1,299. There’s no FUP limit for these plans.

Telecom operators have said that Aadhaar number was never mandatory for new mobile connections but used only for the re-verification process of old subscribers, as per Department of Telecommunications norms, which still stand. Telcos added the recent reports quoting Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan saying companies can also accept other modes of identification proofs besides Aadhaar for issuing new connections has led to more confusion for them. “We never told our new customers that Aadhaar was mandatory. So, now we do not know if the secretary means for verifying new customers or re-verifying old ones.
This has definitely led to confusion…,” said an official at one of the operators told Economic Times. A DoT official also confirmed the same saying that Aadhaar was never mandatory but was one of the documents that consumers had to give for new connections. It was back in 2016 that telecom department told operators to accept Aadhaar as one of the documents to register new customers. The confusion arose after media reports that Sundararajan said companies had been directed to issue new SIM cards without Aadhaar on the basis of alternative identification such as election voter ID or driving license. “As per rule, fresh connections can be given using any authentic ID and address proof. There is no change in that rule.
Telecom operators cannot deny fresh SIM to people having valid ID and address proof document. For re-verification, we have to wait for Supreme Court order as the matter is sub-judice,” Sundararajan had said. Officials at the telcos asking not to be named say they have no new instructions from the government on the matter. They clarified Aadhaar was a preferred mode of verification for new users as it made the process easier and faster, but it wasn’t the only mode as other IDs including driving licenses and passports are also accepted.
However, an official told that SIM-Aadhaar linking policy still stands and those who have issued SIMs on the basis of other IDs than Aadhaar will be required to undergo re-verification through Aadhaar based e-KYC at later point. With the issue of Aadhaar being debated in the Supreme Court, there have been a lot of confusion, especially since Supreme Court clarified they had never passed any rule for making Aadhaar mandatory. Also, the DoT earlier extended the deadline for re-verification of mobile numbers through Aadhaar till the apex court decides of the constitutional validity of Aadhaar law.

Koinex, a digital assets exchange, commenced crypto-to-crypto trading at zero cost on its web and mobile platforms with the launch of 15 pairs of tokens which will be available for trading right from the start. "Our platform is built with the agility and technical brilliance to adapt to any market requirement. We were deliberating on the possible new offerings on Koinex and many of our traders expressed interest for a crypto-to-crypto trading corridor.
Our thoughts matched and we expedited the platform integration and today are set to offer our entire crypto-pair bouquet for seamless trading, and many more such surprises are in the pipeline to enthrall our users," said Rahul Raj, Co-Founder and CEO of Koinex. Among the 15 pairs of tokens launched, the tokens available in the Bitcoin market will be Ethereum (ETH/BTC), Litecoin (LTC/BTC), TRON (TRX/BTC), Ripple (XRP/BTC), OmiseGo (OMG/BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH/BTC), EOS (EOS/BTC), Nucleus Vision (NCASH/BTC), and Request (REQ/BTC). The tokens available in the Ethereum market will be TRON (TRX/ETH), Ripple (XRP/ETH), OmiseGo (OMG/ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH/ETH), EOS (EOS/ETH), and Nucleus Vision (NCASH/ETH).
The crypto-market has been in disarray since the start of the year due to the ambiguous stand on crypto-assets by the regulators and things further took a downward spiral with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive reprimanding banks from partnering with crypto-entities. In these uncertain times, it is imperative for exchanges to utilise the current timeframe to meticulously strategise their way forward in the domestic market.

On Thursday TCL unveiled its new smart TV line-up which is going to give competition in the market to Xiaomi’s Mi LED Smart TVs. The two new TVs which were launched by the company includes the iFFALCON 55K2A and the iFFALCON F2. Both the TVs are powered by Android Nougat 7.0 and make use of its features to bring the smart features to life. The iFFALCON 55KA is a 4K UHD TV with a display measuring 55-inch. On the other hand, the iFFALCON F2 TV comes in two configurations – one with a 40-inch display which is named as the iFFALCON 40F2 and other with a 32-inch display named as the iFFALCON 32F2.
These three models will go on sale starting May 7 and will be available on Flipkart iFFALCON brand store. To bring up more and more entertaining content to their smart TVs, TCL has also partnered up with brands like Jio Digital, Netflix, Google Play Movies & TV, YouTube, ErosNow and Voot. Speaking about the pricing of the TVs which are competently priced near the Xiaomi’s Smart LED TVs the iFFALCON 55K2A will start selling at Rs 45,999, while iFFALCON 40F2 and iFFALCON 32F2 will retail at Rs 19,999 and Rs 13,499 respectively.
Specifications Firstly, the flagship model by TCL the iFFALCON 55K2A comes powered by a quad-core processor and a dual-core GPU. This chipset is accompanied by 2.56GB of RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage. The 55-inch display with Full HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution delivers an audio-visual experience of 4K UHD quality. The 55-inch flagship TV by TCL encompasses Micro Dimming technology and white LED HD backlight that takes the colour gamut up a notch and has been claimed to provide more dynamic colour contrast. The TV also packs solid performance based audio hardware with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and comes equipped with advanced DTS post-processing technology. There is also a smart Volume feature that automatically adjusts the volume to eliminate sudden sound fluctuations. Coming on to the smart features of the device, the TV offers functionalities like task switching, picture-in-picture, and inbuilt Google Chromecast. There is also the option of installing apps from other devices via a multiple platform sync feature.
Users can also use voice inputs in the TV to control their device as the remote of the TV ships with a dedicated voice input button to receive voice commands. The second model in the line-up, which is the TCL iFFALCON F2 also makes use of the technologies like Micro-Dimming and ships with Full HD capabilities. The TV besides coming pre-installed with Netflix also comes with wide options downloadable content from more than 500 applications. Like the iFFALCON 55K2A, this model also comes with a LED HD backlight that enhances the colour gamut and aids in delivering an audio-visual experience with dynamic contrast. Besides these, The TV comes with Dolby decoder and supports a variety of audio and video formats.
Users can also decide to operate their TV using an integrated feature called the T-Cast. The TV also boasts of some safety features like lightning protection, fast heat ventilation, and wide voltage range. The company has also claimed that the TV consumes significantly lower power and is moisture-proof.

Senior advocate Indu Malhotra would be administered oath of office by Chief Justice Dipak Misra tomorrow morning at the Supreme Court, making her the first woman lawyer to enter the top judiciary directly. 61-year old Malhotra's name, cleared by the government, was one of the two recommended by the collegium to be elevated to the apex court bench. The list of the business of the apex court mentions that Malhotra will be sworn in tomorrow. Earlier in the day, a Law Ministry communique said: "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Ms Indu Malhotra, to be judge of the Supreme Court of India with effect from the date she assumes charge of her office."
Her name was approved by the SC collegium on January 10, with a resolution of the apex court saying, "In our considered opinion, at present, Indu Malhotra, senior advocate, is eminently suitable for being appointed as a Judge in the Supreme Court." While Malhotra's name was recommended by the collegium for elevation along with that of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph, the Centre has sought reconsideration of the proposal for the latter. Malhotra would be the seventh women judge in the top court since Independence as only six women judges have made it to the Supreme Court so far.
Other women judges were elevated to the apex court from high courts. Currently, Justice R Banumathi is the lone woman judge in the apex court. Malhotra joined the legal profession in 1983 and was enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi. She qualified as an Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court in 1988 and has been dealing with several matters of constitutional importance. She was one of the prominent senior advocates regularly appearing in educational matters pertaining to medical and engineering colleges.
Malhotra was one of the members of the Vishaka Committee on sexual harassment at workplaces, as also of a 10-member committee constituted by the top court to deal with complaints of sexual harassment within the court. She was appointed as the standing counsel for Haryana in the apex court from 1991 to 1996. Malhotra has represented various statutory corporations like Securities Exchange Board of India, Delhi Development Authority, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Indian Council for Agricultural Research, before the Supreme Court. She was designated senior advocate by the top court in 2007 and became the second woman to be designated as such by the apex court after a gap of over 30 years. Malhotra was born in Bangalore and after her schooling from Carmel Convent School in New Delhi, she did her B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College. She obtained her law degree from the Faculty of Law in Delhi University.
The first woman judge of the apex court was Justice Fathima Beevi who was appointed in 1989, 39 years after the Supreme Court was set up in 1950. Justice Beevi was elevated to the apex court after her retirement as judge of the Kerala High Court. After serving the top court till April 29, 1992, she was appointed the governor of Tamil Nadu. The second woman judge in the Supreme Court was Justice Sujata V Manohar, who started her career as a judge from the Bombay High Court and rose to become the chief justice of Kerala High Court. She was elevated to the apex court where she remained from November 8, 1994 till August 27, 1999. Justice Ruma Pal followed Jusitce Manohar after a gap of almost five months and became the longest-serving woman judge from January 28, 2000 to June 2, 2006.

H-1B visa approvals for Indian IT companies drop by 43% between 2015-17, claims a report from US think tank National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). Wonder which were the companies that had maximum number of approved H-1B visa petitions during the fiscal year 2017? US Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) website lists companies on the basis of 'total number of approved petitions'. The data also shows average salary offered by these companies. This average salary is based on data reported by the petitioner in the petition and may include part-time employment. Here are the 40 companies with highest number of approved H-1B visa petitions during the fiscal year 2017.
1. Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 28,908; average salary: $85,429
2. Tata Consultancy Services Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 14,697; average salary: $73,505
3. Infosys Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 13,408; average salary: $85,717
4. Wipro Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 6,529; average salary: $75,082
5. Deloitte Consulting LLP: Total number of approved petitions stood at 6,027; average salary: $106,797
6. Accenture LLP: Total number of approved petitions stood at 5,070; average salary: $83,573
7. Tech Mahindra (Americas), Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 4,931; average salary: $78,443
8. Amazon.com Corporate LLC: Total number of approved petitions stood at 4,767; average salary: $118,637
9. HCL Technologies Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 4,392; average salary: $87,978
10. Microsoft Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 4,069; average salary: $130,259
11. Capgemini America, Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 3,580; average salary: $84,667
12. IBM India Private Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 3,000; average salary: $79,916
13. Google Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 2,986; average salary: $134,419
14. Intel Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 2,625; average salary: $104,691
15. Syntel Consulting Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 2,119; average salary: $70,258
16. Apple Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 2,055; average salary: $142,974
17. Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,864; average salary: $78,737
18. Cisco Systems, Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,587; average salary: $128,389
19. Facebook, Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,566; average salary: $144,812
20. Oracle America, Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,546; average salary: $123,049
21. L&T Technology Services Ltd: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,481; average salary: $68,437
22. Deloitte & Touche LLP: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,410; average salary: $87,820
23. Mphasis Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,410; average salary: $84,081
24. UST Global Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,059; average salary: $71,332
25. IBM Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 1,051; average salary: $120,308
26. Mindtree Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 967; average salary: $75,677
27. Hexaware Technologies Limited: Total number of approved petitions stood at 955; average salary: $78,938
28. Qualcomm Technologies Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 921; average salary: $117,872
29. NTT Data Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 806; average salary: $90,213
30. Synechron Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 761; average salary: $86,764
31. Virtusa Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 736 ; average salary: $99,525
32. Capital One Services, LLC: Total number of approved petitions stood at 690; average salary: $109,860
33. Cummins Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 686; average salary: $87,998
34. Salesforce.com: Total number of approved petitions stood at 650; average salary: $141,444
35. eBay Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 588; average salary: $146,400
36. eBay Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 588; average salary: $146,400
37. VMware Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 565; average salary: $134,205
38. VMware Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 565; average salary: $134,205
39. LinkedIn Corporation: Total number of approved petitions stood at 516; average salary: $150,406
40. PayPal Inc: Total number of approved petitions stood at 512; average salary: $138,286

Along with today’s big reveal of the redesigned version of Gmail, Google also more quietly introduced a new app that ties into its suite of productivity applications: Google Tasks. The app, as the name implies, offers you a dedicated place to create, view and edit your task list and to-do’s, including those created from within the new Gmail or from Google Calendar. While Gmail had before supported task creation, it was more buried in its user interface.
With the revamp, however, Tasks gets a bigger billing – it, along with Google Keep notes and Google Calendar – can be popped up right in Gmail’s sidebar with just a click. With the influx of new users coming from Gmail, it makes sense to create a dedicated Google Tasks app, as well. After all, to-do’s aren’t something you only access or think about while in your inbox. The app itself is a fairly standard take on to-do lists.
You can create and manage your task list in the app, and break down tasks into subtasks. The drag-and-drop interface lets you prioritize your tasks, and you can set a “due date” for reminders on those you don’t want to forget. The app keeps things simple by not allowing you to set a time to be reminded – just a the date. That’s not going to work for everyone, though – some people will want to configure things more precisely. On its own, none of what Google Tasks offers is that remarkable.
Instead, what makes the app worthwhile is its integration with the other Google services you use, like Gmail and Calendar. Being able to access the tasks you created elsewhere is useful, as is syncing your changes back to the inbox. Plus, you’re able to trace a task back to its source email in Gmail, and view them on your Google Calendar. The app is also now considered a part of Google’s G Suite, which means Google doesn’t consider this some sort of mobile “experiment” that it will later ditch, leaving you to find a different to-do list app yet again. The app is available as a free download on iOS and Android.

Amazon latest perk ... free delivery to your car. The Seattle company said Tuesday that it has begun delivering packages in 37 cities to Prime members who own newer General Motors or Volvo vehicles. Deliveries via the Amazon Key In-Car service are available to Prime members with 2015 year or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicles with GM's OnStar connected-car service, and those with a 2015 or newer Volvo vehicle with an active Volvo On Call account.
Amazon Prime customers need to download the Amazon Key app. From there, they can link their connected car and start their Amazon orders. No additional hardware or devices are required. Packages will be placed in cars parked in publicly accessible areas like a customer's home or workplace, and then secured.
On the day a package is scheduled for delivery, customers can use the Amazon Key app to check if they've parked within range of the delivery location. The app also provides notifications with the expected 4-hour delivery time window and notifies customers when the delivery is on its way and the package has been delivered. Customers can track when their car was unlocked and relocked through the app, where they can also rate the experience. "Receiving a package securely and reliably in your car, without you having to be there, is something we think many people will appreciate," said Atif Rafiq, chief digital officer at Volvo Cars. "This mix of car and commerce is starting the next wave of innovation and we intend to be at the forefront."
Amazon said that it will include more locations and more vehicle makes and models over time. The announcement of the in-car delivery service follows Amazon's introduction of the Amazon Key program last year that lets the people delivering packages into the homes of customers who opt in. To check eligibility and to sign up for Amazon Key In-Car, visit amazon.com/keyincar. Shares of Amazon and General Motors rose slightly before the market open. Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Ten years ago, Amazon introduced the Kindle and established the appeal of reading on a digital device. Four years ago, Jeff Bezos and company rolled out the Echo, prompting millions of people to start talking to a computer. Now Amazon.com is working on another big bet: robots for the home. The retail and cloud computing giant has embarked on an ambitious, top-secret plan to build a domestic robot, according to people familiar with the plans. Codenamed "Vesta," after the Roman goddess of the hearth, home and family, the project is overseen by Gregg Zehr, who runs Amazon's Lab126 hardware research and development division based in Sunnyvale, California.
Lab126 is responsible for Amazon devices such as the Echo speakers, Fire TV set-top-boxes, Fire tablets and the ill-fated Fire Phone. The Vesta project originated a few years ago, but this year Amazon began to aggressively ramp up hiring. There are dozens of listings on the Lab 126 Jobs page for openings like "Software Engineer, Robotics" and "Principle Sensors Engineer." People briefed on the plan say the company hopes to begin seeding the robots in employees' homes by the end of this year, and potentially with consumers as early as 2019, though the timeline could change, and Amazon hardware projects are sometimes killed during gestation. An Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn't comment on "rumours and speculation." It's unclear what tasks an Amazon robot might perform. People familiar with the project speculate that the Vesta robot could be a sort of mobile Alexa, accompanying customers in parts of their home where they don't have Echo devices.
Prototypes of the robots have advanced cameras and computer vision software and can navigate through homes like a self-driving car. Former Apple executive Max Paley is leading the work on computer vision. Amazon has also hired specialized mechanical engineers from the robotics industry. The project is different than the robots designed by Amazon Robotics, a company subsidiary, in Massachusetts and Germany, people familiar with the project say. Amazon Robotics deploys robots in Amazon warehouses to move around goods and originated as a company called Kiva Systems, which Amazon acquired in 2012 for $775 million (roughly Rs. 5,100 crores).
The promise of domestic robots that offer companionship or perform basic chores has tantalized the technology industry for decades. Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, introduced the three-foot-tall, snowman-shaped Topo Robot back in 1983. Though it could be programmed to move around by an Apple II computer, it did little else and sold poorly. Subsequent attempts to produce useful robotic servants in the US, Japan and China over the years have performed only marginally better. iRobot Corp.'s Roomba, which only does one thing - vacuum - is the standout in the field and has sold more than 20 million units since 2002. The company's shares fell as much as 8.6 percent on Monday, the biggest intraday decline since early February. More recently, Sony and LG Electronics have shown interest in the category. In January at CES, LG showed off a robot called Cloi in a demonstration that failed multiple times. Sony demonstrated a new version of a robotic dog called Aibo, which it sold a version of until the mid-2000s after first unveiling the concept about 20 years ago. It doesn't do much other than bark (although Aibo has been programmed to play soccer). The canine bot also costs $1,800 (roughly Rs. 1.19 lakhs), or about the same price as a real dog from a breeder.
Advances in computer vision technology, cameras, artificial intelligence and voice activation help make it feasible for Amazon to bring its robot to the marketplace. The retail giant has shown itself willing to partially subsidize the costs of its devices for Prime subscribers who buy more products and subscribe to services through its gadgets. That could also make such a product more affordable for mainstream consumers in the future. The consumer robot market will be worth about $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1 lakh crores) a year by 2023, according to an estimate from Research and Markets, which would be up from about $5.4 billion this year.

Google on Tuesday launched a new experience for job seekers in India. The new experience, which is inspired by the Google for Jobs feature that debuted in the US last year, is aimed to make job searches easier for Internet users in the country. It is available in English on the Google app for Android and iOS as well as in Google Search on the desktop and mobile. Google has brought the latest development in partnership with job portals, including Aasaanjobs, Freshersworld, Headhonchos, IBM Talent Management Solutions, LinkedIn, Quezx, Shine.com, T-Jobs, TimesJobs, and WinsdomJobs.
The search giant is also working with various state governments in the country to bolster the experience for Indian job seekers. To begin with the new job searching experience, you need pass on queries such as "jobs near me" or "jobs for freshers" to Google Search or simply search for a particular position on Google. This will bring a special module that will let you explore, customise, and save relevant job postings. The module includes comprehensive information about the jobs available on the partner sites and lists open opportunities with job titles, location, and their nature such as full-time or part-time. Also, there is the time from when any particular listing is available online. Once the results are available, there are filters to help you pick only the most appropriate openings.
You can refine the results on the basis of job profile, title, location, date posted, or company type. Google also allows you to bookmark relevant listings and revisit them in the future. Likewise, there is a tab called 'Alerts' that sends you email notifications whenever new and relevant jobs become available. Unlike a tradition job portal, the new experience on Google is not letting job seekers apply directly for any particular position. It redirects to the job listing page available on the partners' site. Nevertheless, it makes it more convenient to search for a particular opening from one single page rather than going to different portals to find an appropriate opportunity. Google has also released an open documentation that will help any third-party job search platform make their native job listings discoverable on the new search experience. Open structured schema.org web markup standards have been available for web developers to expand the job-focused experience.
When it comes to why Google has preferred bringing the new job search experience, Vice President India and Southeast Asia Rajan Anandan highlighted that in the fourth quarter, job search queries on Google saw more than a 45 percent increase in the fourth quarter and mobile search queries around job postings are growing over 90 percent in a year. "We think we can help users look for and find relevant jobs in a very easy way through our experience," Anandan said at a press conference in New Delhi while announcing the new experience. Achint Srivastava of Google Search Engineering revealed that alongside bringing the partners on board, Google has been working with various state governments to bring the new job search experience. The software engineer also stated that a lot of India-specific work has been taking place behind the scenes to meet the requirements of Indian job seekers. One of the instances is the fresher job queries aren't something in the US, the engineer told the reporters.

Fortnite for iOS, PS4, PC, and Xbox One will be down shortly. The scheduled downtime is in preparation for a new update. Dubbed as version 3.6, it brings the Clinger sticky grenade to the game. Fortnite will be down from 1:30pm IST (4am EDT) for around an hour. The game is currently on version 3.5 and moving to 3.6 could see the removal of the timed 50 versus 50 battle royale mode. Epic hasn't confirmed what else is new to Fortnite v3.6 just yet. Given how solid the game is on all platforms we won't be surprised to see this being a small update compared to past efforts. As for the new weapon, the Clinger is a sticky grenade that will stick to any surface or player.
This has the Fortnite community drumming up interesting use cases for the addition to Fortnite's growing arsenal such as sticking it to enemies and impulse grinding them away so as to keep the potential splash damage away from you. Earlier in the day it was reported that Fortnite would be debuting in China via Tencent. Users in the country can download the Fortnite client and sign up with their QQ account with an account transfer process in place for those who already have played the international version of the game and want to carry over their progress to the Chinese version of Fortnite. According to Chinese site DoNews (via Touch Arcade), it's unclear if this would include the mobile version as well, though it would make sense if this was the case.
Speaking of which, a Fortnite mobile companion app for China will also be made available with live broadcasts of Fortnite matches. In addition to this, Tencent and Epic will invest about $7.9 million (around Rs. 53 crore) into Fortnite e-sports. This will go towards supporting e-sports teams, commentators, and content creators. An additional $7.9 million (around Rs. 53 crore) will be put towards in-game content and video content creators. Launching Fortnite in China puts Tencent in an enviable position. The company recently released PUBG Mobile and has a 48 percent stake in Epic, giving it a near monopoly in the battle royale space in China.

Every year, NASA takes a high-flying trip over the Arctic to monitor the ice and gather information on the area where people almost never tread. It’s been going on for a decade now, and most of the time the scientists make their observations with little fanfare. This year, however, the researchers snapped a photo of a collection of features that is causing a lot of interest as well as confusion. Rather than the endless open expanse of ice and snow that they are used to seeing, the team observed what appears to be large holes in the icy crust, along with wavy ice patterns that have no easy scientific explanation.
They don’t know what the features are or how they formed because they’ve never seen anything like it before, and now they’re doing their best to figure out why the strange patterns exist. “We saw these sorta-circular features only for a few minutes today,” John Sonntag, a scientist with the mission, wrote of the sighting. “I don’t recall seeing this sort of thing elsewhere.” Thus far, the researchers have been able to come up with a reasonable theory about the area that may explain some of the features they observed.
They believe that the area is covered in relatively new, “young” ice, and that it is probably thin enough that it is still flexible. That would account for the wavy pattern on part of the ice, but the obvious holes are harder to explain. “It’s definitely an area of thin ice, as you can see finger rafting near the holes and the color is gray enough to indicate little snow cover,” scientist Nathan Kurtz said following the mission. “I’m not sure what kind of dynamics could lead to the semi-circle shaped features surrounding the holes.
I have never seen anything like that before.” With no easy explanation, the researchers are considering all possibilities. One of the more interesting potential explanations is that the holes are the result of animals such as seals digging their way through the ice. No animals were observed during the mission, so if they did create the odd pattern they have since departed. Another potential source of the holes is warm springs spewing up from below, though that would be hard to confirm from the air. For the time being, the researchers aren’t concerned about the features, and they’re content to toss around ideas until they can learn more at a later date.

Action role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance released to middling reviews in February. Since then developer Warhorse Studio has been hard at work fixing its many issues, as is wont with most big budget releases this generation. At Croatian conference Reboot Develop (via VG247), Warhorse co-founder Daniel Vavra explained how Kingdom Come: Deliverance came to be, pitching the title as "Red Dead Redemption with a sword" to potential investors and publishers.
With a mix of story-telling and history he'd reference Rockstar's classic as a means of gaining interest around the game before taking it to Kickstarter in 2014. “I wanted to make the game as human as possible,” he said. “Basically, what we said in our pitches is we wanted to make Red Dead Redemption with a sword.” The idea behind Kingdom: Come Deliverance was to develop an RPG with historical realism that focussed on mundane tasks. “The game is more necessarily slow paced because if you want to make something realistic it takes more time to do than it does in the movies,” he said.

“We wanted to make fetch quests as fun as possible. I wrote an ambitious quest for the other writers to follow. And I had to find experts. Because history is surrounded by myths from Hollywood, which make it ridiculous. Daily life details are the most complicated,” he added. Vavra also commented on the game's many bugs. Some of which prevent progression. “This is the biggest issue I’m not proud of,” said Vavra. “Bugs are extremely hard to test. “We change one quest and it somehow f*** up another quest. To test it properly you would have to play it for 600 hours.
After release we saw bugs we’ve never seen.” As for possible Kingdom Come: Deliverance fixes, Vavra said the studio is working on them, “taking our time to do the patch properly,” and promised that there would be more content for the game. That said, there's no decision on its lock-picking mechanic getting changed. 30 percent of players are unable to lock-pick, according to Vavra. “Those people probably cannot be drummers. They cannot co-ordinate their hands.” During its launch we recommended waiting until Kingdom Come: Deliverance gets a few more updates. Underneath a myriad of technical muddles lies a serviceable RPG, although right now, it’s nowhere close to what it could be. Hopefully this changes sooner rather than later.

Last week we reported that Grand Theft Auto V is getting a new variant in the Grand Theft Auto V Premium Online Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Priced at $80 (around Rs. 5,310) in the US at retail and $85 (approximately Rs. 5,650) digitally it would be safe to say that you'd be paying around the same amount for the game in India. However this doesn't seem to be the case on PS4 and Xbox One at least. GTA V Premium Online Edition India price is Rs. 4,499 with a release date of April 23. And while Rs. 4,499 might seem steep when you consider that normal, standard editions of GTA V retail for around Rs. 2,750 on PS4 and Xbox One, keep in mind that it includes a ton of content related to GTA Online, GTA V's multiplayer mode.
There doesn't seem to be a physical PC version of GTA V Premium Online Edition, so if you're looking to pick it up to play on PC you're restricted to a digital download at the moment. Grand Theft Auto V Premium Online Edition includes the complete Grand Theft Auto V story experience, the ever evolving world of Grand Theft Auto Online, and all existing gameplay upgrades and content including The Doomsday Heist, Gunrunning, Smuggler’s Run, Bikers and much more. In addition to this, Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition also has the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack.
Rockstar claims it's "the fastest way for new GTA Online players to jumpstart their criminal empires with the most exciting and popular content plus $1,000,000 bonus cash to spend in GTA Online - over GTA$10,000,000 in value". A digital version of Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition is due "next week" according to a statement from Rockstar. That said, the current physical release appears to have a Rs. 500 savings versus buying it digitally, not too bad at all if you're the sort who is looking to get the most from GTA V outside its superlative single-player experience.

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) gets a re-release called Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Publisher Take-Two officially revealed this new variant via a prepared statement. The Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition is available now (April 20 onwards) on disc in game stores for PS4 and Xbox One internationally and will be available on digital platforms including PC (via Steam and Rockstar Social Club), PS Store, and the Microsoft Store next week.
It includes the complete Grand Theft Auto V story experience, the ever evolving world of Grand Theft Auto Online, and all existing gameplay upgrades and content including The Doomsday Heist, Gunrunning, Smuggler’s Run, Bikers and much more. In addition to this, Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition also has the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack. Take-Two claims it's "the fastest way for new GTA Online players to jumpstart their criminal empires with the most exciting and popular content plus $1,000,000 bonus cash to spend in GTA Online - over GTA$10,000,000 in value".
The Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition price is $60 internationally. Gadgets 360 has requested an Indian price and release date from E-xpress, Take-Two's India distributor and will update this story when we hear from the company. Previously, Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Online Edition was leaked via a listing on Amazon Germany and it was reported that GTA V has made around $6 billion since its release in September 2013. This means GTA V has made more money than any book, film, record or video game ever released, and shows no signs of stopping.
Keep in mind, it's sold less than Minecraft which has sold 144 million units, though it has raked in more revenue. This is due to it being a more expensive game and the micro-transaction-fuelled GTA Online mode. “Since its launch in 2013, GTA V has sold 90 million units, putting its total haul for publisher Take-Two Interactive in the neighborhood of $6 billion,” Doug Creutz, an analyst for Cowen told MarketWatch. “Far above the success of blockbuster movies like Star Wars or Gone With The Wind, which both collected more than $3 billion, adjusted for inflation. Even taking into account DVD and streaming sales would not put the biggest movie blockbusters in GTA V’s neighborhood.” It has been suggested that GTA 6 could see a 2022 release date.

A scientist at University of Copenhagen has revealed in a research that with the help of a phone one can find out of the user is lying or not. This scientist has developed a machine learning algorithm which will help identify if a person telling a lie or not by studying the swipe and tap gestures on a smartphone. The research adds that the dishonest interactions often require more hand movements as compared to the honest ones. The algorithm developed is called Veritaps which flashed a green check mark when the statement is true. On the other hand, any false or doubtful statement is reported with a red question mark.
Presently, the app is in experimental stage and is only designed for Android smartphones. As reported by CNET, Aske Mottelson, one of the paper's authors, said "the algorithm's ability to detect lies is comparable to that of a polygraph. However, it has its limits and shouldn't be used in courtrooms or other high-stakes environments." The CNET report also adds that in one of the study the participants were asked to lie and make a true statement in order to check the colour that will appear on their phones.
It was noticed that the liars took more time on an average. In another similar kind of test, a person received money and was asked to split it in two. So, when the users were given the chance to lie about the amount received they took more time. The app, according to the scientist, has a similar approach as the polygraph test and it can be a useful and indicative tool.

Amazon on Thursday rolled out a new set of tools called Alexa Skill Blueprints, which lets users create custom responses for the smart assistant. The e-commerce giant is providing users with a set of simple templates that help in creating personalised experiences for Alexa within minutes by simply filling in the blanks. The Alexa skills a user creates are specially designed for personal use, and will only appear on the devices that are registered to the user's Amazon account. Alexa Skill Blueprints tool is only available for customers in the US at the moment.
There is no information on when Amazon might launch it in other parts of the world. This is despite Alexa hitting more markets lately, with Echo devices launching in India. Interestingly, this feature can be accessed by Indian users by switching the language setting to English (US). The Alexa Skill Blueprints available at launch include over 20 templates across categories like Fun & Games, At Home, Storyteller, and Learning and Knowledge. Each blueprint comes with pre-filled content that can be used as it is, or you can customise it according to your preferences. Amazon has designed the templates in a way that users can fill in some information that makes them personalised to their needs. There is no need to go through a series of complicated steps or programming as no technical knowledge is required.
With Alexa Blueprints, you can teach the assistant to answer a question a certain way, for instance, "Alexa, who is the smartest one in the family?" or create a custom command for the babysitter, such as "Alexa, open My Sitter". You can also use Skill Blueprints to create an interactive adventure story with a child as the lead character, for instance, "Alexa, start Anna's Story." The skills and responses you create with Alexa Skill Blueprints will be available instantly on the devices associated with the user's account. "Alexa Skill Blueprints is an entirely new way for you to teach Alexa personalised skills just for you and your family," explained Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Alexa, in a statement about the launch. "You don't need experience building skills or coding to get started - my family created our own jokes skill in a matter of minutes, and it's been a blast to interact with Alexa in a totally new and personal way."

Honor, at its unveiling event in China, not only announced the Honor 10 but also revealed a new lightweight notebook. The new laptop which Honor is calling as the MagicBook is only being released in China presently. The high-performance laptop features minimal bezels, sleek design and seeks to do all of this at a very affordable price point. Honor is a brand which has been known for focusing heavily on the design of its gadgets. This time also the company has designed the MagicBook with a focus on looks while also not compromising on the performance.
The new laptop is being said to be inspired somewhat by Apple’s MacBook series of laptops. The MagicBook will be available in three colours – Glacier Silver, Star Grey and Nebula Purple and will ship with a 14-inch FHD display with 5.2mm thick borders that will make up for 80% screen. The dimensions of the laptop also remain slim with the MagicBook only weighing 1.45 kg. The backlit keyboard has 1.3mm travel. The laptop has been designed in such a way that it allows 180 degrees opening and closing of the lid. For the audio, the speakers have been placed on either side of the keyboard. Like we said, the Honor MagicBook does not compromise on the performance for the aesthetics and ships with the latest 8th gen Intel Core i7-8550U Processor based on a 14nm process.
The laptop is also efficient in maintaining a high frame rate thanks to the Nvidia MX150 GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory which also helps the machine in delivering 4x performance in graphics. A powerful processor also needs an equally powerful cooling mechanism for which Honor has developed flame-designed groove with large fans which creates a “canyon-effect” to drain heat out of the laptop, away from the processor. The Honor MagicBook also has a similar battery backup to the Macbook. The 57.4Wh battery allows for 1080p video playback for up to 12 hours on the laptop. The MagicBook runs on Windows 10 and houses useful functionalities like the Magic Link that will automatically lock or unlock the computer depending on the location of the linked phone.
The laptop also offers a fingerprint sensor which also functions as the power button and boots up the machine in just 7.6 seconds. The four speakers on the MagicBook have been powered by Dolby Atmos sound for a clear audio-visual experience. The MagicBook will sell in China in two variants. The less pricey version will house Intel i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and will retail for CNY 4,999 (approx Rs 52,300). The second and the top model will ship with Intel i7 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage will cost CNY 5,699 (approx Rs 59,700). Just like the Honor 10, there has been no news regarding the Indian launch of the MagicBook. However, in China the laptop is up for pre-order starting today, i.e. April 19. The sale of the laptop starts on April 23.

Amazon might be the newest member of the Indian e-commerce marketplace, but in the United States, it’s one of the oldest ones. For the first time, Amazon has revealed its paid Amazon Prime Subscription numbers to the public. In a letter to shareholders on Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon revealed that the company now has over 100 million paid Prime subscribers since the service launch 13 years ago. In the same letter, the company also revealed some numbers of Amazon India. Jeff Bezos stated that Amazon.in is the fastest growing marketplace in India, and the most visited site on both desktop and mobile, according to comScore and SimilarWeb.
The Amazon.in mobile shopping app was also the most downloaded shopping app in India in 2017, according to App Annie. Furthermore, Prime added more members in India in its first year than any previous geography in Amazon’s history. Prime selection in India now includes more than 40 million local products from third-party sellers, and Prime Video is investing in India original video content in a big way, including two recent premiers and over a dozen new shows in production. Amazon Prime Video in India has introduced several exclusive shows such as Inside Edge, Breathe etc.
Globally, in 2017 Amazon claimed that it shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide, and more new members joined Prime than in any previous year. In 2017, Amazon expanded Prime to Mexico, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and introduced Business Prime Shipping in the US and Germany. The company also stated that Prime Day 2017 was its biggest global shopping event ever and during the same day, more new members have joined Amazon Prime than any other day in Amazon’s history. Talking about Alexa, Amazon says that Alexa-enabled devices are among the best-selling items across all of Amazon. Alexa now has more than 30,000 skills from outside developers and users can control more than 4,000 smart home devices from 1,200 unique brands with Alexa.
Besides, Amazon also sells tons of hardware devices, and it stated that 2017 was the best year for hardware sales at Amazon with customers purchasing tens of millions of Echo, Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV Stick devices. Amazon recently expanded its Amazon Music service to the Indian market, but it didn’t reveal the numbers though. Also, Amazon did not reveal how many subscribers it has in India alone, but the number will be extremely good because Amazon is offering faster delivery service, Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music service with a single Prime subscription at Rs 999 in India.

Wonder which are the world's 100 most powerful technology companies? Companies that are leading the gradual evolution of the Knowledge Economy to the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality. The companies that are leaders in this rapidly changing marketplace. Thomson Reuters recently released a list of 'Top 100 Global Tech Leaders'. The company analyzed 28 factors across eight performance parameters to find out who sits at the top. These parameters include financial performance; innovation; risk and resilience; reputation; environmental impact; management and investor confidence; legal compliance; and people and social responsibility. So, here's over to the world's '100 biggest technology companies': Note: These companies are listed in alphabetical order and do not represent any ranking.
1. Accenture (Ireland); Acer (Taiwan); Adobe (US); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) (US); Advantest (Japan)
2. Akamai Technologies (US); Alphabet (US); Amazon (US); Amdocs (US); Analog Devices (US)
3. Apple (US); Applied Materials (US); ARRIS International (US); ASE Group (Taiwan); ASM Pacific Technology (Hong Kong) ASUS (Taiwan); Atos (France); Autodesk (US); CA Technologies (US); Canon (Japan)
4. ASUS (Taiwan); Atos (France); Autodesk (US); CA Technologies (US); Canon (Japan)
5. Capgemini (France); Celestica (Canada); CGI (Canada); Cisco (US); Cognizant (US)
6. CommScope (US); Computacenter (UK); Computershare (Australia); dormakaba (Switzerland); DXC Technology (US)
7. eBay Inc.(US); Ericsson (Sweden); Facebook (US); FUJIFILM (Japan);Fujikura Ltd. (Japan)
8. Fujitsu Ltd. (Japan); Gemalto (Netherlands); HCL Technologies Ltd. (India); Hewlett Packard Enterprise (US); HP (US)
9. IBM (US); Infineon Technologies (Germany); Infosys (India); Intel (US); Intuit (US)
10. Lam Research (US); Leidos (US); Lenovo (China); LG Electronics (Korea; Republic (S. Korea); LITE-ON Technology (Taiwan)
11. ManTech International Corporation (US); Mastercard (US); Micron Technology (US); Microsoft (US); Motorola Solutions (US)
12. Nanya Technology (Taiwan); National Instruments (US); NCR Corporation (US); NEC (Japan); Nokia (Finland)
13. Nvidia (US); NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands); OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (Japan); ON Semiconductor (US); Oracle (US)
14. PEGATRON Corporation (Taiwan); Powertech Technology Inc. (Taiwan); Qisda Corporation (Taiwan); Qualcomm (US); Quanta Computer (Taiwan)
15. Renesas Electronics Corporation (Japan); ROHM (Japan); Salesforce (US); Samsung Electronics (Korea; Republic (S. Korea); SAP (Germany)
16. Seiko Epson Corporation (Japan); Sharp Corporation (Japan); Siliconware Precision Industries Ltd. (SPIL) (Taiwan); SK Hynix Inc (Korea; Republic (S. Korea);Sony (Japan)
17. Sopra Steria (France); STMicroelectronics (Switzerland); Symantec Corporation (US); Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) (Taiwan); Tata Consultancy Services (India)
18. Tech Mahindra (India); Tencent (China); Teradata (US); Texas Instruments (US); Tieto (Finland)
19. Tokyo Electron (Japan); Total System Services (TSYS) (US); Unisys (US); United Microelectronics Corporation (Taiwan); VMware (US)
20. Wipro (India); Wistron Corporation (Taiwan); Workday (US); Xerox Corporation (US); ZTE Corporation (China)