Xiaomi discontinues further MIUI 9 development to focus on stability and system optimizations, MIUI 10 expected soon

Xiaomi announced MIUI 9 back in July 2017 in an event in China that brought various new features including Split Screen, Smart app launcher, Universal Image search, Notifications Filter, Smart Assistant and more. Later, in November 2017, the company announced Global version of MIUI 9 with  New Gallery App, Calendar Cards, New Notification Shade, App Vault, Mi Video App, New Mi Explorer and Mi Drop. Earlier this year, the company’s co-founder and vice president Hong Feng confirmed that company has started development of next iteration of MIUI, and it will be called MIUI 10 (not X). With MIUI 10, company’s focus will be on improving user experience using AI and Machine learning algorithms. In the same event, it was mentioned that company will remain focused on MIUI 9 development. Yesterday, MIUI forum Admins posted announcement related to MIUI China ROM and said that company is suspending MIUI 9 Beta ROM updates for some time. The post says, To achieve better system stability and optimization, MIUI will release the last Development/Alpha ROM 8.4.26 on 27th April 2018. Thereafter, MIUI developers will focus on system optimization, which will continue for a period of time. It's expected that the update will be resumed in June ...

Bose QC35 II Review – Noise-cancelling headphones with Google Assistant

A few months back, Bose officially introduced QC 35 II, noise-cancelling headphones that come with Google Assistant. Being the first headphones to get launched with voice-assistant, it retails around $349 (approximately Rs. 22,924 approx.) in various countries including U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the UK. It was launched in India priced at Rs. 29363 in India. Has Bose fared yet again?  Box Contents QC35 II headphones in Silver color AUX audio cable for wired connection USB cable Carrying case Design The Quiet Comfort 35 II carries the same design language as its predecessor, which is kind of minimalistic yet boring. The headset is made of premium materials that make them lightweight and comfortable for all-day listening. The headset is made of two materials to be honest -- plastic with a matte finish on the chassis and a metal caps on the back of the earcups. It has an ear cushion that is manufactured from a synthetic protein leather and contains a silicone bead for passive noise reduction. Having said that the headphones look a bit cheap for its price, which in turn lacks the premium feel when held. It also has an adjustable headband that is really comfortable to wear and easy to pack ...

Facebook reports $4.9 billion net income in Q1 2018, up 63% YoY; 2.20 billion monthly active users

Facebook has revealed financial results for Q1 2018. The company has generated a total revenue of $4,988 million, an increase of 63%  year-over-year. It has reported the quarterly GAAP net income at $11,666 million compared to the $8,032 million same quarter last year. The GAAP diluted EPS was reported at $1.69 compared to the $1.04 in 2017. The company has reported daily active users of 1.45 billion on average for Marc2018, which is an increase of 13% year-over-year. As for Monthly active users, it reported a  2.20 billion and an increase of 13% year-over-year. The mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 91% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2018, which is up from approximately 85% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2017. The company's headcount was reported at 27,742 as of March 31, 2018, an increase of 48% year-over-year. Facebook's cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $43.96 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018. It reported capital expenditures of $2.81 billion. Facebook's Operating margin is accounted at 46 % compared to the 41 % same time last year. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, and CEO said: Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018. We are taking a broader view of our responsibility ...

Google said to replace Play Music with YouTube Remix

If rumors and reports are to be believed, Google will replace Play Music with a new music streaming 'YouTube Remix.' Users of Play Music also said to be forced off of Play Music by the end of 2018 and will be asked to switch to YouTube Remix. Back in December, some reports said Google is working on a Spotify like music streaming service called YouTube Remix that would offer better recommendations and the ability to play clips alongside music. Furthermore, a couple of weeks back it is heard that Google, YouTube, and major music industry labels had already agreed to terms that would allow YouTube to launch this new music subscription service. YouTube’s global head of music, Lyor Cohen back in March has confirmed details about the YouTube Remix, though he didn't reveal the pricing or launch. While it may be late with the launch of such streaming service, the company said: " we're making an enormous investment to launch a product that you will be proud of.” It makes sense for Google to pull the plug on the Play Music with the company using its resources and effort into YouTube Remix. While it is unclear how Google will kill the Play Music but will be forced to ...

Snapchat Snappables AR Games released

Snapchat today is rolling out the Snappables AR Games that use your touch, motion and facial expressions to compete for high scores or in literal head-to-head multiplayer match-ups.  Snappables are present alongside the other Lenses. New games will be releasing every week while favorites will stick around. These are the first Snapchat’s first collaborative Lenses that let you interact with friends on their own phone. Going into the details, Snappables in Snapchat include Asteroids which is a style space shooter, a bubble gum popping contest, a weightlifting one you play by straining your forehead, a kiss-blowing game, an egg-catching competition and a dance party. Snapchat last month has acquired the game engine PlayCanvas, but it is unclear if Snappable has its contribution and these games look similar toTribe’s multiplayer selfie video chat games. Back in 2016, Snapchat tried its hand on with selfie games; Kraft Mac & Cheese noodle catching game, and a holiday elf skiing game that used your face. To get started with the Snappable, you select one of the game Lenses from the Snapchat camera and follow the on-screen instructions. It has solo player games and other games where you can invite friends to play simultaneously. You can send to a friend a Snap of you playing, which they ...

YouTube for kids gets Whitelisted version with parent approved content

Earlier this month there were reports that YouTube for Kids is getting a new Whitelisted version and today, the company is rolling a bunch of new features that fall in line with the reports. Parents now get the ability only to show human-approved content.  Starting this week, YouTube for Kids team will offer collections from trusted channels on a variety of subjects from arts & crafts and music to sports, learning, and more. This also allows parents to select only the channel collections and topics they want their kids to access. You can go to the profile settings and select from available collections such as Sesame Workshop and PBS KIDS. Later this year, parents will get a new feature that will allow them to specifically handpick every video and channel available to their child in the app. Starting this week turning search off will limit the YouTube Kids experience to channels that have been verified by the YouTube Kids team, meaning that search off will not include recommendations from the broader YouTube Kids corpus. YouTube also said that it would continue to fine tune the YouTube Kids app to make it better and improve its filters for this more open version of our app. Source

Google Tasks standalone app for Android and iOS released

Along with revamped Gmail, Google has also released a new Tasks standalone app for Android and iOS. It is a tasks reminder app which was previously only accessible through Gmail and Google Calendar. With Google Tasks, you can now create tasks and subtasks, as well as add due dates with notifications to help you stay on track. You can simply drag and drop an email from Gmail into Tasks to create a new task. It also lets you access tasks with due dates directly on your Calendar. The app is pretty barebones in its current form, but it's worth giving a shot. The app is pretty Google style with a lot of white space, Google's Product Sans font. The design is mostly different from the regular Google Apps, which might be an indication of the so-called 'Material Design 2' that Google is said to be working on for quite some time. You can download the Google Tasks for Android on Play Store and iOS from App Store. Source

Microsoft said to be working on ‘Windows 10 Lean edition’ for devices with less storage

Microsoft is said to be working on the next version of the 'Windows 10, for now, codenamed Redstone 5 will include a new Lean edition' for devices with less storage. The new edition will be made available to OEMs for low-cost laptops and tablets. [HTML1] According to reports, the Lean Edition will be available for devices with 16GB of storage, and it’s primarily designed to ensure these machines still receive Windows updates. Twitter user Lucan has discovered references to the Lean edition in the latest Windows 10 test build (17650). Installing the Lean Edition will cut around 2GB of storage at the moment. This indicates that Microsoft is reducing the storage space needed by removing the components not needed low-end devices. Microsoft looks to have even removed the Internet Explorer, other legacy desktop apps and even the regedit has been removed, and Microsoft is experimenting with removing as much as possible. The current existing 16GB storage devices struggle to update to the latest Windows 10 updates. With users loading the space with apps, media, and other files, it prevents Windows from updating because of the lack of storage. We can expect to learn more about the Windows 10 Lean edition and Microsoft’s plans for the future of Windows ...

OnePlus is giving away over 6000 free tickets for Avengers: Infinity War movie across 10 cities in India [Update: It’s live]

Update: You can now claim the tickets on oneplus.in/avengers. You need to claim it on Paytm by 4PM. Last week OnePlus announced that it is partnering with Marvel Studios to celebrate its 10th anniversary with Avengers: Infinity War, which arrives in theatres on April 27, 2018. Today the company is giving out over 6000 complimentary movie tickets for the phone, in partnership with Paytm. The company offered tickets for Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in December 2017.   [HTML1] OnePlus community members across cities PVR ICON Infiniti Mall Versova MUMBAI, PVR Pune Market City (Pune), PVR Kukatpally Forum Mall (Hyderabad), PVR Elante Mall (Chandigarh), PVR Ampa Mall (Chennai), Cinemax Mani Square Mall (Kolkata), PVR DLF Mall of India (Delhi NCR), PVR Forum Mall (Bangalore) and PVR Lulu Mall (Kochi), PVR Acropolis (Ahmedabad), can avail the tickets, here's how to claim one. Visit oneplus.in and register your OnePlus IMEI number (If you have registered your IMEI previously, you can skip this step). Choose your city and click ‘Get It’ button & your ticket coupon code will be generated (Depending on availability) Once the ticket coupon code is generated, follow the link to the Paytm website, to select from the available shows on April 27th, 28th and 29th  and complete the checkout ...

Samsung reports record profits in Q1 2018, up 58% YoY, mobile profits up 82% YoY

Samsung has reported its earnings for Q1 2018, in which the company has made operating profit of 15.64 trillion won ($14.4 billion), up 58% YoY for the January-March 2018 period. This is a fourth straight record profit, and new all-time high quarterly profit, due to strong sales in Semiconductor Business and the early global launch of the Galaxy S9. It reported revenue of 60.56 trillion won, an increase of 19.8% from 50.55 trillion won last year and net profit of 11.69 trillion won, a 52.2% increase from 7.68 trillion won for the same period a year earlier. IM sector that includes Mobile Communications and Networks Businesses posted 28.45 trillion won consolidated revenue and 3.77 trillion won operating profit for the quarter, up 82% compared to 2.07 trillion won in the same quarter last year. Regarding the shipments and the expectations in mobile sector, Samsung said: While overall market demand for smartphones and tablets declined during weak seasonality, Samsung’s smartphone shipments increased QoQ due to an early release of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ as well as solid sales of the Galaxy S8. As a result of increased sales, mainly driven by premium models, revenue and profit significantly increased both QoQ and YoY. Earnings for the ...