Facebook launches ‘Watch Party’ to let groups watch videos together

Facebook today has introduced a new experience called Watch Party to all Facebook Groups, after testing it earlier this year. It is a new way for people to watch videos on Facebook together in real time. Once the watch party is launched, participants can watch videos, live or recorded, and interact with one another around them in the same moment. This feature is aimed at bringing people together around video, create connections, and ignite conversations. The company is starting to test the ability for people to start 'Watch Parties' with friends outside of groups, too. Facebook says that with 'Watch Party' hosting Q&As around particular hobbies such as cooking or crafting and others have become easy. The key features of the Watch party include giving control for the host to add a co-host who can add videos and keep the party going. The crowdsourcing feature lets anyone in a Watch Party suggest videos for the host to add to the Watch Party. Facebook to celebrate the global launch of 'Watch Party' lined up a weekend of Watch Parties where groups of various pages around the world will host Watch Parties to connect their communities from 27th June to 29th June. Source

Dropbox Gmail add-on for sharing and saving files released

Google and Dropbox today have announced a partnership today and through this partnership, both the companies will see their first-ever product integration which is a DropBox add-on for Gmail.  With the new Dropbox add-on for Gmail, you will be able to view, store, and share any file without leaving your inbox. As for Dropbox, it will deepen their investment in the G Suite ecosystem, offering a cross-browser, cross-platform and this new add-on will work with any browser, as well as the Gmail app for Android. However, support for iOS will be coming soon. Users can drop a file or folder to your Dropbox, and anyone can access it without installing special software. The add-on is available on the G Suite Marketplace. You can save received attachments and Dropbox links to your Dropbox now. The ability to share links through a Gmail compose will be coming later this year.  You can install the Gmail Add on from here. Source

Huawei Nova 3i with 6.3-inch FHD+ display, Kirin 710 12nm SoC, AI dual front and rear cameras launched in India for Rs. 20990

Huawei just launched the Nova 3i, along with the Nova 3 in India as it had promised. It was introduced in China last week, and  packs a 6.3-inch FHD+ 19:5:9 aspect ratio curved glass display with a notch, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 and a 24-megapixel front camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera, features a 16-megapixel rear camera AI scene recognition along with a 2-megapixel secondary rear camera for portrait shots. It is powered by new Kirin 710 Octa-Core 12nm SoC with support for GPU Turbo feature. There is also 3D Qmoji, which is similar to Apple’s Animoji. It is has a fingerprint sensor on the glass back and packs a slightly smaller 3340mAh battery compared to the Nova 3. Huawei Nova 3i specifications 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display, 85%  NTSC Color Gamut Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm (4 x 2.2GHz  Cortex-A73 +4 x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU 4GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 16MP rear camera with LED flash, secondary 2MP rear camera 24MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, secondary 2MP camera Dimensions: 157.6×75.2×7.6mm; Weight: 169g Fingerprint ...

Huawei Nova 3 with 6.3-inch FHD+ display, 6GB RAM, AI dual front and rear cameras launched in India for Rs. 34999

Huawei just launched Nova 3, the company’s latest smartphone in the Nova series in India, as it had promised. It went official in China earlier this month, packs a 6.3-inch FHD+ 19:5:9 aspect ratio curved glass display with a notch, is powered by Kirin 970 SoC with support for GPU Turbo that promises 60% increase in performance, 30% battery saving and comes with 4D gaming experience, thanks to AI real-time image & sound recognition, intelligent game vibration, it can detect 10 different vibrations for 30 different scenarios. It has 6GB of RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 and feature a 16-megapixel rear camera AI scene recognition that can detect over 500 scenes and the 24-megapixel secondary rear camera for portrait shots. It has a 24-megapixel front camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera. It has face unlocking that uses infrared light to gather face information even in dark conditions. There is also 3D Qmoji, which is similar to Apple’s Animoji. It features a glass back, fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3750mAh battery with support for fast charging. Huawei Nova 3 specifications 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 3D curved glass display, 85%  NTSC Color Gamut Octa-Core Huawei Kirin 970 (4 x 2.4 ...

Google introduces Titan USB Security Key for password-free logins

Google today on the second day of Cloud Next 2018 announced its own 2FA Security Key as part of the Titan secure elements family. It also introduced the Edge TPU for the Internet of Things. Google last year has mentioned its intentions to "built micro-controller” for servers in its data centers. The Titan Security Key features Google's firmware so it becomes easier to verify the physical key’s integrity. It also features physical Security Keys that are especially phishing-resistant with two-factor authentication. The Key comes with NFC, Bluetooth, and charging over USB-C for mobile devices, while another uses a standard USB port and connects to laptop computers. Google says that the Titan Security Key can be purchased by Google Cloud customers. Moving along, Google has announced the Edge TPU, a purpose-built ASIC chip designed to run TensorFlow Lite models. It runs on machine running models with the focus on “performance per watt” and “performance per dollar.” It will be able to run influencers, make local, real-time, and intelligent decisions “at the edge.” Google is also announcing context-aware access capabilities and it is now available for select customers in beta for VPC Service Controls, and coming soon to beta for Cloud IAM, Cloud IAP, and Cloud Identity. Shielded VMs, available now in beta, while the ...

Facebook reports $5.1 billion net income, 31% YoY growth in Q2 2018, has 2.23 billion monthly active users

Facebook today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2018. The company has reported a total revenue of $13,231 million with a 42% growth compared to the $9,321 million from the same time last year. Facebook's advertisement reported a $13,038 million from the entire revenue. Total Daily active users (DAU) were around 1.47 billion on average for June 2018, and this is an increase of 11% year-over-year. As for the Monthly active users (MAUs), the company has a total of 2.23 billion users as of June 30, 2018, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Facebook's mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 91% of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2018. This is up from approximately 87% of advertising revenue from the second quarter of 2017. The capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2018 were $3.46 billion, while the Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $42.31 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2018. of the $13,231 million total revenue, the total costs and expenses were around $7,368 million leaving the operating margin to around 44%. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, and CEO said: Our community and business continue to grow quickly. We are committed to investing to keep people safe and secure, ...

Samsung surpasses Xiaomi in India to regain number one position with 29% market share in Q2 2018: Counterpoint

Xiaomi really nailed it last quarter in India pushing Samsung behind to regain the number one position in the smartphone space. However, Samsung gave it back this time reclaiming the top position. According to Counterpoint Research, the smartphone market returned to double-digit growth (18%) YoY after flat first-quarter growth. As for the feature phone market, the segment continued to outpace the smartphone market with a YoY growth of 21%. Samsung gained a total market share of 29% outshining Xiaomi's 28% by just a small margin. This growth comes from the strong performance of models such as Galaxy J6, Galaxy J2 2018 and Galaxy J4. However, Xiaomi has seen a huge growth from 16% in Q2 2017 to 28% in Q2 2018. While Samsung jumped a good 5% from the same time last year. After Xiaomi and Samsung, it is Vivo who is in the third spot with a market share of 12%, however, it dipped by a small 1% margin from Q2 2017.  OPPO including its RealMe brand secured the fourth spot with 10%; same as Q2 2018. Huawei/Honor brand jumped from 1% to 3% in the Q2 2018. These top five brands resulted in a record 82% share of the total smartphone market during the quarter. As ...

Qualcomm reports $5.6 billion revenue, 4% YoY growth in FY Q3 2018, decides to terminate NXP acquisition plans

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced results for its fiscal third quarter ended June 24, 2018. The company has reported a revenue of $5.6 billion compared to $5.4 billion from the same time last year. This is a good 4% improvement YoY. Qualcomm's operating income comes to around $0.9 billion versus the $0.8 billion from Q3 Fiscal 2017 and is a 20% growth.   As for the Net income, Qualcomm has reported $1.2 billion and saw a growth of around 41%, the Diluted earnings per share is around $0.82 with a 41% growth and the Operating cash flow is around $2.1 billion compared to $0.2 billion from Q3 Fiscal 2017. As for the Third Quarter, Non-GAAP results, it excludes the QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) segment and certain share-based compensation, acquisition-related items, tax items and other items. It reported a revenue of $5.6 billion with a 6% growth, an Operating income of $1.4 billion with 16% improvement. The Diluted earnings per share are $1.01 with 22% YoY change. On another note, Qualcomm back in 2016 set its sights on purchasing NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) for estimated total cash of $44 billion. However, the company is now expecting to terminate the acquisition as a result of a continued absence of regulatory approval from the Chinese ...

Samsung announces unbreakable flexible OLED smartphone display [Video Demo]

Samsung today announced that it has developed unbreakable flexible OLED panel. Current-generation flexible display products attach a glass-covered window to their display that often breaks when severely impacted, but this uses unbreakable substrate and an overlay window securely adhered to it that makes it more durable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhXveTwbTI Samsung also said that the unbreakable smartphone panel has been certified by UL (Underwriters Laboratories), and it did not show any sign of damage during subsequent 1.8M (nearly 6 feet) drop tests – significantly higher than the U.S. military standard. Samsung said that it can also be used in automobiles, mobile military devices, portable game consoles and tablet PCs for e-learning. After a drop test administered at 1.2 meters (nearly 4 feet) above the ground 26 times in succession, and accompanying high (71 degrees) and low (-32 degrees) temperature tests, the Samsung unbreakable panel continued to function normally with no damage to its front, sides or edges, according to UL. The company did say when we can expect it in smartphones. Hojung Kim, general manager of the Communication Team, Samsung Display Company, said: The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, ...

Apple intends to solely use Intel modems in 2018 iPhones: Qualcomm

Qualcomm during the FY Q3 2018 earning call today confirmed that Apple intends to solely use our competitors' (Intel) modems rather than its modems in the 2018 iPhone expected later this year. This was reported by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI earlier this year. However, Qualcomm said that it will continue to provide modems for Apple legacy devices. Back in November last year the KGI analyst had said that the 2018 iPhone models will come with a faster Intel XMM 7560 modem. This news comes amid patent infringement and and royalty dispute between Qualcomm and Apple. Apple sued Qualcomm in January last year saying that Qualcomm has been charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with. Later it started withholding payments to those third-party suppliers, which those suppliers would then normally pay to Qualcomm. During the earnings call the company said that it expects litigation expenses to be similar in the next quarter, as the cases against Apple continue, including hearings in several of our patent infringement cases in the U.S., Germany, and China. "Despite lower Apple business, both quarter over quarter and year over year, you're seeing strength in the 700 and 800 tiers in China in the chip business, and that's actually really moderated what otherwise would have been a ...