Google expands Safety Center to India to help users manage security and privacy controls, available in 9 Indian languages

Google has announced that it is rolling out a newly expanded Google Safety Center with updated resources and pulled even more information into one site dedicated to educating and empowering people on important topics like data security, privacy controls, and online protections for all of our users. This new all-in-one site will be available in more than 65 languages in the coming weeks. This will be available in India as well and this newly expanded Safety Center is available in nine Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. Parents can also find information about how to use tools like Family Link and YouTube Kids to protect their family, and get tips on how to talk with their children and teens about topics like being kind online, setting boundaries, and staying safe online. The Google Safety Centre is part of the company's ongoing commitment to give you tools and information to control how your data is used in Google services and help empower you to stay safe online. You can access it from safety.google.com. Sunita Mohanty, Director Trust & Safety at Google said:  India today is the second largest Internet user base in the world. With improved connectivity and affordable smartphones and data, ...

Alphabet’s Waymo said to start first driverless car service in the next two months

Waymo, which is a private subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is planning to launch the world’s first commercial driverless car service in the next two months, according to a report from WSJ. It will operate under a new brand and will compete with Uber and Lyft. Waymo is keeping the new name secret until the formal announcement. The company in an emailed statement said: “Waymo has been working on self-driving technology for nearly a decade, with safety at the core of everything we do.” A Waymo spokesperson declined to comment. While it may be a big milestone for self-driving cars, it won’t exactly be a “flip-the-switch” moment. The service of the Waymo won't appear in Play/AppStore anytime soon, instead, things will start small—perhaps dozens or hundreds of authorized riders in the suburbs around Phoenix, covering about 100 square miles. The first wave of customers will likely draw from Waymo’s Early Rider Program; a test group of 400 volunteer families who have been riding Waymos for more than a year. The customers who intend to move to the new service will be left alone from their non-disclosure agreements, meaning they’ll be free to talk about it, snap selfies, and bring friends or even ...

Spotify for Apple Watch introduced

Spotify has finally introduced its app for the Apple Watch giving users the ability to seamlessly access and control music and podcasts. With this new app, users can enjoy an improved experience with better control and the ability to connect to your speakers or devices. Spotify is also bringing the ability to listen to your music and podcasts offline. The Apple Watch app packs feature like play/pause, forward/rewind, skip tracks, and more. You can also easily connect your speakers or devices via Spotify Connect and can also favorite the songs/tracks you like right on the Watch screen. This new experience will be rolling out to Apple Watch users over the coming week. Make sure you are running the latest version V8.4.79 of Spotify which can be downloaded from App Store. Source

EE to launch 5G services in 16 UK cities in 2019

EE; UK's mobile network that is part of BT Group has announced that it is switching on 5G sites in 16 UK cities in 2019. The first launch cities will be London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester. EE is building 5G in the busiest parts of the six launch cites including Hyde Park in London, Manchester Arena, Belfast City Airport, the Welsh Assembly, Edinburgh Waverly train station and Birmingham’s Bullring. The company also confirmed that apart from the mentioned-cities, it will be introducing 5G across the busiest parts often more UK cities; Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, and Bristol in 2019. It will also introduce a 5G Home router with an external antenna, to showcase the power of 5G for broadband. The BT Technology team is virtualizing elements of the core network for 5G rollout in 2019 and is building a next-generation 5G core in line with the next stage of global 5G standards, with virtualized network functions on a cloud-native infrastructure. EE is upgrading transmission to 10Gbps links at each 5G site and has tested the new links. EE is still upgrading 4G sites as part of its overall network strategy while turning 3G signal into 4G. The ...

Microsoft resumes Windows 10 October 2018 update

Back in October, Microsoft has announced and later paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update over reports of missing files, and after resolving the issues, the company has finally resumed the update via media. The update will be rolled out in batches, meaning it will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.  In addition to extensive internal validation, the company has taken time to closely monitor feedback and diagnostic data from the Windows Insiders and from the millions of devices on the Windows 10 October Update and found no further evidence of data loss. The company says that the update will be available via the Windows Update. If it detects that your device may have an issue, such as an application incompatibility, the update will not be installed unless the issue is resolved. Microsoft is planning to add a Windows update status dashboard in the coming year to provide more information on any issues that lead to update blocks. The Windows 10, version 1809 is now available through Windows Server Update Services, Windows Update for Business and System Center Configuration Manager’s phased deployment. It is also available for commercial customers. Source

Google Project Fi ‘Enhanced Network’ beta brings free always-on VPN

Google is extending the Project Fi VPN to all connections. The enhanced network also enables a fast, seamless connection by intelligently switching between Wi-Fi and cellular. Google says that when you enable the enhanced network, all of your mobile and Wi-Fi traffic will be encrypted and securely sent through our virtual private network (VPN) on every network you connect to. This includes Google's VPN that is designed so that your traffic isn’t tied to your Google account or phone number. Project Fi's enhanced network automatically detects when your Wi-Fi connection becomes unusable and switches to cellular data and will have a seamless connection on the go. Google claims that it has reduced the time without a working connection by up to 40%. The company says that it will be rolling out the enhanced network later this week to Fi-compatible phones running Android P. You can enable it anytime in Fi Network Tools in the Project Fi app. Source

Verizon, Motorola complete 5G data transmission on Moto Z3 with 5G Moto Mod

Verizon in partnership with Motorola, Samsung, and Qualcomm has announced the completion of the world’s first 5G data transmission on a smartphone on a commercial 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) network. This test was completed with a Moto Z3 paired with a 5G Moto Mod. It is also the world’s first 5G-upgradeable smartphone, and this is the same 5G-upgradeable smartphone that consumers will use on Verizon’s 5G mobile network when commercial service begins in 2019. The transmissions were completed over Verizon’s 28 GHz spectrum and Samsung 5G New Radio (NR) solutions. The moto z3 with 5G moto mod is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem, along with the QTM052 mmWave antenna modules. Bill Stone, vice president, Technology Development and Planning for Verizon said: In the past two years, we have consistently lead the world in 5G, including launching the world’s first commercial 5G service last month. This successful test, using an actual smartphone, widens our lead. We will be the first to offer a 5G upgradeable smartphone on our network in 2019. Shakil Barkat, vice president, Global Product Development at Motorola said: This test is also one step closer to getting upgraded speed and connectivity that will affect all aspects of our daily lives. 5G ...

Google Chrome Labs introduces Squoosh browser-based image optimization tool

With an aim to help web developers optimize their web pages, Google's Chrome Labs has released a new web tool called Squoosh that can downsize, compress, and reformat images. Squoosh’s top priority is speed and the demo showcases the improvements and new capabilities to Chrome. It supports a variety of web formats like MozJPEG and WebP and traditional ones like PNG and allows you to quickly make your images web-ready. The app was able to do a visual comparison of the original image and its compressed counterpart, so it is easy to understand the pros and cons of each format. https://youtu.be/4jPwanaGnfQ The app can work offline and performs all of its work within the browser itself. Google says that Squoosh has the ability to offer consistent smooth UI even when the app is working on a taxing resize or conversion. Squoosh.app is now available for all major browsers including mobile and, quite obviously, it works best on Chrome. You can access it at Squoosh.app.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 MIUI 10 Stable OTA update finally starts rolling out in India [Download link]

Xiaomi announced MIUI 10 Global back in September at an event in India and rolled out MIUI 10 Global Stable ROM for Redmi Y2, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro in September. Now the company has started rolling out MIUI 10 Global Stable ROM for last year's bestseller Redmi Note 4. [gallery link="file" size="full" ids="268437,268436,268435"] The new update comes as MIUI 10.1.1.0.NCFMIFI and is 320 MB in size but it is still based on Android Nougat 7.0. This update also brings October security patch along with major changes like Full-screen gestures, Redesigned Notification Panel, Redesigned Volume Sliders, Improved multitasking management, natural sound system, and a lot more, for more details on MIUI 10 refer to this post. You can download the recovery ROM here and flash it using the recovery method. Redmi Note 4 was kept in the second batch of devices to receive MIUI 10 Global Stable update in India, and other devices from the second batch are also expected to receive MIUI 10 Global Stable ROM update soon. Check out the changelog below, Designed for full screen experience All-new UI is tailored for full screen devices and lets the content take the front stage (New design looks fresh and clean on older devices too) Natural sound system You won’t get tired of ...

Snapchat introduces Friendship Profiles and Bitmoji Stories comic strip

Snapchat has introduced friend's Bitmoji; a new way to celebrate friendships on Snapchat. In each profile, you’ll find the images, videos, messages, links, and more than you and your friends have saved in Chat. The company says that this feature will make it easy to find your favorite memories and the important information you've saved over time. Each Friendship will only be visible to you and the person that you are friends with on Snapchat. Every friendship profile will be unique, highlighting the most special moments you've shared. The more you share and save together, the richer your profiles will be. Snapchat Friendship Profile hs already started rolling out and will reach everyone over the coming weeks. Bitmoji Stories is a new comic strip starring Snapchat user's own Bitmojis, with guest appearances from friends. This feature, starting from November 14th and continuing over the next several weeks, will have a new episode each week right in the Discover feed. At launch, Bitmoji Stories will be available in English only.