China mandates face scans for new mobile connection

Fingerprint authentication, Identity proof, etc are being used by many countries to verify user identity for new mobile connections. Now face scanning method is being adopted by many countries to verify users identify and on similar lines, China has mandated face scans when users register for a new mobile connection. According to a report from the BBC, users in China when signing up for a new mobile or mobile data contract must have their faces scanned as a part of verification. The usual national identity card and photos as proof of verification still exist, and now face scanning is also a compulsory process. The regulation was due to come into effect on Sunday after it was announced in September and it is framed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The Chinese government says that it wants to "protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace". Although there has been increasing criticism on China for enforcing face scanning for user identity verification, the regulation is framed to ensure that the Chinese government can identify all mobile phone users and strengthen the system. China already uses facial recognition to survey its population and the new regulation aims to strengthen this system. Source ...

Vivo Y9s with 6.38-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 48MP quad rear cameras, in-display fingerprint scanner announced

Vivo has announced Y9s, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in the Y series in China, after it got certified by TENAA few weeks back.  It packs a 6.38-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with 90% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Snapdragon 665 with 8GB of RAM, 48MP primary sensor, 8MP ultrawide sensor, 2MP depth and a  2MP macro sensor, as well as a 32MP front-facing camera. It also packs an in-display fingerprint scanner, 3D glass back and a 4500mAh battery with support for fast charging. Vivo Y9s specifications 6.38-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED display Octa Core Snapdragon 665 11nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 610 GPU 8GB RAM, 128GB storage Android 9.0 (Pie) with Funtouch OS 9 Dual SIM 48MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, LED flash, 8MP wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP for macro with f/2.4 aperture 32MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture In-display fingerprint sensor 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio Dimensions: 159.25×75.19×8.68mm; Weight: 186.7g Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C 4500mAh (typical) / 4390mAh (minimum) battery with 18W fast charging The Vivo ...

Realme X2 gets a new Avocado Green color variant

Realme announced the realme X2 smartphone in China and Europe back in September in Pearl White and Pearl Blue colors, now it has introduced the Avocado Green color version of the phone in China. It has also started selling the Red Brick version of the realme X2 Pro phone in China. To remind you, the X2 packs a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 91.9% screen-to-body ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It is powered by Snapdragon 730G with up to 8GB of RAM, runs Android 9.0 (Pie) with ColorOS 6.0 and packs a 64-megapixel primary rear camera with 1/1.72″ Samsung GW1 sensor and f/1.8 aperture. It has a 8MP 118° ultra-wide angle lens with 1.12μm pixel size, f/2.25 aperture, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP camera for 4cm macro with 1.75μm pixel size, f/2.4 aperture. The phone also has AI scene recognition, Chrome boost, Super nightscape and Expert mode. There is also EIS support for video. It has a 32-megapixel camera on the front. It has a 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the back, and the back offers hyperbola light effect. The phone has an in-display fingerprint sensor and packs a 4000mAh battery with 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charging ...

China introduces new regulations to control spread of Deepfake news and videos

Deepfake technology has already caused a huge amount of worry among governments around the world, giving rise to many investigations into the dangers of deepfake tech. Governments are introducing regulations or outright banning the tech with now, China being the latest country to regulate deepfake technologies that can be used to create and broadcast fake news. The ban comes about a month and half after US state California introduced legislature that made political deepfakes illegal. The EU is also reported to be investigating online disinformation methods that includes deepfake tech. Deepfake technology is an implementation of AI where people in videos can be manipulated to produce fabricated messages and sounds that appear to be real. It can be used to overlay images of celebrity faces on other peoples’ bodies, fooling viewers with very convincing results. The technology can be incredibly effective and dangerous tool in creating and spreading misinformation among the public via apps and social media. With concerns rising on how fake advertisements influenced elections in the past, governments have become cautious with use of Deepfake technology by the public. The new China regulation published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, is effective from January 1, 2020 and will require providers and users ...

Alphabet’s Google under EU investigation for data collection: Report

Google has yet again fallen into the scrutiny of the European Union (EU) for its collection of data. The EU antitrust regulators, despite having fined the search engine giant billions of dollars is now seeking an investigation into how and why Google is collecting data. Reuters' report says that the EU's focus is on data collected by Google in its local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services and others. The European Competition Commissioner had already ordered Google to change its business practices and in the past 2 years alone, fines totaling over 8 billion euros have been slapped onto Google. Both the American Congress and the EU are intensely looking into the practices of tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook. Lots of investigations have led to these companies being fined for malpractice but tech companies don't seem to be slowing down with their data collection. Source

Realme C2 update brings November Security Patch, fixes touch response issue

realme launched the realme C2 along with realme 3 Pro in the country back in April running ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9.0 (Pie). To recall, It has a 6.1-inch HD+ Dewdrop display and, is powered by MediaTek Helio P22 SoC with up to 3GB of RAM. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots and a 5-megapixel front camera. The company has already announced Android 10 update roadmap for its smartphones, but realme C2 wasn't included in the list. [Dec 2, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1941EX_11_A.20 with an updated November security patch. The update fixes touch response issues. [Download Link] [Oct 25, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1941EX_11_A.18 with an updated October security patch. The update brings system-wide Dark Mode, updated charging animation, realme laboratory along with swipe down on the home screen to expand notification center feature. [Download Link] [Sep 30, 2019]: realme has started rolling out Android Pie based RMX1941EX_11_A.17 with September 2019 security patch. The update brings digital wellbeing, and redesigned notification center interface to realme C2. [Download Link] realme says it is a staged rollout and will be randomly pushed to a limited number of users and will have a ...

Redmi Note 8 Series sales cross 10 million units globally in 3 months

Xiaomi’s Redmi brand introduced  Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro smartphones in China back in August, and the phones were launched in India in October. Today the company has announced that the combined sales of Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro have hit 10 million units globally in just 3 months, which is 1 month less time compared to the Redmi Note 7 series. It said that it sold 110,000 units per day for 3 consecutive months. Last week the company announced that it has sold 1 million or 10 lakh units of Redmi Note 8 series in India in 1 month. To celebrate this the company is offering 100 yuan discount on the Redmi Note 8 6GB + 128GB version, which is available for 1299 yuan (US$ 184 / Rs. 13,250 approx.) for limited period, but it is still cheaper in India at Rs. 12,999. The company has also announced that it will reveal more details about the Redmi K30 phones tomorrow, ahead of launch on December 10th. The company recently denied rumors about the existence of new version of Redmi Note 8 Pro with Snapdragon 730G processor and 27W fast charging, which was said to compete with the realme ...

Reliance Jio to introduce new All-in-one plans with up to 40% higher tariff, will offer up to 300% more benefits

Earlier today, Vodafone Idea and Airtel increased prepaid tariff and introduced new prepaid plans. Similarly, Jio has now announced that they will be introducing new All-in-one plans from December 6th, 2019. Jio new All-in-one plans with unlimited voice and data will have a fair usage policy for calls to other mobile networks, similar to what Vodafone Idea and Airtel introduced in their new plans. Jio said that the new plans will be priced up to 40% higher but come with up to 300% more benefits. There is no information on the new plans yet, but Jio is expected to release them in the next few days. The company has just announced that the new plans will be effective from December 6th, 2019, and we should know more information in the coming days. To recall, Jio recently started charging 6 paise per minute for voice calls made to non-Jio mobile networks and introduced new all-in-one plans that come with benefits like 2 GB/day along with unlimited voice, SMS, Apps as well as free additional 1000 minutes of offnet IUC calling to additional operators worth Rs. 80. Reliance Jio in a statement said: As a technology disruptor and force multiplier, Jio acutely understands the transformative role telecommunications ...

Airtel increases prepaid tariff rates, will charge 6 paise per minute for calls to other mobile operators

Shortly after Vodafone Idea announced their new prepaid plans, Bharati Airtel has now released their new prepaid tariff. The new plans represent a hike in tariff between 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day. Similar to Jio and Vodafone Idea, Fair Usage Policy applies on unlimited calling from Airtel to other networks, and users will be charged 6 paise/min beyond FUP. Users won't be charged 6 paise/min for Airtel to Airtel calls. Here is the list of new prepaid plans from Airtel Rs. 19 - Unlimited calling, 150 MB data, 100 SMS, 2 days validity Rs. 49 - Rs. 38.52 talk time, 100 MB data, 28 days validity Rs. 79 - Rs. 63.95 talk time, 200 MB data, 28 days validity Unlimited plans with 28 days validity Rs. 148 - Unlimited calling, 2 GB data, 300 SMS Rs. 248 - Unlimited calling, 1.5 GB/day, 100 SMS/day Rs. 298 - Unlimited calling, 2GB/day, 100 SMS/day Unlimited plans with 84 days validity Rs. 598 - Unlimited calling, 1.5 GB/day, 100 SMS/day Rs. 698 - Unlimited calling, 2 GB/day, 100 SMS/day Unlimited plans with 365 days (1 Year) validity Rs. 1498 -Unlimited calling, 24 GB, 3600 SMS Rs. 2398 - Unlimited calling, 1.5 GB/day, 100 SMS/day Rs. ...

Vodafone Idea announces new prepaid plans, will charge 6 paise per minute for calls to other mobile operators

Last month, Vodafone Idea, Airtel, and Jio announced prepaid tariff hikes that will be effective from this month. On similar lines, Vodafone Idea has now announced its new prepaid plans which will be available across India starting 3rd December 2019. The new prepaid plans from Vodafone Idea are categorized into Combo Vouchers, Unlimited Packs with 28 days validity, 84 days validity, 365 days validity, Unlimited Sachet plans, and First Recharge plans. Calls (Local, STD and on National Roaming) from Vodafone to Vodafone and Vodafone to Idea and vice versa are considered as on-net and the rest are off-net. Off-net calls after the free usage in the plan would be charged at 6p/min, similar to Jio, but the unlimited plans come with bundled FUP minutes without additional cost unlike Jio. Here is the list of new prepaid plans from Vodafone Idea Combo Vouchers Rs. 49 -Rs 38 Talktime, 100 MB data, 2.5p/sec tariff, 28 days validity Rs. 79 - Rs. 64 Talktime, 200 MB data, 1p/sec tariff, 28 days validity The validity of Combo Voucher/STV will prevail over Plan Voucher validity. Unlimited Sachet plan Rs. 19 - Unlimited On-net Voice, 150 MB data, 100 SMS, 2 days validity Unlimited plans with 28 days validity Rs.149 - Unlimited Voice ...