Amazon, Apple, Google, and Zigbee Alliance collaborate to develop Project Connected Home over IP

Smart home devices are becoming popular in recent years and many brands are coming up with their own smart home solutions. On similar lines to increase compatibility among smart home products, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Zigbee Alliance have now announced a working group to develop and adopt a royalty-free connectivity standard. The new open standard is named Project Connected Home over IP and it aims to enable communication across smart home devices, cloud services, and mobile apps. This project's goal seems pretty straight forward as its goal is to increase compatibility across smart home devices and companies with security and this is based upon an open-sourced approach. For the development of Project Connected Home over IP, a number of companies including IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify (it was formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian are onboard. With the new connectivity standard, it will be easier for companies to build products that are compatible with existing voice services like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and more. It is to be seen how manufacturers will make use of this open connectivity standard and increase compatibility in their future products, and as more companies join, it will be ...

Realme XT ColorOS Software Update Tracker [Update: A.14 with Dark Mode Toggle and December Android security patch]

realme launched the realme XT smartphone running ColorOS 6.0 realme edition on top of Android 9.0 (Pie). realme doesn’t follow a fixed update frequency but the company rolls out updates frequently. This post will help our readers in keeping track of ColorOS updates for realme XT, also check out our realme XT content, realme XT Pearl Blue Unboxing and First Impressions realme XT Pearl White Unboxing and Photo Gallery realme XT Review: Between Midrange and a Flagship ColorOS updates rolled out for the realme XT so far, [Dec 18, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1921EX_11_A.14 update with December security patch. The update adds a dark mode quick switch toggle in the notification panel and brings camera optimizations along with  multiple bug fixes. [Download Link] [Nov 25, 2019]: realme XT will be upgraded to Android 10 based ColorOS 7 in January 2020, confirms realme. [Nov 21, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1921EX_11_A.13 update with fix for partial applications (such as Google Suite) crash issue. [Download Link] [Nov 13, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1921EX_11_A.12 update with November security patch. The update weighs around 222 MBs in size, brings nightscape mode to the front camera, and improves Ultra 64 MP mode camera performance along with Fingerprint recognition. ...

Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive Go USB Type-C pen drive launched in India starting from Rs. 1050

Sandisk has launched its new Ultra Dual Drive Go USB Type-C Pendrive in India for mobile user on the go. The USB drive will come in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB variants, features a USB Gen 3.1 connector for up to 150MB/s read speeds and user friendly swivel design. The Ultra Dual Drive Go Type-C pen drive will come preloaded with SanDisk Memory Zone app, which is a powerful content management tool. The pen drive is highly useful in situations where users need to quickly transfer files between their Type-C capable smartphone or tablet and their USB Type-A port  on a laptop, PC or Mac. The swivel design makes it simple to quickly access the Type-A and Type C port. The pen drive will have a price ranging between Rs. 1050 for the 32GB goes up to Rs. 5300 for the 256GB model and will be available for purchase at select retailers and e-commerce websites across India soon. Commenting on the launch, Khalid Wani, Director Sales, Western Digital, said: At Western Digital, innovation is in our DNA, and consumer experience is an imperative. Therefore, we are continually creating products that are faster, more efficient, and easy to use, thereby delivering an unmatched end-consumer experience. We utilize the ...

Baidu’s KUNLUN AI accelerator chip announced in partnership with Samsung

Baidu, a Chinese language internet search provider has partnered with Samsung Electronics to produce Baidu's first cloud-to-edge AI accelerator chip called Baidu KUNLUN. The chip is designed to power large scale AI workloads such as search ranking, speech recognition and more. Being one of its first foundry cooperation, the Baidu KUNLUN is built using Samsung's home-grown neural processor architecture called XPU on the 14nm process technology. The chip is designed workloads of the likes of image processing, search ranking, natural language processing, autonomous driving, and deep learning platforms. With improvements from Samsung's I-Cube (Interposer-Cube) package solution, the chip can support up to 512 GBps memory bandwidth, supplying up to 260 Tera operations per second at 150 watts. In its testing, the chip proved to be three times quicker than the conventional GPU/FPGA-accelerating model in processing natural language processing model. Commenting on the launch of the chip, OuYang Jian, Distinguished Architect of Baidu said: We are excited to lead the HPC industry together with Samsung Foundry. Baidu KUNLUN is a very challenging project since it requires not only a high level of reliability and performance at the same time, but is also a compilation of the most advanced technologies in the semiconductor industry. Thanks to ...

Reliance Jio users can still recharge old plans — Here’s How

Reliance Jio introduced‘New All-in-one plans‘ with revised pricing along with JioPrime benefits with Fair Usage Policy on unlimited calling from Jio to other networks. Later it revised the plans with up to 40% higher tariff that came into effect 6th December 2019. It also urged users to recharge before the date. Thanks to TRAI's tariff protection, which mandes all telecom operators to make any plan available for a minimum of six months, you can recharge smartphone plans for 6 more months, and all-in-one plans till April 2020. How to recharge old Jio plans? Go to Jio.com and login using the mobile number and OTP Click the setting gear box on the top. Click on the tariff protection tab and choose smartphone plans where all the plans are listed You can access the tariff protection option only if there are no active plans, otherwise it says the page is only for those who have no active plan. Via 1, 2

TRAI retains 6 paise per minute Interconnection Usage Charges for one more year, will scrap charges from 2021

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) back in 2017 revised interconnection usage charges (IUC) for mobile to mobile calls to 6 paise per minute. In its Fifteenth Amendment Regulations, 2019, which prescribes revision in the date of applicability of Bill and Keep (BAK)regime in respect of wireless to wireless domestic call termination charges, TRAI has announced that for wireless to wireless domestic calls, termination charge would continue to remain as Re.0.06 (paise six only) per minute up to 31st December, 2020. It added that from 1st January, 2021 on wards the termination charge for wireless to wireless domestic calls shall be zero. While most operators like Airtel and Vodafone Idea continue to offer truly unlimited plans, Reliance Jio was the first operator to introduce 6 paise per minute charges for calls to non-Jio customers.  TRAI in its official release, said: On the basis of comments received from stakeholders in writing and during the open house discussion, and its own analysis, the Authority has prescribed the revised date of applicability of Bill and Keep (BAK) regime i.e. zero termination charges in respect of wireless to wireless domestic calls w.e.f 1st January 2021 through these Regulations.

India 5G trials to begin in January-March 2020: Report

India is going to be one step closer to having full 5G rollouts nationwide the government is looking into 5G trials by the end of this fiscal year, according to a report. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also confirmed that the auction for 5G airwaves will be held in April -March. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed his ambition have nationwide 5G services by 2020. However, telecom companies have expressed their worries for such a timeline due to the time required for auctions, testing and deployment. Earlier this month, news surfaced about the upcoming 5G spectrum auction, giving us information about the possible dates and the recommended price for 5G waves. The suggested base price for 5G airwaves is Rs. 492 crores per MHz with a proposed minimum sale of 20MHz blocks.  The government plans to sell a total of 8,293.95 MHz of 4G and 5G spectrum, which can fetch the government about Rs. 5.86 lakh crore, if all of it is sold at base price. It has also been confirmed that they will sell this all in one go and not in pieces. Regarding the 5G trials, the telecom department is supposedly reviewing the dozens of submitted applications from companies. The ...

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite with AMOLED punch-hole flat display, square triple rear cameras, new S Pen surface

Details about the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite surfaced couple of months back, and the render of the phone surfaced earlier this month showing off the phone's punch-hole screen. Now more renders of the phone have surfaced showing off the phone's design in full glory. This shows a punch-hole AMOLED screen, but this is more flat like the S10e compared to the curved edges on the other S10 and Note10 series. It also shows square camera setup similar to the latest Galaxy A51 and A71 phones, and it is said to be adopted in the S11 series next year. It could feature 3D Glasstic finish with a metal frame and rounded back with gradient finish. The images show Black, Red, and Aura Glow colors. It will come with S Pen, similar to other Note series phones, but the new stylus could have Bluetooth 5.1 with location tracking capabilities. It should run Android 10 and OneUI 2.0 out of the box. The phone is said to launch in Europe in the coming weeks and is rumored to be priced around €650 (US$ 723 / Rs. 51,420 approx.). We should know more details in the coming weeks. Source

Samsung Galaxy A01 with 5.7-inch Infinity-V display, dual rear cameras announced

Samsung has announced Galaxy A01 smartphone, the company's latest budget smartphone in the ‘A series’. It has a 5.7-inch HD+ Infinity-V display, is powered by an Octa-Core processor, which could be Snapdragon 439, runs Android 9.0 (Pie) with Samsung One UI, has a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera for portrait shots and an 5-megapixel front camera with face unlock. The phone doesn't have a fingerprint scanner, but features dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots and a 3000mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy A01 Specifications 5.7-inch (1520 × 720 pixels) HD+ Infinity-V display Octa-Core (Quad 1.95GHz + Quad 1.45GHz ) processor 2GB RAM, 16GB Storage, expandable up to 512GB via micro SD card Android 9.0 (Pie) with Samsung One UI Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, 2MP secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture 5MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture Dimension:146.3 x 70.86 x 8.34mm 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS 3,000mAh battery The Samsung Galaxy A01 comes in Black, Blue and Red colors. No details about the pricing or availability yet.

Xiaomi No. 1 Mi Fan Sale from Dec 19 to 25: Redmi Note 7 Pro from Rs. 9999, Discounts on TVs, accessories and more

Xiaomi today announced that year-end No.1 Mi Fan Sale will happen from tomorrow, 19th December until Wednesday, 25th December offering discounts on smartphones, Mi LED TVs, accessories and more. It is being held on Mi.com, as well as its online partner platforms — Flipkart, Amazon and all offline partner outlets depending on the products. Xiaomi said that Redmi Note 7 Pro will be available for the highest discount ever of INR 4000 and will be available at INR 9,999 for the 4GB+64GB variant. Redmi Note 7 Pro’s other variants, 6GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB will be available for INR 12,999 and INR 14,999 respectively with an additional INR 1,000 Bumped Up Exchange offer on Flipkart. Redmi K20 series will also witness discounts with the Redmi K20 Pro priced at INR 24,999 and INR 27,999 for the 6GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB variants with effective discount of INR 3,000. Redmi K20 6GB+64GB will be available for INR 19,999 after a discount of INR 2,000 while the 6GB+128GB variant will be available for INR 22,999 with an effective discount of INR 1,000. Redmi K20 series will also receive an additional INR 2,000 Bumped Up Exchange offer across Flipkart and Amazon. Redmi 7A, 2GB+16GB variant will get a discount of INR ...