Latest Gadgets News

Reliance Industries and Jio Platforms on Friday announced that Intel Capital will invest Rs. 1,894.50 crores in Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs. 4.91 lakh crores and an enterprise value of Rs. 5.16 lakh crores.

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The Space Tiger King and the mushrooms on Mars - CNET

NASA has never discovered life on the red planet, but one man says they're hiding the truth -- and he believes he has evidence to prove it.

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Why Hamilton streaming on Disney Plus is so important - CNET

Commentary: No, it's not just another movie musical for you to ignore -- it could be a game changer.

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Hamilton on Disney Plus gets you 'best seat in the house,' Lin-Manuel Miranda says - CNET

The composer and actor joins the rest of the original Hamilton cast on Zoom to talk about what it means that their Broadway hit is will be available for streaming.

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The 50 best TV shows to watch on Netflix - CNET

On the hunt for your next binge?

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Stimulus check: Here's when we think a second payment might come - CNET

Washington lawmakers are weeks away from deciding on a second stimulus payment. But each day we learn more about when a check could come your way, an outcome that looks increasingly likely.

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Steam Summer Sale: 13 discounted PC games to buy now - CNET

Many excellent games are discounted until July 9.

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Away co-CEO steps down as Silicon Valley elite conversation gets leaked - CNET

Steph Korey will leave her position by the end of the year, but Away says it's "in no way a result of any social media activity this week."

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Latest Tech News

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested 746 career criminals after intercepting millions of encrypted text messages.

The messages were sent through a subscription-based phone system called EncroChat which costs roughly $1,994 per month. For that price, the criminals received a customized Android smartphone which had its GPS, camera and microphone functionality physically removed. 

While these devices ship with Android and have numerous encrypted messaging apps installed on them, they also have a secure secondary operating system and can be wiped by entering a PIN thanks to a self-destruct feature.

• One of the biggest websites in the UK is fueled by criminal activity
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Up until recently, EncroChat had customers in 140 countries before its network was hacked by French police. The police deployed a “technical device” to penetrate EncroChat communications after they discovered that some of its servers used to were hosted in the country.

Infiltrating EncroChat

As reported by Motherboard, EncroChat users received a text message in June warning that law enforcement agencies had taken over part of the company's infrastructure and were trying to hack into its encrypted messaging system.

At the time, the person who ran the service's email address explained to the news outlet that it would have to shut down, saying:

"We fully understand the inconvenience and frustration this decision has caused our customers. Our main priority has always been our customers integrity and security, and when we no longer can guarantee that, we have no other choice than to shut down the service even if it destroys our business."

Back in May, the company received a number of complaints that EncroChat phones were no longer wiping correctly when the self-destruct feature was activated. This was because law enforcement had managed to install malware on one of its X2 devices that was designed to avoid detection, disable the phone's factory reset feature, record the screen lock password and clone application data.

Although EncroChat has now been shut down and many of its customers have been arrested, other encrypted phone providers will likely surface to fill the gap left by the service.

• Keep your devices protected online with the best antivirus software

Via The Verge

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Latest Tech News

Global electronic waste, discarded products with a battery or plug, will grow by 38% from 53.6m metric tonnes (mt) in 2019 to 74.7m mt by 2030, fuelled mainly by higher consumption rates of equipment, short life cycles and few options for repair.

In real terms, the electric and electronic waste in 2019 is equivalent to the weight of 350 cruise ships that have the size of the Queen Mary 2.

According to the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020, the growth in 2019 is up by 21% in just five years and doubling in 16 years by 2030, making e-waste as the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director for Telecommunication Development Bureau at International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said that it highlights the pressing issue of e-waste management in today’s digitally connected world.

“Monitoring e-waste streams will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and tracking the implementation of the ITU Connect 2030 Agenda. The report serves as a valuable resource for governments to improve their global e-waste recycling rate by developing the necessary/needed/required e-waste policies and legislation,” he said.

According to the report, Asia, which includes the Middle East also, generated the greatest volume of e-waste in 2019 — about 24.9 mt, followed by the Americas (13.1 mt) and Europe (12 mt), while Africa and Oceania generated 2.9 mt and 0.7 mt respectively.

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

Environmental and health issues

Only 17.4% of 2019’s e-waste was collected and recycled, which means that gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high-value, recoverable materials conservatively valued at $57b - a sum greater than the gross domestic product of most countries - were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse.

With the recycling rate of 17.4%, potential raw material value of $10 billion can be recovered from e-waste, and 4 mt of secondary raw materials would become available for recycling.

Statistics on e-waste collected and recycled are based on data reported by countries.

In per capita terms, last year’s discarded e-waste, a health and environmental hazard containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury,  averaged 7.3 kilos for every man, woman and child on earth.

Nikhil Seth, Executive Director at United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) & UN Assistant Secretary-General, said that far more electronic waste is generated than is being safely recycled in most parts of the world.

“More cooperative efforts are required to make aware of this increasing issue and take appropriate countermeasures to supplement by appropriate research and training,” he said.

In rich countries, there are large migrant workers that reuse or repair donated used-EEE from the richer households, but this is unique within the region.

Antonis Mavropoulos, President, International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), said that e-waste quantities are rising three times faster than the world’s population and 13% faster than the world’s GDP during the last five years.

“This sharp rise creates substantial environmental and health pressures and demonstrates the urgency to combine the fourth industrial revolution with a circular economy. The fourth industrial revolution either will advance a new circular economy approach for our economies or it will stimulate further resource depletion and new pollution waves,” he said.

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Latest Tech News

HP 14-DK1003DX - $239.99 at Best Buy
(roughly £190/AU$350)
This exceptionally affordable HP laptop from Best Buy contains the AMD Athlon Silver - a processor found in only very few other laptops. It also comes with a range of freebies to sweeten the package, like free antivirus and cloud storage. If you don't mind the antiquated display resolution, it's well worth a punt.View Deal

You won’t find this laptop on HP’s own website, but the 14-DK1003DX - a Best Buy exclusive at $239.99 (roughly £190/AU$350) - has an intriguing quality that not many have picked up on.

The machine is one of very few business laptops to come with an AMD Athlon Silver processor. Athlon was the iconic CPU brand that helped drive the company forward the beginning of this century and has been in limbo for about a decade. It's now back and (surprise, surprise) is powered by AMD’s Zen+ architecture.

The Athlon Silver 3050U has not yet been tested, but we know it's similar to a Ryzen 3 3200U (with two cores and two threads) and a GPU that has one fewer compute units. Its GPU, the Radeon RX Vega 2, should be more powerful than anything else found in this price range.

• Check out our list of the best mobile workstations out there
• We've built a list of the best HP printers around
• Here's our choice of the best business computers available

The rest of the specification is adequate for the price: there’s 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD (not eMMC), a 14-inch display, Windows 10 Home in S Mode (which can be upgraded to Windows 10 Home), a 3-cell Lithium-Ion battery, a Gigabit Ethernet port, Wireless AC Wi-Fi and a webcam.

Reviewers say the memory is upgradable, so you should be able to pop in a second 2.5-inch solid state drive. There are also a few unexpected freebies, including a touchpad with real buttons, a 6-month subscription to Webroot Internet Security with Antivirus for three devices (worth $29.99), McAfee LiveSafe and 25GB of Dropbox cloud storage for a year.

Perhaps the only major sore point is the fact the screen resolution is a measly 1366 x 768 pixels. That's the kind of resolution that belongs to the early 2000’s and there’s no reason for this lapse in quality today - especially considering most entry level smartphones are now full HD.

• Here's our list of the best workstations on the market

Bear in mind

• Unfortunately, BestBuy does not deliver globally, so non-US customers will have to use a specialist parcel-forwarding service to take advantage of the deal.
• If you've managed to get hold of a cheaper product with equivalent specifications, in stock and brand new, let us know and we'll tip our hat to you.

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Latest Tech News

Apple had unveiled the macOS Big Sur at the WWDC event last month with the focus being on its redesigned interface and several new features. Now, reports are suggesting that the operating system could have a feature that would enhance the pace at which it installs software updates onto the devices. 

Mac users have long found the updates to be a tedious process that keeps their device inaccessible till the software update gets completed. The time taken for these updates could take between 30 minutes to more than an hour depending on its size. On Macs that are operating the macOS Catalina, the system takes time to prepare and install the updates once the system boots up, which further delays the process. 

• Macs with Apple CPUs will get advanced macOS Big Sur boot options
• How to download and install macOS 11 Big Sur Developer Preview

How will this work?

A report on 9to5Mac says though Apple has not detailed how the updates would be installed once the macOS Big Sur arrives, the process could be similar to how iOS tackles these updates. The system first prepares the updates and gathers the relevant files before it auto-reboots the iPhone. This means that the waiting time during the boot process is considerably less. 

There have also been reports that the macOS Big Sur comes with technology that makes the system more tamper-proof, which could also be one of the reasons that the process of installing updates could be speeded up. 

The report says that the new OS would incorporate a cryptographically signed system volume that protects against tampering while also ensuring that the device is aware of your system's processing activities, thus allowing it to initiate the process of software updates in the background while work can go on without hindrance. 

This could definitely be a valuable addition for Apple users who have long felt the need for quicker updates in much the same manner that their iPhones get the job done.

The multiple boot option

Of course the other feature that has been talked about relates to the multiple boot options that the macOS Big Sur is reportedly bringing in once Apple brings its own CPUs to the device. 

The new boot process for future Macs will allow customers to install multiple instances of macOS, including different versions, which makes data recovery a lot easier. With the current OS, one needs to remember several keyboard shortcuts to get to the boot menu while the new OS would make things easier as we only have to press and hold down the Touch ID button to open up a menu with several startup options. 

At first glance, the macOS Big Sur update caught our attention due to the redesign, which is probably Apple's biggest since macOS 10. What's more, it borrows  elements liberally from its predecessor including a customizable Control Center, a notification center and redesigned widgets. 

The macOS Big Suris available now on beta developer mode with the first public beta likely to arrive later in July. Apple is expected to launch the new OS to everyone during the fall this year. 

• The 50 best Mac tips, tricks and timesavers
• Check out the best laptops under Rs.30,000 in India for July

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Latest Tech News

The Google Pixel 4a needs to launch now more than ever. Just this week, the search engine company officially discontinued the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, then it removed both phones from its online store without any explanation or comment.

It's been over a year since Google's budget Pixel phones first launched – they both came out in May 2019 at last year’s Google IO keynote. If you're thinking we should have the sequel, the Google Pixel 4a, by now – you're right.

The coronavirus outbreak has seemingly delayed the suspected Pixel 4a release date again and again; Google IO 2020 was cancelled, alternate Pixel 4a launch dates came and went without a phone launch, and to this day, we aren’t sure if it will come out.

Which is unfortunate given the rumors that the handset seems like it’s close to release. Whether you believe a French price listing, an image of several alleged boxed up and sealed Pixel 4a phones, or the recent US FCC and Indian BIS and Sinaporan IMDA certifications, the amount of news would suggest that a launch is coming, if not imminent. 

And yet, we have no official reason why the phone hasn’t come out.

Which is a shame given how ready the market is for Google’s handset: as the outbreak has reportedly reduced consumer spending on phones, and among a strong lineup of budget phones released this year, the iPhone SE 2020 has led our picks for mid-range phones. We raved over the Pixel 3a for bringing so many flagship Pixel 3 features to consumers at half the price, and that was in a year without a strong affordable Apple phone. 

The Pixel 4a already had its work cut out for it, and now it’s late to its own party.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 20: on the other end of the phone spectrum
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• iPhone SE 2020 vs OnePlus 8: what's different between a mid-ranger and an affordable flagship

(Image credit: Future)

Google Pixel 4a: a mountain to climb

Google has to defend its budget crown with the Pixel 4a, not just against the new iPhone SE but the new crop of Moto G8 phones and discounted 2019 flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S10e and OnePlus 7T that top our best cheap phones list.

Some rumors peg the Pixel 4a date as July 13

Many of these phones have a wider camera suite than budget phones of years past, and while the Pixel phones have always held their own against phones with more varied photography setups, this year’s crop has stepped up with rear-facing triple- and even quad-camera arrays. While we liked the Pixel 4’s telephoto lens, we still loved the ultrawide cameras appearing on flagship phones last year – and on budget handsets this year. 

Thus, we were eager to see what the Pixel 4a offered that had trickled down from the Pixel 4. But we were also excited for another phone that, since it’s one of Google’s first-party phones, would get Android 11 on the day it’s publicly released – an update that’s poised to overhaul messaging and multi-device management. As phones (especially non-flagship phones) are still struggling to get Android 10, we looked forward to the Pixel 4a becoming a solution for getting Android 11 to people who didn't want to pay a lot out of pocket for a brand new phone.

The Pixel 4a could still be revealed soon – as soon as next week, as some rumors peg July 13 as the next possible launch date. But even if it is, another suggests that the phone’s actual release could still be pushed back until October. Which would put it alongside the actual Google Pixel 5 release. 

Not so far that we won’t appreciate the phone, but long enough for the iPhone SE 2020 to solidify its hold – and other contenders like the recently confirmed OnePlus Nord or the rumored Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition to beat Google to the punch. 

• Best cheap phones: the top phones at budget prices

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Latest Tech News

At the beginning of the pandemic many enterprise workers did not have the equipment they needed to work from home and this led organizations to purchase new devices for their employees but unfortunately it proved difficult to set them up remotely using Windows Autopilot.

Up until now, provisioning new devices into an existing Azure Active Directory (AD) environment required that the devices themselves be connected to to an organization's network in order to complete the process. At the office, this would have been simple but while working remotely, organization's couldn't set up new devices for their employees.

Microsoft has now removed this restriction and enterprise organizations can now send new devices directly to end users who can set them up on their own. However, businesses will need to leverage a Win32-based VPN client to do so.

• Remote work could be putting sensitive corporate data at risk
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Provisioning new devices

In order to provision new Windows devices remotely, a new “Skip AD connectivity check” option has been added to the Windows Autopilot Hybrid Azure AD Join profile.

When enabled, a device will go through the entire provisioning process up to the point where a user needs to sign into Windows for the first time without needing any corporate network connectivity.

As part of device enrollment status page (ESP) tracking, Windows Autopilot and Intune can ensure that the needed VPN configuration to sign onto a company's corporate network remotely is put in place before a user needs to sign in. However, depending on the VPN client's capabilities, this could be automatic or a user might have to initiate the connection before logging on directly from the Windows logon screen.

Being able to provision new devices quickly and add them to a company's Azure Active Directory will make the whole process of working remotely easier for both employees as well as for IT admins.

• Also check out our complete list of the best VPN services

Via Redmond Mag

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Latest Gadgets News

Realme Narzo 10A is set to go on another flash sale in India today at 12pm (noon). The phone since its launch in May has been put on multiple flash sales in the country and will again be up for grabs via Flipkart and Realme India site.

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