Apple on Tuesday launched the HomePod Mini at the iPhone 12 launch event. The Siri-powered smart speaker will be available for pre-orders from November 6, with availability beginning the week of November 16. Priced at Rs 9,990, the HomePod Mini will be available through Apple Store online and Apple authorised resellers in in white and space grey colours.

Just 3.3-inch tall, the HomePod Mini is designed to work with Apple Music, podcasts, radio stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com, and TuneIn. In coming months, other music services including Pandora and Amazon Music will also be added to the list of supported service provides. The HomePod Mini supports true wireless stereo set-up and it multiple HomePod mini speakers can work together to stream music or podcasts to multiple rooms. In a single room set-up, two HomePod mini speakers can also form a stereo pair for a surround sound stereo audio effect.

HomePod Mini is powered by the Apple S5 chip, which is touted to analyse the unique characteristics of the music and apply complex tuning models to optimise loudness, adjust the dynamic range, and control the movement of the driver and passive radiators in real time. The smart speaker features full-range driver, powered by a neodymium magnet and a pair of force-cancelling passive radiators for deep bass and crisp high frequencies.

The HomePod Mini features a three-microphone array to listen to voice commands. There is also a fourth inward-facing microphone to help it isolate sound coming from the speaker to improve voice detection when music is playing.

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Apple Inc on Tuesday launched its next-generation iPhone 12, with faster 5G connectivity that the California company hopes will spur consumers to trade in their old phones and keep its sales booming through the end of the year.

The core of the line-up, the iPhone 12 with a 6.1-inch display, will sell for $799, while a ‘Mini’ version with a 5.4-inch screen will be slightly cheaper at $699. A ‘Pro’ version with three cameras and a new 3-D ‘lidar’ sensor starts at $999, with the largest ‘Pro Max’ starting at $1,099 and going up to $1,399.

The new products will test whether Apple can ride a wave of consumer excitement around 5G wireless data networks, whose speediest variants outstrip their predecessors’ data rates multiple times over.

But whether iPhone buyers see a dramatic speed boost will depend heavily on where they are and which carrier they use – what Bob O’Donnell, head of TECHnalysis Research, called “lots of little niggly details that get in the way of delivering on the promise of 5G.“

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Festivals are about shared celebrations. This festive season however presents a special challenge of economic uncertainty where consumers are re-evaluating their relationships with categories. Consumer shopping this season may be about more considered choices that may impact spending. Brands can play a special role in igniting celebrations in this context. Discovery and inspiration, and reminding consumers of the emotions their favourite brands evoke, can unlock brand growth. To be discovered, brands need to be where consumers are and digital, particularly Facebook and Instagram, are platforms where India discovers joy and inspiration. The recent BCG study found that digital influence has risen to ~70% due to the ongoing pandemic and nearly 80% of Gen Z and millennials say that their festive shopping is influenced by Facebook and Instagram.

It’s no surprise therefore that industry experts recommend marketers leverage social for driving brand discovery this season. With discretionary spends decreasing and value-consciousness increasing, marketers need to nudge consumers and to enter the consumer’s consideration set, eventually helping consumers in their purchase decisions

In this light, industry experts from Facebook, Ogilvy and GroupM share critical insights about driving brand discovery, understanding evolving consumer media habits, and leveraging creative story-telling on digital.

Marketers are looking forward to turning the tide this festive season. How can they drive brand discovery and business growth in this season that is unique in many ways?

Sandeep Bhushan: With the drastic alteration in media consumption, this festive season offers opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers like never before. Consumers are discovering brands on social media, and businesses need to focus on solutions that are relevant for the new normal, such as hyper-localisation, creating virtual experiences, re-looking at the media-mix to build efficiency, and focusing on truly incremental business outcomes.

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Facing a steady decline in usage over the last several years, Yahoo has made the decision to shut down Yahoo Groups from on December 15.

Verizon, which bought Yahoo in 2017, announced the decision on Tuesday which marks the end of the road for one of the largest message board systems on the Web of its time.

“Yahoo Groups has seen a steady decline in usage over the last several years. Over that same period, we’ve witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement across our properties as customers seek out premium, trustworthy content,” the company said in a message posted on the website.

“While these decisions are never easy, we must sometimes make difficult decisions regarding products that no longer fit our long-term strategy as we hone our focus on other areas of the business”.

The Yahoo Groups service was launched in 2001 and could not complete against new platforms like Reddit, Google Groups and Facebook Groups.

On October 12, the creation of new groups will be disabled and on December 15, people will no longer be able to send and receive emails from Yahoo Groups.

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Shares of Kopran were locked in the 5 per cent upper circuit band at Rs 97.35 on the BSE on Tuesday, gaining 10 per cent in the past four trading days, after rating agency Crisil revised its outlook on the long term bank facilities of the company to ‘Positive’ from ‘Stable’. The rating agency reaffirmed its ‘CRISIL BBB’ rating on long term bank facilities, while short term ratings has been reaffirmed at ‘CRISIL A3+’.

The stock of the pharmaceutical company was trading at its 52-week high level. In the past one month, it has rallied 39 per cent as compared to 4.4 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. Meanwhile, in the past three months, the stock has zoomed 157 per cent, as against 10.6 per cent rise in the benchmark index.

Trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled with a combined 1.06 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report. There were pending buy orders for 99,000 shares on both the exchange, data show.

“The revision in the outlook reflects improvement in Kopran group’s business risk profile expected over the medium term. Improved demand from export market, addition of new geographies and new products under development, should result in higher revenue and profitability over the medium term,” Crisil said in a detailed rationale.

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Apple Inc is hosting a virtual event on October 13 where the American technology giant is expected to unveil its new range of iPhones, which would likely be called iPhone 12 series. The event is formally called ‘Hi, Speed’, which hints that the upcoming iPhone series will come with 5G network support. There are chances, however, that the 5G support will be limited to just the premium models, which may go by the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max moniker.Apple event India timing and livestream details

The Apple Hi Speed event will be hosted virtually from the Apple Park. The event livestream will begin at 10:30 pm (IST) on October 13 through the dedicated Apple Events mini site. The event will also livestream on Apple’s YouTube channel. You can tune in here at 10:30 pm to watch the event’s livestream on video embedded below.

ALSO READ: Apple’s iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro pre-orders may start on October 16Apple iPhone 12, HomePod smart speaker, and other devices: What to expect

Apple is likely to launch tonight at least four models in the iPhone 12 series.

Though the models naming scheme is under the wraps, they will likely go by the iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max moniker. The iPhone 12 series is likely to get 5G network support besides other upgrades. However, the 5G network might only be available in the top-end models and the vanilla models are likely to stick to 4G LTE network.

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Apple is all set to lift off the curtains from its iPhone 12 series during a digital event on October 13 and a new report claims that the pre-orders for iPhone 12 and 12 Pro may start from October 16 or October 17, with shipping from a week later on October 23 or October 24.

According to Chinese leaker Kang, iPhone 12 mini will open for pre-orders on November 6 or 7, and ship a week later on November 13 or November 14.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is likely to see pre-orders on November 13 or November 14, with shipping November 20 or November 21, reports MacRumors.

Apple is expected to release four models of the iPhone 12 — the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro and the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The upcoming iPhone 12 could cost somewhere between $699 to $749 while the iPhone 12 Max could be priced around $799-849.

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Wireless earphones come in all shapes and sizes, but none as distinct and intriguing as the Samsung Buds Live. These true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones are one of their kind, at least in terms of design. Each earphone has a kidney-bean-shaped build, which fits surprisingly well into your ears. The earphones’ semi in-ear design is comfortable, too, especially if you use them for extended hours. However, the lack of silicone tips affect the earphones’ passive noise isolation capability; the ambient noise easily passes through the earphones and you hear everything crystal clear even with earphones on. The earphones have active noise cancelling (ANC), which seems experimental. It blocks the ambient noise but only to an extent. Unfortunately, there is no way to customise ANC intensity.

As for the performance, the earphones have a balanced audio output. They sound similar to the Galaxy Buds+, even better in some cases, and that is a big feat, considering that the Buds+ has an in-ear design. These earphones handle calls well, too. They pick your voice even in a high-noise environment and the listener gets to hear what you speak, as the earphones filter out noise distractions through their multi-microphone set-up.

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American technology giant Google’s Pixel 4a smartphone and Nest Audio smart speaker are coming to India on October 16. Both the devices will be available on Flipkart as Big Billion Days sale specials. Priced at Rs 31,999, the Pixel 4a will be available at an introductory price of Rs 29,999. The Nest Audio smart speaker will be available at special launch price of Rs 6,999 (MRP Rs 7,999). While the Pixel 4a is a Flipkart-exclusive, the Nest Audio will also be available soon at Reliance Retail and Tata Cliq store.Google Pixel 4a: Specifications and features

The Google Pixel 4a sports a 5.81-inch OLED screen of fullHD+ resolution, stretched in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The screen has circular cut-out area on the top left side, accommodating its front camera. The display supports HDR and boasts Always-on feature. Powering the smartphone is Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G system-on-chip, paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The phone ships with Android 10 operating system, and comes with features that Google debut on the Pixel 4.

The phone features advanced Google Assistant, which lets you send text messages and allows controlling apps through voice commands. It also gets Google Recorder app, which supports real-time transcription. Moreover, the phone supports Live Caption feature.

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Alibaba-backed Indian fintech firm Paytm is aiming for a million apps on its “mini app store” by the first quarter of 2021, it said on Thursday, seeking to challenge the dominance of Alphabet’s Google in India’s mobile web economy.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma called Google “judge, jury and executioner” after his app was temporarily removed from the Android app store last month for a policy violation. On Thursday, he kicked off his company’s “Mini App Developer Conference” by calling Google a “toll collector”.

Google, whose Android operating system powers nearly 99% of India’s roughly 500 million smartphones, has faced criticism from several startups in the country over a move to enforce its global policy more strictly and charge a 30% commission for in-app purchases.

That criticism led the US tech giant this week to defer by six months its deadline for Indian companies to comply with the new billing system.

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