Google has extended Assistant voice commands to Android apps and the users can now open and search their favourite apps with ‘Hey Google wake word and make everyday tasks within an app much easier.

Opening and searching within Android apps using “Hey Google” is now available to all Assistant-enabled Android phones.

“Starting today, you can try doing more using your voice with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play available in English globally, with more apps coming,” Google said in a statement on Thursday.

Google recently released Android 11, the latest version of the operating system. It has now made six new Google features for Android available even on older versions.

With Google’s Phone app, your Android device will stop spam callers for good and it’ll tell you who’s calling and why.

The spam protection feature is now available to download for the first time on most Android devices running Android 9 or above.

The tech giant also announced the arrival of ‘sound notifications’ that flag important, inconvenient, or alarming noises around you when you have hearing loss or are even  wearing headphones.

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Chinese electronics maker Mobvoi recently launched in India the upgraded version of its TicWatch Pro smartwatch (review). Named TicWatch Pro 2020, the smartwatch brings some incremental upgrades with regard to design, performance and user experience. Though it looks similar to the predecessor, it has got a rugged design as part of the upgrade and that makes it look a little bit more on your wrist. The flip side is that the rugged design also adds some unnecessary bulk without adding any significant value or utility.

The watch sports a 45mm case with a circular dial and 1.39-inch AMOLED touchscreen of 400 x 400 resolution. It is a dual-layer display, which gets you extra on-battery time but at the cost of sunlight legibility. The screen is reflective in nature that makes it impossible to read under direct sunlight. Moreover, the colours look washed out which makes on-screen content, including watch faces, look dull and boring. Speaking of watch faces, the watch supports limited home-screen themes with basic personalisation features.

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Expanding its AIoT products portfolio in India, Chinese electronics brand Realme on Wednesday launched the 55-inch SLED 4K smart TV, 100W soundbar with subwoofer, Buds Air Pro TWS earbuds, Buds Wireless Pro neckband style earphones, Smart Cam 360 security camera, Smart Plug, N1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush and selfie tripod, and 20000 mAh Power Bank 2. Alongside, the company launched the Realme 7i smartphone and unveiled the Realme 7 Pro Sun Kissed edition.

The Realme smart TV (55-inch) features a 4K SLED display, 24W quad stereo speakers with Dolby audio and bezel-less design. It is priced at Rs 42999; pre-booking starts from October 16 at Realme online portal and Flipkart. It will be available at an introductory price of Rs 39,999 during the festive first sale offer.

The Realme 100W Soundbar boasts four speakers of 60W peak output, and a dedicated 40W Subwoofer. Priced at Rs 6,999, the soundbar will go on sale on October 16 at Realme Online portal, Flipkart and Amazon.

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Ending a long wait, Apple will lift off the curtains from its highly-anticipated and delayed iPhone 12 series during a digital event on October 13 that starts at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (10.30 p.m. India time).   What’s on the table?

Apple hinted at new, faster networking capabilities in the invitation for the event, which read: “Hi, Speed.” 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. Analysts expect Apple to show a new version of the iPhone with 5G connectivity at the event. Analysts have also highlighted possible new AirPods over-ear wireless headphones and tags for finding lost items using wireless signals.Likely price

Recently, it was reported that the upcoming iPhone 12 could cost somewhere between $699 to $749 while the iPhone 12 Max could be priced around $799-849.The Pro and Pro Max models are expected to be priced between $1,100 to $1,200.

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The Nokia 5.3, the new midrange smartphone from Finnish technology company HMD Global, is part of the Android One programme, so entitled to two major Android version updates and security update for three years. It boots vanilla Android 10 with no bloatware and minimal value-added customisation. Priced Rs 13,999 onwards, the Nokia 5.3 seems to be a good offering for people who like stock Android experience more than the customised user interface that most other smartphones offer.

But how does the latest Nokia smartphone fare on parameters like design, display, performance and on-battery time? Let’s find out:Design

The Nokia 5.3 is a midrange smartphone and it looks like one. Made of polycarbonate, the phone has a curved glass on the front with Corning Gorilla Glass protection, which makes it resilient to daily abuses. The back, on the other hand, has a frosted design that looks premium and does not get easily smudged. Overall, the phone has a minimal design but it is broad and thick, and it would have done well to shed the heavy build.

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Google on Thursday launched a new feature in the Covid-19 layer on Maps that displays the demarcation of containment zones in Mumbai.

Google said it is working closely with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for sourcing this information and will update this data regularly.

As people and businesses emerge from the lockdown, access to clear information about Covid-19 containment zones as recommended by the authorities in Mumbai will enable users to make better decisions as they move around the city.

“This new feature strengthens our commitment towards working closely with the government to disseminate helpful, authoritative, and relevant information for people during the pandemic,” said a company spokesperson.

Maharashtra’s coronavirus tally on Wednesday reached 14,80,489 with 14,578 fresh cases coming to light, according to state health officials.

With 355 new fatalities being reported, the death toll in the state reached 39,072.

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Over 93,500 data science jobs were

vacant in India at the end of August 2020, a study conducted by EdTech company Great Learning said.

Despite COVID 19, the enthusiasm and optimism around the analytics function continues to remain high with India contributing 9.8 per cent of the total global analytics job openings in August 2020 compared to 7.2 per cent in January this year, it said.

While the sector did witness a decrease in vacancies (from 109,000 vacancies in February to 82,500 vacancies in May 2020), the demand has continued to be fairly consistent across key industry sectors.

The factors contributing to the increased demand include a year-on-year increase in funding in Indian analytics startups, investment in the development of enhanced analytics capabilities in India, and a greater proportion of jobs outsourced to firms based in India owing to the pandemic, it added.

The current demand is dominated by MNC and domestic IT & KPO organisations that are shifting jobs to India and are recruiting in large numbers.

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Google on Tuesday said its various productivity solutions for messaging, meetings and documents will be available under a new brand identity – Google Workspace – that will offer a deep integrated product experience to customers.

More than 2.6 billion consumer, enterprise and education users now actively choose to use Google’s productivity and collaboration apps every month, Google said in a statement.

Google Workspace thoughtfully brings together messaging, meetings, docs, and tasks-all built with trusted Google security and powered by the cleanest cloud in the industry, it added.

In the coming weeks, users will see new four-colour icons for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet, and collaborative content creation tools like docs, sheets, slides, it said.

“…teams need to thrive without meeting in person, protect their time to focus on the most impactful work, and build human connection in new ways. Google Workspace gives people a familiar, fully integrated user experience that helps everyone succeed in this new reality – whether you’re in an office, working from home, on the frontlines, or engaging with customers,” Google Workspace Vice President and General Manager Javier Soltero said.

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Flipkart has announced a range of Nokia-branded smart televisions, powered by Android 9.0 Pie TV platform, ahead of its Big Billion Days sale, which commences from October 16. Named Nokia Smart TV, the range will be available in three screen resolution variants – HD, FullHD and UltraHD.

“This festive season, Smart TVs are dominating the market like never before. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of smarter and more digitally-savvy lifestyle, prompting consumers to adopt Smart TVs in an affordable manner – equally from metros and non-metro cities of India.

As consumers plan their festive season shopping, we want to ensure that they have a wide range of choices across specifications, variants, and design. Towards this endeavor, we are excited to strengthen our collaboration with Nokia to bring a wider suite of Nokia Smart TVs to India to address the much-needed market gap of value-for-money Smart TV range,” Dev Iyer, Vice President – Private Brands at Flipkart said in a statement.

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Xiaomi’s run for value-for-money products continues as the Chinese technology company forays into categories other than smartphones. After a successful showing in the smart television and smart fitness wearables space in India, the company has now entered the smart speaker segment with the launch of Mi Smart Speaker.

The Mi Smart Speaker is a Google Assistant-powered device, with built-in Chromecast for easy content streaming. Besides being a smart speaker, it lets you manage and operate supported internet-of-things (IoT) products through voice commands. Priced at Rs 3,999, the Mi Smart Speaker is an entry-level voice-enabled speaker that promises audio quality better than Google’s and Amazon’s budget smart speakers. But does it live up to its name and promise? Let’s find out:

The Mi Smart Speaker is a lot bigger and heavier than its palm-sized peers from Amazon and Google. Its big stature, however, gives it space to accommodate a 2.5-inch audio driver, which is the biggest you get in any entry-level smart speaker. It is a 12W full-range speaker, with DTS Professional audio tuning. It is powered by Texas Instruments’ TAS5805M Hi-Fi Audio processor.

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