BENGALURU (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it will launch an online pharmacy in India that will serve the city of Bengaluru, the latest move by the e-commerce giant to widen its reach in a key growth market.

The service, “Amazon Pharmacy”, will offer both over-the-counter and prescription-based drugs, basic health devices and traditional Indian herbal medicines, the company said in a statement, without giving a timeline for the launch.

 The move comes amid increasing competition in India with rivals Walmart-owned Flipkart, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s upstart online grocery service JioMart and a range of other smaller players.

Last month, the company decided to open 10 new warehouses in India and start offering auto insurance. Amazon had also secured clearance for alcohol delivery in one Indian state, Reuters reported in June.

India is yet to finalize regulations for online drug sales, or e-pharmacies, but the growth of several online sellers such as Medlife, Netmeds, Temasek-backed PharmEasy and Sequoia Capital-backed 1mg has threatened traditional drug stores.

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Chinese smartphone major Xiaomi on Thursday said its arm MI India will distribute 2,500 handsets worth Rs 2 crore to support online education of children who are worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

“MI India distribution and retails came up with a fantastic idea. Together they will be contributing 2,500 smartphones to enable children most impacted by the pandemic to access quality education. In this endeavour we found the right partner Teach for India who is committed to the cause,” its chief operating officer Muralikrishnan B said in an online video.

 The company’s managing director Manu Jain said MI India is committed to digital India initiative and has always supported education for all.

The company shared that the smartphones pledged are worth Rs 2 crore.

Jain appealed to people to bring in notice of the company about anyone who needs a smartphone for online education and the company will try to help them.Read Complete Article

Google has added new features in its Search where users can quickly find live sports and TV shows.

Currently available in the US, people will see live TV options for MLB (Major League Baseball) and NBA games.

 Google said it will integrate more leagues in the future.

“You can also find live TV options by searching for the individual team or game.” The company said in a statement on Thursday.

Last year, Google added a new way to find TV shows and movie recommendations in Search.

Starting this week, “we’re enhancing this feature by adding carousels of live content from cable and broadcast providers. These recommendations will show content on live TV so you can keep track of everything that’s available to you,” said Google.

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Apple is reportedly planning to hold its iPhone 12 event in the second week of October, with pre-orders to take place later that week and shipments to start the week after that.

In a recent tweet, Jon Prosser, a reliable Apple insider said that the iPhone maker may hold an event on Tuesday (October 13) and would accept pre-orders for new iPhone 12 models from October 16, and will deliver the new devices starting on October 23.

 While the iPhone 12 models will ship in October, Prosser claimed the iPhone 12 Pro models will not be available until an unspecified date in November.

In addition, Prosser also said that Apple will release the Watch Series 6 and an unspecified new iPad during the week of September 7.

Earlier, Prosser said there is also the possibility that a later iPhone 12 launch event could allow more people to attend in-person.

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The government plans to allow companies to sell electric two and three wheelers without batteries to “create an ecosystem” for clean transport, said a notification on Wednesday. EVs can be registered for use without a battery, too.

The battery, which accounts for 30-40 per cent of the total cost of a vehicle, could be provided separately by the original equipment manufacturer or the energy service provider, said the transport and highways ministry in a notification to states.

 The step will make the upfront cost of the vehicles to be lower than ICE two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

The ministry said the vehicles without batteries can be sold and registered based on the type approval certificate issued by a test agency. It said there is no need to specify the make/ type or any other details of the battery for registration.

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Twitter has started testing automatic translation feature with a small group of users across iOS and Android in Brazil.

“To make it easier to understand the conversations you follow on Twitter, we’re experiencing an automatic translation for Tweets in other languages that appear on your homepage,” the company said in a statement.

 The translation is already a feature of Twitter, but it’s not automatic. The platform currently supports inline translations, so users can click on any tweet written in a different language to translate it.

ALSO READ: Now, Twitter lets you control who replies to tweet: Here is how it works

If the primary language of the user is set to English within Twitter, all other Tweets in different languages will have a Translate button.

However, with the new feature, users in Brazil will see English-language tweets that have been automatically translated to Brazilian Portuguese, rather than having to manually opt to translate it themselves.

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Apple has inked a first-look film and TV deal with Hollywood maestro Martin Scorsese.

Under the multi-year deal, Scorsese will produce film and TV projects for Apple TV+ streaming platform via his Sikelia Productions that he founded in 2003.

 Apple is currently working with Scorsese on the highly-anticipated film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which will be directed by Scorsese and stars biggies like Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

This will be his second production for any OTT platform, the first being The Irishman on Netflix, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.

ALSO READ: Tim Cook hits billionaire status as Apple’s market value nears $2 trn

To date, Apple has signed overall and first-look deals with internationally acclaimed studios, including Appian Way, founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and co-run by Jennifer Davisson; Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures; Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions; A24 and Imagine Documentaries; as well as trusted studios for kids and family entertainment, Sesame Workshop and Peanuts.

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ROG Phone 3 with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage will go on sale on August 21 at 12 noon, announced the Taiwanese electronics maker Asus on Wednesday. The gaming-centric smartphone was launched in India on July 22 in two variants, 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and 12GB RAM +256GB internal storage priced at Rs 49,999 and Rs 57,999. While the base model of the Flipkart-exclusive smartphone went on first sale on August 6 at the e-commerce platform, the top-tier variant will go on sale for the first time in India on August 21.

Asus ROG Phone 3 specifications

The ROG Phone 3 has a 6.59-inch fullHD+ AMOLED screen of a 144Hz refresh rate and 270Hz touch sampling rate. The screen claims to have a 1ms response time and 25ms touch latency. It is a 10-bit HDR10+-compliant screen with a peak brightness of 650 nits and 113 per cent DCI-P3 colour gamut. The phone is made of glass and metal, with Gorilla Glass 6 protection on the front.

  The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC, paired with up to 16GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 512GB internal storage (UFS 3.1). However, India will get the 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB variants. A 5G smartphone, it supports both standalone and non-standalone network protocols. The phone ships with Android 10 operating system-based ROG user interface. Like its predecessors, the phone has front-facing stereo speakers, powered by dual NXP TFA9874 amplifier chips. The phone lacks 3.5mm audio output but supports Hi-Res audio output through the USB type-C port. With regard to software-level audio customisation, the phone comes with the ROG GameFX for in-game audio experience and new AudioWizard tool with multiple listening profiles tuned by Dirac. The phone, which has four microphones, is powered by a 6,000 mAh battery supported by 30W wired fast charging.

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As millions of students navigate learning from home, Google has announced a new initiative called The Anywhere School, bringing over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite and other products to hundreds of thousands of viewers in more than 250 countries around the world.

In September, the video-calling app Google Meet will have a larger tiled view of up to 49 people and an integrated Jamboard whiteboard for collaboration.

 The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it will also release new controls so moderators can choose to always join first, end meetings for all participants, disable in-meeting chat, and much more.

In October, Google will launch custom and blurred backgrounds in Meet to provide some extra privacy.

“Breakout rooms and attendance tracking will also be launching for all Google Enterprise for Education customers, allowing for more engaged classes and insights on participation,” said Avni Shah, VP of Education at Google.

Later this year, the company would roll out hand raising for all customers and Q&A and polling for G Suite Enterprise for Education customers.

“Plus, we’ll launch a new temporary recordings feature which will be available to all Education customers for free (premium recordings will still be part of G Suite Enterprise for Education),” Shah informed.

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Microsoft is expected to unveil its next-gen affordable Xbox console this month and it is expected to be named the Xbox Series S, according to The Verge. According to the technology news platform, some new photos of Microsoft’s new next-gen Xbox controller in white have appeared, with packaging that mentions the Xbox Series S.

The packaging notes that the controller works on Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One, PC, Android and iOS devices.

 However, Microsoft has not officially unveiled an Xbox Series S yet, nor has the company even confirmed a white Xbox Series X controller.

ALSO READ: Microsoft says xCloud gaming not coming to iOS on Sept 15, blames Apple

A mysterious white Xbox Series X controller also appeared online last month, complete with the new D-pad, textured triggers, and new share button.

Microsoft will reportedly unveil the console in late August. It follows comments made by Phil Spencer, vice president of gaming at Microsoft, that the company will unveil more details about the Series X in August.

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