Xiaomi today extended the Redmi A series with the Redmi 8A smartphone with 5000mAh battery and 12MP Sony IMX363 sensor among other features.

The new offering comes with USB Type-C 18W fast charging support, a 6.22-inch Dot Notch HD+ display, and 19:9 aspect ratio.

Redmi 8A is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 octa-core chipset and available in two variants — 2GB/32GB and 3GB/32GB, featuring a 2+1 dual SIM slot with dedicated microSD card support to extend storage to 512GB.

The phone features a 12MP Sony IMX363 sensor with an aperture of f/1.8 and Dual Pixel Autofocus.

On the front, it has an 8MP selfie camera, capable of taking AI Portrait mode shots.

For protesction, the phone has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and nano-coating that makes the smartphone splash resistant. Read Complete Article

The government will set up design centres to help khadi institutions develop trendy designs in line with the market demand.

The National Design and Product Development Centre for khadi products will be established by the Khadi and Village Industries Corporation (KVIC) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. On Wednesday, MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari outlined the broad plan which includes a concerted push to maximize the production and sale of khadi and make it a global brand.

“There is a need to make khadi designs more trendy and modern, without compromising with tradition. We need to make khadi attractive for the youth of the country. The product designs should be aligned to customer choices and demand, and take into account the local and regional preferences and requirements like weather condition and local designs,” Gadkari said. Read Complete Article

The country’s premier engineering colleges, the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), are mulling an early exit option for academically weak students in undergraduate courses who will be allowed to opt out after three years — instead of the full four years — with a B.Sc. degree in engineering.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the proposal is on the agenda of the IIT council– the highest decision-making body of all the 23 institutes — for its meeting on Friday.

Currently, students enrolled in undergraduate programmes in IITs need to complete eight semesters (four years) to receive a B.Tech degree. But according to the HRD proposal, academically weak students can choose B.Sc. (Engineering) after the second semester and leave after three years, provided they have met the minimum academic standards.

If approved, the IITs will implement the suggestion from the current academic year, the report said. Read Complete Article

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was on Tuesday named Dadasaheb Phalke winner, Indian cinema’s highest honour for an artiste.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar confirmed the news in a Twitter post.

“The legend Amitabh Bachchan who entertained and inspired for 2 generations has been selected unanimously for #DadaSahabPhalke award. The entire country and international community is happy. My heartiest Congratulations to him. @narendramodi @SrBachchan,” Javadekar tweeted.

The 76-year-old screen icon, who rose to stardom with his ‘Angry Young Man’ persona capturing the anger of the young generation in the 1970s with films such as “Zanjeer”, “Deewar” and “Sholay”, continues to be a force to reckon with in Indian cinema.

In a career spanning five decades, Bachchan has given memorable performances film after film and is a four-time National Film Award winner.

Director Zoya Akhtar’s “Gully Boy“, featuring Ranveer Singh in the lead, has been selected as India’s official entry in the International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards, the Film Federation of India announced on Saturday.

The movie, which released commercially across the country in February this year, also features Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma and Amruta Subhash.

“India’s official entry for Oscars this year is ‘Gully Boy’. There were 27 films in the running this year but it was an unanimous decision to select ‘Gully Boy’,” FFI secretary general Supran Sen told PTI.

Celebrated actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen was the head of the jury for this year’s selection committee.

“Gully Boy”, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, featured Ranveer as an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets. Read Complete Article

In a major move, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman made several announcements for the corporate sector. The minister announced sharp cuts in corporation tax among a series of announcements. Sitharaman said the total revenue forgone on account of today’s measures would be Rs 1.45 trillion per year.

Here are the highlights

1. All domestic companies to be allowed to pay corporation tax at the rate of 22% (effective rate 25.17% including cess and surcharge). This would be subject to the condition that these companies do not avail of any tax incentives or exemptions. Moreover, no Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) would be imposed on these companies.

2. Any new domestic manufacturing company, incorporated on or after October 1, 2019, will be allowed to pay corporation tax at the rate of 15% (effective rate 17.01%). No MAT will be imposed on these companies either. This will be subject to the condition that the company does not avail of any tax incentives or exemptions and commences production by 31 March, 2023. Read Complete Article

Announced earlier this year, the iOS 13 operating system for iPhones is now being rolled out as a software upgrade to all supported Apple smartphones in India. The new OS brings a mixed bag of big and small upgrades, including a new system-wide dark mode, redesigned photos gallery, enhanced security and privacy features and a new QuickType keyboard with swipe to type feature. Take a look at what is new in the iOS 13 OS, compatible iPhone models, and how to download and install the OS.

What is new in the iOS 13

Dark Mode: One of the major changes that the new OS gets is the addition of a system-wide dark mode, which uses a palette of dark colours that are easy on the eye in a low-light environment. The dark mode setting can either be set to manual, which allows user to have complete control on when to turn it on or off, or scheduled for a certain time, based on sunrise and sunset. In addition, Apple has also added new wallpapers, optimised for dark mode, that automatically change as you switch between light and dark. Readmore

As the burden of atrial fibrillation (AFib) in India makes it an important health issue, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker on Thursday brought its much-anticipated ECG app and irregular rhythm notification feature to Apple Watch users to India.

Available with an update to watchOS 6 on Apple Watch Series 4 and later, the ECG app and irregular heart rhythm notification feature will help users identify signs of AFib, the most common form of irregular rhythm.

“We are confident in the ability of these features to help users have more informed conversations with their physicians,” said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s Vice President of Health.

“With the ECG app and irregular rhythm notification feature, customers can now better understand aspects of their heart health in a more meaningful way,” Desai added.

Read Complete Article

Huawei today unveiled its HUAWEI Mate 30 Series — world’s first second generation 5G smartphone — at an exclusive launch event in Munich, highlighting its own apps brand while sidestepping the critical issue of access to Google services.

The HUAWEI Mate 30 and HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro features OLED HUAWEI Horizon Display, quad-camera setup, and is powered by Kirin 990 5G chipset.

Top salesman Richard Yu showcased the new models in the first such event since President Donald Trump hit Huawei with a U.S. export ban in May.

“It’s got a large screen but it’s very compact in your hand,” Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business, said of the phone, whose fate in Europe will hang on whether customers buy a device lacking access to software and apps supported by Google.

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US based search giant Google on Thursday announced a major update for Assistant users in India where one can now make Assistant talk in Hindi by just asking “Ok Google, Hindi bolo or “Talk to me in Hindi.

Besides Hindi and English, users will also be able to find content in Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati and Malayalam.

The new update comes to the Google Assistant a day after Amazon announced that Alexa will support Hindi and Hinglish conversations.

“For many Indians, voice is increasingly becoming their preferred way to search, and today Hindi has become the second-most used Assistant language globally — after English,” Manuel Bronstein, Vice President, Product Management, Google said in a statement.

The feature will be accessible on all Android, Android Go and KaiOs devices. Google also introduced a refreshed design for Google Search in India that will highlight queries in local languages. Read Complete Article