Reliance Jio on Monday confirmed operating system and processor details of the JioPhone Next ahead of Diwali launch. Announced at the Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting earlier this year, the JioPhone Next will be powered by Google Android operating system-based Pragati OS and Qualcomm processor.

According to Reliance Jio, the Pragati OS, powered by Android, is an operating system built specifically for India and is at the heart of JioPhone Next. It has been engineered by best minds at Jio and Google with an objective to bring Pragati (progress) for all, while offering truly seamless experience at affordable cost.

As for the processor, Jio said the Qualcomm processor on the JioPhone Next will deliver optimised connectivity and location technologies along with optimisations in device performance, audio and battery.

The information came courtesy a short video titled ‘Making of JioPhone Next’ released by Reliance Jio on Monday. In the video, the telecom giant also previewed its upcoming budget smartphone.

“In a short span of 5 years, Jio has become a household name in India. With 430 million users, its services span geographies, economic and social classes. With JioPhone Next, Jio plans to take a decisive step towards its vision of democratising digital connectivity in India. JioPhone Next is Made in India, Made for India and Made by Indians.

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Unveiled earlier this year at the Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the macOS Monterey is now rolling out for supported Mac computers. The new operating system brings several new features and capabilities, including universal control for seamless integration between Mac and iPad, AirPlay to Mac feature to send content to supported Mac from an iPhone, iPad and another Mac, and improved Safari browser with support for tab groups and new privacy protections.

macOS Monterey: Supported devices

The macOS Monterey is designed to harness the potential of Apple’s ARM architecture-based M1 chip. Therefore, it will be available for the new MacBook Air M1, MacBook Pro M1, Mac Mini M1, and the recently launched MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Besides, the macOS Monterey will be available for below mentioned Mac computers:

• iMac – 2015 and later
• iMac Pro – 2017 and later
• MacBook Air – Early 2015 and later
• MacBook Pro – Early 2015 and later
• Mac Pro – Late 2013 and later
• Mac mini – Late 2014 and later
• MacBook – Early 2016 and later

macOS Monterey: What’s new

From new features in FaceTime to Notes and Safari browser, the macOS Monterey brings new experiences for ease of use.  Starting with FaceTime, macOS Monterey brings a new SharePlay feature to Apple’s video calling service. The SharePlay lets users share screens, watch videos, and listen to music together. Besides, FaceTime gets support for portrait mode, spatial audio, and join on the web through link. Coming on to the Notes, the macOS Monterey introduces tags and mentions. While the tags make it easy to categorise and organise the notes, the mentions make collaboration in shared notes or folders more social, direct and contextual. For instant notes, the macOS Monterey introduces Quick Note feature.

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The Indian digital start-up ecosystem has welcomed Apple’s deleting a clause that prevented developers from contacting users outside of in-app purchases.

On Saturday, Apple said it deleted clause 3.1.3 that said: “Developers cannot use information obtained within the app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than in-app purchase (such as sending an individual user an email about other purchasing met­hods, after that, individual signs up for an account within the app).”

The All India Digital Foundation (ADIF), a think tank for digital start-ups in India, called it an encouraging move, which it said was being used by Apple to maintain a stronghold on the developers in order to make them cough up hefty commissions. “This comes as a major victory for the developer and start-up community who have been vocal against the restrictive and anti-competitive practices of the two big firms through AppStore/PlayStore policies,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director, ADIF.

“Having said that, practices that restrict app developers with their product and user experience choices still persist. For instance, Apple has still not relented on allowing alternative payments systems to be embedded directly in its apps. It is crucial now to ensure that the efforts towards making the app economy a fair marketplace are sustained,” he said.

Google, which owns a majority of the operating system market in India with its Android OS, has also been at the receiving end of developers’ ire. Its commissions have been a contentious issue for a long time, and given Apple’s deletion of the clause, ADIF feels more work needs to be done by Google to address developer concerns.

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The Super 12 round of ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will kick-start from October 23 with Australia vs South Africa game at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The qualifier round which would determine the four teams, who will join India, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand and Afghanistan, is underway at UAE and Oman. Bangladesh, Scotland, Sri Lanka are the three teams that have already qualified for the Super 12 round and the last team will be decided after today’s games (Namibia vs Ireland, Sri Lanka vs Netherlands).

Check ICC T20 WC 2021 latest news here

India will start its ICC T20 World Cup against its arch-rivals Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium. India has not a single game against Pakistan in the T20 World Cups. It would be interesting to see whether Babar Azam-led side will able to break the jinx on October 24.

ICC T20 World Cup venues (Super 12)

• Dubai International Stadium.
• Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
• Sharjah cricket ground

ICC T20 WC super 12 teams and groups

Group 1

• England
• Australia
• South Africa
• West Indies
• A1
• B2

Group 2

• India
• Pakistan
• New Zealand
• Afghanistan
• A2
• B1

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Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said he hopes that the personal data protection law might be in place in the next few months and the Joint Parliamentary Committee may place the Bill during the upcoming session of the Parliament.

He said the Supreme Court has held that privacy is a fundamental right and the government is committed to protecting the fundamental rights of every citizen.

“That is the property of the Joint Parliamentary Committee and I hope in the next few months it becomes a law. Once that law is in place and a data protection authority is in place, an important architecture the governance architecture will fall in place,” Chandrasekhar told reporters.

He was responding to a query on the Personal Data Protection Bill on the sidelines of India Internet Governance Forum curtain raiser event.

He said the data protection law establishes the rule of the internet for data intermediaries.

When asked when the Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament, Chandrasekhar said, “It is not in my power. It is with JPC and I hope they submit it before the winter session.”

The minister also shared that the government is hosting a big event on semiconductor industry where large companies, investors and other stakeholders are being invited where discussion around electronics chips will be held.

During the event, Chandrasekhar said India is one of the largest connected nations and also largest unconnected, with 40 crore people still not connected to the internet.

“We need to bridge this gap,” the minister said.

He said that as a member of Parliament, he had put pressure on the previous government in 2010-11 to withdraw the stance of India to move the internet governance regime under the United Nations in 2010-11.

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Google said today that starting on January 1, 2022, it will be decreasing the service fee for all subscriptions on Google Play to 15 per cent from 30 per cent, and for developers offering subscriptions, this means that first-year subscription fees will be cut in half.

“Digital subscriptions have become one of the fastest growing models for developers but we know that subscription businesses face specific challenges in customer acquisition and retention. We’ve worked with our partners in dating, fitness, education and other sectors to understand the nuances of their businesses. Our current service fee drops from 30 per cent to 15 per cent after 12 months of a recurring subscription. But we’ve heard that customer churn makes it challenging for subscription businesses to benefit from that reduced rate. So, we’re simplifying things to ensure they can,” said Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management at Google, in a blog post on Thursday.

Google Play currently charges 30 per cent fees for subscription services after 12 months. Now this will be 15 per cent for subscription services from the first day.

Earlier this year Google launched the Play Media Experience programme to encourage video, audio and book developers alike to help grow the Android platform by building cross-device experiences. This helped developers invest in these multi-screen experiences with a service fee as low as 15 per cent, the firm said in the blog post.

The tech giant further said e-books and on-demand music streaming services, where content costs account for the majority of sales, will now be eligible for a service fee as low as 10 per cent.

“The new rates recognize industry economics of media content verticals and make Google Play work better for developers and the communities of artists, musicians and authors they represent. You can go here for more information,” Samat added.

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Facebook said Thursday that it has struck a deal with a group of French publishers to pay for links to their news stories that are shared by people on the social network.

The company says it inked the licensing agreement with the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Generale, which represents 300 French publishers, to improve the quality of online information for Internet users and publishers on Facebook.

The financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Facebook also said it would launch in January a French version of its Facebook News product, where the group’s publishers could allow their stories to appear.

The licensing deal is the result of a wider push by authorities in Europe and elsewhere to force Facebook and other social media companies to compensate publishers for content.

Governments have been responding to news outlets’ complaints that internet companies are getting rich at their expense, selling advertising linked to their reports without sharing revenue.

France was the first of the European Union’s 27 nations to adopt the bloc’s 2019 copyright directive, which outlines a way for publishers and news companies to strike licensing deals with online platforms.

Google signed a similar framework deal with the alliance this year, but talks over licensing payments bogged down, leading French regulators to slap Google with a hefty fine for not negotiating in good faith with publishers.

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A Swiss court has dismissed Google’s bid to block the award of a government cloud computing contract worth up to 110 million Swiss francs ($119 million) to rival bidders.

“In an interim decision, the Federal Administrative Court rejects Google’s request to grant suspensive effect to its appeal. The Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics may therefore conclude the public cloud contracts with the selected tenderers,” the court said in a statement on Wednesday.

The decision may be appealed to the Swiss supreme court.

The government had awarded the contract in June to Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Alibaba, Swiss media reported.

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Let’s talk about buying an iPhone for $1,000. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, once compared this eye-popping price tag to buying a cup of coffee a day over a year. No big deal, right?

But financial advisers see this differently. By some estimates, an investment of $1,000 in a retirement account today would balloon to about $17,000 in 30 years.

In other words, $700 to $1,000 — the price range of modern smartphones — is a big purchase. Fewer than half of American adults have enough savings set aside to cover three months of emergency expenses, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet one in five people surveyed by the financial website WalletHub thought a new phone was worth going into debt for.

Tech companies fairly argue that our smartphones are our most powerful tools for work and play and thus worth every penny. But they also play numbers games to downplay the costs of a new phone. Samsung, for example, has said the price of its new Galaxy phone is $200 — but that’s only if you trade in a year-old phone for credit toward the new one. The true price is $800.

So it’s worth looking at phone upgrades in a different light to weigh their financial impact. That can help us make well-considered decisions so that the move isn’t automatic.

The irony of Mr. Cook’s coffee analogy isn’t lost on Suze Orman, the financial adviser who once famously equated people’s coffee habits to “peeing $1 million down the drain.” The seemingly small amount of money that people mindlessly spend on java — and now phone upgrades — could be a path to poverty, she said.

“Do you need a new one every single year?” asked Ms. Orman, who hosts the “Women and Money” podcast. “Absolutely not. It’s just a ridiculous waste of money.”

Apple and Samsung didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

So what’s the true cost of a phone upgrade? Let’s look at the math.

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Skullcandy recently launched its Dime True Wireless Earbuds in India with a lightweight form factor, impressive battery life, among other features.

Priced at Rs 2,249, the TWS earbuds have a short stem-like design and they can be used independently as any other TWS earphones. Skullcandy Dime True Wireless Earbuds sport physical controls on each earbud.

The earbuds are available in three colours –Dark Blue/Green, Light Grey/Blue, and True Black. There are physical buttons on each earbud through which you can control volume, skip songs, and take calls. The buttons aren’t really easy to press so you will have to settle with that. The earbuds also feature an IPX4 rating for protection from sweat and water.

The earpieces have a proper in-canal fit–I found the fit secure and the noise isolation decent. The tiny earbuds are comfortable for long-duration usage. I was able to wear them for about 40-50 minutes.

Controls on the Skullcandy Dime would be tough for many; it gets really uncomfortable to press the stiff physical buttons while using the earphones. It’s better you rely on your phone to skip a song or change volume.

Talking about performance, the Skullcandy Dime offers decent sound quality for everyday use, thanks to its 6mm drivers which have a frequency response range of 20Hz to 20,000Hz.

It covers the basics but don’t expect too much from these tiny earbuds. The sound clarity is impressive but the bass might let you down at times. Due to the fit, the noise isolation is decent and it also cuts the unwanted eternal noise.

For the price, the earbuds do a fine job, although some may want more Skullcandy Dime.

However, the earbuds are not at all good for voice calls. I had a tough time taking calls using these earbuds so ultimately I had to either use my phone or use a better set of earbuds.

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