Tata Group-owned electronics store chain Croma has entered into a partnership with Amazon to launch a new range of smart TVs with built-in Fire device for customers in India.

The new smart LED TV range will come with a built-in Fire TV device and through this strategic partnership, Croma aims to offer an intuitive, simple, and customised experience, the companies said in a joint statement.

It brings together all streaming content from across over 5,000 apps, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Disney + Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLiv and many more.

“The proliferation in OTT apps and the consequent fragmentation in viewership is creating a demand for a more seamless browsing experience. The Alexa voice search and the intuitive soft-touch remote control supported by the Fire TV OS offers a different and to my mind, better browsing experience than other Smart TVs,” Croma CMO Ritesh Ghosal said.

Amazon and Croma have a history of working together and offering Amazon Devices to customers across India through their offline stores, Head of Amazon Devices India, Parag Gupta said.

“Today, we take this partnership to a new level. The new range of Fire Edition Smart TVs by Croma delivers an incredible user experience, excellent picture quality and immersive sound experience that gets better every day with Alexa,” Gupta added.

Prices for Croma Fire TV Edition Smart LED TVs start at Rs 17,999 and are available in sizes ranging from 32 inch to 55 inch in HD and 4K option.

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Only one in 250 people understood how end-to-end encryption secures the privacy of their chats on messaging apps and are willing to pay some amount to protect their conversations, a study has found.

“Understanding Consumers Perspective on Encryption in India,” by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International), had 2,113 respondents aged between 18 and 65.

All respondents– an almost equal number of males and females–used WhatsApp, 20 per cent used Telegram, 8 per cent used iMessage, 2 per cent used Signal, 1 per cent used Viber, and 2 per cent used Line. People are willing to pay Re 1 per day, on an average, to secure their conversations, said the study.

Encryption is the practice of scrambling data to make it unintelligible for even the service providers. It keeps conversations private but has equally been abused for the spread of fake news and criminal activity. Technologists and privacy experts have always argued that breaking encryption is the first step towards government surveillance on its own citizens.

The new social media rules, notified by the government last month, also ask platforms like WhatsApp to identify the originator of content. Even though IT minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said the government would only want intermediaries to identify the originator and not the content of problematic messages, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has earlier said that attributing messages on the platform would undermine the end-to-end encryption, and its private nature, leading to possibilities of being misused.

As many as 45 per cent respondents claimed to have wondered whether instant messaging service providers can access their messages, while 75 per cent of the respondents perceived the likelihood of unintended recipients accessing their chats increased by 75 per cent, if end-to-end (E2E) encryption is removed.

However, even though all the respondents were WhatsApp users, which swears by its end to end encryption, only 61 per cent of the respondents believed that their chats are end to end encrypted.

Respondents perceived privacy as the third most important benefit of using instant messaging services. Ease or convenience of use and the option of sending audio, video, GIFs and other forms of content on chat were the first two reasons.

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Photo-messaging app Snapchat on Tuesday launched its new entertainment platform ‘Spotlight’ for user-generated content in India.

According to the company, Spotlight surfaces the most entertaining snaps from the Snapchat community all in one place and will become tailored to each Snapchatter over time, based on their preferences and favourites.

With over 5 billion snaps created each day, Spotlight aims to empower the Snapchat community to express themselves and reach a larger audience in a new way.

Spotlight has been designed to entertain the Snapchat community while living up to the snaps’ values, with their wellbeing as a top priority. Spotlight content is moderated and doesn’t allow for public comments. Snaps submitted to Spotlight must respect the content guidelines to receive distribution.

Snap’s $1m a day programme will also be available in India, celebrating and rewarding the creativity of local Snapchatters and offering a chance for creators to earn a share of a $1 million daily fund.

Apart from India, Spotlight is now available in Mexico and Brazil, having launched in 11 countries previously (the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France).

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Indian gamers spend more than eight hours and 36 minutes each week playing, according to a report by Limelight Networks Inc.

Binge gaming has emerged as a phenomenon with over 60 per cent of Indian gamers have spent more than three hours consecutively playing games, said findings of the report released on Monday.

From 2020 to 2021, the average for binge gaming in India increased from 4.1 hours to 5.5 hours — largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic as people are forced to stay at home for long hours due to subsequent lockdowns.

Three quarters (74 per cent) of gamers are interested in purchasing a new console due to updated technology (32 per cent) and faster gameplay (31 per cent). Gamers in India are among those who are most likely to consider upgrading their console (88.4 per cent), said the report.

More than 94 per cent of Indian gamers say the process of downloading games is frustrating and that it needs to be improved. Moreover, gamers who spend anywhere between five to 15 hours in binge gaming account for a whopping 54 per cent of gamers.

Three in five (62 per cent) gamers say they prefer to play video games versus watching a movie or television show. India leads the chart in this case with more than 75 per cent preferring to play games over watching or streaming shows and movies on television or OTT platforms.

“Social interactions improved game performance and latency-free environments are expected by Indian gamers as it gives them an opportunity to connect with gamers across the world and remain engaged for longer durations,” said Ashwin Rao, Country Director of Limelight Networks in India.

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Tech giant Google will lower its planned commission rate for app developers, following complaints from software makers over steep fees.

Google said it will levy a 15 per cent rate on in-app purchases to all developers for annual sales up to $1 million and take a 30 per cent commission from revenues over the $1 million mark.

The new policy will take effect in July.

A company official said 99 per cent of developers log less than $1 million annual revenue on the Play store, reports Yonhap news agency.

Google earlier announced a plan to introduce the 30 per cent commission to all in-app digital goods purchases in South Korea while making it mandatory to use its own payment system for app purchases on its platform, starting January 2021.

The new billing policy caused fierce opposition from tech firms and politicians and the company later delayed its implementation to September.

Last year lawmakers proposed bills that would ban app market operators from imposing certain payment methods in mobile content transactions.

The tech giant has said that the service fee is crucial to reinvest in its platform.

“We will do our best so that South Korean developers can provide their products and services to over 1 billion users from some 300 countries around the world and achieve success in the global market,” a Google official said.

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CarDekho, an auto-tech firm on Monday launched UPLINK, an advanced and compact GPS Vehicle Tracking System.

The device is available at Rs 4,999 along with a one-year subscription and a GPS device with one year warranty.

UPLINK is powered by a compact plug-and-play device that can be connected to any vehicle allowing users to gain real-time access to a host of information such as live tracking, rash driving alerts, trips history, driving analysis, geofence alerts, usage stats, and much more. So vehicle owners can ensure round-the-clock safety, security and surveillance of the vehicle with Uplink.

“Uplink enables vehicle owners to stay connected with their vehicle 24X7 ensuring total peace of mind. Being true to our name “Cardekho”, you can keep track of your vehicle on your device,” Sushant Bhatt, Business Head, Tech Solutions, CarDekho Group, said in a statement.

According to the company, Uplink Telematics Unit i.e. GPS device is one of the most compact devices in its segment, ensuring easy and hidden installation and being plug and play means that it does not require any technician for installation and there is no fear of wire cutting during installation.

Further, it paves the way for advanced connectivity, ensuring continuous communication between the customer with well-designed and User friendly Mobile Apps available on both Android and iOS Platform along with a web portal as well.

The device can be easily installed by the user in the 12V port or the OBD port (depending upon the variant) of the car. It comes pre-installed with a SIM along with the product with an annual plan. Customer support service is the backbone of any offering at CarDekho and UPLINK also comes with a dedicated call centre team that is available to support the customers.

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ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) on Monday announced a new range of PC lineup featuring the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Mobile Processors in India, at a starting price of Rs 10,3990.

The new range of laptops include ROG Strix SCAR 15/17, Strix G17/G15, TUF A15 and ROG Strix Desktop GA35, designed to give the best gaming experience to consumers.

“Our new range of devices comes packed to the brim with the latest technological innovations that give competitive gamers an edge and casual players a whole new level of immersion. We have introduced industry’s fastest display along with innovative cooling solutions to boost gamers’ in-game experience,” Arnold Su, Business Head, Consumer and Gaming PC, System Business Group, ASUS India, said in a statement.

According to the company, the flagship Strix SCAR 15 and Scar 17 integrate the latest innovations to keep the most demanding gamers at the top of their game. It introduces the fast laptop display with a 300Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time.

They come further equipped with powerful new GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs and Ryzen 5000 H-Series Mobile Processors.

Both, Strix SCAR 15 and 17 are the first in Strix series to come with optical-mechanical keyboard, delivering rapid response and high durability at the same time. The laptops are built with quad speakers backed by Dolby Atmos technology to offer a more immersive audio experience, while the Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation processes both input and output audio to make your chats crystal-clear and disturbance free.

The company also launched the ROG Strix G15 and ROG Strix G17, which incorporate the new ROG gaming laptop DNA, making stylish designs accessible to all gamers.

The PC maker also introduced the ROG Strix GA35 gaming desktop for those who are looking for some extra power and the freedom to upgrade and customize.

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The gaming sector in India attracted USD 544 million in investments during August 2020-January 2021 period, and this is set to double over the next 12-18 months on the back of higher user awareness and accelerated engagement, as per a report by Maple Capital Advisors.

With more than 400 million gamers, a plethora of investors are looking to deploy funds in the sector, and with over 15 per cent of the global gaming traffic, Indian gaming market is at an inflexion point.

“We believe gaming is now at an inflexion point with greater investment and consumer traction. With growth-oriented private equities now participating and the first meaningful IPO around the corner, gaming is poised to attract greater capital across stages, and we expect increased cross-border M&A,” Maple Capital Advisors founder and MD Pankaj Karna said.

He added that the investments are expected to double in the sector in the next 12-18 months.

“Consumer traction (15 per cent of global traffic) on the back of greater awareness and engagement is likely to accelerate. Also, clearer category leaders are likely to emerge. We expect improved regulatory coverage or judicial clarity, especially in the real money gaming space,” he said.

As per the report, growth capital funds like Chrys Capital and TPG participated and numerous others have started to look at the sector.

Early-stage investments have spanned actively on e-sports and casual gaming and are witnessing good growth, it added.

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Indian music label Saregama’s Carvaan series of portable music players is now an established brand, popular among people across generations for its timeless collection of songs. The series has been upgraded with new features several times, and the latest entrant brings karaoke features with built-in screen and about 1,000 karaoke tracks to choose from. Named Saregama Carvaan Karaoke, the music player still looks pretty, quite like the previous generation Carvaan 2.0 (review). But it has gained a little bit of weight – not too much, just a little.

Starting with the Karaoke-related features first, the Saregama Carvaan Karaoke has a built-in screen, and it comes with a pair of wireless microphones. Besides, the music player now comes with an HDMI out port, in addition to USB 2.0 and AUX-in ports. While the placement of buttons and ports remains mostly the same as in Saregama Carvaan 2.0, the top side of the Carvaan Karaoke houses its pop-up screen module, which comes out in the Karaoke mode. It is a colour screen with no support for touch operations. Nevertheless, the screen is big enough to stay readable even from a distance. It, however, lacks the brightness to stay legible in outdoors.

The screen shows information related to karaoke track collection, making it easy to browse through the catalogue and find songs of choice. Once a song is selected, the screen shows the lyrics (Hindi and English) in bold letters with a highlight function to keep you in sync with the audio track. The highlight feature is colour coded – sky blue for parts in the lyrics sung by a male voice and purple for female. Thanks to the HDMI out port, you can connect the Carvaan Karaoke with a supported screen or projector. The HDMI connection, however, only projects the lyrics on the connected screen and does not bypass audio. Speaking of the audio output, the Carvaan Karaoke’s speakers boast a good volume level but are not able to keep up well in terms of quality. The speakers are tuned for vocals which works for karaoke tracks but not otherwise. The speakers lack bass depth, and the treble is misguided.

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Samsung has released the One UI 3.1, the latest version of its custom Android skin update, for the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite.

The update brought a refreshed UI design and various other features to the mid-range tablet.

“The update also brought a major feature to the device: Samsung DeX,” reports SamMobile.

DeX support will allow Galaxy Tab S6 Lite users to optimally connect it to the big screen and use it as a portable desktop.

The update now means a more productive use of the S Pen, external keyboard, mouse or when an external screen connection is made.

One UI 3.1 features improved touch autofocus and autoexposure controller, making adjusting the focus and brightness of photos easier.

With the latest update, Samsung syncs the weather widgets on the main and cover screens to offer the same information to the users while also allowing them to turn these screens off with a double-tap or a palm touch.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite last year. The tablet features a 10.4-inch display, and it comes bundled with the S Pen.

It also packs a 7,040mAh battery. The tablet comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage on both models.

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