Bharti group-backed OneWeb and New Space India Limited, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, have entered into an agreement that will help ensure OneWeb completes its satellite launch programme, a statement said on Thursday.

The first launch with New Space India is expected in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

The launches will add to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications firm OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation of 428 satellites — 66 per cent of the planned total fleet — to build a global network that will deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity.

Announcing the pact for the satellite launch programme with New Space India, OneWeb, in the statement, said it remains on track for developing its satellite constellation network, delivering industry-grade secure connectivity.

“This is yet another historic day for collaboration in space, thanks to the shared ambition and vision of New Space India and OneWeb.

“This most recent agreement on launch plans adds considerable momentum to the development of OneWeb’s network, as we work together across the Space industry toward our common goal of connecting communities globally,” Sunil Bharti Mittal, OneWeb Executive Chairman, said.

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Twitter-rival Koo on Wednesday said it has become the first significant social media platform to publish the philosophy and workings behind its core algorithms, thereby empowering users to understand why they are seeing the content that they do.

These algorithms were made public on Koo’s website, according to a statement.

Algorithms are a set of mathematical rules that help to personalise and improve experiences for users based on their own behaviours and preferences. The core tenet of these algorithms is to drive relevancy for a user.

Koo’s latest move comes at a time when transparency and free speech concerns have dominated the public narrative around social media platforms such as Twitter.

Last week, the world’s richest man Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for USD 43 billion and has since been vocal about the need for the social media giant to drive greater transparency on how and why it promotes content. Musk also said Twitter should open-source its algorithms.

In a statement on Wednesday, homegrown micro-blogging platform Koo said it has become the first significant social media company to make its algorithms public, adding that the move “establishes Koo as a transparent and safe platform.”

“This move reiterates Koo’s commitment to platform transparency and neutrality, while keeping user interests at the core. It empowers users to know why they are seeing the content that they do,” the statement added.

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Google had first launched Android Go in December 2017. Five editions of Android Go have been launched since then.

Android Go is a lighter version of the Android operating system that most of us are familiar with.

It has been designed for low-end and ultra-budget smartphones. Specifically, it is intended for use in smartphones with 2 GB of RAM or less.

It has platform optimizations that reduce mobile data usage. Also, it has a special suite of Google Mobile Services that are less bandwidth-and resource-intensive. Even the memory footprint of Google Play Services has been reduced.

Android Go has been focusing on optimizing the latest Android releases so that they can run smoothly on budget devices.

And what has been the impact? Smartphones with less powerful processors, smaller memory, and less available mobile data have been able to use Android software.

Given that it works with entry-level smartphones with between 512MB and 2GB of RAM, Android Go has resulted in more affordable devices that have Android features that are essential for a smartphone experience.

And, how is all this made possible? First of all, a lighter set of Google apps, such as Google Chrome, all of which require less memory, storage space and mobile data, is used.

Then there is a light version of the Google Play Store. While it features the entire Android app catalogue, it also highlights apps that require less data, storage, or memory.

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Content streaming platform Netflix, which reduced its subscription prices in India late last year, is witnessing an uptick in user engagement in the country, as it doubles down on creating more localised content.

In a first quarter (Q1) earnings call with analysts, Netflix said it has seen a nice growth in the country after it announced in December that its mobile-only plan was available at Rs 149 per month, and entry-level plan at Rs 199 per month.

“The product fit incorporates subscription prices as well as willingness and ability to pay. So we have seen a nice uptick in engagement in India. We are definitely taking it in the right direction,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said late on Tuesday.

According to Netflix COO Greg Peters, the subscribers in India are largely behaving similar to the subscribers they have added over the last 12 months.

“So not a fundamental difference. And really, this was a bet in terms of long-term revenue maximisation, which is sort of how we think about the top level, the valuatory model we have for these things,” Peters told analysts.

He said that Ted’s team “is doing some incredible work on Indian content, and we saw the slate there”.

“And we’re really excited about a bunch of titles that were coming down and thought there was an opportunity to broaden the audience that got to see those titles,” he announced.

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The end-user spending on public cloud in India is likely to reach $7.5 billion in 2022 — growing 29.3 per cent from 2021, a Gartner report said on Tuesday.

Cloud system infrastructure services (IaaS) is forecast to record the highest growth this year (39.4 per cent), followed by cloud application infrastructure services (PaaS).

IaaS will also be the highest spending vertical for end-users in India in 2022.

“Driven by maturation of core cloud services, the focus of differentiation is gradually shifting to capabilities that can disrupt digital businesses and operations in enterprises directly,” said Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner.

“Public cloud services have become so integral that providers are now forced to address social and political challenges, such as sustainability and data sovereignty,” he added.

Global end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4% in 2022 to total $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021.

In 2023, end-user spending is expected to reach nearly $600 billion.

Global IaaS is forecast to experience the highest end-user spending growth in 2022 at 30.6 per cent, followed by desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) at 26.6 per cent and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) at 26.1 per cent.

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Tech giant Apple has expanded the cycling directions in its Maps app to users in some cities in the US, including Chicago, Detroit and Columbus.

Introduced with iOS 14, cycling directions provide users with a wealth of information for their coming bike ride. Navigation assets include designated bike lanes, paths, inclines, stairs, and obstacles, reports AppleInsider.

The new biking directions cover “all of Ohio and West Virginia and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia,” the report said.

This is a continuation of the rollout of biking paths within Apple Maps. On April 1, 2022, Apple added them to the Northeastern US.

Apple Maps enthusiast Justin O’Beirne in a blogpost noted that biking expansion within Maps followed closely with its mapping developments. He suggests that the locations of the state of Texas and the Gulf Coast are likely to be next in receiving more detailed information for cyclists.

Apple Maps has continued to receive active expansion and increased support since its launch in 2012. In late March 2022, Apple expanded its coverage of metropolitan Canada with advanced navigation and 3D landmarks.

With this latest update, Apple Maps now provides cycling directions for almost 26 per cent of US territory, with almost 52 per cent of the country’s population covered, 9To5Mac reported.

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The prices of cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles in Delhi may go up as the transport department proposes a hike in road tax of some categories of vehicles, official sources said on Monday.

The proposal for raising road tax on specific categories of vehicles has been forwarded by the transport department to the finance department, they claimed.

The road tax on private vehicles in Delhi is presently up to 12.5 per cent depending on fuel type and price range.

In its annual budget 2022-23, the Delhi government’s Transport Department has set the target to collect around Rs 2,000 crore from various taxes and fees.

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A poison pill strategy gives existing shareholders the right to purchase additional stock at a significant discount, thus diluting the holdings of a new, hostile investor. It is officially known as a shareholder rights plan. Twitter’s poison will stay in place for a limited duration of one year.

The shareholder who triggers the poison pill will be blocked from making these discounted stock purchases.

Twitter’s pill would be triggered if a shareholder acquires more than 15% of the company in a deal not approved by the board.

Twitter said the move aims to enable its investors to “realize the full value of their investment” by reducing the likelihood of any one person gaining control of the company without either paying shareholders an appropriate control premium or giving the board more time.

Twitter’s board is still assessing Musk’s offer. And it would only put it to the company’s shareholders for a vote after approval.

Musk, on his part, had said that his current non-binding $43 billion buyout offer was partly contingent on “completion of anticipated financing”.

Musk currently owns 9.1% of Twitter. If he were to increase his holding to more than 15%, Twitter’s defence strategy will flood the market with new shares that all shareholders except Musk can buy at a discounted price.

This would instantly dilute Musk’s stake, making the takeover way more expensive.

The strategy also gives Twitter more time to evaluate Musk’s offer and can force him to directly negotiate with its board.

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In its bid to enhance user chat experience and privacy, Telegram messenger on Monday launched several new features.

The new tools include custom notification sounds, custom mute durations, new auto-delete menu in profiles, web integration for BOTs, replies in forwarded messages, improved message translations on iOS, improved Picture-in-Picture on Android, and more.

With the latest update, users can turn any sound into a notification tone, whether it is a short audio file, or a voice message.

“They can also create custom alerts through any music or memes,” said the company.

Sounds added in the notification sound list can be assigned to any chat.

Tones currently support audio files and voice messages under 5 seconds up to 300 KB in size.

Telegram earlier supported the feature of temporarily muting chats for 8 hours or 2 days.

“With the latest update, users can now mute notifications for a specific duration, like the length of a midday nap or extended vacation,” the company announced.

With the new auto-delete feature, users can now auto-delete any chat to make a conversation more confidential or less cluttered.

The latest update, enables users to enable flexible timer settings – like 2 days, 3 weeks, 4 months, and more for auto-delete of any chat.

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American technology giant Apple recently refreshed its entry-level smartphone, the iPhone SE, with a new processor – Apple A15 Bionic. Though similar to the last generation model with regard to design, which looks underwhelming due to small screen footprint and thick bezels, it goes strong with all the improvements the new chip brings to the table. Among other things, the Apple A15 Bionic brings significant improvement in both processes and graphics performance. Moreover, it makes the smartphone future-proof by enabling support for the 5G network.

Starting with performance gains, the iPhone SE 2022 edition handles everyday operations with ease and does a good job with regard to heavy-duty tasks. Graphics performance is good too, be it for resource-intensive gaming titles or video editing apps like Adobe Premiere Rush. While the iPhone SE 2022 edition delivers a stellar performance, not all of it translates to improved user experience simply because the phone does not utilise the chip to the max of its potential. Take for example the phone’s HD resolution screen of 60Hz refresh rate. It is bright and colourful but lacks sharpness and smoothness. For a chip that powers the iPhone 13 series, it is capable of powering a pixel-rich display of enhanced refresh rate but here, on the iPhone SE 2022 edition, it is underutilised.

Underutilised it may be, but the A15 Bionic in the iPhone SE 2022 edition has its advantages. Foremost, it makes the phone future-proof. The iPhone SE 2022 edition will receive about the same operating system (iOS) updates as the premium iPhone 13 series. Besides, the chip enables 5G network support. Therefore, it will be relevant when the next-generation mobile network becomes operational in the country. On-battery time is another parameter where the A15 Bionic proves beneficial.

Despite the performance gains, the phone does not compromise on the battery efficiency. Compared with the last-generation model, the 2022 edition has about two-hours extra battery life. Not much, but still a fair improvement for a smartphone that weighs about the same as last-gen model. On a side note, the iPhone SE 2022 edition is not a smartphone you can use all-day on a single charge, especially if you are a power-user.

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