Industy Updates

Samsung is expected to launch as many as three phones - Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy S10+, and Samsung Galaxy S10e. Samsung could also unveil a foldable Samsung Galaxy X, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and the Samsung Galaxy Buds. Samsung is all set to launch its tenth anniversary  Galaxy S10 series  smartphones on February 20 at a 'Galaxy Unpacked' event in San Francisco. In India, people can live stream the event from 12:30 am midnight on February 21. The live stream of the Galaxy Unpacked event would be available on Samsung's Facebook page, Twitter page and YouTube channel. This year, Samsung is expected to launch as many as three phones - Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy S10+, and Samsung Galaxy S10e. Samsung could also unveil a foldable Samsung Galaxy X, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and the Samsung Galaxy Buds. the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus will have a Super AMOLED curved edge-to-edge display design. On the other hand, the display of the S...

Acqui-hire is a portmanteau of  "acquisition" and "hiring". This is Intel's first major talent acquisition in India . US-headquartered technology giant Intel Corporation has acqui-hired Hyderabad-based Ineda Systems' 100 engineers, in what seems to be a swift move, sealed between the two companies a week ago--on February 12. Acqui-hire is a portmanteau of "acquisition" and "hiring". This is being seen as a validation of India's talent capabilities and establishes the fact that it has come a long way from where it began seven years ago. Dasaradha R Gude, the founder of Ineda, told Business Today that since it was an acqui-hire deal, the global giant was acquiring Ineda's 100 engineers and one of their office facilities in Hyderabad. This apparently is to help Intel expand and grow faster. Ineda, however he clarifies, will retain its IP and its products; including microchips, medical devices, and smart meters. Ineda, he...

The Pentagon will evaluate the certification for Elon Musk's SpaceX launch vehicles to determine whether the US Air Force complied with certain guidelines, according to a memo on Monday. "Our objective is to determine whether the US Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles," US Department Of Defense Deputy Inspector General Michael Roark said in the memo. In December, a SpaceX rocket carrying a US military navigation satellite blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral, marking the space transportation company's first national security space mission for the United States. The successful launch was a significant victory for billionaire Musk, who has spent years trying to break into the lucrative market for military space launches dominated by Lockheed Martin Corp and ...

The Rs 119 recharge plan from Vodafone India comes with 1GB of data and unlimited voice calling benefits for 28 days Vodafone India has launched a new recharge plan priced at Rs 119. The new plan comes with 1GB of data and unlimited voice calling benefits for 28 days. However, the Vodafone Rs 119 plan is only available in limited circles and hasn't been launched countrywide as an open market plan. Vodafone India also has a Rs 169 plan with 1 GB data, 100 SMSs, 28 days validity and free access to Vodafone Play app . But, unlike the Vodafone 119 plan, the Vodafone 169 is available as an open market plan. The Vodafone 119 recharge plan is available in the 4G circles and only to the select users. Also, the plan does not include SMS benefits unlike the Rs 169. There is also a similar Rs 119 recharge plan for the Idea Cellular customers in circles such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Kerala circles. Vodafone India had introduced the Rs 169 recharge plan in 2018 to offer un...

Microsoft is set to host its annual three-day Build developer conference at the Washington State Convention Centre in Seattle from May 6 to 8. The Build conference is Microsoft's main annual developer event where the company unveils its latest Windows versions alongside additions to other software and service tools like Office and Azure. The software giant is planning to post the agenda of the event later this month and open registrations from February 27, The Verge reported on Wednesday.  The company is currently finalizing its latest Windows 10 update, code-named "19H1" which is expected to reach the existing machines ahead of event leaving room for Microsoft to highlight new features in its upcoming Windows 10 release scheduled for later this year.  The software giant is also likely to outline details of "Windows Lite" - which is a lighter version of the operating system (OS) for users who do not require full power Windows...

NASA and SpaceX are now aiming for a March debut of the first capsule from a private company designed to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. No one will be on board for the crew Dragon's inaugural test flight to the orbiting outpost. Officials on Wednesday set March 2 as the latest launch date. If the demo goes well, two NASA astronauts will take a test flight in July aboard the SpaceX capsule. It would be the first launch of US astronauts into orbit, from US soil, since NASA's shuttle program ended in 2011. President Donald Trump mentioned the upcoming milestone in Tuesday night's State of the Union address. Boeing, meanwhile, is shooting for an April launch of its first Starliner capsule without a crew. The first Starliner flight with astronauts would be August at best. NASA's commercial crew program has been delayed repeatedly over the years, forcing a lengthy, expensive reliance on Russian rockets. Each seat on a Russian Soyuz c...

Samsung’s four-camera phone Galaxy A9 gets more affordable, price down by Rs 6,000 Samsung Galaxy A9 has a setup of four cameras - a 24-megapixel primary sensor, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. Samsung Galaxy A9, the world’s first quad-camera smartphone, has become more affordable the latest price cut. Samsung has slashed the price of the Galaxy A9 to Rs 30,990 for the base variant, just about a month after its price was reduced to Rs 33,990 from the original pricing of Rs 36,990. The Samsung Galaxy A9 was launched in India last year and went up for sale in November. The new pricing of the Galaxy A9 base variant with 6GB RAM is Rs 30,990 while the 8GB RAM variant now costs Rs 33,990. The Samsung online store now reflects the new pricing and it seems to be the permanent one. Flipkart has also revised the pricing of the smartphone on its website along with some offers that will bring the effe...

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the head honcho of Walmart-backed Flipkart, sends an internal email to employees reiterating Walmart's confidence in the Indian market. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the CEO of Walmart-backed Flipkart yesterday shot down a recent Morgan Stanley report that suggested India's new FDI (foreign direct investment) norms for e-commerce might prompt the US retail behemoth to divest its stake in the homegrown e-tailer unless it found a long-term path to profitability. According to The Business Standard, the head honcho sent an internal email to Flipkart employees on Tuesday reiterating Walmart's confidence in India. "The report couldn't be further than the truth. Walmart remains extremely confident about the potential of the Indian market and in Flipkart's ability to lead the e-commerce space," read the email. "By partnering with Flipkart, Walmart has taken a long-term view of the opportunities and hence is unfazed by any short-term ...

  Samsung Galaxy M20 is available in multiple RAM and storage combinations. Galaxy M10 is available in 2GB RAM and 16GB storage and 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variants Samsung will soon launch its 'made in India' Galaxy M smartphones in Indonesia. Indonesia's e-commerce websites , Jd.id and Lazada.co.id have already started teasing the Samsung Galaxy M phones on their websites. The teaser has confirmed that Samsung M20 will surely be launched in Indonesia, however, there hasn't been any confirmation regarding the Samsung Galaxy M10. Samsung will launch the Galaxy M-series in Indonesia on February 14. In India, Samsung Galaxy M20 is available in multiple RAM and storage combinations. It sports two rear cameras including 13-megapixel (f/1.9 aperture) and 5-megapixel (f/2.2 aperture) sensors. It is powered by Exynos 7885 processor paired with 3GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and features a 3.5mm headphone jack along with a USB Type-C po...

DPIIT will hold a meeting with stakeholders including those companies and groups that were opposed to the tighter FDI guidelines The upcoming policy to govern the country’s  e-commerce  is unlikely to provide for a separate regulator for the sector but will incorporate the recently updated  foreign direct investment  (FDI) norms. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will hold a meeting with stakeholders including those companies and groups that were opposed to the tighter FDI guidelines, which became effective February 1, before finalizing the policy. The government had turned down demands for an extension of the deadline. “We will have a stakeholder meeting soon where FDI issues would be discussed. However, we are not sure if a separate regulator will be set up for e-commerce ,” said a senior official. The DPIIT, which was until recently the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), has been made responsible for the p...

As the Cloud continues to drive down the cost of storage and computing, a new generation of applications has emerged, creating a new set of requirements for databases, said Amazon CTO Werner Vogels Retail giant  Amazon   that rode on its growing Cloud business to log $72.4 billion sales in the December quarter, strongly believes that traditional databases that companies like Oracle provide are gone and customers are now seeking data compute and storage solutions to solve specific problem sets. According to Amazon's Chief Technology Officer (CTO)  Werner Vogels , as the Cloud continues to drive down the cost of storage and computing, a new generation of applications has emerged, creating a new set of requirements for databases.  "Unlike traditional databases which claim to solve every possible scenario, we believe in giving more choices to the customers who are constantly looking for databases that can solve a particular problem set for them," Vogels told ...

An eleven-year-old boy moved the Bombay High Court Thursday seeking a ban on the popular mobile game 'PUBG'. Ahad Nizam, who filed the public interest litigation through his mother, said the game promotes violence, aggression, and cyber-bullying. The court should direct the Maharashtra government to ban it, the PIL said. Earlier, a students union from Jammu and Kashmir, as well as National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had also asked for a ban on the game.  "The petition has also sought a direction to the central government to form an Online Ethics Review Committee for periodical checking of such violence-oriented online content," petitioner's lawyer Tanveer Nizam said. It is likely to come up for hearing before a division bench headed by Chief Justice N H Patil. PUBG or 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' is an online game where 100 players fight it out in free for all combat where the sole survivor wins. While the PIL mentions P...

Amazon has been forced to remove an array of products from its website in India to comply with new regulations. The rules prevent online retailers from selling products through vendors in which they hold an equity stake. The regulations are expected to have a far-reaching impact on India's e-commerce sector, which has drawn billions in foreign investment. Amazon and Flipkart lobbied against the laws which aim to protect small businesses. The changes to foreign direct investment rules, which come into force 1 February, also stop online retailers from making deals to sell exclusively on their platforms. Amazon sparks fears with sales forecast Walmart wins the battle for Flipkart Amazon launches Hindi version of the website Small retailers in India have long pushed for tougher competition rules, arguing the major players have an unfair advantage. But Amazon and Walmart, which owns a majority stake in locally-grown platform Flipkart, both lobbied against the new ...