TN Industrial Development Corporation to set up testing labs for drones in Kancheepuram

Chennai, Aug 19 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will be setting up an integrated testing complex for drones and strategic electronics at Vallam Vadagal in Kancheepuram district of the state.

The testing complex, according to officials with the TIDCO will comprise greenfield testing infrastructure including electromagnetic compatibility or Electromagnetic interference testing (EMC/EMI).

It is to be noted that Tamil Nadu has a large number of electronic manufacturing and design-focused industries and this provides the state leverage and high potential for EMI and EMC testing.

According to TIDCO officials, the testing infrastructure to come up at Kancheepuram will attract investment and funding from global and domestic aerospace and defence original equipment manufacturers.

The Indian defence forces are slated to purchase unmanned aerial vehicle worth USD 3 billion in the next ten years from domestic makers. A study has revealed that the testing industry in India which is now pegged at an estimate of Rs 130 crore to Rs 170 crore will be touching upto Rs 220 crore by 2030. This is mainly owing to the increasing dependence of domestic manufacturers by that time. The study also finds that the total market size of the electronic warfare systems in India is expected to be anywhere between Rs 600 to Rs 700 crores by 2030.

At present, there are no dedicated testing facilities available in public or private domain for MSMEs and other industrial players in the country. The testing requirements for EMI and EMC are complex and specific and this makes the new centre more important and necessary for the defence industry.

The EMC and EMI tests assure that the device does not interfere with the operation of other equipment and the tests provide improved and heightened reliability and credibility for anyone using electronic and electrical equipment.

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Instagram, YouTube start discouraging users from sharing videos on TikTok

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) Threatened by the meteoric rise of Chinese short-form video platform TikTok, Meta-owned Instagram and Google-owned YouTube have introduced new features to discourage their short-video app users from cross-platform sharing.

According to reports, when trying to download an edited clip to an iPhone in Instagram Reels, the audio from the clip just disappeared.

"It means if you want to export the footage from Reels to use in another app (like TikTok), you have to actually post the Reel first in order to save the sound," reports The Verge.

It was possible recently to download the clip with audio and use it on TikTok.

Creators can still post the same Reels video to TikTok but they need first to upload the video to Instagram, edit it, download that clip and send it over to TikTok, the report mentioned late on Thursday.

On the other hand, when creators now make a video on YouTube Shorts, they will not be able to download the video and cross-post it to other apps without a "YouTube watermark".

"If you're a creator who downloads your Shorts from YouTube Studio to share across other platforms, you'll now find a watermark added to your downloaded content," YouTube said in an update.

"We've added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you're sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts," the company added.

The new YouTube Shorts feature is being rolled out over the next few weeks on desktop, and the company plans to expand to mobile over the coming months.

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Snap to shelve development of its Pixy drone camera: Report

San Francisco, Aug 19 (IANS) Just four months after unveiling its much-anticipated pocket-sized drone camera Pixy, Snap is scrapping the development of its flying drone technology, media reports say.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told employees at a Q&A session about the choice to no longer develop the Pixy line, citing the Wall Street Journal, The Verge reported.

A source told the publication the company plans to sell the current Pixy, and that model is still available for purchase on the Pixy website.

The report mentioned that, in an interview, Spiegel had teased that the company might consider a second iteration.

"The goal is really just to get it in people's hands and have them play around with it," he was quoted as saying.

"And maybe we would make more with version two if people love the original product," it added.

Pixy is said to be a pocket-sized device and can help you create better content.

At the launch in April, Snap claimed that the drone camera can automatically crop into portrait and apply quick Smart Edits, like Hyperspeed, Bounce, Orbit 3D and Jump Cut. And then, users can share it to Chat, Stories, Spotlight, or any other platform.

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Google to reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in Search results

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) Google is rolling out new updates to cut low-quality and unoriginal content in Search results, making it easier for people to find helpful content.

A search ranking update called the "Helpful Content Update" will start rolling out globally to English language users on August 22.

"We know people don't find the content helpful if it seems like it was designed to attract clicks rather than inform readers. So starting next week for English users globally, we're rolling out a series of improvements to Search to make it easier for people to find helpful content made specifically by and for people," said Danny Sullivan, Public Liaison for Search.

This update will help make sure that "unoriginal, low-quality content doesn't rank highly in Search, particularly for online-educational materials, entertainment, shopping, and tech-related content, he said in a blog post late on Thursday.

The new ranking update joins a similar effort related to ranking better quality product review content over the past year, which will also receive an update.

Together, these launches are part of a broader, ongoing effort to reduce low-quality content and make it easier to find content that feels authentic and useful in Search, said Google.

"For example, if you search for information about a new movie, you'll see more results with unique, authentic information, so you're more likely to read something you haven't seen before," the company informed.

Last year, Google kicked off a series of updates to show more helpful, in-depth reviews based on first-hand expertise in search results.

"We've continued to refine these systems, and in the coming weeks, we'll roll out another update to make it even easier to find high-quality, original reviews," said the company.

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Elon Musk tweeted about buying Manchester United, believe it or not

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday announced on Twitter that he is buying British football club Manchester United.

Musk, however, did not disclose the sum he is paying for acquiring the legendary football team.

The club has a latest market cap of nearly $2.08 billion.

"I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk posted in a tweet.

However, it was not immediately clear if Musk was just having fun or was serious about the acquisition.

The American Glazer family owns the club, who purchased it for around 790 million pounds in 2005.

The announcement came as he was engaged in a political tweet thread.

"To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!" he posted, before the US midterm elections in November.

Musk supporters have asked him to buy Manchester United rather than Twitter in the past.

Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United, or simply United, is based in the Old Trafford area of Greater Manchester, England.

The club competes in the Premier League, the top division in the English football league system.

Nicknamed the Red Devils, it was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, but changed its name to Manchester United in 1902. The club moved from Newton Heath to its current stadium, Old Trafford, in 1910.

Manchester United have won a record 20 League titles, 12 FA Cups, five League Cups and a record 21 FA Community Shields.

It is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world and has rivalries with Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Leeds United.

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DigitalOcean users emails allegedly leaked in a recent Mailchimp hack

Cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean has admitted that some of its customers' personal information was exposed in a recent security incident disclosed by email marketing company Mailchimp. DigitalOcean's head of security Tyler Healy said in a blog post on Tuesday that On August 8, the company discovered that its Mailchimp account had been compromised as part of what "we suspect to be a wider Mailchimp security incident that affected their customers, targeted at crypto and blockchain". Mailchimp had earlier admitted a recent attack targeting its crypto-related users, but did not divulge more details. From that Mailchimp incident, we suspect certain DigitalOcean customer email addresses may have been exposed. Out of an abundance of caution, we are currently sending email communications to those impacted. DigitalOcean said that a "very small number of DigitalOcean customers experienced attempted compromise of their accounts through password resets". "These customers' accounts have been secured, and have been contacted directly. As of August 9th, we have migrated email services away from Mailchimp," the company informed. It said that no customer information other than email address was compromised. "However, we recommend increased vigilance against phishing attempts in the coming weeks, in addition to enabling two-factor authentication on your DigitalOcean account," the company advised. Mailchimp said that they were continuing their investigation and proactively providing impacted users with timely and accurate information throughout the process. DigitalOcean said that the broader email outage incident management team decided to immediately migrate critical services away from Mailchimp to another email service provider.

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Indian chip component market to hit 300 billion in 4 years time: Report

India's semiconductor component market is likely to reach $300 billion in cumulative revenues by 2026, as 'Make in India' and production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes will boost local sourcing of semi-components in the coming years, a new report said on Tuesday. Mobile and wearables, IT and industrial segments currently contribute around 80 per cent of the semiconductor revenues in the country in 2021. Further policy reforms and building of a semiconductor ecosystem will reduce reliance on imports going forward, according to the report by the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) and Counterpoint Research. "Before the end of this decade, there will be nothing that will not be touched by electronics and the ubiquitous 'chip'. Be it fighting carbon emissions, renewable energy, food safety, or healthcare, the semiconductor chip will be all-pervasive," said Krishna Moorthy, CEO and President, IESA. The Indian government recently announced an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore (around $10 billion), under its PLI scheme, separately for the development of a semiconductor and display manufacturing electronics ecosystem. Meanwhile, Maharashtra has beaten at least 5 states to win a stupendous Rs 2.06 lakh-crore investment by Vedanta Group-Foxconn partnership in the sunrise semiconductors chips and display fabrications sector in Pune. "The gradual shift from feature phones to smartphones has been generating increased proportions of advanced logic processors, memory, integrated controllers, sensors and other components. This will continue to drive the value of the semiconductor content in smartphones, aided by the rise of wearables such as smartwatch and TWS," explained Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research. According to Counterpoint Vice President Neil Shah, the next big boom for semiconductor components will come from across sectors. "However, the telecom sector with the advent of 5G and fiber network rollout will be a key catalyst in boosting the semiconductor components consumption," Shah said. This consumption will not only come from the advanced semiconductor-heavy 5G and FTTH network infrastructure equipment, which will contribute to more than 14 per cent of the total semiconductor consumption in 2026, "but also from the highly capable AI-driven 5G endpoints, from smartphones, tablets, PCs, connected cars, industrial robotics to private networks," he mentioned. In 2021, India's end equipment market stood at $119 billion in terms of revenue. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19% from 2021 to 2026. The electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India will play a major role in the country's overall growth, from sourcing components to design manufacturing, the report mentioned.

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Spotify to allow users to post audio reactions to music playlists

Swedish music streaming platform Spotify is working on a new feature to let users post audio comments or reactions to music playlists. A Reddit user in Vietnam first spotted this Spotify experiment, reports The Verge. "So what do you think? Record an episode to share your thoughts on the playlist," read the interface. Below the notification is a record button to start the audio recording. There are also some simple editing options like being able to add background music and tags. The reaction feature seems to be accessible via a microphone icon on the playlist's page, the report noted. "We are currently running a limited test of in-app audio creation, but have no further details to share at this time," the company was quoted as saying. Spotify is also experimenting with letting users record and post podcasts directly from the app. The music streaming giant last week introduced a new design for the home screen of its mobile app that includes feeds for both Music and Podcasts and Shows. The company said the feature is currently rolling out to Android users and will soon be available on iOS. In the Music feed, listeners will have quick access to suggestions based on their music taste, making discovering new favourites easier than ever. There will also be album and playlist recommendations as well as buttons that make it easy to share, like, and instantly play music. In the Podcast and Shows feed, listeners will be able to head straight to new episodes of their favourite shows.

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PM Modi shares his vision for Digital India in this Techade: Heres what it is

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the country's wait for the 5G technology is over and the benefits of 'Digital India' will reach every village soon. Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the 75th Independence Day, Modi said that India's 'Techade' is here with 5G and local thrust on semiconductor and mobile phone manufacturing. "We are bringing revolution through 'Digital India' to the grassroots levels and soon, every village will be connected digitally as we usher in the 5G era," Modi said during his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort. The Prime Minister is likely to officially launch the 5G network during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) on September 29. "From digital payments to mobile and semiconductor manufacturing, we are in a time of change that happens in an era. The digital age is changing around us. It has redefined politics, economy and society," he emphasised. "India is an aspirational society where changes are being powered by a collective spirit," said Modi. After a successful 5G spectrum auction, the country is likely to witness the roll out of the much awaited high speed 5G mobile services in about a month's time.

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Elon Musk envisions a self-sustaining city on Mars in 20 years

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that he hopes for a self-sustaining city on the Red Planet in 20 years' time, as his space company prepares Starship to take people and cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond. Musk said in a tweet: "I hope there is a self-sustaining city on Mars in 20 years!" Last month, the world's richest man said he was optimistic that "humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime". "Without a common goal, humanity will fight itself. The Moon brought us together in 1969, Mars can do that in the future," Musk had said. The Tesla CEO had stated that making life multiplanetary will help back up the ecosystems on Earth and added that apart from humans no other species can transport life to Mars. Referring to Biblical patriarch Noah who built an Ark that survived the great flood on Earth, Musk said his Starship models will be "modern Noah's Arks", that can save "life from a calamity on Earth". SpaceX's Starship consists of a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 metres) upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship. Both elements are designed to be fully reusable, and both will be powered by SpaceX's next-generation Raptor engines, 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship. Last week, it was reported that the much-awaited first orbital test flight of the Starship vehicle will not lift off this month as it has not yet received the necessary launch clearance. Earlier, the launch was scheduled for July and was shifted to August later. On August 2, Musk said that a successful orbital flight is probably "between 1 and 12 months from now." According to a radio-spectrum licence application that the company filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), SpaceX is targeting a six-month window that opens on September 1 for the highly anticipated mission.

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Uber Rewards to be discontinued soon: Know details here

Ride-hailing platform Uber is closing down its loyalty programme, Uber Rewards, with users being urged to sign up for the Uber One subscription to get regular Uber and Uber Eats discounts. Launched in 2018, Uber Rewards is a free programme that lets you rack points for every dollar you spend when hitching a ride or ordering food through Uber and Uber Eats, reports The Verge. You can then use these points to earn discounts on future rides or deliveries. The more points you earn, the better perks you get -- earning 7,500 points. However, Uber is not offering a replacement for the programme, and there is no another way to consistently earn perks and discounts unless you pay for an Uber One subscription, which Uber launched as a replacement for Eats Pass last year. A $9.99/month (or $49.99/year) subscription comes with perks like free food deliveries, up to 10 per cent off of "eligible" Uber Eats orders, and 5 per cent off on rides from top-rated drivers.

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US bill that couldve allowed parents to sue social media companies addictive features fizzles out

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) California lawmakers have rejected a much-anticipated bill allowing parents to sue social media platforms over their addictive features for kids has failed in the legislature.

The Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act (AB 2408) failed to pass out of committee for a full state Senate vote, reports Miami Herald.

The bill would have let local prosecutors sue social media platforms for up to $250,000 per violation for knowingly using tools that can make children addicted to their products.

"As we've said from the start, protecting children online is a priority but must be done responsibly and effectively," Dylan Hoffman, executive director for California and the Southwest of TechNet was quoted as saying.

"We're glad to see that this bill won't move forward in its current form. If it had, companies would've been punished for simply having a platform that kids can access," Hoffman said in the report that came out on Friday.

Supporters said that such rules are necessary to protect children from companies who turn a blind eye to the harm caused to their mental health by social media addiction.

The Bill applied to social networks that generate less than $100 million annually or are primarily intended for video games.

"I am extremely disappointed. The bill's death means a handful of social media companies will be able to continue their experiment on millions of California kids, causing generational harm," said bill author Jordan Cunningham.

The demise of the bill comes at a time when US President Joe Biden has called for new child safety protections online.

Critics of the bill argued that it would have pushed services toward privacy-threatening age verification.

"It hurts the kids by depriving them of valuable social outlets and educational resources," according to Internet policy expert Eric Goldman.

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Google Search shows which streaming services have specific games

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) Tech giant Google's Search will show users what cloud streaming services have a particular video game, building on existing support for movies, TV, and music.

According to 9To5Google, for years, Google Search has acted as an aggregator of the world's streaming services.

If you want to watch a particular show, users can use Google Search or Google TV to get accurate info about what services it is on, the report said.

For example, searching for The Simpsons reveals that the show can be streamed from various apps, including Disney+ and Hulu, or purchased from multiple stores, it added.

In the last few days, Google Search has expanded this capability to include support for video games.

However, rather than including links to various consoles' storefronts or to the many PC gaming retailers, Google is strictly focusing on cloud gaming.

As per the report, it makes perfect sense, given Google has skin in the game thanks to Stadia and Google Cloud's Immersive Stream.

Oddly enough, the list of services seems to vary between desktop and mobile. Searching for "Destiny 2" on Android only brings up a result for Stadia, while the same search on the desktop shows both GeForce Now and Stadia.

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Google expands AI-based content advisories to more searches

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Google has announced to expand content advisories to searches where its AI systems don't have high confidence in the overall quality of the results available for the search.

Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President, Search, said that this doesn't mean that no helpful information is available, or that a particular result is low-quality.

"These notices provide context about the whole set of results on the page, and you can always see the results for your query, even when the advisory is present," he said in a blog post late on Thursday.

"We have deeply invested in both information quality and information literacy on Google Search and News, and today we have a few new developments about this important work," said Nayak.

Google also introduced the latest AI model, called Multitask Unified Model (MUM), to improve search result quality in 'snippets' which are shown on top of the page for searches.

"Our systems can check snippet callouts (the word or words called out above the featured snippet in a larger font) against other high-quality sources on the web, to see if there's a general consensus for that callout, even if sources use different words or concepts to describe the same thing," explained Nayak.

The company said it has trained systems to get better at detecting false premises, which are not very common but are cases where it's not helpful to show a featured snippet.

"We've reduced the triggering of featured snippets in these cases by 40 per cent with this update," said Google.

Google is also adding more context to the 'About this result' feature, such as how widely a source is circulated, online reviews about a source or company, whether a company is owned by another entity, or even when our systems can't find much info about a source.

Google also announced a partnership with MediaWise at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs to develop information literacy lesson plans for teachers of middle and high school students.

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Google Meet updated with new features after merging with Duo

San Francisco, Aug 11 (IANS) After announcing that Google has combined two of its video-calling apps -- Duo and Meet -- into a single platform, the tech giant said this upgrade gives everyone access to new features like scheduling and joining meetings, virtual backgrounds, in-meeting chat and more, in addition to your current video calling features.

The company said additional meeting features let users start an instant video call with their entire study group or connect with their colleagues at a recurring scheduled time.Before they join a meeting, they can change their background or apply visual effects.

During the meeting, they will also be able to use in-meeting chat and captions for more ways to participate.

"We are also launching live sharing for Google Meet. Live sharing allows all meeting participants to interact with the content that is being shared," Dave Citron, Director of Product Management, Google Duo and Google Meet, said in a blogpost.

"So whether you are co-watching videos on YouTube, curating a playlist on Spotify, taking turns while playing games like Heads Up!, UNO! Mobile or Kahoot! During an ice breaker, everyone will be able to join in on the action," Citron added.

Over the past few weeks, the company said it has started rolling out these new features to the Duo app, and now, users are beginning to see their app name and icon updated to Google Meet.

This upgrade will take place throughout the month across mobile and tablet devices and will come later for other devices. To ensure a smooth transition, keep your app updated to the latest version.

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Indias SSLV rocket with earth observation satellite lifts off into space

India's brand new rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D1) on Sunday morning lifted off with an earth observation satellite-02 (EOS-02) formerly known as Microsatellite-2 weighing about 145 kg.  Piggybacking on that was the eight kg AZAADISAT built by 750 students of government schools facilitated by SpaceKidz India. At about 9.18 a.m. the 34 metre tall and 120 ton rocket broke free of the first launch pad and started its maiden upward one way journey carrying the two satellites. The rocket with a thick orange flame at its tail slowly gathered speed and went up and up. Just over 12 minutes into its flight, the SSLV-D1 will put into orbit the EOS-2 satellite and a few seconds later the AZAADSAT will be orbited. According to the ISRO, the SSLV is a ready to transfer rocket with modular and unified systems with standard interfaces for production by the industry. The SSLV design drivers are low cost, low turnaround time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch-on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements and others, ISRO said. The commercial arm of ISRO, NewSpace India Ltd plans to transfer the SSLV technology for production in the private sector. The Indian space agency said the EOS-02 satellite is an experimental optical imaging satellite with high spatial resolution. The objective is to realise and fly an experimental imaging satellite with short turnaround time and showcase launch on demand capability. The new technologies realised for the Microsat series of spacecrafts include payloads with a common fore optics and metallic primary mirror realised with the limited mass and volume of Microsat Bus, ISRO said. With the new launch vehicle included in its product lineup, ISRO will have three rockets -- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and its variants (cost about Rs 200 crore), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MkII cost about Rs 272 crore and Mk III Rs 434 crore) and SSLV (Development cost of three rockets about Rs 56 crore each) and production cost may go down later. According to SpaceKidz India, the significance of this project is that it has been conceptualised as a tribute to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence. "From 75 government schools for girls across India, we have selected 10 students to give this opportunity. The selected students are predominantly from Classes 8-12. This is a first of its kind Space mission with an 'All women concept' to promote women in STEM as this year's UN theme is 'Women in Space'," SpaceKidz India said. Niti Aayog has partnered for this project to bring this opportunity to students of the government girl schools across India. Hexaware is supporting by funding the project.

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Indian Government Backtracks On Data Protection Bill 2019 Leaving Citizens Privacy In The Lurch

The Indian Government on Wednesday withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, two years and seven months after it was introduced in the parliament. The Data Protection Bill was supposed to usher in a new era of data protection and privacy laws in India for Indian citizens as currently there are no common regulations to protect the people’s privacy even though the Supreme Court of India has granted the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right of citizens. 

As per an official statement issued by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, the Personal Data Protection Bill was being reviewed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee which suggested over 81 amendments and 12 major recommendations to the bill. It was therefore decided to withdraw the Data Protection Bill altogether and work on a new bill that encapsulates all the amendments suggested by the JPC.

“Personal Data Protection Bill has been withdrawn because the JCP recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections. Above that it made 12 major recommendations. Therefore the bill has been withdrawn and a new bill will be presented for public consultation,” Ashwini tweeted out last evening after announcing the development.

It has been close to 10 years since the A.P. Shah on Privacy, 5 years since the Puttaswamy Judgement and 4 years since the Srikrishna Committee’s report — they all signal urgency for a data protection law and surveillance reforms. Each day lost, causes more injury and harm. 3/3

— Apar (@apar1984) August 3, 2022

The IT Minister also told Reuters that the government has already started working on the new bill which is “in good advanced stages” and that he expects to present it in the budget session of Parliament in 2023. 

The Personal Data Protection Bill proposed regulations on the processing, storage and transfer of personal data across the different sectors and empowered users with more control over their private data. This had raised some concerns with the Big Tech companies like Google, Meta and more as it could have incurred increased costs due to provisions such as data localization. While privacy advocates were concerned about the power it granted the Central Government such as the provision to exempt any government agency from the data protection laws in the interest of national security.

It remains to be seen how the new data protection bill takes shape and whether it will be robust enough to protect the privacy of over 1.38 billion people.

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OnePlus Nord 20 SE Launched With HD+ Display, 50MP Dual Cameras, 33W Fast Charging

There's good news for OnePlus lovers as the brand has finally launched the OnePlus Nord 20 SE which is the brand’s lowest costing model in the series. It includes features like  HD+ display, 50MP dual cameras, 33W fast charging with waterdrop notch display and more.

The OnePlus Nord 20 SE is present on AliExpress for purchase. The handset is powered by a MediaTek chipset and comes with a waterdrop notch display along with a 50MP dual camera on the back. It also includes a 5,000 mAh battery and promises lasting battery life.  The OnePlus Nord 20 SE is the cheapest model in the market. 

OnePlus Nord 20 SE Specifications And Features

The new handset by OnePlus sports a display notch housing an 8 megapixel camera for selfies. It comes with a 6.5 inch IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution of 720 x 1612 pixels and 600 nits of brightness. Its back panel comes with 50 megapixel plus 2 megapixel dual camera setup.

The OnePlus Nord 20 SE is powered by Helio G35 chip. It includes 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage and features a microSD card slot.  The software offered is Android 12 OS based OxygenOS 12.1.

If we look at the battery, the Nord 20 SE comes with a 5,000mAh battery providing 33W SuperVOOC charging. Security wise, OnePlus includes features like a side-facing fingerprint scanner and AI face unlock.

The phone also has dual stereo speakers, 4G VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

OnePlus Nord 20 SE Price and Availability

OnePlus Nord 20 SE is currently listed on AliExpress and expected to go live for sale on Aug. 12. It costs $199 (₹15,810.95), which makes it very affordable for the consumers.

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Indias 5G Auction: Reliance Jio Came On Top, Followed By Airtel And Vi

With India successfully ending its mega 5G spectrum auction with bids worth Rs 1,50,173 crore for 71 per cent of total 5G airwaves.

Here is the overall breakup of the amount as well as various bands, including the super-expensive 700 MHz band that has a 5-10 km range which gives good base coverage for densely-populated areas.

India 5G auction: Selling price for each band

If we look band-wise, the pricey 700 MHz band saw bids worth Rs 39,270 crore.

Also Read: India 5G Spectrum Explained: Why 700MHz Band Matters For Best 5G Coverage

The most popular 3300MHz band saw bids worth 80,590 crore and the 1800MHz band received bids worth Rs 10,376 crore in India’s 5G spectrum auction.

The 26MHz band got bids worth Rs 14,709 crore while 800 MHz band received bids worth Rs 1,050 crore.

Around Rs 650 crore went to the 2500 MHz band while Rs 349 crore went to the 900 MHz band. The 2100 MHz airwaves got bids worth Rs 3,180 crore.

India’s 5G spectrum: Jio vs Airtel vs Vi

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio emerged as the top bidder in India's 5G spectrum auction, acquiring 24,740 MHz spectrum worth Rs 88,078 crore. Reliance Jio took the more expensive 700MHz in all 22 circles. The band has a range from 5-10 km which gives good base coverage.

Also Read: Day 7 Of 5G Spectrum Auction: 5G Services To Go Live In October, Says IT Minister

Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel was the second-highest bidder with 19,867 MHz spectrum in various bands worth Rs 43,084 crore. Airtel acquired 19,867.8 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands for Rs 43,084 crore.

Vodafone Idea, at third place, received 2,668 MHz worth Rs 18,784 crore while a unit of Adani Group acquired 400 MHz spectrum in 26 GHz band worth Rs 212 crore.

Also Read: Jio Is Ready To Roll Out Pan-India 5G: Here Is What You Need To Know

Overall, the country saw bids worth Rs 1,50,173 crore for 71 per cent of total 5G airwaves spectrum in this latest auction.

About 72,098 MHz of spectrum was offered for auction and out of that, 51,236 MHz has been sold.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.

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