Airtel to gradually phase out data rollover for broadband users, postpaid users to still get the benefit

Competition in the telecom sector has been gradually increasing ever since Reliance Jio commenced its commercial operations. Rival telcos such as Airtel and Vodafone-Idea had to revamp their entire offering lineup to keep up and retain their subscriber base. Airtel has again made some changes to the benefits it offers to its broadband customers but unfortunately, its users might not like it. Airtel will be gradually phasing out the data rollover facility it offers to its broadband users. We confirmed with Airtel about this development and were told that this change will gradually come into effect for all of its broadband users. 

Since this a gradual change, this means that any data left in an Airtel broadband users’ data bank won’t be wiped out. They will be able to use it till it is depleted, however, no additional data will be added over their existing data since the rollover option is no longer available. For example, let's assume you have a total of 1000GB data left in your Airtel Broadband account. It will be rolled over until it’s exhausted and if you use up 500 GB next month, the remaining 500GB will still be available next month. The rollover option is still available for postpaid mobile Airtel subscribers and it should be noted that the option was never available for the telcos’ prepaid users. 

This new change by Airtel is bound to draw the irk of users who are counting on data rollover to supplement their monthly data cap. Many users have started complaining since Airtel didn’t make any announcements about the change and abruptly ended the data rollover facility. This comes soon after Airtel announced its new XStream service, which consists of fiber to the home, online media streaming, DTH television and more. The company might be planning to either introduce the rollover facility on its Xstream plans or do something similar, however, this is purely speculation on our part.

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Sony PlayStation 4 is officially the second-best selling console of all time

It finally happened. It took a good 6 long years for the writing to finally hit the wall but as of right now, the PlayStation 4 has officially become the second bestselling console of all time, behind its ancestor, the PlayStation 2. The PS4 overtakes the Sony PlayStation One to claim the second spot. The fact that the top three systems ever sold belong to Sony, it’s clear that the Japanese giant understand the console market better than their competitors. 

The main issue that Nintendo and Microsoft have been left behind could be partially blamed because of the games. The true heart of any console. You could have the coolest looking, most powerful system ever, but if you don’t have any good games for it, then what’s the point? Sony realized this and dove headfirst into creating some of the best exclusives on the market. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and even The Last of Us: Remastered were all manor financially and critical hits. You could even go as far as to say that games like the Uncharted series and God of War were system sellers, by themselves.

The Sony PlayStation 4 crossed 100 million sales since its launch back in 2013 and in this quarter alone, 2.8 million units of the PS4 were sold bringing up the number to total sales of 102.8 million units. That is rather impressive considering Sony sold 155 units of the PlayStation 2. 

But, it’s not all sunshine and roses in the house of Kratos and co. Sony has been reported to be looking out for a buyer for PlayStation Vue, the company’s content streaming service. The service was launched in 2015 as the company’s very own OTT streaming service. It offered a bunch of different channels for $40 per-month. Clearly, that wasn’t the best pricing decision. But, as of now, reports say that Sony is looking for someone to buy the Vue out. 

 

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Kuo predicts 2020 Macbook Pro and Macbook Air to use scissor switches in keyboards

Rumours around the alleged 16-inch MacBook Pro are getting ridiculous at this point. Most of them stem from investor notes sent out by Ming chi Kuo, a financial analyst who seems to have garnered a reputation for being able to predict what Apple is going to do and when. However, during the course of the year, he is often known to retract earlier predictions, so by the time the product actually launches, his overall accuracy is 50-50 at best. Now, in another investor note read by MacRumours, Kuo says that Apple will launch new Macbook Pros in 2020 with a scissor keyboard.

Kuo’s investor note points out that Winstron is getting ready to supply parts to Apple for the scissor mechanism in keyboards, a type that Apple used last in 2015. The company had moved to the butterfly switches since them, which have continued to garner a bad reputation when it comes to reliability.

What is unclear from the note is whether Kuo is talking about the rumoured 16-inch Macbook Pro or refreshes of the existing 13 and 15-inch laptops. Kuo had some time ago predicted that Apple would move to the scissor-switch entirely for all its laptops, including the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air.

Ever since Apple discontinued the 17-inch Macbook Pro, creators and professionals have been vying for a replacement. The rumoured 16-inch Macbook Pro was supposed to be just that, but there seems to be no sign of when (or if at all) Apple will launch such a machine.

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PUBG Mobile Season 10 Leaks Tip New Gun, Emotes, Skins, and More

A trio of PUBG Mobile video leaks have emerged and they tip new gun, emotes, skins, and a lot more.

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Xiaomi Mi Watch will run MIUI for Watch, to have a dedicated app store

Xiaomi is planning to launch a smartwatch alongside the Mi Note 10 (CC9 Pro in China) on November 5. While there were rumours that it will run WearOS, that didn’t turn out to be true. The company has revealed that Mi Watch will run a special version of its Android-based operating system called MIUI for Watch. It is expected to be an open ecosystem that incorporates MIUI into wearables. The company has revealed two videos that show the OS in action.

According to the reports, MIUI for Watch will have a dedicated app store. It is said to include apps like maps and even TikTok. Further, the store will have music streaming apps and several watch faces as well. One of the videos shows a video streaming app in use. However, why would anybody like to watch a video on a watch is yet to be known. 

The Xiaomi smartwatch will most likely be powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor. Earlier reports have given us a quick look at what’s inside the new Xiaomi smartwatch: radios for Wi-Fi, NFC, and GPS. Further, there’s an internal battery of unknown capacity, a card slot (for either storage or physical SIM), and a module for eSIM support. 

Mi Watch resembles the Apple Watch. It will launch in China alongside the Mi Note 10, which is tipped to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G chipset, paired with 6GB RAM. The smartphone is said to have a penta-camera setup with 108MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX main sensor. Moreover, leaked images also show a curved display, a waterdrop notch, and hint at a tall aspect ratio.

The Mi Watch, Xiaomi Mi Note 10,  and Mi TV 5 series will be announced on November 5 at an event in China. Availability and price are yet to be known.

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WhatsApp could finally let users log into multiple devices simultaneously

There was a time when WhatsApp was the only chat app that everyone talked about. However, it is now facing competition from numerous other apps like Telegram, WeChat and others. Developers of the app have been adding new features to their online messaging app so that users don’t switch to its rival’s offerings. It recently added a new fingerprint lock mechanism in the app that enables users to lock the app and unlock it via fingerprint authentication. Now, as per WABetaInfo, WhatsApp might finally enable its users to simultaneously log in to more than one device. 

The information was outed via a tweet by WABetaInfo, which reads, “As previously announced, WhatsApp is developing a feature what will allow to use your WhatsApp account on more devices at the same time. Chats will be still end-to-end encrypted because WhatsApp was developing a new method to assign keys to specific device.” As mentioned, WhatsApp won’t take risks when it comes to privacy and security since the chats will still be end-to-end encrypted. This will apparently be done with a new method to assign keys to specific device and while we don’t really know the details, we expect to find more about this feature when, and if, it is officially announced. 

As previously announced, WhatsApp is developing a feature what will allow to use your WhatsApp account on more devices at the same time. Chats will be still end-to-end encrypted because WhatsApp was developing a new method to assign keys to specific devices.

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) October 29, 2019

As mentioned above, WhatsApp was recently updated with the ability to implement fingerprint authentication for access. This option is currently available only in Beta and under the Privacy tab under Settings. After setting up the option, one will be prompted to use their fingerprint to access WhatsApp chats. In other WhatsApp news, WABetaInfo has reported that a new Group Privacy settings, including Blacklist is now available for beta users of the app. The new options can be used on the 2.19.110.20 on iOS and 2.19.298 on Android. 

The group privacy setting was made available for some users in India already and it enables one to select who can add them to groups. There was a ‘Nobody’ option that can be selected so that no one could add you to groups without your consent. This option has apparently been replaced with ‘My contacts except…’ 

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WhatsApp confirms Israeli spyware used to snoop on Indian journalists and activists before 2019 General Elections

WhatsApp has revealed that Israeli spyware Pegasus was used to snoop on Indian journalists and human rights activists in a disclosure that followed a lawsuit in a US federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday. Facebook-owned WhatsApp alleged that over 1,400 WhatsApp users were targets of surveillance by Pegasus.

While WhatsApp declined to mention the number of people compromised, or even their identities, a WhatsApp spokesperson told The Indian Express that the company was aware of the issue and had contacted each one of them. The spokesperson did state the number of people targeted were “not an insignificant number.”

The report by Indian Express claims at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists across India were alerted by WhatsApp that their phones have been under surveillance for a two-week period till May 2019. The time period coincides with the 2019 General Elections in India.

The NSO group which built the Pegasus spyware strongly denied WhatsApp’s allegations. In a statement to the Indian Express, the NSO said, “In the strongest possible terms, we dispute today’s allegations and will vigorously fight them. Our technology is not designed or licensed for use against human rights activists and journalists.”

Doubts about NSO’s technology were first raised back in May when Amnesty International filed an lawsuit in an Israeli court alleging the Pegasus spyware created by the NSO Group has been used to keep tabs on its staff and other human rights activists.

The NSO Group claimed that it licenses the software only to vetted and legitimate government agencies.

How does Pegasus work?

The Pegasus spyware doesn’t intercept WhatsApp messages from one end or the other. Instead, it convinces the target to either click on a ‘exploit link’ after which, the pegasus spyware is installed without the user’s knowledge. The spyware then begins contacting the command and control servers to receive and execute commands. The software can send back voice calls, text messages, calendar events, contact lists, passwords and even turn on the phone’s camera and microphone. In later versions, Pegasus did not even have to send a clickable link. It could infect the phone through a missed video call on WhatsApp.

As a result, while WhatsApp’s messages continued to remain encrypted end-to-end, the spyware was able to capture the data simply by monitoring what’s being typed on screen.

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