YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium get new Student subscription plans in India

In a bid to gain more subscribers, and increase overall revenue, YouTube has announced a new Student Plan in India. The new plans are available for both YouTube and YouTube Music Premium, and students will have to shell out less money when opting for the plan. Students who are eligible to opt for the plan will be able to subscribe to YouTube Music Premium at Rs 59 and YouTube Premium at Rs 79 per month. Standard users need to pay a monthly fee of Rs 99 and Rs 129 to get premium access to YouTube Music and YouTube respectively. 

In India, the ‘Student Plans’ are currently open for full-time students from accredited colleges or universities. Eligibility rules to opt into student plans dictate that one must be enrolled as a student at a higher education institution in where YouTube student memberships are offered and which the verification platform SheerID has approved. One will have to check if their college has student plans available by visiting the YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium page, selecting ‘Get Student Plan’ option and punching in their college in the school SheerID form. If their college name appears, then they can avail the service. 

Do note that after successful verification, one will be eligible to continue with the student plan for four years but will need to re-verify every year. In addition, if one currently uses an active premium subscription of YouTube or YouTube Music but wants to shift to a discounted student membership, they will need to first cancel the existing subscription. The new student plans by YouTube are not dissimilar to what other online music streaming services offer. For example, Spotify's student plan in India enables one to avail premium subscription to its service at Rs 59 per month. Apple charges Rs 60 monthly to students who buy an Apple Music membership. 

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2HZfgsQ

MSI at Computex 2019: X570 series motherboards, GT76 Titan gaming laptop, P65 Creator laptop and WS65 mobile workstation launched

Computex 2019 is at full swing in Taiwan and manufacturers have already unveiled a bunch of exciting components and devices. Not to be outdone, MSI has also unveiled a bunch of stuff like motherboards, laptops, and more. Among the announcements include the new MEG X570 motherboard and the GT76 Titan laptop.

X570 series motherboards

MSI MEG X570 Godlike

The MEG X570 Godlike motherboard packs an OLED display that shows the various hardware conditions. It also incorporates the Killer xTend network solution as well as the Killer Wi-Fi 6. For audio, the motherboard incorporates Xtreme Audio DAC. Other features include the new Frozr Heatsink Design that sports double ball bearings and a patented fan that packs the company’s Propeller Blade Technology and Zero Frozr Technology. This is then connected to an extended heat-pipe 

The MEG X570 Godlike features Gen4 PCIe and M.2 solutions for up to 64GB/s bandwidth and the double-layer M/2 Shield Frozr help avoid throttling. It also bundles the M.2 XPANDER-Z Gen4 card and a 10G Super LAN Card. Further, Mystic Light Infinity II offers new RGB lighting with infinity mirror reflection effects.

MSI Prestige X570 Creation

While MEG X570 Godlike is aimed at gamers, the Prestige X570 Creation is geared towards content creators. The motherboard offers dual LAN with 10G Super LAN. It also offers Wi-Fi 6 standard, which is said to offer 3x bandwidth and lower latency. Like the MEG X570, it too offers Frozr Heatsink, extended heat-pipe and M.2 Shield Frozr. Users also get the new MSI Creator Center software. Which allows for adjustable system modes and resources.

MSI MEG X570 Ace

Like the MEG X570 Godlike, the X570 Ace is also aimed towards gamers. The motherboard features PCIe 4.0 standard for M.2 and PCIe expansion slots. The company notes that the Gen4 M.2 can support up to 64GB/s bandwidth and offer faster transfer speeds. Like others in the series, the MEG X570 Ace offers the M.2 Shield Frozr to cool M.2 devices. Other thermal solutions include the Frozr Heatsink Design.

During Computex 2019, MSi also announced that they will be working with Phison for improved PCIe ecosystem. The company showcased that the MSI Lightning Gen4 M.2 slots on the MEG X570 ACE with the Phison Gen 4x4 MVMe Ps5016-E16 SSD were capable of recording a sequential read speed of 5000 MB/s. The company notes that this is an improvement over previous standards by over 150%.

Laptops

MSI GT76 Titan

The MSI GT76 Titan features a 17.3-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate. The laptop packs 9th Gen Intel Core processors that can be overclocked to 5.0GHz. For graphics, the laptop is available with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080. For cooling, the device packs the Cooler Boost Titan. The company notes that this 4-fan and 11-pipe cooling design is capable of generating 2.25 times the airflow. Other features include the upgraded Kinner DoubleShot Pro which supports 2.5Gbps LAN and Wi-Fi 6.

MSI P65 Creator

As the name would suggest, the P65 Creator is aimed at content creators. It packs a 15.6-inch panel, which MSI saus offers “close to 100%” of the sRGB gamut. It also comes with MSI True Color technology for better colour fidelity. It is powered by Intel’s 9th Gen Core i9 processor and sports Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics. The laptop also aims to offer portability and battery life. The MSI P65 Creator is 17.9mm thick, and the company claims a battery life of over eight hours.

MSI WS65 Workstation

MSI also unveiled a lineup of upgraded workstations, including the MSI WS65, which is said to be the world’s first laptop to be powered by the Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 graphics card. Other features include a 4K display, glass touchpad, fingerprint reader, Windows Hello and TPM 2.0 crypto-processor technology. Other features include a white backlit keyboard and Thunderbolt 3.0 compatibility. MSI claims that the laptop can offer a battery life of over nine hours. It will be available in the US for $3,499 (approx Rs 2,44,601).

MSI announced at all of its WS and WE series of workstations, including the new WP series will offer Nvidia Quadro RTX graphics and 9th Gen Intel Core i9 processors. The company claims that their workstations offer MIL-STD 810G certification for ruggedness.

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2JKM5gJ

Nokia 9 PureView, Nokia 1 Plus, Nokia 210 could launch in India on June 6

HMD Global, the company that sells Nokia-branded phones, might launch its flagship Nokia 9 PureView in India on June 6. The Finnish company has sent invites to the media fraternity for a launch taking place in New Delhi on June 6. The Nokia 9 PureView is one of the devices from HMD's 2019 portfolio that we haven't yet seen in India. Apart from the Nokia 9 PureView, HMD Global is also yet to launch the Nokia 1 Plus and Nokia 210 in India. 

The Nokia 9 PureView, Nokia 1 Plus and Nokia 210 were launched at MWC 2019 in Barcelona. The USP of the Nokia 9 Pureview is the penta-camera setup on the back. The flagship Nokia phone was under development for long and missed several launch dates last year. Nokia claims that the phone has something unique to offer for both professional and amateur photographers. While the Nokia 1 Plus is an entry-level Android Go smartphone, the Nokia 210 is a smart feature phone. Earlier this month, the company launched the Nokia 3.2 and the Nokia 4.2 smartphones in the country.

Nokia 9 PureView specifications

The Nokia 9 PureView has a glass-sandwich body with a metal frame that has the same diamond-cut finish as the Nokia 8 Sirocco. It sports a 5.99-inch display with an aspect ratio of 18:9. The P-OLED display with 2K resolution and HDR10 compliance is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There’s an under-display fingerprint sensor as well. Under the hood, the phone has Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, which is coupled with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The phone is rated IP67 for water and dust resistance.

In the camera department, the Nokia 9 Pureview sports five cameras on the back and all of them have 12MP resolution. Three of the five cameras have monochrome sensors and two are RGB sensors. There’s an additional ToF depth sensor and a dual-tone LED flash in the module. All the five sensors have a fixed focal length of 28mm. The Nokia 9 shoots from all five cameras simultaneously, and Nokia claims that the cameras deliver a 12.4-stops of dynamic range for a more detailed image.

On the front, the Nokia 9 Pureview has a 20MP f/1.8 aperture camera that supports 4-in-1 pixel binning. The phone comes with Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box, and is powered by a 3320mAh battery. It supports fast charged with Quick Charge 3 and USB Power Delivery as well as 10W wireless charging. The phone does not have a 3.5mm jack.

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2HJ9Rrd

Intel Honeycomb Glacier gaming laptop prototype features dual-displays, Tobii eye tracking and more

Intel announced its 10th Generation of Core processors at Computex 2019 but the company’s new concept gaming laptop turned most heads. Intel is showcasing its Honeycomb Glacier concept gaming laptop that aimed at both gamers and creators and it sports an interesting form factor, to say the least. While we have already come across dual-screen laptops from Asus, Intel is taking the feature one step further with its concept machine that alongside a 15.6-inch main display, features a 12.3-inch companion screen that sits below the main display and above the keyboard, similar to the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo (first-impressions).

Adding a second display was not enough as the Intel prototype laptop has another trick up its sleeve. While the laptop folds out like any other standard device, the primary display can be tilted up so that the companion display is pulled with it. Like other dual-screen laptops we have come across so far, the purpose of Honeycomb Glacier is delivering more screen real estate to game and create on a laptop. While gaming, the companion screen can display maps, status and more information, without needing to switch applications on the main screen. 

Another interesting application demoed by Intel is using the device’s second screen to stream simultaneously while gaming. This enables a user to interact with their audience while gaming, without being completely distracted from the gameplay. The laptop showcased by Intel also features Tobii eye tracking that assesses when the user is looking at the main display or the companion display and scales elements being shown accordingly. 

While currently a concept, Intel is working with OEMs to making the device an actuality. The companion display systems can be expected to show up in future laptops, with 9th Gen Intel Core mobile processors. Asus ZenBook Pro Duo series with ScreenPad Plus is the first device to feature a companion display. 

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2YTV0je

Amazon integrates Netflix catalogue into the Fire TV search experience

The Fire TV stick is a nifty little device to consume content, especially if you are one that does not have a smart TV or own a TV with minimal smart features. The only drawback of using the search function, be it voice or typing, was that the results were limited to the content available via Amazon Prime Videos. So for example, searching for Stranger Things yielded no results. All that is about to change. The Fire TV search experience, both voice and typing, will now include results from Netflix alongside content from Prime Videos. So now if you search for Love, Death + Robots, you will see the Netflix show as a result of your search. The new search experience will be available on both the standard Fire TV stick along with the 4K variant of the device.

It is nice to see the company integrate Netflix search on Fire TV sticks, however, we wish Amazon went all guns blazing and included results from other streaming services like Hotstar, Voot, Jio Cinema and more. It would be nice to search for Game of Thrones or The Night Of and see Hotstar results as a part of the mix. Maybe this is something we will see in the future. The new search experience is something we have seen in the new TVOS on the Apple TV and the PatchWall UI on Xiaomi TVs.

Speaking of the Fire TV stick, the device is available in two options - one that supports a maximum resolution of 1080p and the other which supports 4K and HDR. The standard 1080p variant of the device is priced at Rs 3,999 whereas the 4K variant of the stick is priced at Rs 5,999. The 4K variant of the Fire TV stick supports features like  Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, HDR, HDR-10, HLG, and HDR-10+. Both the sticks look identical and come with an Alexa voice-enabled remote control, an HDMI extender, USB cable and a wall socket.  Apart from Prime Videos and Netflix, the stick supports a number of streaming services and games which can be played on the device. 

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2MiveDS

Pokemon Sleep Will Let You Earn Points for Sleeping, Coming Next Year

Pokemon Company is developing "Pokemon Sleep", a mobile app that tracks players' sleep and uses the data for gameplay, with a release date set for next year.

from RSS Feeds | GAMES - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com http://bit.ly/2Qv6Z3J

Huawei files motion against US ban, hearing set for September 19

Huawei has filed a motion for summary judgment against the US government to expedite the process of removing the ban that the Trump Administration has imposed on the Chinese company. The motion is part of the complaint that Huawei Technologies filed against the US government in March. The initial complaint was filed in a federal court against the ban on the sale of Huawei products. It also urged the US to adopt honest and effective measures to enhance cybersecurity for everyone. Huawei noted that if the US government’s real goal is security, suppression of Huawei will not help make networks more secure.

The new Summary Judgement motion filed by the Chinese tech company challenges the constitutionality of Section 889 of the 2019 US National Defense Authorization Act (2019 NDAA). In simpler words, Huawei is seeking to get Section 889 of the NDAA thrown out. The Section 889 of the Act gives power to the government to impose prohibition on telecommunications and video surveillance services or equipment it deems is putting national security on risk. It prohibits government agencies from procuring telecommunications equipment from Huawei and ZTE.

“Banning Huawei using cybersecurity as an excuse will do nothing to make networks more secure. They provide a false sense of security, and distract attention from the real challenges we face. Politicians in the US are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company. This is not normal. Almost never seen in history. The U.S. government has provided no evidence to show that Huawei is a security threat. There is no gun, no smoke. Only speculation,” Song Liuping, Huawei’s Chief Legal Officer, said in a statement.

In the complaint, the company argued that Section 889 of the 2019 NDAA singles out Huawei by name and bars them from contracting with or awarding grants or loans to third parties who buy Huawei equipment or services - even if there is no impact or connection to the US government. While addressing the addition of Huawei to the “Entity List” (or blacklisting the company) by the US Commerce Department, Song said, “This sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s telecoms and Huawei. Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers.”

A hearing on the motion is set for September 19 in the Eastern District Court of Texas.

from Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2Mh6lbT