Coronavirus lockdown: Heres a website to see the nearest open grocery or medical stores

India is under a 21-day lockdown to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus. The lockdown enforces all stores and markets to remain closed with only the essentials to be made available. Naturally, people have had difficulty procuring daily essentials like groceries, vegetables and more. To help ease the pain, Quikr has launched an website called Still Open that shows users the nearest shop that’s open.

Here's the link to the website.

Not only that, Still Open also shows the nearest medical store and testing center for COVID-19 and other stores that are classified as essentials.

The site relies on crowd-sourced data with updates in regular intervals. Users visiting stores can update the site with the products available, timings and hygiene. There are options to upload reviews, photos and more.

The service is reportedly available in 23 cities across India in English, according to The Indian Express. The company also plans to expand to ten more cities and introduce 13 vernacular languages soon.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3aTN3ko

OnePlus 8 display breaks 13 records on DisplayMate, CEO Pete Lau hints at price

Despite a globally declared lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus, OnePlus is pushing ahead with the launch of the OnePlus 8 series on April 14. It will be streamed live to screens directly and to build hype for the upcoming devices, OnePlus is teasing the hardware bit by bit. CEO Pete Lau wrote a post detailing the internals of the OnePlus 8 phones that includes the latest RAM and storage modules and the Snapdragon 865. Now, a new release sent out by the company claims the OnePlus 8’s display has been awarded an A+ grade by DisplayMate.

DisplayMate too tweeted out the award given to the OnePlus 8 days ahead of its launch. At least one of the phones in the series apparently broke 13 display performance records during DisplayMate’s testing. While that doesn’t really tell you what the display will be like, it’s possible that the viewing experience will be pretty amazing. But then again, DisplayMate has a penchant for awarding A+ to most flagships from Apple and Samsung.

In other news, CEO Pete Lau told Business Insider that the OnePlus 8 series smartphone won’t cost more than $1,000 (Rs 76,000 roughly). That does indicate that OnePlus will maintain relative affordability compared to the premium offerings from Samsung this year. Being 5G smartphones with premium hardware, that could be saying something.

Having said that, the OnePlus 8 may cost much more than the OnePlus 7T series. The Snapdragon 865 is indeed more expensive to procure and the added 5G capabilities will hike up the cost of production. That while you won’t be able to do anything with the 5G bit here in India yet.

The recent transmission of information is quite in line with OnePlus’ antics before launch. The company tends to release bite-sized information about its upcoming devices in anticipation to the launch. And it’s no different this time. We’ll catch you tomorrow with another official leak from the smartphone brand.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2R6GXFC

Fitbit Charge 4 with built-in GPS launched in India, prices start at Rs 14,999

Fitbit has announced the latest version of its popular Charge series of fitness trackers. Called Charge 4, the new tracker offers a bunch of new features such as built-in GPS as well as access to Spotify. The new wearable is priced at Rs 14,999 for the standard version of the wearable, while the Special Edition version of the tracker is priced at Rs 16,999. The fitness tracker will be available worldwide from April 2020 onwards.    

The Fitbit Charge 4 is said to offer a battery life of up to seven days. It is also swimproof, so it can also be used by swimmers. A notable new feature of the wearable is Active Zone Minutes. This is said to be a new personalised standard that is based on the users resting heart rate and age. This then tracks any workout that the user engages in and measures the time they spend in each heart rate zone towards a weekly goal of 150 minutes. 

Besides Active Zone Minutes, Fitbit has also added new content to Fitbit Premium. This includes programs, brands like barre3, Down Dog, Physique 56, mindfulness tools, challenges and more. On top of this, Fitbit is also offering a free 90-day trial for new Premium users. 

As far as tracking goes, the Fitbit Charge 4 features a SpO2 sensor which allows users to see an estimate of the Oxygen Level Variability in your bloodstream. This may be able to indicate variations in your breathing during sleep. The wearable also comes with automatic exercise tracking, Cardio Fitness Level and Score, floors climbed and more.

For its price point, the Fitbit Charge 4 goes straight up against the Fitbit Versa Lite. However, while the Versa Lite comes with a colour display, it does not comes with a built-in GPS. As such, the Charge 4 should offer more accurate tracking of runs or walks.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/39JKWOS

Cloudflare launches 1111 for families, offers protection from malware and adult content

Cloudflare recently launched a family-friendly version of its 1.1.1.1 DNS service, and while the company has usually had a very good standing amongst the netizens, it drew flack for, what the company called a gross oversight. Apparently, the family-friendly version of 1.1.1.1 (which is actually 1.1.1.3) was found blocking access to LGBTQ and sex education websites, a move that has been seen around Twitter circles as censorship.

The family-friendly DNS service intentionally blocks access to websites known to distribute malware and to websites service adult content. So far so good. However, Sarah Jamie Lewis, Executive Director of Open Privacy Research Society found that the service was also blocking legitimate LGBTQ and sex education website. She slammed Cloudflare, the parent company behind 1.1.1.1 in a host of tweets. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince promptly responded, saying, "Dumb mistake on our part and we are fixing it immediately."

CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince explained in a statement to The Register that “It was a horrible mistake and we are working to remedy it as quickly as possible. We use a variety of external categorization services to categorize the internet. Our intention was to do something similar to 'Google Safe Search' and there were some categories that were included in Adult Themes by one provider that we missed when we did our review." If you would like to enable Cloudflare's family friendly DNS for your home, you can find all the relevant instructions here.

While Cloudflare sorts out the issue of blocking legitimate websites, it has also announced that the MacOS and Windows versions of 1.1.1.1 will be entering Beta very soon. In a blog post, the company said that the beta will roll out to Warp+ subscribers first, with no concrete timeline for a final rollout.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3dMikYF

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 and Mi Band 3 can now unlock your Windows 10 laptop

Xiaomi is releasing a new software update for its popular fitness trackers the Mi Band 3 and Mi Band 4. While this may be their first software update in a long time, it brings some very exciting functionality. Users of the bands in India will be able to unlock their Windows 10 based laptops using the bands, without having to use any third-party app or tweaks.

In order to get the new firmware, you will first need to update the Mi Fit app, which will then automatically download the firmware and update your respective band. What’s interesting is that the Windows 10 unlock capability is only available to Indian users. Previously, users of the Mi Band 3 and Mi Band 4 had to use third-party tweaks in order to unlock their Windows 10 based laptops, but now, they’ll be able to do it natively. In addition, TizenHelp also states that various users who have already updated their bands are reporting slightly more accurate step count.

Xiaomi’s Mi Band 3 and Mi Band 4 offer some serious value for money. Both the trackers boast of 20-day battery life, AMOLED displays and heart rate monitor. The bands also deliver notifications directly to your wrist, and also allow users to accept or reject incoming calls. For the price, the bands offer excellent value for money and now with this latest update, they add another super useful trick to their already massive bag of features.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2wbkFLD

Apple AirTag leaked in comapnys own video

Rumours that Apple has been working on a Bluetooth based tracker have been around for some months now. It was originally rumoured that Apple would announce the device alongside the iPhone 11 series of smartphones, but that launch came and went, with no mention of the said rumoured tracker. Thanks to a new support video shred by Apple themselves, the AirTags are all but confirmed.

Apple apparently uploaded a support video to their support YouTube channel on how to erase your iPhone, and in the section where they talk about resetting the device using a computer, that’s where the revelation came from.  When you’re instructed to turn off ‘Find my iPhone,’ the video shows three options; Enabling/Disabling Find My iPhone, Enabling Offline Finding and Send Last Location. Under “Enable Offline Finding”, Apple mentions “Offline finding enables this device and AirTags to be found when not connected to Wi-Fi or cellular.” This last bit pretty much confirms not only that Apple has been working on a Bluetooth tracker, but also that its called AirTag. Turns out, Apple has leaked their own upcoming product.The mention was first caught by Appleosophy.

As of writing this story, Apple has taken the video down from their YouTube page. AirTags may not even be out yet, but they’re already kicking up some controversy for Apple. Tile, the company that popularized these little Bluetooth enabled coins, said that Apple has been anticompetitive. Tile accused Apple of changing rules and features so as to put Tile’s products at a disadvantage and giving their upcoming product an unfair leg up. Apple also stopped carrying Tile’s trackers globally in their stores, which Tile said was a move to hurt their business as Apple was planning to come out with its own AirTag.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3dVMoBg

Corona in India: Google Maps data show why it looks like a ghost town everywhere right now

By now, it’s pretty much established that social distancing is one of the primary ways to flatten the rising curve of COVID-19 cases in the world. Governments have across the world have adopted self-isolation a means to curb the menace of the Coronavirus with people being asked to stay home as much as possible.

Now Google has released data that shows how well people have been adhering to the guidelines. The data is collected via Google Maps and works the same way as Maps identifying crowded areas with aggregated, anonymised data. It relies on your smartphone’s Location History setting.

Google is releasing the data in the form of Community Mobility Reports. Presently, the data covers 131 countries and regions.

"With reports saying that a third of the world’s population is under some kind of social distancing measures, we’ve heard from public health officials to consider how we could help here, too. Since there is no vaccine or proven treatment, social distancing is the primary way to flatten the curve. However, communities have not had a lot of insight into whether their guidance is working,” Google wrote in a blog post.

The data sets show how public places are impacted by social distancing measures. Places like parks, theatres, malls where people tend to gather in large numbers. Google will show the percentage increase or decrease of movement across these places, instead of the absolute numbers.

The data is divided into high-level locations — retail and recreation, groceries, pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential. The report uses anonymised data that’s aggregated to show movement trends over time.

Google isn’t sharing data about the individual’s location, movement or contacts. It only uses the data of those who have voluntarily turned on Location History setting on their devices, which is off by default. Google has also used a technology called ‘differential privacy’ that adds artificial noise to the datasets to make identifying an individual near about impossible.

While Google is offering more granular, region-level insights of states and provinces for some countries, only country-level information is available for India so far. Here's the report for India.

Quite unsurprisingly, the report for India states that from February 16 to March 29, retail and recreational centres have seen a 77 percent decrease in footfall while groceries and pharmacies have seen a 65 percent reduction in people. Parks, transit hubs and workplaces too saw a significant reduction in footfall. Only residences saw a 22 percent increase in people. The sharpest decline in footfall in public places happened from March 21, the day the lockdown was announced.

With the nation-wide lockdown set to be relaxed after April 14, these movement trend reports can be of help to the authorities in determining how to control large crowds from gathering in one place and lead to a second wave of infections.

Cover Photo by Vikas Sawant from Pexels

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2xKU7S1