How Ludo King Became a COVID Quarantine Sensation in India

Ludo King, the strategy board game that was launched back in December 2016, gained huge success in terms of fresh downloads and new users in the initial phase of the national lockdown that is in place due to the coronavirus outbreak. But how big has the game become so far? We try to find its answer.

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The Snyder Cut Will Finally Be Released on HBO Max

The unreleased Zack Snyder’s version of the 2017 DCEU Justice League movie is finally set to release on HBO Max in 2021. After 3 years of fans getting #ReleaseTheSnyderCut trending on Twitter, the film finally gets official approval from Warner Bros. to release the Snyder Cut on the upcoming new streaming service.

The announcement came directly from Zack Snyder who was doing a watch party on Vero for his 2013 Superman film, Man of Steel. After the film, Zack and Deborah Snyder were joined in by Henry Cavill, the man who donned the blue boy scout costume, on a Zoom call. Where they spoke about some of their memorable parts of shooting the film, before a group fans who had questions to ask joined in as well. Towards the end of the stream, Zack flipped his iPad’s front camera to rear to unveil a poster for Zack Snyder’s Justice League with the release year and the platform it would be streamed on.

 

#ReleaseTheSnyderCut. Only on HBO Max 2021. @ZackSnyder https://t.co/cfXCK1B6pA pic.twitter.com/hqeA9i7tTL

— HBO Max (@hbomax) May 20, 2020

Warner Media also released a press release with regards to the official announcement where they spoke in brief about how this project came to fruition. In the press release, Zack said, “I want to thank HBO Max and Warner Brothers for this brave gesture of supporting artists and allowing their true visions to be realized. Also a special thank you to all of those involved in the SnyderCut movement for making this a reality.”

Zack Snyder had finished most of his work on Justice League back in 2016, before stepping down from post-production due to a family tragedy. Soon after, Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon, the Avengers director to finish the rest of the work. Whedon’s version of the film did not do so well with critics and fans alike. Fans believed that Snyder’s version of the film was a much darker and more realistic take than Whedon’s. Also, Warner Bros. chose to just replace Snyder with a different director soon after a family tragedy, which did not sit well with the fans. This soon led to a barrage of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut tweets from fans trending on twitter for the next 3 years. Some of which was toxic. While the others were just supportive and led positive movements such as raising money for suicide awareness.

Zack Snyder stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that his project would be an entirely new thing based on what he heard from his friends who saw Joss Whedon’s version of the film. He further went on to say, “You probably saw one-fourth of what I did.” Zack still has to do a lot of post-production work to finish his vision before releasing it to the public, which explains the late release. As of now, it is still not clear whether Zack Snyder’s Justice League would be released as an entire film or as a mini-series.

HBO Max starts its streaming service on 27 May 2020, starting at $15. It is said to have 10000 hours of premium content available to stream at launch including original series, third-party licence programs and movies, and a library of Warner Bros. archives including Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes and Crunchyroll. Unfortunately, it looks like the streaming service would not be available in India for the time being. We as fans can only hope that by the time Zack Snyder‘s vision is out, HBO Max widens its reach.

 

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Xiaomi India could launch RedmiBook 14 in June: Heres what to expect

Xiaomi could debut its range of laptops in India starting with the RedmiBook 14 which is rumoured to be launched sometime in June. The company recently announced its flagship phone, the Mi 10 with 5G support and the latest rumours indicate that the company is gearing up to announce its first laptop in India. 

According to a report that cites a Slashleaks tip which was later taken down, Xiaomi could be planning to introduce the RedmiBook 14 sometime in June 2020. The tip allegedly comes from someone who’s in the know of these things inside the company. However, since the post has been taken down, we advise our readers to take this news with a pinch of salt.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the launch schedules of many companies for the year 2020 have been impacted and as such it could still be a while till we see the company release its first laptop in India. By CEO Manu Kumar Jain’s own admission, Xiaomi laptops are something the Mi fans have been demanding since a long time and in a video released earlier this year, Manu assured that the company will have something for its fans “very soon”. 

Previously, the trademark for RedmiBook was seen listed on the Indian Intellectual Property website hinting at an imminent launch. The RedmiBook 14 with 10th generation Intel processors launched in China on August 29, 2019, and here’s what you can expect when it arrives in India.

Xiaomi RedmiBook 14 India launch: What to expect

Xiaomi RedmiBook 14, as the name suggests, features an anti-glare 14-inch Full HD display with 250 nits of brightness and an 81.2-per cent screen-to-body ratio. The design is similar to Apple’s MacBook design and weighs 1.5 kilogrammes.

In China, the RedmiBook 14 is available with both Intel and AMD processors and it’s not known which variants are set to launch in India. The 10th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 versions are complemented by an Nvidia GeForce MX250 graphics card with 2GB of video RAM, which should aid with photo editing and light gaming. 

Ports on the laptop include two USB-A 3.0 ports, one USB-A 2.0 port, a full-size HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack for headsets. 

According to the company, its 46Wh battery can deliver up to 10 hours of continuous use on a single charge. The base variant of the RedmiBook 14 is priced starting at CNY 3,999 (~ Rs 40,300) with the Intel Core i5 processor and 256GB of SSD storage. The 512GB SSD variant of the laptop is priced at CNY 4,299 (Rs 43,300 approx), while the top-end Intel Core i7 model with 512GB SSD is priced at CNY 4,999 (Rs 50,400 approx). We’ll know more as we near the launch of the RedmiBook 14 in India.

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Honor X10 with Kirin 820, pop-up camera goes official: Specifications and pricing

Honor as announced a new mid-range smartphone in China, the Honor X10. It comes with 5G support, features a pop-up camera and isn’t heavy on the pockets. The company is looking to increase the adoption ratio of 5G over time in China and affordable smartphone are one way to ensure that people get a taste of the next-generation telecommunications.

Honor X10 specifications and pricing

Honor X10 features a 6.63-inch display with a Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) resolution. The screen has minimal bezels on all sides and uses a pop-up mechanism for the selfie camera. This gives the screen a 20:9 aspect ratio with support for 90Hz refresh rate. It is available in three colours-- Lightspeed Silver, Probing Black and Racing Blue.

The X10 is powered by homegrown Kirin 820 5G chipset with an octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.36GHz and hexa-core Mali-G57 graphics processor. This is paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB storage options to choose from. The storage can be further expanded up to 256GB via hybrid SIM card slot. 

The phone comes with a triple camera setup on the back that consists of a primary 40MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 120-degrees field-of-view and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear camera array is supported by an LED flash and can shoot in 4K at 30fps. As for the selfie camera, there’s a 16MP camera housed within a motorized pop-up module on the top.

Honor X10 features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and has a 4,300mAh battery with support for 22.5W fast charging out-of-the-box.

Honor X10 starts at CNY 1,899 (~Rs 20,200) for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, CNY 2,199 (~Rs 23,400) for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant and CNY 2,399 (~Rs 25,500) for the maxed-out version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

 

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WhatsApp Status video limit restored to 30 seconds in India

Instant messaging platform WhatsApp has restored the video limit on Status to 30 seconds after limiting it to 15 seconds back in March. WhatsApp did this to reduce bandwidth consumption in India but the latest update of WhatsApp for Android restores the Status video limit to normal.

As many countries around the world are in partial or complete lockdown due to the spread of Coronavirus, WhatsApp has become one of the more feasible ways to keep in touch with friends and family. This leads to a lot of bandwidth consumption and WhatsApp decided to limit the duration of the video posted via status updates to 15 seconds to reduce it. Similarly, YouTube, Netflix and other streaming websites also put a restriction on their video quality to free up more bandwidth so that more users can use their services. 

The restoration of WhatsApp status limit was first spotted by WABetaInfo in the latest WhatsApp for Android beta bearing the version number 2.20.166. The update will be rolled out gradually and Status videos having a duration of more than 15 seconds are allowed to be posted as a single story. WhatsApp Status is basically Instagram Stories for the platform. It replaced text-based status messages to let users upload photos and videos to share with friends. The content disappears automatically after 24 hours just like on Instagram.

The limit on WhatsApp Status updates was only implemented in India and WABetaInfo hints that an update might be pushed via server-side in order to be rolled out to all users across India.

Recently, WhatsApp beta for Android was spotted with an option to initiate video calls via Facebook Messenger Rooms. This allowed up to 50 participants on a single video call and was released on Facebook and Messenger earlier. Meanwhile, WhatsApp’s payment service continues to be under scrutiny, this time for allegedly violating India’s anti-trust laws and is being reviewed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

 

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Truecaller 11 update brings new design, full-screen caller ID and more

Truecaller has received a new update that brings in a massive design overhaul with a minimalistic approach that streamlines call history, SMSs and more into cleaner and easily identifiable groups and categories. Truecaller 11 brings three major upgrades to the popular callerID app- revamped design, full-screen callerID and smart SMS tabs.

“In recent years we have seen how Truecaller has become your communication hub where all spam - calls and SMS - is identified and there is no need to switch between different apps for calls and messages. With this update we want to make it even easier for our users to have streamlined communication,” said Sandeep Patil, Managing Director at Truecaller.

Truecaller boasts of over 150 million active users in India which accounts for around two-thirds of its total 200 million user base. As such, Truecaller has focused on improving the app in accordance with the feedback received by the Indian community. Here’s everything new that’s coming with the Truecaller 11 update along with an India exclusive feature.

The new #Truecaller is bringing communication home! All your messages and calls in one place, with a brand new look! #OneHome https://t.co/5cNHq9lVDJ

— Truecaller (@Truecaller) May 20, 2020 Truecaller 11 update: Here’s what’s new 

Truecaller 11 brings in a redesigned interface that takes a minimal approach and makes it visually appealing to use. With the revamped interface the app is much faster and easy to use and is better optimized for Android phones. 

With the new update, Truecaller has merged call history and SMS into the Home tab for users to quickly view recent calls and messages. It now has the ability to automatically categorize SMSs in dedicated tabs and incoming SMSs will be grouped under Personal, Important, Spam and Others tabs.

The Important tab groups your financial and payment notifications under a single window and helps you monitor bills and also reminds you about an upcoming payment. The company says that it will be adding travel reminders, live tracking features, tax updates and even appointments reminder under the Important tab in the near future. Do note that the Important tab is an India-exclusive feature for now. 

Truecaller 11 also improves the calling experience by adding an option for a full-screen caller ID instead of the pop-up during an incoming call. The caller ID automatically colour-codes incoming calls, so it’s blue for calls from your saved contacts or unknown numbers, purple for priority calls such as those from delivery services, red for spam calls and gold for users with Truecaller Gold accounts.

 

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Facebook Shops launched as online storefronts gain popularity due to Coronavirus

Social media giant Facebook Inc. has launched Facebook Shops, a new way to sell and purchase products on the popular social networking website that’s home to over 2.6 billion users across the world. 

As Coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses and shops to come to a standstill, Facebook Shops enables what the company is calling “social commerce” as it lets business owners set up an online storefront where they can list the entirety of their catalogue.

What is Facebook Shops?

Facebook Shops is aimed towards bringing small and medium businesses online and more than 1 million businesses have already registered for access to the new feature. Creating a storefront on Facebook Shops is free and easy as companies can choose the products to feature on Facebook from their list of offerings and can populate their online stores with images and themes to build their brand. This comes in handy especially for small businesses who often don’t have the kind of budget to splurge on massive advertising campaigns in order to attract potential buyers.

It’s important to note here that Facebook along with Instagram was already helping businesses sell products on their respective platforms with Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Checkout features respectively. Facebook Shops, therefore, is the next step in bringing more brands and shops online and give them the space to function on social media platforms. 

“We want to give people a place to experience the joy of shopping versus the chore of buying. And we want to help small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to discover and shop for things they love,” Facebook said in a press release.

Shopping from Facebook Shops is fairly simple. Users can find online storefronts from a Facebook page or an Instagram profile and also from direct ads. Facebook Shops can also be directly advertised and the company will charge businesses for each purchase made through online storefronts on Facebook. 

In the US, Facebook Shops also supports checkout which ensures that the whole shopping experience happens within the Facebook app without the need for users to go to a separate checkout gateway. 

If you see something on Facebook Shops and want to get in touch with the company before placing the order, you can connect to the business by sending a message through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram Direct. Facebook also stated that it’s developing Facebook Shops further and users will be able to view and purchase products right within Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram.

Facebook is also testing a new way for users to earn rewards by loyalty programs-like points that will allow users to claim rewards on Facebook Shops.

Instagram Shop coming soon

Facebook also gave a glimpse of an upcoming feature on Instagram that will be released sometime in Summer 2020 starting with the US. Dubbed Instagram Shop, Facebook says that it’s a “new way” to discover products from different brands and the creative community. There will be a separate tab in the navigation bar for Instagram Shop where users can browse through collections of products and filter them based on their preferences. 

The company has also revealed a new live shopping feature that will let sellers, brands and influencers list products from Facebook Shops or Instagram Shop and feature it in a live video. The selected products will be displayed in a separate tab on the bottom of the Facebook or Instagram Live. These new features and tools will be rolled out to more regions in the coming months.

Recently, Facebook acquired popular GIF-making platform Giphy for $400 million and plans to integrate it with Instagram in the near future.

 

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