NASA releases awe-inspiring image of a spiral galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope

The cold dark reaches of outer space have finally yielded some light and colour in the form of NGC 3895, a barred spiral galaxy. In a breath-taking image that was captured by NASA, the galaxy can be seen clearly as a whirling mass of planets and stars. The spiral galaxy was first observed in 1790 by William Herschel. The British astronomer made the discovery back in the day and over the years it has been photographed many times, but it hasn’t been this aesthetically good looking before.  The image has been shared on the Hubble Telescope Twitter page as well. 

Our latest Picture of the Week features NGC 3895, a swirling galaxy that would not look out of place on a coffee made by a starry-eyed barista. Credit: @ESA / @Hubble_Space / @NASA , R. Barrows https://t.co/o0s3iXYrbR pic.twitter.com/1N5rkXTOzO

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) May 25, 2020

The galaxy is also known as LEDA 36907, UGC 6785 and KPG 303b and is about 161 million light-years away from us. The spiral galaxy is also 45,000 light-years in diameter. That is an incredible distance. That’s a long way to go for current human space technology but maybe in the future, we will have the technology to actually travel through the vast emptiness of space. NASA has talked about the dangers of long term space travel and you can read more about that here. Part of the success of these photographs and images is also the Hubble telescope. Positioned above Earth at a distance of 570 km, the Telescope revolves around Earth at 28,000 km per hour.  Being so far away, the telescope manages to capture amazing images for us on Earth to wonder at. You can check out more of their cool images on the official Twitter page. 

1/6 Here it is! The anniversary image of #Hubble30 features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020, part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: @NASA / @ESA and @stsci https://t.co/iO1vnUPyls pic.twitter.com/pxsP5jdX4c

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) April 24, 2020

Speaking of NASA, the agency has actually partnered with actor, Tom Cruise for a film shot in out space! You can read more about the story here. And, talking about planets and galaxies far, far away, a 17-year-old intern at NASA actually discovered a new planet located 1300 light-years away. You can read more about that story here. 

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PUBG Mobiles new Secret Map to feature healing springs, monster trucks and more

A few days ago, PUBG Mobile sent us a very cryptic email that seemed to suggest the launch of a new map. Some believed that the email hinted at the launch of Karakin, a new map that was launched on PUBG PC. Others believed that it was Erangel 2.0, a new and improved version of the Erangel map that has been a part of PUBG since the beginning. However, it seems like both of these options aren’t true and we might be looking at a brand new map. 

The PUBG Mobile Beta has been updated with the new map and it looks like the new map is simply called, ‘Secret Map’. While the name itself is not exactly creative, the map itself is. It should also be noted that as of writing, ‘Secret Map’ is only available to Beta players. At first look, it quite closely resembles Call of Duty: Mobile’s Isolated Map as it features different environments like snow, forests and desert in a single map. Till now, PUBG Mobile’s maps usually followed a single environment like the deserts of Miramar, the tropical forests of Sanhok or the snow-covered Vikendi. 

The new map seems extremely vibrant and colourful with fields of flowers as well as tall grass. There are also new areas that haven’t been named yet. There also seem to be some new gameplay additions like hot springs at the North-Eastern corner of the map that seem to slowly regenerate health. YouTuber and professional gamer, Rollexxx has also come across monster trucks as well as waterfalls. It should be noted that another one of PUBG Moile’s competitors, Garena Free Fire, also features monster trucks as driveable vehicles. 

As it is a part of Beta, it is quite possible that the name of Secret Map will change as well as the various locations in the game. We will just have to wait and see what the developers have in store for us. 

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Netflix subscribers in India to get 30-day free upgrade to higher-tier plan

The lockdown has definitely increased the load on streaming services and Netflix, is doing its part to capitalize on the trend. The company has said that it will offer a 1-tier upgrade to new customers for a period of one month. So, if you sign up for a new Netflix account and choose the Basic tier, you will get one month of Standard services and if you sign up for the Standard tier, then you will get the Premium service package. This is great for those who are looking to start binge-watching fantasy shows, or science fiction movies or even cash in on the superhero craze.

Currently, Netflix offers four subscription tiers; Basic for Rs 499 which allows users to stream content in standard definition to one device only, in addition to allowing download of content also on any one device. Then there is the Standard plan for Rs 649/month which allows for simultaneous streaming of full HD content to two screens. The third plan is the Premium plan which costs Rs 799/month and allows streaming of 4K HDR content on four screens simultaneously. The last plan on offer is the mobile plan which costs Rs 199/month but only allows streaming of standard definition content to either a smartphone or a tablet only. The new offer announced only applies to users who sign up for the basic or premium plans. A Netflix spokesperson told NDTV Gadgets “We're looking at different marketing promotions in India to attract new members and give them a great Netflix experience.”

Once the 30-day upgrade period ends, users will then be prompted to choose to stay on the higher tier plan or downgrade to the original plan that they had signed up for and will be charged accordingly. So let’s say you sign up for the Basic plan, you will still be charged for it in the first month, but you will get all the features of the Standard plan. Similarly, if you sign up for the Standard Plan, you will still be charged Rs 649 for the first month, but you will have all the features of the Premium plan for that month.

It is unfortunate that the offer is only available to new customers. Existing users on a lower-tier Netflix plan could have also benefitted from experiencing the higher tier plans for a month, possibly also leading to some conversions for the streaming platform.

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BSNL extends Work From Home broadband plan availability till June 20: How to activate it for free

BSNL has extended its Work From Home broadband plan. The information comes through a circular posted by the BSNL Chennai team. The Work From Home plan gives 5GB data per day at 10Mbps after which the speed drops to 1Mbps. The plan first came into effect when the lockdown began in India and people started working from home. For most, working from home meant more data consumption and this plan from BSNL helped those that needed a decent internet connection to get work done. We are currently in lockdown 4.0 in India and even though some have started going to the office, most are still working from home.

According to the circular, the plan “will be available on promotional basis till 20.06.2020 for existing BSNL’s landline (i.e. not having Broadband) customers only. However, the facility of this plan will be available for one month from date of activation”.

This means that the pan is available till 20 June 2020, and those that access it will have access to it for one month from the date of activation after which they will be migrated to the regular plan. 

How to set-up BSNL Work From Home plan 

The circular goes on to say, “Installation Charges & Security charges shall be waived off during promotional period. Customer premise equipment (CPE)/Modem shall be customer-owned. After expiry of the promotional period, existing customers under the above plan shall be migrated to regular Broadband plans.”

This means that users do not have to pay any installation charges or security deposit. However, they will need to have their own modem to use the service to access the internet. This means that the scheme is a plug and play solution for existing BSNL subscribers and after one month of using the Work From Home plan, users will be migrated to a regular plan. If you are looking for a plan with unlimited data, we’ve got you covered here. 

In other BSNL news, the service provider has made some changes to the Rs 699 plan giving users 180 days validity instead of the previous 160 days validity. The plan comes with 250 minutes of calling per day along with 100 free SMS limit per day and 0.5GB of data limit per day. BSNL has also released a plan priced at Rs 2399 and brings with it 600 days validity. That's the longest validity we have seen in a plan. You can check out the details here.

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Redmi Earbuds S launched in India: Price, specs and features

It’s raining earphones in India this month. After launching the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 in India, now independent brand Redmi has announced the Earbuds S which is basically the Indian version of Redmi Airdots S that was launched in China in April. The Redmi Earbuds S are priced at Rs 1,799 making them one of the most affordable pair of truly wireless earbuds. The buds will go on sale for the first time on May 27 at 12PM and will be available on Amazon India and Xiaomi online and offline stores.

Redmi Earbuds S specs and features

The Redmi Earbuds S, as we mentioned previously, is a rebranded Redmi AirDots S and is presently available only in the colour black. The earbuds use 7.2mm drivers and is IPX4 rated for water resistance. It’s also quite lightweight weighing 4.1g each. The earbuds come in a plastic box that is also used to charge the buds. You also get three pairs of silicone buds for the earbuds.

The earbuds supports SBC codec and a low-latency mode that is activated for gaming on a smartphone to reduce audio lag. Redmi claimed each bud has a battery life of 4 hours per charge, and when combined with the charge on the carrying case, it can be used for up to 12 hours without plugging in.

Additionally, the Redmi Earbuds S also supports voice assistants, environmental noise reduction and no master-slave pairing. The two buds can connect to the smartphone individually without having to separately pair each to the smartphone.

Redmi Earbuds S price and competition

The Redmi Earbuds S are priced at Rs 1,799, which is slightly higher than the China price of CNY 100 (approximately Rs 1,100). Even then, the Redmi Earbuds S is one of the most affordable pair of true wireless earbuds available in India. It’s competition includes the newly announced Realme Buds Air Neo for Rs 2,999 and offerings from brands like Boat, Noise and others.

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BSNL Rs 2,399 long validity pre-paid plan comes with 600 days validity

BSNL took to the BSNL Chhattisgarh Twitter handle to announce the new long validity plans. BSNL has made some changes to the Rs 699 plan giving users 180 days validity instead of the previous 160 days validity. The plan comes with 250 minutes of calling per day along with 100 free SMS limit per day and 0.5GB of data limit per day. The other plan is priced at Rs 2399 and brings with it 600 days validity. That's the longest validity we have seen in a plan. 

BSNL Rs 2399 plan details and data limit

The Rs 2399 plan gives users a validity of 600 days i.e. 1.64 years! With this plan, users get 250 minutes of calling per day i.e., 4.16 hours of calling per day and 100 SMS per day limit. There is, unfortunately, no data as a part of the plan and those that use data will be charged Rs 0.25 per MB used. So users who opt for this plan will have to rely on some data pack for internet usage. 

If data is what you are looking for then know that Reliance Jio has three 4G data vouchers under its Work From Home packs.  All of them have a validity of 30 days. The plans are priced at Rs 151, Rs 201 and Rs 251 and bring with them data capacity of 30GB, 40GB and 50GB respectively. You can read more about the plans here. 

On the other hand, if you are a broadband user and looking to get a plan with unlimited data, you can check out our comparison of the unlimited data broadband plans here.

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Microsoft hasnt forgotten about Skype after all, app to get new features soon

With Microsoft Teams becoming the software of choice for people working from home, Skype is all but forgotten. Microsoft acquired the video calling service for $8.5 billion in October 2011, yet while the new Teams app keeps receiving new features to accommodate the surge in usage since the COVID-19 pandemic, Skype has taken a back seat. The app is also pre-installed in all Windows builds these days, and sure enough, the app saw a surge in active users since the pandemic took full effect.

Microsoft now claimed it is eager to invest more in Skype and work on adding new features, regardless of its plans with Team, which just so happens to be the fastest-growing business app for the Redmond giant.

The company shared that Skype has passed 40 million daily active users with a 70 percent increase month-over-month with Skype-to-Skype calling minutes seeing a rise of 220%. A big reason for the surge is the fact that Microsoft Teams is still part of the company’s offering for business users which requires a monthly subscription to Office365, now renamed to Microsoft365.

However, the daily surge in users may get affected with Microsoft also planning to build a consumer version of Teams in the coming few months. For now, it asked consumers to stick to Skype for their personal life. This indicates that Microsoft may finally think of retiring Skype altogether. Skype For Business has anyway been announced to be discontinued in favour of Microsoft Teams.

In a conversation with VentureBeat, Jeff, Teper, CVP for Microsoft 365 said, “We’re continuing to invest in Skype. It’s growing through all this. You’ll see some new features. You’ll see Skype and Teams interoperate. As Teams lands with consumers and does more things, I think people will pick Teams. But we’re not going to be heavy-handed about this. People love Skype. And so, we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves here.”

If you are more inclined towards VoWiFi calling rather than using apps like Skype, you can check this article out. 

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