RedmiBook Air 13 with 10th gen Intel processor launched

While all eyes are on the launch of the Redmi Gaming laptop, the company has silently launched the RedmiBook Air 13 laptop. The laptop is a thin and light machine and weighs 1.05kgs. Under the hood, it comes with a 10th gen Intel CPU and there are two variants of the laptop with the difference being the RAM. The laptop is available in a single grey colour option. As the name suggests, the laptop has a 13.3-inch display with a resolution of 2560x1600. Let’s take a look at the features and specifications of the laptop in detail. 

RedmiBook Air 13 features and specifications

The Redmi Book 13 runs on Windows 10 which comes preinstalled on the machine. It is a thin and light laptop weighing a mere 1.05 kgs, has a 13.3-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio with a resolution of 2560x1600. The screen has a peak brightness of 300 nits and a claimed 100 percent sRGB colour space coverage. For graphics, the laptop has the integrated Intel GPU along with a 10th gen intel core i5 10210Y CPU. It has 512GB SSD storage and comes with two RAM options - 8GB and 16GB. 

The RedmiBook Air 13 has a 41Whr battery with a claimed battery life of 8 hours. For connectivity, the laptop features  USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack along with support for Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth v5.0.

RedmiBook Air 13 Price

As mentioned above, the RedmiBook Air 13 is available in two RAM options - 8GB and 16GB. The 8GB RAM variant is priced at CNY 4,699 (Rs. 51,000 approx. directly converted) and the 16GB RAM variant is priced at CNY 5,199 (Rs. 56,000 approx. directly converted). The laptop is up for pre-order and will go on sale on August 17 in China.

In India, Xiaomi has launched the Mi Notebook and Mi Notebook Horizon edition. You can check out our review of the Mi NoteBook Horizon Edition here.

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Redmi G Gaming Notebook With 10th-Generation Intel Core CPUs, Nvidia GeForce GTX GPU Launched

Redmi G gaming notebook has been launched in China as the Xiaomi sub-brand’s first ever gaming laptop. It has a stylish design and boasts of impressive specifications, like up to 10th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, dedicated Nvidia graphics card, and high refresh rate screen.

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Amazon Alexa security vulnerabilities could have given hackers access to users voice history and private data: Report

Amazon Alexa devices were discovered to be vulnerable to an attack by hackers that would have given them access to your voice history, personal data and Alexa account. The vulnerability was demonstrated by Check Point Research in a report where it can be seen that a bad actor can use this flaw to access the victim’s personal information, voice history with Alexa and other private details. 

Amazon’s Alexa devices include smart speakers, smart displays and other home automation products. Alexa skills are installed to extend the voice assistant’s capability to control more devices by voice commands. Amazon sold over 200 million Alexa-powered devices last year which makes it one of the more common IoT products that people buy. 

The researchers at Check Point Software Technologies found that some Amazon subdomains could have been exploited by hackers to send a malicious link to users. These links seem to be genuine and users could mistake it for an official Amazon tracking link but it redirects to a malicious page which raises a request to get into your Alexa account and access your private information.

“We conducted this research to highlight how securing these devices is critical to maintaining users’ privacy. Thankfully, Amazon responded quickly to our disclosure to close off these vulnerabilities on certain Amazon/Alexa subdomains. We hope manufacturers of similar devices will follow Amazon’s example and check their products for vulnerabilities that could compromise users’ privacy,” said Oded Vanunu, Head of Products Vulnerability Research at Check Point.

Amazon Alexa Security Vulnerabilities

Amazon did take stock of the situation almost immediately and has seemingly fixed the vulnerability. While the researchers have suggested that hackers could have easily gained access into user’s private information, collecting bank account details but Amazon refutes this claim stating that all bank details are redacted from Alexa’s responses. 

In a statement to Wired, Amazon said that “The security of our devices is a top priority, and we appreciate the work of independent researchers like Check Point who bring potential issues to us. We fixed this issue soon after it was brought to our attention, and we continue to further strengthen our systems. We are not aware of any cases of this vulnerability being used against our customers or of any customer information being exposed."

This isn’t the first time a flaw has been discovered in smart devices as both Amazon and Google have often been demonstrated to be vulnerable to hackers. Having said that, we recommended our readers to be vigilant of smart devices and use the physical microphone disable button occasionally.

 

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Angry Birds Maker Rovio Happy as Stay-at-Home Gaming Boosts Profit

Rovio Entertainment, maker of the 10-year-old Angry Birds mobile game series, on Friday reported a 160 percent jump in second-quarter adjusted operating profit, helped by increased player engagement amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Realme C12 key specifications confirmed on Flipkart ahead of official launch

Recently, it was confirmed that Realme would launch the Realme C12 and the Realme C15 in India. While the Realme C15 has launched internationally, it is the Realme C12 which is a new device. Now a Flipkart listing of the Realme C12 confirms some specifications of the Realme C12 such as the battery camera and the display. Just like the C15, the Realme C12 comes with a 6000mAh battery. Let’s take a look at the specifications that have appeared on the e-commerce website.   

Realme C12 Specifications

According to the listing on Flipkart, the Realme C12 will sport a 6000mAh battery. The e-commerce website teases the battery life at 57 days of standby time or 46 hours of calling, 60 hours of music streaming or 28 hours of YouTube playback. The smartphone will also have a super power-saving mode in which 5 percent battery will give a user 2.45 hours of calling. For the optics, the smartphone will have a triple camera setup with a 13MP primary camera. The specs of the other two cameras are not yet revealed. The camera will also come with the ability to clock photos in HDR, a slo-mo video mode and Chroma Boost. 

Coming to the display of the Realme C12, the smartphone will house a 6.5-inch display with an 88 percent screen to body ratio. While the resolution of the display isn’t known, it is safe to assume that it will have an HD+ display. Under the hood, the smartphone will be powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 SoC but there is no information on the storage or RAM of the device. 

Realme C15 specifications

The Realme C15 was unveiled last month, so the specifications of the smartphone are out. Speaking of the specifications of the Realme C15, the smartphone has a 6.5-inch 29:9 LCD display with an HD+ resolution. It also has a waterdrop notch that houses the 8MP selfie camera. The display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass. At the back, the smartphone has a 13MP primary camera accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP monochrome camera and a 2MP depth-sensing camera. The smartphone also houses a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. 

Under the hood, the Realme C15 comes with a MediaTek Helio G35 SoC coupled with the option of either 3GB or 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The smartphone runs on Android 10. A 6000mAh powers the entire package and it also supports 18W fast charging over microUSB.

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You can no longer play Fortnite on your iOS and Android device: Heres why

Fortnite, the popular battle royale title has been de-listed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store following a violation of the in-app payment policies of both the app stores. In response, Fortnite has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in a district court of California and is calling out Apple over its alleged anti-competitive policies. It has even released a short animated clip that is a parody of 1984 Macintosh commercial which was directed by Ridley Scott and is calling out both the companies through its social media handles, asking players to rally up to “Free Fortnite”.

Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Visit https://t.co/K3S07w5uEk and join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming "1984" https://t.co/tpsiCW4gqK

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020 Fortnite's tussle with Apple and Google

Apple and Google Play app stores have their own in-app payment policy which requires app developers such as Epic Games to give them a cut from anywhere between 15%-30% of the revenue generated. To bypass these guidelines, the devs announced that they will be adding a direct payment option in Fortnite that will let players pay directly to Epic Games and offered as much as 20% discount on in-app items. Notably, it still offered a second option to pay the regular price via Apple App Store.

Post this announcement, Apple was the first one to kick Fortnite out of its app store followed by Google. Both companies state that Fortnite’s decision to circumvent in-app billing methods in place violates their respective app stores payment policies which is why the popular battle royale game was de-listed from iOS and Android app stores.

In its lawsuit, Epic Games calls out Apple as a monopolist saying the company has become what it once railed against: “the behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation”. The game developers are seeking an injunction from the court to stop Apple’s anti-competitive policies when it comes to the in-app payment policies. 

“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services,” Apple said in a statement to the media. 

As for Google, it clarified that while Fortnite has been taken down from the Play Store, it can still be played on Android smartphones as it is available through third-party app stores and on Fortnite’s website. “The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play,” it added.

Google played spoilsport between Epic Games and OnePlus deal

From the lawsuit filed by Epic Games, it is also confirmed that at one point the game developers struck a deal with OnePlus to pre-install Fortnite on OnePlus phones offering a high refresh rate. Once Google got a wind of this, it allegedly asked OnePlus not to go ahead with the deal as it would bypass the Play Store policies. “Google was particularly worried that the Epic Games app would have ability to potentially install and update multiple games with a silent install bypassing the Google Play Store,” the lawsuit reads.

Interestingly, Google restricted the deal between Epic and OnePlus with the limited exception of OnePlus smartphones sold in India.  So, OnePlus users in India can still access Epic Games store for downloading Fortnite but the same wasn’t implemented in any other region. The new OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro smartphones come pre-installed with Epic Games Store and it can also be downloaded from the official website.

As per reports from Statista and SensorTower, Fortnite boasts of over 350 million users as of May 2020 with over two-thirds of players aged between 18 and 24. The game is very popular with iOS users who reportedly spent around $34 million in micro-transactions as opposed to $2 million from Android players. In Q2 2020, Fortnite saw player spendings rise to $146.5 million due to the addition of new modes and events.

Epic Games lawsuit could also act as a fuel for the ongoing anti-trust hearing of Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon where CEOs of the companies have testified before a committee in the US. Tim Cook, CEO at Apple said in his testimony that “we treat every developer the same. We have open and transparent rules. It’s a rigorous process because we care so deeply about privacy and security and quality." He also went on to mention that Apple had not raised its commission fee since the launch on App Store in 2008. It will be interesting to see how Fortnite makes a comeback and whether or not the courts allow Epic Games the injunctive relief it so desperately needs right now.

Fortnite is available to play on Epic Games app on Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac and GeForce Now.

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Apple's Famous '1984' Video Parodied by Fortnite Game Maker

Fortnite maker Epic Games has used a famous Apple advertisement against the iPhone maker in a social media campaign accompanying a legal battle it launched on Thursday.

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