A revamped version of Instagram Lite launched in India

Facebook has relaunched the Instagram Lite app in India, months after taking it down from all application stores in May 2020. The announcement was made at Facebook Fuel for India event on Wednesday.

The social media giant today said that it's testing the revamped light version of the app in India to assess and gain insights from the region before its global rollout. 

The new version of the Instagram Lite app takes 2MP space and is said to deliver “fast, reliable, and responsive” experience even when the user is on a patchy or weak network. To make it usable for mass in India, the Android app will support Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. The app, however, lacks some of the newly added features like Reels, IGTV and Shopping.

Who is it for?

Instagram said India is primarily a test country for Instagram Lite, which is made for Android. The company said it conducted research in India earlier this year to determine the acceptance and awareness of the new products and found 'compromised internet experience' to be a major barrier.

The latest Instagram Lite app is relatively heavier compared to the previous version which weighed a mere 573kb.

The toned down or 'Lite' version of apps allow these companies to reach users with low-cost, entry-level devices that have limited storage and processing power for accessing the internet.

Earlier this year after silently taking down the Instagram Lite app, Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram, told TechCrunch that "the company had identified some issues in the app and was working to resolve those."

In other news, Facebook is reportedly developing an AI tool to summarise news stories to make them easy and fast to consume. The tool is called "TLDR" (too long, didn't read) which summarises news articles so users won't have to click through to read them. It is said to compile key highlights so that users can gather the important points in a glance.

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Amazons new Fire TV UI has started rolling out to the 3rd gen Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite

When Amazon launched the third-gen Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick light, the company also spoke about a new UI coming to the platform. Ever since the launch of the first Fire TV Stick, the UI has been relatively unchanged. Now, we will see a UI overhaul on the Fire TV Stick. 

The new UI update is available for the third-gen Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick Lite. However, as of writing this article, we haven’t yet received the update, so it may be happening in a phased manner. 

The information about the new UI is not new, and you can check out all the new features in the UI here. To recap some of the new features, users will get access to profiles giving you curated content based on what you watch. The navigation has also been redesigned and there is an emphasis on discovering and finding new content. 

Speaking of the new UI, Amazon’s press release says that “Support for other Fire TV devices will be added early next year”. There is no definite timeline nor a list of supported devices. So, it will be interesting to see which of the old devices receives the new UI. we can confidently predict that the 4K Fire TV Stick will be one to receive the update, but we will have to wait on an official word to confirm the same. 

If you just purchased a new Fire TV Stick then you can check out our step-by-step guide on how to set up a new Fire TV Stick here. You can also check out our review of the third-gen Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite here. In our review, we not only talk about the performance of the devices but also which is the right Fire TV Stick for you. 

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WhatsApp Payments goes live with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank in India

WhatsApp Payments was officially given a nod by the government in November and has now gone live with support for major banks in India. At the ongoing Facebook Fuel for India event, the company announced that its payments service has gone live with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis bank. WhatsApp is rolling out its Payments service to serve over 20 million users through the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) system designed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 

Announcing the launch of WhatsApp Payments, Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp in India said, “We’re excited and privileged to partner with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and AXIS Bank to bring simple and secure digital payments to WhatsApp users across India. UPI is a transformative service and we jointly have the opportunity to bring the benefits of our digital economy and financial inclusion to a large number of users who have not had full access to them before.”

With the roll-out of the payments service, WhatsApp users can now transfer money to other users using UPI. The services support as many as 160 banks and so users can send money on WhatsApp to anyone by using a UPI supported app that is linked with a bank account. The UPI system enables a peer to peer (P2P) network that is used to transfer money between two users securely on WhatsApp.

The State Bank of India currently has over 120 million UPI users that will be eligible for WhatsApp Payments across India. The Facebook-backed instant messenger wants to increase rural participation and aims to enable digital financial services for people who are yet to experience it. 

How to set up WhatsApp Payments?

To activate the WhatsApp Payments, users need to have a UPI supported bank account with the same number as your WhatsApp account. Next, open WhatsApp and tap More Options button on top. Select Settings from the list and tap Payments. Here, you can add a new account by following the steps. 

Choose your bank from the list of options and then tap on Verify by SMS. Select the bank account you want to add to WhatsApp for sending and receiving payments in India. 

WhatsApp has also released a helpline for users who are unable to access its payments service. Users can call on the toll-free number 1800-212-8552 between 8 AM to 6 PM IST from Monday to Sunday.

 

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Google Photos to soon add 3D effect to 2D images

Google Photos have been generating albums, memories, and highlights from the photos library, and now the tech giant will soon roll out a feature called “Cinematic Photos”. With ‘Cinematic Photos’ Google will add a 3D effect to 2D images using machine learning to calculate the depth of the image to generate the effect.

In the blog post, Jamie Aspinall, Google Photos product manager says, “We use machine learning to predict an image’s depth and produce a 3D representation of the scene—even if the original image doesn’t include depth information from the camera, Then we animate a virtual camera for a smooth panning effect—just like out of the movies.”

The cinematic photos will be featured in the “recent highlights” of the app as well as through a new search category. The new creations can be saved in your library and can be shared as video clips with others. Google said that they are still improving it and taking in-app feedback from the users about it.

Google seems to be adding a new theme for memories and will group people along with activities such as sunsets, baking, and hiking, the company said. These features will be rolling out to users over the span of the next month.

Previously Google had announced a feature that lets users set a dynamic wallpaper on their phone from memories, it seems that the Google Photos team is working on adding more features and facets since the announcement of the elimination of free photo storage.

You can check out the wallpaper article here, and the announcement about eliminating free photos storage here.

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Fortnite Gets New ‘The Spy Within’ Game Mode Similar to Among Us

Fortnite gets The Spy Within LTM (Limited time modes) playlist that brings an Among Us-style game mode. Players will have to work together to identify the two spies in each match and vote them out before being eliminated.

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Facebook is reportedly working on a tool that summarises news articles

Facebook's ambition of becoming a mainstream news medium is evident, and it's now reportedly working on a new tool that summarises news pieces for easy and faster consumption. The social media giant last year launched a news section - Facebook News - in the US region, which is said to be introduced in Germany, India and Brazil.

As per a report from BuzzFeed, Facebook is testing an AI-powered tool called "TLDR" (too long. didn't read) that summarises news articles so users won't have to click through to read them. It is said to change it into bullet points so that users can gather the important points in a glance. There's also a possibility that it could come with audio narration and voice assistant. 

These announcements and demos were part of an end-of-year, company-wide meeting led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. BuzzFeed News obtained the audio of the meeting. 

The meeting reportedly featured pre-recorded clips of company executives, some of whom called 2020 a trying year as mentioned the tough times the company had to go through. Despite that, the company leaders pointed out at the positives noting that Facebook added around 20,000 new employees around the globe despite the pandemic. Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer, highlighted that Facebook saw record usage, where traffic throughout March was similar to New Year's Day, which is typically the busiest period of the year.

Schroepfer spoke of Facebook's several advancements with a special focus at artificial intelligence, their key tool to correct the ills of its platform and social media as a whole. He also told that Facebook's data centres are getting “new systems” making the processing 10 to 30 times faster to power its AI training.

Is Facebook being too ambitious?

As always, Facebook's intent seems noble and getting a short summary of an article to save time sounds good to consumers too, but not everything is as good as it sounds. Especially, with Facebook. The company will have to tighten the knots to avoid mistakes it has made in the past. The most common one includes contextual and factual accuracy. With the huge amount of unverified, untrustworthy news publications on Facebook, checking on those to avoid the spread of misinformation is also a challenge. And given Facebook's track record, it needs to be more cautious of that. We can't foresee an issue with the idea if it works as intended, but we're not expecting this feature to roll out anytime soon.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 with improved CPU and GPU performance announced

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 678 processor that brings improved CPU, GPU and camera performance to mid-range smartphones. The Snapdragon 678 succeeds the 675 from October 2018 and has been built on an 11nm process. The CPU is still based on Kryo 460 cores but the performance has been bumped up for fast and efficient performance. 

“Snapdragon 678 brings advanced mobile capabilities for daily entertainment at lightning-fast speeds over reliable connections and long-lasting battery life for consumers worldwide,” said Kedar Kondap, VP, product management, Qualcomm Technologies.

Introducing the #Snapdragon 678 Mobile Platform. Built to deliver reliable performance for dynamic entertainment experiences, we gave it a boost in CPU and GPU for better gaming, photography, streaming, and more — all at lightning-fast speeds. Learn more: https://t.co/MRaA1Ei5R8 pic.twitter.com/QVD0dI87Es

— Qualcomm (@Qualcomm) December 15, 2020

The Snapdragon 678 offers a boost in core clock speeds to 2.2GHz up from 2.0GHz on the Snapdragon 675 along with performance increase with Adreno 612 GPU. Additionally, the processor gets dynamic photography features and is capable of offering long battery life to smartphones.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 processor features

Qualcomm Snapdragon 678 processor will be powering budget to mid-range smartphones in 2021 and aims to bring premium experiences to affordable phones. The 678 receives a bump in performance over the 675 with the Kryo 460 now running at 2.2GHz along with an improved Adreno 612 GPU that delivers faster graphics rendering, high frame rates and lesser frame drops. Moreover, the processor has been optimized for games running on Unity, Messiah, NeoX and Unreal Engine 4.

The new chipset features the Spectra 250L ISP that brings in support for triple cameras with upto 48MP and zero shutter lag. The ISP also works in tandem with the third-generation AI Engine for features like portrait mode, low-light photography and more. Additionally, the chipset has been optimized for recording 4K videos and modes like slow-motion videos and offers upto 5x optical zoom.

The Snapdragon 678 also has the X12 4G LTE modem for fast upload and download speeds. However, the decision to not go with a 5G modem could likely see the chip get available on more affordable phones. The chip supports download speeds of up to 600 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 150 Mbps. Additionally, the Snapdragon 678 supports upto Full HD+ resolution displays with upto 10-bit colour depth.

We should start seeing phones powered by the Snapdragon 678 release in 2021. Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon 888 flagship processor earlier this month that will be powering high-end and premium smartphones next year. You can read more about the SD 888 here.

 

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