Google Announces Best Android Apps, Games of 2021 in India; BGMI, Clubhouse Among Top Titles

Google on Tuesday announced the winners of the Google Play Best of 2021 awards in India and declared e-learning app Bitclass as the ‘Best App of 2021’ and Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) as the ‘Best Game of 2021’.

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Krafton announces iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 Grind tournament

Krafton has announced a new invitational tournament called the iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 Grind. The tournament is scheduled to kick off on December 2, 2021 and will feature 32 invited teams. These teams will then battle it out to see if they have what it takes to compete in the iQOO Battleground Mobile India Series, Additional details about the tournament were not announced, but the developers note that this would be revealed soon.

Krafton recently announced a new campaign to drive its ‘Game Responsibly‘ initiative for BGMI. The campaign will not only include a series of films to encourage gamers to consider their mental health. It will also promote responsible gaming habits among players. This also means that Krafton will start implementing more stringent control over players under 18.

Every under-18 player that wants to play BGMI will now need to register a parent or guardian before they can play. An OTP will first be sent to the parent or guardian’s phone number, and only then can the minor start playing. Further, minors will also not be able to play for over three hours a day. Further, all players will not be allowed to spend over Rs 7,000 per day.

Other steps taken by Krafton include a ‘Virtual World Warning Message’ that will include in-game text and in-game audio that reinforces the message. Further, all players will get timely reminders to take a break when playing the game. Finally, the developers have reduced violence and bloodshed in the game and have set parameters to keep language in check.

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Vivos first tablet tipped to include Snapdragon 870 and 8040 mAh battery

Vivo trademarked "Vivo Pad" with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) earlier this year and, as was confirmed by the company VP, will foray into the tablet segment in the first half of 2022. While official details are yet to materialize, a new leak claims that this upcoming tablet from Vivo will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset.

Vivo Pad Specifications 

Tipster Digital Chat Station reveals that the tablet will employ Snapdragon 870, which is the same SoC Vivo earlier used on quite a few popular phones like X60 Pro and iQOO 7. The octa-core chipset is basically an enhanced version of Snapdragon 865+. It includes one Cortex-A77 prime core, three Cortex-A77 performance cores, and four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. 

The same device was reportedly spotted on the TÜV Rheinland certification website and the listing revealed an 8040mAh battery.

More tablets are on their way

Apart from Vivo, other BBK brands have also been eyeing the tablet segment. Realme introduced the Realme Pad earlier this year with MediaTek Helio G80, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 7100mAh battery. OnePlus Pad was trademarked with EUIPO in July, and Oppo is expected to launch its Pad early next year.

According to Digital Chat Station, the Oppo tablet will use the same Snapdragon 870 chipset paired with 6GB RAM and 256GB storage. This tablet is expected to include an 11-inch LCD display (2,560x1,600 pixels) with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. This software is unsurprisingly touted to be Android 11-based Color OS. It is expected to be priced at CNY 2000 in China which converts to approximately $315 or roughly INR 23,500.

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PlayStation End of Year Deals Sale: Big Discounts on Marvel's Spider-Man, F1 2021, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

PlayStation End of Year Deals sale has kicked off, giving gamers another chance to pick up their favourite games at a discounted price before the year ends. The PlayStation Store currently has discounts on over 700 games, including titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Alien: Isolation, and several others that are discounted until December 22...

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A huge asteroid is moving toward Earths orbital path

NASA is known for tracking dangerous space objects to ascertain whether any are heading towards Earth, and whether they have the potential to cause major damage. The agency recently warned that a huge asteroid is moving towards Earth’s orbital path. This asteroid is said to be twice the size of Big Ben, with the potential to cause damage akin to a nuclear explosion. Thankfully, that’s not actually going to happen as the agency says it’s not colliding with Earth. 

What kinds of damage can an asteroid this size cause?

According to NASA, this asteroid has the potential of producing 77 megatons of TNT, and is comparable to some of the largest nuclear explosions tested by man. In fact, NASA believes that the energy an asteroid like this can release will be 1.5 times that of the biggest nuclear weapon ever tested, Tsar Bomba. The Tsar Bomba was a bomb tested by the Russians, and the force was 3,333 times that of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War. So, you can imagine the level of damage that this asteroid can cause if it hits Earth.

How likely is it for asteroids to hit Earth?

Asteroids can hit Earth in the future, if they happen to be on the right collision course. Sometimes, smaller asteroids break into smaller pieces when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere (this happens because of the friction with the air) and hardly make an impact when they hit earth. Some dissolve entirely. However, the likelihood of a large asteroid hitting earth and causing widespread damage is not something NASA can rule out. It is believed that a large asteroid hit Earth millions of years ago, killing dinosaurs. 

NASA is preparing for the eventuality. One of the experiments the agency is working on is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). The idea is to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid with enough force to knock it off its path. 

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

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Indian Parliament summons Facebook India officials to discuss citizens rights and Womens safety

Last year, former Facebook data scientist, Sophie Zhang, published a memo detailing the way Facebook is used to influence global politics. She spoke about sophisticated systems in place in India that were used to try and influence the 2020 Delhi Elections, along with similar systems in other developing countries throughout the world. Now, on the heels of her memo and a recent controversy surrounding Facebook’s policies and impact on politics, the Parliament has summoned officials representing Facebook India to discuss citizens’ rights and womens’ safety. 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) will be held on November 29, with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor appointed as the Chairman of the same. 

"To hear the views of representatives Of Facebook India on the subject safeguarding citizens rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space," the committee agenda read.

Treating Social Media as Publishers

Currently, our laws treat social media platforms as intermediaries of content, and this approach has not done much to regulate the kind of content that is published and distributed. With hate speech and fake news being credited for countless communals incidents across the country, the Parliamentary Panel set up last week to examine the ramifications of such platforms concluded that they need a separate regulatory body, similar to the Press Council of India.

Doing so will make the platforms more liable for user-generated content - something that companies like Facebook and Twitter refuse to take any responsibility for. Additionally, with more and more consumers across tier-2 and tier-3 cities adopting smartphones and setting up social media accounts, data protection itself has become a widespread concern for the government. With this in mind, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, may be revised to protect non-personal data from being misused by such companies.

What about the Metaverse?

While the Indian government is moving in the right direction as far as protecting its citizens goes, there is certainly a much larger threat on the horizon - the Metaverse. With people entering virtual realities and building lives there, the data protection and privacy laws of today may end up holding no meaning. Imagine curating actual experiences that sway public opinion, transforming people from subscribers to one political ideology to completely opposing ones. Now imagine this happening so subtly, that you barely have time to reassess your values. 

If companies like Meta are to make virtual worlds accessible to Indian citizens, they need to offer transparency regarding how they will use customer data. 

Also Read: Facebook to Protect Famous People, While Stomping on the Masses

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Steam Sets New Record With Over 27 Million Concurrent Active Users; Cyberpunk 2077 Becomes Global Top Seller

Steam has broken another record with 27 million concurrent active users. Out of these, 7.8 million accounts were playing a game at the time. Separately, Cyberpunk 2077 became the global top seller with around 23,300 very positive reviews by players on Steam.

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