Thursday, October 6, 2016

Those over 55 aren't adequately protecting themselves online, survey finds





By Shawn Knight on October 5, 2016, 4:45 PM



While it’s generally accepted that wisdom comes with age, that’s certainly not always the case. Research from Kaspersky Lab and market researcher B2B International has shown that those of the older generation are increasingly finding their way to the Internet albeit with a general lack of awareness that could put them at risk.

In a survey of more than 12,500 Internet users as part of a report entitled: “Older and Wiser? A look at the Threats Faced by Over-55s Online,” the firms found that despite the fact that those 55 and older are more likely to install security software on their computers, they are less likely to protect their mobile devices or modify online behavior in the name of safety.

For example, the older generation uses high privacy settings on social media and in their web browsers less than other age groups. Furthermore, they’re unlikely to use security-minded functions of mobile devices like “find my phone” or VPNs.

Data from the survey shows that a whopping 86 percent of those 55 and older do not believe they are a target for cyber criminals. Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that four in 10 have put themselves at risk by sharing financial details in the public domain.

Andrei Mochola, head of consumer business at Kaspersky Lab, said that on the one hand, it’s great to see that so many over-55s are using the Internet to shop, bank and stay connected with loved ones. On the other hand, however, it’s clear that this age group is not doing enough to protect themselves properly.

As such, Mochola encourages younger Internet users to help their older relatives and friends better protect themselves from the very real threats posed by cyber criminals. Suggestions for the older generation include being more vigilant online, installing reliable security solutions and using high privacy settings on all devices used to access the net.

Replacement Galaxy Note 7 catches fire on Southwest plane





By Jose Vilches on October 5, 2016, 5:32 PM



Samsung has been grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. The launch of its Galaxy Note 7 was marred by faulty (read: exploding) batteries, prompting the company to announce an unprecedented recall of about a million handsets that wiped a few billions from its market value — all this as Apple launched the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and now Google is going for a piece of the high end market with the new Pixel phones.

To its credit Samsung was quick to address the issue and set the replacement program in motion. However, new reports of an actual replacement unit catching fire while its owner was boarding an aircraft is not going to bode well for the company.

The incident occurred while boarding Southwest Airlines flight 944 from Louisville to Baltimore and resulted in all passengers being evacuated and the flight cancelled. Apparently the owner, Brian Green, had had picked up his replacement Galaxy Note 7 at an AT&T store on September 21st. The device was at about 80% of battery capacity and powered down at the moment it burst into flames, burning through the plane’s carpet and scorching the subfloor. All 75 people aboard the Boeing 737 were evacuated with no reported injuries.

As verified by The Verge, a photograph of the Note 7’s box shows the black square symbol that indicates a replacement Note 7 and Green said it had a green battery icon.

Samsung hasn’t issued an official comment about the incident yet. As for Green, he has already replaced it with an iPhone 7 according to The Verge. Ouch.

Samsung buys Viv Labs, whose team originally created Siri




By Tim Schiesser on October 6, 2016, 6:15 AM


Samsung wants its own personal assistant to compete with Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa and Cortana, so they've bought a company that designs them. As confirmed in a Medium post, AI assistant startup Viv Labs has been acquired by Samsung for an undisclosed price.

The Viv Labs team, namely Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer, and Chris Brigham, is best known for designing and then selling its previous assistant technology, Siri, to Apple. The team gradually left Apple after the acquisition of Siri in 2012 and formed Viv Labs, who have been working on a next-gen assistant called Viv for several years.

Under Samsung, Viv Labs will operate as an independent company and will continue to work on their virtual assistant. Viv is reportedly a more powerful version of Siri with better integration of data and services, with the ability to understand more complex queries and remember important context from previous questions.

Viv Labs will provide services to Samsung and their various platforms, but it's not clear whether the assistant or its technology will be available outside Samsung's ecosystem. However it does give Samsung a tool to compete with heavyweights from Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and even Facebook, who are all developing their own AI assistant products.

According to Kittlaus, Samsung are setting their signs on "on becoming a major player in software and services, and specifically AI." The fact that Samsung ships more than 500 million devices a year was a tasty proposition for Viv Labs, whose technology could be seen in Galaxy devices and Samsung televisions as soon as next year.

Google, Disney, Apple won't bid for Twitter; stock plummets almost 10 percent





By Rob Thubron on October 6, 2016, 7:30 AM



The last few weeks have been awash with claims that several large companies are showing an interest in buying ailing social network/news site Twitter. The prospect of an acquisition sent the company’s share price soaring, but it seems this may have been slightly premature: all of the former suitors are no longer planning to make a bid for Twitter.

Last month, Disney became the latest company to be linked with a possible Twitter takeover, but Recode reports that although the organization had considered a bid, it won’t be making an offer, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Google has been showing an interest in acquiring Twitter for over a year. Many expected Sundar Pichai’s company to make a move; after the failure of Google+, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Google try to break into social media with an established, if struggling, platform. However, sources close to the situation say Google won’t be moving forward with a bid.

Apple was also thought to be considering an offer, but sources say that Twitter should have “low expectations” of hearing from the iPhone maker. With those three companies all but ruling themselves out, it appeared that cloud computing giant Salesforce was favorite to step in. But Business Insider reports that CEO Marc Benioff doesn’t seem that enthusiastic.

"I think it’s a great brand and I just wish Jack [Dorsey] very well...good on his company, that’s how I look at it today," Benioff said. "We look at everything, and we don’t buy most things, and we haven’t agreed to buy that company [...] it’s an unpolished jewel."

A Bloomberg report claims that the situation is made worse by an internal battle between CEO Jack Dorsey, who wants to keep Twitter independent, and co-founder and board member Ev Williams, who believes selling the firm is the best option. The in-fighting has reportedly led to Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto seizing de facto control of the company.

All this is bad news for Twitter. Its stock fell more than 9 percent to $22.58 in after-hours trading on the news that it’s struggling to find a buyer.

Many Android 7.1 Nougat features, including Google Assistant, are exclusive to the Pixel





By Rob Thubron on October 6, 2016, 8:30 AM



Google finally unveiled its long-rumored Pixel smartphones earlier this week. They will be the first to launch with Android 7.1 Nougat, but many of the Pixels’ best features, such as the new Google Assistant, won’t appear on other Android devices, including Google’s own Nexus series, when the OS arrives.

An Android 7.1 Nougat changelog leaked to Android Police shows which new features will appear in the upcoming operating system, as well as those that are Pixel-only. Google confirmed that the information is accurate is to TechCrunch.

The absence of the AI-powered helper will come as disappointment to those who expected to see the Siri/Cortana/Alexa rival on every handset receiving Android 7.1 Nougat. Google Assistant is essentially a more advanced version of Google Now, able to engage in two-way conversations with users, perform complex tasks, and learn and recall personal information from previous conversations for context.

Other Pixel exclusives include the free, unlimited photo and video (in their original quality) cloud backup service; the smart storage feature, which automatically removes old, backed up images/videos when the storage is full; and the Pixel Camera and Launcher apps. 24-hour phone/chat support and screen-share functionality will also be limited to the Pixel phones.

There are some interesting new features coming to all devices that receive Android 7.1, though. There’s the Night Light blue filter, which changes the color temperature of a display at night. A Daydream VR mode is also on its way, along with support for sliding down on the fingerprint sensor to open the notification bar.

Google did say that its Assistant would eventually be arriving on other Android devices, just don’t expect it soon. Ultimately, the company will likely replace Google Now with its more advanced version of the assistant.

"Our goal is to make the Google Assistant widely available to users, and we’ll continue to launch new surfaces over the course of the next year," a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.

The developer preview of Android 7.1 arrives later this month. Google hasn’t said when it will come to phones other than the Pixel.

NSA contractor working for Edward Snowden's former employer charged with stealing secrets





By Rob Thubron on October 6, 2016, 10:30 AM


In what appears to be a case of history repeating itself, the NSA has arrested a contractor working for Booz Allen Hamilton, the same firm that employed Edward Snowden, and charged him with unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, as well as theft of government property.

According to a statement from the Department of Justice, the contractor is 51-year old Maryland resident Harold Thomas Martin III. The criminal complaint against him states that investigators found thousands of physical and digital documents marked as top secret when they searched his home on August 27.

TechCrunch reports that the material contained hacking codes for government systems in Russia, China and North Korea. Moreover, six of the discovered documents were said to be of an extremely sensitive nature.

According to the complaint, Martin initially denied taking the documents but later admitted to storing them in his home and car, despite knowing they were classified. “Martin stated that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized,” the affidavit states.

Edward Snowden famously passed NSA documents on to journalists in 2013. It’s unclear if Martin leaked the information in the his documents, or if he passed them on to a third party. His lawyers told the New York Times: “We have not seen any evidence. But what we know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. There is no evidence that he intended to betray his country.”

While no connection between Martin and Snowden has been made, investigators discovered Martin’s alleged theft when they were looking into the recent Shadow Brokers leak, which exposed what appeared to be malware used by the NSA. The leak took place two weeks before Martin’s arrest, suggesting he may not have any connection to it.

If found guilty, Martin could face up to ten years behind bars for his crimes. If it’s discovered that he shared the information with anyone, the contractor may face charges under the Espionage Act, just as Edward Snowden does.

Spotify users exposed to malware attack




By Shawn Knight on October 6, 2016, 11:30 AM

Some users of Spotify’s free, ad-supported service got a bit more than they bargained for this week (and not in a good way).

Reports surfaced as early as Tuesday that Spotify’s free tier was serving up malicious content through its advertisements. According to one user’s account, if Spotify was open, it would continuously open the default web browser and load various malware / virus-ridden sites – some of which didn’t even require any user interaction to cause harm.

Worse yet, the issue apparently wasn’t limited to Windows as reports flowed in of similar behavior on both Linux and MacOS installations.

Shortly after the outbreak, Spotify said in response to one of the community posts that they had identified an issue where a small number of users were experiencing a problem with questionable website pop-ups in their default browsers as a result of an isolated issue with an ad on their free tier. The source of the problem was identified and has been shut down, the Spotify rep said.

While it’s not uncommon for malware to sneak into the advertising campaign of a major company, it is a bit embarrassing for Spotify as this isn’t the first time the company has dealt with such an issue. In 2011, Spotify issued a public apology after its Windows desktop app was found to be installing bogus “Windows Recovery” software which, again, was a result of malvertising.

OurMine hacks Buzzfeed in retaliation for publishing details of alleged member




By Rob Thubron on October 6, 2016, 12:30 PM




You may be familiar with the name OurMine. The group has been responsible for several high-profile hacks of celebrities and some of the most famous CEOs in the tech industry, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Uber’s Travis Kalanick. Now, the hackers have hit BuzzFeed in retaliation for an article that exposed one of its alleged members.

Joseph Bernstein’s investigation identified Saudi teenager Ahmed Makki as a member of OurMine. The group denied this, claiming he was “just a fan,” but the story appears to have touched a nerve – BuzFeed was hacked the morning after the report, with the titles of several articles changed to “Hacked by OurMine.”

The body of several stories, including Bernstein’s, had the following text added: “Don’t share fake news about us again, we have your database. Next time it will be public. Don’t f**k with OurMine again.”

It’s unclear precisely what database the group is referring to, or what information it contains, though an email to The Guardian from an account associated with the hackers claims it was “Emails, Password Hashes, Usernames.”

There has been no comment from Makki, but OurMine’s website states: “Yesterday Buzzfeed Created a post that we are only 1 member called Ahmed Makki, and we can confirm that we don’t Have a member called ‘Ahmed Makki’ and we are now 4 we were 3 but someone joined, and we hacked it because they are reporting fake news about us.”

“We have a member known as ‘Makki’ But not ahmad makki, and he is not from Saudi Arabia.”

BuzzFeed quickly restored the affected articles, including the original OurMine exposé, back to their original state.

OurMine said the only reason it infiltrates accounts is to show that nobody is secure, using the exposure to advertise its services so people can stay “safe from other hackers.”

Verizon to use 4G LTE-equipped drones to provide emergency cell service




By Shawn Knight on October 6, 2016, 1:30 PM



Verizon believes the next frontier for the Internet of Things won’t happen in our homes or even on land. Instead, it’ll play out in the sky.

For the past two years, the nation’s largest cellular provider has been working on its Airborne LTE Operations (ALO) initiative which involves outfitting both manned and unmanned aircraft (drones) with 4G LTE wireless connectivity.

Unlike Facebook and Google which intend to use unmanned craft to provide wireless Internet access to remote and underserved regions, part of Verizon’s goal is to use drones to provide mobile connectivity during emergency situations when land-based towers aren’t an option.

In 2012, for example, Hurricane Sandy had a major impact on the communications infrastructure on the East Coast. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski said shortly after the storm that around 25 percent of cell phone towers across 10 states had been damaged or destroyed beyond repair.

In an initial controlled trial, Verizon partnered with American Aerospace Technologies Inc. (AATI) to test connectivity between aerial platforms and Verizon's 4G LTE network using a 17-foot wingspan unmanned aircraft system.

Verizon’s initiative isn’t just for emergency situations. Come next year, the telecom hopes to offer a new suite of services through its ThingSpace IoT platform that could be used for all sorts of tasks such as inspecting pipelines and high-voltage power lines, gathering traffic data and keeping tabs on farmland through aerial imaging.

Nvidia's new Game Ready drivers are optimized for Gears of War 4, Mafia III and Shadow Warrior 2


By Shawn Knight on October 6, 2016, 2:30 PM



Nvidia on Thursday published a new GeForce Game Ready driver that’s optimized for a trio of upcoming high-profile games.

The Nvidia GeForce 373.06 WHQL Game Ready driver preps gamers for Gears of War 4,Mafia III and Shadow Warrior 2. The driver also adds an SLI profile for Iron Storm, re-enables the Battlefield 1 SLI profile that was removed over the summer and adds 3D Vision profiles for Ashes of the Singularity, Gears of War 4, Mafia III and Shadow Warrior 2 (the last two are listed as “not recommended”).

Nvidia’s latest fixes a trio of issues in Windows 10 although 17 bugs in Microsoft's current OS persist, most of which affect SLI configurations. There are also nine known issues dating back to Windows 7.



Those planning to pick up Gears of War 4 may want to hop over to Nvidia’s website as they’ve posted a helpful optimization guide. The Coalition has baked in nearly three dozen graphics settings as well as several configuration options for displays and input devices. Gears 4 is also compatible with Nvidia G-Sync technology, no doubt good news if you have a compatible monitor.

Gears of War 4 arrives on October 7 for those that purchased the Ultimate Edition and October 11 for everyone else. Mafia II, the sequel to 2010’s Mafia II, also launches tomorrow while those clamoring for Shadow Warrior 2 will have to wait until October 13.

PS - AMD just yesterday released a new set of Radeon Software Crimson Edition drivers that are optimized for Gears of War 4 and Mafia III.

VMware vSphere 6.0 course in "English&Arabic"



What's New

This release of vSphere 6.0 includes ESXi 6.0 and vCenter Server 6.0. Read about the new and enhanced features in this release in What's New in the VMware vSphere 6.0 Platform.

Internationalization

VMware vSphere 6.0 is available in the following languages:
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Traditional Chinese
Components of VMware vSphere 6.0, including vCenter Server, ESXi, the vSphere Web Client, and the vSphere Client do not accept non-ASCII input.
Course links:

In english:




In Arabic:




Indian Railways are working on fully solar-powered trains, says Union minister Suresh Prabhu

Indian Railways are working on fully solar-powered trains, says Union minister Suresh Prabhu

Image: Reuters
By 
Union Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said Indian Railways are working to run fully solar-powered trains in the future. Prabhu said this after flagging-off the first freight train which featured a newly-developed guard van, which uses solar power to run fans and lights. The minister further said that powering fans and lights in the newly-developed guards van through solar panel-produced power will help in reducing the carbon footprint of the railways.
According to the railways, the new guards van has been designed to address shortcomings in brake vans by providing facilities like lighting and fans, which comes as a relief for the guards of the goods trains. “The facilities are powered by solar energy making the guard van environment-friendly. We care for our environment,” the Railway Minister tweeted.
Prabhu said the Indian Railways is committed to providing “good working conditions” to its employees. “Indian Railways committed to

Activist investor Elliott’s attempt to transform Samsung may push founding family to embrace change

Activist investor Elliott’s attempt to transform Samsung may push founding family to embrace change

Image Credit: REUTERS
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped to a record high on Thursday after activist investor Elliott Management submitted unsolicited proposals for a radical corporate makeover at the world’s biggest smartphone maker. An attempt by the U.S. hedge fund to wring change at South Korea’s biggest conglomerate last year failed in acrimony. But investors and analysts said Elliott’s latest move could open the way for the founding Lee family to embrace change, cementing its grip as it negotiates succession from its ailing patriarch to the next generation and a hefty inheritance tax bill.
The approach on Wednesday by Elliott, which owns 0.62 percent of Samsung Electronics, came as the tech giant faced fresh claims of problems with its flagship Note 7 smartphone, with a report that a handset began smoking inside a U.S. plane on Wednesday. Last month’s global recall of 2.5 million devices is set to show up in modest earnings growth guidance the firm is expected to report on Friday.
Samsung said it will “carefully review” Elliott proposals for restructuring, splitting the firm into a

Researchers develop soft, shock-absorbing material to make 3-D printed robots safer

Researchers develop soft, shock-absorbing material to make 3-D printed robots safer

Representational Image. Image: 3D Systems (Twitter page
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new method for 3-D printing soft materials that make robots safer and more precise in their movements. The material could be used to improve the durability of drones, phones, shoes, helmets, and more, according to the researchers. The team’s “programmable viscoelastic material” (PVM) technique allows users to programme every single part of a 3D-printed object to the exact levels of stiffness and elasticity they want, depending on the task they need for it.
For example, after 3-D printing a cube robot that moves by bouncing, the researchers outfitted it with shock-absorbing “skins” that use only a fraction of the energy it transfers to the ground. “That reduction makes all the difference for preventing a rotor from breaking off of a drone or a sensor from cracking when it hits the floor,” said Daniela Rus from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory who oversaw the project.
“These materials allow us to 3-D print robots with visco-elastic properties that can be inputted by the user at print-time as part of the fabrication process,” Rus noted in a statement released by MIT. The skins also allow the robot to land nearly four times more precisely, suggesting that similar shock absorbers could be used to

NSA contractor arrested for stealing highly classified information

NSA contractor arrested for stealing highly classified information

Image Credit: Wikimedia.org
A National Security Agency contractor has been arrested and charged with stealing highly classified information, authorities said on Wednesday, a data breach that could mark a damaging new leak about the US government’s surveillance efforts.
Harold Thomas Martin, 51, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, was taken into custody in Maryland in August, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Booze Allen is the consulting firm that employed Edward Snowden when he revealed the collection of metadata by the NSA in 2013.
Booz Allen said in a statement that when the company “learned of the arrest of one of its employees by the FBI,” they immediately fired the employee and offered full cooperation to the FBI.
The same month Martin was arrested, some of the NSA’s most sophisticated hacking tools were dumped onto public websites by a group calling itself Shadow Brokers.
The company’s stock was down 3.7 percent to $30.33 a share, following the report.
The US Justice Department charged Martin, who had top secret national security clearance, with theft of classified government material, according to

Samsung Galaxy S8 rumoured to skip the 3.5mm headphone jack

Samsung Galaxy S8 rumoured to skip the 3.5mm headphone jack

Shown above is the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.
By 
The legacy audio jack is disappearing. Well at least from smartphones. New reports are suggesting that the next big smartphone to ditch the port might be coming from Samsung, particularly the Galaxy S8. The smartphone is due next year and it is possible that the company will take the step to keep up with the modern design trends. And well the company doesn’t want be left behind.
Apple took the big step of removing the 3.5mm audio jack from its new iPhones this year as a move to progress into the future. The Android world started saying goodbye to the age-old port before Apple, for instance LeEco announced two smartphones earlier this year that utilise USB-C for audio. Lenovo’s new Moto Z is another example that ditches the audio jack allowing it go as thin as 5.2mm.
Samsung recently started adopting the new USB-C port on the Galaxy Note 7. Speaking of which, the smartphone has been a huge fiasco due to

French company Arianespace successfully puts Indian communication satellite GSAT-18 in orbit

French company Arianespace successfully puts Indian communication satellite GSAT-18 in orbit

Representational Image
An Indian communication satellite GSAT-18 was successfully put into orbit by Ariane 5 rocket belonging to French company Arianespace on Thursday, Indian space agency said. The rocket lifted off from its spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana). According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) its Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took control of GSAT-18 and performed the initial orbit raising activities by firing the motors onboard the satellite.
The satellite was placed in a circular geostationary orbit, ISRO said. GSAT-18 is India’s latest communication satellite with 48 transponders that receive and transmit communication signals. The 3,404 kg satellite will provide services in normal C-band, upper extended C-band and Ku-bands of the frequency spectrum.
The satellite carries Ku-band beacon as well to help in accurately pointing ground antennas towards the satellite. Its designed in-orbit operational life is about 15 years. “It is now the

Upcoming Pokémon Go update will make catching rare Pokémon easier

Upcoming Pokémon Go update will make catching rare Pokémon easier

By 
If you are one of the remaining Pokémon Go fanatics like me, then here is an update that might entice you. Niantic Labs, the creator of the popular game, has announced that a new update is on its way and it will bring an interesting new feature.
The upcoming update is said to bring a special bonus that will help trainers collect certain Pokémon type easier. If you are an avid player, then you would know that as you progress in the game, you get a bunch of medals, like when you catch 100 water type Pokémon. These medals will finally have a role in the game as post the new update, you will get a special capture bonus based on these medals to improve your chances of getting a certain Pokémon type.
For instance if you have caught a large number of fire Pokémon, you get the Kindler medal. This will give you a special boost to find more fire type Pokémon and not just the common ones, but also rare fire based Pokémon.
Here is an official statement from Niantic:
We are adding a new feature which grants a catch bonus when you earn medals based on catching certain types of Pokémon (Kindler, Psychic, Gardener, etc.). These new bonuses will give you a better chance of capturing Pokémon with a

Select Volvo cars will soon be able to talk to one another

Select Volvo cars will soon be able to talk to one another

By 
There’s a lot of talk about autonomous cars and there is also talk about Volvo and Uber. Volvo who recently signed a partnership with ride sharing giant Uber, will be looking at developing self-driving cars and related technologies. But that’s for 2020 or 2021 onwards where electric and autonomous cars are expected to make an appearance in the common man’s garage. For now Auto Evolution reports, Volvo has something else up its sleeves and it is to do with some of its cars talking to one another.
The standard Volvo XC90.
The standard Volvo XC90.
Volvo says that all of its 90 series vehicles that includes the XC90, S90, and V90, will soon be able to communicate with one another. The same will take place using the cloud, so the vehicles would not necessarily have to be in close range to be able to achieve the same. The system works independent of the driver and has been setup to relay road conditions to the driver warning them about possible hazards like a

Asus announces its first laptops with Nvidia’s GTX 1070 graphics cards built in. Prices start at Rs 1,81,990

Asus announces its first laptops with Nvidia’s GTX 1070 graphics cards built in. Prices start at Rs 1,81,990

By 
Asus has unveiled a couple of Nvidia GTX 1070-toting laptops in India. The two devices pack in enough hardware to make a decent gaming rig blush.
To those not in the know, Nvidia’s 10xx series of graphics cards offer a significant bump in performance when compared to the previous generation. These GPUs, in addition to being more powerful, are also more energy efficient and include modules specifically for enhancing VR performance.
The first of the devices is the Asus ROG G752S. This laptop packs in an unlocked sixth generation Intel Skylake chip, an Nvidia GTX 1070 and up to 64GB of RAM. Yes, you read that right. The G752 packs in an unlocked, overclockable CPU. Also note that Asus claims to be using the 1070 and not the 1070m, which means that this GPU will offer desktop class performance in a laptop. It won’t beat a desktop-class 1070, but it’ll

Vivo is looking to capture 10% market share by next year; to expand local manufacturing

Vivo is looking to capture 10% market share by next year; to expand local manufacturing

By 
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo is looking at capturing a 10 percent market share in India by next year. It aims to increase its local manufacturing capability and will also start selling phones via e-commerce platforms according to a report in the Economic Times.
Vivo is planning to come up with an online strategy which will not conflict with its offline channels. The company plans to use its marketing budget of around Rs 300-400 crore for this.
Speaking to ET, Vivo’s India head Kent Cheng said that Vivo had a 2-3 percent share in January which is now increased to 5-6 percent by volume and 7 percent by value. “We have set internal target of 10 percent by next year, which may include some share from online sales,” said Cheng.
According to analysts, Vivo has good presence in the

Shoto now available for iOS 10, integrates into iMessages

Shoto now available for iOS 10, integrates into iMessages

By 
Photo discovery app Shoto has been officially announced for iOS 10 and iMessage for all Apple devices. According to the company the app leverages Apple’s Messages framework to make all of your Shoto discovered photos, albums and trips available quickly and easily to share.
Using the Shoto iMessage extension in any iMessage conversation, users can share picture and videos with a single tap. Users get an option to select a single photo or video, or select from an entire album or trip, each labeled and organised by Shoto.
It is also the first app that can inform users which of their friends has relevant photos and videos even if those friends don’t use the Shoto app. According to the company it uses artificial intelligence and passive data to understand which albums have relevant photos accessible from friends. Shoto groups and highlights relevant images from shared moments to ensure that a user’s album contains all photos from
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...