Techno Bhogi

In the wake of the spreading Coronavirus in the country, a lot of companies are asking its employees to opt for remote work instead of coming in to work everyday. Now, in a step meant to facilitate work from home for its customers, Indian ISP ACT Fibernet is offering its users a free upgrade to 300Mbps speeds on its fiber broadband for the month of March, 2020. The company made the announcement via an email which said “We realize that many of our customers are opting for lesser travel and increased work from home due to prevailing Coronavirus situation. […] To strengthen your work from home experience we will be upgrading your home internet speeds to 300Mbps and provided you with unlimited FUP for the month of March 2020 — at no extra cost.” If you’re an ACT user you can avail the offer by launching the ACT Fibernet app on your smartphone, and tapping on the banner that shows up in the app. You will receive a confirmation that your internet speeds have been upgraded and that you hav...

Back in August last year, Nvidia revealed that everyone’s favorite block-building game Minecraft is getting ray tracing support. Mojang, the game developer, intends to add a layer of realism to the title with this technology. It’s been more than six months since the initial announcement and we are yet to see the fruits of Nvidia and Mojang’s labor. Well, Nvidia has shared an update today, further detailing the ray tracing support for Minecraft. Nvidia has released a couple of videos talking in-depth about how ray tracing is being implemented in Minecraft – that too in real-time. A lot of documentation for the ray tracing variant has been released today and it’s a huge departure from shader packs and textures that hardcore Minecraft fans are familiar with. Minecraft with RTX has been built from the ground up to let you build fully ray-traced worlds with reflections, shadows, caustics, global illumination, and other realistic lighting effects. We’ve also got a first look at some ray...

Version 11.3 of the Google App started rolling out to the beta channel on Monday with some minor tweaks for the most part, but an APK teadown by 9to5Google suggests that the company has been working on a number of features that might be a part of the software in the coming weeks. One of the biggest changes will likely be a built-in list of apps that can be controlled via Google Assistant . As can be seen from the screenshots below, the apps will be listed on a ‘Shortcuts’ page that can be accessed via a new menu item titled ‘Assistant-enabled apps’. The description of the page says: “You can use Assistant to navigate and get things done with your installed apps” . Screenshots Courtesy: 9to5Google It’s worth noting that the Shortcuts page only shows two apps for now – Google and YouTube. Moreover, given that the feature is still a work in progress, the ‘Recommended Shortcuts’ section is currently blank, but one would expect that to be filled out with actual recommendations going ...

With the ongoing 21-day lockdown in India to contain the spread of coronavirus, there is no doubt that we’re using our phones and embracing the work from home culture more than ever before. As a result, everyone would expect mobile data usage to skyrocket to set new records of internet traffic across the country, but a new report from the Economic Times citing top government sources gives us numbers that are closer to reality. According to the report, mobile internet usage has increased by around 10 percent since the start of lockdown (25 March) in Delhi and a significantly lower 3 percent rise in Mumbai. “Data consumption on mobile networks has increased by about 10-12% and in fact in places like Delhi, it has inched by 3% while in some areas of the capital, it has actually fallen”, a senior government official told ET. The temporary HD video restriction has got a role to play in this situation, according to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director-general Raj...

As a fan of shooting games, I have a deep-rooted love-hate relationship with Call of Duty games. While I didn’t enjoy playing Advanced Warfare too much, the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series remains, to this day, one of my favourite single player campaigns of all time. If you’re in the same boat as I, you’ll be glad to know that Modern Warfare 2’s single player campaign has been remastered for PS4 and it’s now available to purchase. Yes, much in the same way as the original Modern Warfare remaster, you can now experience all of COD:MW2’s single player missions in their newfound remastered glory. Plus, if you buy the remaster, you also get the “Underwater Demo Team Classic Ghost Bundle” for free, which adds new content to the latest iteration of CoD games — Modern Warfare (which I’m currently playing. I know, late, but whatever.) In this bundle you’ll get the Ghost skin we saw in MW2, along with ‘Task Force’ and ‘One for One’ weapon blueprints, a voice clip for Ghost, and...

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest updates, you would know that the goods and services tax (GST) on mobile phones was hiked from 12% to 18% in India in March. It comes as a huge blow for phone makers and Xiaomi seems to be the first one to have announced a price hike for its entire portfolio. No, this is not an April Fool’s joke as many Mi fans suspect. This is 100% real. Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain took to Twitter last night to break this news. The caption of his tweet, as you can see below, read – “After much deliberation & in keeping with #Xiaomi policy of maintaining <5% margin on our hardware products, we will be increasing prices of our products.” The GST rate hike comes in effect today, i.e 1st April 2020, and Xiaomi has now taken the necessary measures to counter the effect on its business. The reasons for the price hike are cited in the open letter attached below. Jain mentions that the GST rate hike, combined with depreciation in Rupee vs US Dollar rate...

Much like Google, Apple has a history for acquiring really great third-party apps and shutting them down, albeit usually after incorporating their features into iOS. It happened with the popular iOS automation app ‘Workflow’ which became Siri Shortcuts , and now, the Cupertino giant has acquired the extremely popular weather app ‘Dark Sky’. In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Dark Sky co-founder Adam Grossman said “Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy. There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone.” According to the post, the company will be shutting down its Android and wearOS apps, and they are already no longer available to download. If you’re a Dark Sky user on Android, you’ll be able to us...

COVID-19 has changed the way we think about our daily work life. Suddenly, people are forced to self-quarantine and can’t go to work. Companies are realizing that not all workers need to come to the office daily, and many of their employees can work from home as effectively as they could from the office. And I am quite sure that even after COVID-19 blows over, remote work will remain a norm. That being said, working from home has its fair share of challenges, and if people don’t adapt to a smart working methodology, they will find it hard to succeed. Thankfully, companies like Nanosystems who provide smart and effective remote working solutions are here to help you out. In this article, I am going to take a quick look at Nanosystems’ remote working solution Supremo and tell you how it can enhance and elevate your work. What is Supremo? You must have heard about Remote Desktop software like TeamViewer. You might even have tried using them but they didn’t stick. TeamViewer and other ...

To help contain the spread of COVID-19 in India, ride-hailing giant Uber said on Tuesday that it has launched a new service, UberMedic, to transport frontline healthcare workers. “Uber is providing a new service, UberMedic, to transport frontline healthcare workers and help the government contain the spread of COVID-19 in India,” Pradeep Parameswaran, President, Uber India and South Asia, said in a statement. “Working closely with a network of hospitals and leveraging our global experience and technology, UberMedic allows hospitals to easily and reliably arrange transportation for doctors and other health workers to and from their homes as well as to healthcare facilities,” Parameswaran said. UberMedic is designed to ensure that all healthcare workers who need to be mobile have a reliable and efficient way of getting around. “We hope that this 24/7 dedicated service gives hospitals and their healthcare workers the flexibility to provide optimal healthcare,” Uber said in a state...

Google on Tuesday rolled out an India-specific website on coronavirus that delivers comprehensive information about the pandemic, and how to stay productive during this time. The website contains information such as key helpline numbers, content about symptoms, protective measures, known treatments, and the latest global and Indian statistics. It also hosts a collection of videos on how people can use their time productively while at home, as well as resources and training modules for individuals, small businesses, and educators to stay connected and informed, especially when self-isolated at home. The website has four key sections: health information, safety and prevention tips, data & insights, and resources . The Safety and Prevention Tips section consists of educational and informative links and videos by the Union Health Ministry, aiming to convey to people the importance of washing hands, declaring symptoms, and adopting responsible behaviour. The website also carrie...

Apple, like a lot of other tech companies across the world, has embraced the work from home culture in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. Apple is known for its strict policies to maintain secrecy about its upcoming products but the company is reportedly being more flexible by allowing some of its employees to take home early versions of products. The report comes from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg citing unnamed Apple employees. According to the report, Apple started allowing engineers to take early-stage products home to work during this lockdown period. However, that requires approval from a vice president and the list of employees with unreleased products is often reviewed by the team of Apple’s senior vice presidents. Apple’s approval is not only required for hardware devices but also for employees working on upcoming software versions. According to Bloomberg , the software releases for this year are currently planned to be held as per the schedule at its annual developer conference...

Disney+ was earlier set to make its India debut on 29th March, alongside the newest season of IPL (Indian Premier League) via Hotstar. The company decided to delay the launch due to IPL being postponed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It didn’t reveal a new date at the time but has today confirmed that Disney+ will officially make its India debut on 3rd April . If you are not already aware, Disney+ will launch in India via Hotstar. It is one of the most popular streaming services in the country. But, in line with this launch, it will be rebranded to Disney+ Hotstar later this week. Before that, you must be wondering — why is Disney+ now launching just four days after the previous launch date? Wasn’t it going to be delayed? Yeah, the Disney+ Hotstar launch was delayed due to the sudden stop placed on IPL 2020. The company decided to rethink its strategy amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, said Uday Shankar, President, The Walt Disney Company APAC and chairman, Star and Disney India. How...

Sony has postponed the release of many of its upcoming movies in view of the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdowns that have almost completely shut down most of the major global economies, including the US, China, India and the EU. Some of the most-awaited movies that were set to be released over the next few months, such as Uncharted , Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Peter Rabbit 2 , have now all been rescheduled to be released next year. Another notable casualty is Greyhound , a World War II drama starring Tom Hanks. It was originally slated for release in June, but has now been taken off the roster indefinitely. Both Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, are recuperating after testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Australia earlier this month. Interestingly, the release date for a movie called Fatherhood , starring comedian Kevin Hart, has been moved up to October 2020 from January, 2021. Sony is not the only major movie studio that is holding back the release...

The long-awaited Poco F2 is in the news again but as always, there is no concrete information regarding its specifications or availability. Poco held a virtual community meet last evening on Zoom , where the company’s General Manager C Manmohan reportedly debunked a few rumors about the Poco F2. The major takeaway from the Zoom meeting is that Poco F2 won’t be a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro that got launched last week in China. Notably, this directly contradicts XDA ‘s findings in the MIUI Camera app’s code from a recent MIUI 11 beta. According to FoneArena ‘s report, he also revealed the handset is still in the works and won’t be priced around Rs.20,000 like the Poco F1 . Another report from MySmartPrice hints the K30 Pro won’t be launched as Poco X2 Pro in India either. Going by these, Poco might either entirely skip a Redmi K30 Pro rebrand or give it a new name apart from these two. However, since Poco GM believes 5G isn’t an imminent need in India, Poco launching a rebranded...

Even though India is currently on a 21-day total lockdown, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to soar. Tech giants, celebrities, and philanthropists in the country are now stepping up to the cause. Earlier in the day, Reliance announced that it’s donating a whopping Rs. 500 crores to the PM Relief Fund. Now, Xiaomi India has pledged Rs. 15 crores for the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain took to Twitter to talk about the company’s efforts in helping the country cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Jain wrote an open letter saying that “Xiaomi will donate INR 10 crores to the honorable PM’s relief fund and CM’s relief funds across various states.” The company further requests its 1000+ employees and partners to donate directly to honorable PM’s relief fund, CM relief fund, or a portion of their salary. Xiaomi has also partnered with non-profit organization GiveIndia to make 20,000 hygiene kits (including soaps, sanitizers, and ma...

With the rise of video conferencing , Zoom has become a household name and rightly so. The company has been pretty popular in its domain, but apart from that, general users didn’t have much idea about its existence. So if you are new to Zoom and want to learn about its installation process then you have landed at the right place. In this article, we bring you a step by step guide on how to install and use Zoom for video conferencing like a Pro. We have also mentioned some basic tips and tricks at the end so you get a fair idea about how to navigate Zoom for creating and joining a meeting. So without further delay, let’s go ahead and learn about the installation process. Use Zoom for Video Conferencing like a Pro 1. There are two ways to use Zoom: through a web browser or a dedicated Zoom client . Generally, people use Zoom on a web browser because it’s fast and lightweight. However, you can install Zoom Client if you want more features. Here are the download links for major operatin...

Microsoft’s Family Safety tools are a feature-rich set of tools that have been a part of Windows and Xbox for a while. Now, the company has announced that the Microsoft Family Safety tools will be coming to the two most popular smartphone operating systems in the world — iOS and Android. According to Microsoft’s website, “Microsoft Family Safety empowers families to help protect their loved ones by giving them the tools and insights to start a conversation promoting healthier habits online and in the real world. The new Microsoft Family Safety app is the only app that manages screen time across Windows PCs, Android, and Xbox while also giving you peace of mind when your kids aren’t home.” With the app, parents will now be able to keep a track of their kids’ browsing activities and screen time without having to always use the Family Safety website. It will also let parents block their kids’ access to risky websites and apps, screen time limits, spending limits, and more. Plus, it wil...

With people struggling to recharge their prepaid mobile connections amidst the coronavirus lockdown, BSNL, MTNL and Airtel have extended the validity of their prepaid packs. The decision is in line with TRAI’s latest directive that made it obligatory for telecom operators to ensure uninterrupted services for all users during the lockdown period. While the State-run companies are extending the validity to April 20, Airtel is only extending it to April 17. All three companies will also credit an additional Rs. 10 worth of talk-time for customers who run out of balance so as to help them stay connected during this hour of crisis. While BSNL and MTNL have already started notifying its users about the scheme, Airtel says it will start rolling out these benefits in the next 48 hours. In a press release on Tuesday, the company said that its decision will benefit up to 80 million ‘under-privileged’ subscribers. Union telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, took to Twitter on Monday to announ...

Samsung will reportedly end the production of LCD panels in South Korea and China. According to Reuters, the South Korean tech giant will stop LCD productions by the end of this year. The step follows Samsung’s previous announcement of suspending one of its two LCD production lines in South Korea last October due to reduced demand. The company, however, will fulfill all the current LCD orders by the end of 2020. “We will supply ordered LCDs to our customers by the end of this year without any issues,” a Samsung spokesperson told Reuters. It is worth noting that Samsung announced its 13.1 trillion won ($10.72 billion) 5-year investment plan to upgrade its LCD production lines in South Korea to focus on the production of Quantum Dot OLED panels last year. However, the plans regarding the future of its Chinese LCD production lines remain uncertain for now. It is likely that Samsung may utilize its Chinese factories for focusing on Quantum Dot OLED panels to stay ahead of LG. With ...

With millions of people around the world stuck inside their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic , sports goods manufacturers, Nike and Adidas, have started offering users free access to their premium online workout programs. The companies believe that the initiative will help people continue with their exercise regimens at home as gyms and swimming pools are closed in most places around the world. Nike, the world’s largest sporting apparel manufacturer, says that its Nike Training Club (NTC) premium subscription will remain free ‘until further notice’, while Adidas is offering free access to its Training and Running apps globally for the next three months. The Nike Training Club app offers free workouts for everything, including bodyweight-only sessions, yoga classes, targeted training programs and full-equipment home workouts for all fitness levels. According to the company, it is offering NTC premium for free because it wants people to stay healthy and active during the pand...

The world is currently battling COVID-19 , formally known as the Coronavirus, and if you are unaware, India is on a prolonged 21-day total lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. The number of confirmed cases, however, is still on the rise and one of the major reasons behind it will have to be the lacking COVID-19 testing in the country. Popular doctor appointment booking service Practo is now looking to change that by making it possible for patients to book COVID-19 tests online. It has partnered with Thyrocare for the launch of this new service, which went live over the weekend. The government of India and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have both authorized this new service. So, let’s take a quick look at Coronavirus symptoms, pre-requisites, and finally, the steps to book the Coronavirus test online: Who Should Book Coronavirus Test? Before we talk about how you can go about the online booking, here are the COVID-19 symptoms (based on the current testing guide...

As a music lover, I like to keep a tab on the latest albums, EPS, and videos from my favorite artists. Though Apple Music already had the feature to alert users about the latest arrivals, it wasn’t always spot-on. Many a time, it would send out alerts about new albums days or even weeks after their rollout. Thankfully, those days are gone for good! Courtesy the latest update, users can now enable Apple Music in-app notifications for new releases on iPhone and iPad. If keeping a track of the all-new albums also tickles your fancy, follow along to turn on this nifty but quite handy feature! Enable Apple Music In-App Notifications for New Releases on iOS With the in-app notifications enabled, the alerts about the latest releases will show up at the top right corner of the Library tab in the Music app. Thus, if any of your favorite artists roll out new albums, you can easily discover them through the notification banner at the top of the Library interface. 1. On your iPhone or iPad, ...