WhatsApp reportedly planning to encrypt voice calls and group messages

WhatsApp may be planning to encrypt voice calls and groups messages. According to a report by The Guardian, the company is planning to introduce the service in the coming weeks. The report also highlighted WhatsApp’s troubles in Brazil, where authorities arrested a Facebook executive on March 1. This was after WhatsApp had told investigators that it lacked the technical ability to provide messages sent by drug traffickers. WhatsApp already offers Android and iPhone users encrypted messaging. 

As per the report, Facebook, Google, and Snapchat may also be working to improve the encryption provided by their services. Facebook is planning to improve the security of Messenger and offer encryption on voice calls. Snapchat is also said to be working on a secure messaging system, while Google is looking into encrypted email technology. All this focus on encryption and security comes after Apple’s battle with the FBI in which Apple refused to grant the agency access to the iPhone belonging to the accused in the San Bernardino shooting. 

Google adds 2 new search features for ICC World T20 2016

In a bid to cash in on the ongoing ICC World T20 tournament, Google has announced 2 new search features on its platform - fresh content directly from your favorite cricket players, personalities and commentators, and a new live sports commentary panel.

According to a recent post by Google, “You’ll now be able to hear from your favorite cricketers more easily. Now if you search for Ravindra Jadeja, in addition to the news articles, tweets and links you’re used to seeing in Google Search, you’ll also see posts, match photos, or videos directly from him.”

As far as the live sports commentary is concerned, Google says, “Now, when you search for cricket and ICC World Twenty20 related queries like “T20” or team names during and after matches, you’ll see real-time commentary on the match from a range of cricket stars. That way you can catch Akash Chopra’s most recent quip or Boria Majumdar’s anecdotes on cricketing history. These commentary panels will launch just in time for today’s highly anticipated India vs New Zealand match and will be available for the ICC T20 games listed below.”

Google is only making these new search features live during the ICC World T20 2016. These are followed by the launch of score updates and match schedules in Search last week.

Below are all the matches and players for which the new Google search and commentary features will apply.

Google Now may soon work offline

The Google Now voice assistant on Android phones may work offline soon. A team of engineers from Google recently published a paper, demonstrating how they had used voice commands on a smartphone, with a 13.5% error rate, on a Nexus 5 with 2GB of RAM and 2.2 GHz processor. The paper demonstrates a lightweight speech-recognition program being run on a smartphone. Speech recognition programs like Google Now, Siri and Cortana all depend on cloud based systems right now. Interestingly, Google Now’s error rate, using the cloud-based system, is at around 8%.

If speech recognition is available for offline use, it would enable companies to make the feature faster on smartphones, since the voice data will not have to be sent back to Google’s servers. In addition, it may also be more power efficient and should enable new features for smartphones. That said, being offline, it would presumably mean that the various Search-based enquiries will not be available. You can read the entire paper published by the engineers, here.

Google has been making big progress in artificial intelligence and machine learning recently. DeepMind Technologies, a UK-based Google-owned company, recently demonstrated the power of its AlphaGo AI, by beating world champion Lee Seedol in one-on-one competition.

Microsoft announces Xbox and PlayStation cross-play

Microsoft has announced support for cross-network play that will allow Xbox and PlayStation gamers to play together. Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox said on Xbox Wire, “in addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we’re enabling developers to support cross-network play as well. This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks.”

Microsoft’s support for cross-platform will not only allow Xbox and PlayStation gamers to play together, but will also allow PC games to join in on the fun. However, Microsoft has only enabled support for the feature, and there currently aren’t many games that support it. The company is hoping that more developers will support the feature in the future and release games that allow users to play multiplayer gamers with their friends who use different consoles. Currently, Psyonix’s Rocket League is one of the first games to support the feature any allows Xbox One and PC players to play together.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Mini may launch to compete with iPhone SE

Samsung may be planning to launch a Galaxy S7 Mini to compete with the 4-inch iPhone SE. According to a report by Taiwanese website Apple Daily, the handset will sport similar hardware as its bigger sibling, albeit with a smaller screen. The phone is tipped to sport a 4.6-inch display with a 720p resolution. It may be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 processor with 3GB of RAM. The report also mentions that the device itself will be 9.9mm thick and it might come with a 12MP primary camera with a 3x optical zoom.

Apple is expected to launch the 4-inch iPhone SE during its event on March 21. The device is expected to sport an A9 processor with 1GB of RAM. It might also come with a 12MP iSight camera with support for Live Photos. However, the phone might not come with 3D Touch. Apple may also launch a 9.7-inch iPad Pro alongside the iPhone SE. The tablet is tipped to come with a quad-speaker setup and a Smart Connector. Previous reports have suggested that the tablet might come with a 12MP camera and a flash.

NASA invites ISRO for possible collaboration towards Mars mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for a possible international collaboration towards a future Mars mission. Many other space agencies from different countries are also expected to attend the meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Washington next month.

Jakob van Zyl, Associate Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was delivering a lecture on the space agency’s Mars mission and its finding on the planet at the American Center in New Delhi. He told PTI, “We are looking to send astronauts to Mars. In order to do that, you need certain robotic missions to begin with. Early next month, there will be a meeting in Washington. The Isro has also been invited for the meeting to discuss the future collaborations for the mission to Mars. We think it will be more of an international consortium. There are potential opportunities to collaborate in future.”

ISRO’s low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, was successfully placed in Mars’ orbit back in 2014. In doing so, ISRO became the first space organisation to successfully reach Mars at first attempt. It is also the fourth space agency to have a successful Mars mission.

Idea partners with Ericsson to expand its 4G LTE services

Idea has partnered with Ericsson to deploy its 4G LTE networks across select circles in India. This deployment includes Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, the North East and Himachal Pradesh, and will serve more than 40 million subscribers. The agreement also includes the transformation of Idea’s existing mobile infrastructure across nine circles for 2G, and five circles for 3G services. The company did not disclose the financial details of the deal.

Idea has already launched 4G LTE services in eight telecom circles, and is looking to expand to 750 towns across 10 circles by June 2016. Himanshu Kapania, CEO, Idea Cellular says, “We are committed to offering our customers the best possible mobile experience. Transforming our 2G and 3G network will enable us to offer optimized mobile data and better smartphone performance, while our LTE deployments will take the customer experience on Idea Cellular’s networks to the next level.”

Airtel has already launched its 4G services across India, while Vodafone is in the midst of expanding its recently-launched 4G LTE services across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. Reliance Jio also launched its 4G services in December 2015, initially for its in-house employees.

Xiaomi Mi 5 launch presentation slides leaked

Slides from the official launch presentation of the Xiaomi Mi 5 have reportedly been leaked on a Chinese forum. According to the slides, there will be two variants of the device, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, while the other will come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The phone may also come with a 5.2-inch Full HD display and may be powered by a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 820 SoC, with an Adreno 530 GPU. Other specifications shown in the leaked slides include NFC and a USB Type-C port and Quick Charge 3.0, which will reportedly be able to charge the battery by 80% in 34 minutes. At the back, a 26MP camera sensor is mentioned, with an f/1.7 aperture lens, dual-LED flash and phase-detection autofocus. The slides do not include information about other specifications like the battery or the front camera. Earlier, reports have suggested that the phone may come with a 3600mAh battery and an 8MP front-facing camera.

Earlier this month, Xiaomi President Bin Lin shared a couple of pictures taken by the Xiaomi Mi 5, on his Weibo account. The images demonstrated good colours and impressive amounts of detail, and the camera is expected to have good autofocus capabilities, since it managed to capture a bird within flight.

Islamic State's reach stalled on Twitter, thanks to crackdown

The Islamic State’s reach on Twitter has been reducing over recent months, says a report from the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. According to the report, the extremist group’s English-language reach has been stalled, thanks to increased efforts against its digital proselytizers. They have often used Twitter to recruit and radicalise people, said the study. Further, the crackdown has also halted the viral reach of specific users, the report said. Easily discoverable English accounts that were sympathetic towards the Islamic State has usually under a thousand, and these users usually limited their activities to interacting with each other, found the report.

Twitter had earlier come under scrutiny for having a lax approach towards policing content on its network, especially since companies like Facebook had become much more active in this direction. The micro-blogging social network finally announced, recently, that it had taken down over 125,000 terrorism-related accounts on its platform since the middle of 2015. Most of these accounts were linked to the Islamic State. Twitter had also said that while it does take down accounts reported by other users, it has also increase the size of its teams that monitor and respond to these reports, hence decreasing its response time “significantly”

Apple planning to retracts iPhone 4s & iPhone 5c from India: reports

According to a report by Economic Times, Apple is withdrawing its iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c models from the Indian market, in a bid to increase their Average Selling Price in the country. The iPhone 4s has been selling in India anywhere between Rs 12,000 - Rs. 16,000, whereas the iPhone 5c can be bought for as low as Rs. 20,000.

With this move, Apple may be looking to completely exit the sub-20K smaretphone market in India. Although no official statement has been made by Apple yet, analysts feel that Apple is doing so to fix its dipping avergae selling price.

Since there has been no word from the company on the timeline by which it will phase out both the devices, currently, both the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c are available for purchase on ecommerce websites. It is expected that sellers on ecommerce websites such as Amazon and Flipkart will now start pricing the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c higher, before Apple completely halts their shipment. 

Because of their sub-20K pricing, both the iPhones have been quite popular in India. The iPhone 4s comes with a 3.5 inch display and runs on Apple's A5 chipset whereas The iPhone 5c comes with a 4 inch display and runs on the A6 chipset. 

Samsung unveils Exynos 7 Octa 7870 chipset for mid-range smartphones

Samsung has unveiled the Exynos 7 Octa 7870 chipset that is designed for the next generation of mid-range smartphones. The company hasn’t revealed much about the chipset except for the fact that it uses Samsung’s own 14nm FinFet process. This process is also used in high-end flagship chipsets like the Exynos 7420 and 8890 as well as in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.

The chipset was earlier spotted on Galaxy J7 (2016), whose specifications were leaked on GeekBench and GFXBench. As per the listing, the chipset comes with a 1.7Ghz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and a Mali-T830 GPU. Last year, it was reported that the company was working on a  separate high-end chipset called the Exynos 8870 that will be supplied to other smartphone manufacturers. The chipset may be a slightly less powerful version of the chipset in the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones, the Exynos 8890. It was also reported that Samsung has purchased a semiconductor Electronic Design Automation tool, which may help it start manufacturing 10nm chipsets before its competitors. In addition, reports suggest that Apple has signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the sole manufacturing of the iPhone 7’s chipset. Earlier iPhone chipsets were manufactured by TSMC and Samsung.

China's 'Fast' telescope project will lead to relocating 9000 people

In 2011, China began its work on Fast (Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope), a massive telescope unit that will aid our quest for life on the outer fringes of the universe. Fast came at a price of £127 million, and when finished later this year (by September, as per targets), will become the world’s largest observatory telescope, with a diameter of 500 metres. All of this sounds fantastic and is sure to excite the dream of E.T. life hunters, but this comes at a price. Come September 2016, and the Chinese government will force nearly 9,000 local residents to relocate from the nearby areas of Guizhou, China.

The Xinhua news agency reported the news of the impending evacuation yesterday, stating that homes that will be forced to relocate will be given a compensation of £1,275 (12,000 Yuan) by the eco-migration bureau of the Government. This move is being undertaken to ensure a safe electromagnetic environment, and prevent damage to individuals exposed to radiation. Such moves, however, are not unheard of by the Chinese government. Previously, hydro-electric dam projects and poverty alleviation schemes have led to similar relocation drives imposed by the government, leading to the affected residents claiming that they are often poorly compensated.

The Fast telescope, however, is being looked at as a scientific achievement. Once functional, the movable panels of the telescope will reflect signals from distant corners of the universe and gather them into a singular 30-tonne Retina source. As much as progress for progress's sake must be encouraged, the issue of sudden relocation being imposed upon local residents is definitely a point of concern. Necessary sacrifice, or overconfident technology?

MWC 2016: All smartphones that you may expect

The annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 goes underway on February 22, 2016. A pre-MWC 2016 day is scheduled on February 21, where the likes of LG and Samsung are expected to make major announcements. While some of the smartphones here have been confirmed to be present at MWC 2016, some others have only been speculated. We put together an exhaustive list of the best mobile devices expected to be launched, or at least turn up as an exhibit,  at MWC 2016.

Project ARA (Finally?)

Yet another year gone by, and Project ARA is still due to make a public appearance. A recently-sighted benchmark hints at a Project ARA device bearing a 13.8-inch 1080p display, powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset, 3GB of RAM, and (obviously) running on Android v6.0 Marshmallow. Of course, the configurations might change, but is Google finally ready to showcase ARA? Is the Mountain View giant at the final stages of the modular, customisable mobile device that is “built exclusively for 6 billion people”? It almost definitely will not launch at MWC 2016, but some sort of announcement or initial showing cannot be left out of the equation.

Huawei P9

Huawei has seen a recent resurgence for itself in the smartphones segment, making a Nexus device (the Nexus 6P) for the very first time, and following up the decent work with the Huawei Mate 8 and the Honor 7i, featuring a rotating camera on it. It is, hence, not surprising that Huawei has made it to this list. While a number of recent rumours suggest that Huawei might actually not launch the device at MWC 2016, we cannot deny that the addition of a well-priced stellar flagship handset would do Huawei a world of good, now that it finally has user interest up surrounding its mobile business.

Rumours have suggested that the Huawei P9 will feature a metal chassis with slots for a dual-camera setup at the top of the rear panel. It is also expected to house a 5.2-inch QHD display with a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels that will also be pressure-sensitive, dual-13MP camera setup on the rear, fingerprint scanner, Kirin 950 chipset, and a whopping 6GB of RAM! Most rumours have suggested that the device will have 4GB of RAM, but words of the phone housing 6GB of RAM refuse to die out.

If this is indeed launched, the Huawei P9 might just be one of the best smartphones of 2016 to watch out for, and actually set the bar higher for phones to feature higher amount of memory than your average everyday laptop!

Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Edge

The next iteration of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy devices have been rumoured, leaked and shot innumerable number of times. Samsung itself showed a teaser of an image with a box opening to cool blue lighting inside (the edges of which looks suspiciously like the number ‘7’), and has sent out invites for a major launch on February 21.

According to information available online, the Samsung Galaxy S7 will almost certainly come in two variants, with varying screen sizes and flat/curved edge displays. It is also expected to be built on a Magnesium alloy chassis, feature dust and water resistance, and house a USB Type-C port. The displays of the phones are expected to be 5.2 inches and 5.5 inches in size, and have a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels. The Galaxy S7/S7 Edge are expected to be powered by Snapdragon 820 and the Exynos 8890, depending upon geographical distribution of the phones. They are expected to house 4GB of RAM, along with 64GB of inbuilt storage. Other expectations also include a Sabre 9018AQ2M audio chip that delivers nearly analogue audio quality, alongside supporting audio formats like DSD. Battery sizes are expected to be larger, at 3000mAh and 3600mAh respectively, and the cameras on the rear might house 20-megapixel BRITECELL Duo Pixel sensors.

Overall, with the excellent reviews that the Samsung Galaxy S6 lineup garnered, we expect the Galaxy S7 to be stellar devices.

Xiaomi Mi 5

The Xiaomi Mi 5 has been rumoured for almost a year-and-half now, and finally, Vice-President of Xiaomi Global, Hugo Barra, has confirmed that the device will be present at MWC 2016, on February 24, 2016. Xiaomi has taken its own sweet time with the device, and very high hopes have been put on it. The device will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, along with a probable configuration of 3GB RAM and 16GB/64GB/128GB of internal storage. A slimmer, faster fingerprint sensor is also expected on it, and so are dual-SIM and NFC support. Rumours suggest a 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch screen size, with confirmed 1080p resolution. A 16MP rear camera is expected on the rear, and some sources have suggested that the camera will have flip-out mechanism, meaning that the camera will be hidden unless you need to take photos with it. The front camera is expected to have a 6-megapixel sensor. The battery is expected to be a decently-large 3800mAh. The Xiaomi hierarchy has previously stated that the wait for the Mi 5 will be “worth it”. We certainly hope so.

HTC One M10

Over time, the HTC One M10 has been expected to be confirmed for launch at MWC 2016, and subsequently expected to be delayed for launch. Nevertheless, we cannot leave out the slim chances of the device being launched at MWC 2016. The primary confusion surrounding HTC’s next device is its naming. While it was widely expected to be called the HTC One M10, recent reports suggest that the phone might be finally called HTC One Perfume. Apart from that, the One M10 (we’re calling it that for now) is expected to be yet another Snapdragon 820-powered device, with 4GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. It is also expected to feature a better DAC (Digital Audio Converter), and leave out BoomSound. The HTC One M10 is expected to mimic the One A9’s looks, and house a 5.1-inch QHD AMOLED display. Recent rumours have suggested a 12MP rear camera powered by the Sony IMX377 sensor, and a 5MP Ultrapixel front camera.

Even if the HTC One M10/Perfume does not launch at MWC 2016, we expect it to launch quite soon.

Alcatel Idol 4/4S

Information leaked via Alcatel’s website suggests that the company may launch two smartphones at MWC 2016. The Alcatel Idol 4S is expected to run on Snapdragon 652 SoC, and house a 5.5-inch QHD S-AMOLED display. The rear camera is expected to house a 16MP sensor, and the phone may be powered by a 3000mAh battery pack. The Idol 4, meanwhile, may run on Snapdragon 617 SoC and house a 1080p LCD display. The two devices are almost certainly expected at MWC 2016.

Microsoft Lumia 650

The Microsoft Lumia 650 is not the strongest rumour, but it would still give hope to the Lumia faithful. The Lumia 650 is expected to be a budget Windows 10 device, powered by a 1.3GHz processor, with 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, an 8MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, and a 5-inch HD display. It will also reportedly feature a metal build, and have the glance screen technology. The Lumia 650 may sound paltry by the standard slew of high-octane flagship smartphones, but Microsoft will probably bank upon its enhanced user experience and work on adding more app support to the platform, than go for higher firepower inside the device.

LG G5

The LG G5 is expected to be a premium device with a metal unibody design with a fingerprint scanner on the rear and volume controls at the side. A secondary always-on display has been officially touted by LG, and the primary display is expected to be a 5.6-in QHD display. Another crucial factor about the LG G5 is that it is expected to have a modular chassis that will have a removable battery. The secondary Always On display is expected to have a resolution of 160x1040 pixels. 16MP rear camera with dual-lens, 135-degree wide angle setup and 8MP front camera is expected to complete the imaging front. A Snapdragon 820 processor is expected to power it, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The battery is expected to be a more efficient, 2800mAh pack.