Reliance Jio Cabs: Toughest Upcoming Rival for Uber and Ola

The craziness of Reliance Jio cellular services is not yet over. This is when Reliance has announced to launch its services in the cab industry as well. Reliance Jio by Mukesh Ambani has made plans to launch an app-based cab service in India this year itself. To start the cab services, Reliance Jio has booked as many as 600 cars to run across the streets of the nation. The cab services by Reliance head Mukesh Ambani will be referred to as “Reliance Jio Cabs”.

The launch of the cab services by Reliance Jio is awaiting the commercial launch of the Reliance Jio telecom services. This is about to happen in April this year. A source at Reliance Industries has claimed that the Reliance Jio cab services might be launched after April. It might also take 6 months depending on the performance of the commercial telecom services by Reliance Jio.

The most striking feature of this launch is that Reliance Jio will compete with the giants like Uber and Ola cabs. To come up with competitive pricing strategy, the Jio has teamed up with a consulting firm E&Y to get the relevant market share.

It was this Tuesday itself that Mukesh Ambani had announced the commercial launch of the telecom services by reliance Jio. The commercial services by Reliance Jio telecom services will commence from 1^st April 2017. It was at a press conference in Mumbai that Mukesh Ambani claimed that Jio had crossed 100 million subscribers since its launch in India.

A source revealed that Reliance Industries had ordered several cars from the makers like Hyundai and Mahindra. Order for as many as 600 cars has already been placed. The main idea behind this operation is to function on its own fleet of cars. This would also benefit the independent taxicab drivers who can link their cars to Reliance Jio Cabs network.

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Jio has planned to launch the cab services in Chennai and Bangalore first. It would then proceed to Mumbai and Delhi. The sources said that the cab industry in the south is better to launch their cab services. The company will function on a mixed market strategy. The cab services will be extended to other smaller cities as well like Jaipur and Bhopal.

The Reliance Jio Cab services will have an app like Uber – the development of which is already underway. The company is still discovering the payment system for the independent drivers. There are high chances that Reliance will use its own mobile wallet – Jio Money. The launch of the Reliance Jio Cabs is scheduled at a time when giants like Ola and Uber are facing problems. They face regulatory protests and issues from various drivers across the country. A detailed report by market research and advisory firm RedSeer was presented. It revealed that cab services in India had served almost 500 million rides in the year 2016. This has been up from 130 million rides in the year 2015. The records might cross 7 billion by the year 2020.

 

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The Beta Version Of VLC 2.1 For Android Released: Includes 360 Degree Video Support And More

VLC is a very popular name when it comes to the desktop media player. It has become one of the best choices to the users for more than a decade. But it could not do much on the Android platform till date. However, the volunteer team in VideoLAN is working hard to come out with new features for VLC on the Android platform. It’s been six months when the last update of VLC 2.0 was released for Android in mid of 2016. And now the continuous effort of developers has helped them come out with the beta version of VLC 2.1 update.

The beta version of upcoming VLC 2.1 version is announced just today by the company. This version includes loads of improvements along with an addition of new features. So, it is obvious that the latest version will take the user experience to a different level. The whole user interface has received a new redesign while the design now looks cleaner now.

The added features and improvements in the upcoming VLC 2.1 is explained in detail here.

360-degree Video support

One of the most notable features in the latest beta version of VLC 2.1 for Android is the support for 360-degree video. Yes, Android users can now enjoy the 360-degree videos on their Android devices as well. VLC will make it possible hassle free. Support for VR headset like Google Cardboard will be available soon. As the developers now working on to add some more tweaks.

Android Auto

Android Auto compatibility is also included in the upcoming version. This feature will let users listen to the music without much hassle. Easy browsing into an audio library makes it the best companion while driving.

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User Interface

• The card view pattern is removed in this version that makes the design cleaner. The video card is redesigned. Now the video information will be shown in the cover picture. The new design will let users enjoy more videos at once.
• Some tweaks are noticed in the audio list as well.
• The media player will include now a blurred vision of the current cover in the background.
• The latest VLC version will have more dynamic UI. It is designed to save more space by hiding the action bar while scrolling through the media list.
• With all these the album view too received some redesign. The new revamped made the album more material.

Search

Some changes are noticed in the search as well. The new search will trigger a filtering in the current view as anything is typed here. And if you want to do a global search, then tap the button ‘Search in all media library’ which will show a new search activity. You will be then represented with detail result of the video, songs, genre, playlists, etc.

With all these, voice search is another treat in the new VLC 2.1 version.

These are just a few features included in the upcoming VLC version. More will be explored by you as you get your hands on it. However, anything about when the stable version of it will be available is not yet confirmed by the company.

 

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Security Boon for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge: Samsung Releases Secure Folder App

You must have heard of the “Secure Folder” in connection with Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The Secure Folder functionality has extended its reach to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones as well. One of the most important features the Secure Folder App is that it is compatible with only Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The app supports Android 7.0 Nougat or later versions. It can be downloaded from the Samsung Galaxy Apps store.

The Samsung Galaxy Secure Folder app was initially launched for the model Samsung Galaxy Note 7. It has later made its way to some of the Galaxy A-series models as well. It offers optimum security to the Samsung smartphone users. The app uses the “defence-grade” Knox security platform offered by Samsung. With this innovative technology, the app creates a private encrypted space for the users.

The smartphone users can use this space to store their confidential information like images, apps, and documents. During its release, Samsung had claimed that the users could use this feature of the app to store their information in the encrypted format. The private and personal content is stored in secured in the encrypted format.

Samsung claims that the apps and information that are stored in the Secure Folder have an extra layer of security and privacy. Therefore, it protects the confidential information from malicious attacks.

Users can make the copies of their favorite apps. They can then access the apps with alternate profiles. Even the browsing history for the apps is secured with the Secured Folder. The history of the apps is kept separate outside the folder. This feature of the app can be useful for those who wish to safeguard their banking information. The banking details can be considered safe even when some other person handles the phone.

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It is very simple to move the content to the Secure Folder app. The users just need to choose the option “Move to Secure Folder” from the apps like Gallery, My Files, and Contacts. One can also tap “Add files” inside the Secure Folder app to add the confidential information. The Secure Folder is also secured with PIN, password, or patterns. Unauthorized access is also prevented with the use of biometric verification like fingerprint authentication. The users can also customize the Secure Folder app. They can change the name and the icon of the app as per their preference. The users can also hide the Secure Folder icon from the home screen of their smartphones. This secures all their private information.

The Secure Folder app supports cloud-based backup. This helps the users to transfer the data between phones and ensures security as the data backup is stored on Cloud. The data from the Secure Folder app can be restored only from Settings inside the app. This has access only to the original Samsung account users. Samsung has said it plans to extend the services of Secure Folder to other versions of the smartphones as well.

 

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Accounts Locked: Facebook Kicking out the Users from Their Accounts

Facebook is going through the second glitch within a week. The first one took place on February 22^nd that put the app down. And numerous complaints appeared in the UK, Europe, and Australia. The outraged users made almost 1000 complaints. According to most, Facebook was totally black out. Just two days after that glitch, another new glitch started with the app to leave users in anger again.
The new issue in Facebook is kicking out the users from their accounts. And they are unable to login back. It affected many of the users on Friday and Saturday leaving them out of their account. Naturally, it created security threats among the affected users. The issue is reported to influence users all across the globe. But the parts that are highly affected are UK, US East Coast, and Western Europe. Around millions of users have faced the issue so far.

The users took it to Twitter to express their indignation over the issue.

However, Facebook has acknowledged the issue quickly. They have also assured stating it is not related to any security breach. Rather this is a small technical glitch and will be fixed soon. A Facebook spokesperson has quoted that, an error in their system designed to prevent suspicious account access has accidentally sent a small set of people to their account recovery flow. And this has raised such kind of issue. However, they have already fixed the issue. And the process of clearing those affected accounts from the recovery flow is going on.

The issue that left Facebook users in outrage sent weird alert messages to them. Some of the users received alert messages that say their messages are being deleted as those were spam. Another alert is also being received by the Facebook users that say, Facebook has locked their account to keep the information safe. They are asked to verify the identity along with changing their password to continue. The message also included that ‘your account will stay hidden till the process is completed’. But users were still in the same situation even after completing all the required processes.

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Another error message said ‘sorry, this feature is not available as of now. An error occurred. Please try again later.’ And finally, users were being sent to the login page. But unfortunately, their account could not be verified.

However, there is nothing much to worry about this issue. And no need for thinking that your account is being hacked. Facebook already acknowledged the issue. They have also confirmed that it is not a security breach. Just some small technical error is contributing to this issue.

Facebook is not alone in the list to go through glitches rather Google too faced the similar situation. Google account engine problem was originated earlier this week. And it has affected various Google services to leave users in annoyance.

Anyways, not to worry much as things will get back to normal soon. And Facebook users will be able to use their accounts just as before without any issue.

 

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Government Launches Free Anti-Virus for Mobile Phones, PC, and Laptops

In order to promote cyber security, the government of India launched the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK). It is a malware analysis center and has been launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).

MEITY along with other Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), banks, academe and anti-virus organisations in the industry will provide the citizens the necessary digital tools to protect their important data on their laptops, PC and mobiles. These tools will eliminate the malicious content from their laptops, Smartphones and desktops. There are 13 banks and 58 ISP’s for now that have already joined hands with CSK.

While inaugurating the set-up of Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre, IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that he wanted the Internet Service Providers to encourage their users to come on board and make use of the free service. “Come and use it in the event some malware has sneaked in the system”, he added.

Prasad also said that security and safety were important. He also added that Cyber threat is similar to bloodless war according to the Prime Minister of India. He was sure that not only cyber security would be a big area of Digital Swachh Bharat but also of digital employment, digital growth and digital commerce.

India is moving fast and catching up with the digitization. The country is already a part of the eminent group of countries that have malware cleaning systems for their citizens.

The botnet cleaning and anti-malware analysis center is a 90 crore set-up that would be spread over a period of 5 years and will help in removing the malicious software.

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CSK will provide specialized packages for consumers, start-ups, and businesses that have laptops, Smartphones or desktops.

The system has proposed that The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team(Cert-In) will monitor and identify botnet, malware and virus infected devices across different industries of media, banking, finance, manufacturing, etc. and inform the ISP’s or the concerned bodies.

The users would be given the link to the website that would carry the necessary information about how they would have to go about in cleaning the system.

For now, the Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) that is a division within the Ministry of Electronics and IT. They would charge about Rs 8 to 10 lakhs to scan and disinfect big IT systems of corporate bodies. However, the start-ups who are in the cyber security would be charged lesser, and the charges would be between Rs 4 to 5 lakhs.

Here is a list of Anti-virus Tools that have been made available:

Free Anti-Virus Tools

• USB Pratirodh (USB Protector) cleans storage devices such as external hard-disk, USB’s and memory cards.
• The M-Kavach is the anti-virus for smartphones.
• AppSamvid is especially for Windows OS. It is a desktop based whitelisting solution.
• One of the most important one in the list is the Free Bot Removal Tool that would be provided with QuickHeal.
• Another specialized tool is the Browser JSGuard which has been designed to detect and clean malicious JavaScript and HTML files in the browser.

 

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Rumors: iPad Pro 2 – All You Need to Know About Price, Release Date, and Specs

The Apple a well-known brand across the world and the most successful tablet maker is all set to launch its new range of tablets in this year. Apple lovers are eagerly waiting for these new flagships. The original iPad was an iPhone gone IMAX. It was the most popular tablet the world had ever seen. After six years later Apple had launched many tablets like retina iPad mini, iPad Air 2, and 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. This year users got confused about the future of Apple tablet. Many agencies are expecting that iPad Pro is the future. If we believe on rumors, then Apple may launch its next-gen iPad Pro 2 in March 2017.

Many speculations are coming out for the launch date, specs and price of iPad Pro 2. Nobody has got the concrete clue of these devices.

We have spotted various interesting rumors about the iPad Pro.

Launch date of iPad Pro 2

Back in January 2017, Chinese website Wei Feng reported a rumor, which claimed the iPad Pro 2 would launch in March 2017. Later in February month, Japanese site Mac Otakara supported the same fact. As per the reports from DigiTimes, As mass production of the device hasn’t started, the company may hold the launch of iPad Pro 2 until the second half of 2017. These all facts may look contradictory and confusing. Looking at the past, Apple launch dates do not seem to follow a set the trend. The dates keep fluctuating.

iPad Pro 2 new features and specs

As per the early rumors, iPad Pro 2 might look like with a 10.5in screen. This device may copy some features from the iPhone 7 plus such as the dual-camera. Rumors give a hint that device may largely resemble that of the first-generation iPad Pro.

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Ming-Chi Kuo, as a well-known analyst has reported that company is planning to launch three iPads in 2017. As per his reports these new devices are 12.9in iPad Pro, iPad Pro 2 and new model with a 10.5inch display. These new tablets will not sport bezels and home button on the front.

The reports also suggest that Apple may do some revolutionary changes in the new models. The company may launch iPad Pro 2 with AMOLED display. Further rumors give an idea that it may include faster display technology that allows for smoother zooming, panning, and scrolling.

On the storage front, iPad Pro 2 might come in the same storage capacity of 256GB which are currently available in the market. There are many speculations about the iOS support version. The company might provide iOS version 10 in its new device. However, it may wait and introduce iOS 11 in iPad Pro 2.

If we look up the trend, then Apple has used Rose Gold for all its predecessors. So we can expect the same color trend for iPad Pro 2 as well.

iPad Pro 2 price

You can expect the same price tag for this device as for the current iPad Pro 12.9. The current price in the market for a 32GB tablet is $799. The device with storage capacity 128GB will cost $949, and 256GB will cost around $1099.

 

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Intel to Announce 8th Generation Coffee Lake Processors in 2017

Intel has announced that the Intel 8^th Gen Core Processors, codenamed Coffee Lake would be released in the second half of this year. The 8^th Gen Core Processors were due for launch in 2018 which has been preponed by the company.

On its Investor Day, the company declared that just like Skylake, Broadwell and Kaby Lake the 8^th Gen chips would also be based on 14nm process. Intel was tight-lipped about the 10nm Cannonlake chips when they spoke about their next generation CPU’s.

In fact, they also announced that they had let go of their “Tick-Tock” approach. Every “tick” was meant to represent a die shrink whereas every “tock” would represent a fresh microarchitecture. This was substituted by a three-phase model of “Process, Architecture, Optimization.”  Coffee Lake seems to have replaced this three-phase model as well. If seen technically the Kaby Lake is “optimization” to the “Architecture” of Skylake and the “Process” for Broadwell which makes the 8^th Gen Coffee Lake processors on 14nm as a variance.

However, Intel still assures that Coffee Lake will give a 15% boost in performance over its predecessor. Whether the boost is meant for desktop or mobile chips is yet to be disclosed.

The complete details of the 8^th Gen Coffee Lake processors are yet to be unveiled. One can expect a six core CPU as a part of i7 processors. Currently, Intel offers more than four cores in the Extreme and Xeon ranges.

The Coffee Lake chips will be competing with AMD’s upcoming Ryzen CPUs that will be released this March. Ryzen is rumored to have eight cores and sixteen threads in its top-end part, with quad-core and six versions making up the rest of the line. Prices for Ryzen are yet to be revealed.

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The highly awaited Cannon Lake CPU’s that would be based on 10nm process are nowhere on the release list. But as soon as they are available in the market the enterprise users would grab them even before the customers can put it to their use. The company also foresaw the market and said that the future process would be more fluid which means the 14nm chipsets would be seen hanging for longer than we actually thought.

The 10nm chips that the consumers are expecting are surely not going to come from Intel instead Samsung and Qualcomm will be flaunting it. The forthcoming Snapdragon 835 SoC will be crafted on Samsung’s 10nm process, enabling a 30% smaller die size and a claimed 40% decrease in power consumption. Although no devices using the Snapdragon 835 have been released yet, but the chips are in production and are guaranteed to arrive in the first half of this year. It looks like Samsung has been saving it for their upcoming Galaxy S8.

Intel said that they would not be using the 10nm chips presently but will adopt a more fluid style of production, and you will get it when it is a ready approach.

 

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