Technology

San Francisco, Nov 18 (IANS) With a focus on identifying heart abnormalities like left ventricular dysfunction, a recent study has taken a closer look at the ECG capabilities of the Apple Watch.

Left Ventricular dysfunction of the heart is usually followed by congestive heart failure that can lead to a multitude of cardiac disorders.

The Mayo Clinic study explains that cardiac dysfunction often goes undiagnosed due to its asymptomatic nature, meaning people with it are unaware of it, reports 9to5Mac.

It would be a major breakthrough if something like the Apple Watch could detect it passively or help diagnose it, the report added.

The study included 2,454 patients from the US and 11 other countries. From August 2021 to February 2022, these participants sent over 1,25,000 ECGs via their Apple Watch.

These results were then "scrubbed and processed via a proprietary AI algorithm developed by the researchers", according to the report.

By using the mean prediction within a 30-day window or the closest ECG relative to the echocardiogram that determined the EF, the AI algorithm detected patients with a low EF (ejection fraction) with an area under the curve of 0.885 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.823-0.946) and 0.881 (0.815-0.947), said the report.

The findings showed that "consumer-watch ECGs acquired in nonclinical environments can identify patients with cardiac dysfunction".

The study also infers that "the potential of smartwatches to assist with conducting remote digital health studies is just in the beginning phases".

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 18 (IANS) Apple's upcoming next-generation iPhone 15 Pro models are likely to feature a Thunderbolt port for high-speed data transfer.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models will feature a USB-C port with support for at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3, reports Gizmochina.

The Thunderbolt 3 port is likely to feature bandwidth of up to 40Gbps.

The Thunderbolt port support is expected to offer a performance boost and faster data transfer speeds, which will help users especially when they want to transfer large files.

In October this year, the tech giant was reportedly planning to replace the clickable volume and power buttons with solid-state buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models.

Kuo shared the information on Twitter, saying that the buttons could function similarly to the iPhone 7's solid-state home button, which the user can't physically press but vibrates in response to touch.

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San Francisco, Nov 17 (IANS) Google Fi, a telecommunications service owned by the tech giant, is reportedly giving free YouTube Premium to Unlimited Plus plan subscribers for a year.

Both new and current Google Fi premium plan subscribers won't be required to pay YouTube's $119.99 yearly subscription charge, Patrick Seybold, Google's global PR lead for Stadia, AR, and Project Starline, told The Verge.

"Wireless consumers are increasingly opting for unlimited plans to fuel growing appetites for media, games, and other high-bandwidth applications on-the-go.

"Now, we're offering a simple, single subscription to Fi that provides connectivity, cloud storage and entertainment for the entire family," he added.

Google Fi's Unlimited Plus is the most expensive plan, which starts from $65 per month for one person and $40 per month for families of up to four to six people.

Last year, the company announced that Fi subscribers can get $5 off on their monthly plan when they buy the then-brand-new Pixel Pass subscription, the report said.

In April this year, the company had dropped prices of its Fi unlimited phone plans to $20 per month per line for four or more lines, compared to the previous price which was $30 per month.

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San Francisco, Nov 17 (IANS) Apple has rolled out a newly designed iCloud website, after several weeks of beta testing.

The website now features a colourful background with tiles for the Apple ID account, Photos, Mail, iCloud Drive, Calendar and Notes, reports MacRumors.

Additionally, there is a tile with icons for additional applications such as Find My, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and more.

Users can customise the page to choose which apps they want to appear in each tile or remove a tile completely.

The bottom of the page shows the iCloud storage plan and usage, the report said.

Additionally, it displays a link to restore recently deleted files from iCloud Drive and other applications.

Users can tap or click on the plus sign which is present in the top menu bar to create a new email, note, calendar event and more.

The menu bar also gives access to settings for iCloud+ features including Hide My Email, iCloud Private Relay and HomeKit Secure Video.

With a more streamlined interface, the revamped iCloud.com page makes it simpler to analyse information.

In October this year, the tech giant had announced a redesigned iCloud web interface for beta preview.

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San Francisco, Nov 17 (IANS) As the iPhone 15 Pro models are in line for a massive upgrade to their wired transfer speeds with the switch to USB-C, the benefits may not come to the regular 2023 iPhone devices.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that the 15 and 15 Plus will also swap in USB-C ports but, just like the 2022 10th-gen iPad, they'll be stuck with the same USB 2.0 speeds they had with Lighting, The Verge reported.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Kuo made the prediction in which he said the information is from his "latest survey".

He tweeted: "I predict that 15 Pro & 15 Pro Max will support at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3. This spec upgrade means the wired transfer and video output user experience will significantly improve."

If the prediction goes true then that would mean the users will be able to transfer data at speeds up to 40 Gbps -- a boon for people who actually use the Pro phones to shoot a lot of ProRes video and raw photos, where even fast WiFi and cloud uploads aren't really a good substitute, according to the report.

It won't necessarily come as a surprise if Apple increases the transfer speeds for its upcoming pro models but not for the regular ones, as this year, the iPhone 14 Pro got a new chip, while the mainline models were stuck with last year's internal hardware, said the report.

--IANS
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By Nishant Arora
Hawaii, Nov 17 (IANS) As chip major Qualcomm aims to go beyond serving the global smartphone industry to cater to a bigger device ecosystem, the company's over 17,000-strong India workforce is helping it realise the dream to become a connected chip powerhouse, according to top executives.


With centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Noida, the India R&D operation is the company's largest outside of its US-based headquarters.

Ziad Asghar, Vice President, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, told IANS that India is a sweet spot for them to transition from a wireless communications company for the mobile industry to a connected processor company for the intelligent edge.

"India R&D teams are busy working towards our goal to enter and lead new device territories beyond smartphones. We have some of the brightest people working on new technologies, especially at the Bengaluru and Hyderabad centres, giving our vision a concrete shape," Asghar informed.

Qualcomm has large teams across hardware and software engineering in India, including 5G and augmented and virtual reality.

The company has placed a big bet on the Extended Reality (XR) market, showcasing new technologies at its 'Snapdragon Summit 2022' to power future smart glasses, AR/VR headsets, laptops, tablets, wearables and hearables, among others.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platform was developed with the help of various R&D teams in India, and XR is just at the beginning of its growth curve.

According to Dr. Vinesh Sukumar, Senior Director - Head of AI/ML Product Management at Qualcomm, India has always been a growth market for Qualcomm.

"We have always been very bullish on the Indian market and the abundance of talent in the country. Qualcomm is putting a lot of investment and research at its India centres, in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning, to refine user experiences across gaming, XR, automotive and more," said Sukumar.

Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm, recently said that the company continues to be a leading platform provider for virtually all commercially available and announced XR devices and remain well-positioned as XR develops.

Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, told IANS that by leveraging its strong, in-house AI across the board, Qualcomm has been able to enable intelligent experiences through Snapdragon for the digitally accelerated world, across industries, going far beyond mobile.

"At the core of Qualcomm's transformation into a strong platform company for the intelligent edge, is its in-house R&D talent - including, for instance, in Bengaluru and Hyderabad," Ram noted.


(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS
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Sharm El-Sheikh, Nov 16 (IANS) Senior officials from several governments, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched a new five-year work programme at the COP27 to promote climate technology solutions in developing countries.

The Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the two bodies of the Technology Mechanism under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, launched their joint work programme to accelerate the deployment of transformative climate technologies that are urgently required to tackle climate change.

"The launch of this joint work programme is an important opportunity for us to step up rapidly efforts to deploy technology to address through mitigation and adaptation," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

The new joint work programme of the Technology Mechanism, launched on Tuesday, covers work from 2023-2027.

It foresees specific joint activities to be implemented by the TEC and CTCN, including technology roadmaps, work on gender and technology, technology and NDCs and digitalization, and common areas of work for the two bodies, including national systems of innovation, industry, and the water-energy-food nexus.

"Time is running out to achieve the key goals of the Paris Agreement. The rapid scaling up and effective transfer of climate technologies is imperative to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to build resilience to climate change. A reinvigorated Technology Mechanism is needed to unlock appropriate climate technologies everywhere in the world, and that is what this new work programme is designed to achieve," said Simon Stiell, UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6) and the contributions from Working Group III (IPCC WG III) on Mitigation of Climate Change spotlight technology as an enabler to accelerate mitigation and to drive effective adaptation solutions.

The assessment also highlights that limiting global warming will require significant transitions in primary sectors and areas, including energy, cities, pointing to several key areas with high potential for emission reductions such as: cities, urban areas, industry, agriculture, forestry, and land use change.

This joint work programme is a significant milestone for the Technology Mechanism and signals a new era of work for climate technology under the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

It is guided by science, aligned with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, and focused on high-potential sectors and high-impact actions.

The US announced a contribution of $3 million to support the implementation of the Joint Work Programme.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry said: "The UNFCCC Technology Mechanism is galvanizing action in this decisive decade through smart technology solutions for climate resilience and mitigation. With this contribution, the US is supporting a new, strategic approach to cooperation on technology and innovation in developing countries and fulfilling a key pledge made at COP26.

"The US helped lead the development of this first joint work programme for the Technology Mechanism in support of the Paris Agreement Technology Framework. We are committed to ensuring that the Parties cooperate effectively to accelerate action at the scale and pace needed through research, development, demonstration, and deployment of climate technologies."

Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans said: "Technology transfer is crucial for the success of the global green transition. Whether it's in energy, infrastructure, mobility or food: we need to make sure that knowledge is shared to help build up industrial capacity and support developing countries to tackle the climate crisis.

"The new joint programme for the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism opens up new possibilities for innovation and targeted action. The European Commission will continue its support in years to come by providing a new 2 million euro contribution to the Climate and Technology Centre and Network."

In addition, the Canadian government has confirmed a C$6 million grant to the CTCN.

Canada's Natural Resources Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson stated: "While technology itself is not a climate plan, any serious approach must include thoughtful consideration of how to develop and deploy critical clean technologies. This new Joint Work Programme will help governments and other actors around the world collaborate to do just that."

As a longstanding donor, Japan has committed to continue its current level of funding for the CTCN.

The CTCN is pleased to strengthen its collaboration with South Korea through the recent establishment of its Partnership and Liaison Office in Songdo.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 16 (IANS) Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said that the microblogging platform will relaunch its $8 Blue subscription service with verification from November 29 - this time more "rock solid".

He also said that with the new release, "changing your verified name will cause loss of checkmark until name is confirmed by Twitter to meet Terms of Service".

Musk had earlier paused Blue service after several fake accounts came up on Twitter, impersonating brands and celebrities.

After facing a barrage of criticism, Twitter stopped the Blue service.

In some bad news for existing verified account holders on Twitter, Musk said that all unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months.

Earlier, reports said that legacy verified accounts will not be charged $8.

--IANS
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Hawaii (US), Nov 16 (IANS) Leading chip-maker Qualcomm has launched its latest premium mobile platform called Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that will arrive in flagship smartphones by the end of this year to take mobile gaming -- in the age of metaverse -- to a whole new level.

Powered by the most advanced Qualcomm AI Engine, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is the world's most advanced 5G platform, and is tuned to support new image sensors from giants like Sony and Samsung.

"Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will revolutionise the landscape of flagship smartphones in 2023," Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm, told reporters here on Tuesday.

"Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 delivers groundbreaking AI, unparalleled connectivity, and champion-level gameplay, enabling consumers to enhance every experience on their most trusted device," Patric said during the company's flagship aSnapdragon Summit 2022' in Maui here.

The new mobile platform will be adopted by global brands, including ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG), HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, REDMAGIC, Redmi, SHARP, Sony Corporation, vivo, Xiaomi, XINGJI/MEIZU and ZTE.

The new chip supports Snapdragon Sound technology for premium and immersive music, calls and gaming.

It features spatial audio with dynamic head-tracking for complete surround-sound immersion and support for 48kHz lossless music streaming, according to the company.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 also debuts new gaming features, including real time hardware-accelerated ray tracing that delivers life-like light, reflections and illuminations to mobile games.

The upgraded Qualcomm Adreno GPU delivers up to 25 per cent faster performance and the Qualcomm 'Kryo' CPU enables up to 40 per cent more power efficiency.

"Gamers will also be able to experience photorealistic human characters in their games with the world's first mobile optimised support for Unreal Engine 5 'Metahumans Framework' on Snapdragon," the company informed.

Fueled by an upgraded Qualcomm Hexagon processor, users can experience faster natural language processing with multi-language translation and advanced AI camera features.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 automatically enhances photos and videos in real time, using an AI neural network to make the camera contextually aware of faces, facial features, hair, clothes, skies and more.

"The Samsung ISOCELL HP3, the first 200MP image sensor optimised for Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, will deliver professional quality photos and videos," said Qualcomm.

This is also the first Snapdragon to include an aceAV1 codec" with support for video playback up to 8K HDR at 60 frames per second.

This ultra-advanced platform also features the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity system, offering the lowest latency Wi-Fi 7 and dual Bluetooth connectivity.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Nov 15 (IANS) Google has added Sleep Profile to the Pixel Watch, giving more ways to understand user sleep information, more insight into their sleep style over time.

With this feature, users will discover how their routines and actions affect their sleep, and how to improve their sleep to get a better night's sleep.

"After a decade of analyzing over 22 billion hours of sleep data and 1.87 million sleep logs, we wanted to share what we have found to not only help you learn more about your sleep, but give you the information and tools to make it better," Google said in a blogpost.

Along with Fitbit devices, Fitbit Premium members can access their Sleep Profile in the Fitbit app on Google Pixel Watch.

Users will be provided with a comprehensive picture of their sleep patterns and habits based on the monthly analysis, which includes sleep duration, bedtime consistency, and disrupted sleep, according to the blogpost.

Furthermore, users will receive a detailed analysis of their sleep patterns compared to people of a similar age and gender, so they can improve where necessary.

For example, a giraffe, the most common type of sleeper (22.8 per cent of users), is someone who does not get a lot of sleep but sleeps solidly when they do, said the blogpost.

Among the tools users will find in Premium are optimise your day with a daily readiness score, break a sweat, keep a pulse on stress, and take a mindful minute.

--IANS
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