Technology

New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) Jio's 5G network showed almost 600 Mbps median download speed in Delhi, as per Speedtest results by Ookla.

Ookla used Speedtest data to compare median 5G download speeds across four cities both Jio and Airtel built their networks.

In the national capital, Airtel reached nearly 200 Mbps median download speed at 197.98 Mbps while Jio almost broke 600 Mbps (598.58 Mbps) since June 2022.

In Kolkata, the operators' median download speeds varied the most since June 2022: Airtel's median download speed was 33.83 Mbps while Jio had a much faster median download speed at 482.02 Mbps.

In Mumbai, one of the most densely populated cities in India, Airtel fell behind Jio once again, reaching 271.07 Mbps median download speed compared to Jio's 515.38 Mbps median download since June 2022.

In Varanasi, Jio and Airtel achieved closer parity, with Airtel achieving a 5G median download speed at 516.57 Mbps to Jio's 485.22 Mbps median download speed since June 2022.

"When we cross reference operators' 5G speeds versus the frequency band they are using, we see a cautionary tale," Ookla said.

During the recent spectrum auction, Jio acquired the most spectrum, especially in the highly sought-after Cband spectrum, and Jio was the only operator that acquired the 700 MHz band. This gives Reliance Jio an advantage compared to providers who have acquired only C-band, especially since the low-band spectrum allows for better indoor signal penetration in urban areas and also better coverage in rural areas.

Using Speedtest Intelligence data, it showed that Jio's 5G performance differs depending on the spectrum band it uses, said Ookla.

Jio's 5G network using the C-band results in performance ranging between 606.53 Mbps and 875.26 Mbps median download speed.

While 5G networks using the lower 700 MHz frequency band (n=28) so-called coverage band, gives speeds lower than 100 Mbps median download speed, ranging between 78.69 Mbps and 95.13 Mbps.

Airtel, on the other hand, achieved speeds from 365.48 Mbps to 716.85 Mbps deploying 5G utilizing only its C-band spectrum holding.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 30 (IANS) Tech giant Samsung, which has already released a stable version of One UI 5.0 based on Android 13 for most of its flagship phones, is reportedly planning to release One UI 5.0 update for Galaxy S21 FE users.

According to GSMArena, the Galaxy S21 FE users did not have the opportunity to test the new software in beta testing, but Samsung has been working on it behind closed doors for quite some time.

Several traces of Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE future One UI 5.0 build based on Android 13 were found on the company's servers and some suggest the update will arrive next month. Still, there's no official confirmation about that, it added.

It will be Samsung's first major update for the S21 FE since the phone launched with Android 12 earlier this year and it has promised to push at least four major updates to its flagship phones. Three more major Android updates await in the future.

While Samsung has made some design improvements in the new One UI update, it will bring minor enhancements to the Android colour palette, which matches the system UI colour based on the wallpaper. It will also introduce new App icons for Samsung's native Apps.

Moreover, users of Galaxy phones running One UI 5.0 can personalise their lock screen and add new wallpapers. They can also customise the call background for each contact.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 30 (IANS) Google is allegedly making disinformation profitable via its ad practices for some of the Internet's most prolific purveyors of false information in Europe, Latin America and Africa, a ProPublica investigation has found.

The probe, the first ever conducted at this scale, revealed that Google's sprawling automated digital ad operation placed ads from major brands on global websites that spread false claims on such topics as vaccines, Covid-19, climate change and elections.

The ProPublica investigation also revealed that Google routinely places ads on sites pushing falsehoods about Covid-19 and climate change in French-, German- and Spanish-speaking countries.

"The resulting ad revenue is potentially worth millions of dollars to the people and groups running these and other unreliable sites -- while also making money for Google," said the report that came out on Saturday.

Ads from Google are more likely to appear on misleading articles and websites that are in languages other than English, and "that Google profits from advertising that appears next to false stories on subjects not explicitly addressed in its policy, including crime, politics, and such conspiracy theories as chemtrails".

A former Google leader, who worked on trust and safety issues, acknowledged that the tech giant focuses heavily on English-language enforcement and is weaker across other languages and smaller markets.

ProPublica scanned more than 13,000 active article pages from thousands of websites in more than half a dozen languages to determine whether they were currently earning ad revenue with Google.

The analysis found that Google placed ads on 41 per cent of roughly 800 active online articles, rated by members of the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network as publishing false claims about Covid-19.

"The company also served ads on 20 per cent of articles about climate change that Science Feedback, an IFCN-accredited fact-checking organisation, has rated false," the report noted.

A company spokesperson said that Google has put more money into non-English-language enforcement and oversight, which has led to an increase in the number of ads blocked on pages that violate its rules.

"We've developed extensive measures to tackle misinformation on our platform, including policies that cover elections, Covid-19 and climate change, and work to enforce our policies in over 50 languages," the company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 23 (IANS) Tech giant Google said the Pixel Watch does not suffer from screen burn-in and it is just image retention.

According to 9To5Google, the Pixel Watch is a first-generation wearable and some are encountering what they believe to be screen "burn-in", but Google said this is just image retention.

As per the report, "burn-in" impacted a Pixel Watch (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) that was in use for five days with the always-on display (AOD) enabled for at least 12 hours per day.

This issue disappears after another 30 minutes if the AOD is turned off. That said, it comes back once the watch face is showing again.

The Pixel Watch has a 320 PPI AMOLED display that offers a "Brightness boost up to 1000 nits, and Adaptive brightness was enabled on the affected watch".

According to Google, permanent screen burn-in is not occurring on the Pixel Watch, and that image retention, a temporary issue, is happening instead, the report said.

The company is adamant that this is "not a precursor to burn-in" and will disappear over time, though the "longer it is on the screen, the longer it will take to go away," it added.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 23 (IANS) With an aim to enhance user experience, tech giant Microsoft has rolled out several new features, including files sharing, to help users share files and photos easily to Windows 11.

To make sharing files even more accessible, the company has enhanced the Windows Share experience so that users can share files with more discoverable devices nearby directly from their desktop, File Explorer, Photos, Snipping Tool, Xbox and other apps.

"Today, we are excited to announce the availability of new features in Windows 11 along with some exciting new experiences to help you be your most productive and creative, while also having fun," the company said in a statement.

"Announced in September, these new features and experiences begin to be available today and are a continuation of our commitment and journey to deliver continuous innovation in Windows to inspire and empower you," it added.

The taskbar is getting two highly requested enhancements. First, if you like to pin a more extensive selection of apps to your taskbar than space allows, Taskbar gives you an entry point to an overflow menu that will enable you to view all your overflowed apps in one space.

Second, when you right-click on the taskbar, in addition to Taskbar Settings, you will also see an option to jump directly into your Task Manager.

"These improvements have been made in direct response to your feedback and to give you access to what is important with a single click," the company said.

The company also announced the Memories feature, which resurfaces pictures' users have saved on OneDrive, making revisiting life's magical moments simple and effortless.

Through its partnership with Amazon, you can now access Android apps and games from the Amazon Appstore, generally available in 31 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, the US, among others.

With more than 50,000 titles to choose from, it's easy to discover and download your favourite apps and games on your Windows device.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) Google has announced that Android users will soon be able to react to SMS texts from iPhone users with emojis as well in Google's Messages app.

The app will be updated with this feature and other enhancements in the coming weeks.

"The messaging app is built around RCS (Rich Communication Services), a modern messaging protocol that supports richer text features, higher resolution images and videos, and enables end-to-end encryption," said the company in a blogpost.

"Google's messaging app will make voice messages more accessible. Using machine learning, voice message transcription auto-transcribes the message so that users can access it easily, i.e., with this feature, users can read voice messages in any crowded place," it added.

Moreover, users can now watch YouTube videos from within Messages without leaving the app. In this way, users can quickly watch and respond when someone sends them a YouTube link.

Within new features, it also includes "Reminders", which is included directly in "Messages" to help users remember important moments without navigating across several apps on their phone.

With "Star", users will be able to mark their important texts such as an address, door code, phone number, and more within the app.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 19 (IANS) Software major Adobe has announced creator-centric artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology -- Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) -- to its Adobe creative tools.

At its annual creativity conference "Adobe MAX 2022," the company said that the new technology will allow creators to give their idea to the AI and the machine will generate certain images. If the creators do not like those images, they can rewrite and get something closer to what they want.

"We are investing our research and product design talent to develop an approach that centres on the needs of creatives by integrating Generative AI in Adobe creative tools," the company said in a blogpost.

The Generative AI feature in "Photoshop" allows creators to add new objects, create variations based on their existing images, or even add a new section to a composite.

The Generative AI in "Adobe Express" will allow less experienced creators to achieve their unique goals. Creators will be able to create unique text effects that marry perfectly with your image by providing suggestions like "electrical cables" or "orchid petals".

With Generative AI in "Lightroom," creators will be able to change a daytime scene to nighttime, change shadows and other details, and even expand a photo beyond the scene they shot, the company said.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 19 (IANS) Graphics chip giant Nvidia's RTX 4090 GPU (graphics processing unit) can be used to crack an eight-character password in minutes, media reports say.

According to WindowsCentral, a group of the latest GPUs is strong enough to quickly crack passwords and it can likely be cracked by even a single RTX 4090 within days.

In similar tests, the RTX 4090 is more than twice as effective as the RTX 3090, the report said.

An eight-character password may be cracked in 48 minutes using a password hashing system with eight 4090 graphics cards.

The majority of passwords that have been leaked are of eight characters. Even if the GPU can crack passwords, it will probably be used more to play the top PC games, as per the report.

Meanwhile, recently, the company had paused the launch of its RTX 4080 12GB graphics card after facing backlash because of confusion over its name.

"The RTX 4080 12GB is a better graphics card, but it's not named right", the company said recently.

The company had announced the RTX 4080 in two configurations. It includes a 2.31GHz base clock that boosts up to 2.61GHz, 639 Tensor-TFLOPs, 92 RT-TFLOPs, and 40 Shader-TFLOPs.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 19 (IANS) New York-based NRI filmmaker Ram Alladi, best known for his documentary film 'Chiseled', which won 11 international awards, is now busy with a multi-lingual movie titled 'Pages'.

The film, which is being made in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, and English languages, apart from Hindi, is a woman-oriented story and has Kalpana Tiwari playing a pivotal role.

Speaking about the film, Ram Alladi says, "How are we utilising our freedom? How is society utilising it? These are the main traits of 'Pages'.

"The film has a post-Independence backdrop and it revolves around a political family that is affected by post independence developments.

"It also has a track pertaining to Bangladesh and the way in which it is interlinked with Telangana. This is a pure art film. It essentially revolves around women, and the conception of freedom.

The film, which features Kalpana and three other women in lead roles, has been shot in Hyderabad, Warangal and nearby areas.

Apart from Kalpana Tiwari, the film will also feature Pankaj Munshi, Anand Rangarajan, Shilpa Das, Samantha Mukherjee, Vijay Mary, Madhu, Arunasree Sadula, Prasad Kamalanabha, Ravi Wide, Nihari Mandal, ananda Kishore and Dawood among others.

Sreebardhan Sai has scored the music for the movie while it is cinematographed by Ram Alladi, Sridhar Sammeta and Krishna Guntupalli.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Amid the festive season in the country, the government cyber agency warned that free gift offers can be a trick by Chinese websites to steal users' confidential information.

In an advisory, CERT-In, under the IT Ministry, cautioned users against adwares targeting prominent brands and tricking customers in fraudulent phishing and scams.

"Fake messages are in circulation on various social media platforms (WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, etc.) that falsely claim a festive offer luring users into gift links and prizes," it said.

"The threat actor campaign is mostly targeting women and asking to share the links among peers over WhatsApp/Telegram/Instagram accounts," it added.

The victim receives a message containing a link to a phishing website similar to the websites of popular brands, and are lured with a false claim of a special festive offer of prizes or money on answering a questionnaire. The attackers then entice the users to give sensitive information like personal details, bank account details, passwords, OTPs, or use it for adware, and other adversarial purposes. The website links involved are mostly Chinese (.cn) domains and other extensions such as .top, .xyz.

These attack campaigns can effectively jeopardise the privacy and security of sensitive customer data and result in financial frauds, the advisory noted.

--IANS
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