1.Taking on Apple and Google, Microsoft and Chinese electronics major Xiaomi have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered budget speakers and smartphones.
2. Google on Friday announced the launch of ARCore 1.0, the company's augmented reality SDK (Software Development Kit) for developers on Android. With version 1.0, developers can now publish their AR-based to the Google Play Store.
3. Google said Friday its digital assistant software would be available in more than 30 languages (including Hindi, Danish, Indonesian and others) by the end of the years as it steps up its artificial intelligence efforts against Amazon and others.
4. Sixteen-year-old Saharanpur girl Harshita Arora's app that updates users about price fluctuations in more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in 32 countries has become one of the most sought-after paid apps on Apple’s App Store. What’s more, she launched it just on January 28 this year.
5. Facebook has removed a virtual reality shooter game demo from a booth it has set up at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, after people drew attention to it online and questioned whether it was appropriate in light of the shooting last week in Parkland, Florida.
6. Samsung Electronics Co. has announced that it will cooperate with Qualcomm Technologies Inc to produce 7-nanometre chips for fifth-generation (5G) network service amid rising demand for semiconductors.
7. IT services firm Tech Mahindra today outlined plans to invest 100 million Canadian dollars in the next five years to establish a centre of excellence in Canada for technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.
8. Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi called India an important market for the cab aggregator, not just because of the $1 billion it has so far invested here, but also because it acts as a lab to test products.
9. BSNL has been launching prepaid packs with generous data allocations for a few months now to remain competitive against the aggressive plans launched by Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, etc. Now, a postpaid plan with unlimited calls at Rs. 399 is in the pipeline for the state-owned telecom operator.
10. Redmi Note 5 Pro has received the anticipated Face Unlock feature via an OTA (over-the-air) software update.
11. Self-driving cars that back up their computerised system with a remote human operator instead of a fallback driver at the wheel could be tested on California roads as early as April.
12. Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi 5 buyers can now sign up to become beta testers for the MIUI 9 Global Beta ROM. Xiaomi is asking users to apply to become beta testers to get early access to Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi 5 software builds and help iron out kinks.
13. Director Steven Soderbergh, known for films like Erin Brockovich, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and the series Grey’s Anatomy, has a new movie premiering at the Berlin film festival. The unique thing about this flick is that it was shot entirely over just two weeks. Oh yeah, and they didn’t use any film cameras. ‘Unsane’ is the directors new psychological thriller that’s been shot entirely on an iPhone.
14. HTC has reportedly laid off its U.S. staff, and merged the smartphone and virtual reality divisions as part of a streamlining exercise. This move comes soon after HTC's head of smartphone unit, Chialin Chang, resigned from the company.
15. Netflix sees a potential of adding 100 million customers in India, Reed Hastings, the chairman of the online streaming company, said at the ET Global Business Summit on Friday.
16. In a bid to make customer experiences better on Twitter, the micro-blogging site has relaxed the rules for customer service Direct Messages (DMs) and introduced a new feature that makes sure businesses can always respond to the customers DMs.
17. Not only smartphone makers are holding events at the upcoming MWC 2018 conference at Barcelona, Spain, but a chip maker will also be present there to launch a new processor. MediaTek has sent an event invite for February 26.
18. A French court on Friday threw out a complaint by Apple demanding a ban on protests at its stores by the tax campaign group Attac.
19. Stressing that the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) will not make jobs disappear, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc said that on the contrary it will create more jobs. Wozniak was speaking at the fourth edition of the Economic Times Global Business Summit at New Delhi on Saturday.
20. Mobile data usage in India jumped 144% (Y-o-Y) to 2,360 petabytes, with average consumption per user in 4G broadband reaching 11 gigabyte per month in December 2017, says a Nokia MbIT 2018 report.
21. Data-sharing business Dropbox Inc on Friday filed for an initial public offering of up to $500 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
22. Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has continued its growth in the overall Indian premium segment by capturing 48 per cent market share in fourth quarter.
23. iPhone distributor Ingram Micro and associate Bright Point India have dragged Essar Group-owned The Mobile Store to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking the sale of assets or liquidation of what was once the largest retailer of mobile phones in India. In their petition filed before NCLT’s Mumbai bench, Ingram Micro and Bright Point claimed total arrears of Rs 16.5 crore from The Mobile Store.
24. Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents all major telcos, said it is reviewing the defamation notice sent by Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio).
25. IT major HCL Technologies today said it will invest about Rs 160 crore as part of its corporate social responsibility activity in the field of education, health and power.
26. When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users' iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities will have far easier access to text messages, email and other data stored in the cloud.
27. India is capable of developing a tech giant in the next few years, William B Thomas, chairman of KPMG International, said at the ET Global Business Summit on Friday, acknowledging the Startup India initiative as the most exciting aspect of the government’s current reform agenda.
28. A top Facebook executive who was led its Express Wi-Fi programme in India has resigned from the social networking major. People familiar with the matter said Munish Seth has stepped down as regional head-APAC for connectivity solutions as he wants to pursue opportunities outside.
29. The new H-1B policy memorandum is part of the effort by the Trump Administration to protect the wages and working conditions of both American and nonimmigrant workers and prevent any fraud or abuse, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said today.
30. Phone makers will seek to entice new buyers with better cameras and bigger screens at the world's biggest mobile fair starting Monday in Spain after a year of flat smartphone sales. But with no major innovations awaited in handsets, analysts expect the four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to focus on new uses for artificial intelligence (AI) and the looming deployment of super-fast 5G wireless networks.
31. Two words - artificial intelligence - promise to upstage familiar technology industry themes like 5G, the Internet of Things and virtual reality at next week's Mobile World Congress, Europe's biggest annual technology industry gathering.
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