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November 2020

Jabra has expanded its audio products line up in India by launching Elite 85t earphones that come with advanced active noise cancellation (ANC) technology and many other features. The device will have a very compact size to give users a light feel and a hear through mode to be mindful of things happening around you. It also features a long battery life. Jabra will be selling Elite 85t via e-commerce platform Amazon from today (1 December 2020) at Rs 18,999.

 Jabra launches Elite 85t earphones with ANC, up to 25-hour battery life at Rs 18,999

Jabra Elite 85t

The Jabra Elite 85t will be available in Titanium Black colour and the company has promised that more colour variants will be dropping in January, 2021.

The company claims that the Jabra Elite 85t will offer “a level of noise-cancelling that goes one step further than Jabra’s standard ANC offerings”. The ANC function can be modulated as well according to the need of the user. The products come with a dual chipset in the earbuds to aid the noise cancellation capability and optimal sound processing.

For clear sound and superior bass, the earphones have 12 mm speakers and a semi-open design for relieving pressure on the ears. Jabra has also adapted the ear gels to an oval shape providing a better sealing in the ear. This means that long hours of listening to the songs will have no discomfort on the ears as the tower of the Elite 85t does not sit as deeply within the ear.

As per the press release, the Elite 85t will offer 5.5 hours of continuous listening while ANC is on. When the product is fit in the charging case, it will give up to 25 hours of battery life with ANC on. If ANC is turned off in the case, the hours will extend to 31 hours.

Dr Amitesh Punhani, Country Marketing Manager of Jabra said, “We are thrilled to announce the launch of Elite 85t series in India, which truly demonstrates that our commitment to ANC is no exception”.

He added that as users want exceptional devices in small packaging, the Elite 85t has been designed to match the demand.

“It’s a very specific talent and it’s almost an art to create good challenges and good puzzles,” says Ubisoft Quebec’s associate game director Julien Galloudec in a conversation with Tech2, expressing a great deal of appreciation and admiration for the process. His game Immortals Fenyx Rising – that was known until September or so this year as Gods and Monsters – is a major departure from the Assassin’s Creed series on which he has previously worked and it just so happens that it releases on Thursday.

Much like vulcanised rubber and penicillin before it, Immortals Fenyx Rising also owes its genesis to a happy accident — in this case, it was an Assassin’s Creed Odyssey bug that inspired and led to IFR’s existence. But the rest of it, as Julien tells Tech2, was no accident.

“The biggest challenge was the puzzle aspect of the game, because making puzzles was very new for us,” he elaborates, adding, “we had a lot to learn and develop to reach that goal.”

Puzzles aren’t something one normally associates with most open-world games, but then, Immortals Fenyx Rising isn’t most open-world games. As Julien explains, “we wanted an open world. We wanted something very action-based and very intense. We wanted something inspired by Greek mythology. We also wanted something light-hearted and with a lot of humour in the tone, in the story, in the characters. And also we had the intention of making the journey as challenging and rewarding as the destination.”

Setting off on an ambitious mission like that also meant there was a lot of research to be done and the team looked at a whole host of games — some that you’d expect, others that might seem a bit out of left field.

Apart from the puzzles, the aerial combat was another aspect that gave Julien and company a tough time. “It doesn’t look like much, but it’s actually very hard to find the right flow and the right calibration,” he notes.

In recent times, whenever there’s been talk of game development, passionate discussions about the pros and cons of ‘crunch culture’ isn’t far behind. And while other industries have their own versions of crunch culture, this is the first time the topic is being dissected widely and broadly in the context of the video game industry. “Yes, it’s pretty classic,” offers Julien, adding, “It’s something that you have to avoid as much as possible.”

Whether it’s to meet a ludicrously tight deadline, shareholder demands or the expectations of a studio that has moved the goalposts for the umpteenth time, crunch culture exists almost all over the place. But does it really help? Not according to Julien.

“The return on investment with crunch is not as high as you might think, because while it does mean more hours, in the long run, you are so stretched. You have people who are also very tired,” he explains, “So it’s not that great in terms of production and obviously in terms of working with people, it’s something you have to avoid.”

What about the production cycle for the game formerly known as Gods and Monsters? “Work-life balance is something very important at Ubisoft Quebec and regarding that, I think we had a pretty smooth ride on Immortals Fenyx Rising.”

You can catch the rest of the interview below:

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Keep watching this space for our thoughts about and impressions of Immortals Fenyx Rising.

OnePlus is expected to come up with a OnePlus 65W fast charger, which has received TUV certification. It is being reportedly said that OnePlus Nord SE, which is likely to be launched soon, could come with this fast charger. According to Root MyGalaxy, OnePlus 65W fast charger might be introduced in the first few months of the next year. The fast charger will deliver multiple charging rates, 5.0V/3.0A (15W), and 10.0V/6.5A (65W).

 OnePlus 65W fast charger is expected to be unveiled alongside OnePlus Nord SE: Report

OnePlus Nord N10

Android Central reported that OnePlus Nord SE will have a 4,500 mAh battery, which will be charged in under 40 minutes. Expected to be a budget-focused model, the Nord SE will come with an AMOLED panel.

OnePlus has not revealed the launch date for the Nord SE, but the smartphone is expected to be unveiled in India and the EU. The device is not likely to debut in the US.

The smartphone maker introduced the OnePlus Nord series a few months back. The first smartphone of the Nord Series showed up in July and it’s powered by Snapdragon 765G. Following this, the company released Nord N10 5G and Nord N100. According to Android Central, the two smartphones were to be up for grabs from the end of this month.

According to GizChina, OnePlus Nord SE will be powered by the Snapdragon 765G and it will feature a 90Hz display. The tech website reported that the Nord SE may be launched shortly after the OnePlus 9 series.

OnePlus N10 5G comes approximately at a price of Rs 30,600 in India, while OnePlus N100 is expected to be priced around Rs 15,000. N10 5G features 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage, which is expandable up to 512 GB with a microSD card. On the other hand, N100 is equipped with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage.

Earlier, OnePlus would only sell premium smartphones, but now it has entered the mid-range segment with the unveiling of the first OnePlus Nord. 

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is all set to land on Earth within a few days. The craft is bringing soil samples from an asteroid called Ryugu and is expected to land in a remote location in Australia by 5 December.

According to the official Twitter account of the spacecraft, the capsule separation of Hayabusa will be taking place from 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm IST on 5 December. Within 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm IST on the same day, the orbit will be changed for spacecraft departure. Finally by 3.00 am IST on 6 December, the capsule will be landing. In the Indian Standard Time, the landing is scheduled to take place at around 11.30 pm on 5 December. The capsule will make its landing on the Australian Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA).

 Japan’s Hayabusa 2 to land on Earth, with asteroid by 5 December: Here’s all you need to know

Hayabusa-2 attempting to touchdown on Ryugu. Image credit: DLR

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1331073517538820098?s=20

It was on 25 November that the Japanese space agency received all the requisite permissions from the Commonwealth Return Safety Officer (CRSO) to transition Hayabusa 2 onto a re-entry trajectory.

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1331597709032050691?s=20

The CMRO gave the green signal after securing that there were no issues with the “navigation, guidance, plan, spacecraft or ground systems”.

The next day, the TCM-3 or the third trajectory correction manoeuvre operation was rolled out. The thruster injection for fine-tuning adjustment was performed, speed and trajectory were adjusted and confirmed.

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1331798101422575616?s=20

Finally, the space agency successfully completed the manoeuvre. Reporting the condition of the spacecraft to be “normal”, the tweet said that the “orbit will be decided in the future, and the re-entry time is planned to be calculated around November 30”.

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1331915531566256130?s=20

By studying the soil samples sent by the shoebox-sized probe, JAXA scientists aim to study the formation of organic material in the ancient time. Researchers look forward to knowing how the planets were created by studying primitive small bodies like Ryugu.

In a new study, climate scientists from both Indian and Germany have concluded that large volcanic eruptions can provide additional sources of predictability for Indian Monsoon. The research, published in the journal Science Advances, made use of climate modelling data from the last 1000 years, numerous proxy records of Indian Monsoon, ENSO, volcanoes and changes in the Pacific Ocean, observational data from the previous 150 years. They also included dedicated experiments from the first Indian climate model, the IITM Earth System Model.

The added source of monsoon predictability highlighted in the study arises because the coupling between the monsoon and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) intensifies. Moreover, ENSO is already used in predicting the Indian monsoon. The ENSO is a climatic phenomenon which occurs every 2-7 years in the Pacific Ocean and involves an abnormal warming (El Nino) and cooling (La Nina) of the ocean surface in the tropical Pacific. The periods of abnormally warm (cold) waters in the Pacific are known to be associated with weak (strong) Indian monsoon the following year.

The influence of the ENSO on the Indian monsoon is a prominent one. As many as 30 El Nino events have taken place in the last 150 years, of which 21 were associated with weak monsoons over India. However, out of a total of 22 La Nina events since 1871, just ten were tied to intense monsoons over India. The link between the ENSO and Indian monsoon was first observed by Sir Gilbert Walker in the 1920s, and has been a topic of intense study ever since. More recently however, there has been some  scientific debate about the breakdown of this link due to ongoing global climate change.

 Volcanic eruptions may help better predict Indian monsoons, claims Indo-German research team

Volcanic eruptions could help better predict Indian monsoon, a recent study suggest. Image: Yosh Ginsu/Unsplash

It is imperative that we explore and study this link better, to understand the direction (weak or strong) of Indian Monsoon with a reasonable probability. However, for the cases the association breaks down, the inference can be misleading. The Indo-German team of researchers has used novel statistical techniques to exactly underpin when the relationship exists or not. They have found that the ENSO and Indian Monsoon systems are akin to two pendulums oscillating with a particular frequency, where ENSO is the slower pendulum and the Indian monsoon, the faster one. In the study, the researchers establish that the increase in ENSO oscillations in the years that follow a large volcanic eruption can lead to enhanced coupling between the two systems; and eventually, and lend to models predicting the Indian monsoon.

The study tests their hypothesis using more than 250 combinations of various paleoclimate proxy datasets from the last 1,000 years. The physical mechanism underlying this natural phenomenon is also shown using big data analysis from the IITM Earth System Model. The amount of data analysed in this research exceeds 100 Terabytes.

“Volcanoes are in general potentially harmful but the study shows that in the years following the eruptions the Indian Monsoon becomes more predictable,” Manmeet Singh, from the Centre for Climate Change Research at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, says.

This work allays the fears that the ENSO and Indian Monsoon relationship might be breaking, which may further make the task of predicting Indian Monsoons more difficult.  The epochal nature of the volcanically forced coupling between ENSO and Indian Monsoon as hypothesized by Maraun and  Kurths in 2005 and established by this work can help in improving the climate models of the future.

Prices of cab availing services likely to get lower as the government issues new guidelines to cab aggregators.

The ministry of road and Transport highways, India announced new guidelines for cab aggregators through a notification released on 26 November. The ministry issued the guidelines under the part of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, that states take into account before issuing a license to state aggregators. The regulations define cab aggregators as digital mediators or marketplaces for passengers to connect with drivers for the intent of transportation.

“The city taxi fare indexed by WPI (Wholesale Price Index)for the current year shall be the base fare chargeable to customers availing aggregator service,” said the guidelines issued by the ministry of road and transport highways.

The cancellation fee is capped at 10 percent of the total fare, not exceeding Rs 100 for both users and drivers. On the other hand, aggregators are allowed to charge fares that are up to 50 percent lower than the base fare. The fare will be divided in a ratio of 80 percent to 20 percent from driver to aggregator respectively. The maximum surge pricing can be at most 1.5 times the base fare. There are conditions of aggregator license being revoked like a violation of contractual obligations, ‘systemic failure’ to ensure the safety of riders & drivers, unjustified surge pricing, violation of safety standards, financial inconsistencies to name a few.

A 24×7 control room has to be set up monitoring movement of vehicles at all times and women should have the option to pool only with female passengers.

Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.

Xiaomi is hosting a four-day Black Friday sale in India. Buyers will get discounts on many products including smartphones, smart wearables, earphones, beard trimmer, power bank, earbuds and more. The sale is being hosted across Mi.com, Amazon India website, Flipkart and retail stores. In terms of wearables, you can get Mi Band 4 (Review) at a price of Rs 1,999, down from Rs 2,299. The newly launched Mi Watch Revolve (Review) is also selling at a price of Rs 9,999, down by Rs 1,000. Xiaomi’s Mi Beard Trimmer is available at Rs 1,299 and Mi Beard Trimmer 1C is priced at Rs 899.

(Also Read: Realme Black Friday sale is now live: Deals on Realme C3, Realme 7 Pro, Narzo 20 Pro and more

Dyson Black Friday sale: Best deals on Corrale straightener, Supersonic hair dryer and more)

 Xiaomi Black Friday sale: Best deals on Redmi 9 Prime, Mi Watch Revolve, Redmi Note 9 Pro and more

The Black Friday sale will end on 29 November.

In the smartphone department, Redmi 9 Prime (Review) 4 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant is available at Rs 10,999, down from Rs 11,999. Redmi Note 9 Pro (Review)‘s 4 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant is also selling at a discount of Rs 1,000. The Redmi 9i (4 GB RAM + 128 GB storage) is also selling at Rs 8,999, down by Rs 300. Redmi Note 8 (Review) 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage variant is available at Rs 8,999.

In addition to this, products like Mi True Wireless earphones 2C (Review), Redmi Earbuds S Black, Mi Tv stick, Redmi 20000mAh powerbank and so on.

Just like Xiaomi, Realme is also hosting its Black Friday sale in India. The one-day sale is now live in India. Buyers will get several discounts and offer on smartphones, earphones, wearables and more. The sale will go live on Flipkart, Amazon and Realme.com. Going by the preview, the newly launched Realme smart cam 360 will be available at a discount of Rs 500, just like Realme Band which will cost you Rs 999 during the sale. Realme Watch will sell at a price of Rs 2,999, down by Rs 1,000.

(Also Read: Xiaomi Black Friday sale is now live: Best deals on Redmi 9 Prime, Mi Watch Revolve, Redmi Note 9 Pro and more

Dyson Black Friday sale: Best deals on Corrale straightener, Supersonic hair dryer and more)

 Realme Black Friday sale: Deals on Realme C3, Realme 7 Pro, Narzo 20 Pro and more

Realme Narzo 20 Pro. Image: Tech2/Sheldon Pinto

Realme X50 Pro will be available at a starting price of Rs 34,999, down by Rs 7,000. Another smartphone getting a huge discount is Realme X3 SuperZoom (Review) which will be available at a starting price of Rs 23,999, down from Rs 27,999. Smartphones including Realme C3, Realme 6 (Review), Realme 6i, Realme Narzo 20 Pro (Review) will sell at a discount of Rs 1,000.

Realme Buds Wireless, Realme Buds Wireless Pro, Realme Buds Classic, Realme 18W 20000mAh powerbank will also be available at discount during this one-day sale.

For the unversed, Realme is currently hosting a Realme Days sale which will end on 28 November.

The utility of molecular testing has been released in the current COVID-19 pandemic, with RT-PCR becoming a household name.

Molecular testing is a crucial tool for diagnosis, insights to lower antimicrobial resistance burden

Molecular testing is growing more relevant in infection diagnosis for its high accuracy, efficiency. Image Credit: SeqGen

Between 18 and 24 November each year, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is observed to raise awareness about the critical health issue of antibiotic resistance, and encourages people across the globe to handle antibiotics with care. It also recommends best practices amongst the public, health workers, and policymakers to avoid further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the ten most pertinent global public health threats that humanity is faced with, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Antimicrobials include antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic medicines which fight against bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasite respectively. AMR occurs when these bugs resist the effects of medicines and develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. This makes common infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Some major drivers of AMR include:

  • the overuse and misuse of antibiotics,
  • inappropriate prescribing after misdiagnosis of infection,
  • lack of sanitation and hygiene in both humans and animals,
  • poor infection and disease prevention, and
  • extensive use of antibiotics in agriculture.

Molecular test like RT-PCR, multiplex PCR and whole genome-based assay can provide accurate and rapid diagnosis. These test not only identify the microbe causing the infection but also can offer insight into the bug if it is resistant to antimicrobials.  This knowledge helps clinician to make an informed treatment decision and in turn prevent drug resistance. The utility of molecular test like RT-PCR has been released in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This test has become a household name for COVID-19 diagnosis, however the usefulness of molecular tests like these have still not been recognized for other infections which warrant rapid diagnosis. These infections include sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis wherein precise diagnosis and choice of antibiotics is paramount for lifesaving.  Apart from detecting the organism, RT-PCR is also used to quantitate the amount of organism present in the clinical specimen. In Hepatitis C infection, knowledge of viral load in the clinical specimen is crucial for monitoring the treatment.

Molecular testing is a crucial tool for diagnosis insights to lower antimicrobial resistance burden

Experts fear COVID-19 is just a trailer of what an uncontrollable antibiotic-resistant pathogen might do. Image courtesy: Healthline

Drug-resistant infections spread rapidly through international travel and migration, although its impact is felt slowly, hence unlike COVID-19 , AMR is a silent pandemic with long-term implications for global health. In the fight against AMR, genome-based techniques can play a pivotal role. These tests have the promise to overcome the shortfalls of conventional techniques like culture- which is time-consuming and laborious.

“We recently had a case where a 52-year-old lady was suffering from auto-immune pancytopenia, which meant she had a lower than normal immunity, which made her prone to getting an infection. On observing an abscess on the right leg, she was immediately started on antibiotics, and we sent the sample for blood culture, which came out to be negative. However, I wanted to be doubly sure, and hence I sent the pus sample for multiplex PCR testing to (our lab) in Bangalore,” said Dr Sachin Jadhav, a leading oncologist from Bengaluru.

“The results showed presence of Salmonella and hence confirmed the diagnosis of a rare typhoid infection. Based on the diagnosis, the antibiotic prescription was altered, and she recovered in 2 weeks. Without the clarity that multiplex PCR offered, the precise antibiotics prescription would not have been possible and that would have led to increased chances of antibiotic resistance,” Jadhav added.

Techniques such as Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) use the knowledge of the genome of the microbe. Like in case of tuberculosis, where the biggest challenge is multi-drug resistance.

“Last year, we launched our proprietary SPIT-SEQ test – a direct sputum-based whole genome sequencing test for diagnosing and profiling drug resistance in pulmonary tuberculosis in one go,” said Dr Ramprasad V L, CEO of MedGenome Labs. “With multiple applications of NGS in infectious diseases, we are poised to make an impact on antimicrobial use and infectious disease management.”

The author is the Principal Scientist (Infectious Diseases) at MedGenome Labs Ltd, Bangalore.

Rating: 4/5

Price: Rs 3,999

Over the past 12 to 14 months, we have reviewed a handful of Amazfit’s more premium watches, ranging from Amazfit GTR to the T-Rex, catering to different segments of buyers. We quite liked what they brought to the table. Today, we have their latest budget offering, the Amazfit Bip U that skips some of the higher-end features like a built-in GPS and OLED display, but includes enough useful features at half to a third of the selling price of its more illustrious siblings.

 Amazfit Bip U review: A simple, affordable fitness watch with a bunch of cool features

Amazfit Bip U. Image: Amazfit

Standard design but comfortable to wear

The design is fairly standard, with a rectangular face and a solitary button on the right. It looks quite similar to the Amazfit GTS and like every third smartwatch/fitness watch in the country, the design draws inspiration from Apple’s smartwatch lineup. Though the body is made of plastic, it doesn’t feel low quality, and the build is quite solid. The plastic construction does help in keeping the weight down to just 31 grams. The Amazfit Bip U is extremely comfortable to wear for long hours, and the silicone straps don’t cause skin irritation even after prolonged use.

The touchscreen display lets you browse through the menus and access different functions of this device in conjunction with the aforementioned physical button placed along the right edge. The screen turns off automatically after a few seconds (or as per the duration you set from the settings). Alternately, you can just cover it with your palm for a second to turn it off. The watch interface is user-friendly and easy to use even for a novice user. More on that a little later.

Oximeter on the Amazfit Bip U. Image Credit: Ameya Dalvi

Oximeter on the Amazfit Bip U. Image Credit: Ameya Dalvi

Sharp display with a wide variety of watch faces

The Amazfit Bip U has a sharp 1.43-inch TFT LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 302 pixels. It is protected by a layer of 2.5D scratch-resistant glass that also has an anti-fingerprint coating that works very well. I could barely spot any fingerprints or smudges on the screen during the course of my testing. The screen has manual brightness controls and is perfectly legible outdoors, even even at 50% brightness; when indoors, even 25% brightness is good enough.

You need to flick your wrist to turn the screen on. If that doesn’t work, you can always press the button. There is a DND mode that lets you disable the motion-sensitive screen-on function whenever you wish to, or between 10pm to 8am. If you choose to wear it to sleep and do not activate the DND feature, the Bip U automatically keeps the screen off when it senses that you have fallen asleep. The watch comes preloaded with four watch faces, two of which can be customised to display a variety of information of your choice such as a step count, calories burned, heart rate, battery status and more. The other two faces can be replaced with any of the 50-odd faces available for this watch, ranging from analog to digital, from retro to funky.

Watch face. Image Credit: Ameya Dalvi

Watch face. Image Credit: Ameya Dalvi

At any point, you can have a maximum of four watch faces stored on the watch. None of the faces that you load on the watch from the app can be customised, something I did not like. Though you have a lot of options to choose from, some could have been designed better. Some faces display a lot of information, but the font size is too tiny, while others may not have the exact parameters you want to see on the watch’s home screen; something for the company to work on.

Simple and smart user interface

As with all Amazfit watches, you need to download the Amazfit app (now called Zepp), add your device in there and sync it over Bluetooth. It takes a while initially, but once it’s set up, things work smoothly. It does take longer than usual to transfer stuff to the watchm such as a new firmware update or even a watch face. I have complained in the past about the over-reliance of Amazfit watches on the app for accessing a majority of its features, but that’s not the case here. The Bip U lets you control several functions from the watch screen itself, leaving just a few for the app, which is great to see.

You need the app mainly to select a different watch face, set your fitness goals, track your progress, crunch data captured by the watch and present it to you in a neat manner. You get alerts on the watch screen when you reach your fitness goals for the day or for incoming calls and messages. The watch UI is very simple. All you need to do is swipe down on the screen for settings and swipe up to access notifications. Swipe left or right to browse through activities, daily goal progress and other options such as heart rate, blood oxygen level, music control, weather or any options that you choose as app shortcuts.

Amazfit Bip U in all available colors. Image: Amazfit

Amazfit Bip U in all available colors. Image: Amazfit

Most functions come with short explanations (on the watch screen itself) of what they are supposed to do, which is a good addition. The rest of the functions such as sleep and stress data, choice of workout, alarm and such can be accessed by pressing the physical button. The same button can be used to go back in the menu. The UI is smartly designed, completely stutter-free and very easy to get used to.

Handful of useful features, surprisingly good performance for the segment

Before we move on to the health and fitness features, let me quickly touch upon other useful things the Amazfit Bip U can handle. The watch lets you answer or silence incoming calls from the watch screen. You can also reject a call and reply with a preset SMS from there, if you enable this in the companion app. SMS can also be read on the watch screen, and the font is sufficiently large. You cannot, however, reply from the watch. You can opt to receive notifications from other apps too, along with event reminders and weather updates. You cannot install any new apps on this device, and have to make do with what’s built into the watch.

As a fitness tracker, there are a handful of useful options. It can track dozens of different kinds of exercises – indoor and outdoor – from walking, running, cycling, swimming, weight training skipping and more, along with close to 60 different sports modes that include badminton and cricket too. The Bip U is water resistant up to 50 metres, so feel free to wear it into the swimming pool without worry (post-pandemic, of course). The watch doesn’t have built-in GPS but can make use of the phone GPS in certain cases. The step counter is fairly accurate most of the time. It occasionally errs on the conservative side, but didn’t report false steps during the course of my testing.

Steps and sleep data in app. Image: Author provided

Steps and sleep data in app. Image: Screengrab from Amazfit/Ameya Dalvi

The watch claims to support continuous heart rate monitoring, but the best frequency you can set is 1 minute. You can also change the frequency of monitoring to 5, 10 or 30 minutes to conserve battery life. It’s best to turn on ‘Active heart rate monitoring’ in the app. When the watch detects some physical activity, it automatically increases the monitoring frequency for more accurate results. After you are done with the workout, the frequency drops again to save battery. All the fitness data is available in the app and it presents you with a daily, weekly and monthly breakdown of various fitness activities you indulged in during that period.

There’s a sleep tracking feature to analyse your sleeping habits. I personally do not like wearing a watch to bed, but I did so for a few nights to test this feature. It gets the overall sleep duration pretty much spot-on from the time you actually fall asleep, and not just hit the bed. It tracks the quantum of light sleep, deep sleep and awake time. Interestingly, REM sleep information is also available here; it was missing in the more expensive Amazfit watches when I had reviewed them.

You also have an option to measure your stress levels manually, or set the watch to all-day monitoring. Stress is calculated on the basis of the wearer’s heart rate variability. The watch also provides breathing guidance to help you relax and balance your stress levels. Ladies will appreciate the menstrual cycle tracking functionality in this watch.

The Amazfit Bip U includes a very useful feature for current times – a SpO2 sensor, or a pulse oximeter. It measures the level of oxygen saturation in the blood. The readings are as accurate as a basic over-the-counter oximeter you can buy these days. However, you need a rock-steady hand, a good amount of patience and 30 seconds minimum to get there. To get accurate results in about half a minute, you have to rest your hand on a flat surface with the watch screen pointing upwards, and stay absolutely steady. Best to take a couple of readings to be doubly sure. Nonetheless, a more than useful feature to have.

Workout readings. Image: Ameya Dalvi

Workout readings. Image: Ameya Dalvi

Decent battery life, but Amazfit has spoiled us with better

One thing you can expect from Amazfit watches is excellent battery life. The Amazfit Bip U scores reasonably well in this department, but the figures aren’t as impressive as the GTR or the GTS models. The company claims a battery life of 9 days on a single charge under test conditions that are defined as ‘automatic heart rate measurement feature enabled for 10 minutes, Activate on Raise feature is enabled, and other settings are kept in default states. Each day involves the following operations: 50 notifications are received and displayed, 200 screen activations on raise are conducted, outdoor running every other day for 30 minutes and SpO2 measurement twice per day’.

In real-world testing with conditions somewhat similar to those above but with heart rate measurement frequency set to 1 minute, sleep monitoring for three nights and a few extra SpO2 measurements daily, the battery lasted a shade under 6 days on a full charge. Without sleep tracking or with heart rate frequency set to 5 minutes, it can last a full week. Yes, it is nowhere close to the 3 to 4 weeks that I managed to get out of the Amazfit GTS and GTR respectively, but having to charge your watch once a week in this price category is a pretty decent result in itself. The watch’s 230 mAh Lithium-ion polymer battery takes about 2 hours to charge fully with the bundled 2-pin POGO pin charger that attaches itself to the base of the watch magnetically.

Price and verdict

The Amazfit Bip U sells for Rs 3,999 in India with a one year warranty. At that price point, I’m inclined to focus on what the watch offers than what it doesn’t. You get a no-nonsense, feature-rich fitness watch with a sharp display, 50-metre water resistance, dozens of fitness tracking modes, SpO2 sensor and a decent battery life, among other things. It is a big upgrade over budget fitness bands in terms of performance and features, for a very small premium. Its simplicity and ease of use makes the Amazfit Bip U quite likeable, and easy to recommend.

Turns out animals also exhibit behavioural and mood changes much like humans. A new study now shows animals exhibit positive moods when they win and pessimism when they lose, much like humans.

In a review study, conducted by Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Biological Sciences, study authors argue that animals’ assessment of resource value and opponent’s fighting ability contribute to their emotional state, which in turn drive animal behaviour.

 Similar to human, animals to have emotions and moods that form the basis of their behaviour

Scientists say that the mood in animals is adaptively induced by previous experiences.

Study authors suggest that just as depressed or anxious humans are more pessimistic about the future, animals that lose fights are likely to be in a more negative emotional state, more pessimistic about whether they can win and less willing to engage in fights in the future.

According to the lead author of the study Andrew Crump, while it is known that human emotion influences unrelated cognition and behaviour, they have now found that animals that won a contest experienced a more positive mood and expected fewer predators, while animals that lost a contest experienced negative emotions leading to maladaptive behaviour.

He further added that events that bring out emotional responses might influxes virtually any decisions. The mood in animals is adaptively induced by previous experiences. However, the mood is maladaptive if it was induced by some negative incident. As per researchers, in such circumstances, when the emotional basis of the decision is unrelated to the decision itself, they can predict maladaptive decision-making.

According to the statement by the university, the research proposes that the emotion theory may underpin all non-reflexive animal behaviour.

Principal Investigator of the paper Dr Gareth Arnott added that while animal behaviour researchers typically do not currently consider animal emotions in their work, the results of this study show that this may need to be considered as the role of animal’s emotion is crucial in relation to understanding their subsequent behaviour.

Flipkart and Amazon record combined sale of $7.3 billion as online shopping gets a boost due to pandemic.

Online shopping platforms Flipkart and Amazon swallowed around 88 percent market share together this festive season which began mid-October and ended mid-November. Reportedly, the two e-commerce giants recorded a combined sale of $7.3 billion during the month-long festive season, according to a report by RedSeer published on 26 November. Flipkart Group comprised 66 percent of the overall GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) clocked by e-commerce firms in the festive season while Amazon comprised 34 percent. Walmart backed Flipkart including fashion portal Myntra took 58 percent of the market share as compared to their competitors Amazon who took a 30 percent share of the festive market sales.

This year’s festive sales also saw 88 percent customer growth from last year. Last year, close to 47 million shoppers bought from e-commerce during festive season sales. This was mainly due to two reasons. One, the influx of new customers and the second, decline in offline shopping due to the pandemic.

“This has been much more than the forecasted performance. The overall growth story has been very bullish this festive season. We had forecasted $7 billion of sales but the actual figures surpassed our expectations, showing how comfortable consumers have become with shopping online even in this pandemic hit year,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, Director E-commerce, RedSeer Consulting.

“One clear lesson from this festive season is that e-commerce has become more mainstream than ever. And it has proven that with the right assortment at the right prices which is delivered quickly in the safety of customer’s homes – the value proposition of e-commerce is very powerful. Thus, it is imperative for brands and sellers to shift their focus to online quickly and enable a seamless online experience for the customer in order to thrive in a post COVID world,” further said.

A representative for Amazon said, “we cannot comment on speculative reports without transparent methodology,” in an emailed response to ET’s queries on RedSeer’s estimates on the market shares of the two online majors. Flipkart declined to comment.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a 86 million-euro ($102 million) contract with ClearSpace SA to bring a large piece of orbital trash back to Earth. ClearSpace is a Swiss startup that provides in-orbit servicing and space debris removal and was selected by ESA in 2019 for this mission. Clearspace-1 will launch in 2025.

Defunct man-made objects that are orbiting in space, particularly in Earth’s orbit are called space debris. It can consist of natural debris from meteoroids as well. NASA estimated that there are more than 20,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball that are currently orbiting the Earth. It will only continue to build as the commercial space industry grows and more rockets are launched to orbit and deep space.

Some of these debris move at speeds of up to 28,163 kmph (17,500 mph) and is fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. This creates an unsafe environment for satellites, which are positioned and frequently moved to accommodate the orbital path of debris in orbit.

 ESA signs 102 million dollar deal with Swiss startup to bring back space junk

A computer-generated image of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked by the US Air Force. Roughly 95% of the these objects are debris/not-functional satellites. Image credit: NASA

ESA said that the deal with ClearSpace SA will lead to the “first active debris removal mission” and a custom-made spacecraft will capture and bring down part of a rocket once used to deliver a satellite into orbit.

Experts have long warned that hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris circling the planet — including an astronaut’s lost mirror — pose a threat to functioning satellites and even the International Space Station. Several teams are working on ways to tackle the problem.

The target: Vespa

The mission will be targeting the Vespa (Vega Secondary Payload Adapter). It was used to hold and then release a satellite in 2013. It weighs about 112 kilograms (247 pounds) which is almost the size of a small satellite.

According to the press release, the object was left in an approximately 801 km by 664 km-altitude gradual disposal orbit.

New way of doing things

This ESA deal also shows that it is adopting a similar path that NASA, and more recently ISRO, took by incorporating the commercial players to design, build and operate a mission while getting the necessary funds from the government space agency. With the upcoming debris return mission, ESA has signed an end-to-end service contract with ClearSpace instead of developing its own spacecraft and all the other instruments needed for the mission.

According to a press release, ESA has purchased “the initial mission” and will contribute their expertise as part of the Active Debris Removal/In-Orbit Servicing project (ADRIOS) within ESA’s Space Safety Programme. However, the startup will have to raise their own funds for the “remainder of the mission cost” through other investors.

They will also get help from other companies from Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Poland, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Romania.

With inputs from the Associated Press

An asteroid that is more than 800m high and over 500m wide is set to race past Earth on 29 November at a speed of 90,000km/h. The asteroid 2000 WO107 is as tall as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and is expected to pass the planet at around 9.09 pm (AETD) on Sunday.

And contrary to reports that an asteroid the size of the world’s largest building is hurtling toward Earth, Asteroid 153201 or (2000 WO107) will actually miss the blue planet by nearly 2.7 million miles.

 Asteroid 2000 WO107 wont hit Earth but will just pass by on 29 November

The asteroid is a near earth asteroid but will only fly past without causing any damage. Image credit: State Farm/Flickr

Classified as a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), the 153201 is an Aten-class Asteroid. NASA JPL has classified it as a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’ due to its predicted close pass with Earth.

The asteroid orbits the sun every 318 days coming as close as o.20 AU and going as far as 1.62 AU from the sun in an orbit that is highly elliptical. The asteroid is larger than 97 percent of asteroids and its spectral type None indicates that it likely contains nickel, iron and cobalt.

Since 2000 WO107’s orbit is 0.00 AU from Earth’s orbit at its closest point, it means that the orbit irrelatively close to the Earth’s one. The asteroid has 28 close approaches predicted in the coming decades.

It was last officially observed on 13 January 2018 and after 29 November, it is again supposed to pass by Earth closely on 6 February 2031.

Pandey said she didn’t expect to be featured in the prestigious list, and feels motivated to continue her fight for the causes of environment and climate change.

Ridhima Pandey among four Indians in BBC's 100 inspiring, influential women list for 2020

BBC’s list of top 100 women features four Indians this year.

Uttarakhand-based youth climate activist Ridhima Pandey is among four Indians featured in the BBC’s 2020 list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. The list highlights people “leading change and making a difference during these turbulent times,” according to the BBC’s website. It went on to acknowledge Pandey’s participation in the local and global climate action movement.

“Ridhima Pandey is a climate activist who, at the age of nine, filed a petition against the Government of India in response to its inaction to mitigate climate change. In 2019, along with 15 other child petitioners, Ridhima filed a lawsuit against five countries at the UN.

Ridhima Pandey among four Indians in BBCs 100 inspiring influential women list for 2020

Ridhima Pandey says she wants to do everything possible in her capacity to save the climate. Image credit: Dinesh Pandey.

Ridhima (now 12 years old) and Greta Thunberg were part of a group of 16 children at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last year, that filed a complaint against some nations at the Summit for inaction in the ongoing climate change crisis.

In December 2019, Pandey began an online campaign urging the PM to talk about the alarming air pollution situation in India in his Mann Ki Baat podcast and declare it a public health emergency. Pandey sent a hand-written letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that her worst nightmare was going to school with an oxygen cylinder. She requested that PM Modi make sure “an oxygen cylinder doesn’t become an essential part of the life of children, which we may have to carry on our shoulders everywhere in future.”

“Ridhima is currently participating in international conferences and helping to empower other students, at all levels, to fight for their future and for the biodiversity of the world. Ridhima is working to save her future and that of coming generations,” the website continued.

According to a Hindustan Times report, Pandey said she didn’t expect to be featured in such a prestigious list, and feels motivated to continue her fight for the cause of environment and climate change.

“It is a pleasant surprise and international recognition of the work I have been carrying out for the cause of the environment and climate change. This recognition will encourage me further to keep working and fighting for the cause of the environment and climate change, which are the most important issues the world is facing today and will face in the coming days,” she said.

Ridhima Pandey among four Indians in BBCs 100 inspiring influential women list for 2020

BBC’s list of top 100 women features four Indians this year.

Three other women from India were also recognized with a spot in the list.

The first was eighty-two-year-old Bilkis Bano, who was recognized as one of the many women who protested peacefully against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh last year.

Manasi Joshi, who has lost one of her legs in a road accident in 2011, was recognized for being a “change maker”. Joshi is currently ranked world number two in the SL3 (standing/lower limb impairment/minor) by the Badminton World Federation in June this year.

Gaana singer Isaivani was also featured in the list. She is part of India’s largest ensemble political band – The Casteless Collective – which questions oppression or inequality through its music.

The list includes Sanna Marin, who leads Finland’s all-female coalition government, Michelle Yeoh, star of the new Avatar and Marvel films and Sarah Gilbert, who heads the Oxford University research into a coronavirus vaccine, as well as Jane Fonda, a climate activist and actress.

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Micromax In Note 1 is all geared up for going on sale starting 1 December from 12pm. Micromax shared the news that the phone sold out in its first sale and will be restocked on 1 December. The Twitter account wrote, “India ne dikha diya apna pyaar! Thank you for being #INforIndia and welcoming us back with all your hearts. We will be back next week, on 1st December at 12 noon with even more stock for the IN note 1. #INMobiles #MicromaxIsBack.”

 Micromax In Note 1 with 48 MP quad camera setup will go on sale 1 December

Micromax IN note 1

The phone which is being sold on Flipkart and the official website shows ‘coming soon’ in the former, while the latter shows a countdown of 5 days. The phone is priced Rs 10,999.

The Micromax in Note 1 comes with MediaTek chipsets and Android 10. It offers a 4Gb Ram and features a quad camera setup.

Available in white and green colours, the In Note 1 features a 6.67-inch full-HD+ display that comes with a punch-hole camera on the top. It also has a rear0mounted fingerprint scanner. The camera setup houses a 48 MP primary sensor, a 5 MP wide angle lens, a 2 MP macro and a 2 MP depth sensor. It also has a 16 MP front camera for selfies and is equipped with a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging and reverse charging.

Indian education tech startup WhiteHat Jr was reportedly affected by a bug that left personal data of 2.8 lakh students exposed. WhiteHat Jr admitted there was a bug, but insisted that there was no data breach and that the issue was resolved within 24 hours of being found. The vulnerability was found on 19 November, and as per WhiteHat Jr, the issue was patched by 20 November.

The company said in a statement:

WhiteHatJr takes security and privacy issues very seriously. We are committed to both our customers and to our compliance with applicable laws. Based on information received from responsible disclosures, we reviewed our setup and worked to patch specifically identified vulnerabilities within 24 hours.

 Personal data of 2.8 lakh WhiteHat Jr students reportedly exposed, company insists there was no breach

WhiteHat Jr logo

Sonit Jain, CEO of GajShield Infotech, a network security company, said, “Human errors are very common and these errors lead to data breaches. With cloud being more convenient for enterprises to allow access to data for business operations, making this move without proper precautions can be disastrous for data security. This move must be backed by a strong data security approach with the ability to gain complete visibility on their entire threat surface, including internal threat vectors and the understating of how this data is being handled. This must also be followed by regular vulnerability check on their security infrastructure, especially for their cloud data.”

WhiteHat Jr has recently been in after it slapped defamation lawsuits against its two biggest critics – Dr Aniruddha Malpani and Pradeep Poonia.

Experts say the relatively small number of people in the low dose group makes it difficult to know if the effectiveness seen in the group is real or a statistical quirk.

AstraZeneca's dosage error casts a cloud of doubt around the entire COVID-19 clinical trial

The first human trials for a COVID-19 vaccine began in April with the Oxford candidate. Image: NHS

AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Wednesday acknowledged a manufacturing error that is raising questions about preliminary results of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

A statement describing the error came days after the company and the university described the shots as “highly effective” and made no mention of why some study participants didn’t receive as much vaccine in the first of two shots as expected.

In a surprise, the group of volunteers that got a lower dose seemed to be much better protected than the volunteers who got two full doses. In the low-dose group, AstraZeneca said, the vaccine appeared to be 90 percent effective. In the group that got two full doses, the vaccine appeared to be 62 percent effective. Combined, the drugmakers said the vaccine appeared to be 70 percent effective. But the way in which the results were arrived at and reported by the companies has led to pointed questions from experts.

The partial results announced Monday are from large ongoing studies in the UK and Brazil designed to determine the optimal dose of vaccine, as well as examine safety and effectiveness. Multiple combinations and doses were tried in the volunteers. They were compared to others who were given a meningitis vaccine or a saline shot.

Did researchers mean to give half dose? 

Before they begin their research, scientists spell out all the steps they are taking, and how they will analyze the results. Any deviation from that protocol can put the results in question.

In a statement Wednesday, Oxford University said some of the vials used in the trial didn’t have the right concentration of vaccine so some volunteers got a half dose. The university said that it discussed the problem with regulators, and agreed to complete the late-stage trial with two groups. The manufacturing problem has been corrected, according to the statement.

What about the results themselves? 

Experts say the relatively small number of people in the low dose group makes it difficult to know if the effectiveness seen in the group is real or a statistical quirk. Some 2,741 people received a half dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose, AstraZeneca said. A total of 8,895 people received two full doses.

Another factor: none of the people in the low-dose group were over 55 years old. Younger people tend to mount a stronger immune response than older people, so it could be that the youth of the participants in the low-dose group is why it looked more effective, not the size of the dose.

Another point of confusion comes from a decision to pool results from two groups of participants who received different dosing levels to reach an average 70 percent effectiveness, said David Salisbury, and associate fellow of the global health program at the Chatham House think tank.

“You’ve taken two studies for which different doses were used and come up with a composite that doesn’t represent either of the doses,″ he said of the figure. “I think many people are having trouble with that.″

Why would a smaller dose be more effective?

Oxford researchers say they aren’t certain and they are working to uncover the reason.

Sarah Gilbert, one of the Oxford scientists leading the research, said the answer is probably related to providing exactly the right amount of vaccine to trigger the best immune response.

“It’s the Goldilocks amount that you want, I think, not too little and not too much. Too much could give you a poor quality response as well,” she said. “So you want just the right amount and it’s a bit hit and miss when you’re trying to go quickly to get that perfect first time.”

What are the next steps? 

Details of the trial results will be published in medical journals and provided to UK regulators so they can decide whether to authorize the distribution of the vaccine. Those reports will include a detailed breakdown that includes demographic and other information about who got sick in each group and give a more complete picture of how effective the vaccine is.

Moncef Slaoui, who leads the US coronavirus vaccine program Operation Warp Speed, said Tuesday in a call with reporters that US officials are trying to determine what immune response the vaccine produced, and may decide to modify the AstraZeneca study in the US to include a half dose.

“But we want it to be based on data and science,” he said.

Game Developer Square Enix recently revealed that the next game in the Tomb Raider franchise will be Tomb Raider Reloaded. They took to Twitter to share a short teaser motion poster, alongside the caption, Lara blasts onto mobile in 2021! @TombRaider Reloaded is a free to play action arcade game made by Emerald City Games and published by Square Enix London Mobile, stay tuned for more news.”

 Tomb Raider Reloaded game teaser reveals details and confirms that it will launch in 2021

Tom Raider

According to a report by Pocket-Lint, since the game is described as an ‘action arcade game’, it means that it will not be like the endless runner Lara Croft: Relic Run or the puzzler Lara Croft Go that is currently available on Android and iOS.

The trailer, however, highlights some of the enemies that Lara Croft will be facing, which include giant spiders, a wolf, dinosaurs and rock monsters.

According to a report by CBR, the last Tomb Raider game to be released was Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018, which was a sequel to 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider and 2013’s Tomb Raider. The game follows protagonist Lara as she tries to find the ancient city of Paititi before the world gets destroyed by a Mayan apocalypse.

As per a report by Realsport101, since it is a mobile game, the graphics are more cartoony and kid-friendly than regular consoles. The report adds that there will surely be classic traps within the tombs as challenging puzzles for the gamer to solve to proceed. As for what is she after, the trailer briefly shows golden disks which could be the thing she is looking for.

Mindtree Limited and The Nordex Group partner to upscale their company’s digital transformation and growth plans respectively.

Mindtree Limited, an Indian multinational information technology and outsourcing company has united with wind turbine manufacturer, The Nordex Group, in a five-year deal on 23 November to simplify, modernise and transform its complete IT landscape globally. This deal will see Mindtree as The Nordex Group’s partner, providing scalability to support the company’s growth plan. Mindtree has been around since 1999 while The Nordex Group dates back even farther to 1985 and since its launch, it has installed wind power capacity of more than 30 GW in more than 40 markets.

“Demand for wind power will continue to grow globally and so will Nordex. Delivering to our expanding international customer base reliably and securely will require standardisation and simplification of our underlying systems. We will design a scalable digital architecture that enables us to deliver with speed and agility,” said Stefan Ewald, CIO Nordex Group.

To align the Nordex Group’s IT infrastructure with its strategic vision across the complete value chain, Mindtree will support the full stack transformation of its current IT operations and service delivery. “The scope includes the standardisation and roll out of new projects and operational processes, the consolidation of existing IT services, and the development of a future-ready cloud platform which maintains a robust cybersecurity posture,” said Venu Lambu, President, Global Markets, Mindtree.

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Even though PlayStation 5 is capable of supporting high refresh rate gaming, especially for PlayStation 4 games, it does not appear to be receiving updates for games as much as Xbox Series X.  According to Rocket League developer, PlayStation 5’s backward compatibility implementation is what is keeping it from running games at 120 fps. According to a report in Eurogamer, Call of Duty: Warzone, which comes up as a PS4 app when it is downloaded on PS5 does not boot in 120 Hz.

 Running backward compatible games on high refresh rates is not as easy on PS5 as on Xbox series X: Report

Xbox Series X

As per the report, while Activision declined to comment when contacted, it was initially speculated that Infinity Ward would have to create a full PS5 port of Warzone in order to enable 120fps on the console. Rocket League too was facing similar issues.

Developer Psyonix told the publication that implementing a high refresh rate in backward-compatible games is not as easy on PlayStation 5 as it is on Xbox Series X. While all it requires is a patch on Xbox Series X, it requires a fully native port to support 120fps gaming because of how Sony has implemented backward compatibility on its console.

Psyonix went on to add that the team’s main focus this year was free to play transition and updating major features like Tournaments system.

Due to this, they had to make tough decisions on what else could be achieved. Unfortunately, that was not possible due to their focus being elsewhere.

According to Digital Foundry chief Richard Leadbetter, at present Sony limits 120 Hz support to games specifically designed for PS5. He adds that Sony can fix the issue, but it would require quite a bit of work.

NODWIN Gaming, a leading South Asian esports company, has on Tuesday, 24 November, announced its first-ever Call of Duty Mobile tournament. The contest is called the Call of Duty Mobile India Challenge 2020 and has a prize pool of over Rs 7 lakhs. As per NODWIN Gaming, the registration for the tournament has started on 20 November. The matches will go live on NODWIN Gaming’s YouTube and Facebook pages. NODWIN Gaming also took to Twitter to urge CoD lovers to register for the tournament.

 Call of Duty Mobile Challenge 2020: Registration dates, prize pool, and everything else you need to know

“Looking for a Challenge to show your CoD Mobile skills? Lead your team to Victory in the Call of Duty Mobile India Challenge & you could win from a prize pool of INR 6,00,000! Registrations open for 5v5 & Battle Royale,” read the post.

NODWIN Gaming said that through Call of Duty India Challenge aims at building a robust ecosystem for the game and its community in the country.

Call of Duty Mobile is one of the much played Battle Royale title by Activision.

There will be a total of four cups for 5v5 and Battle Royale modes combined for a total prize pool of Rs 6,48,000. Winners of the cups for both the modes will head to the grand finals scheduled to take place on 28 December 2020.

Here is the direct link to register for the Call of Duty Mobile India Challenge – https://codm.nodwingaming.com/

Managing Director and Co-Founder of NODWIN Gaming Akshat Rathee said that Call of Duty mobile had its takers from day one and the number has been rising remarkably in India.

“Our mobile-first esports market grew diverse with its (CoD) arrival. A full-blown CODM tournament was long overdue, we heard the community and it eventually happened. We are glad to have made this move and I’m sure this will be a wonderful platform for the gamers to make a name for themselves,” Rathee said.

Most travelers these days use their phones to navigate. Perform a simple Google search on an address, and a detailed map with voice directions, nearby attractions, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and more is just a tap away. Still, there are companies that build additional features into mapping to try to stand apart from the reliable, but maybe not-so-sexy Google Maps. Wayze and Tripit are two examples, while Roadtrippers is still another. So is it worth adding Roadtrippers to your crowded app drawer? Maybe.

The major benefit of Roadtrippers is its friendly, easy-to-navigate interface. When opening the app, you can tap the “Nearby” button and you’ll be presented with large icons ranging from “Breakfast” to “Take a Walk.” Tap one of those and you’ll see what’s in your location in that category on a map. Tap further and you’ll get a description of the destination along with reviews and hours of operation, if available. In our tests, the app provided useful information just about 40 percent of the time. 

Once you have your destination chosen, you can choose to “Start Trip,” which will take you to your phone’s mapping app, or “Navigate,” which leads to a screen asking you to download Roadtripper’s beta turn-by-turn navigation system. We can’t imagine why you’d do that when your native mapping app should be just fine.

Where Roadtrippers really shines is through the use of its “Start A Trip” function. Here you simply enter a destination and choose which attractions you’d like to highlight along your route. You can choose to focus on pretty much anything you’d find on a road trip from national parks to nightlife. You can add and remove different categories to suit the focus of your trip, and the “nearby” function is still available to show you what’s in your immediate area as you drive.

Roadtripper allows you to add up to seven destinations along your route in the free version; any more than that and you’ll need to upgrade to Roadtrippers Plus, which costs $29.99 per year. 

Another standout feature of Roadtrippers is the free guide section. These are articles built around a theme such as “48 Hours in New York City,” or “007’s America.” They can help you plan a unique vacation or you can just enjoy them as fun armchair travel adventures.

Roadtrippers is available online and as an iOS and Android app.

Download The Roadtrippers App Here

The government on Tuesday blocked access to 43 more Chinese mobile apps, including Alibaba Workbench, AliExpress, Alipay Cashier, CamCard and WeDate, for being prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of the nation. The Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued the order for blocking the access of these apps by users in India based on the comprehensive reports received from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs, an official release said. Sources, meanwhile, said these apps have Chinese links.

 AliExpress, CamCard, WeDate and 40 other Chinese apps banned in India for being prejudicial to the countrys integrity

Image: Pixabay

Earlier on 29 June, the government had blocked access to 59 mobile apps including WeChat, TikTok, UC Browser, and more and on 2 September 2020, another 118 apps were banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act. These apps also included much popular game PUBG Mobile app.

These apps were also banned because they were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

“Government of India today issued an order under section 69A of the Information Technology Act blocking access to 43 mobile apps. This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” the release said.

The blocked apps include Alibaba Workbench, AliExpress, Alipay Cashier, CamCard and WeDate.

With inputs from PTI

There are almost as many travel apps out there as there are travel destinations. In general, they all do some things well, and some things not so well. WikiCamps is certainly in the same, erm, camp. With a focus on – you guessed it – camping, the app can help you find nearby places to pitch your tent, park your RV, or take in some local sites. And while it can certainly be helpful, the app also suffers from so not-so-great features that might make it not worth paying to own it.

Like many apps, WikiCamps comes with a 14-day free trial. After that, it costs a one-time payment of $1.99 for lifetime access. The free trial period is well worth it because you can try out different destinations to see just how well it will work for you. Many users report a lack of data on local attractions and campsites, while our tests were data rich, so it might just depend on where you’re looking. It seems WikiCamps has a strong following in Australia, so the crowd-sourced information it relies on might just take some time to fill in around the rest of the world.

Beyond the actual data it contains (or doesn’t contain), WikiCamps has a wealth of smart features. Tap the hamburger button in the top-left of the screen, and you’re presented with a list of nearby attractions, campgrounds, hotels and more. Or you can enter a destination to see what might be in the area where you intend to travel.

Tap on any one attraction and, if available, you’ll find contact details, photos, web links, user ratings and a mapping button that lets you load directions into your favorite mapping app such as Wayze, Google Maps or TomTom Go. You also get a week-long weather forecast for the site. Plus, because this is a Wiki built by members, you can edit the site if you notice that something is wrong or if you want to add additional information or photos, and you can also leave and read reviews from other users.

A filter button lets you sort sites according to what you’re looking for and helps clear the clutter. You can for example, switch the toggles to include only free campgrounds that accept pets and have water facilities. You can see results either on the map or the list. One unfortunate thing is that the app seems to use Google Maps, so you wind up seeing all of the destinations that Google provides, but they aren’t all clickable so things can get a bit confusing. 

Another nice aspect of WikiCamps is the ability to download offline data on a state-by-state basis, so you can access sites even in remote areas where you might not be able to get online. Also, there is a travel forum where you can ask others any questions you might have about destinations.

While the app offers a trip-planning function, we found it difficult and confusing to use. You can search on your destination, but there seems to be no easy way to indicate that you want to add it as the end point in your trip. Instead, you can try to build a trip by tapping on sites and tapping “Add To Planner,” but it’s a cumbersome way to go about things. 

Because WikiTrips is built by the community, it can be hit or miss in terms of the information it provides. Some spots have lots of entries, while others are fairly bare. And the Trip Planner doesn’t seem to have much utility. But, for just $1.99 it might be a worthwhile tool to add to a frequent-camper’s resources, and it’s certainly worth taking the two-week free trial out for a spin.

Download WikiCamps Here

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