Xbox One X review: Grab an Xbox One X with six free games NOW

Already suffering from January blues? Well, Tesco has just the ticket to turn that frown upside down, with an excellent Xbox One X deal.

That's right, head on over to Tesco's website and you can purchase an Xbox One X for £449, and add up to six free games to your order. The free games on offer? That'll be Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Halo 5, Overwatch, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, call of Duty: WWII and Assassins Creed Origins. That's six Xbox One X games at no extra cost.

Microsoft Xbox One X review:

Before I get onto that, though, let me first outline the console’s key features. The Xbox One X is Microsoft’s first proper 4K games console. It will sit alongside the Xbox One S, which also has a 4K Blu-ray drive for UHD movie playback, but can only play games at 1080p resolution.

In terms of the UI and what you can do with the console, the Microsoft Xbox One X is pretty much identical to the One S; yes, it looks a little different, but switch it on and you’ll forget all about that. The key difference is more power under the hood, plus support for gaming at 4K and HDR, which means sharper graphics, frame rates and a richer colour palette.

To enable all that, there’s more power squeezed inside the Xbox One X than any other games console around, with a quoted 6TFLOPS of computing power – compared with the PS4 Pro’s 4.2TFLOPS – 12GB of GDDR5 RAM with 326MB/sec of bandwidth, 8GB of flash storage plus a 1TB internal hard disk.

Microsoft Xbox One X review: Design and the hardware:

The Xbox One X is a masterpiece of design. It doesn’t look flashy or even particularly exciting, but it’s compact – around the same size as the One S – it’s quiet and has all the connectivity you’d expect.

The front and left side is stepped with a short overhang obscuring the Blu-ray drive slot on the left side, there’s a front-mounted USB 3 socket and two further on the rear, plus a pair of HDMI sockets - one is for connecting your set-top box; while the other is an HDMI 2.0 output for connecting the console to your TV. The optical S/PDIF port makes another appearance, which gives plenty of flexibility to those preferring that type of output, or who have a wireless headphone like the Steelseries Siberia 800 connected.

The box itself supports HDR10, which is the most common form of HDR. It would have been nice to have Dolby Vision as well, which supports higher peak brightness and dynamic range than HDR10, but for now the Xbox One X covers most of the HDR-enabled TV’s on the market. Assuming you have a compatible TV, like the Samsung UE65KS9500 I tested the Xbox One X with, you’ll see both richer colours and brighter specular highlights.

Microsoft also promotes the console’s ability to support Dolby Atmos on its website, which is very much a GOOD THING. It’s worth underlining, though, that this is not only for 4K Blu-rays and streamed TV and movie content, but also those enhanced games (more on that later).

One thing the Xbox One X doesn’t bring is any kind of improvement on the controller front; in fact, you get exactly the same Bluetooth-enabled controller in the box as comes with the Xbox One S. It’s a great controller, but it would have been nice to see some features trickling down from the Xbox Elite controller, such as rear-mounted paddles or a rechargeable battery pack as standard.

Microsoft Xbox One X review: 4K performance and games content

And so to the elephant in the room: 4K games, how they look and how they play. The answer to the second part of that question is “exceptionally”. Play Gears of War 4, Super Lucky’s Tale, Forza Motorsport 7 or FIFA 18 side by side with the same titles on a One S and the differences are obvious.

Before I go on, though, it’s important to note that not all enhanced games will run in native 4K. Some will run with checkerboarding like the PS4 Pro and some will offer enhanced frame rates while others will use the power of the new console to offer dynamic resolution, increased texture detail and higher polygon counts. Some, of course, will do all of these things and look stunning – the point is, not all will.

In the end, it’s up to the developer to decide how to optimise for the One X, but all the games I’ve installed so far play more smoothly, look more colourful and pack cleaner, crisper and sharper visuals across the board on the One X. When you go back to the same games on the One S you’ll wonder where all the detail went and you'll certainly notice the frame rates are less smooth.

As far as Blu-ray video content goes, it looks just as good as it ever did on the Xbox One S with settings for 8-bit, 10-bit and 12-bit output, depending on what your TV supports.

As with all 4K content, however, there is a catch. And that is that is that, although the smoother gameplay and colours are obvious from any distance, as soon as you sit a reasonable distance away from your TV the extra detail that 4K brings just fades away. Everything looks great sitting in my Ikea armchair a metre away from my 55in Hisense M7000, but as soon as I go to sit on the sofa and play, those differences become less apparent.

The other issue for Microsoft is that the number of fully 4K-optimised games available at launch isn’t all that great. At launch, Microsoft’s first-party games support is fronted by Forza Motorsport 7, which it has to be said, does look utterly gorgeous, but the rest of the first-party 4K titles leave a little to be desired, with only Disneyland Adventures, Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure, Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection, Super Lucky’s Tale, Killer Instinct, Gears of War 4, Halo 5 Guardians, Halo 3 and Halo Wars 2 among the list.

On the third-party front, only a light scattering of AAA titles is ready for day one. FIFA 18 is the headliner here, and it stars alongside Assassin’s Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII in 4K and Rise of the Tomb Raider.

And, it must be noted that that the same was true of Sony’s 4K library when the PS4 Pro launched but  Sony does have a year’s head start, so there’s a much larger current selection of games than is available for the Xbox One X right now.

Still, as more developers begin to release patches for existing games, the landscape should change soon; in fact we expect as the console goes on sale from midnight on 7 November a whole slew of games should become available. And, since Microsoft states there are 130 titles confirmed as “Xbox One X Enhanced”, there will be plenty available to play by Christmas 2017 and throughout 2018. You can keep tabs on those on Microsoft’s website.

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Samsung Exynos 5 Series 7872 SoC With Bluetooth 5.0, Iris Sensor Launched

Samsung has announced the new Exynos 5 7872 SoC that will power some of the upcoming mid-range smartphones in 2018. The new SoC is part of the mid-range Exynos 5 series. The first smartphone to be equipped with an Exynos 5 7872 SOC is the Meizu M6s, which was launched on Wednesday. The launch was not the first time Samsung had partnered with Meizu, with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer launching the Meizu Pro 6 Pluswith a Exynos 8890 SoC in 2016, apart fromthe Meizu Pro 5 in 2015 with a Samsung Exynos 7420 SoC,

Built on a 14nm FinFET process the Exynos 5 7872 features a hexa-core CPU consisting two Cortex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. Samsung claims the single core performance has been increased by two folds when compared to its predecessor. With the new SoC, Samsung has stated the desire to bring mid-range smartphones closer to the premium end of the Android smartphone spectrum. Samsung has listed out the specifications of the Exynos 5 series 7872 SoC on its own official blog.

As mentioned, the Exynos 7872 SoC contains six cores: two Cortex-A73 CPUs clocked at 2GHz and four Cortex-A53 CPUs clocked at 1.6GHz. Additionally, it comes with a Mali-G71MP1 graphics processing unit and an LTE Cat.7 modem with 300Mbps download and 150Mbps upload speeds. A major USP of the Exynos 7872 SoC is that Samsung has added support for an iris scanner camera sensor. This essentially means that we can expect mid-range handsets feature this security feature soon.

Samsung has not introduced any special provisions for a dual-camera support but the SoC does come with support for 21.7-megapixel front and rear cameras. The Exynos 7872 also features an improved Image Signal Processor and Multi-Format Codec. It is the ISP that enables smartphones to feature an iris camera sensor up to 8MP. It also embeds a hardware block for Smart WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) that generates a WDR image with just a single shot, Samsung says. The SoC does not have 2160p video capturing capability, but smartphones powered by Exynos 5 will be capable of full HD 120fps encoding and decoding. Meanwhile, the maximum screen resolution is 1,920x1,200 pixels.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11n dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0, CDMA, GSM, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, LTE-FDD, and LTE-TDD. Meanwhile, sensors include GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo. Storage and memory options include LPDDR3 for RAM, eMMC 5.1 for built-in storage and the SD 3.0 standard for expandable memory.

Apart from Meizu, which has several other Exynos-powered smartphones, Samsung has sold its Exynos processors to other OEMs as well, including Lenovo, which used them in its LePhone K860i and LePhone K860 smartphones.

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Android Bug Hunter Awarded Over $100,000 for Exposing Security Flaw in Google Pixel

Google has awarded $112,500 to a security researcher for exposing a security flaw in Google Pixel smartphones. Guang Gong, in August 2017 submitted an exploit chain through the Android Security Rewards (ASR) programme. It was the first working remote exploit chain since the search giant has expanded the ASR program. Gong was awarded $105,000, which Google claims is the highest reward in the ASR programme's history. Additionally, she was awarded $7,500 under the Chrome Rewards program as well.

The technical details of the exploit were revealed by Google on its Android Developer's blog on Wednesday. The search giant thanked Gong, who is from Alpha Team, Qihoo 360 Technology, and the entire researcher community for finding and responsibly reporting security vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Google said the complete set of issues was resolved as part of the December 2017 monthly security update, which patched a total of 42 bugs.

The exploit chain covers two bugs - CVE-2017-5116 and CVE-2017-14904. While the first one is a V8 engine bug that is used to get remote code execution in sandboxed Chrome render process the latter is is a bug in Android's libgralloc module that is used to escape from Chrome's sandbox. Google says this exploit chain can be used to inject arbitrary code into system_server by accessing a malicious URL in Chrome.

Google, through the Android Security Rewards programme, recognises the contributions of security researchers working on Android's security features. As of October 2017, the smartphones covered under the program include Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, and Google Pixel C.

In June 2017, Google had increased the ASR payout rewards for remote exploit chain or exploits leading to TrustZone or Verified Boot compromise from $50,000 to $200,000.Through this program, Google has awarded researchers over $1.5 million to date, with the top research team earning $300,000 for 118 vulnerability reports.

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Xiaomi to Have Presence at MWC 2018, Mi 7 Launch Expected

Alongside some long-standing exhibitors such as Samsung and Sony, Xiaomi is joining the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. There are speculations that the Chinese smartphone maker will launch the Mi 7 as its next flagship at the forthcoming MWC, which is happening between February 26 and March 1. Notably, the company skipped the last year's MWC but came to the MWC 2016 to preview the globally-focused Mi 5.

The official Mobile World Congress site confirms Xiaomi as one of the exhibitors at MWC 2018. The Shenzhen-based company will host its offerings at Stand 6B30 in Hall 6. However, it is unclear whether the offerings would include some new models or just the old launches. There are rumours that the company will bring the anticipated Mi 7 at the exhibition to grab some attention from what companies like Samsung, Sony, and Lenovo-owned Motorola are set to showcase at the venue.

Last month, Xiaomi at the second annual Snapdragon Technology Summit in Hawaii announced that the Mi 7 will be the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 SoC. "Xiaomi is committed to making devices that combine cutting-edge innovations in technology and beautiful design while defying price expectations, and we have chosen Snapdragon 845 to power our next flagship smartphone," Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun had said while announcing a close relationship with Qualcomm.

Apart from the Snapdragon 845 SoC, the Xiaomi Mi 7 is rumoured to sport a proprietary face unlock feature and abandon the traditional fingerprint scanner. Unlike software-based face unlocking functionality that is widely available in the current market, the Mi 7 is said to have a 3D face sensing technology to map users' faces to unlock the screen. This would be similar to what Apple designed for its Face ID feature that is so far exclusive to the iPhone X.

There are also reports that are claiming the presence of a 6-inch bezel-less 18:9 OLED display on the Xiaomi Mi 7. Further, the smartphone is likely to come with a dual rear camera setup. It will come as an upgrade to the Mi 6 that was debuted with a 5.15-inch LCD display.
The launch of the Xiaomi Mi 7 at the MWC is expected to accompany the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, Moto X5, Sony Xperia XZ Pro, and the LG Icon.

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OnePlus 5T Sandstone White Variant Sold Out, Removed From Website Within Two Hours of Launch

OnePlus recently launched the Sandstone White variant of its latest OnePlus 5T, only in the US, Canada, and China. But it seems like excitement for OnePlus fans was extremely short-lived as the smartphone was sold out in about two hours of release. Add to that, the variant has also been removed OnePlus' website entirely, except on the portal for China. Some reports suggest that the variant might not make a comeback anytime soon. An India launch has not yet been announced by the company.

As we mentioned, OnePlus took to Twitter to announce that the Sandstone White variant of the OnePlus 5T had sold out in less than two hours of its availability. According to a report by Android Police, OnePlus has confirmed that the variant has been "completely sold out in North America" and removed from the website entirely.

The Sandstone White variant was announced earlier this month. It looks a lot like the Star Wars limited edition variant, albeit without the branding and custom wallpaper, and features the 'sandstone' finish that the company made famous with the launch of the OnePlus One. If you were hoping to buy the Sandstone White variant of the OnePlus 5T, it looks like you're out of luck, unless you buy the model from China where it is still listed. There's no telling how long those stocks will last.

Recently, OnePlus was involved in a situation wherein customers reported fraud transactions on their credit cards. The transactions were reported by users who made purchases on the official OnePlus website. OnePlus said that it is currently investigating the matter.

The company also announced the launch of a new Lava Red OnePlus 5T variant in India last week. The variant uses anodic oxidation processes and AF coating to maintain a consistent texture.
Just to briefly recap, the OnePlus 5T sports a 6.01-inch full-HD+ (1080x2160 pixels) Full Optic AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, paired with 6/ 8GB of RAM and 128 inbuilt storage.

Features of the phone include a 16-megapixel + 20-megapixel rear dual camera setup, Face Unlock, and Dash Charge support.

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Bitcoin Falls Below $10,000, Half Its Peak, Before Rebounding Slightly

Bitcoin fell as much as 20 percent on Wednesday, piercing below $10,000 , while other cryptocurrencies took similar spills due to investor fears that regulators could clamp down on them in an effort to curb speculation. The cryptocurrency has rebounded slightly, however, and as of 10:05am IST on Thursday it was up to $11,505
.
The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency at one point lost 30 percent of its value since Tuesday. Bitcoin, despite some stabilization in late US trading, was half its record peak of almost $20,000 set on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange a month ago.

Ethereum and Ripple, the No. 2 and No. 3 virtual currencies, tumbled after reports South Korea and China could ban cryptocurrency trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.
"There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling to try and get the hell out of there," said Charles Hayter, founder of Cryptocompare, which owns cryptocurrencies.

"You have more regulatory uncertainty ... and because of these falls, you have these other fallouts," he said, referring to the collapse of some cryptocurrencies in the recent slump in prices.

Analysts at Citi said on Wednesday Bitcoin could halve again in value amid the current rout, adding that a possible fall to a range between $5,605 and $5,673  "looks very likely to be very speedy".

With South Korea, Japan and China all making noises about a regulatory swoop, and officials in France and the United States vowing to investigate cryptocurrencies, there are concerns that global coordination on how to regulate them will accelerate.

Officials are expected to debate the rise of Bitcoin at the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina in March.
"Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of the G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations," said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

Reversal of fortunes
The current rout in Bitcoin and other digital currencies was a far cry from their dramatic run-up in 2017 when mainstream investors jumped on the bandwagon and as an explosion in so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) - digital, token-based fundraising rounds - drove demand.
"Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn," said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.
Bitcoin has plummeted before.

There have been nine instances including the current selloff going back to 2011 where Bitcoin's price was halved on the Bitstamp exchange. The last time was from November 2014 to January 2015.
On Wednesday, Bitcoin fell as low as $9,222 (roughly Rs. 5.88 lakhs) on Bitstamp, its lowest price since December 1, as CBOE and CME Bitcoin futures tumbled to contract lows.
The latest market losses stemmed from reports that South Korea's finance minister said banning trading in cryptocurrencies is still an option and that Seoul plans a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.
"My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon Bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them," Englander said.

Bubble burst?
While many observers say the recent falls show that the bubble has burst, those backing the nascent markets say that regulation is welcomed and wild price swings to be expected.
"The volatility of Bitcoin - and other cryptocurrencies - is an expected, and important, part of the journey to becoming a mature asset class. We expect the volatility to continue throughout 2018 but fundamentally believe that Bitcoin is still in a bull market," said Christopher Keshian, co-founder of $APEX Token Fund.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was down 15 percent since Tuesday, according to website CoinMarketCap.
Ripple, the third-biggest, has lost 18 percent of its value over the past 24 hours and was quoted at $1.03, down (Rs. 65.7) from a high of $3.81 (Rs. 243.2) on January 4.

"The run-up in Bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken, but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand," Englander wrote in a research note. "This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics."

© Thomson Reuters 2018

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Google Expands Further Into China, Opens Shenzhen Office

After opening a research lab focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in China - its first such centre in Asia - Google is said to have opened another office in the country.

According to a report in TechCrunch on Wednesday, the new workspace for Googlers is in Shenzhen - a city that is home to Tencent, Huawei, and ZTE.

"We have many important clients and partners in Shenzhen. We're setting up this e-suite office to be able to communicate and work with them better," a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.
The Shenzhen office is likely to be used by teams that already spend a lot of time in the city.

Separately, last month, Google had announced it would open the Google AI China Center in Beijing. Focused on basic AI research, the new Google lab will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by the company's engineering teams.

Google AI China Center will publish its own work, support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops and work closely with the AI research community.

"I am excited to launch the Google AI China Center, our first such in Asia, at our 'Google Developer Days' event in Shanghai. This Center joins other AI research groups we have all over the world," Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist, Google Cloud AI and Machine Learning, wrote in a blog post.

The tech giant has many employees in China who work on its international services. However, its search engine is blocked in the country.

Written with inputs from IANS

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WhatsApp for iPhone Gets YouTube Integration, Comes With PiP Feature

WhatsApp's YouTube integration feature is finally available for iPhone users. The Facebook-owned messaging app has been planning to bring YouTube support to its chat interface for a long time now. Now, iPhone users have the access to the new feature that enables users to view YouTube videos right within a chat. In order to get the new YouTube PiP (Picture-in-Picture) support feature, users need to download the latest version v2.18.11 of WhatsApp for iPhone from the App Store.

With the new YouTube support, iOS users can now tap on a YouTube link to open up a YouTube video in the app itself. WABetaInfo first spotted the new feature on the WhatsApp app. When we tested the feature, we found that instead of starting the YouTube app, the video now pops up in a small bubble. It comes with play/pause, close, and fullscreen buttons. Earlier, when users clicked on the link, the YouTube video would open in YouTube app installed on smartphones. Meanwhile, users also have the option of increasing and decreasing the size of the video bubble. The bubble can also be moved anywhere on the screen. However, when we moved the video window around, it either settled on the top of the screen or at the bottom.

The new WhatsApp for iPhone update comes with a new feature, where the YouTube video continues to play even after a user exits the chat. The video continues to play even when a user switches to another chat. In order to play a YouTube video on WhatsApp, simply receive its URL in a chat and click on it to get the video bubble.

Interestingly, the YouTube bubble appears only when a user receives a video. So, if a user shares a video with a contact, they themselves cannot watch it within the app.

Notably, the YouTube video streaming feature for currently available only for the WhatsApp for iOS app. It remains to be seen when Android users will receive the update.

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Meizu M6s With 18:9 Display, Super mBack Button Launched:Price,Specifications,Features

Meizu M6s is the company's first smartphone to be launched in 2018, and made its splash on Wednesday. The major USPs of the Meizu M6s are an 18:9 display, an Exynos processor, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Meizo M6s also introduces the Super mBack feature, integrated onto the new Halo pressure sensitive button built into the display. In China, the smartphone has been introduced as Meizu S6 (aka Charm Blue S6).

Meizu M6s price:

The Meizu M6s has been announced in two variants in China. The Meizu M6S price starts at CNY 999  for the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage model and goes up to CNY 1,199  for the 3GB RAM/ 64GB storage model. The two storage variants launched in China will be made available in Champagne Gold, Matte Black, Moon Silver, and Cobalt Blue colour variants. The smartphone is already up for registrations, and goes on sale from 10am on Friday, January 19 via Lynx, Suning, and Jingdong, before being made available via the Meizu Store on Saturday, January 20, and offline retailers soon after.

Meizu M6s specifications:

The dual-SIM Meizu M6s runs Android 7.1.2 Nougat with Flyme OS 6.2 on top. The smartphone sports a 5.7-inch (1440 ~CHECK~ 720 pixels) HD+ 2.5D curved glass in-cell display. The screen boasts of 450 nits brightness, wide viewing angles and 1000:1 contrast ratio. The smartphone is powered by a hexa-core (two Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.6GHz) Samsung Exynos 7872 SoC with Mali-G71 GPU coupled with 3GB RAM. Meizu claims it is the first-ever device to come with the 14nm Samsung Exynos 7872 SoC.

The Meizu M6s features the Super mBack or Halo button to navigate the phone. The button includes the features of the older-generation mBack button with the help of a small halo on the screen. The company is touting the use of a pressure sensor display to enable all the gesture support. The mTouch fingerprint scanner on the Meizu M6s is positioned on the right side of the handset, on the power button.

In the camera department, the Meizu M6s features a rear camera with 16-megapixel Samsung CMOS lens with f/2.0 aperture and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture and 'adaptive beauty technology, also called as ArcSoft Beauty Algorithm Adaptive Skinning Technology. The rear camera also comes with a dual-tone LED flash, 5P lens, and CMOS sensor.

As we mentioned, there are two inbuilt storage variants available for the Meizu M6s - 32GB and 64GB. Connectivity options on the Meizu M6s include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.2. Sensors on board include accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, digital compass, and proximity (infrared) sensor. The Meizu bears a 3000mAh battery. It measures 152x72.5x8mm (height x width x thickness) and weigh 160 grams.

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Google Maps Go Beta Programme Goes Live on Play Store: Here's What the App Can and Can't Do

More than a month after its formal launch, Google Maps Go has reached got a beta programme on Play Store. The new beta programme allows users to test some of the upcoming features of the app - follow this link to sign up for the Google Maps Go beta programme. To recall, Google Maps Go app is designed as a lightweight version of the original Google Maps app. Similar to many other memory-efficient apps, the Google Maps Go app misses many great features of the Google Maps app. Therefore, here's what all the things you can do with Google Maps Go and what can't do.

The prime aim of the Google Maps Go app is to "run smoothly on devices with limited memory and on unreliable networks", and will be the primary offering for Android Oreo (Go edition) - aka Android Go - devices. It is just 0.09MB in size, and is a Progressive Web App that runs off the user's Chrome browser on Android devices. The app provides quick directions and map details with a single tap. Similarly, it offers real-time traffic information as well as lets users view live city transit schedules to take a bus or train for their journey. There is transit information for around 7,000 agencies, more than 3.8 million stations, and for 20,000 towns and cities. Google has also provided options to discover and explore new places, search and find local restaurants, businesses, and other nearby places, and even view reviews, ratings, and food images.

Additionally, the Google Maps Go app allows users to find the phone number and address of a place or save an often visited place to quickly find it later. Google affirms that there is detailed business information for over 100 million places. Moreover, the app is available in more than 70 languages.

Despite all these great features, the Google Maps Go has some limitations as well - especially, if we compare it with the original Google Maps app. The lighter version doesn't support turn-by-turn GPS navigation, which is one of the major features of the Google Maps app. Likewise, if you've installed the Maps Go app, you won't be able to share your real-time location with your contacts, download offline apps, add reviews, ratings, and photos for your favourite places, and set home and work addresses. The app also doesn't allow you to report any data problems, edit information about an already saved place, measure the distance between multiple places, or add private labels to places.

Having said that, if you still want to check all the new features of the Google Maps Go app, you can participate in the beta testing programme. You can become a tester, by giving your consent on the Android App Testing page on Google Play and then install the app from the Play Store. Notably, now that the beta programme is available, the app is now also listed on APK Mirror - so users that don't have access to the app via Google Play can sideload it now. The beta programme was first spotted by Android Police.

It is worth noting here that you can anytime leave the testing programme and switch to the public version of the Google Maps Go app by uninstalling the testing version and then install the public version for the Play Store. The transition process would take a few hours, and the public version will be available for download on your Google Play once the process is completed.

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Google, Coursera Launch New Programme for Entry-Level IT Jobs

Tech giant Google and online education leader Coursera today announced the launch of a certificate course aimed at filling entry-level IT support jobs globally.
The Google IT Support Professional Certificate, developed by subject-matter experts at Google and offered exclusively on Coursera, will help anyone with no prior experience to be ready for an entry-level IT support job in 8 to 12 months.

The programme will allow learners to share their information with a host of top companies looking to hire entry-level support professionals, including Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, PNC Bank, Infosys, TEKSystems, UPMC, and, of course, Google.
"Finding qualified IT personnel is a challenge many companies face. With 150,000 open roles in IT support, it is one of the fastest growing occupations in the country," said Ben Fried, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Google.

Fried further said, "We developed this curriculum to address this problem head-on. We are looking forward to working with Coursera, our non-profit grantees and participating corporations to create opportunities for thousands of learners."

According to an HBS study on jobs that require training but not a formal degree, IT support offers clear pathways that enable people without a college degree to rise to higher-level positions.
"Our collaboration with Google and top employers is designed to provide anyone, regardless of their prior experience or training, with the resources they need to succeed as IT professionals" said Raghav Gupta, India Country Director, Coursera.

Registrations for the programme opens on January 16 and all courses will launch on January 23.

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iPhone Slowdowns : Chinese Consumer Group Latest to Question Apple

Despite apologising for slowing down iPhone models with ageing batteries and offering a new battery replacement programme, Apple continues to face questions regarding the issue. Now, a Chinese consumer group has reportedly asked the company for more information regarding slowing down older iPhones and has demanded an answer before this Friday. From consumers groups like these to government authorities worldwide, complaints, investigations, and lawsuits over the iPhone slowdown have mired Apple since the issue came to light.

As per a Xinhua report, the Shanghai Consumer Council is the latest organisation to question Apple over the issue. It has sent an inquiry letter to the Cupertino giant over the slowdown of older iPhones with ageing batteries. The council has reportedly demanded the cause of the performance as well as remedial measures taken to resolve it. The report says that the council has received 2,615 complaints on Apple products and services last year, compared to 964 complaints in 2015.

Apple had recently apologised for slowing down iPhone models and offered a new battery replacement programme. In a post on December 28, Apple had apologised over its handling of the battery issue and said it would make several changes. Under the new offer, Apple had reduced the price of a replacement for out-of-warranty batteries (in iPhone 6 or later) from $79 to $29. "We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down," Apple said in its posting. "We apologise."

In December last year, Apple had acknowledged that iPhone software has the effect of slowing down some phones with battery problems. The company had said the problem was ageing lithium batteries delivering power unevenly, which caused iPhone handsets to shutdown unexpectedly to protect the delicate circuits inside. However, Apple had denied that it had ever done anything to intentionally shorten the life of a product.
Apple has been facing several lawsuits regarding the issue, all around the world. According to a report, there has been at least 30 separate iPhone slowdown class actions lawsuits against the company, in the US itself. This is on top of government investigations that Apple faces in some countries. Another reportsays cases have been filed in Israel, France, and Korea as well.

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Bitcoin Price Drops 18 Percent Over Fears of Ban in South Korea

Bitcoin tumbled 18 percent on Tuesday to a four-week trough close to $11,000, after reports that a ban on trading of cryptocurrencies in South Korea was still an option drove fears grew of a wider regulatory crackdown. Bitcoin's slide triggered a massive selloff across the broader cryptocurrency market, with biggest rival Ethereum down 23 percent on the day, according to trade website Coinmarketcap, and the next-biggest, Ripple, plunging 33 percent.

South Korean news website Yonhap reported that Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon had told a local radio station that the government would be coming up with a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

South Korea had said on Monday that its plans to ban virtual coin exchanges had not yet been finalised, as government agencies were still in talks to decide how to regulate the market.

Bitcoin slid on the latest news, trading as low as $11,191.59 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, down 18 percent on the day, for a short period putting the digital currency on track for its biggest one-day fall in three years.

"It's mainly been regulatory issues which are haunting the cryptocurrency, with news around South Korea's further crackdown on trading the driver today," said Think Markets chief strategist Naeem Aslam, who holds what he described as "substantial" amounts of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

"But we maintain our stance. We do not think that the complete banning of cryptocurrencies is possible," he said.

Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a bumper year in 2017 as mainstream investors entered the market and as an explosion in so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) - digital token-based fundraising rounds - drove demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum, the second-biggest digital unit.

The latest tumble leaves Bitcoin down more than 40 percent from the record high around $20,000 it hit in mid-December, wiping about $130 billion off its "market cap" - the unit price multiplied by the total number of Bitcoins that have been released into the market.

The news from South Korea came as it emerged a senior Chinese central banker had said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services, according to an internal memo from a government meeting seen by Reuters.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Chinese authorities plan to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralised trading.

"(It) seems like it's uncertainty spooking the markets ... with regulations unclear," said Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare. "(Traders) are taking profits on the increased risk scenarios going forward."

A director at Germany's central bank said on Monday that any attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies must be on a global scale as national or regional rules would be hard to enforce on a virtual, borderless community.

By 1000 GMT Bitcoin was trading down 16 percent on the day at around $11,500 on Bitstamp.

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'AdultSwine' Android malware exposes 'millions' of children to porn

A NEW STRAIN of Android malware dubbed 'AdultSwine' infiltrated more than 60 apps and exposed potentially 'millions' of children to pornographic material.

AdultSwine was first uncovered by researchers at Check Point security, who claim that the threat's malicious code had hidden inside around 60 apps in the Google Play Store. These apps have been downloaded onto as many as seven million Android devices, according to the researchers, and a number were targeted squarely at children.

This is especially bad news at AdultSwine, once installed on a device, would display adverts from the web that were often highly inappropriate and pornographic.

"As for the ads being displayed, they come from two main sources; the first is that of the main ad providers, which forbid such illegitimate display of their ads," Check Point said.

"The second is the malicious code's own ad library, which contains ads of an offensive nature, including pornographic ads. All these are displayed to children while playing the game that the app is masquerading as."

As well as throwing up explicit content, AdultSwine also attempted to trick users into downloading other apps, including dodgy 'security' apps that, ironically, promised to help protect the device against malicious content. The malware did so by displaying advertisements in the victim's web browser that claimed the device was infected or prompted them to download an app to remove a virus.

AdultSwine also attempted to get the user to sign up for premium services, such as text messaging scams, which would charge the victim and generate profit for the attackers.

While many of the infected apps were relatively obscure, Check Point notes that a handful of them were popular. A game called 'Five Nights Survival Craft', for example, had as many as five million downloads, while a kid-focused app called 'Mcqueen Car Racing Game' had been downloaded one million times. A full list of infected apps can be viewed on the Check Point blog.

However, you needn't worry too much, as Google said in a statement that it has removed the infected apps from the Play Store and disabled the developers' accounts. 

"We appreciate Check Point's work to help keep users safe," a Google spokesperson added.

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Hackers Steal 'Stellar' Cryptocurrency Worth $400,000

Hackers broke into the digital wallet provider BlackWallet and stole its 'Stellar' cryptocurrency worth $400,000 (roughly Rs. 2.5 crores), the media reported. According to CNN, an unidentified group hijacked the server that hosts BlackWallet and stores the virtual currency.

"In a statement sent out by its founder, open source online Stellar wallet BlackWallet has claimed to have been hacked," CNN reported late on Monday.

The attack apparently was a phishing attack aimed at the BlackWallet's hosting provider.

"Posting on Reddit, user 'orbit84' posted that a hacker gained access to his hosting provider account and changed the DNS settings to his own hosted version of BlackWallet. The attackers' wallet, which the author posted a link to, appears to have amassed around $400,000 worth of cryptocurrency Stellar," the report added.

BlackWallet tried to warn users about the attack via forums. However, many users continued to log in and lose money, according to tech news site Bleeping Computer.

The hackers have reportedly moved the money to Bittrex - a virtual currency exchange, where they are likely to convert it into another digital currency to hide their tracks.

Earlier this month, Marko Kobal - the co-founder of Slovenian Cryptocurrency mining market NiceHash that suffered a hack in December - stepped down as the company's CEO. The loss was about 4,736.42 Bitcoins, worth more than $60 million. Cryptocurrencies have been gaining interesting over the past few years, and became a topic of discussion for people across the world when Bitcoin's valued soared to nearly $20,000 late last year.

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