Xiaomi's new Redmi Note 4 promises 25% longer battery life

During a launch event in India, Xiaomi showed off their new budget smartphone dubbed the Redmi Note 4. This device is the spiritual successor to last year's Redmi Note 3 which sold millions in both India and China. The new Redmi Note 4 builds upon last year's success with a a new software package based on Android 7.0 Nougat.

Additionally, the device support VoLTE and Xiaomi has included a massive 4,100mAh battery with the Redmi Note 4 and they are promising battery life up to 2 days with the phone. Beyond that, the design of the Redmi Note 4 is still the same unibody aluminium build but the company has tuned the design to include tapered edges for a better feel in the hand.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Key Specifications

— 5.5-inch 1080P IPS LCD display
— Snapdragon 625 SoC
— 2/3/4GB RAM
— 32/64GB expandable memory
— 13MP f2.0 rear camera
— 5MP f2.0 front camera
— 4,100mAh battery
— Android 7,.0 Nougat
— Dual SIM LTE
— 151 x 76 x 8.5mm
— 165g
— Black, Gold, Gray

Xiaomi will begin offering the Redmi Note 4 in India on January 23 through their online partners. The baseline model will cost as low as Rs. 9,999 (~US$ 146 / ~MYR 6,70). Expect to see the Redmi Note 4 launch in Malaysia in the coming months.



ORIGINAL SOURCE: XIAOMI

Infosys, Wipro heads warn of dangers to world, IT industry

BANGALURU: The heads of Wipro and Infosys sent letters to their respective employees at the turn of the year, both warning of serious dangers facing the world and their industry.

Vishal Sikka

While Wipro chairman Azim Premji focused on the political, social and climate risks - "the fast unfolding environmental crisis, and the acts of forces to turn this world into one filled with conflict and suspicion" - Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka dwelt on a point that he has made many times before - the threat of the Indian IT industry becoming obsolete in the absence of it innovating and failing to adopt automation.

Azim Premji

For a globalized industry like IT services, the recent political and social developments pose huge risks. Premji said four principles would guide actions in the quest for a better world - finding a common ground, having concern and respect for others, staying connected as a society, and committing to values such as integrity and honesty. "It's not that only people in public life can play a part, but each one of us in our own roles can make a difference, and we as a company can make a substantial difference," Premji said in his letter.



The billionaire, who has committed half of his wealth to philanthropic activities, recalled a recent visit to a school in Sirohi in Rajasthan where a young girl asked him about his achievements. The school, supported by the Premji Foundation, serves a severely disadvantaged community. Premji said the question made him feel really happy and fulfilled.

"It is not as though this question has not been asked of me before. But that moment and the question, was suffused with the child's genuine curiosity and pure heart, and so became a moment of great clarity and insight for me. The greatest fulfilment is in knowing that the work that we are doing at the Foundation has some role in shaping confident, thinking, caring and ethical human beings like her," he wrote.

Sikka urged his employees to embrace automation and be innovative to survive the rapid and disruptive changes in the world of technology. He said it would be a difficult time ahead for the Indian IT industry if it continues to depend solely on cost arbitrage and work as reactive problem-solvers.

"We will not survive if we remain in the constricted space of doing as we are told...By standing still instead of moving forward decisively, we will face the brunt of the disruptive forces, as our industry has already started to see," Sikka said


The former SAP executive said a lot of the work that came to Infosys and to others in the IT industry can already be done with AI (artificial intelligence) systems. He noted that he was surrounded by five magazines that had AI as its cover story. "So as I think about all this...we need to harness the dual forces of automation and innovation," he said.

Like Premji, Sikka also noted the political and social disruptions,
naming in particular Brexit, Donald Trump's victory, demonetization, terrorism and the migrant crisis. But Sikka believes the biggest disruption is the one that has been "proceeding irreversibly and unstoppably in our times, the accelerating force of technology and digitization."

Lava A50 & A55 Smartphone Launched, Price Starts 3,999.

NEW DELHI: Indian smartphone brand Lava has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of two budget smartphones -- Lava A50 and Lava A55. The smartphones are priced at Rs 3,999 and Rs 4,399 respectively. Both the smartphones support 3G connectivity and are available in Silver and Black colour options.

The duo come with largely same specifications, except that Lava A55 offers 1GB RAM, while the Lava A50 comes with 512MB of RAM.



The dual-SIM smartphones run Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and feature a 4-inch WVHA display with 480x800 pixel resolution. They are powered by 1.2GHz quad-core processor and comes with 8GB of internal storage. The users can further expand the storage capacity by installing a microSD card.

For photography, the company has incorporated a 5MP rear camera with flash and a VGA front camera. The handsets are backed by a 1,500 mAh battery and offer 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options.

Lava launched the X50+ smartphone in the country last month with a price tag of Rs 9,199. The smartphone has a sleek body with a curved back and enables single-hand operations with its one-hand mode.

It comes with a 5.5-inch HD display with 720x1280 pixel resolution. Running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. The smartphone offers a 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. Users can further expand the storage up to 32GB by installing a microSD card.

Lava X50+ comes with dual-SIM functionality, and sports an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and HD video recording. A 5MP front camera with LED flash has also been included for low light photography. On the connectivity front, the smartphone offers 4G, VoLTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. In terms of battery, the Lava X50+ comes with a 2,800mAh backup.

Consumer still confusing about Self Driving Car.

A global study from Deloitte taking in the opinions of 22,000 consumers in 17 different countries finds that although attitudes to autonomous vehicles are becoming more positive, the majority of consumers need evidence that these technological advances will lead to safer cars.

Whether in Germany, Korea, India, China, the US or Japan, a lack of trust was the number-one answer when consumers were asked about whether they'd consider a self-driving car.



In South Korea, 81% of respondents said that they had safety concerns, followed by Japanese (79%) and German consumers (72%). Even in the US where real-world testing of autonomous cars is a reality in a number of states, 74% feel that self-driving cars won't be safe.



However, 68% of Americans said they'd change their opinion once such cars have proven they're safe, and 54% said they'd travel in an autonomous car if it had been built by a brand they trust.

"Automakers and technology companies first have to earn consumers' trust, then turn that trust into a willingness to pay for a must-have feature," said Craig Giffi, vice chairman and US automotive industry leader, Deloitte LLP, and co-author of the report. "Today trust is lacking. Ironically, fully autonomous vehicles are being engineered to be much safer than today's vehicles."



And it could prove especially challenging for the US automotive industry to gain this trust. Deloitte found just 47% of US consumers trust car makers to deliver an autonomous car (compared with 51% in Germany and 76% of Japanese respondents) but it's worse still for tech companies.

Google may have taken an early lead in the race to develop a truly self-driving car, or at least the technology underpinning them, but only 20% of Americans said that they would trust a car from an established Silicon Valley company.

The report comes as a number of car makers, from Honda and Toyota to Volvo, have reiterated that despite the rapid pace of technological development, they haven't lost sight of the fact cars are first and foremost built for people.

"The important question isn't whether future vehicles will be equipped with automated or connected technologies," said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota during his CES presentation. "It is the experience of the people who engage with those vehicles."

Mark Zuckerberg dismisses VR allegations

A day’s worth of questioning in the Dallas courtroom yielded few surprises, other than confirmation that Facebook’s deal to buy VR company Oculus was even more expensive than first publicised.

As well as the $2bn (£1.6bn) fee announced back in 2014, another $1bn was paid out in order to keep key staff on the Oculus team and to provide incentives.

The 32-year-old, who has also used his time in Dallas to visit community groups, appeared to have little patience for the claims made by Zenimax, the company that alleges its software was stolen in order to make Oculus a success.

"It’s pretty common when you announce a big deal that people just come out of the woodwork and claim they own some part of the deal," he told the court after being called as a witness.

"The idea that Oculus products are based on someone else’s technology is just wrong."

Zenimax, owner of id Software, is suing Facebook for $2bn. It alleges that John Carmack, co-founder of id, took intellectual property belonging to Zenimax when he left the firm to join Oculus as its full-time chief technology officer.

Mr Carmack is a legend in the games industry, responsible for pioneering the "first person shooter" genre with titles such as Doom and Quake.

Zenimax also alleged that evidence supporting its claims was destroyed.

Pioneering tech

The arguments are split like this: Facebook says the Oculus team is responsible for creating innovative hardware - its Rift headset - and bringing virtual reality to the masses.

But Zenimax says the Oculus team wouldn't have been able to do any of that were it not for its help in the early stages in developing the software that made the headset capable of doing anything.

Mr Zuckerberg, in testimony which took up most of the day's session, disputed the significance of Zenimax's role in the early days of Oculus.

"Like most people in the court, I’ve never even heard of Zenimax before," he said.

This may play into the hands of the prosecution, however.

Lawyers for Zenimax accuse Facebook of not carrying out due diligence when purchasing the company. The huge deal apparently happened very quickly over a single weekend.

Much of Mr Zuckerberg's appearance on the stand - his first time testifying in a court room - was spent discussing his views on the future of virtual reality.

He told the court room he had filmed the first steps of his daughter, Max, in VR as it was the best way to capture such a moment.

However he added that the technology wasn't "fully there yet". At recent events, Mr Zuckerberg has outlined how he sees virtual reality as an integral part of the network’s 10-year strategy.

The trial, into its fifth day, is expected to last around three weeks.

Later this week it is expected that Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Oculus, will be called to the stand. The 24-year-old stirred controversy last year when it emerged he was funding an online trolling campaign supporting Donald Trump.

Microsoft Hardens Latest Windows Version Against Hackers

Microsoft has fortified the latest version of Windows to make it more secure than previous editions, but the strongest protections will be available only to those willing to pay a steep price for them.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update has introduced many mitigation techniques in core Windows components and the Microsoft Edge browser, helping protect customers from entire classes of exploits for very recent and even undisclosed vulnerabilities, Matt Oh and Elia Florio of Microsoft's Windows Defender ATP Research Team wrote in an online post last week.

Countering unidentified vulnerabilities -- also known as "zero day" vulnerabilities -- is particularly important because they are a powerful tool used to penetrate systems and steal data by attackers, especially those working for nation-states.

Rather than focus on a single vulnerability, Microsoft is focusing on mitigation techniques that counter classes of exploits, Oh and Florio explained.

"As a result, these mitigation techniques are significantly reducing attack surfaces that would have been available to future Zero-Day exploits," they wrote.

Paying for Protection

For the most effective post-breach protection, customers should sign up for Windows Defender ATP, Oh and Florio suggested, a service that is available only to users of Windows Enterprise E5.

That appears to be a departure from how Windows security was treated in the past, observed Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions On Microsoft.

When Microsoft launched its Trustworthy Computing initiative in 2002, there was a commitment to making all versions of Windows equally secure, he recalled.

"Now, what Microsoft is saying in a subtle way," Cherry told TechNewsWorld, is that "to be the most secure on Windows, you should be using Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection -- but we're saving that for our best customers, our customers willing to pay for the enterprise edition. That's a big change that's happening in Windows security."

What Users Get

Nevertheless, the security improvements in the new Windows 10 Anniversary Update are worthwhile for consumers.

"This is great news for users," said Jerome Segura, a senior security researcher for Malwarebytes.

"Microsoft is addressing zero days and exploits in general by sandboxing a lot of the components in the operating system," he told TechNewsWorld.

Sandboxing is a technique used to isolate activity in a space where it can be observed without affecting its surroundings. If it behaves badly in the sandbox, then it won't be allowed to play with the other parts of a system.

Sandbox techniques were used in Windows 10 to neutralize an exploit that used corrupt fonts to gain escalated privileges on a system, Microsoft's Oh and Florio explained. Escalated privileges allow an intruder greater freedom to roam and access data on a network.

Room for Improvement

While Microsoft is making good progress in hardening the Windows kernel, it could improve the operating system's security in other areas, too. One of those areas is third-party applications and components.

"While it's trying to ensure that its operating system is secure, it still depends on Flash, Java and other pieces of software. At the end of the day, the security of the system is going to depend on all the pieces, not just what Microsoft ships," Malwarebytes' Segura observed.

"You can have an OS that's safe, but if you have an outdated Flash plug-in, you can still get infected," he pointed out.

Hackers also are exploiting Microsoft Office documents.

"Microsoft needs to tighten up legacy code like macros -- either disable it or sandbox it," Segura said.

Threat to Security Vendors?

As Windows security improves, will it threaten the security ecosystem that has grown up around the OS?

"Ultimately, Microsoft's new anti-exploit features in Windows calls into question the value of legacy antivirus protections," said Simon Crosby, CTO of Bromium.

"However, it is important to note that relatively few enterprises use Windows 10 yet, so any Microsoft mitigation in Windows 10 that fails to address the legacy Windows installed base cannot address threats targeting [the security ecosystem]," he told TechNewsWorld.

Windows users still need to use antivirus programs, added Jack E. Gold, founder and principal analyst with J.Gold Associates. "Microsoft is pushing its antivirus program," he told TechNewsWorld, "so it's not saying you don't need antivirus anymore."

ReRAM can now store and process data in the same chip

Those lucky enough to work from home will probably tell you that one of the best things about it is the time saved by not commuting to the office. Inside a computer, data goes through a similar process, commuting between its "home" in the system memory to "work" in the processor, but now researchers in Singapore and Germany have found a way to help that data effectively work from home. The team is developing memory chips that can process information right where it's stored, potentially allowing for faster, smaller and more efficient computers and mobile devices.

The new circuit is based on Resistive switching RAM (ReRAM) memory chips, which are just starting to become commercially available. These chips store information by effectively remembering a variable value of electrical resistance, which can be changed by applying different currents, and being non-volatile, they can retain that memory even while turned off. Also known as a "memristors," these chips are said to function like the neurons in a human brain, and are sought after due to the fact that they're faster, smaller, can store more data and require less energy to run.

Memristors have been projected to be the future of both memory and processors, and the new circuit combines them both into one device. Developed by scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, RWTH Aachen University, and the Forschungszentrum Juelich research center, the ReRAM chip could remove the need for separate processing and memory components, leading to smaller and thinner devices that use less power. And since there's no wait time for data to run between the storage and processor, they will be faster too.

"ReRAM is a versatile non-volatile memory concept," says Professor Rainer Waser, co-author of the study. "These devices are energy-efficient, fast, and they can be scaled to very small dimensions. Using them not only for data storage but also for computation could open a completely new route towards an effective use of energy in the information technology."

The binary system, where information is represented with a series of ones and zeroes, is standard practice, but the team says translating data into this digital language takes time and can slow the process down.

"This is like having a long conversation with someone through a tiny translator, which is a time-consuming and effort-intensive process," says Anupam Chattopadhyay, co-author of the study. "We are now able to increase the capacity of the translator, so it can process data more efficiently."

To do so, the team is making use of ReRAM's ability to store data in an analog format - that is, it can register on a more detailed gradient scale, rather than the simple on or off of binary. The prototype circuit uses what's called the Ternary number system, which can store and process data using three states: zero, one or two. While it's not truly analog yet, it's a step in that direction.

The next step for the researchers is to develop a system that allows ReRAM to process and store data with higher amounts of states, as well as reaching out to companies to help develop commercial products that make use of the findings.

Credits: www.newatlas.com