Technology

WhatsApp Bans Over 36 Lakh Malicious Accounts In India In December: Report

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday said it banned over 36 lakh ‘bad’ accounts in India in the month of December 2022 in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, which are being amended to put more responsibilities on social media platforms.

Between December 1 and December 31, 3,677,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned, and 1,389,000 of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users, said the company.

The messaging platform, which has more than 400 million users in the country, received 1,607 complaint reports in December in the country, and the records ‘actioned’ were 166.

“In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our report for the month of December 2022. As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 3.6 million accounts in the month of December," according to a WhatsApp spokesperson.

Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Meanwhile, in a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of ‘Digital Nagriks’.

The amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, Galaxy S23: Price In India, Offers, Availability And Specifications

After introducing the latest Galaxy S23 series smartphones on Wednesday, the South Korean tech giant Samsung today announced the India pricing and availability of the new-launched Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 smartphones. All three devices feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and AMOLED displays with 120Hz refresh rates.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series: Pricing & Offers

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Price in India starts at Rs 124999 for the base 12GB+256GB model, Rs 134999 for the 12GB + 256 GB variant, and Rs 154999 for the 12GB + 1TB model. As per the brand, the Galaxy S23 Plus will be available at a starting price of Rs 94,999 and the vanilla variant of the Galaxy S23 is priced at Rs 74,999 in India. Pre-book for the Galaxy S23 series starts from February 2 (today) across all leading online and offline retail stores.

According to the company, customers pre-booking Galaxy S23 Ultra can get Galaxy Watch4 LTE Classic and Galaxy Buds2 at a special price of Rs 4999. Customers pre-booking Galaxy S23+ will get Galaxy Watch4 BT at a special price of Rs 4999. Customers pre-booking Galaxy S23 can get a storage upgrade offer worth Rs 5000.

Additionally, all consumers can avail Bank cashback worth Rs 8000 on online channels. Those who prebook Galaxy S23 series during Samsung Live on February 2, 2023 will get the additional gift of Wireless Charger and Travel Adaptor.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series Specifications

The smartphone comes in Phantom Black, Lavender, Cream and Green colour options. It has a 6.8-inch QHD+ AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and 240 Hz touch sampling rate. Other features include a Vision booster and Enhanced comfort mode. The screen is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and runs Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software. The device is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with Super Fast charging 2.0, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and Wireless Powershare.

The smartphone is equipped with a new 200MP wide-angle camera, while the other two models use 50MP cameras. There is also a 10MP zoom camera, 12MP ultra wide camera, and 12MP front-facing selfie camera on each device. Galaxy S23 Ultra retains the Bluetooth S-Pen, which was first introduced in the Galaxy S Series with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

On the other hand, both the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 share common features like Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software, IP68 rating and connectivity features. S23+ and S23 come with the same camera features– 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera (F2.2, FOV 120˚) + 50 MP Wide Camera (F1.8, FOV 85˚) + 10MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, F2.4, FOV 36˚) along with a 12MP Front Camera with F2.2 aperture.

The Galaxy S23+ comes with a 6.6-inch display while the S23 has a 6.1-inch screen. Both offer Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate (48~120Hz) and 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode. The battery capacity of the S23+ is 4,700mAh while there’s a 3,900mAh battery on the smaller S23.

Netflix To Stop Password Sharing Outside Family In New Update: All You Need To Know

Netflix Update: Popular streaming service Netflix is finally releasing a new update to stop password sharing on its platform. The streaming giant has updated its Help Center page. Now, only accounts within one household will be shareable. To ensure devices are associated with the primary location, Netflix will ask users to connect to the Wi-Fi once every 31 days.

According to The Streamable, Netflix accounts are still shareable, but only within one household. To ensure that your devices are associated with your primary location, Netflix is now asking users to connect to the Wi-Fi at their primary location - open the Netflix app or website, and watch something at least once every 31 days.

The streaming giant is also giving the option to pay extra to share account with non-household members. The report revealed that freeloading users can transfer their profile history into a new account without losing preferences, likes, dislikes, and other personal data. Additionally, traveling and playing Netflix on a device not at home will require the user to request a temporary code for logging in, giving access to the account for seven days.

Earlier, Netflix’s two new Co-Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Ted Sarandos and Greg Peter, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that Netflix will not sacrifice the consumer experience after implementing regulated password sharing in a phased manner.

In related news, Netflix has rolled out its ‘Kids Mystery Box’ feature on Android devices globally, which provides a fun and safe space for kids to discover their next favourite series and films.

The company on Monday updated its previous announcement blog post from May last year and mentioned, “This feature is now available on Android devices for all global members." “Kids, parents and caregivers can enjoy this feature" by logging in to a kids profile.

“We hope that kids will love the surprise and delight of revealing the next show or film recommended for them," the streaming giant said.

Microsoft-Backed OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Subscription Plan For $20 Per Month

Microsoft-backed AI research and deployment company OpenAI has announced the launch of its pilot subscription plan for its popular AI-powered ChatGPT chatbot. The new subscription plan, called ChatGPT Plus, will be available for $20 per month.

“We’re launching a pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT, a conversational AI that can chat with you, answer follow-up questions, and challenge incorrect assumptions. ChatGPT Plus is available to customers in the US, and we will begin the process of inviting people from our waitlist over the coming weeks. We plan to expand access and support to additional countries and regions soon," the company said on the new tool’s page.

According to OpenAI subscribers will receive a number of benefits: General access to ChatGPT, even during peak times, Faster response times amd Priority access to new features and improvements

The company will continue to offer free access to ChatGPT. By offering this subscription pricing, they will be able to help support free access availability to as many people as possible.

“We launched ChatGPT as a research preview so we could learn more about the system’s strengths and weaknesses and gather user feedback to help us improve upon its limitations. Since then, millions of people have given us feedback, we’ve made several important updates and we’ve seen users find value across a range of professional use-cases, including drafting & editing content, brainstorming ideas, programming help, and learning new topics," the website reads.

In related news, OpenAI recently launched a new tool called ‘The AI Text Classifier; which can detect AI-generated content. The AI Text Classifier is a fine-tuned GPT model that predicts whether a piece of text was generated by AI from a variety of sources, such as ChatGPT.

According to the company, AI Text Classifier’s reliability typically improves as the length of the input text increases. Compared to a previously released classifier, this new tool is significantly more reliable on text from more recent AI systems.

SC directs WhatsApp To Give Wide Publicity To Its 2021 Undertaking To Centre On Privacy Policy

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed WhatsApp to give wide publicity in the media that users aren’t bound to accept its 2021 privacy policy and also WhatsApp’s functionality would not be affected till the new data protection bill comes into effect.

In May 2021, WhatsApp, in a response to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s letter, had assured that the messaging service will not limit functionality for its users if they do not accept the new privacy policy update.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph observed that giving wide publicity to the WhatsApp undertaking would benefit those who have not agreed to the terms of its 2021 privacy policy. The top court asked WhatsApp to give advertisements in five newspapers regarding its undertaking given to the government.

The bench - also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar - said: “We further direct that WhatsApp will give publicity to this aspect to the customers of WhatsApp in five national newspapers on two occasions."

The bench said it has recorded the stand taken in the response to the government and “we record the submission of the senior counsel for WhatsApp that they will abide by the terms of the letter till next date of hearing".

The apex court noted that it Centre’s counsel has brought to its notice that a digital personal data protection bill 2022 is about to be placed before the Parliament, and it is there contention that bill would cover most of the aspects which are subject matter of petitions before this court and the matter may be taken up at a later stage. This request was echoed by WhatsApp counsel too.

However, the petitioners’ counsel vehemently contested this aspect and submitted that law should not come in the way of addressing issues raised in the petitions before the apex court. The petitioners’ counsel said the stand by WhatsApp for its customers in Europe stands in stark contrast with its stand taken here, and urged the court to hear the matter. The petitioners’ counsel stressed that the privacy policy should have an option to opt out from data sharing.

After hearing day-long arguments, the apex court passed an interim direction in a batch of petitions challenging the privacy policy of WhatsApp and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 11.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented WhatsApp and senior advocate Arvind Datar represented Meta. Senior advocates Shyam Divan and K.V. Viswanathan represented the petitioners’ along with other counsel.

The top court was hearing petitions, which included a plea filed by two students, Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi, against the contract entered into between WhatsApp and its parent Facebook to provide access to calls, photographs, texts, videos, and documents shared by users. The petitioners claimed it is a violation of their privacy and free speech.

Pinterest Is Laying Off About 150 Employees: Report

(Reuters) – Pinterest Inc is laying off about 150 employees, or 5% of its total workforce, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, joining a flurry of technology companies that are firing workers to cut costs.

The digital-search company that lets users create online pinboards informed the impacted employees on Wednesday, the report said, citing a person familiar with the company.

The job cuts came from teams across the San Francisco-based company, though not all were affected to the same degree.

”We’re making organizational changes to further set us up to deliver against our company priorities and our long-term strategy,” a company spokesperson told Reuters, confirming job cuts. The official, however, declined to confirm the number of job cuts.

Pinterest will support all impacted employees with separation packages, benefits and other services during the transition, the spokesperson added.

Samsung Confirms Galaxy S23 Series Phones To Be Made In India

Samsung India has confirmed on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Galaxy Unpacked event that all Galaxy S23 smartphones sold in India will be manufactured at the company’s Noida factory. The company has been using the same facility, claimed to the world’s largest mobile factory, to fulfil the needs of the domestic market through local manufacturing at the Noida factory.

Samsung’s decision to sell ‘Made in India’ Galaxy S23 smartphones shows the company’s commitment to India’s manufacturing and growth story, Samsung said in its statement.

Samsung has been manufacturing products in the country with the mission to focus on employment and also cater to the needs of the Indian consumers with localised features. Samsung Galaxy S23 series being made in the country is another feather in the cap of the brand, especially since it will also have the Galaxy S23 Ultra made here. Samsung had setup the mobile factory in 2018 to show India’s projection as a global manufacturing hub.

The three phones were introduced at the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, with a parallel focus on the Indian market with a media briefing. We have seen the phones in flesh and eager to see how they are priced in the country, where it will be fighting out with the new iPhones and the Pixel phones later this year.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra features a new 200-megapixel camera at the back, support for S Pen and a 5,000mAh battery that supports 45W fast charging. Samsung has also given extra focus to OS updates, with the promise of 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of security updates for these devices.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Vs Galaxy S23 Plus Vs Galaxy 23 Comparison: Check Specifications And Features

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Vs Galaxy S23 Plus Vs Galaxy 23: After the successful launch of Galaxy S22 series smartphones in India last year, the Global technology giant Samsung on Wednesday launched its latest flagship Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 smartphones at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event. The Galaxy S23 series is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.

All three new phones including the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra offer top-end features and specifications — a 200MP camera, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, great display, improved battery life and more. Here is our comparison of these newly-launched premium devices from Samsung.

And let’s unpack the new #SamsungGalaxyS23Ultra #SamsungUnpacked pic.twitter.com/3K677pPVuS— Debashis Sarkar (@SarkDeb) February 1, 2023

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Specfications

Samsung has ditched the curved edges and the sides of the phone are straight this time. The smartphone comes in Phantom Black, Lavender, Cream and Green colour options. In terms of specifications, this top-end variant of the S23 series comes with four storage and memory options — 12GB + 1TB, 12GB+ 512GB, 12GB + 256GBand 8GB + 256GB. The S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch QHD+ AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and 240 Hz touch sampling rate. Other features include a Vision booster and Enhanced comfort mode. The screen is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features a quad camera setup, consisting of a 200MP wide camera, a 10MP 3X telephoto camera, a 10MP 10X telephoto camera, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. The S23 Ultra also offers 100X Space Zoom, 10x Optical Zoom and 10x digital zoom with AI Super Resolution technology. There’s fast autofocus and a Super HDR selfie camera with 60fps video recording support.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that is customised for the device to offer better GPU and NPU performance. A newly designed CPU microarchitecture boosts the processing abilities of the Galaxy S23 Ultra by about 30 percent compared to the Galaxy S22 series. The device runs Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software. It is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with Super Fast charging 2.0, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and Wireless Powershare.

Plus, the Galaxy S23 Ultra retains the Bluetooth S-Pen, which was first introduced in the Galaxy S Series with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The bottom of the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a USB Type-C port, S-Pen slot, a SIM tray, and a bottom-firing speaker.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Specifications

Backed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus comes with a 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate (48~120Hz) and 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The smartphone runs Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software and it has a massive 4,700mAh battery.

The S23 Plus will be available with two storage and memory options — 8GB+512GB and 8GB+256GB. In terms of camera specifications, S23 Plus comes with 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera, a 50 MP Wide Camera, and 10MP Telephoto Camera. For Video calls and selfies, the device has a 12MP Front Camera with an F2.2 aperture. The device is also coming IP68 rating, which means it can survive against dust and up to 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Dimensions & Weight: 76.2 x 157.8 x 7.6mm, 196g

Samsung Galaxy S23 Specifications

The GalaCy S23 flaunts a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate (48~120Hz) and 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate. The display also comes with features including a Vision booster and Enhanced comfort. It will be available with 8GB of RAM only in choices of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options. The battery capacity of the S23 is 3,900mAh smaller than S23 Plus and S23 Ultra.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The smartphone runs Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software. The bottom of the Galaxy S23 has a USB Type-C port, a SIM tray, and a firing speaker. In terms of camera specifications, S23 and S23 Plus offer similar specs. On the rear side, there is a 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera, 50MP Wide Camera, and 10MP Telephoto Camera. The Galaxy S22 also sports a 12MP Front camera with F2.2 aperture.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Dimensions & Weight: 70.9 x 146.3 x 7.6mm, 168g

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Vs Galaxy S23 Plus Vs Galaxy 23 Comparison:

Android users have high expectations from the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S23 series smartphones. All three devices — the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 come with an upgraded camera, battery, and specifications. With Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the Samunsng S23 series is set to offer powerful performance to the users.

Samsung Launches Galaxy Book 3 Series Laptops At Unpacked Event: Availability & Specifications

South Korean Tech giant Samsung on Wednesday announced the launch of the latest Galaxy Book 3 laptop series — the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, Book 3 Pro 360 and Book 3 Pro in India.

The newly-launched Galaxy Book 3 Ultra features ultra-high-performance computing, the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 features a 2-in-1 convertible form factor with S Pen functionality, and the Galaxy Book 3 Pro features thin and light clamshell design.

And let’s unpack the new #SamsungGalaxyS23Ultra #SamsungUnpacked pic.twitter.com/3K677pPVuS— Debashis Sarkar (@SarkDeb) February 1, 2023

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Laptop Series: Availability

The 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra will be available in Graphite colour, the 14-inch and 16-Galaxy Book 3 Pro will be available in Graphite and Beige options and the 16-inch Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 with 5G connectivity options will be available in Graphite and Beige colour options.

Galaxy Book 3 Pro, and Pro 360 will be available in select markets starting on February 17 followed by Galaxy Bok 3 Ultra starting on February 22.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Laptop Series: Specifications

The new Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro series uses a full aluminum frame and offers a light, sleek, and flat design. The Galaxy Book3 Ultra features the latest 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor as well as the NVIDIA RTX GeForce 4070 Laptop GPU, providing studio-grade graphics to enhance both creative projects and the gaming experience.

Also, Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display is featured in the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro series. Its 3K (2880×1800) resolution shows incredibly fine detail and the adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. The display is also VESA ClearMR and DisplayHDR TRUE BLACK 500 certified and has received SGS Eye Care Display certification for the guaranteed reduction of blue light.

Plus, depending on your viewing needs, you can opt for either a 14-inch or 16-inch display featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio with the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro series. The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro series is coming with a new quad speaker system, dual microphones, AI Noise Cancelling, and Studio Mode.

The Galaxy Book 3 series offers a Link to Windows / Microsoft Phone Link feature, which allows users to enjoy seamless phone-to-PC connectivity across operating systems. In addition, users can move seamlessly between multiple screens across different devices with no disruptions.

The Samsung Multi Control feature lets you control your PC, Galaxy Tab, and now Galaxy smartphone with the Galaxy Book 3 series’ keyboard and trackpad, enabling you to copy and paste or drag and drop between devices, while Second Screen turns your Galaxy Tab into an additional monitor with a single click.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series Smartphones Launched With ‘Ultra Level’ Specs

Android smartphone enthusiasts love to flaunt spec sheets. The numbers keep on increasing every year but Samsung seems to have reached the Ultra level. The South Korean tech giant showcased the latest Galaxy S23 Series which include the Galaxy S23 Ultra, S23+ and S23 smartphones. The star of the show is, of course, the Galaxy S23 Ultra that comes with a 200MP camera, toughest screen and the latest customised Snapdragon chipset that supports superior gaming features like Ray Tracing.

For the record, Ray Tracing is available mostly in console and PC games. We can expect mobile game developers to introduce Android games with Ray Tracing later this year. So, what’s Ray Tracing? Well, it’s a light rendering technique that makes games appear more realistic with multiple sources of light treated differently.

With improved low light photography features, better battery life and improved performance, Samsung is calling the S23 Ultra the most advanced smartphone it has ever created. Not to forget, there’s the S-Pen Stylus as well and the S23 Ultra can also connect to PCs with the known DeX mode.

“The entire Galaxy S23 series is the new standard-bearer of trustworthy premium smartphone experiences. We’re on a mission to redefine peak performance by bringing together powerful, lasting innovations and sustainability," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics.

Apart from the S23 Ultra, there’s the S23+ and S23 as well. Both the smartphones come with the same chipset but the dimensions, display, camera and battery life are different when compared to the S23 Ultra.

(Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra specifications detailed:What are the display features of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 6.8-inch QHD+ Edge Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It supports adaptive refresh rate between 1-120Hz along with 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode. Other features include Vision booster and Enhanced comfort mode. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

What is the size and weight of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra measures 78.1 X 163.4 X 8.9mm and weighs 234 grams. Samsung has ditched the curved edges and the sides of the phone are straight this time.

What are the camera specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 200MP quad-camera setup at the back which includes 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera (F2.2, FOV 120˚) + 200 MP Wide Camera (F1.7, FOV 85˚) + 10MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, F2.4, FOV 36˚) + 10MP Telephoto Camera (10x Optical Zoom, F4.9, FOV 11˚).

The Galaxy S23 Ultra retains the Bluetooth S-Pen, which was first introduced in the Galaxy S Series with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

For selfies, there’s a 12MP Front Camera with F2.2 aperture.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a new 200MP Adaptive Pixel sensor that uses pixel binning to support multiple levels of high-resolution processing at once like 200MP, 50MP, and 12MP output options. There’s fast autofocus and Super HDR selfie camera with 60fps video recording support.

There’s the Expert RAW app which will help users to get DSLR-style image shooting and editing in RAW and JPEG. Users can experiment with Multiple exposures photo art or capture a clear view of the Milky Way with Astrophoto settings.

There’s improved OIS angles in all directions on Galaxy S23 Ultra along with support for recording 8K videos at 30 frames per second with a wider angle and new 360 Audio Recording feature. The feature will be available on Galaxy Buds2 Pro paired with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone running One UI 5.0 or above with LE Audio support, including Galaxy S23 series.

What is the processor of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that is customised for the device to offer better GPU and NPU performance. There’s support for Ray Tracing and for better thermal management, there’s vapour cooling tech.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Battery, OS, Colours And More

The Galaxy S23 Ultra runs Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software. The device is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with Super Fast charging 2.0, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and Wireless Powershare. Storage and memory options include: 8GB+256GB, 12GB+256GB and 12GB+1TB. There’s Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6E and UWB. Colours include Phantom Black, Lavender, Cream and Green. There’s IP68 dust and water resistance.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra alongside the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus; All three phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC.Samsung Galaxy S23+ and S23 specs

Both the phones share common features like Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, Android 13-based OneUI 5.1 software, IP68 rating and connectivity features. S23+ and S23 come with the same camera features– 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera (F2.2, FOV 120˚) + 50 MP Wide Camera (F1.8, FOV 85˚) + 10MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, F2.4, FOV 36˚) along with a 12MP Front Camera with F2.2 aperture.

The S23+ flaunts a 6.6-inch display while the S23 has a 6.1-inch screen. Both offer Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate (48~120Hz) and 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode. The phones will be available with 8GB of RAM only in choices of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options. The battery capacity of the S23+ is 4,700mAh while there’s a 3,900mAh battery on the smaller S23.

Samsung also boasted about its environment friendly initiative. Since the Galaxy S22 series, Samsung has increased its use of recycled materials from six internal components in Galaxy S22 Ultra to 12 internal and external components in Galaxy S23 Ultra. Galaxy S23 series also has a wider variety of recycled materials including pre-consumer recycled aluminum and glass and post-consumer recycled plastics sourced from discarded fishing nets, PET bottles and water barrels.

Google Reportedly Testing New Search Experience With ChatGPT-Like Chatbot Called Apprentice Bard

With OpenAI and Microsoft joining hands, rivals like Google are testing new ways to compete with this suddenly introduced disruption. Not only has Google declared ChatGPT a ‘code red’ but has also reportedly ramped up testing—to introduce a new Google Search experience powered by ChatGPT-like prompts and design.

According to a report by CNBC, Google is working on a revamped search experience—with an all-new design that could feature a chatbot called ‘Apprentice Bard.’ The chatbot is based on LaMDA—Google’s own language model akin to GPT 3.5 from OpenAI, but unlike GPT 3.5, Google’s LaMDA has a more recent database, and is not limited to 2021.

Google is proceeding with caution in the AI space, mindful of the potential for ‘reputational risk,’ unlike OpenAI, which as a young startup is taking a bold approach.

Apprentice Bard is reportedly quite reminiscent of ChatGPT—users can simply type in a question in a dialog box and get a response. And, as noted earlier, Apprentice Bard can answer with more recent facts and data. In fact, Google “employees have noticed Apprentice Bard’s responses becoming more advanced in recent weeks.”

Chrome Users Can Soon Translate Text Within Images

Google is reportedly working on a new way to easily translate text within images in Chrome.

The information came from the Chrome feature researcher Leopeva64, reports Android Police.

The new image translation tool is not released yet, not even in Chrome Beta or Canary, as it is still under development.

Currently, Chrome allows the translation of entire web pages by just right-clicking on the desktop or tapping the menu button on mobile, then selecting the “Translate" option.

However, this does not work directly on posters, banners and other embedded images in web pages.

With the new feature, users will likely be able to right-click any images that contain text from a foreign language and choose the “Image translate" option to translate it, the report said.

Meanwhile, last week, it was reported that the tech giant is scrapping Chrome’s screenshot editing feature, after months of development.

Only Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max To Come With Periscope Camera Lens: Report

The US-based tech giant Apple is reportedly planning to bring the upgraded periscope camera to the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro Max/Ultra. As per the report, it will be the only ‌iPhone‌ model that will get a higher-end upgraded periscope camera with new zoom capabilities next year.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo took to micro-blogging site Twitter: “My latest survey indicates only one/highest-end new iPhone 16 model in 2H24 will have the periscope camera, not the two models the market expected. Therefore, the contribution of the periscope camera to the demand for lens upgrades may be lower than the market consensus."

He also mentioned that previously it was predicted that the iPhone 15 Pro Max “will adopt the periscope camera". “The market expected that adding periscope cameras to more iPhone models would drive demand for lens upgrades in 2023-2024," Kuo added.

In a periscope system, light entering the telephoto lens is reflected by an angled mirror towards the camera’s image sensor. The change in direction in which the light travels allows for a longer “folded" telephoto setup inside phones, enabling users to zoom in further without any blurriness.

Earlier in January, a report from The Elec, a South Korean publication, revealed that Apple intends a ‘Folded Zoom’ periscope telephoto lens to be an exclusive feature in the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year. The report corroborates the earlier predictions by the analyst Ming Chi-Kuo who had previously suggested that the periscope camera would remain exclusive to the bigger of the two Pro iPhone models this year.

The US-based tech giant is tapping new suppliers for the OIS actuators that will be used in the periscope lens destined for this year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max. The brand will rely on Korean companies LG Innotek and Jahwa Electronics to supply the actuators.

Amazon Job Cuts Hit Staffers In Grocery, Robotics, Payments, AWS Divisions

Amazon announced job cuts of around 18,000 employees last month, and those who lost their jobs were from various divisions of the company, including AWS, healthcare, payments, real estate and delivery business, among others, the media reported.

According to CNBC, an employee developed a spreadsheet after the layoff announcement, encouraging those affected to submit their information for recruiters’ use.

As per Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings, at least 2,300 employees were laid off in Amazon’s home state of Washington.

Moreover, the filings show that over 500 took place in California, including engineering and recruiting divisions, while approximately 300 were in New York, said the report.

Among grocery and physical stores, there were job cuts of people employed as program managers, store designers, supply chain managers and software engineers, also Amazon Go and Go Grocery cashier-less convenience stores and supermarkets were also hit with layoffs.

In Amazon Robotics, hardware development engineers, mechatronics engineers, network engineers, applied science managers, and technical product managers were part of the job cuts, the report mentioned.

In its cloud computing division “AWS" (Amazon Web Services), those who lost their jobs had titles of software development engineer, senior program manager, account representative, cloud architect and quality assurance engineer.

Further, layoffs were also made in the company’s payments organisation, which oversees units such as the online payment processing service Amazon Pay.

Among those laid off were engineers, product managers, and employees working on the company’s Venmo checkout integration.

The report further mentioned that the cuts also included employees working on Amazon’s various healthcare offerings.

As part of the job cuts, Amazon Pharmacy, the online pharmacy it launched in 2020, lost program managers, risk compliance managers, and billing managers.

Employees working on digital health tools and the Halo health and fitness tracker were also laid off.

Amazon’s drone delivery unit saw widespread layoffs, with employees laid off in Washington, Oregon, Texas, and California.

Employees from the design, maintenance, systems engineering, flight testing, and flight operations units were among those laid off, according to the report, citing sources.

Other divisions that saw layoffs were Marketplace, Retail, Real Estate, Operations, and Zappos (Online shoe seller).

Budget 2023, An ‘AI Opener’: Library to Agriculture, FM Sitharaman’s Push for ‘Digital India’

In a push to Digital India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a national digital library for kids and teenagers to promote access to high-quality books across geographies, languages, genres, levels, and device-agnostic accessibility. The minister also announced the introduction of Digital Public Infrastructure for agriculture to provide farmer-centric solutions.

Three centres of excellence in artificial intelligence will be established in educational institutions in India. Industry players will help conduct interdisciplinary research and develop next-generation tech solutions and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, sustainable cities and healthcare.

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MAKE AI IN INDIA, FOR INDIA

The finance minister stated that these facilities are critical to achieving the goal of ‘Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India’.

"For realising the vision of Make #AI in India and make AI work for India, 3 Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions: FM @nsitharaman's Budget speech #BudgetWithNews18 #UnionBudget #UnionBudget2023 #NirmalaSitharaman pic.twitter.com/05YdmkSRgh— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 1, 2023

As India launched 5G last year to support the Digital India initiatives, Sitharaman announced that 100 labs will be introduced in India’s engineering institutions to develop 5G-based apps. The labs will cover, among other things, applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and healthcare applications in order to realise the new range of options, business models, as well as job potential.

ALSO READ | Capex Point: Capital Expenditure Target Up by 33% to Rs 10 Lakh Crore in Budget 2023

The Union Minister announced the Skill India digital platform, while stating that it will enable demand-based formal skilling, link with employers, including MSMEs, and facilitate access to entrepreneurship initiatives to give stipend assistance to 47 lakh youngsters in three years. This initiative will help further expand the digital ecosystem for skilling.

ALSO READ | Income Tax Slab in Budget 2023 LIVE Updates HERE

The government will also bring the National Data Governance Policy, said Sitharaman, adding that it will unleash innovation and research by start-ups and academia and enable access to anonymised data.

AI AI, SIR

Amit Relan, Founder and CEO, mFilterIt, told News18 that AI will change the face of the country and enable the country to establish a stronger foundation of a “Digital India". He believes that it will increase efficiency, improve decision-making and accelerate economic growth bringing in a significant change in sectors such as healthcare, education, agriculture and finance through automation, data analysis and predictive modelling.

ALSO READ | FM’s ‘Track Record’: At Rs 2.40 Lakh Crore, Budget 2023 Has Highest Ever Capital Outlay for Railways

“For a country to maximize the benefits of AI, it will be essential for the public and private sectors to work together to ensure that the use of AI will align with the country’s values and priorities and to address the ethical, legal and social implications of AI," the industry expert added.

Union Budget 2023: Key Highlights#UnionBudget #PersonalIncomeTax #BudgetWithNews18 #Budget2023 pic.twitter.com/BVkDKjPSQm— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 1, 2023

Sanjay Notani, Partner, Economic Laws Practice, told News18 that this policy aims to facilitate the export of services and technology by aligning India’s policies relating to data governance with international standards.

Meanwhile, Supratim Chakraborty, Partner, Khaitan & Co, said that while this policy will facilitate access to anonymous data for various beneficial purposes, “there is also tremendous push towards giving impetus to the fintech ecosystem, starting from KYC simplification to the expansion of the scope of documents available in Digilocker. For capacity building, educational aspects to also cover skilling on IOT, drones, etc".

Budget 2023: Smartphones, TVs Likely To Get Cheaper As Centre Cuts Custom Duties

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the central government has reduced basic custom duty (BCD) on the import of certain mobile phone parts and inputs like camera lenses and continued the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year during her Union Budget 2023-24 speech in Parliament.

The Finance Minister said that this move will further deepen the domestic value addition in the manufacturing of mobile phones. She also proposed to reduce the basic custom duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5 per cent to promote value addition in the manufacturing of televisions.

“The mobile phone production in India had increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year, as a result of various initiatives of the government, including the ‘Phased Manufacturing programme’," Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, the reduction in customs duty on import of certain component parts for mobile phones is a welcome move and will provide further impetus to deepen the domestic value addition, and in furthering the development of electronics components ecosystem in India.

“Reducing the basic customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5% will again further promote local value addition of TVs in India," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint

He also said that Camera lenses front and back contribute to around 1 per cent of the total BoM of the phones. “Including relief on the custom duty of certain parts and inputs will reduce the overall price to 1-1.1 per cent for a mobile phone," Pathak added.

A. Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics Ltd, said: This year’s budget is a strong effort to consolidate the Indian economy in post-pandemic dynamics, raising the personal tax exemption limit will certainly boost consumption and the electronics industry will surely benefit from it. Continuing the import duty cuts on Camera Lens and batteries for mobile manufacturing is a welcome step and this will continue to fuel the remarkable growth India has witnessed in domestic manufacturing."

During the Budget 2023 presentation, the Centre also announced to set up 100 labs in the top engineering institutions to develop 5G apps and services . “To realise new opportunities, business models and employment potential, the 5G labs will cover applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and healthcare applications," said Finance Minister in her speech.

Samsung’s New 5G Plan May Be A Big Relief For Smartphone Buyers In India

With Chinese smartphone brands gradually losing interest in the Indian budget smartphone market due to fluctuating INR-USD and diminishing profit margins, there’s limited options for buyers looking for a reliable 5G smartphone. The sub-Rs 15,000 smartphone market is mostly dominated by 4G handsets and there aren’t enough options from established brands now. In fact, smartphone brands now expect you to spend upwards of Rs 20,000 to get a decent 5G device, which has become evident with the rising average selling price (ASP) of phones in the country.

When it comes to global established smartphone brands, it is only Samsung that caters to every price point in the Indian market. Be it under Rs 10,000 or above Rs 1.5 lakh, you will find Samsung smartphones across all price ranges. And now the company has confirmed that it will continue to follow this strategy, which will surely come as a relief for buyers in India. Samsung is not quitting the budget smartphone market and will aggressively focus more on offering ‘value for money’ 5G smartphones in 2023.

"…a 5G smartphone may actually be cheaper than a 4G handset now!"

Aditya Babbar, Senior Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India in an exclusive interaction with Debashis Sarkar of News18 said, “We will continue to cater to consumers in India across all price points. Be it budget, mid-range or premium smartphones, Samsung as a brand is meant for everyone.”

“We focus on democratisation of technology and great value creation,” he stressed. Samsung with its Galaxy A series smartphones claim to offer Indian buyers reliable 5G smartphones within their budgets.

In addition to this, Samsung India is also focusing on availability and affordability of devices. “By that we mean, Samsung phones will be available across more and more stores in the remotest part of the country and the company also promises to make it easier for buyers to get a new phone with easy financing. It’s a different joy to see people, who do not have access to credit, being able to buy a Samsung 5G phone with EMI plans that costs around Rs 44 per day,” added Babbar.

“A 5G smartphone may actually be cheaper than a 4G handset now,” he said.

Talking about the 2023 business projection, Babbar said, “At Samsung India, we are aiming to generate 75% of value from 5G smartphones in India and Galaxy A series smartphones will play an important role to achieve this.”

Having said that, Samsung will continue to launch 4G smartphones as well this year.

Apex Legends Mobile To Shut Down In May, Developer Cites Quality Concerns For Discontinuation

Apex Legends Mobile, which made its debut just last year in March 2022, will unfortunately be shutting down in May. The studio behind the title, Respawn Games, cites their inability to continuously deliver a ‘high-quality’ gaming experience as the reason.

We have made the decision to sunset Apex Legends Mobile.We’re sure you have a lot of questions. For more information on where things are at currently, including an FAQ, please read the blog below.https://t.co/Yjr4EOJnTq pic.twitter.com/4k3dGzOL12

— Respawn (@Respawn) January 31, 2023

In a blog post, Respawn Games stated, “Following a strong start, the content pipeline for Apex Legends Mobile has fallen short of the bar for quality, quantity, and cadence. After months of collaboration with our development partner, we have mutually decided to sunset our mobile game."

Effective immediately, the developers will be turning off all in-app purchases for Apex Legends Mobile and removing the game from online stores. Despite this, players will still have the option to use their existing Syndicate Gold and enjoy the full game, but on May 1, 2023, operations for the game will cease in all regions—making it unplayable. 

Additionally, users who have made in-app purchases can continue to access them until the game shuts down on May 1. However, the developer will not be “providing refunds for real money purchases.”

This New Tool From OpenAI Can Detect AI-Written Text: Here Is How

After launching the most popular AI chatbot — ChatGPT, the Microsoft-backed AI research and deployment company OpenAI has now launched a new tool called ‘The AI Text Classifier; which can detect AI-generated content.

The AI Text Classifier is a fine-tuned GPT model that predicts whether a piece of text was generated by AI from a variety of sources, such as ChatGPT.  “This classifier is available as a tool to spark discussions on AI literacy,” the company said on the new tool’s page.

According to the company, AI Text Classifier’s reliability typically improves as the length of the input text increases. Compared to a previously released classifier, this new tool is significantly more reliable on text from more recent AI systems.

Also, the classifier has a number of important limitations. It should not be used as a primary decision-making tool, but instead as a complement to other methods of determining the source of a piece of text. The classifier is very unreliable on short texts (below 1,000 characters). Even longer texts are sometimes incorrectly labeled by the classifier.

Sometimes human-written text will be incorrectly but confidently labeled as AI-written by our classifier. “We recommend using the classifier only for English text. It performs significantly worse in other languages and it is unreliable on code," the website reads.

Text that is very predictable cannot be reliably identified. For example, it is impossible to predict whether a list of the first 1,000 prime numbers was written by AI or humans, because the correct answer is always the same. AI-written text can be edited to evade the classifier.

“Classifiers like ours can be updated and retrained based on successful attacks, but it is unclear whether detection has an advantage in the long-term. Classifiers based on neural networks are known to be poorly calibrated outside of their training data. For inputs that are very different from text in our training set, the classifier is sometimes extremely confident in a wrong prediction," the company said.

Microsoft To Remove Several Games From Xbox 360 Marketplace Soon: What It Means

Microsoft has revealed that on February 7, it will take down a number of popular titles from the Xbox 360 Marketplace in India, as well as in the US and the UK.

“A number of game titles and associated add-ons will be removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace in a select set of regions per title. These removals will start on February 7, 2023," Microsoft stated on an Xbox support page. 

Microsoft is removing these games from the Xbox Store for India. You won’t be able to buy these from February 7. So much for video game preservation. #Xbox pic.twitter.com/CPAPcffRyZ— 0xSkeptic | Cringe Connoisseur (@RishiAlwani) January 31, 2023

The support page adds, “Once purchased, you can always redownload these games or any other previously purchased games from your Xbox 360 Download History.” This means that if you have already bought a game that Microsoft is soon removing, you don’t have to worry as the game(s) will still be available for you to download.

In India, several popular games will no longer be available on the Xbox 360 Marketplace from February 7, 2023, including South Park: The Stick of Truth, Prince of Persia, LIMBO, Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and Call of Duty titles such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Similarly, in less than two months, Nintendo, too, will close its eShop on the Wii U and 3DS systems, Microsoft itself has removed several Forza titles from its platform, and Sony made it more difficult to purchase games on the PS3 and Vita stores, according to The Verge.