Tech Bites

Britain's finance ministry plans "robust" regulations for crypto assets, following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last year, which left millions of people nursing billions of dollars in losses. Crypto is currently unregulated globally, with firms only having to carry out checks to prevent money laundering. However, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that more than 80 percent of license applicants were unable to show they could do this properly as "dark money" flows through the sector. The draft rules, to be published on Wednesday, would ensure robust, transparent, and fair standards, consistent with the approach to traditional finance, Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith said in a statement on Tuesday. "We remain steadfast in our commitment to grow the economy and enable technological change and innovation – and this includes cryptoasset technology," Griffith said. The new rules come after rising interest rates le

Union Budget 2023-24 will be presented in the Indian Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, February 1. A day before the budget announcement, the finance minister tabled the Economic Survey 2022-23 in the Lok Sabha on January 31, giving a detailed report on the expenditures and earnings of the country in the ongoing financial year. As the Ministry of Finance gets all set to announce the Union Budget 2023-24 on Wednesday, here is all the information you need to watch the live screening. Union Budget 2023-24: When to watch Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on February 1. The announcements will begin at 11 am IST. The budget speech is likely to last for around two hours. The longest budget speech in India's history, which continued for 2 hours and 40 minutes, was presented by FM Sitharaman in 2020. It is to be noted that this will be the last full budget for the Narendra Modi government before t

Apple maintains workplace policies that unlawfully discourage employees from discussing working conditions, a US labour agency has found. The National Labor Relations Board will issue a complaint targeting the policies and claiming Apple executives made comments that stymied worker organising unless the company settles first, an agency official said on Monday in an email reviewed by Reuters. The official had sent the email to Ashley Gjovik, a former Apple senior engineering manager who filed complaints against the company in 2021. The NLRB investigates charges filed by workers and unions and decides whether to issue formal complaints against companies. The agency can seek to strike down workplace policies and require employers to notify workers of legal violations. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The company has said it takes worker complaints seriously and thoroughly investigates them. An NLRB spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gjo

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Commerce Committee in March, as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. Chew will testify before the committee on March 23, which will be his first appearance before a congressional committee, said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chair of the panel, in a statement on Monday. The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns. "ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data," McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security. TikTok confirmed on Monday Chew will testify. "We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to a

The Michael Jackson biopic, originally announced in 2019 and revealed as titled ‘Michael', has finally cast a lead actor to play the late 'King of Pop'. Jaafar Jackson, the nephew of Michael Jackson, has been confirmed to be playing his uncle in the biopic, which currently does not have a release date. The film is being directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer series), and is produced by Graham King, who previously helmed Freddie Mercury's biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. The announcement of the lead casting was made by Lionsgate, with producer Graham King saying "I met Jaafar over two years ago and was blown away by the way he organically personifies the spirit and personality of Michael,” as per a report by SlashFilm. "I am beyond thrilled that he has come on board to portray his uncle and cannot wait for the world to see him on the big screen as Michael Jackson,” continued King, who produced 2018's critical and commercial success Bohemian Rhap

Samsung on Tuesday reported its lowest quarterly profit since 2014 and said persistent macroeconomic uncertainty will make for a tough first half year, though demand is likely to start recovering in the second half. Sluggish demand and inventory adjustment will continue to impact the chip business in the first quarter, Samsung said in a statement, adding it expects "smartphone demand to decline year-on-year due to the economic slowdown in major regions". The world's biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones reported a 69 percent plunge in fourth-quarter profit, as consumer demand for electronic devices dropped while clients spent less in a weak economy, dragging down memory chip prices. At KRW 4.3 trillion (roughly Rs. 29,000 crore), October-December operating profit was Samsung's lowest quarterly profit in eight years. Revenue fell 8 percent to KRW 70.5 trillion won (roughly Rs. 4.7 lakh crore). With memory chip prices falling by double-digit percentages in

The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter. Huawei has faced US export restrictions around items for 5G and other technologies for several years, but officials in the US Department of Commerce have granted licenses for some American firms to sell certain goods and technologies to the company. Qualcomm , in 2020, received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei. A Commerce Department spokesperson said officials "continually assess our policies and regulations" but do not comment on talks with specific companies. Huawei and Qualcomm declined to comment. Bloomberg and the Financial Times earlier reported the move. One person familiar with the matter said US officials are creating a new formal policy of denial for shipping items to Huawei that would include items below the 5G level, including 4G items, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, a

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is poised to kickstart Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in style, transporting us to the populated, urban megacity of Quantum Realm. In what feels like a redemption arc for the often ridiculed and not-so-popular Avenger that is Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), the film sets the first faceoff for the perils to come in the form of the hostile Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors) — in the larger Multiverse Saga. Marking the longest runtime in the shapeshifter trilogy, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases February 17 in theatres worldwide. While you wait for that superhero affair, why not treat yourself to a taste of Old Hollywood with Damien Chazelle's latest epic Babylon ? It's a wild ride, tracking the outsized ambition of eccentric characters, as they bask in the fame before eventually falling off. The film waltzes into cinemas on February 3. Coming to local fare, we've got two Hindi-language remakes of South Indian movies. First up, Kar

The Last of Us episode 4 trailer is out. HBO has dropped a preview for next week's episode of the post-apocalyptic drama based on the eponymous PlayStation video game, teasing a new character in the form of Kathleen, a ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City. Melanie Lynskey, best known for her run on Yellowjackets, will portray the role — signifying big trouble for our survivor duo Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Titled 'Please Hold My Hand', the episode will be directed by Jeremy Webb (The Umbrella Academy) and will reportedly be only 50 minutes long — significantly shorter than the 75-minute runtime of episode 3. The Last of Us episode 4 premieres February 6 at 8:30am IST/ February 5 at 9pm ET on Disney+ Hotstar and HBO Max, respectively. The trailer for The Last of Us episode 4 kicks off by introducing Ellie's ( Ramsey ) new pet peeve - a disgust for the smell of coffee, as the pair take a break, out in the woods. “It smells like b

OnePlus has announced that it will launch the OnePlus 11R smartphone in India on February 7. At the Cloud 11 launch event, the OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 TWS earphones will also be unveiled. There have been several reports and leaks surrounding the OnePlus 11R and its release over the past few months. Some reports suggest that OnePlus 11R is the same model that is likely to launch in China as the OnePlus Ace 2. A recent leak shows a design render of the model ahead of its launch. According to a tweet by tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce), the design for the OnePlus Ace 2 has been leaked and it is quite similar to the OnePlus 11 that was launched in China earlier this month. The phone is expected to be the successor of the OnePlus 10R 5G in India. The design reveals that the OnePlus 11R will feature a circular camera module with a part of it extending to the side panel. The handset lacks the Hasselblad branding that is unique to the OnePlus 11 5G. The phone also seems to

Elon Musk's enigmatic personality and unconventional tactics are emerging as key exhibits in a trial revolving around one of his most polarizing pursuits — tweeting. The trial, centred on a pair of tweets announcing Musk had obtained the money to take Tesla private in 2018, reeled the 51-year-old billionaire into a federal courtroom in San Francisco for three days of testimony that opened a peephole into his often inscrutable mind. Musk, who now owns the Twitter service that he deploys as his megaphone, was often a study in contrasts during his roughly eight hours on the stand. The CEO of the electric carmaker is facing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Tesla shareholders after Musk tweeted about a company buyout that didn't happen. Through both his testimony and the evidence submitted around it, Musk came across as impetuous, brash, combative and contemptuous of anyone who questioned his motives as a game-changing entrepreneur who has inspired comparisons to Apple

Pros – Battery life – Aesthetics and design – Lower-specced variant one of the cheapest 5G phones in the market – Impressive main camera – 3.5mm jack – Expandable Storage and virtually expandable RAM – Vibrant LCD display Cons – Mono speaker – No OIS in any of the cameras – No IP rating – 15W charging, with no charging brick in the box – Bezels and bottom chin Price: Rs 20,999 for the 8GB + 128GB variant Rating: 4/5 Although smartphone manufacturers tend to focus most of their resources in hyping up their flagship devices, it is the mid-range segment where they face some of their fiercest competition. The first smartphone that Samsung launched this year, the Galaxy A14 5G may look rather simple and plain on the surface. However, considering that it costs Rs 20,999 for the top, 8GB + 128GB variant, and can be had for cheaper after discounts and offers, we have to say that the device has the potential to shape up to be one of the best 5G devices under Rs 20,000. There’s a

Chinese Internet giant Baidu is planning to launch an artificial intelligence chatbot tool similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT in March, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Baidu plans to debut the application by initially embedding it into its main search services, Bloomberg News reported earlier. ChatGPT's tech works by learning from vast amounts of data how to answer any prompt by a user in a human-like way, offering the information like a search engine would or prose like an aspiring novelist. Microsoft  has a $1 billion investment in San Francisco-based OpenAI that it has looked at increasing, Reuters has reported. The company has also worked to add OpenAI's image-generation software to its Bing search engine in a new challenge to Alphabet Inc's Google. Last week, the company announced a further multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI, deepening ties with the startup behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT and setting the stage for more competition with r

The official release of the OnePlus 11 5G smartphone and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 TWS earbuds is still a good 10 days away. While we are bound by a non-disclosure agreement at the moment when it comes to sharing our opinion and other insights on the upcoming OnePlus products, we are officially allowed to show you what the products look like, as well as their packaging. So we thought, why make you wait for ten days or even let you fall prey to random rumours and leaks that are floating around the internet. Here’s a small collection of images of the OnePlus 11 5G as well as the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 that will give you a fair idea about their design and aesthetics. We will bring you more details and reviews of these products soon after their launch on 7th February 2023. OnePlus 11 5G: First look A minimalist red OnePlus box is a popular visual for most of their phones, and that remains a constant here.  Let’s take a quick peek at what’s inside the box. Though we cannot elaborate, things are

Samsung Galaxy Book 3 series of flagship laptops are slated to launch at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event, which will take place on February 1. The South Korean tech giant has opened the pre-booking for these laptops, despite not revealing any details about them. Now, a new report has surfaced that includes supposed design renders of the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, Galaxy Book 3 Pro, and Galaxy Book 3 360. The report has also shed some light on some of the key specifications of these upcoming laptops. According to a MySmartPrice report , Samsung will launch five Galaxy Book 3 series laptops at Galaxy Unpacked 2023 on February 1. The publication, in collaboration with tipster Ishan Agarwal, has shared the design renders of the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, Galaxy Book 3 Pro, and Galaxy Book 3 360. Starting with the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, the laptop will come with a stylus. As the name suggests, this upcoming convertible laptop is said to feature a 360-degree hinge. It is expected to run on Window