Tech Bites

When it comes to sensitive subjects like national security, filmmakers often resort to a jingoistic tone. Dramatic speeches, theatrical dialogues, mawkish music and factually incorrect portrayals underpin the story. Thankfully, that's not the case with Netflix's latest original series, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, which brings a refreshingly dispassionate approach to genre. The show takes us back to December 1999, when five terrorists took over the control of an Indian Airlines flight, en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, over an eight-day period. The incident has since gone down in Indian history as a chilling reminder for the unpreparedness of the government, the numerous bureaucratic lapses and painfully long negotiations with terrorists that eventually led to the release of hostages; Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava's retelling lays it all bare. Over the six episodes, we witness the chaos and devastation that unfolded, both onboard the plane and on the ground, as th

Redmi 14C was launched by the company on Friday. The smartphone arrives as a successor to the Redmi 13C , a budget handset that made its debut in December 2023. The Xiaomi subsidiary has equipped the Redmi 14C with a 6.88-inch LCD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 5,160mAh battery with support for 18W charging. The phone is available in four colour options and features a 50-megapixel primary rear camera and has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication. While the company is yet to announce the price of the Redmi 14C, it is  reportedly  available for purchase in Czechia at CZK 2,999 (roughly Rs. 11,100) for the base model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the 8GB+256GB variant is priced at CZK 3,699 (roughly Rs. 13,700). Customers will be able to purchase the Redmi 14C in Dreamy Purple, Midnight Black, Sage Green, and Starry Blue colour options. The company has yet to announce plans to launch the handset in India. Redmi 14C Specifications The Re

Brazil's telecommunications regulator said on Friday it was suspending access to Elon Musk's X social network in the country to comply with an order from a judge who has been locked in a months-long feud with the billionaire investor. The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline on Thursday evening to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension. Musk has argued that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was trying to enforce unjustified censorship, while the judge has insisted that social media needs hate speech regulations. "They're shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil," Musk said in a post on X on Friday. The judge's ruling could cause X to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets, at a time when Musk has struggled with advertising revenue for the platform. X remained accessible in Brazil late on Friday, though some Brazilians posted on other platforms that their access to X was already bei

Elon Musk and his electric vehicle company Tesla won the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors by hyping the cryptocurrency Dogecoin and conducting insider trading, causing billions of dollars of losses. The decision was issued on Thursday night by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan. Investors accused the world's richest person of using Twitter posts, a 2021 appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and other publicity stunts to trade profitably at their expense through several Dogecoin wallets that he or Tesla controlled. They also said Musk deliberately drove up Dogecoin's price more than 36,000% over two years and then let it crash, with he and Tesla often timing trades to Musk's public statements and activities concerning Dogecoin. Investors said this included when Musk sold Dogecoin in April 2023 after replacing Twitter's blue bird logo with the Dogecoin Shiba Inu dog logo, causing Dogecoin's pric

Infinix Zero 40 series was unveiled in select global markets on Thursday. The lineup includes the  Infinix Zero 40 5G and the  Infinix Zero 40 4G handsets. They are equipped with a 108-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel front-facing cameras, and a 6.74-inch curved AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The lineup includes support for GoPro connectivity and is claimed to assist users while creating vlogs. The phones are slated to receive two OS upgrades — up to Android 16 — along with three years of security updates. Infinix Zero 40 5G, Infinix Zero 40 4G Price Infinix Zero 40 5G price  starts at $399 (roughly Rs. 33,500), while the 4G version begins at $289 (roughly Rs. 24,200). The company notes in the press release that the prices of the handsets will vary by region.  The handsets have also been  launched in Malaysia, where the price of the Infinix Zero 40 5G variant reportedly starts at MYR 1,699 (roughly Rs. 33,000), while the 4G option starts at MYR 1,200 (

Apple is yet to reveal the iPhone 16 series, but we are already hearing quite a few things about the iPhone 17 lineup. The flagship series, which will likely be unveiled in September 2025, is rumoured to bring several upgrades over the iPhone 16 series. Earlier this week, the iPhone 17 was tipped to arrive with a memory upgrade over its predecessor. Now, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shed more light on the specifications of the top-end iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple's premium handset is said to arrive with more RAM and an improved cooling system compared to the iPhone 17 Pro and other variants in the lineup. 12GB RAM Update Could Be Limited to iPhone 17 Pro Max Noted supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed his iPhone 17 Pro Max expectations on X Thursday. Kuo expects the flagship device to ship with 12GB of RAM. This will be a significant upgrade over the 8GB of RAM of the  iPhone 15 Pro lineup. The upcoming iPhone 16 series will likely pack 8GB of RAM across the board. Apple Intellig

Asus was one of the first laptop manufacturers to join the Snapdragon X Elite bandwagon. When Qualcomm announced the new chip for laptops and showed off all of its capabilities, Asus jumped right on board and introduced the Vivobook S15 OLED (S5507) . It's the first Vivobook to come with the chipset, and Asus claims impressive performance in a sleek form factor. I spent a couple of days trying out the laptop to find out if the claims were true, and here's what I found out. Our review unit, which has 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, is priced at Rs. 1,24,990 in the country, and it comes in a Cool Silver colourway. Asus Vivobook S15 OLED Design: Classy and slim Dimensions - 352.6mm (width) x 226.9mm (depth) x 14.7-15.9mm (height) Weight - 1.42kg Colours - Cool Silver The new Vivobook S15 OLED looks similar to the Intel Core Ultra model, but you will notice a few changes. It's still a very clean design with minimal styling, which I very much liked. You'll find the new Viv

OnePlus 13 is expected to launch as a successor to the  OnePlus 12 , which was unveiled in China in December 2023. The purported handset has been doing rounds of the rumour mill over the past few weeks. Key specifications of the phone including chipset, display, camera, battery and charging details have been leaked previously. The expected launch timeline, price range as well as design changes of the anticipated smartphone have been tipped. Now, a tipster has reiterated some of the key expected battery, charging and camera details. OnePlus 13 Specifications (Expected) According to a Weibo post by tipster Digital Chat Station (translated from Chinese), the OnePlus 13 is expected to be equipped with a 6,000mAh battery. The post was cited in a recent Gizmochina report . It added that the smartphone will likely support 100W wired and 50W wireless fast charging. The anticipated OnePlus 13 may get a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-808 camera sensor with an f/1.6 aperture. The handset is also said t

X (formerly Twitter) suffered an outage in India and globally during the early hours of Wednesday. The microblogging website, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, left users unable to access it or its features on both mobile and web platforms. Over 20,000 user reports were logged on a website which detects and monitors downtime activity. Its users also took to other social media platforms to complain unavailability of X and its services. Update: X appears to be functioning normally again, with posts displaying on all feeds at around 9:15 am IST, nearly 30 minutes after users reported that the service was inaccessible. X Down On the downtime tracking website Downdetector, users registered 27,700 reports about not being able to access the microblogging platform. The problems arose around 8:46 am IST when the complaints spiked to 27,701. When using the app, they encountered a “posts aren't loading right now” message, with X suggesting they “try again”. X Feed Not Being Able

Mpox , a viral disease that has been around for decades, is currently experiencing a surge in cases across multiple regions. The complexity of this outbreak stems from the fact that three different variants are spreading simultaneously in different populations and locations. The most affected areas include the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries, where two distinct clades of the virus , Ia and Ib, are causing significant concern. These clade strains have shown varying transmission patterns and impacts on different age groups, making the situation challenging to control. Spread of Clade I and Its Impact In the DRC, Clade I has been present for many years, mainly affecting children in the western and central regions. This variant typically spreads from animals to humans, with limited human-to-human transmission. However, according to a  report  by Science.org, the spread has now extended to the eastern parts of the country, where it primarily affects adole

Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition has been unveiled in China. The handset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset paired with 12GB of RAM. It is backed by a 5,200mAh battery with support for 45W wired fast charging. It is equipped with a dual rear camera and features an optical in-display fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. The smartphone is available in a glass finish as well as a vegan leather finish. The company introduced the  Realme 13 Pro+  and  Realme 13 Pro  in India in July, and this model is the latest arrival in the series. In China, only the Pro+ version of the Realme 13 is available alongside the newly launched Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition. Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition Price Realme 13 Pro Extreme Edition price starts at CNY 2,099 (roughly Rs. 24,700) for the 12GB + 256GB option, while the 12GB + 512GB variant is priced at CNY 2,399 (roughly Rs. 28,300). The handset is available for purchase in China via Realme's website . It is offered in

Vivo T3 Pro 5G is all set to launch in India this week and Vivo now seems to be gearing up to unveil another T series handset — Vivo T3 Ultra. Ahead of the official announcement, the handset has surfaced on the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) certification website and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The listings confirm the phone's moniker and model number. The Vivo T3 Ultra is expected to go official in India in September. The unannounced Vivo T3 Ultra was spotted on the Bluetooth SIG website with model number V2426. The listing does not reveal any specifications of the handset. Additionally, as reported by TheTechOutLook, the Vivo T3 Ultra has appeared on the BIS website with the same V2426 model number. The screenshots of the listing shared by the publication suggest that the phone received the certification on August 22. The alleged listing suggests that the phone may launch in India soon. Vivo has not yet announced any details regarding the launch of the Vi

For those seeking a smartphone that delivers an exceptional party experience, the OPPO F27 5G emerges as a clear favourite. Loaded with advanced features, this device has been designed to offer an immersive multimedia experience, making it ideal for users who prioritise entertainment. From its elegant halo light design, armour durability and top-notch display to its versatile AI camera system, long-lasting 5000mAh battery and powerful performance, the OPPO F27 5G is truly impressive. Design That Stands Out   The OPPO F27 5G isn't just another smartphone. It's a finely crafted piece of tech. The Halo Light adds another level of excitement, offering customisable lighting effects that sync with your music and notifications. This unique feature will make you the centre of attention at any gathering. Available in the striking colours of Emerald Green and Amber Orange, this phone is full of style and sophistication. The slim profile measures 7.69mm in Emerald Green and 7.76mm in

Get ready for a spectacular celestial event this Saturday morning, August 24, when six planets will align in the sky. Following a similar event on June 3, skywatchers will have another chance to view Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury all at once. This planetary parade, while not extremely rare, is a highlight of 2024, which has already delivered a total solar eclipse and the Aurora Borealis. Viewing Times and Locations The best time to catch this astronomical show in the US will be between 5:45 a.m. ET and sunrise, which is at 6:15 a.m. ET. Saturn will be the first to appear, followed by Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars. Mercury will emerge shortly before sunrise. For optimal viewing, the New York state region offers the most advantageous spot. However, people across the US will have opportunities to see this event, though the visibility window may vary slightly by location. Global Visibility This planet parade will also be visible in various regions around the

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE — the company's purported successor to the Galaxy S23 FE handset that was launched a year ago — has reportedly been listed on the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website, which is an indicator that it might soon be launched in global markets. The model numbers of the batteries for the Galaxy S24 FE gave also been spotted on a Korean regulator's website. The 'Fan Edition' model is expected to arrive as the most affordable model in the Galaxy S24 series of smartphones. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE Spotted on US FCC, South Korea's KTC Websites The rumoured Samsung Galaxy S24 FE was spotted on the US FCC website with the model number SM-S721B/DS by 91Mobiles. The listing reportedly confirms some of the specifications of the handset. It will support Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSS, and NFC connectivity, according to the listing, which reveals that the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE is also expected to arrive with support for 18 5G bands. Meanwhile, tw

Vivo Y18i was launched on Friday as an affordable smartphone priced under Rs. 10,000 with 4G connectivity and a 5,000mAh battery. It is powered by a Unisoc T612 chipset and runs on Funtouch OS 14, which is based on Android 14. The Vivo Y18i features a 6.56-inch LCD screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, as well as a 13-megapixel rear camera. The handset is powered by a 5,000mAh battery and it has an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance. Vivo Y18i Price in India, Availability Vivo Y18i price in India is set at Rs. 7,999 for the sole 4GB+64GB RAM and storage configuration. The handset is sold in Gem Green and Space Black colour options and is already available for purchase via the company's e-store, Amazon , Flipkart , and retailers like Croma . Vivo Y18i Specifications The dual-SIM (Nano+Nano) Vivo Y18i runs on Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14. It sports a 6.56-inch HD+ (720x1,612 pixels) LCD screen with a refresh rate that ranges between 60Hz and 90Hz and a peak brightness of 5

Microsoft said on Friday it would hold a summit in September to discuss steps to improve cybersecurity systems, after a faulty update from CrowdStrike caused a global IT outage last month. The conference marks the first big step by Microsoft to address the issues that affected nearly 8.5 million Windows devices on July 19, disrupting operations across industries ranging from major airlines to banks and healthcare. The event will be held on Sept. 10 at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The company will invite government representatives to the gathering, it said in a blog. "The CrowdStrike outage in July presents important lessons for us to apply as an ecosystem," Microsoft said. The outage raised concerns that many organizations are not well prepared to implement contingency plans when a single point of failure such as an IT system, or a piece of software within it, goes down. "We look forward to bringing our perspective to the discussions with Mic

Meta Platforms has canceled plans for a premium mixed-reality headset intended to compete with Apple's Vision Pro , the Information reported on Friday. The company told employees at its Reality Labs division to stop work on the device this week after a product review meeting, the report said citing two Meta employees. The axed device was internally code-named La Jolla and was scheduled for release in 2027, the report said. It was going to contain ultrahigh-resolution screens known as micro OLEDs — the same display technology used in Vision Pros. The virtual and mixed reality headset market gained renewed attention with Apple's entry last year, but its Vision Pro has struggled to sell due to the pricy $3,500 tag. Meta's Reality Labs division, responsible for developing and marketing the Quest line of headsets, has incurred billions in losses. Still, CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the future of augmented and virtual reality technologies. The existing lin

Google has appointed Noam Shazeer, the former head of startup Character.AI and before that a long-time Google researcher, to co-lead its main AI project. Shazeer will serve as a technical lead on Gemini , joining the other co-leaders Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals, the company said in a memo to staff. Gemini is the line of AI models being developed by DeepMind , Google's AI division, and which are being integrated into products such as Search and Pixel smartphones. Shazeer recently rejoined Google from the chatbot maker he founded in 2021 with the US tech giant paying billions to bring him and a handful of other employees into DeepMind and to strike a licensing agreement with Character.AI. "We are thrilled to join the best team on earth building the most valuable technology on earth," Shazeer wrote in an email reply to the memo which was seen by Reuters. The memo was first reported by The Information. Shazeer first joined Google in 2000, two years after its inception

iPhone 16 family comprising vanilla iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max are due to arrive this September. The rumour mill about the new lineup has been churning away for months and most recently, a hands-on video of dummy units of the iPhone 16 series has emerged on the Web. The video suggests the camera specifications of upcoming Apple handsets. The iPhone 16 lineup is also said to feature an all-new Capture button. The vanilla models are seen to have a dual rear camera unit, while the Pro models appear to have three sensors at the rear. iPhone 16 Series Camera Specifications Leak In a video  posted online by AppleInsider, the camera units and action button of the iPhone 16 series were leaked. As per the hands-on video of the dummy units, both iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will feature a dual rear camera setup comprising a 48-megapixel primary wide camera with f/1.6 aperture and up to 2x zoom and a secondary ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture and .5x zo

Infinix Zero 40 5G is expected to launch soon as a successor to the  Infinix Zero 30 5G , which launched in India in September 2023. The phone will likely come alongside a 4G variant, which is expected to succeed the Infinix Zero 30 4G. Details about the purported handsets have previously been tipped. Now, live images of the Infinix Zero 40 5G have surfaced online. Some key specifications of the phone, alongside a probable launch date, have also been tipped.  Infinix Zero 40 5G Launch, Design, Colour Options (Expected) According to a Gizmochina report , the Infinix Zero 40 5G is said to launch on August 29. The report did not suggest an expected price but said that it would be a mid-range range offering, similar to the preceding version. Notably, at launch, the Infinix Zero 30 5G was  priced at Rs. 23,999 in India for the base 8GB + 128GB option, while the 12GB + 256GB variant sold at Rs. 24,999. The aforementioned report added that the Infinix Zero 40 5G will likely launch in Movi

Apple's iPhone 16 series of smartphones is expected to launch in global markets soon, comprising four models — the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. While Apple doesn't reveal any details of unreleased products, the upcoming smartphone lineup has been leaked on several occasions. This year, all four iPhone models are tipped to arrive with support for Apple Intelligence features, while the 'Plus' variant is said to pack a smaller battery compared to its predecessor. iPhone 16 Series Price (Leaked) According to details shared by Apple Hub in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the standard iPhone 16 will be priced at $799 (roughly Rs. 67,100) for the base model with 128GB of storage. Pricing for the larger iPhone 16 Plus is said to start at $899 (roughly Rs. 75,500). The iPhone 16 Pro will be priced at $1,099 (roughly Rs. 92,300) for the 256GB storage configuration, while the top-of-the-line iPhone 16 Pro Max will cost $1,199 (rough

Tecno Spark Go 1 was launched as the latest entrant in the company's Spark series. The new smartphone by the Transsion Holdings-owned company comes in two colourways and four RAM and storage options. It runs on the Unisoc T615 SoC along with up to 8GB of RAM. The Tecno Spark Go 1 boasts a 6.67-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate. It has an IP54-rated build and packs a 5,000mAh battery, which supports 15W charging. Tecno Spark Go 1 availability Price and availability details of Tecno Spark Go 1 are yet to be announced. It is currently listed on Tecno's official website in Glittery White and Startrail Black colourways and four RAM and storage configurations — 6GB + 64GB, 8GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB, and 8GB + 128GB. Tecno Spark Go 1 specifications Tecno Spark Go 1 runs on Android 14 Go Edition and features a 6.67-inch HD+ (720x1,600 pixels) 120Hz refresh rate. The display has a hole punch cutout for the selfie shooter. The phone also gets a Dynamic Port feature that displays n

Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 was unveiled on Tuesday as Qualcomm's latest midrange smartphone processor. The new chipset is the most affordable model in the lineup that also includes the more powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. The chipmaker says that its newest processor will enable the use of generative AI features on more mid-tier smartphones. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is also claimed to offer up to 20 percent and 40 percent improved CPU and GPU performance, respectively. Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Availability Timeline Xiaomi will launch the first smartphone with the newly announced Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (SM7635) in September, according to Qualcomm. Other device makers — including  Realme , Samsung , and Sharp — will also introduce handsets equipped with the chipset in the coming months. Smartphones that run on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 are likely to arrive at a lower price than those powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 — these chipsets were unveiled by