First off, a very very Happy Independence Day to all our readers – and as is customary on Monday morning, we bring you wrap-up of all the posts published on trak.in last week. If you were offline for any reason, this is a great way to catch up with all the tech-buzz you may have missed!
Orkut’s founder, Orkut Büyükkökten, has not given up on the social media dream and has launched another one called ‘Hello’, that wants us to connect with other people who share the same passion and interests. It won’t be directly competing with Facebook for that matter, and will have a different USP.
Kerala Tourism Ministry now plans to adorn about 200 taxis in Dubai with Kerala tourism ads that would say ‘A Faraway Land Four Hours Away’. IANS says “The advertisement will focus on the high connectivity, popular destinations, backwaters and ayurvedic therapies of Kerala.”
The legend of Apple and iPhones is experiencing its worst ever crisis in India. As per new reports emerging, iPhones sales in India has dropped by 35% during Q2 of 2016, compared to Q2 of 2015. And due to low sales volume, iOS market share has been reduced by 50% as Android is threatening to capture the whole market with massive 97% share.
Facebook is in talks with various ISPs (Internet Service Providers) for expanding its Express WiFi programme for its commercial launch in India. Facebook has already completed the pilot-run of Express WiFi with 125 hotspots in partnership with the state-run telco, BSNL.
Unlike malwares, QuadRooter is an bug that exists in smartphones running on Android and housing Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The vulnerable chipsets pose a threat to 900 million Android devices at the moment, and some of the most popular, ‘secure’ and expensive smartphones out there.
Now whenever you search for a restaurant or a cafe on Google Search, you’ll have an option to check it out on Zomato or Swiggy and order food from these two apps. Adding this to its mobile version only right now, Google has closely integrated these two food delivery apps on its search engine.
In a somewhat expected move, Reliance Jio has partnered with Flipkart to offer its LYF branded 4G VoLTE smartphones. Flipkart would exclusively sell LYF Wind 3 and LYF Flame 8 smartphone.
Jet.com, which was launched in July, 2015, has been acquired by world’s largest retailer Wal-mart for $3 billion in cash and $300 million in stocks, which would be transferred in a phased manner. This acquisition is an interesting case study for the ecommerce industry, especially in India where analysts and experts have already predicted market saturation and low demand.
Adidas has got the approval from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to operate its retail stores under one wholesale entity. The company to planning to start the operations of these stores in 2017.
Online food ordering service Foodpanda, backed by Rocket Internet, has become profitable in two large regions it operates in – Central and East Europe and the Middle East Asian countries. Zomato had also become profitable in 6 regions this year, including the Middle East countries.
Once you’ve switched to “Wi-fi only”, the Google Maps app will work completely offline — no Wi-Fi needed! You will still be able to use other apps and the rest of your phone as you normally would. With this new update, they can now store offline areas in SD card too.
As per recent data coming from the Indian Govt., it was revealed that during 2015-16, total of 5.24 crore Indians paid income tax, which is 4.2% of the total Indian population. Also, Govt. has identified 1.36 crore Indians who have tax liabilities, but didn’t file any returns last year.
From now on, every Facebook user who had used ad-blockers such as Adblock Plus will have to accept advertisements on their desktops. The message is pretty simple: If you want to use a free service like Facebook, then you have to accept advertisements.
However, Within 48 hours of Facebook’s announcement regarding their fight against adblockers, they have been beaten hands down. Adblock Plus, which is the leading the crusade against advertisements has announced a workaround which blocks all Facebook ads on desktops.
In an industry-first move India’s leading telecom operator, Airtel has started offering extra data benefits to its home broadband users based on the number of Airtel connections (postpaid mobiles or DTH) they have.
WhatsApp version 2.16.8 on iOS and 2.16.229 on Android brings this latest update to iPhone and iPad users, who can now leave a voice recording, or a voicemail, if the other person does not pick up the call or cancels it altogether. This feature had been on Android in the beta mode until now.
Google had already excluded Flash from their advertising network and now everything on Google Chrome will be supported by HTML5. Flash will not be supported.
In one of the most logically-challenged decision ever taken by a state government, AAP led Delhi Govt wants all taxi apps to switch to digital meters instead of GPS-based meters and has decided to completely ban surge pricing.
Reliance Jio is planning to offer free Jio 4G SIM to anyone who purchases smartphone costing Rs. 10,000 and above. Under this preview offer, the users were offered unlimited 4G data, unlimited video calls and SMS, 4500 minutes of voice calls, and free access to Jio’s premium services
The ongoing Independence Day sales promotions by major ecommerce portals such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal has angered offline traders, yet again. Complaints have been raised and notice have been sent to the Commerce Ministry for alleged violation of FDI norms in ecommerce.
Kodak, widely known for imaging products and cameras, has entered the television market in India with 5 new HD LED televisions. The super-attractive market has seen the recent launches from LeEco, TCL and RInging Bells.
TRAI has unveiled a new portal called TRAI MySpeed Analytics web portal, that will provide information to customers about the network coverage, quality of signals and status of call drops. Call drops have been scrutinized by TRAI for long now, but the telco association has hit back at TRAI every time they try to take an action.
According to various reports that JioFi Router (a MiFi device) is now available to anyone starting tomorrow, and not just HP device owners. The JioFi MiFi device is a LYF product and would be available to the masses from 13th August at Reliance Digital, and Digital Xpress Mini stores at Rs. 2,899.
Govt. of India has introduced a slew of labor reforms which will benefit all employees and workers in the organized sector. Besides paving way for creation of new jobs, these amendments in the Factories Act, 1948 and The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 will encourage conversion of unorganized sector into organized sector, thereby pushing our economy as a whole.
In their annual ‘Richest People in Tech’ ranking for 2016, Forbes has declared Azim Premji as the richest tech billionaire in India with total assets worth $16.1 billion. He has been ranked #13 in the list.
Canada-based low-cost tablet and smartphone maker, DataWind has launched another smartphone in its PocketSurfer series. Called as PocketSurfer GZ, the phone is priced at Rs. 1,499 and comes with 1 year free internet browsing.
And, finally have a look at our most up-to-date Indian Startup Funding Deal list!
