Logitech Z337 Bold Sound Speakers With Bluetooth Support Launched at Rs. 6,995

Logitech on Thursday launched its Z337 Bold Sound With Bluetooth speakers in India at Rs. 6,995. The new 2.1 desktop speakers, which feature support for Bluetooth streaming, will go on sale from Thursday itself. Notably, the Logitech Z337 Bold Sound With Bluetooth desktop speakers can be used with wires or wirelessly as per the user's preference.

"The Z337 is Logitech's first desktop Bluetooth audio solution that builds a convergence of great sound quality and convenience of wireless music for the users." Ashok Jangra, Logitech Cluster Category Manager for India & South West Asia, was quoted as saying in company's release. "What's more, we've made it really easy to stream from different content sources. Just pause on one device, and play on another to simply make the switch," he added.

The Z337 Bold Sound With Bluetooth speakers come with a control pod that provides users with essential speaker controls, such as power, volume, and Bluetooth pairing. There also a 3.5mm headphone jack to allow users to listen quietly. Further, there is a dedicated knob on the back of the subwoofer that allows users to adjust the bass level as per their requirement. Users can pair more than one device at a time (maximum limit not specified) and switch between them via the source devices. It bears a 40W RMS main speaker, two 8W satellite speakers, and one 24W subwoofer.

"With 80 watts peak power, this speaker system brings all your favourite content to life with clear sound and strong bass. In addition to the wireless connection, the users get to use the conventional ways by connecting the Logitech Z337 to your content source via either a 3.5mm or RCA input - so it's easy to hook up to a monitor, a computer or video game console, while still enjoying wireless connectivity with other devices," the company said in its release.

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Asus ZenFone Live With Real-Time Beautification Camera Launched

 

Taiwanese handset maker has unveiled its new ZenFone Live smartphone which targets selfie lovers. One of the biggest highlights being promoted by the company is ZenFone Live's real-time beautification camera. The company is yet to announce availability and launch price of the new ZenFone Live.

The Asus ZenFone Live comes with the company's new BeautyLive app, which is a live-streaming beautification app. The company claims that the beautification app can remove blemishes in real time. ZenFone Live also comes with built-in MEMS microphones that automatically detect and eliminate background noise. The BeautyLive app can integrate with Facebook, YouTube, and other streaming apps.

The Asus ZenFone Live (ZB501KL) features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display with a screen-to-body ratio of 75 percent and also comes with Bluelight Filter feature. It runs ZenUI 3.5 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It is powered by quad-core Qualcomm processor though Asus has not revealed the chipset details. It comes with 2GB of RAM and comes in 16GB and 32GB storage options. The smartphone also supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 128GB). Asus has confirmed that the ZenFone Live users will get up to 100GB free storage on Google Drive for two years. The dual-SIM device supports 4G LTE on both the SIMs. Though, Asus points out that only one SIM card can connect to 3G WCDMA/ 4G LTE service at a time.

The smartphone sports 13-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture, autofocus, and LED flash. It also packs a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1.4-micron pixel size, and soft light LED flash. The front camera comes with modes such as Low Light, Manual Mode (for DSLR-like camera detail settings), Night, and Selfie modes. The ZenFone Live comes with accelerator, e-compass, proximity, and ambient light sensors. The handset is backed by a 2650mAh non-removable battery.

The Asus ZenFone Live measures 141.2x71.7x7.9mm and weighs 120 grams. It will be available in Shimmer Gold, Rose Pink, and Navy Black colours.

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What Exactly Is Wrong With Xiaomi?

Although it crossed $1 billion in revenue in 2016 within the first two years of its operations in India, Xiaomi - once touted as the "Apple" of China - has slipped to fourth spot back home as the demand for its smartphones declined 22 per cent annually - eventually taking it to seventh spot in the global smartphone ranking with a 16 per cent drop in sales.

The decline came even as Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's high-profile head of international operations, left the company in January and joined Facebook to lead its virtual reality (VR) project.

According to the experts, the key reason for this decline is Xiaomi's rivals racing ahead with key features, better innovations, bigger marketing budgets and wider online and offline distribution channels.

"Until 2016, Xiaomi relied only on online channels for smartphone sales which contributes approximately 30 percent of the total smartphones sales in China, leaving a huge chunk of the market untapped. Its competitors invested heavily in building strong offline channels, expanding their reach to tier-2 and tier-3 cities and moving ahead of Xiaomi," Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems at market research firm Counterpoint Research, told IANS.

Another reason for Xiaomi's slipping growth is the rising average selling price (ASP) of the maturing China smartphone market, experts noted.

"Bulk of the sales in China is coming from upgrades where Huawei, Oppo and Vivo are gaining market share while Xiaomi remains in the below-$150 (roughly Rs. 10,000) category. Xiaomi also lacks in research and development unlike its Chinese counterparts which are vertically integrated," Srivastava added.

An email sent to the company for its reaction to the decline in global smartphone sales didn't elicit any response.

Xiaomi's main markets have been China and India which combined get more than 95 percent shipment share. While performance in India improved in 2016, the company lost market share in China resulting in the decline of overall global smartphone ranking.

Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have emerged as clear winners with Oppo and Vivo registering significant growth in China.

Shipping 44.9 million iPhones to China, even Apple has beaten Xiaomi that shipped 41.5 million smartphones in 2016, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed earlier this month.

According to IDC's "Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker" report, Apple dropped from 58.4 million iPhones in 2015 and Xiaomi from 64 million Mi phones - drops of 23 percent and 36 percent, respectively.

Amid the global gloom, it is the Indian smartphone market that has helped Xiaomi gain profits.

"They (Xiaomi) have already established their presence in India with a revenue of more than $1 billion in 2016 in the country. They will keep going as they have a strong management team," Jaideep Mehta, Managing Director, IDC South Asia, told IANS.

"On Barra, I would say that a senior executive has just moved on. Of Course, he will be missed, but the company is bigger than one individual," he added.

Coincidently, Xiaomi is not going to showcase any product at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's largest event, in Barcelona, Spain, later this month. There are reports that Xiaomi doesn't have new devices to showcase during the MWC show.

This indicates there is something wrong somewhere and the company needs to plug the problem fast before its global presence plunges further.

"To recover and sustain growth, Xiaomi will have to focus on building strong offline channels as it will open up a significant market for the company. It needs to concentrate more on its R&D and come up with a device in the higher-mid end segment for the increasing Chinese middle-class population with higher disposable incomes," Srivastava emphasised.

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Founder of Freedom 251 Phone Arrested, Accused of Death Threat Too

The founder of the tech firm that shot to prominence by offering a $4 or Rs. 251 smartphone has been arrested on allegations of fraud, after a handset dealer accused the company of not refunding him for an unfulfilled order, the police said.

Mohit Goel, the founder of Ringing Bells, was arrested yesterday in Uttar Pradesh said Rahul Srivastav, a police spokesman in Uttar Pradesh.

The dealer said he received only Rs. 14 lakhs in new phones and cash. When he pursued Ringing Bells for a refund for the unfulfilled order, the dealer said Mr Goel and another executive at the mobile phone maker threatened to kill him and his family.

Ringing Bells could not be immediately reached for a comment.

Mr Goel and his company made headlines last year with the "Freedom 251" smartphone, which was priced at Rs. 251 ($3.77), attracting strong demand but also widespread scepticism and scrutiny from regulators.

The founder was arrested after a dealer said he had paid Rs. 30 lakhs for an order of handsets but had received only a fraction of the order. He further said some of the phones received were defective, according to the police.

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LG X power2 With 4500mAh Battery Launched

 

LG has decided to unveil a mid-ranger X power2. The smartphone will be available sometime in March in Latin America first, followed by US, Asia, Europe and other regions. Pricing of the LG X power2 will vary depending on region. While the device sports mediocre specs and design, the big highlight of the smartphone is its huge battery. This latest entrant is targeted especially for multi-taskers and heavy app users.

While exact pricing and availability is still not known, LG has released key specifications of the X power2. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) In-cell Touch Display, and is powered by a 1.5GHz octa-core processor. It offers 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, with the option to expand further with the help of a microSD card (up to 2TB).

Talking about the camera, the LG X power2 sports a 13-megapixel rear sensor with LED flash, and a 5-megapixel front camera with soft-light LED flash for better selfies. The other big highlight is that the smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The device will be made available in Black Titan, Shiny Titan, Shiny Gold, and Shiny Blue colour variants.

As mentioned, the big highlight is the 4500mAh battery that is claimed to operate for an entire weekend without recharging. A fully charged LG X power2 is said to playback videos continuously for approximately 15 hours, provide navigational directions for about 14 hours or surf the Web for around 18 hours. Furthermore, it supports fast charging, and the company claims that one hour of charging can fill up almost 50 percent of the battery on the smartphone.

The LG X power2 weighs 164 grams, and measures 154.7x78.1x8.4mm. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.2, USB 2.0, USB OTG, and gyroscope sensor. LG is also gearing up to launch the LG G6 flagship smartphone.The device is expected to come with Google Assistant integration, a large display, and a dual camera setup at the back. A lot is riding on this smartphone as LG looks to make up for its abysmal figures last year, due to the failure of the modular LG G5.

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NASA Asked by Trump Administration to Explore Placing Crew on SLS Rocket's Debut Flight

The Trump administration has directed NASA to study whether it is feasible to fly astronauts on the debut flight of the agency's heavy-lift rocket, a mission currently planned to be unmanned and targeted to launch in late 2018, officials said on Friday.

The study marks President Donald Trump's first step in shaping a vision for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Under former President Barack Obama, the US space agency was working on the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket and Orion deep-space capsule with the aim of sending astronauts to rendezvous with an asteroid in the mid-2020s, followed by a human expedition to Mars in the 2030s.

The request for the study from the new Republican president's administration tweaks that plan by exploring whether to add a crew to an earlier test flight and perhaps setting the stage for a human return to the moon.

NASA officials said they do not feel compelled to fly the test mission with crew aboard, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of human space flight, told reporters on a conference call.

"There's not pressure to go do this," Gerstenmaier said. "I find it encouraging that we were asked to go do this feasibility study."

The study is expected to take about a month. Engineers are assessing hardware changes, schedule delays, additional costs and increased risks of flying a two-member crew on the first flight of the Space Launch System rocket, which is about four times bigger and more powerful than any current US booster.

A NASA safety oversight panel on Thursday cautioned that the agency should have compelling reasons for adding crew to justify the extra cost, risk to human life and schedule delays.

"If the benefits warrant assumption of additional risk, we expect NASA to clearly and openly articulate their decision-processing rationale," Patricia Sanders, head of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said at a meeting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

If approved, the astronauts would fly aboard an Orion capsule, under development by Lockheed Martin Corp , and swing around the moon during an eight- to nine-day mission, similar to what the Apollo 8 crew accomplished in 1968.

Gerstenmaier said adding crew to the mission would not be worthwhile if it forced the flight to be delayed more than about a year.

The rocket's second flight, which is to include crew, is targeted for August 2021. The study will explore what would be gained technically by having a crew aboard sooner.

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Xiaomi Teases Its In-House Pinecone Processor in a Video

Xiaomi is busy promoting its in-house Pinecone processor which is all set to be revealed at an event on Tuesday. The Chinese company has shared a video that doesn't show any chipset but instead features Wang Feng, a Chinese mnemonist, who is two-time winner of the World Memory Championships.

The video basically shows Feng's ability to memorise different set of numbers, and seems to tip prowess of the upcoming Pinecone processor. The video was first spotted by Xiaomi Today.

A recent report claimed that the Chinese company will be launching its Pinecone V670 processor next week. As per the leaked details, the V670 will be an octa-core processor with "four high-frequency Cortex-A53 cores, and four Cortex-A53 low-powered cores." Further, the Pinecone V670 processor is said to be made on a 28nm process and come paired with an ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU. Apart from the Pinecone V670 processor, Xiaomi is also said to be working on a high-end Pinecone V790 processor which may launch later this year. The Chinese company is reportedly working closely with Samsung for the Pinecone V970 SoC, and is being built on a 10nm process.

The Pinecone processor is widely expected to debut on the company's Mi 5c smartphone that has been making rounds on the Internet.

Xiaomi's official invite has revealed that Pinecone processor announcement event will kick off at 2pm China time (11:30am IST) on Tuesday, and will be held at Beijing National Convention Center. Unfortunately, there is no word whether the event will be live streamed by the company. The Chinese company has already confirmed that it will be giving a miss to the biggest mobile industry event this year, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 trade show.

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Vivo Y55s Launched at Rs. 12,490: Release Date, Specifications, and More

Chinese handset manufacturer Vivo has unveiled its second smartphone this year, the Y55s, priced at Rs. 12,490. The new Vivo Y55s will be available in Crown Gold and Space Grey colours across the country from Sunday. The company says that the new Vivo Y55s is an upgraded version of the Vivo Y55L launched last year. The new Y55s comes with a more RAM and a bigger battery.

The Vivo Y55s features a 5.2-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display and comes with a 2.5D curved edge screen. It is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor clocked at 1.4GHz coupled with 3GB of RAM. The Vivo Y55L, on the other hand, was powered by Snapdragon 430 processor and came with 2GB of RAM. It runs the company's Funtouch OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The handset packs 16GB inbuilt storage and supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 256GB). It sports a 13-megapixel rear camera and also comes with a 5-megapixel front camera. The 4G-enabled Y55s is backed by a 2730mAh battery. The Vivo Y55L came with a smaller 2650mAh battery.

One of the highlight features of the Vivo Y55s is its Smart Screen-Split feature which will allow users to multi-task as well as use two apps simultaneously.

Commenting on the launch, Kent Cheng, CEO of Vivo India said, "After the success of Vivo V5 Plus, we hereby strengthen our Y series portfolio with the launch of this power packed device, the Y55s. We at Vivo are motivated by our endeavour to consistently set industry benchmarks by offering best in class features at affordable prices. Focused on our commitment in servicing customer satisfaction through quality products, we are hopeful that our latest innovation will be as successful as our previous offerings. We are confident that Vivo will have a great run in the year 2017."

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Chrome Users on Windows, Mac Being Targeted by 'Font Wasn't Found' Malware: Report

As more and more people get online, malicious activities to hack users personal information is on the rise. A new attack has just come to light that tricks users into installing malicious software, under the disguise of a font pack. It is reportedly affecting Google Chrome users on Windows and Mac both.

The exploit was spotted by NeoSmart Technologies, and it arrives as a pop-up on a few malicious sites. The report claims that this pop-up was seen on an 'unnamed' WordPress site. This pop-up doesn't look fishy, and comes with the original Chrome logo and the same blue colour palette that the browser uses. The text on the site doesn't render, allegedly due to the use of JavaScript to mis-encode text with symbols, and the box informs you that the "font wasn't found" (in this case, HoeflerText), and prompts you to download and install the fake Chrome Font Pack, called 'Chrome Font v7.5.1.exe', right away.

What is even worse is that neither Windows Defender nor Chrome recognises this software as malicious and allow users to download it - the report notes, adding that while it's not in Chrome's Safe Browsing blacklist, the company has been informed about it. Furthermore, the report claims that only nine out of the 59 antivirus scanners in its database correctly identified the file as malware. It is not yet known what damage this malware can do, but we would advise caution before downloading any unknown software.

While the pop-up message is made with much finesse, and doesn't easily give away hints of being fake, we recommend extra caution while downloading software through any such pop-ups on less legitimate sites online. Furthermore, ensure that you have good malware protection on your PC for secure browsing.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 Again Leaked in Live Image; Hints at Design Overhaul, Dual Cameras

Samsung's Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone has been again pictured ahead of the launch. The new leaked image purportedly shows the Galaxy S8 in a protective case and corroborates earlier leaks.

The new case leak again shows that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will indeed feature the fingerprint scanner at the back while reiterates design overhaul. There have been leaks pointing that Samsung may finally ditch its physical home button at the front and the latest leaked image again reiterates this. The company is also said to be adding a dedicated button for Bixby - Samsung's new AI assistant which will work with native apps as well. The new leaked image however doesn't show any such button. The new leaked image was first posted on Slashleaks.

The leaked image shows the alleged Galaxy S8 featuring the wallpaper that was earlier seen on the Galaxy Note 7 while the date on the lock screen says August 2. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify the credibility of the newly leaked image.

For specifications, the Galaxy S8 is widely rumoured to be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The handset is said to pack 64GB inbuilt storage while come with support for expandable storage via microSD card (up to 128GB). The Samsung Galaxy S8 is likely to sport 3250mAh battery. The smartphone is rumoured to go on sale by April 21.

A recent report claimed China prices for the Galaxy S8 - 6GB of RAM with 64GB storage variant is said to be priced at CNY 6,088 (roughly Rs. 59,000) while the 128GB storage variant is said to be available at CNY 6,488 (roughly Rs. 63,000). Samsung's Galaxy S8 is rumoured to cost EUR 100 (roughly Rs. 7,300) more than its predecessor.

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