India among 13 countries to host Windows 10 launch

Microsoft is hosting events across 13 global cities, including New Delhi, to launch the latest edition of its operating system.

NEW DELHI: India will be one of the 13 countries to host the mega launch of the much-awaited Windows 10, the latest version of the popular operating system, by global giant Microsoft on July 29.

Microsoft is hosting events across 13 global cities, including New Delhi, to launch the latest edition of its operating system.

"We will celebrate the unprecedented role our biggest fans -- more than 5 million Windows Insiders -- played in the development of Windows 10 at special events in 13 cities around the world, including Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, New Delhi, Dubai, Nairobi, Berlin, Johannesburg, Madrid, London, Sao Paolo, and New York City," Microsoft said in a blogpost.

These celebrations will offer hands-on opportunities, experiential demos, entertainment and opportunities to meet the Windows team, it added.

Microsoft will launch Windows 10, a successor to the current Windows 8.1 operating system, across 190 countries on July 29 as a free upgrade or with new PCs and tablets.

Windows 10 has innovations like Cortana, Microsoft Edge and the Xbox app. Microsoft claims the new OS is faster, more secure and compatible.

Microsoft is also partnering 10 global and 100 local non-profits to make a cash investment of $10 million in support of their missions and to promote awareness of their causes.

"In addition to the global non-profits, starting in September, we will crowd source nominations for 10 non-profits in each of the following 10 countries: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the UK and the US. The 100 local winners will each receive a cash investment to support their work to upgrade the world," Microsoft said.

Mobile industry contributes $1.1 trillion to Asia Pacific economy: Study

Mobile operators directly contributed $286 billion to the total in 2014, equivalent to 1.2% of regional GDP and predicts that the Asia Pacific mobile industry will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2020.

SHANGHAI: The mobile industry in Asia Pacific contributes more than $1 trillion per year to the region's economy, fuelled by rising mobile broadband and smartphone penetration, a new report by GSMA said.

GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association) is an association of mobile operators and related companies devoted to supporting the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system.

The report also claims that the mobile industry contributed $1.1 trillion to the Asia Pacific economy in 2014, equivalent to 4.7% of the region's GDP and an increase of nearly $200 billion compared to the previous year, with over a quarter of this economic contribution generated directly by mobile operators.

"The Asia Pacific region features some of the world's most advanced mobile markets, as well as fast-growing emerging markets that are using mobile as a platform to deliver essential services such as education, healthcare and banking," said Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA.

"The report demonstrates how mobile is enabling digital inclusion and building digital societies across Asia, supporting a new era of innovation in areas such as digital commerce, the Internet of Things and mobile identity," he added.

It also states that Asia Pacific now accounts for half of the world's unique mobile subscribers and mobile connections and will continue to grow at a faster pace than the global average over the next five years, adding 600 million new unique subscribers by 2020.

According to the report, mobile operators directly contributed $286 billion to the total in 2014, equivalent to 1.2% of regional GDP and predicts that the Asia Pacific mobile industry will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2020, accounting for 5.9% of projected regional GDP by this point.

As per the report, in 2014 the mobile ecosystem directly and indirectly employed 12.5 million people in Asia Pacific, a figure expected to rise to 15 million by 2020.

"Asia Pacific has a unique opportunity to lead the global development of the mobile-powered digital society, putting mobile at the heart of a new digital ecosystem," said Bouverot.

"By implementing market conditions that encourage investment and innovation, the Asia Pacific region will be able to fully realize the positive transformative social and economic potential of mobile for the remainder of the decade and beyond," he added.

Also, the report said the industry makes a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with approximately $130 billion contributed in 2014 in the form of general taxation. This is set to grow to over $150 billion by 2020.

Google doodle celebrates New Horizons Pluto flyby

The doodle was created by Kevin Laughlin in honour of New Horizons' intrepid voyage to Pluto's distant corner of the solar system
 WASHINGTON: Google celebrated the scheduled historic flyby of Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft around the dwarf planet Pluto with an adorable doodle.
The doodle shows a cartoonish New Horizons spacecraft zipping past the icy dwarf planet.
The doodle was created by Kevin Laughlin in honour of New Horizons' intrepid voyage to Pluto's distant corner of the solar system.
It took New Horizons nine years and three billion miles to reach its final destination. Today, the probe will pass within just 12,500 kilometres of Pluto's surface.
According to Nasa, New Horizon's journey and discovery made through it will be one of the greatest discoveries about space.
The Google doodle shows the job that New Horizons set out to accomplish nine years ago. The cartoon approximation of Pluto boasts the same heart-shaped geographical feature that set the internet abuzz last week.
The spacecraft will make scientific measurements and take images along the way.
Its successful execution will complete the initial reconnaissance of the "classical" nine planets in our Solar System.
"Earth is getting its first chance for an up close and personal peek at Pluto, the ball of rock and ice orbiting at the furthest edge of our solar system," Google said.
"The pictures New Horizons will send back to Earth are the first of their kind, painting scientists a more vivid picture of the far-off dwarf planet. Armed with these new insights, we'll be able to pave a path for the next milestone in mankind's journey of cosmic discovery," Google said.

16GB OnePlus One to be available at Rs 12,999

Unlike other unboxed or second-hand units, the units purchased via this website comes with six months of warranty by OnePlus.

NEW DELHI: Overcart.com, a website that sells refurbished and unboxed products in India, will put up the 16GB variant of the OnePlus One smartphone for sale in India, next week at Rs 12,999. Amazon used to sell the same model for Rs 18,999.

Unlike other unboxed or second-hand units, the units purchased via this website comes with six months of warranty by OnePlus.

The e-commerce website has earlier partnered with Xiaomi to sell refurbished units of Redmi 2S and Redmi Note 4G as well.

OnePlus One sports competitive hardware, including a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080P display, 13MP camera with F2.0 aperture and Sony image sensor, 5MP front camera, 3,100mAh battery, 4G-support and and NFC. It runs Cyanogen OS, a custom aftermarket version of Android developed by Cyanogen.

OnePlus One 16GB is available only in white colour, which distinguishes it from the gray-only 64GB variant of the same phone. The white model does not have the sandstone finish that the grey unit, and instead sports a plastic matte finish.

Facebook working on human-powered digital assistant: Report

The new software will be able to help people out through Messenger, its chat platform. 

Facebook is building a digital assistant that will be able to tell people what to buy, according to reports.

The new software will be able to help people out through Messenger, its chat platform. It won't be so similar to Cortana, Siri or Google Now — the assistants built by the big tech companies — instead focusing on help people research products and then handing them off to real people, according to The Information.

The new service will work like a concierge, according to the report. Like competitors including Operator and GoButler, it will aim to help connect users to the people that they want to order products from.