tech news

Some applicants including Vedanta Foxconn JV are expected to re-apply for government incentives under the modified semiconductor scheme opening from June 1, according to sources. Under the Modified Semicon India Programme , the government has increased the financial incentive of 50 percent of the project cost for companies, consortia, joint ventures for setting up semiconductor fabs in India of any node (wafer size). In the old scheme, the incentives varied on the basis of wafer node size. Similarly, a fiscal incentive of 50 percent of the project cost is available for setting up of display fabs of specified technologies in India, a statement said on Wednesday. "Government has decided to invite new applications for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs in India from June 01, 2023, under the Modified Semicon India Programme. The applications will be received by India Semiconductor Mission ," the statement said. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev...

Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) was launched in the US on Tuesday. Motorola released the 4G version of the same phone earlier this month, named  Moto G Stylus (2023) . The 4G model is powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM, whereas the 5G version comes with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset. The handset comes with an inbuilt stylus, which is claimed to help users with content creation, animated illustrations on messaging apps, drawing or editing photos, and playing games. Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) price, availability The newly-launched Motorola smartphone is available in the US in a single variant of 6GB + 256GB, that is priced at $399.99 (roughly Rs. 33,100). On June 2, the phone will be open for sale at Cricket and starting June 16, the phone will be available for purchase on Amazon.com, Best Buy, and Motorola.com websites. The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) is offered in Cosmic Black and Rose Champagne colour options. Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) specificati...

The crypto market has remained consistently volatile for some days now, pushing most cryptocurrencies under the sector current. Bitcoin on Wednesday, May 31, saw a loss of 0.62 percent to trade at $27,623 (roughly Rs. 22.8 lakh). This range-bound movement from Bitcoin has remained slow for the last two weeks at least, on both national as well as international exchanges. The value of Bitcoin dropped by $92 (roughly Rs. 7,607) over the last 24 hours. “BTC has displayed resilience by bouncing back from this important support level, indicating a restoration of its positive momentum. As long as Bitcoin maintains its position above $27,480 (roughly Rs. 22.7 lakh) level, there is a potential for further upward movement, with the next resistance level expected to be around $28,000 (roughly Rs. 23 lakh),” the CoinDCX team told Gadgets 360, commenting on Bitcoin's market movement. Ether dropped by 0.98 percent to trade at $1,878 (roughly Rs. 1.55 lakh), showed the crypto price tracker by...

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is headed to PC on July 26 and with that, Sony has unveiled the new features coming to the port. Developer Insomniac Games has partnered with porter Nixxes Software once again to bring the once PS5-exclusive platformer to PC, promising ray-traced reflections and shadows, alongside support for ultrawide displays with 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios. Triple monitor setups haven't been ignored either, with the developer supporting up to 48:9 resolutions. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is now available to pre-order on Steam and Epic Games Store at Rs. 3,999. Akin to past PlayStation–PC ports, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart boasts a slew of enhancements and customisable button mapping when playing on keyboard and mouse. Of course, controllers are welcome, with the PS5's DualSense producing apt vibrations by way of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, so you can feel the in-game actions coming to life in your hands. Bear in mind that this feature...

The Indian government is poised to deny crucial funding for Anil Agarwal's chip venture, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, a setback to the billionaire's ambition to build India's 'own Silicon Valley.' The authorities are likely to inform the venture between Vedanta and Taiwan's Foxconn that it won't get incentives to make 28-nanometer chips, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The venture's application seeking billions in government assistance hasn't met the criteria set by the government, the report said. The project is still in search of a technology partner and a manufacturing-grade technology license for the construction of 28nm chips, it added. India's technology ministry, Vedanta and Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The setback comes at a time when Agarwal's metals and mining conglomerate is already grappling with reducing its significant debt load. Last year in Septembe...

Delhi Metro commuters will now be able to travel on the Airport Line using a WhatsApp- based ticketing service launched on Tuesday. The system allows commuters to receive a QR code-based ticket directly on WhatsApp, officials said. "Further enhancing the travel experience for its commuters in an easy-to-navigate digital mode, Delhi Metro today introduced a WhatsApp-based ticketing service for travel on its Airport Express Line," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said. The service was launched by DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar at the Metro Bhawan here in the presence of other senior officials. With the introduction of this facility, commuters on the Airport Line will now be able to use WhatsApp chatbot-generated QR code-based tickets from their smartphones. This facility will make commuting more efficient and seamless for commuters, especially national and international travellers heading to or coming from the airport, using the Airport Line, as they can now pu...

The US has come to a decision regarding the imposition of excise taxes on Bitcoin miners operating from within the country. The US will not be adding any new tax layer upon the US' Bitcoin mining sector as the proposal extended earlier this month has officially been scrapped. The development was confirmed to the media by a regulator in the US. It is noteworthy, that this decision comes immediately after US President Joe Biden clearly refused to slash the existing taxes on crypto gains. It seems, not levying an excise tax on Bitcoin miners is the US' way to keep earning from crypto taxes while also not pressurising the industry from all sides. Earlier this month, the US' Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) floated a proposal to have Bitcoin miners pay a tax equal to 30 percent of the total energy cost that they consumed in the crypto mining process. The decision to pull the plug on this proposal could be part of a bunch of tax-related rebates introduced by the US administra...

Global leaders should be working to reduce "the risk of extinction" from artificial intelligence technology, a group of industry chiefs and experts warned on Tuesday. A one-line statement signed by dozens of specialists, including Sam Altman whose firm OpenAI created the ChatGPT bot, said tackling the risks from AI should be "a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war". ChatGPT burst into the spotlight late last year, demonstrating an ability to generate essays, poems and conversations from the briefest of prompts. The program's wild success sparked a gold rush with billions of dollars of investment into the field, but critics and insiders have raised the alarm. Common worries include the possibility that chatbots could flood the web with disinformation, that biased algorithms will churn out racist material, or that AI-powered automation could lay waste to entire industries. Superintelligent machines The lat...

One-third of the planets orbiting the most common stars across the Milky Way galaxy may hold onto liquid water and possibly harbour life, according to a study based on latest telescope data. The most common stars in our galaxy are considerably smaller and cooler, sporting just half the mass of the Sun at most. Billions of planets orbit these common dwarf stars. The analysis, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that two-thirds of the planets around these ubiquitous small stars could be roasted by tidal extremes, sterilising them. However, that leaves one-third of the planets—hundreds of millions across the galaxy—that could be in a goldilocks orbit close enough, and gentle enough, to be possibly habitable. "I think this result is really important for the next decade of exoplanet research, because eyes are shifting towards this population of stars," said Sheila Sagear, a doctoral student at the University of Florida (UF) in the U...

Fast X has become the first Hollywood film in 2023 to break the 100-crore mark at the Indian box office. Universal Pictures has confirmed that the 10th main instalment in the globe-trotting action franchise has collected an impressive Rs. 105 crore (about $1.26 million) during its 11-day run since its theatrical release on May 19. From a global standpoint, Fast X has made $515.6 million (about Rs. 4,266 crore), securing its place as the third-biggest studio release of the year. It currently sits right behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , the former of which joined the billion-dollar club in less than a month. The new Fast and Furious movie has made $402 million (about Rs. 3,327 crore) from areas outside the US and Canada, which includes the aforementioned $1.26 million from India. Despite the high numbers, a Deadline report notes that the figures saw a 58 percent drop across 84 markets. Fast X raked in another $113.5 million (about Rs. 939 crore...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, publisher CD Projekt Red confirmed. The ridiculous feat, combined with the overall sales of the franchise, which includes 2007's The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings , makes it one of the most successful series of all time, with over 75 million units sold. The Witcher 3 now ranks ninth on the list of the best-selling titles in history, just short of Red Dead Redemption 2 , which has sold 53 million copies. Those numbers are expected to grow in the coming years, largely bolstered by the newly released next-gen update, which brings ray-tracing support, improved performance on consoles, and a slew of quality-of-life changes. “This shows the tremendous strength of the franchise,” Piotr Nielubowicz, CFO, CD Projekt Red said in a video summarising the company's Q1 financial results. “This makes us even more excited with what the future holds, and with our upcoming projects set in the Witcher univers...

Scientists have developed a simple, low-cost clip that uses a smartphone's camera and flash to monitor blood pressure at the user's fingertip. The clip developed by researchers at the University of California (UC) San Diego, US, works with a custom smartphone app and currently costs about 80 cents (Rs. 5.6) to make. The researchers estimate that the cost could be as low as 10 cents (Rs. 0.7) apiece when manufactured at scale. The technology, described in the journal Scientific Reports, could help make regular blood pressure monitoring easy, affordable and accessible to people in resource-poor communities, they said. It could benefit older adults and pregnant women, for example, in managing conditions such as hypertension, according to the researchers. "We have created an inexpensive solution to lower the barrier to blood pressure monitoring,” said study first author Yinan Xuan, a Ph.D. student at UC San Diego. "Because of their low cost, these clips could be han...

The Last of Us multiplayer game has reportedly hit a snag, with developer Naughty Dog scaling back the team working on the project. As per Bloomberg, publisher Sony has slowed down work on the long-gestating multiplayer experience, as a means to ‘reassess its quality and long-term viability.' The news comes briefly after the studio put out a tweet claiming that the game needs more time to cook, in addition to announcing an undisclosed brand-new single-player title. Fans were expecting updates about The Last of Us multiplayer game during the PlayStation Showcase event, held last week, but Naughty Dog was a no-show. In a blog post from January , Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann claimed that the studio was preparing to reveal more information on The Last of Us multiplayer game, sometime ‘later this year' — meaning, it probably wasn't eyeing a launch in 2023. The Bloomberg report notes that while the title has not been cancelled, several of its developers have been...

Big tech is going big on generative AI. Almost every tech product is set to add generative AI features in some form or the other. Amazon Alexa, the popular virtual assistant, is also getting its dose of conversational AI tools that can help accelerate the company's vision to create a great AI-powered personal assistant. "It's now a question of just how do we implement it," said Dave Limp, senior VP of devices and services, in a recent media briefing at the company's headquarters in Seattle, US. The goal is to enable Alexa to have more natural conversations with users. Generative AI can help achieve that goal even faster. During the briefing, Limp also explained why Amazon cannot simply take ChatGPT and throw it into Alexa. He explained that such large language models tend to "hallucinate" from time to time. For a virtual assistant like Alexa, that could spell trouble. Customers rely on Alexa's capabilities to offer accurate information — be it pr...

BGMI was relaunched in India on Monday, and the popular battle royale game can now be played on iOS and Android smartphones, nearly a year after it was banned in the country. Developer Krafton says it has imposed restrictions on playing Battlegrounds Mobile India , with daily time limits. The latest update to the game — the first to arrive since June last year — brings a new map based on a small resort island located in a tropical zone, along with new in-game events, and updates to classic maps in the game. On Monday, Krafton announced the relaunch of BGMI in India, two days after it allowed Android users to preload the game in advance. Both iOS and Android users can now download BGMI via the App Store and Play Store respectively, but Krafton says that playability will be staggered and users will be able to login in phases within 48 hours.  According to Krafton, BGMI will restrict playtime for users in India based on their age. Minors playing the game will be limited t...

John Wick: Chapter 4 ended its theatrical run recently, but that hasn't stopped production studio Lionsgate from considering a sequel. During its Q4 2023 earnings call, Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake confirmed that John Wick 5 is in early development, alongside teasing a bunch of other projects in the billion-dollar hitman franchise. Longtime director Chad Stahelski previously stated that he was open to working on a fifth movie and claiming that the new villain Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) was being brought in to reset the John Wick calendar. “We're now moving across that franchise, not just in the AAA video game space, but looking at what the regular cadence of spin-offs, television really growing that universe so that there is a steady cadence of a franchise that there's a clear appetite by the audience,” Drake said during the call (via Collider ). The Ana de Armas-led Ballerina is confirmed to be the first spin-off in the John Wick franchise, cent...

Tecno Camon 20, Camon 20 Pro 5G, and Camon 20 Premier 5G were launched by the company on Saturday. The new series of smartphones is equipped with chipsets from MediaTek and sport AMOLED displays. The Tecno Camon 20 and Tecno Camon 20 Pro feature similar specifications including a 64-megapixel primary camera, while the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G packs a 50-megapixel camera. All three handsets are equipped with 5,000mAh batteries. The company is yet to announce pricing and availability details of the more expensive Camon 20 Premier 5G. Tecno Camon 20, Camon 20 Pro 5G, and Camon 20 Premier 5G price in India and availability Tecno Camon 20 price in India is set at Rs. 14,999 and the handset goes on sale today in a single 8GB + 256GB RAM and storage option in Glacier Glow, Predawn Black, and Serenity Blue colour options. The Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G , on the other hand, is priced at Rs. 19,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, while the 8GB + 256GB variant is priced at Rs. 21,999. Bot...

China will send its first civilian astronaut into space as part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, its Manned Space Agency announced, as Beijing pushes ahead with its extra-terrestrial ambitions. The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars into its military-run space programme, trying to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of belatedly matching their milestones. Until now, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been part of the People's Liberation Army. "Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics," China Manned Space Agency Spokesperson Lin Xiqiang told reporters Monday. Gui will be "mainly responsible for the on-orbit operation of space science experimental payloads", Lin said. The commander is Jing Haipeng -- on his fourth mission into space, according to state media -- and the third crew member is engineer Zhu Yangzhu. The...