TECHNEWS

Blockchain technology startup Ripple Labs Inc confirmed to Reuters on Friday that it hired Amir Sarhangi, who had been leading Google’s rollout of a new wireless messaging system, as vice president of products. San Francisco-based Ripple, which is among the most well known startups trying to capitalise on the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, said it was excited to have Sarhangi leading its effort to develop a global payments network known as RippleNet. Alphabet Inc’s Google did not respond to a request to comment on whether it had filled Sarhangi’s role as head of RCS, or rich communications services. Sarhangi joined Google through its acquisition in 2015 of Jibe Mobile, a startup he founded and led that developed technology for wireless carriers to adopt RCS. The standard is seen as a successor to SMS texting as it better handles sending multimedia and commercial messages, such as receipts and airline boarding passes, over cell networks.  Google views th...

NEW DELHI:  Smartphone  sales are set to break records for the festive season this year, shrugging off the effects of a plunging  rupee , say analysts, with some even pegging online to outpace brick-and-mortar stores for the first time ever in the October-December quarter, on the back of aggressive launches and a slew of offers. Smartphone sales are expected to rise 24% in October over last year’s festive month, which is likely propel growth in the three-month period ending December, which typically contributes about a third to annual sales of companies, say analysts.  “Online is growing faster than the offline channel for  smartphones  in October. The online channel is set to grow 30% year-on-year, while offline will grow 20%. Further, there is a 10% jump in overall handset launches over last year,” Anshika Jain, a Counterpoint research analyst, told ET. The expected growth will dispel fears of some that the weakening rupee may force smartphone...

San Francisco, Oct 17: A second patent has been granted to Apple regarding the additions the company intends to incorporate in its originally planned foldable device. The second patent is focused on a flexible hinge and the use of a fabric for its housing, Patently Apple , an Apple-centric blog focused on the company's latest Intellectual Property (IP) developments, reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the description of the second patent claim reads: "An electronic device, comprising a 'flexible hinge' coupled between the first and second housing portions wherein the flexible portion of the housing comprises fabric." The iPhone-maker received its first patent to develop a foldable smartphone from the US Patent and Trademark office in November 2016 that described a display that could be opened and closed like a book, media had reported.  As smartphones continue to introduce larger and larger phablet sizes, there will come a point where intr...

 Google  is taking another shot at the  tablet market with its all-new  Pixel Slate  tablet. The company's new tablet takes on  Apple  iPad Pro and  Microsoft 's Surface Pro tablets. Google claims Pixel Slate combines a touch-first user interface, optimized Android apps and desktop-style features in Chrome OS.  It boasts of rounded edges and curved 2.5D glass. Measuring 7mm thin and weighing 1.6 lbs, Pixel Slate comes with a a display that covers nearly the entire front of the device. It boasts of Molecular Display with 293 PPI.  Pixel Slate includes 8MP cameras on both the rear and front, and the front-facing Duo Cam claims to provide an extra wide field of view with low-light performance. It has dual front-firing speakers.  Google claims that Pixel Slate offers up to 12 hours of battery life with typical mixed usage.  The new Google tablet is powered by the company's own Chrome OS and comes with a full desktop Chrome bro...

Google has finally given up on its aspirations to take on Facebook by shutting down its only social media platform Google Plus. The move comes after the internet search giant revealed that a security glitch had exposed the personal data of around 5,00,000 Google Plus Users . However, Google claims that this vulnerability went unnoticed and apparently no third-party was able to exploit the vulnerability to access user date. Having said that Google had decide not to reveal this security issue back in March when it was first discovered.  What happened?  Google discovered a bug in its Google Plus  People API. Explaining this bug, Google said, "With this API, users can grant access to their Profile data, and the public Profile information of their friends to Google+ apps. Now the bug in this API allowed access to private Profile fields of users to the Google+ apps. Around 438 apps could have used this API, states Google.  What personal data was vulne...

Google is to sell a revamped version of its smart glasses to businesses, more than two years after the original version of the product was cancelled. The company said Glass Enterprise Edition had improved battery life and felt more comfortable during long-term wear than before. However, it still resembles the original model, with a small see-through display and built-in camera. It will face competition from Microsoft's HoloLens among others. Many had assumed the project had been cancelled after the executive in charge, Tony Fadell, resigned last year. However, parent company Alphabet's X division continued to develop the technology and has now revealed its efforts in a post on the news site Medium. "Workers in many fields, like manufacturing, logistics, field services, and healthcare find it useful to consult a wearable device for information and other resources while their hands are busy," wrote project lead Jay Kothari. "That's...