Author: Loknath Das

Samsung said on Tuesday it will be bringing Bixby, its virtual assistant, to India later this month, as the company announced the availability of the Galaxy Note 8smartphone. The arrival of Bixby in India further intensifies the battle for AI-powered digital assistants Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa, which is also set to be launched in the country later this year. The South Korean electronics company, which assumes the tentpole position among smartphone makers by both volume and brand value, said it had put months of rigorous efforts at its Research and Development centres in Bengaluru to understand and adapt to Indian dialects and contexts. Samsung…

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Children cannot be expected to walk three or more kilometres to attend school, the Supreme Court has said. It said to make the right of education meaningful, efforts should be made to have upper primary schools in such a manner that no children has to walk such a distance only to attend schools. The court was dealing with a matter in which permission granted to a school to upgrade itself was opposed by a nearby school in Kerala, which has the highest literacy rate in the country. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta noted that students…

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S. Anitha, who has reportedly committed suicide recently, had failed to make it through NEET (National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test), an exam now taken nationally to decide who can study medicine and who can’t. NEET is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Anitha who had scored exceptionally well in her Class XII exam of Tamil Nadu (TN) Board, failed to perform well in NEET. The state government had tried to resist NEET, and for a year it succeeded in providing TN students an exemption from NEET. Following Anitha’s death, protests against NEET have been held in Chennai. Anitha, a daily-wage…

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The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday declared the final results of Indian engineering service (IES) examination 2017 on its official website. Candidates can check their results by clicking here. The final list, in order of merit, of candidates recommended by the commission for appointment to various services/posts in the ministries/departments concerned has been made on the basis of results of the mains exam held in May and the interviews for personality test held in July-September 2017. The number of candidates recommended for appointment under different disciplines is 500. The appointments will be made in accordance with the extant rules…

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Finnish mobile games and animation studio Rovio Entertainment Ltd said on Tuesday that it was planning an initial public offering (IPO) and listing of its shares in Helsinki in a long-awaited move aimed to boost growth. The maker of the Angry Birds hit games and 3D movie said the IPO would consist of share sales by its biggest shareholders and a share issue of about EUR 30 million ($35.71 million). “We are very pleased with the company’s strong performance in recent years… The contemplated IPO and listing will offer new shareholders an opportunity to participate in Rovio’s success,” Chairman Mika Ihamuotila said…

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Destiny 2 was launched on Wednesday for the PS4 and Xbox One. The sequel to 2014’s original online-only sci-fi shooter game brings back some of the characters including Tess Everis and her Eververse Trading Company. This means that Destiny 2 brings back the microtransaction store where players can purchase Bright Engrams for rare items. Fans of the original Destiny will know how the Eververse works. Players will find Tess’ business set up under a tent at The Farm after the game’s third mission, Spark. The store lets players purchase Silver from their console’s store. Bright Engrams, which contain special loot, can be…

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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds recently hit a milestone with 10 million copies having been sold on Steam despite being in early access. While the numbers suggest that game is rising in popularity, a new report says that its blowing other non-Valve games away in hours spent daily on Steam. The over 10 million Battlegrounds players on Steam are logging in some serious daily playtime, according to data posted by Steam Spy. The graph shows Battlegrounds beats the likes of GTA 5 and Fallout 4 on Steam. The chart shows an upward trend since its launch in March. Notably, the game does not follow the typical model of big launch numbers followed…

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HIGHLIGHTS Facebook is upping its efforts to diminish online suicide challenges Blue Whale challenge has taken many lives since its inception Facebook will remove terms, words related to such challenges At a time when reports of suicides linked to the Blue Whale challenge Internet game are sending shock waves through the country, Facebook on Friday said it is working with suicide prevention partners to collect phrases, hashtags and group names associated with online challenges encouraging self-harm or suicide. “We offer resources to people that search for these terms on Facebook,” the social media giant said. The Blue Whale challenge is said to psychologically provoke…

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HIGHLIGHTS WhatsApp has adding two new features The app now lets you put text-only updates You can also make use of a PiP feature WhatsApp has rolled out two new features – support for picture-in-picture and ability to have text as status message – on its Android and iPhone clients as the Facebook-owned instant messaging app continues to improve its functionality for its over one billion customers. The first feature, called picture-in-picture, allows users to resize the video calling window and move it around should they want to also text a friend or do something else. The company began testing the feature, which is also…

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HIGHLIGHTS Steam cannot be accessed in Malaysia This comes after the discovery of a game called Fight of Gods Valve has been asked to prevent Malaysian users access to the game Popular PC storefront Steam is inaccessible in Malaysia following its government blocking the service. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has blocked Steam for users in the country following the discovery of Fight of Gods – a fighting game where the likes of Buddha and Jesus square off against each other in hand-to-hand combat. It features deities like Odin, Amaterasu, and Moses. The recent additions of Gautama Buddha and Jesus that…

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