Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) Facing Loudspeaker Issues After Recent Update, Some Users Report

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) has been reportedly hit by a loudspeaker-related issue following a recent software update. Several users are complaining about a strange loudspeaker sound cutout after installing the February security update rolled out by Samsung. This issue is apparently being noticed when the smartphone is being charged, but it also seems to occur in other cases as well. To recall, Samsung had launched the Galaxy A8 (2018) late last year, alongside the Galaxy A8+ (2018). While the latter made it into the Indian market, the former never had a launch in the country.

Reports of loudspeaker sound cutoffs in Galaxy A8 (2018) have emerged on Samsung's Community Forums. The affected users have claimed that the Galaxy A8 (2018) units seem to have the issue when they playing something on the loudspeaker, irrespective of it being a phone call, video, music, or a ringtone, as reported by folks at Piunikaweb. However, none of the users has reported on the cutoffs no being present when using the earpiece, headphones, or a Bluetooth speaker.

In several of the reported cases, hardware resets and factory resets do not seem to offer much help. Interestingly, some of the users have also claimed that the issue is present even when the phone is in charging mode, indicating that the problem could be related to the battery.

A user on YouTube has posted a video proof allegedly showcasing the sound issue during charging. As per the video, the problem appears to not affect the handset when the charging cable is plugged off, but it comes back when the user plugs in the cable again.

Meanwhile, affected users say Samsung support is asking them to give their devices in for repair. Several others have reported that even taking the Galaxy A8 (2018) to repair did not resolve the problem. However, there has been no official statement issued by Samsung as of now.

Many of the affected users have reportedly tried debugging steps via safe mode or even a factory reset, to no avail. Notably, users may need to wait until Samsung resolves the issue in its next OTA update - as it appears to be a software issue.

These iPhone users may not be able to access YouTube on WhatsApp

NEW DELHI: If you are an iPhone user and your phone is running on iOS 10 and below, then here’s some bad news for you. The popular instant messenger WhatsApp is reportedly dropping the support for its YouTube feature for iOS 10 and below users.

According to WABetaInfo, a Twitter account that tracks changes in WhatsApp’s beta builds has reported that the company is withdrawing YouTube support for iOS 10 and below. WABetaInfo tweeted, “WhatsApp has remotely disabled the YouTube support for iOS 10 and below, today! This feature will be an exclusive for iOS 11!”

Facebook-owned WhatsApp introduced the feature last year in November, which enables iPhone users to watch YouTube videos right in the app.
This is bad news for many of the iPhone users. As per the latest distribution numbers the there are 24% iPhones that run on iOS 10 and below and all of them will no longer have YouTube support in WhatsApp.


Recently, it was reported that WhatsApp will undergo major change and the company will roll out new features in the messenger. WhatsApp director Mubarik Imam announced the features at the ongoing F8 conference.

According to Imam, the features include stickers and group video calling. She also said that the app may also soon get some of the features of its business app, WhatsApp Business. Imam was talking at the company's annual developers conference F8.

Imam also said that Facebook-owned WhatsApp now has over 450 million daily users. She further added that over 2 billion minutes of video and audio calls are made through the instant messaging app every day.

As for stickers, she said the platform will also be open to third-party developers this means that they too will be allowed to make stickers for WhatsApp.

OnePlus smartphones set to get this exclusive Google feature

NEW DELHI: The Google Lens feature enables users to gather important information by using visual analysis. The company introduced the feature for the first time last year at company’s annual developer conference Google I/O. Soon, after the announcement, the company merged the feature with Google Assistant.

Until now, the feature was available only on Pixel and Nexus smartphones. But, now Chinese manufacturer OnePlus is rolling out the Google Lens to Assistant feature on OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones.

The feature was first spotted by a Reddit user named Agent8923. After the update, the Google Lens icon will appear at the bottom of Google Assistant. The camera app will open for visual identification as soon as a user taps on the icon. Once done, Google will then try to identify the object and will also show all the relevant information and results.




The update is said to be rolling out on OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones with the preferred language set to English.

Recently, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus announced that it will be launching its flagship smartphone OnePlus 6 in India on May 17. The smartphone is the successor to OnePlus 5T and will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor.

The smartphone will come with a dual rear camera setup and iPhone X-like screen notch feature. The OnePlus 6 is said to run Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box and the company is also expected to give Android P update to the smartphone. The handset will also be water resistant and will come with iPhone X-like gesture control features.

This WhatsApp message is crashing Android and iPhone users' smartphones globally

NEW DELHI: Here's another 'text bomb' freezing smartphones worldwide. And it's said to be targeting both Android and Apple iPhone users. In some cases, users have reportedly been forced to restart their smartphones.

A seemingly innocuous string of characters with an emoji at the end recieved as a forward on WhatsApp is claimed to be the culprit here. The said message reads: "This is very interesting!" and has a crying laughing emoji at the end.

According to a Reddit user, going by the name DieHoe, the message is crashing WhatsApp of both Android and iPhone users too. "It's somehow crashing some iPhone's WhatsApp too," he writes in the post.

"Best way to Send this message is by using a Computer and WhatsApp Web. The Message is so heavy, my smartphone is dying when I try to copy or paste it... The Pastbin website isn't even loading / working correctly on android. Once u sended the message u can forward it with WhatsApp on Smartphone..."



DieHoe also warns that the message in some cases is not only freezing WhatsApp, but also crashing smartphones. "Be careful. Sometimes not only WhatsApp is crashing, my whole system process gets stuck, and I need to restart my phone. Use it carefully," he adds in the posts.

Recently, another forwarded message is said to have 'hung' users' WhatsApp app for few seconds. This message reportedly reads, “If you touch the black point then your WhatsApp will hang.”
The message has a black icon, clicking on this is said to freeze the app or make it unresponsive.

The message thread is said to be crashing the app due to the blank space between the text and the black dot. The message when converted into HTML reveals that the text consists of RLM (right-to-left mark). This is an invisible formatting character which is used to distinguish between left-to-right text and right-to-left text.

In English text, LRM (left-to-right) directional formatting is used while the said WhatsApp message uses RLM. It is widely speculated that the use of wrong directional formatting character is instructing WhatsApp to change the direction from left-to-right to right-to-left, which ultimately results in the app crashing.

Recently, WhatsApp director Mubarik Imam announced that the app will soon receive some new features to enhance users' experience. These features include stickers and group video calling. Imam also said that the app will also get some of the features of its business app, WhatsApp Business, in the coming days. Imam made these announcements at the company's annual developers conference, F8.

Apple and Buffett saw value, and acted

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc was not the only one to leap on a chance to buy its stock at a fat discount last quarter as Warren Buffett stepped in to scoop up an additional 75 million shares for Berkshire Hathaway at the same time.

Between them - the two biggest players in the iPhone maker's shares - they bought nearly one of every 10 Apple shares traded during the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters calculations.

But the discount window did not stay open long, with Apple's stock back at a record high above $183 on Friday after trading in the mid-$150s for part of the first quarter.

The recovery in the share prices makes it less opportune for Apple's corporate treasury to execute purchases as it proceeds with an additional $100 billion of buybacks in an effort to further winnow down its mountain of cash.

Apple bought more than $23 billion of its own shares in the first three months of the year at an average price of $171.48, the company said this week. A Buffett representative on Friday confirmed Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Apple by 75 million shares, for which the company looks to have paid between $12 billion and $13 billion, based on the stock's trading range during the period.

Funds from the repatriation of Apple's $252 billion overseas cash hoard arrived at an convenient time for traders working on behalf of Apple. The Cupertino, California, company's massive share purchase in the March quarter coincided with a 10 percent slump in the S&P 500 between Jan 26 and Feb 8.

That drop raised fears across Wall Street that a nine-year bull market was ending and made it easier for big players amassing shares in a company to find willing sellers.

Apple shares fell even more than the broader market, tumbling over 13% from their record high close. But while the S&P 500 has remained in correction territory, Apple shares quickly recovered, and it seems the company and Berkshire were there to help.

Buffett, a billionaire bargain hunter, increased his company's stake to 240.3 million shares worth $42.5 billion during first quarter.

At its low in February, the stock was available for as little as $150, an 18% discount to its current price.


On more than a third of the trading days during the March quarter, Apple's stock traded below its volume weighted average price, or VWAP, for the prior 60 days.

On Feb 8, when it closed at $155.15, the low for the quarter, it was at a nearly 10% discount from its 60-day average VWAP. The stock had not been available at such a large discount to its prevailing average since May 2016, which happens to be when Buffett bought his first-ever shares of Apple.

At its close of $183.83 on Friday, however, Apple now stands at a premium of nearly 7 percent to its 60-day VWAP of $172.11.

Prior to last quarter, Apple's largest-ever quarterly repurchase occurred in early 2014, a year after it initiated its first $210 billion buyback program. The stock traded at a discount to its 60-day VWAP through much of the quarter, and Apple spent $18 billion to buy up its own shares, according to filings.

Man caught at Delhi airport with 100 Apple iPhone X handsets

NEW DELHI : A man was arrested by the customs at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle in 100 iPhone X handsets, an official said today.



The 53-year-old accused was intercepted by the customs after his arrival from Dubai on Friday.

"Hundred iPhone X handsets worth a total of Rs 85.61 lakh were seized from his baggage after a thorough search," Additional Commissioner of customs at the airport, Amandeep Singh, said.

UK watchdog orders Cambridge Analytica to hand over American's personal data

Britain's data privacy watchdog has ordered Cambridge Analytica to hand over all the personal information it holds on a U.S. academic, confirming the right of people abroad to seek data held by a UK firm.

Data privacy activists say that it sets a precedent that would enable millions of other US voters to request information that the company had collected on them.

The Information Commissioner's Office served notice to SCL Elections, Cambridge Analytica's parent, to provide the information it holds on David Carroll, saying failure to do so would be a criminal offence punishable by an unlimited fine.

The order comes days after both firms filed for insolvency after reports that Cambridge Analytica had improperly obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or consent.

Cambridge Analytica advised US President Donald Trump's election campaign, building psychographic profiles of the electorate to help micro-target voters with advertising in key swing states.

Its managers have denied, however, using data harvested by Cambridge University psychologist Alexandr Kogan through a personality quiz on Facebook, in the 2016 US election.

"The company has consistently refused to cooperate with our investigation into this case and has refused to answer our specific enquiries in relation to the complainant's personal data," Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said.


"The right to request personal data that an organisation holds about you is a cornerstone right in data protection law and it is important that Professor Carroll, and other members of the public, understand what personal data Cambridge Analytica held and how they analysed it."

The case rests on the principle that, because a British company processed his data, Carroll is entitled under UK data protection law to receive the data a company holds on him even though he is a US resident.

"The ICO's decision will provide us all with answers about what Cambridge Analytica did with people's data, how it was used and who it was given to," said Carroll's UK lawyer Ravi Naik.

Cambridge Analytica and its insolvency administrators did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Sunday.

Facebook Dating feature: Everything you need to know

Facebook over the years has garnered millions and millions of users, letting them find old friends and make new ones as well. However, after years of doing this, Facebook is trying to make you find ‘more than friends’. It will now help you find your ‘true love’. And to do that it recently took the wraps off its first ever dating feature called, well, Dating. This new feature was introduced earlier this week at the Facebook F8 developers’ conference and here’s what it’s all about.


The feature will be present in the Facebook appYes, this is not a new separate app from Facebook. This feature will be present in the main app so users don’t have to leave it and open a different app for it. This may also boost the average engagement time on the app for Facebook.

What does this feature actually do and what does it includeAs the name suggests, the new ‘Dating’ feature is made for those looking for serious relationships, as mentioned by at the F8 developers’ conference. The company was vocal about the fact that it is not for hookups, unlike Tinder.

How will this Facebook Dating feature work?All users need to do to get started is to make their own profile for this feature that will be different from the profile made in the main Facebook app. You can post images, topics of interest and more to build a profile. The social media giant will then show you eligible matches based on your interest, dating preferences, things in common and mutual friends.

Will it show anywhere else?No, says Facebook. In the blog post it has been mentioned that “However, what people do within the dating feature will not be shown to their friends.” We are yet to see how it is implemented. Facebook also says that users will get an option to find new people with similar interest through Groups and Events.

When will you be able to use it?Facebook has not yet revealed a particular date as to when it will start rolling out this feature. However, it has confirmed that the feature will arrive later this year.

How to clean your laptop and make it look 'brand new'

Cleaning a laptop usually refers to file management and deleting junk content on its hard drive. However, very few pay attention to seriously cleaning its look. We spend most of our work hours on our laptops and it is bound to get dirty over time. Tea or coffee stains, dust, food crumbs, hairs and other unwanted things comfortably make it way on the laptop without our notice. The moment we have to step out for a meeting, we helplessly take out a dirty looking work machine from our in front of 'important people'.

The least we do in the name of cleaning is just wipe it with a piece of cloth. Note that laptops, mobile phones and other personal electronics items are breeding ground for germs. So, here is what you can do to clean your laptop professionally and make it look brand new and germ-free.

Follow these steps to clean.

1) Switch off and take off the battery from the laptop.

2) Open the screen of the laptop and turn it upside down to take out particles.

3) Spray compressed air on the keyboard while it is upside down to get rid of particles stuck in between the key.


4) If you have a vacuum cleaner then attach the small brush. Keep the laptop flat and clean it.

5) Pour some rubbing alcohol or cleaning solution on the microfiber cloth and clean every inch of the device. Don’t wet the cloth too much as the solution may make it way to the internal circuit of the laptop. Let it dry.

6) Spray some canned air on the edges of the screen too. Then use the cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol to clean the display gently.

Cleaning a laptop needs a bit of investment in the form of rubbing alcohol, canned air and a microfiber cloth. Using the right cloth is important, else, the fibres of the cloth may add to the pain of cleaning. You can buy these online too from websites like Flipkart or Amazon. A can of compressed air will cost around Rs 300, while a small 200ml bottle of iso-Propyl alcohol will come for Rs 200. Alternatively, you can even buy a laptop cleaning solution. Note, you can also make a solution of equal parts of vinegar and distilled water to clean your laptop if you don’t want to spend money for it.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shares Steve Jobs' iMac unveiling video on its 20th birthday

NEW DELHI: Apple has come a long way since it introduced first iMac line 20 years ago. The candy-coloured iMacs were unveiled on May 6, 1998. The computers up now make one of the most-powerful PC line up running on the company’s home-baked macOS.

The first-ever iMac was introduced by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It was touted to sport an ‘all-in-one’ design that included a CRT monitor, motherboard and CD-ROM drive, all inside a colourful translucent shell. At that time, the iMac had 233MHz PowerPC processor, clubbed with a 4GB hard drive and carried a price tag of $1,299, an amount most of us still think twice before spending.

As mentioned by several reports, Apple did not ship the iMac until August of that year. It was also one of the popular personal computers that came as a result of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive teaming up. Ive is currently the chief design officer of Apple.




The current CEO of Apple, Timothy D. Cook, over the weekend remembered Jobs and the first ever iMac on its 20th birthday and posted his thoughts on Twitter along with a 30-second video of Jobs introducing the iMac at the event.


Here’s what Jobs said while introducing the iMac:

“You’ve gotta see this in person, but I’ll do the best I can with a video. This is iMac, the whole thing is translucent, you can see into it, it’s so cool. We’ve got stereo speakers at the front, we’ve got infra-red write-up here, we’ve got the CD-ROM drive right in the middle, we’ve got dual stereo headphone jacks. We’ve got the coolest mouse in the planet right here. All of the connectors are inside one beautiful door here, the Ethernet, the USB stuff. Around the back, we’ve got a really great handle here. The back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys by the way... ”

For now, the most powerful Apple PC to enter the market is the iMac Pro, which was introduced last year. It has a starting price tag of $4,999 and has top of the line specifications.

Huawei P20 Pro, P20 Lite now available on Amazon India: Price, offers and more

Huawei's latest offerings for the Indian smartphone market, the Huawei P20 Pro, P20 Lite, have gone on sale today on global e-commerce portal Amazon. Till yesterday, the two handsets were exclusively available to Amazon Prime subscribers as part of early access sale.

Price and offers on the Huawei P20 Pro and P20 LiteThe Huawei P20 Pro is the flagship device from the Chinese smartphone maker and costs Rs 64,999. The Huawei P20 Lite, on the other hand, is a toned-down version of the device and costs Rs 19,999.

As part of launch offers, users can avail an instant discount of Rs 5,000 on Axis Bank credit and debit cards. This is, however, only valid till May 7. Additionally, Vodafone users get 100GB additional data for a period of 10 months. Also, there is an option to buy these handsets at no cost EMI and exchange offers up to Rs 6,000 additional discount.

Specifications of the Huawei P20 Pro and P20 LiteThe Huawei P20 Pro is the world's first smartphone with a triple rear camera. The setup includes a 20MP monochrome sensor with f/1.6 aperture, 40MP RGB camera with f/1.8 aperture and an 8MP telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture. The device can even record slow-motion videos at 960 frames per second. On the front, users get a 24MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture.


The device is powered by an octa-core Kirin 970 processor, and offers 6GB RAM and 128GB inbuilt storage. Backed by a 4000mAh battery with fast charging support, the handset has a 6.1-inch full HD+ OLED display and runs EMUI 8.1 based on Android 8.0 Oreo.

Moving on to the Huawei P20 Lite, the smartphone has a smaller 5.8-inch TFT LCD full HD+ display of p resolution. It is powered by an octa-core Kirin 659 processor and has 4GB of RAM along with 64GB inbuilt storage. The device also supports microSD card of up to 256GB.

On the camera front, there is a dual rear camera setup that includes a 16MP and a 2MP sensors at f/2.2 aperture. Selfie lovers get a 16MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture. It is backed by a 3000mAh battery, which supports fast charging as well.

OnePlus 6 specifications appear on HDFC Bank Smartbuy offers page ahead of launch

Given the plethora of confirmed specs, leaks and rumours about the OnePlus 6, a lot of information is already known about the upcoming handset.

The latest information that has surfaced online can be considered as one of the 'official' ones. The device has been listed on HDFC Bank's SmartBuy Offers website. Currently listed as out-of-stock, the flagship from the Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus is listed with all the specifications.

As per the page, the OnePlus 6 sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display of 3200x1800 pixel resolution and 401ppi. It is powered by the latest 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage with no microSD card support.


The listing also reveals that OnePlus has ditched a dual rear camera setup and instead incorporated a two cameras on the front. There is a 23MP camera on the back and the front has a 16MP+16MP cameras. This is in contrast to the previous reports that the OnePlus 6 will sport a dual rear camera just like its predecessor, OnePlus 5T.

In terms of connectivity, it is mentioned that the soon-to-be launched handset offers Bluetooth v5.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, VoLTE, USB-Type C, NFC, fingerprint sensor and dual-sim support. Running on the latest Android Oreo 8.0, the handset is backed by a 3,500mAh battery with Dash Charge support.

The company has confirmed the launch date and time in India of the upcoming smartphone. The event is set to be held on May 17 at 3PM in Mumbai, and will also be live streamed for interested fans on the social media channels -- Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- of the company as well.

The handset will be sold on Amazon India website exclusively and the company will also launch a special edition of the handset called the OnePlus 6x Marvel Avengers Limited Edition, as part the brand's association with Marvel Studios in light of the recently released Avengers: Infinity War.

New Facebook tool to alert website owners about phishing attacks

Facebook has announced a new tool for website owners and developers that will alert them about phishing attacks on their platforms.

"We are extending the capabilities of our 'Certificate Transparency Monitoring' tool to make it easier for developers to learn about new domains that are maliciously created to implement phishing attacks," security engineer David Huang and software engineers Bartosz Niemczura and Amy Xu said in a blog post late on Wednesday.

Phishing websites try to trick people into revealing their passwords, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information.

The tool, announced during the F8 annual developer conference in San Jose, alerts website owners of these scams so that they can take action to protect their domain and the people who use their websites.


"Certificate Transparency Logs" are designed to keep a record of all valid security certificates issued by publicly-trusted Certificate Authorities.

"We have been using these logs to monitor certificates issued for domains owned by Facebook and have created tools to help developers take advantage of the same approach," the post said.

Using these tools, developers can learn about certificates that are mis-issued for the domains they control.

"We are extending the capabilities of our tool to send alerts when certificates are issued for potential phishing domains," the post added.

Alleged Xiaomi Redmi S2 spotted in Mi Store

Xiaomi's upcoming smartphone, the Redmi S2 has mysteriously appeared in a store in Czech Republic, incidentally on the same day as the company decided to tease it on Chinese micro-blogging website Weibo.


The image of the Redmi S2 in the store was shared by GSMarena. The same report also stated some key specifications of the alleged Redmi S2.

As per the report, the smartphone features a 5.99-inch screen of 1440x720 pixel resolution and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. It will run on MIUI 9 over Android Oreo. The rear camera of the Redmi S2 is going to be 12MP+5MP and the front camera is listed to be a 16MP snapper. The device is going to be backed by a 3080mAh battery. As per the image shared by the GSMarena, the handset looks like the recently launched Xiaomi smartphones such as the Redmi Note 5 or the Note 5 Pro with an 18:9 aspect ratio. There is a 3.5mm jack on the top.

Coming to the teaser, Xiaomi has posted a soon to be launched product teaser on Weibo. The post reads "Predict an upcoming new product. Guess this "S" represents ______?" There is an image of a smartphone with an 'S' written on what appears to be the screen of the smartphone.

Given Xiaomi's penchant for building up hype around its upcoming launches, it may be a while before they launch the device. Meanwhile, Indian smartphone market is expected to soon get the recently launched Mi 6X, as the Mi A2 smartphone. It is being speculated that it will be the successor to the Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone, the Chinese smartphone maker's first Android smartphone. In China, the handset was launched in three variants -- the 4GB+64GB model costs CNY 1599, while the 6GB+64B and 6GB+128GB variant costs CNY 1799 and CNY 1999 respectively.

What secrets deleted mails hid? Infosys's payout row takes sudden turn

Infosys, which is engaged in arbitration with its former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal, has claimed that it suffered financial loss due to deletion of data from his official laptop, according to two people aware of the proceedings. They said the claim will weigh on the final verdict expected to be delivered in August.

Lawyers representing the two parties sparred over the charge made by the software services exporter, which is contesting Bansal’s claim for a full payment of the severance package of Rs 17.38 crore awarded to him at the time of his exit from the company in 2015, the sources said. Infosys at that time was led by former chief executive officer Vishal Sikka.

“Bansal's (lawyers) defended his action saying it is normal for senior executives who leave an organisation to delete data in their official systems and the company should have stored such sensitive data on its servers,” said one of the people cited above.

During the hearings, Bansal’s legal team also questioned Infosys for backtracking on its commitment to pay the severance pay, saying the “pact was not from an individual (Sikka) but from an organisation that has standing in the corporate world”.

The hearings between the two parties were completed nearly a week ago, with written comments required to be submitted to the sole arbitrator — former Supreme Court Justice RV Raveendran.

Award may Take up to 3 Months
“A final award could take up to three months,” the sources told ET. The award by an arbitrator is likely to be binding on both parties.

Infosys declined to comment for this story. Indus Law, the legal firm that invoked rights of Bansal for arbitration, and Nishith Desai Associates, which represents Infosys, did not reply to emails seeking comment.

Bansal did not reply to telephone calls or email seeking comment.

Governance experts feel Infosys will seek to hold back further payment. “Infosys will seek to hold back severance payment to Bansal,” said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovern Services, a proxy advisory firm.
Bansal sought arbitration proceedings against Infosys last year, as the $10.9 billion IT services company had withheld a large portion of the severance package promised to him at the time of his exit. Infosys, which had made an initial payout of Rs 5 crore to Bansal, later withheld further payment “pending clarifications with regard to such rights and obligations".

MURTHY OBJECTIONS
Soon after, murmurs over the hefty severance package grew to a loud rumble with Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy citing it as an instance of alleged corporate misgovernance. Murthy raised a red flag over failure of disclosure norms by the company, saying the details of the severance package had not immediately been placed before the board of the company.

In February 2017, an anonymous whistleblower wrote to market regulators in India and the US alleging wrongdoing in acquisition of Israeli software maker Panaya by Infosys in 2015. The letter also questioned award of the large severance package to Bansal.

US law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, which was hired by Infosys to conduct an independent probe into the allegations in the whistleblower letter, found no evidence of wrongdoing and gave a clean chit to the company and its former CEO Sikka.

Sikka resigned from Infosys in August 2017. Last month, new CEO Salil Parekh announced that Infosys will sell Panaya, writing off $90 million of the company’s value, as well as Skava — both firms that Sikka had acquired.

“Now that Infosys has decided to sell off Panaya, Bansal’s access to documents pertaining to the deal, whatever he may have, would become irrelevant,” said an investor, who did not want to be named.

This is the new oil for cash-rich Reliance Jio

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio, the Mukesh Ambani-promoted company, is scouting for more investments following two transactions in April as it seeks to create a comprehensive ecosystem of digital products and services around its core telecom service.

The unit of the Rs 6.11 lakh crore Reliance Industries (RIL) wants to invest in or acquire ventures operating in the content, healthcare, education technology, financial technology and transportation segments, according to people ET spoke with.

Jio may also consider scooping up product technology ventures, particularly those operating in the still-nascent artificial intelligence and machine learning spaces, they said. “Jio made its core telecom offerings—voice, data and text—extremely commoditised and affordable,” said Jayanth Kolla, partner at telecom and technology-focused consulting firm Convergence Catalyst.
“From a business model and revenue-generation point of view, it makes absolute sense for the company to evolve into a digital services player, and an ecosystem builder and leader. They’re putting all the pieces in play.”

In April, Jio announced a $124-million investment in Saavn at a pre-money valuation of $177 million, a 40-50% discount to the music streaming service’s estimated worth when it raised $100 million in 2015. It also committed to invest the rupee equivalent of $180 million over three years in AI-based education platform Embibe.

The emergence of Jio as a potential buyer of or investor in startups has come as welcome news for India’s venture capital industry, which has found it hard to record investment exits, particularly through the M&A route.

“Given Jio’s intentions, a number of Indian startups will no longer have to depend on just venture capital or large conglomerates such as Google, SoftBank or Alibaba (for funds). This, in turn, will accelerate exits,” a venture capital investor told ET on condition of anonymity as he had negotiated with Jio on behalf of a content producing startup earlier.

Leading Jio’s charge into the startup ecosystem is Akash Ambani, the 27-year-old Brown University-educated older son of Mukesh Ambani. Akash Ambani, chief of strategy at the company, is believed to be deeply involved in the negotiations. “He was very involved during the Embibe transaction… It’s not a surprise because we had been hearing about his active participation in operational decisions.

He is still learning the ropes but has been putting his imprint for about a year now,” said a lawyer who has worked on a deal involving Jio.

The increased scrutiny on the country’s newest telecom operator comes after it announced two quick acquisitions—music streaming service Saavn and online test preparation startup Embibe—last month. However, given the structure of both transactions, no one xpects Jio, run by among the most hard-nosed negotiators in the country, to break the bank while acquiring assets. “If you look at the Saavn announcement, it’s a slump sale of sorts,” the lawyer said.

All acquisitions and investments by Jio will be done through RIL in the short-term, industry experts said, given expectations that the parent entity will look to list Jio in a few years and, therefore, try and ensure that its balance sheet starts off on a clean slate. Jio’s ambitious bid bears resemblance to US telecommunications giant Verizon Communication’s $4.48-billion takeover of Yahoo’s operating assets last year, and combining it with AOL, which Verizon bought for $4.4 billion in 2015.


That deal, which saw the wireless major set up a new subsidiary called Oath with an estimated 50 media brands, was designed to take on technology behemoths Google and Facebook in the online digital advertising space.

But it’s not clear if that strategy has worked out yet as it has just been one year since the transaction was closed. Industry experts believe Jio will pursue a similar strategy, delivering content and products across its mobile platform while attracting customers with its cut-price data and voice services.


“(Jio’s) proposition has always been about bringing an aspect of a digital ecosystem, and rather than making money from the core access it will provide, the strategy is to make money from a suite of services that it can build on top of the access over a period of time,” said Neeraj Roy, CEO of digital and mobile entertainment company Hungama Digital Media.

Xiaomi looking to raise $10 billion from Hong Kong IPO

BEIJING/HONG KONG: Smartphone and connected device maker Xiaomi filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering on Thursday that could raise $10 billion and become the largest listing by a Chinese technology firm in almost four years.

Xiaomi's IPO, which will be one of the first in Hong Kong under new rules to attract tech firm listings, is a major win for the bourse as competition heats up between Hong Kong, New York and the Chinese mainland.

The listing is expected to raise about $10 billion via the public offering, giving Beijing-based Xiaomi a market value of between $80 billion and $100 billion, people familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Those targets, if achieved, will make it the biggest Chinese tech IPO since Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised $21.8 billion in 2014.

Xiaomi's prospectus gave investors the first detailed look at its financial health ahead of the much-hyped IPO, which could be launched as soon as end-June, according to the people close to the process who requested anonymity as the details were not yet public.

The numbers underscore how Xiaomi has remained resilient even as the global smartphone market has slowed, helped in part by a push overseas into markets like India.

The company said its revenue was 114.62 billion yuan ($18 billion) in 2017, up 67.5 percent against 2016. Operating profit for 2017 was 12.22 billion yuan, up from 3.79 billion yuan a year ago.

It made a net loss of 43.89 billion yuan versus a profit of 491.6 million yuan in 2016, though this was impacted by the fair value changes of convertible redeemable preference shares.

Alongside smartphones, Xiaomi makes dozens of internet-connected home appliances and gadgets, including scooters, air purifiers and rice cookers, although it derives most of its profits from internet services.

Its relatively cheap handsets pose a rising challenge to market leaders Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc .

Xiaomi doubled its shipments in 2017 to become the world's fourth-largest smartphone maker, according to Counterpoint Research, defying a global slowdown in smartphone sales.

It is also making a big push outside China's borders, with 28 percent of its sales derived from overseas markets last year, up from 6.1 percent in 2015.

Yet margins on its smartphones are razor-thin. Xiaomi posted a gross profit margin of just 8.8 percent for its smartphone business in 2017 compared to 60 percent for its internet services business.

According to some analyst estimates, Apple's flagship iPhone X and iPhone 8 have gross margins of around 60 percent.

Xiaomi's internet services include gaming and advertising linked to its homegrown user interface, MIUI, which had 190 million monthly active users as of March 2018.

DUAL-CLASS SHARES
Xiaomi's listing plans come as the company and its investors look to capitalise on a bull run for the Hong Kong market, which has seen the benchmark Hang Seng Index rise about 27 percent over the past year.

Armed with the new rules allowing the listing of companies with dual-class structures, Hong Kong is eyeing several tech listings that are expected in the coming two years from Chinese firms with a combined market cap of $500 billion.

Xiaomi said in its IPO application the company would have a weighted voting rights (WVR) structure, or dual-class shares. The WVR give greater power to founding shareholders even with minority shareholding.


The structure would allow the company to benefit from the "continuing vision and leadership" of the dual-class share beneficiaries, who would control the company for its "long-term prospects and strategy", it said.

Dual-class shares have been a contentious topic in Hong Kong since the city's strict adherence to a one-share-one-vote principle cost it the float of Alibaba, which instead listed in New York.

Xiaomi is also likely to be among the first Chinese tech firms seeking a secondary listing in its home market, using the planned China depositary receipts route, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

CLSA, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are sponsoring Xiaomi's IPO.

Dell Technologies teams up with Microsoft on IoT solution delivery

Dell Technologies has teamed up with Microsoft to deliver a joint Internet of Things (IoT) solution to help vertical customers simplify deploying their end-to-end IoT solutions, from the edge to the Cloud.

The tech giants would build a secure and intelligent edge-to-Cloud solution that would feature Dell Edge Gateways, VMware Pulse IoT Center and Microsoft Azure IoT Edge technologies.

The solution will be available for purchase in the second half of 2018, the companies announced at the Dell Technologies World 2018 here.

This collaboration would enable customers to implement IoT more seamlessly for better and faster Return of Investment (ROI), said Chris Wolff, Head of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and IoT GTM (go-to-market) at Dell EMC.

Ruston Panabaker, Vice President IoT Solutions at Microsoft said that the solution would let customers empower their employees, optimise operations and reimagine their products, services and business models.

The two companies believe that solution would be ideal for businesses that want to harness advanced services such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and real-time decision making while also making sure all deployment, asset management, security and compliance requirements are met.


"Teaming up with Microsoft on IoT and edge is a natural fit based on the complementary technologies we offer today," said Mimi Spier, Vice President for IoT Business at VMware, which is part of Dell Technologies.

"Microsoft and Dell Technologies can help customers securely and more easily navigate their journey to IoT and edge with integrated and secure solutions that will help them to improve their businesses and deliver a better customer experience," Spier added.

The solution will deliver intelligence at the edge with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, management and monitoring of edge devices with VMware Pulse IoT Centre and high-performance and rugged Dell Edge Gateways.

VMware Pulse IoT Center would serve as the management glue between the hardware (Dell Edge Gateways or other certified edge systems), connected sensors and devices and the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge.

Here's what Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has to say on Aadhaar

WASHINGTON: India's Aadhaar technology does not pose any privacy issue and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the World Bank to take this approach to other countries as it is worth emulating, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said.

The 62-year-old multi-billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist said Nandan Nilekani, Infosys founder who is considered as the chief architect of Aadhaar, was consulting and helping the World Bank on the project.

Asked if India's Aadhaar technology is worth emulating by other countries, he replied, "Yes".

"The benefits of that (basic ID -- Aadhaar) are very high," he told .

More than a billion people in India have enrolled in Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric ID system.

"Yes, countries should adopt that approach because the quality of governance has a lot to do with how quickly countries are able to grow their economy and empower their people," Gates said in response to a question.

"We have funded the World Bank to take this Aadhaar approach to other countries," he said.

It is believed that several countries, including some from India's neighbourhood, have approached New Delhi for assistance in this matter.

"Aadhaar in itself doesn't pose any privacy issue because it's just a bio ID verification scheme," Gates, the head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said when asked about the concerns about privacy issues raised by certain quarters in India.

"The individual applications that use Aadhaar, you have to look and see what's been stored and who has access to that information. And so, application by application, you have to make sure that's well managed. In the case of the financial bank account I think it's handled very well," he said.

"(It uses) Aadhar to set up the accounts so that you can both get your cell phone and get your bank account," he added.

Observing that Aadhaar was started before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into office, Gates said that it was very much to his credit that he was willing to embrace it.

"I'm both good friend and an admirer of Nandan Nilekani and some of the initiatives of digitisation efforts that can help with education that can help with governance," he said.

In his lecture on 'Technology for Transformation' organised by NITI Aayog on November 2016, Gates had said that Aadhaar is something that had never been done by any government before, not even in a rich country.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number for Indians, based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the Government of India.

Google announces investment in startups to make its Assistant smarter

To make Google Assistant better, the company has announced a new investment programme for early-stage startups to build an enhanced digital assistant ecosystem.

The new initiative will include investment capital from Google to provide additional financial resources for the development, hiring and management of these startups.

The startups will get advice from Google engineers, product managers and design experts to share technical guidance and product development feedback.

"We're welcoming companies across a diverse range of fields, including startups that are developing technologies that broaden the Assistant's set of features," Sanjay Kapoor, Vice President, Corporate Development at Google said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The programme will let startups access to the Google Cloud Platform -- the suite of cloud computing services that run on the same infrastructure that it uses for products like Google Search and YouTube.

The first batch of investments has startups like "GoMoment", a creator of "Ivy", a 24/7 concierge for hotel guests, capable of providing instant answers to common questions.

Another early-stage startup is "Edwin" that prepares students looking to take English as a foreign language tests such as the "Test of English as a Foreign Language" (TOEFL).


"Edwin" combines advanced AI technology with the expertise of professional English teachers to tailor lessons according to individual needs, learning style and pace.

"BotSociety" startup has created a tool that allows developers to design, prototype and user test voice interfaces.

More than 30,000 developers worldwide have designed their voice assistant applications using "Botsociety".

"With aPulse Labs', developers can test their applications with real people, quickly acquire in-depth insights, and use that feedback to refine the experience," Google said.