Tech Updates #2:

Tech News:

Realme offers discounts on smartphones during Flipkart's Big Billion Days sale:

Chinese smartphone brand Realme seems to be gearing for the upcoming festive season.Realme will be opening sales for the recently launched Realme 2 Pro and Realme C1,on October 11, exclusively on Flipkart during the Big Billion Days sale.

Realme 2 with Diamond Blue edition will also be available for sale during that period on Flipkart. The Big Billion Days come with a flat 10% discount on Realme 2 and Realme 2 Pro on HDFC Bank Credit and Debit cards.

Apple in talks with BT to expand Apple TV:Report

In 2017, Apple announced that Netflix and Amazon Prime 4K videos would also come to Apple TV.Apple's TV app now supports live news - a feature announced in September 2017 when company CEO Tim Cook introduced the new Apple TV 4K.

Facebook to boost India efforts to start-up ecosystem:

Facebook on Tuesday said it aims to boost its efforts to expand the start-up ecosystem in India, reiterating its commitment to widen its support to include technology entrepreneurs in different cities."We are committed to paving the way for the success of the new generation of start-ups in India and understand that access to resources, people and networks can be a powerful catalyst for their growth," said Facebook's Satyajeet Singh, the head of Platform Partnerships for India and South Asia.

India is the world's third largest start-up hub and has one of the fastest growing base of software developers

WhatsApp build system to comply with India's payments data storage norms:

Facebook Inc's WhatsApp said on Tuesday it has built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India, in a bid to comply with a central bank directive that all such data should, within six months, be stored only in the country.

WhatsApp rolled out a test of its payment system in India, its biggest market by users, earlier this year.

"In response to India's payments data circular, we've built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India," WhatsApp said in an emailed statement.

The Reserve Bank in April said all payments data should be stored only in India for "unfettered supervisory access", a decision that has led to intense lobbying by global firms that worry it would cost them millions of dollars.

Apple brings bug fixing software updates to iOS 12:

The iOS 12.0.1 update, introduced this week comes with fixes for user complaints regarding their devices not getting charged when connected to a lightning cable, not displaying subtitles in video apps and making Bluetooth unavailable."The software update resolves an issue that could cause iPhone 'XS' devices to rejoin a Wi-Fi network at 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz," the update description reads.

Google+ shut down;Here is all you need:

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 vulnerable?The vulnerable data includes Profile name, email address, occupation, gender and age. "It does not include any other data you may have posted or connected to Google+ or any other service, like Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers or G Suite content," claimed Google.

How many users were affected and what happens next?"The Profiles of up to 500,000 Google+ accounts were potentially affected. Our analysis showed that up to 438 applications may have used this API." Here is everything you need to know about the security vulnerability. Google confirmed in its statement that "it found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and it found no evidence that any Profile data was misused." However, it cannot confirm which users were impacted by this vulnerability.

Why did Google hide the security vulnerability?Google claims that it had fixed that bug in March this year. However, it had kept quiet about it until now. Google states that it was legally not bound to share this vulnerability as there were no breach.

Smartphone users may have to pay more for data and calls:

Jio’s pricing aggression since its entry in September 2016 forced incumbents to match rates to retain customers, galvanising consumption of voice and data services.

Google Pixel 3,3XL,Google Hub,new Pixel slate and other likely launches:

Google is all set to showcase new hardware on which it has been working since past one year or multiple years (maybe). At its ‘Made for Google’ event the search giant usually unveils new smartphones and some other smart home accessories. This year the firm is widely expected to launch the third-generation Pixel smartphones along with an upgraded Google Home, Chrome cast and probably a new Pixel Book version. Most of them have made their way on the Internet with several leaks and rumours, while not much is known about the other devices.

This year, the event will be taking place in New York City on October 9 (today). Although the event will be live streamed, Gadgets Now will be covering it live from the venue as well.

WhatsApp to comply with RBI for storing payment data in India:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a circular dated April 6, had said all system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are  stored in a system only in India.It had given time till October 15 to comply with the mandate.

Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale:Headphones and other gadgets available at minimum plus-50% discount:

Amazon Great Indian Festival is live. But for today (October 9), it’s exclusively for Amazon Prime users. The general sale starts October 10 and will run till October 15. The sale offers deals and discounts on smartphones, large appliances and TVs, home and kitchen products, fashion, consumables such as grocery and beauty, consumer electronics and more. There are also finance options for customers. All shopping done using SBI credit/debit cards will be eligible for extra 10% instant discount.