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Visual messaging app Snapchat has crossed 200 million monthly active users mark in India and 120 million of them watch content on the platform, parent firm Snap said on Tuesday. The company on the occasion announced the launch of an experimental AI -powered chatbot customised for Snapchat, My AI , that can recommend birthday gift ideas, plan a trip for a long weekend or even suggest a recipe for dinner. "Snapchat reaches over 200 million monthly active users in India," Snap said in a statement. The visual messaging app has over 750 million monthly active users globally comprising 90 percent of users in the age bracket of 18-24 years. "I am thrilled to have joined Snap at a time where the momentum among our Indian community has never been stronger. We see incredible potential for partners, creators and brands to build communities and businesses on Snapchat, and we couldn't be more excited about our future. "Young India has particularly valued the healthy

Sony said on Wednesday that the success of hit drama The Last Of Us from television network HBO is boosting sales of the game series upon which it is based, in a stand-out case of the group repurposing its popular franchises. “We could see very, very clearly that every time an episode of that show dropped, that sales of the game increased very dramatically,” Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told an investor briefing. The success of the show is a notable example of efforts by Sony to drive business across different business lines after its transformation from an electronics maker to entertainment giant spanning games, music, and movies. Sony has also brought The Last Of Us franchise, which depicts characters struggling for survival in a post-apocalyptic United States, to PC as part of a push to diversify beyond consoles. “Already our PC business is a significant profit contributor,” Ryan said. Sony expects PC revenue to hit $450 million (about Rs. 3,722 crore) in the

WWDC 2023 — Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference — will begin with a keynote event on June 5, the company confirmed on Tuesday. The Cupertino company has revealed the schedule for the first day of the developer conference where it is expected to unveil upcoming versions of its iOS, macOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS operating systems. Apple is also tipped to launch its first mixed reality headset at WWDC 2023 , and the company has reportedly invited VR industry experts to its upcoming event. Apple announced in a press release that its WWDC 2023 keynote event would begin on June 5 at 10am PDT (10:30pm IST). As with previous events, you can stream the event via Apple's website, YouTube, the Apple TV+ app, and the Apple Developer app. Once the livestream ends, you can also watch the entire event again. This will be followed by the Platforms State of the Union at 1:30pm PDT (2am IST on June 6) and the Apple Design Awards at 6:30pm PDT (7am IST on June 6). Developers will

Shutterstock said on Tuesday it would buy animated-images platform Giphy from Meta Platforms for $53 million (roughly Rs. 438 crore) in cash, months after the Facebook owner had agreed to divest the company on competition concerns. Britain's competition regulator last year ordered Meta to sell Giphy over fears that it could deny or limit competitors such as Snapchat and Twitter access to the target's content. Meta had reportedly paid $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,300 crore) for New York-based Giphy in 2020. A year later the deal was challenged by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority and its successful campaign was the first time a regulator had forced a U.S. tech giant to sell an already acquired company. Shares of Shutterstock, which expects the deal to close next month, rose as much as 4 percent premarket. The company said Giphy would add "minimal" revenue this year and it would launch efforts to increase revenue from 2024. "This is an exciti

Netflix on Tuesday expanded its crackdown on password sharing to the United States and more than 100 other countries, alerting users that their accounts cannot be shared for free outside of their households. The streaming video pioneer has been looking for new ways to make money as it faces signs of market saturation, with efforts including limits on password borrowing and a new ad-supported option. Netflix on Tuesday said it was sending emails about account sharing to customers in 103 countries and territories, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Mexico and Brazil. The emails state that a Netflix account should only be used in one household. Paying customers can add a member outside of their homes for an additional fee. In the United States, the fee is $8 (roughly Rs. 700) per month. Members can also transfer a person's profile so the user can keep their viewing history and recommendations. Netflix last year said it was going to limit

Xiaomi Civi 3 is all set to go official on May 25. Ahead of the official debut, the Chinese smartphone brand has released multiple posters, showing the complete design of the Civi series smartphone. The Xiaomi Civi 3 is teased to come with a 50-megapixel primary rear sensor with support for Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS). Just like the predecessor Xiaomi Civi 2, it is shown with a pill-shaped cutout on the display housing two 32-megapixel front-facing cameras. The Xiaomi Civi 3 is confirmed to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC. As we are inching closer to the launch of the Xiaomi Civi 3, Xiaomi has revealed more design details and specifications of the smartphone via Weibo. As mentioned, the teasers show off the handset with a pill-shaped cutout on the display and curved edges. It has a dual-tone design and a circular-shaped camera module. The Xiaomi Civi 3 is teased to come with a 50-megapixel primary sensor at the rear with OIS. For selfies and video chats, the hand

iQoo Neo 7 Pro launch in India could take place soon. The company's CEO posted a teaser for a "Pro" branded iQoo Neo smartphone that is headed to the Indian market. The smartphone is expected to arrive as a premium version of the iQoo Neo 7 5G that was launched in India in February with a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC and support for 120W fast charging. The company is yet to reveal any specifications of the purported iQoo Neo 7 Pro handset. A teaser shared by iQoo CEO Nipun Marya on Twitter contains the text "Neo" at the centre of the image, with "7" and "P" at the top and bottom of the image. The teaser hints at the Neo 7 Pro moniker of the handset, but the company hasn't confirmed the name yet. It also doesn't reveal any details of its specifications and features. The tweet states that the handset will launch in India soon. POWERING SOON…??. #StayTuned #PowerToWin pic.twitter.com/CKL52vUlAW — Nipun Marya (@nipunmarya) May 23,

Bitcoin price on Tuesday crossed the $27,070 (roughly Rs. 22.35 lakh) mark for the first time in several days and was trading at $27,075 (roughly Rs. 22.4 lakh). With a slight increase of 1.56 percent, the world's most popular cryptocurrency rose in value by $290 (roughly Rs. 24,000) after days of trading around $26,000 (roughly Rs. 21.5 lakh). Industry experts have highlighted that Bitcoin is currently trading in one of the narrowest ranges recorded in the past three years. Ether , like Bitcoin , rose in value and was trading at $1,840 (roughly Rs. 1.52 lakh), or a gain of 2.36 percent, as per the Gadgets 360 crypto price tracker . “The crypto fear and greed index remains in the neutral zone with 50 points, up 1 point. Investor sentiment continues to be cautious in the backdrop of the US debt ceiling discussions,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead, CoinSwitch Ventures told Gadgets 360. Most cryptocurrencies also rose in value, after days of losses for crypto traders. Stablecoins

A judge dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk that claimed he cheated Twitter shareholders several times last year in the course of buying the social media company for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,61,687 crore). In a decision on Monday, US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said plaintiff William Heresniak lacked standing to sue because he challenged "wrongs associated with" Musk's buyout, not the fairness of the buyout itself. Breyer said Heresniak did not show harm from Musk's belated disclosure of a 9.2 percent Twitter stake, which the suit said let him buy more shares at lower prices before the buyout was announced, or from the closing's taking place 1 1/2 months later than planned. The judge also found no proof that Musk helped two friends then on Twitter's board, co-founder Jack Dorsey and Silver Lake private equity firm managing partner Egon Durban, breach their fiduciary duties by favoring their own and Musk's i

Italy's data protection authority Garante plans to review other artificial intelligence platforms and hire AI experts, a top official said, as it ramps up scrutiny of the powerful technology after temporarily banning ChatGPT in March. Garante is among the most proactive of the 31 national data protection authorities which oversee Europe's data privacy regime known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The agency was the first to ban AI chatbot company Replika , to impose fines on facial recognition software maker Clearview AI , and to restrict TikTok in Europe. In March, it temporarily banned Microsoft -backed OpenAI 's bot ChatGPT and launched a probe over the application's suspected breach of privacy rules. "We plan to kick off a wide-scope review of generative and machine learning AI applications which are available online because we want to understand if these new tools are addressing issues linked to data protection and privacy laws complian

As the race to develop more powerful artificial intelligence services like ChatGPT accelerates, some regulators are relying on old laws to control a technology that could upend the way societies and businesses operate. The European Union is at the forefront of drafting new AI rules that could set the global benchmark to address privacy and safety concerns that have arisen with the rapid advances in the generative AI technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT. But it will take several years for the legislation to be enforced. "In absence of regulations, the only thing governments can do is to apply existing rules," said Massimiliano Cimnaghi, a European data governance expert at consultancy BIP. "If it's about protecting personal data, they apply data protection laws, if it's a threat to safety of people, there are regulations that have not been specifically defined for AI, but they are still applicable." In April, Europe's national privacy watchdog

Tata Consultancy Services on Monday said a consortium, led by the IT giant, received an advance purchase order valued over Rs. 15,000 crore from the state-run BSNL for the deployment of a fourth-generation mobile ( 4G ) network across India. This comes at a time when Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are ramping up their infrastructure of 5G technology across the country. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) on April 22 launched 4G services in pilot mode in parts of Punjab in a run-up to a formal rollout of 4G services. The company has started live testing of its 4G services with 135 tower sites using an indigenous telecom stack. According to a statement from Tata Group's Tejas Networks Limited released on April 3, it received an order worth Rs. 696 crore from BSNL for the upgradation of its all-India IP-MPLS based Access and Aggregation Network (MAAN). Tejas Networks, part of the Tata Group, designs and manufactures wireless networking products for telecommunications serv

Bitcoin recorded a drop of two percent as it stepped into Monday, May 22. The most expensive cryptocurrency failed to bag any gains over the weekend, leaving its trading value to hover over the mark of $26,653 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh). On both, national as well as international exchanges, Bitcoin is trading around the similar price point. While stepping into the weekend that was, Bitcoin was trading at a slightly higher price of $26,785 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh). Between Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21 — Bitcoin fell by $132 (roughly Rs. 10,930) in its value. “Bitcoin traded at the $27,000 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh) level over the weekend but has since declined as the market eagerly anticipates a week filled with significant news in the United States. Investors and traders should closely monitor these events as they have the potential to impact market sentiment. Some amount of volatility might be observed in the market throughout this week. If buyers can maintain the price above the current l

iQoo Z7s 5G was launched in India on Monday. The smartphone is the latest addition to the iQoo Z7 series. The company launched the iQoo Z7 5G model earlier this year, with a MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC and a 4,500mAh Li-ion battery unit with 44W Flash Charge support. The newly-launched iQoo Z7s 5G also packs a 4,500mAh battery and is equipped with 44W wired fast charging support. However, the phone is powered by Qualcomm's octa-core Snapdragon 695 SoC. The handset comes in two RAM variants and is offered in two colour options. iQoo Z7s 5G price in India, availability The newest Z-series smartphone is offered in two RAM variants - 6GB and 8GB, both paired with 128GB of inbuilt storage. The base iQoo Z7s 5G is priced at Rs. 18,999, while the 8GB variant is marked at Rs. 19,999. The handset is available for purchase on the official iQoo website and through Amazon. The iQoo Z7s 5G is offered in two colour options - Norway Blue and Pacific Night. iQoo Z7s 5G specifications, featu

Meta Platform's Instagram was back up for most users, the company said on Sunday, after a technical issue that disrupted services to thousands of people had been resolved. "Earlier today, a technical issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Instagram. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted," a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. The company did not disclose the number of users affected by the disruption. Outage tracking website Downdetector.com showed more than 100,000 incidents in the United States, 24,000 in Canada and over 56,000 in Britain. More than 180,000 users reported issues with accessing Instagram at the peak of the outage. Instagram was down for some users on Sunday from around 5:45 p.m. EST (2145 GMT), according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com . The number of outages eased to just over 7,000 reports as of 8:30 p.m. EST. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, in

Apple is expected to show off its long-rumoured AR/VR headset at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2023 in June first week. Now, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman's latest predictions add more credibility to this rumour, with the industry analyst claiming that the announcement could be one of Apple CEO Tim Cook's last big swings as Apple CEO and will affect his legacy. The Apple Reality Pro — the purported first mixed reality headset from the Cupertino-based company, is said to feature an external display that shows facial expressions. It is expected to run on a new xrOS operating system and cost about $3,000 (roughly Rs. 2,50,000). In his weekly Power On newsletter on Thursday (May 18), Mark Gurman says that Apple's wearable mixed reality headset will be equipped with an outward-facing display. This external display will keep the wearers engaged with the real world by displaying their eye movements and facial expressions. Apple reportedly considers this feature as a key

The introduction of central bank digital currency (CBDC) by central banks in different parts of the world has emerged among the top banking tweaks to be recorded as major banking innovations. Hong Kong has now become the latest nation to join the list of countries like India, China, Japan, and Nigeria among others that are conducting advanced studies and trials of their respective CBDCs. The e-HKD CBDC of Hong Kong is being launched into its pilot phase this week so that its use cases could be accessed and tested thoroughly before its commercial roll out. Created on blockchains, CBDCs are the digital representations of fiat currencies that eliminate the need for paper-based physical notes while also recording the details of all transactions in an unchangeable format on the blockchain. This week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) officially announced the commencement of the pilot programme of the e-HKD CBDC. In the coming months, the financial authorities of Hong Kong will wor

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G was recently launched in India alongside the more premium Galaxy A54 5G . The Galaxy A34 5G is a successor to the Galaxy A33 5G, which debuted last year in India. The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G gets upgrades over its predecessor in a few key areas. It is powered by a new processor, and features a triple-camera setup and a smooth 120Hz display. The smartphone has been launched in India with two storage options. Samsung Galaxy A34 5G is also the most affordable smartphone currently in India to feature an IP67 rating. On this week's episode of the Gadgets 360 podcast Orbital, host Siddharth Suvarna got together with resident smartphone expert Pranav Hegde — that's me — to discuss Samsung's new Galaxy A-series smartphone, the Galaxy A34 5G. We discussed the phone's pros and cons and also recommended a few alternatives. We start off with the price of the phone. The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G has been launched in India with 8GB of RAM as standard. The 128GB v

Apple and Samsung Electronics are among companies interested in increasing electronics production in India, a minister said, a boon for the country's push to challenge neighboring China as a manufacturing hub. The South Asian nation is seeking to expand its early success in smartphones to other product categories, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's minister of state for technology, told Bloomberg TV's Rishaad Salamat and Haslinda Amin on Friday. The country is launching a $2 billion (roughly Rs. 163 crore) plan to boost the local output of laptops, servers, tablets, and other electronics. “We've had considerable success and tailwinds in the smartphone segment and we have increased interest from the likes of Apple and Samsung in expanding and growing here,” Chandrasekhar said. “We want to essentially replay that and add to that.” India's financial incentives for smartphone manufacturing have resulted in Apple and Samsung exporting billions of dollars of handsets from

Five TikTok users in Montana who create content posted on the short-video app filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the state's new ban on the Chinese-owned platform. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed legislation to ban TikTok in the state, effective Jan. 1. The five users seek to block the law, which makes it unlawful for the app stores of Alphabet's Google and Apple to offer TikTok within the state. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Montana late on Wednesday, names the state's attorney general, Austin Knudsen, who is charged with enforcing the law. The TikTok users argue the state seeks to "exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress." The suit said users believe the law violates their First Amendment rights. "Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or

Xiaomi Civi 2 , which debuted last year in China, is all set to get a successor. The Chinese smartphone company confirmed the launch of Xiaomi Civi 3 as well as the information on its processor via a Weibo Post sometime back. Now, the smartphone has been spotted on Geekbench listing revealing its performance score. The Xiaomi Civi 3 is confirmed to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC under the hood. Further, it is also tipped to come with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. According to Geekbench listing , the upcoming Xiaomi Civi 3 carries the model number 23046PNC9C. The smartphone has scored 1148 points in the single-core test and 3356 points in the multi-core test, according to the listing. Further, it reveals that the Xiaomi Civi 3 will run on Android-13 out-of-the-box. Additionally, the phone is said to come with an octa-core processor with four cores clocked at 2.0 GHz, three cores at 3.0 GHz, and one core at 3.10 GHz. Apart from these details on Geekbench listin

Oppo Reno 10 series is all set  to make its debut in China on May 24. The company has confirmed the launch of the lineup, which includes Oppo Reno 10, Oppo Reno 10 Pro, and Oppo Reno 10 Pro+, via its official China website. The company has also revealed some of the design and specifications of the high-end variant Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ on its landing page. Meanwhile, a tipster has also shared some design renders of the upcoming smartphone. The leak has also hinted at the launch of a new Oppo K-series phone, namely Oppo K11x. The design renders of the purported phone have emerged online as well. Tipster Evan Blass has shared  leaked images of the Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ images on his Twitter account. The phone can be seen in three colour variants — Gold, Black, and Purple. This has also been confirmed via the smartphone's listing on Oppo China website. The leaked images also showcase a triple rear camera setup sitting inside an elliptical camera island along with an LED Flash. The phone wil