Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was on Tuesday named Dadasaheb Phalke winner, Indian cinema’s highest honour for an artiste.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar confirmed the news in a Twitter post.

“The legend Amitabh Bachchan who entertained and inspired for 2 generations has been selected unanimously for #DadaSahabPhalke award. The entire country and international community is happy. My heartiest Congratulations to him. @narendramodi @SrBachchan,” Javadekar tweeted.

The 76-year-old screen icon, who rose to stardom with his ‘Angry Young Man’ persona capturing the anger of the young generation in the 1970s with films such as “Zanjeer”, “Deewar” and “Sholay”, continues to be a force to reckon with in Indian cinema.

In a career spanning five decades, Bachchan has given memorable performances film after film and is a four-time National Film Award winner.

Allegations of illegal marketing tactics. More than 500 cases of severe lung illness in 38 states. Eight deaths. A proposed federal ban of most flavoured e-cigarettes, and new efforts in many states to counter an epidemic of youth vaping.

There’s been an avalanche of vaping news this month, which leaves many users facing a crucial question: Is it time to quit? Here’s a look at the issues.

First, how big is vaping?

E-cigarettes swept onto the market about a decade ago. They’re now a $2.6 billion industry in the United States, and roughly 20,000 vape and smoke shops have sprung up across the country in the past few years. There is also a thriving black market for vape pods. A survey last year found that 10.8 million American adults used e-cigarettes — and that more than half were also smoking cigarettes.

E-cigarettes have become especially popular among teenagers. Preliminary results from an annual survey sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and released on Wednesday found that one in four 12th graders said they had vaped in the previous month, a sharp rise from the previous year. Read Complete Article

Taiwanese electronics maker Asus on Monday launched in India the Asus ROG Phone II smartphone. The gaming-centric smartphone comes in 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 512GB storage configurations, priced at Rs 37,999 and Rs 59,999, respectively. While the company has not confirmed the sale details of the 12GB RAM variant, the 8GB RAM variant goes on sale from September 30, exclusively on the home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart.

Asus ROG Phone II specifications and features

Compared to its predecessor, the Asus ROG Phone, the second iteration brings several design improvements and hardware upgrades. It is the first smartphone in India to be powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 855+ system-on-chip. The Asus ROG Phone II has a 6.59-inch AMOLED screen of a fullHD+ resolution (2340 x 1080). The screen has an enhanced refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz, an improvement over the 90Hz screen refresh rate of its predecessor. Moreover, the screen has a 240Hz touch sampling, 1ms response time, 108 per cent DCQ-P3 colour gamut, 10-bit HDR support and a touch latency of 49ms – some key features that should improve the phone’s gaming experience.

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US based search giant Google on Thursday announced a major update for Assistant users in India where one can now make Assistant talk in Hindi by just asking “Ok Google, Hindi bolo or “Talk to me in Hindi.

Besides Hindi and English, users will also be able to find content in Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati and Malayalam.

The new update comes to the Google Assistant a day after Amazon announced that Alexa will support Hindi and Hinglish conversations.

“For many Indians, voice is increasingly becoming their preferred way to search, and today Hindi has become the second-most used Assistant language globally — after English,” Manuel Bronstein, Vice President, Product Management, Google said in a statement.

The feature will be accessible on all Android, Android Go and KaiOs devices. Google also introduced a refreshed design for Google Search in India that will highlight queries in local languages. Read Complete Article

Huawei today unveiled its HUAWEI Mate 30 Series — world’s first second generation 5G smartphone — at an exclusive launch event in Munich, highlighting its own apps brand while sidestepping the critical issue of access to Google services.

The HUAWEI Mate 30 and HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro features OLED HUAWEI Horizon Display, quad-camera setup, and is powered by Kirin 990 5G chipset.

Top salesman Richard Yu showcased the new models in the first such event since President Donald Trump hit Huawei with a U.S. export ban in May.

“It’s got a large screen but it’s very compact in your hand,” Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business, said of the phone, whose fate in Europe will hang on whether customers buy a device lacking access to software and apps supported by Google.

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As the burden of atrial fibrillation (AFib) in India makes it an important health issue, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker on Thursday brought its much-anticipated ECG app and irregular rhythm notification feature to Apple Watch users to India.

Available with an update to watchOS 6 on Apple Watch Series 4 and later, the ECG app and irregular heart rhythm notification feature will help users identify signs of AFib, the most common form of irregular rhythm.

“We are confident in the ability of these features to help users have more informed conversations with their physicians,” said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s Vice President of Health.

“With the ECG app and irregular rhythm notification feature, customers can now better understand aspects of their heart health in a more meaningful way,” Desai added.

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Announced earlier this year, the iOS 13 operating system for iPhones is now being rolled out as a software upgrade to all supported Apple smartphones in India. The new OS brings a mixed bag of big and small upgrades, including a new system-wide dark mode, redesigned photos gallery, enhanced security and privacy features and a new QuickType keyboard with swipe to type feature. Take a look at what is new in the iOS 13 OS, compatible iPhone models, and how to download and install the OS.

What is new in the iOS 13

Dark Mode: One of the major changes that the new OS gets is the addition of a system-wide dark mode, which uses a palette of dark colours that are easy on the eye in a low-light environment. The dark mode setting can either be set to manual, which allows user to have complete control on when to turn it on or off, or scheduled for a certain time, based on sunrise and sunset. In addition, Apple has also added new wallpapers, optimised for dark mode, that automatically change as you switch between light and dark. Readmore

In a major move, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman made several announcements for the corporate sector. The minister announced sharp cuts in corporation tax among a series of announcements. Sitharaman said the total revenue forgone on account of today’s measures would be Rs 1.45 trillion per year.

Here are the highlights

1. All domestic companies to be allowed to pay corporation tax at the rate of 22% (effective rate 25.17% including cess and surcharge). This would be subject to the condition that these companies do not avail of any tax incentives or exemptions. Moreover, no Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) would be imposed on these companies.

2. Any new domestic manufacturing company, incorporated on or after October 1, 2019, will be allowed to pay corporation tax at the rate of 15% (effective rate 17.01%). No MAT will be imposed on these companies either. This will be subject to the condition that the company does not avail of any tax incentives or exemptions and commences production by 31 March, 2023. Read Complete Article

Arjun Kapoor always leads from the front when it comes to social causes and to add some joy to the lives of kids battling cancer, the actor will light up the famous Bandra-Worli Sea Link red on this World Rose Day.

Observed on September 22 every year, the day comes as a gesture to bring happiness to the lives of cancer patients and to add to it, the ‘India’s Most Wanted’ actor will be lighting Mumbai’s most iconic landmark.

In collaboration with the Cancer Patients Aid Association, Arjun will illuminate the sea link along with small children who have been battling the life-threatening disease.

“It is a cause that is extremely close to me for very personal reasons,” Arjun said.

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Indian healthcare system will “struggle to keep pace” in 2030 when 140 million Indian households are expected to enter the middle-class, said a report by Bain & Company report on Tuesday.

The healthcare industry will face challenges due to a rapid increase in patient volume accompanied by pricing and margin pressures, said the India Life Sciences Report 2019, which was conducted among 325 doctors.

The report, done in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said the demand from “developed rural” areas along with the increase in middle-class households will drive about two-times hike in healthcare consumption. PM Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat, which was launched in September 2018 to provide 500,000 poor people annual health cover of Rs 500,000, is also likely to increase healthcare demand.

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