Industry body COAI has said that any concern around adverse impact of 5G on health is “totally misplaced”, and all evidence available supports that the next-generation technology is safe.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) asserted that 5G would prove to be a “game changer” and lead to “exponential increase in benefits” for the economy and society.

The association – which represents large telcos like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – argued that India already has strict norms in place and prescribed standards for electromagnetic radiation limit in telecom sector is far more stringent than global-accepted standards.

“Radiation permitted in India is one-tenth of what is accepted globally so already our systems have taken this into account…Any notion or concern about radiation and impact are misplaced. These are fallacious fears and this always happens whenever a new technology is introduced,” S P Kochhar, Director General, COAI told PTI.

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed actress Juhi Chawla’s lawsuit challenging the setting up of 5G wireless networks in the country and slapped a fine of Rs 20 lakh on her and co-petitioners by describing the plea as “defective”, “abuse of process of law” and filed for “gaining publicity”.

Justice J R Midha said the plaintiffs — Chawla and two others — have abused and misused the process of law and wasted the court’s time. The judge said the plaint in which questions have been raised about health hazards due to the 5G technology was “not maintainable” and was “stuffed with unnecessary Scandalous, frivolous and vexatious averments” which are liable to be struck down.

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Google-owned YouTube Music available on Android Auto is getting one of its biggest redesigns adding navigation tabs and more.

Rolling out as a part of the YouTube Music 4.30.50 Android app, this redesigned interface for Android Auto is a fairly major shift from the old interface.

By far the biggest change in this new YouTube Music interface on Android Auto is the four navigation tabs across the top, 9To5Google reported.

There are four tabs in total, the first being a “Home” tab which includes shortcuts to recently played media.

There’s also a “Last Played” tab for your most recent songs or albums. “Library” includes your playlists and saved media, and there’s also a dedicated tab for “Device Files”, i.e. locally stored media.

Notably, though, these tabs are contextual. If you aren’t a regular YouTube Music user, for example, the “Last Played” tab won’t appear. The same applies to “Device Files”.

If you don’t have any locally stored music, the tab doesn’t show up, the report said.

Beyond just navigation, though, this new YouTube Music design for Android Auto also spruces up the main UI with more visual elements.

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Apple Inc. is working on a new iPad Pro with wireless charging and the first iPad mini redesign in six years, seeking to continue momentum for a category that saw rejuvenated sales during the pandemic.

The Cupertino, California-based company is planning to release the new iPad Pro in 2022 and the iPad mini later this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The main design change in testing for the iPad Pro is a switch to a glass back from the current aluminum enclosure. The updated iPad mini is planned to have narrower screen borders while the removal of its home button has also been tested.

The iPad became an increasingly key part of Apple’s portfolio over the past year as people looked for new ways to work, study and stay entertained at home during Covid-19 lockdowns. Sales of iPads jumped 43% during the last six months of 2020 compared with a year earlier. The gains continued in the first three months of 2021 when the tablets generated $7.8 billion — a 79% increase from the same quarter a year earlier.

For the new Pro model, the switch to a glass back is being tested, in part, to enable wireless charging for the first time. Making the change in material would bring iPads closer to iPhones, which Apple has transitioned from aluminum to glass backs in recent years.

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It takes more than a good-quality display and audio for a smart television to justify its ‘smart’ moniker. Unfortunately, most products, especially in the budget segment, simply slip mediocrity on the pretext of smart experience. Thankfully, there are some smart televisions like the recently launched Realme Smart TV 4K (43-inch) that come close to meeting the expectations. It is one of the few smart televisions in the budget segment that cover a wide spectrum of features and services for a comprehensive smart TV experience.

For starters, the Realme Smart TV 4K 43 is powered by Android 10 TV, which gives it access to apps and services supported by the Google operating system for smart televisions. Therefore, you can navigate and explore the new-age content available on over-the-top platforms like YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, etc, or simply watch the conventional cable channels by plugging in a set-top box. Besides, the TV has Google Chromecast built in for easy transmission of content from supported smartphones, tablets, and PCs on the television’s screen. These are some basic features available with every smart television powered by the Android operating system. What gives the Realme Smart TV 4K an edge is the niche features coupled with wide connectivity options and I/O ports availability.

The Realme Smart TV 4K 43 is among the few with far-field microphones in the television itself for hands-free operation powered by Google Assistant. Though you cannot operate the TV entirely due to the limitations with Google Assistant, it proves immensely useful if you have other smart home devices like bulbs, plugs, fans, air conditioner, air purifier, cameras, etc.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 4K review: A wholesome package despite some flaws

The thing with smart TVs is that they heavily rely on the internet to render smart services. Therefore, the experience can go for a toss if the TV cuts corners on internet connectivity. Thankfully, the Realme Smart TV 4K 43 covers both wired and wireless connections right. Besides the RJ45 LAN port for wired internet connectivity, the Realme Smart TV 4K 43 supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4Ghz and 5GHz) – something rarely available in budget smart TVs. The 2.4GHz band is congested beyond hope and creates conflict with other wireless devices like Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, earbuds, etc.

Dual-band Wi-Fi addresses this issue by allowing internet services over the 5GHz band, which is less congested. Important to note that the dual-band Wi-Fi is a router-specific service.

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The number of active internet users in the country is likely to grow nearly 45 per cent to 900 million by 2025 compared to 622 million as of last year, an IAMAI-Kantar Cube report released on Thursday said.

According to the report, rural India may have a higher number of internet users compared to urban centres by 2025 which indicates the need to strengthen the digital ecosystem in the country.

By 2025, there would be a greater number of internet users in rural India than in urban India. Given this, the digital ecosystem will need to evolve to address the specific needs of this emerging demography.

“Vernacular, Voice and Video will emerge as the game changers for the digital ecosystem over the next few years,” Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Executive Vice President, Insights Division, Kantar said in a statement on the report.

The report suggests that even though the internet penetration in urban India is over two times than rural areas, the usership in rural areas has been growing at a faster rate on a year-on-year basis.

“While internet users grew by 4 per cent in urban India — reaching 323 million users (67 per cent of urban population) in 2020, digital adoption continues to be propelled by rural India clocking a 13 per cent growth to 299 million internet users (31 per cent of rural population) over the past year,” the report said.

The study by internet companies body IAMAI with consulting company Kantar found that small towns account for almost two out of five active internet users (AIU) while the top 9 metros account for 33 per cent of the AIU in urban India.

According to the report, of the 1433 million (143.3 crore) population in India, 622 million individuals are AIU and this translates to about 43 per cent of the total population across urban and rural India.

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China’s Huawei Technologies announced the launch of its proprietary Harmony operating system (HarmonyOS) for smartphones on Wednesday, as the embattled company looks to recover from U.S. sanctions that have hobbled its handset business.

Huawei will start rolling out HarmonyOS on certain models of its smartphones from Wednesday evening, offering users the chance to switch from the current operating system that is based on Google’s Android platform.

The use of HarmonyOS means the company will no longer be wholly reliant on Android. U.S. sanctions banned Alphabet Inc’s Google from providing technical support to new Huawei phone models and access to Google Mobile Services, the bundle of developer services upon which most Android apps are based.

Rather than being a like-for-like replacement, Huawei is billing HarmonyOS as an ‘Internet-of-Things’ platform, aimed at operating on and connecting other devices such as laptops, smartwatches, cars and appliances.

Huawei is aiming to have HarmonyOS rolled out on 200 million smartphones and 100 million third-party smart devices by the year-end, said Wang Chenglu, president of Huawei Consumer Business Group’s software department, who has led Huawei’s efforts to develop HarmonyOS since 2016.

Wang spoke at a media roundtable a day earlier and his comments were embargoed until Wednesday.

China’s leading telecommunications equipment maker found itself on a U.S. trade blacklist in May 2019 due to national security concerns. Huawei has repeatedly denied it is a risk.

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Mi India on Tuesday expanded its new Horizon Edition TV series with the launch of Mi TV 4A 40 Horizon Edition.

Priced at Rs 23,999, the Mi TV 4A 40 Horizon Edition will be available on mi.com, Mi Home, Flipkart, Mi Studio and Retail partner stores.

“At Mi India, smart TVs are one of the biggest categories for us. We are always working towards bringing in specifications and features based on our customers’ feedback to best suit the market needs,” Eshwar Nilakantan, Category lead – TVs, Mi India, said in a statement.

Mi TV 4A 40 Horizon Edition features a 93.7 per cent screen to body ratio and 178-degree viewing angle, easily creating more room for entertainment.

It also features Vivid Picture Engine (VPE) technology ensuring stunning visuals and true-to-life colours.

The VPE technology is tuned to perfection over the years to provide an accurate screen calibration, deeper contrasts, and pinpoint precision in colour reproduction.

The new entrant in the Mi TV Horizon series is powered by an enhanced version of PatchWall.

It allows users to navigate through the universe of varied content from more than 25 content partners such as Disney+ Hotstar, Prime Video and many others.

It offers a truly cinematic experience with an immersive audio visual experience. It supports 20W stereo speakers with DTS-HD and an array of ports available at the back including a 3.5mm audio out, SPDIF and three HDMI ports.

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Mumbai’s data centre capacity is likely to grow by more than two times its current capacity by 2023, according to a JLL report.

Mumbai with 199 MW IT load is the leading data centre hub of the country with nine internet cable landing and assured power supply, said the report titled ‘2020 India Data Center Market Update’.

According to JLL, the capacity is likely to reach 529 MW by 2023.

“Mumbai is the most preferred destination for cloud players with a 60 per cent share of the occupied space due to its excellent infrastructure support. The state has provided various incentives for setting integrated data centre parks,” said Karan Singh Sodi, Regional Managing Director – Mumbai, JLL India.

“The new supply additions in the city are backed by pre-commitment from cloud players. The city’s strong demand is driven by BFSI, media and IT/ITes companies, leading to high occupancy levels of 95 per cent,” he said.

According to Rachit Mohan, Head, Data Center Advisory (India), JLL, India’s colocation data centre industry witnessed unprecedented absorption of 102 MW during 2020, notching higher absorption than most key markets of Europe and America.

“Fuelled by longer-term trends of rising cloud adoption, increasing digitalisation and progressive legislation, we anticipate increased demand for colocation space nationwide,” Mohan said.

As the data centre landscape continues to evolve, the industry is expected to grow exponentially to reach 1,007 MW by 2023 from its existing capacity of 447 MW.

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Abinaya Dinesh, a 15-year-old Indian-origin girl, is among three winners of the annual WWDC21 Swift Student Challenge, a platform for the young brains willing to demonstrate their coding and problem-solving skills, tech giant Apple said on Tuesday.

Passionate about the intersection of medicine and technology, something that became personal for her last year, Dinesh created an app called Gastro at Home, which she plans to launch on the App Store this summer.

The app offers people with gastrointestinal disorders a way to access information and resources, especially because those types of conditions can sometimes be sensitive to talk about, the statement by the company said.

The idea of creating such an app came in the mind of Dinesh after she herself suffered from gastrointestinal problems.

I went to a gastroenterologist and he diagnosed me with a pelvic floor disorder. But then told me nothing about how I was supposed to get better, Dinesh, who lives in North Brunswick, New Jersey, said.

Over the last year, Dinesh has also started her own nonprofit, Impact AI, to foster learning and ethical practices in artificial intelligence among young people, the statement said.

As part of it, she launched an eight-week high school programme, called Girls in AI, to teach young women the basics of programming and machine learning.

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Elon Musk is gearing up to launch his own drive-in food chain at Supercharger locations as his electric car company Tesla has applied for a new trademark for its brand under restaurant services.

According to a report in Electrek, the company has applied for three new trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that will cover the categories of “Restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services”.

“The application is awaiting examination and will be reviewed by an attorney around August 27,” the report said on Tuesday.

Tesla’s iconic ‘T’ logo is featured on the application, to be trademarked for use by its branded restaurants.

Way back in 2017, then Tesla CTO JB Straubel had said that the company might move into the restaurant business.

In 2018, Musk said in a tweet: “Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA”.

A few months later, Tesla applied for building permits for “a restaurant and Supercharger station” at a location in Santa Monica in the US.

The project went into cold storage for about three years and now, a new building application has been submitted earlier this year.

The new development probably means that the company plans for a ‘Tesla’ branded restaurant chain.

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