China’s ByteDance is in talks to buy into mobile games publisher CMGE Technology Group Ltd, four people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the owner of short video app TikTok moves to strengthen its next pillar of growth.

The deal would come as the gaming industry continues to benefit from COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures which have forced people to stay at home, boosting game downloads.

ByteDance plans to buy part or all of the 27.6% CMGE stake held by Fairview Ridge Investment Ltd, controlled by CMGE chairman Xiao Jian and vice chairman Sin Hendrick, said two of the people.

ByteDance is looking to offer HK$4 to HK$5 ($0.52 to $0.64) per share to purchase the stake, said another person. The range represents a premium of 30% to 62% above the stock’s Monday close of HK$3.08.

Xiao and Sin are the biggest shareholders of Hong Kong-listed CMGE, holding 33.9% and 32.6% respectively through a number of entities, regulatory filings showed.

A 27.6% stake is worth $275 million, Reuters calculations showed based on CMGE’s market capitalisation of $997 million on Monday.

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Many people these days fancy big-screen smartphones but are averse to bulky designs, which is unfortunately what you get in most current-generation big-screen devices. Smartphone makers have in the past made efforts to design balanced smartphones with optimum size and big screen. But they have restricted such products to the midrange segment, leaving the users of premium smartphones in the lurch. That said, there is now a smartphone, the Apple’s iPhone 12 mini, which packs the best of both the worlds – a top-end premium device of an optimum size and a big screen.iPhone 12 mini: Design

The iPhone 12 mini is a no-compromise premium smartphone, which is small in size but not in any other respect. It has the same flat-frame design of its siblings in the iPhone 12 series. The iPhone 12 mini flaunts a premium glass-aluminium construction, with a ceramic shield glass on the front touted to be 4x more resistant to drops than the previous generation. However, the textured scratch-resistant glass and stainless steel frame on the Pro models have been replaced with a glossy glass and an aluminium frame in the mini. The phone’s ergonomic design is complemented by a lightweight (133g) build, which aids its in-hand feel and does not make your jeans pocket look unnecessarily bulky when placed there.

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Global streaming giant Spotify is planning to launch a music streaming service in South Korea, home to the booming K-pop industry, in the first half of 2021.

It would give listeners here access to around 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists, according to the Swedish firm. It also expected the move to help Korean artists of various music genres to reach their fans here and abroad, reports Yonhap news agency.

“We are excited about our upcoming launch in South Korea, a market recognized as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation,” said Alex Norstrom, Chief Freemium business officer of Spotify.

“We are looking forward to working with our valued local partners to uncover more Korean artists, and to connect them with fans in South Korea and all over the world,” Norstrom said.

Spotify has been running K-pop playlists since 2014. It noted that the portion of K-pop listening has jumped by more than 2,000 percent over the last six years, with total streaming time reaching 180 billion minutes.

Launched in 2008, Spotify provides music streaming service to around 320 million listeners in 92 markets.

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Apple which has had a successful 2020 in India riding on the popularity of iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 and price drop on other key models like XR, will focus on cementing its position further in 2021 with wooing mid-premium range consumers in the price-conscious smartphone market, leading industry experts said on Saturday.

According to the leading market research firm IDC, the premium segment ($500-$700) in India witnessed multifold growth in the month of October with high shipments of the iPhone XR and 11 driven by affordability schemes/offers.

The premium segment registered 16 per cent (on-year) growth in October, with Apple leading the market in 49 of the top 50 cities in the country.

According to Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India, Apple has had a good past couple of years in the country.

“With the launch of iPhone 11 and 12, followed by subsequent price drops of last year models (11, X, XR etc), launch of SE 2 at a very aggressive price point and price aggression by the online platforms has really helped Apple,” Singh told IANS.

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The sudden rush to provide remote access to employees by restructuring network and security systems during the lockdown made India vulnerable to ransomware attacks in the third quarter of current year, according to cyber security firm Check Point Software Technologies.

Due to the immediate push, several IT companies were unable to scale up their cloud security postures which led to increased opportunity for cyber criminals to carry out attacks, Check Point Software Technologies India and SAARC Managing Director Sundar N Balasubramanian told PTI.

According to the company’s research, India was ranked second after the US among the top 5 countries most affected by ransomware attacks in the third quarter.

Sri Lanka, Russia and Turkey were at third, fourth and fifth position, respectively, in the list of most affected countries by ransomware attacks.

In a survey by Check Point, 71 per cent of respondents globally, including in India, reported an increase in cyberattacks during February-March 2020, and 95 per cent said they faced added IT security challenges with provision of large-scale remote access for employees and managing shadow IT usage.

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Microsoft has announced that it has added the ‘Together Mode’ option that debuted in Teams to Skype.

According to a report from zdnet.com, in the latest Skype version (Skype 8.67), Together Mode is one of a handful of new features available to various versions of Skype.

‘Together Mode’ is a viewing option that makes it appear as if all meeting participants are located in the same physically shared space instead of via a traditional grid view.

As per the reports, Microsoft officials have said they believe ‘Together Mode’ will help alleviate virtual-meeting fatigue and make meetings feel more real.

Other new features in Skype 8.67 include the addition of Large Grid Mode, enabling users to see everyone’s video stream simultaneously; an option to add someone to an ongoing Skype call using their phone number, as well as via Skype; more predefined backgrounds and categories and more.

For those wondering when Microsoft will drop Skype and make Teams with consumer functionality enabled its consumer-facing meeting/chat platform, there’s been no official or rumoured word.

Microsoft is continuing to add new features to Skype on a regular basis and seems to be positioning Skype as a simple way to meet and chat, rather than trying to make it an all-encompassing platform like Teams.

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Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies.

The Redmond, Washington company is a user of Orion, the widely deployed networking management software from SolarWinds Corp which was used in the suspected Russian attacks on vital U.S. agencies and others.

Microsoft also had its own products leveraged to attack victims, said people familiar with the matter. The U.S. National Security Agency issued a rare “cybersecurity advisory” Thursday detailing how certain Microsoft Azure cloud services may have been compromised by hackers and directing users to lock down their systems.

“Like other SolarWinds customers, we have been actively looking for indicators of this actor and can confirm that we detected malicious Solar Winds binaries in our environment, which we isolated and removed,” a Microsoft spokesperson said, adding that the company had found “no indications that our systems were used to attack others.”

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Twitter India on Friday said that its new verification policy will be implemented from January 20 and the company will begin automatically removing the verified badge from inactive and incomplete accounts.

Under the new policy, Twitter may also remove verification from accounts that are found to be in severe or repeated violation of its rules.

“We will continue to evaluate such accounts on a case-by-case basis, and will make improvements in 2021 on the relationship between enforcement of our rules and verification,” Twitter India said in a blog post.

Twitter, which paused its public verification process or that elusive Blue Badge three years ago, last month announced to relaunch verification, including a new public application process, in early 2021.

“If your account is at risk of losing its verified badge, you’ll receive an automated email and an in-app notification informing you of what changes need to avoid automatic removal of your blue verified badge,” the micro-blogging platform stressed.

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India smartphone market grew 42 per cent with shipments of 21 million units in the month of October – the second highest for a month – driven by multiple online sale events, research firm IDC said on Thursday.

IDC said it expects the smartphone market to see a single-digit decline in final consumer sell out in 2020 on a full year basis.

According to IDC, the growth in October was driven by multiple online sale festivals and continuing pent up demand from the third quarter of 2020, IDC said.

“This is the highest ever October shipments and second highest for a month, following 23 million units in September 2020, an all-time high for a single month,” it added.

Online platforms accounted for 51 per cent share of the shipment, and the channel grew 53 per cent year-over-year (y-o-y). Offline channels, especially in smaller towns and cities, also saw a healthy 33 per cent y-o-y growth, IDC said.

The low-mid range segment (USD 100-200) grew by 60 per cent y-o-y and its share increased to 58 per cent of the total market in the said month, it added.

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Xiaomi on Thursday launched in India the Redmi 9 Power, a latest addition to the company’s budget-centric Redmi 9 series. The smartphone boasts a 6,000mAh battery, 48-megapixel based quad-camera set-up, Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor and 6.53-inch FHD+ display.

The Redmi 9 Power is priced at Rs 10,999 and Rs 11,999 for the 4GB + 64GB and 4GB+128GB variants, respectively. It will be available in mighty black, blazing blue, fiery red and electric green colours on Mi.com, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios from December 22.

The Redmi 9 Power has a quad cameras on the rear, featuring a 48MP Samsung GM1 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor of 120-degree field-of-view, a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, the phone has an 8MP camera sensor for videos, selfies and face unlock mechanism.

Powering the smartphone is a 6,000mAh, supported by 18W fast charger. The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, paired with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB on-board storage. The Redmi 9 Power has Hi-Res audio certified stereo speakers.

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