IntellectBeat

In order to authenticate its video-calling service Skype, Microsoft Corporation has announced that it is already working towards embracing this very unique ID system Aadhaar as a medium of authentication on pilot basis. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation, said, "We have been pursuing work to integrate it into Skype. Initially, it is being done on pilot basis but it will continue to grow." According to an Indian Express report, Smith asserted that this may even help government agency in identifying whether or not that person is the same as they claim to be during an official proceeding or while seeking a licence. Thus, it will introduce a new era wherein business can be done even without being present physically and waiting in a long que for meeting government office. Aadhar, which is a voluntary program, had enrolled over 970 million people as of 31 January 2016. Will bring in more updates about how this pilot project would shape up in days to come. Till then, ...

The launch date of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is not very far. The device is slated for a 24 th  February launch at the upcoming 2016 Mobile World Congress (MWC). We had shared its rumoured specifications with you few days ago, but if you can't wait till the official launch to know what Mi 5 would actually look like, then we have you covered. Mi 5 will sport a new design that will be different from the predecessors. We are hoping to see a dash of metal and glass in the new one—something similar to what Redmi Note 3 had. Mi 5 will come with a 1,080p panel, which should boast of 3D touch but we are not sure. Unfortunately, the screen size is still a mystery. We are expecting a 5.5-inch screen.  A Snapdragon 820 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and Adreno 530 GPU is the least that you will get. For storage, users might get an option to choose between 16/64/128GB, which may or may not be expandable. It should come running on Android Marshmallow 6.0 out of the box with an updated MIUI 7 skin o...

Researchers in Canada have developed world’s first flexible smartphone that uses bend sensors to simulate flipping of pages and playing games without even touching the display of the screen. Researchers at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab developed ReFlex – a full-colour and high-resolution smartphone that combines multi-touch with bend input allowing users to experience physical tactile feedback when interacting with their apps through bend gestures. “This represents a completely new way of physical interaction with flexible smartphones,” Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University, said. “When this smartphone is bent down on the right, pages flip through the fingers from right to left, just like they would in a book. More extreme bends speed up the page flips,” Vertegaal explained, adding: “Users can feel the sensation of the page moving through their fingertips through a detailed vibration of...

Domestic handset maker Ringing Bells has disrupted the Indian smartphone market with the launch of Freedom 251 . Carrying a price tag of Rs. 251, the device is the most affordable smartphone that has been launched in India till date. The smartphone has raised more questions than answers. Due to the innumerable doubts it has raised, we think that the Ringing Bells Freedom 251 is a scam. If you are wondering whether you should buy this phone or not, then we are here to help you. Read on to find out whether you should spend your Rs. 251 on the new entrant Ringing Bells Freedom 251 or not. There are many concerns about the phone, that makes us raise our eyebrows: 1. The units which were shown to media at the launch event, were actually Adcom re-branded units. The Adcom branding was hidden using some whitener. It makes us wonder why did they hide the Adcom logo? 2. The name Freedom 251 was registered this month only in February 2016. The co...

The tech industry is starting to line up with Apple in its fight against the federal government over the encryption it uses to keep iPhones secure. Earlier this week, a US magistrate ordered Apple to help investigators break into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters. Apple has until next Tuesday to challenge that ruling, setting the stage for a legal clash that could determine whether tech companies or government authorities get the final say on just how secure devices like smartphones can be. CEO Tim Cook decried the order on Tuesday, saying it would degrade iPhone security and make users more vulnerable to spies and cyber thieves. Increasingly, other prominent tech companies agree. "We stand with @tim_cook and Apple (and thank him for his leadership)!" Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey wrote in a tweet Thursday afternoon. In a statement late Thursday, Facebook said it condemns terrorism and also appreciates the essential work of law enforcement i...

Tapping into Indians' inherent love for cinema and theatrics, Dubsmash has turned out to be a widespread hit. The makers of the app have now mentioned that India is one of its top ten markets. This is quite an achievement given that the app was only released in November 2014. The Berlin-based company was founded by Roland Grenke, Jonas Druppel and Daniel Taschik. The app's exponential growth is evident in large parts of the world now, including countries like Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia and the United Kingdom. The app has seen 75 million+ downloads so far on the Google Play Store alone, so one can imagine how popular it is out there. It's currently available in 192 countries of the world, with users working in double time to get new content on board. Dubsmash essentially lets users take popular audio clippings and lip-sync them in their own way. It makes for quite an amusing pass time and has clearly struck a chord with the Indian p...

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook 's refusal to comply with the US government's request to unlock an iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California attackers drew strong reaction from critics and supporters this week, but is unclear how the decision will affect potential buyers of the company's products. In an open letter to customers, Cook vowed to fight a court order from a Los Angeles judge to provide "reasonable technical assistance" to investigators wanting access to the phone of Rizwan Farook, a shooter in the San Bernardino attack that killed 14. Cook said complying with the government's request would set a dangerous precedent that could ultimately undermine the security of its iPhones. Users supporting and opposing Apple's position flooded Twitter with rival hashtags #thankyouapple and #boycottapple and Facebook users wrote lengthy posts on the move. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted his support for Cook on Thursday, joining groups like Amnesty Int...

Global smartphone sales were up 14.4% in 2015, with a record number of 1.4 billion handsets sold, according to new figures from Gartner. Plus, more than one in five of the smartphones sold in 2015 were Samsung models. Samsung once again ended the year as the undisputed leader of global smartphone sales, shifting no less than 320,219 million handsets worldwide. The firm's total sales were up on 2014, despite a slight drop in market share from 24.7% to 22.5%. In second place, Apple sold a record number of iPhone handsets in 2015, with 225,850 million smartphones sold and a market share of 15.9%. Next come Huawei (104 million, 7.3%), Lenovo/Motorola (72.7 million, 5.1%) and Xiaomi (65.6 million, 4.6%). Over 400 million smartphones sold in just three months. Over 403 million smartphones were snapped up worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2015 alone, up 9.7% on Q4 2014. Samsung remained top of the table, selling the most smartphones globally between October and December 2015, with 8...

For the last year, Gmail users have been able to access their email account from other providers like Yahoo! and Outlook in the Gmail app on Android. Now they also have the option to 'Gmailify' their other accounts. Gmailifying inboxes of other providers links the existing account to Gmail in order to get the same spam protection, inbox organisation and Google Now cards without having to change email address. Users just need to open the Gmail app, sign in to their email account(s) and enable ' Gmailify '. Users can unlink their account(s) at any time.

Apple chief Tim Cook is taking on the US government on encryption, in the latest and biggest challenge for the CEO who is no stranger to corporate activism. Cook has put himself at the centre of debates before now on gay rights, same-sex marriage, climate change and other issues. And he has been one of Silicon Valley's most outspoken advocates for encryption as a means to safeguard personal privacy and security, even if it means being branded as a supporter of bad actors. But Apple's challenge of a court order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers opens up a new front in the long-running battle. Cook is facing risks in the latest battle as Apple also seeks to hold its standing as one of the world's most important innovators and the most valuable company - a crown it briefly lost and regained within the past month. "I'm just a tiny bit worried about Tim Cook drawing such a stark line in the sand with this case," said Ben Thompson, a...