IntellectBeat

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

OnePlus launched its OnePlus 2 flagship smartphone back in July last year. Although we did not hear anything about its upcoming OnePlus 3 since then, the Chinese tech firm has now given the first piece of information for the device. The OnePlus 3 is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year according to Carl Pei, Co-Founder of OnePlus, reports Cnet. Although Pei did not give a single detail about the upcoming handsets, he did mention the model will "captivate" users just as the company's first handset, the OnePlus One, had. He added that the OnePlus 3 will feature a "new design" indirectly suggesting users not to expect anything on the similar tracks as the OnePlus 2. Further, he said that OnePlus 3 will be arriving in the US and other markets as an unlocked smartphone and will be sold directly by OnePlus. The Chinese tech firm may also come up with a "better buying process", details of which were not disclosed. OnePlus will ship the han...

At MWC, Samsung unveiled its latest flagship Galaxy S7smartphone with upgraded features and bumped up innards. One of the biggest highlight of the new Samsung smartphone was addition of a microSD card slot which was missing in last year's Samsung Galaxy S6. LG, on the other hand, has been offering expandable storage support for years and this year was no different. Both the companies however opted to miss out on the adoptable storage feature first released with Android 6.0 Marshmallow last year. The adoptable storage enables users to set up a SD card as internal storage, and store apps, data, and media on the adopted SD card. The feature is easy to use as when a microSD card is inserted for the first time on a Marshmallow device, users are offered the choice to use the card as Portable Storage or Internal Storage. If users choose the former option, for all intents and purposes, the microSD card continues to act as it has for several years on Android....

Apple is widely reported to be working on a 4-inch iPhone 5se, which it plans to launch on March 15. The supposed smartphone will have innards largely similar to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. But as for the design, it appears Apple is inclining towards the design of the iPhone 5s, but with some noticeable changes - such as a relocated power button. Citing schematics provided by an iPhone case manufacturer, 9to5Mac reports that the iPhone 5se will look nearly identical to Apple's flagship smartphone from 2013. It however notes that iPhone 5se will have curved design. The iPhone 5se will also have its power button on the side, as opposed to on the top as seen in the iPhone 5s. To recall, iPhone models starting with iPhone 6 have had their power key on the side. The report thus refutes a purported iPhone 5se render that suggested that the iPhone 5se will look identical to the iPhone 6, except for the 4-inch size form-factor. ...

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced a number of technology initiatives in the Rail Budget 2016 on Thursday. The initiatives include services ranging from free WiFi facility at railways stations to ticket cancellation via phone calls. While some of them are already in process, others are proposals. 1. 400 railway stations to be equipped with WiFi - of which 100 will have the facility this year. This will be done in partnership with Google under the later's ambitious RailWire project. 2. Railways will install 1,780 automatic ticketing machines 3. E-catering service to be increased from from 40 stations now to 408 soon 4. E-booking of tickets for accredited journalists announced. 5. Ticket cancellation via phone calls soon 6. Online booking of retiring rooms to be made possible 7 . Camera surveillance in all stations in phases 8. 20,000 screens across 2000 stations will be installed to provide real-time information to passengers and generate revenue through advert...

More than one-third of America's technology "innovators" are foreign born, according to a study released Wednesday that debunks many commonly held beliefs about the sector. Immigrants make up 35.5 per cent of US innovators -- defined as people who make "meaningful and marketable innovations" to tech-related industries, said the study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank. An additional 10 per cent of innovators were born in the United States but have at least one parent born abroad, the study found. "People may think technological innovation is driven by precocious college dropouts at startup companies, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg," said researcher Adams Nager, one of the authors. "In reality, America's innovators are far more likely to be immigrants with advanced degrees who have paid their dues through years of work in large companies." One stereotype that turns out to be true, th...

French authorities have demanded that US Internet giant Google pay $1.7 billion in back taxes, a source close to the matter said today. "In regards to France, a 1.6 billion euro adjustment has been imposed on the company," the source said. The French finance ministry told AFP the amount Google would have to pay was subject to "fiscal confidentiality". Google is one of several multinational corporations that have come under fire in Europe for paying extremely low taxes by shifting revenue across borders in an often complex web of financial arrangements. France refused to negotiate the amount of back taxes it would request, unlike Britain which requested $185 million, from Google. A panel of British lawmakers have denounced that settlement as ridiculously low given Google's size and earnings. Italy is also demanding Google pay over 200 million euros in back taxes following an inquiry by the financial police. The European Commission has cracked down hard o...

As the world's largest mobile phone fair hosts the "creme de la creme" in Barcelona, activists slam the dark side of a sector accused of ignoring rights abuses in Chinese factories and Congolese mines. "Behind this modern, progressive industry lurk dark themes like labour exploitation or minerals stained with blood that come from conflict zones," says Alba Trepat, campaigns officer for SETEM, a federation of 10 NGOs that promotes an alternative fair with a social twist. Just a few blocks from the main Mobile World Congress (MWC), the so-called Mobile Social Congress has even showcased its very own superstar smartphone - the Fairphone 2, which a Dutch firm tries to manufacture as ethically as possible. "Traceability is quite a difficult issue," recognises Daria Koreniushkina, public engagement manager at Fairphone. "The supply chain involves hundreds of actors globally and just for one mineral you have at least five steps where the mineral goe...

Siri could soon arrive on OS X. Apple is currently readying a new update for its desktop operating system that features the digital voice assistant, according to a media report. Siri is currently available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. For OS X 10.12, the next major update to Apple's desktop operating system, the company plans to bring Siri to it, reports 9to5Mac. The report claims that the Cupertino-based company could make the announcement public as soon as around June at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference. 9to5Mac claims that Apple has been exploring this feature for the desktop platform since 2012, but it wasn't until recently that Apple had managed to develop a clear vision for Siri's integration on the Mac. Microsoft on the other hand brought Cortana to the desktop with Windows 10 last year. According to a mockup by the publication, Siri will have a dedicated button in the Menu Bar next to the Clock and Spotlight icons. Tappi...

After receiving a tremendous response in India, leading Chinese smartphone brand Meizu on Wednesday made its debut for sale on the e-commerce platform Flipkart, the company said in a statement. Already available on Snapdeal for Rs 6,999, Meizu M2 has been acknowledged as one of the most budget-friendly smartphones of 2015. Meizu M2 has a 5-inch 720p high definition display with Dragontrail Glass, 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6753 processor with 2 GB DDR3 RAM. It is loaded with a 13 megapixel primary camera with flash and 5 megapixel front camera with FotoNation 2.0 for smart selfie enhancement. Having an internal memory of 16GB, which can be extended by a 128GB memory card, Meizu M2 has a single slot for two nano-SIMs and the card. The phone has a 2,500mAh battery, allowing a call time of up to 23 hours and 12 hours of browsing internet with screen and WiFi connection turned on. Meizu has 46 customer service centres across 33 cities in India.

Facebook Inc advertisers love the idea of using the social network's new anger, humor and other emoticon buttons to better target audiences, but they are :( that the company is not letting them do so right away. The network, with 1.6 billion users, on Wednesday rolled out its new "Reactions" button, which expands the range of emotional responses far beyond the "thumbs up" known as "like." Facial expressions tagged " love," "haha," "sad," "angry " and "wow" now can be used to respond to a post. But Facebook will not differentiate between the responses to determine a user's interests when it places ads and other posts in a customer's news feed. All reactions will be counted as additional likes, meaning Facebook will assume that the user wants to see more similar content, even if the person responded with an "anger" emoticon. Facebook said it would decide later how new reactions s...

Feeling outraged, tickled or touched by something you spotted on Facebook? Now you can say so, after the social media giant added five new reactions to its basic "like" button. " Like, love, haha, wow, sad or angry " -- the expanded "reactions" feature rolled out globally on Wednesday is designed to let users show a range of emotions. Notably absent from the new emoticons is a "dislike' button, something sought for years by Facebook users, but which has been ruled out by the California company to avoid a barrage of hateful expressions. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about the right way to do this with our team. One of my goals was to make it as simple as pressing and holding the Like button," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on his page, immediately drawing tens of thousands of "like," "love" and other expressions. "Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share som...

Apple Inc is said to be developing security measures to make it even harder for the government to break into iPhones, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing people close to the company and security experts. "Apple engineers have already begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the centre of a court fight in California," the Times said. The tech giant is currently battling the FBI which has requested the company to unlock a particular iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. On Wednesday, CEO Tim Cook said that it would be 'bad for America' if his company complied with the FBI's demand for help unlocking the encrypted iPhone. Cook said he's prepared to take the dispute to the US Supreme Court. He also said he would try to make his case directly to President Barack Obama, although he did not say when or where they woul...

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday that it would be "bad for America" if his company complied with the FBI's demand for help unlocking an encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Cook said he's prepared to take the dispute to the US Supreme Court. He also said he would try to make his case directly to President Barack Obama, although he did not say when or where they would meet. In his first interview since the controversy erupted last week, Cook told ABC News that it was a difficult decision to resist a court order directing Apple to override security features on an iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of two extremists who killed 14 people in the Southern California city in December. "Some things are hard and some things are right, and some things are both. This is one of those things," Cook said. The interview came as both sides in the dispute are courting public support, through interviews and published statements, while also musterin...

HP Inc said it was accelerating its restructuring programme and now expects about 3,000 people will exit by the end of fiscal 2016 instead of over three years as it announced in September. Then, Hewlett-Packard Co had said it expected to cut about 33,300 jobs over three years, of which up to 3,300 were to be cut in HP Inc. It said then that 1,200 people would leave the company by the end of 2016. The restructuring will result in charges and associated cash payments of about $300 million in the current year, the company said. "This move is basically HP Inc embracing the tough pricing environment and shifting their focus to building their portfolio," says Shannon Cross, an analyst for Cross Research. HP Inc, which houses former Hewlett-Packard Co's legacy hardware business, reported a near 12 percent drop in quarterly revenue, as it struggles with weak demand for PCs and printers. Revenue in the company's personal systems business fell 13 percent in the first qua...

Court records released on Tuesday show the US Justice Department has in the last four months sought court orders to force Apple Inc to help investigators extract data from 15 devices in cases across the country. The disclosure comes amid a heated dispute between Apple and federal investigators over access to a locked iPhone belonging to one of the killers in December's mass-shooting in San Bernardino, California. In a letter unsealed on Tuesday addressed to a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, overseeing one such case, Apple said it had received requests since October to assist law enforcement in accessing 13 other devices. Prosecutors said they were aware of a 15th case filed in Massachusetts, in their own letter filed late on Monday ahead of the unsealing of Apple's Feb. 17 list of cases. Those cases include one announced last week in which a federal magistrate judge ordered Apple to unlock the iPhone belonging to one of the killers in the San Bernardino shooting, which...