IntellectBeat

Apple CEO Tim Cook got a standing ovation at his first stockholder meeting since his company's epic clash with the FBI unfolded. He defended the company's unbending stance by saying: "These are the right things to do." On Thursday, the tech giant formally challenged a court order to help the FBI unlock an encrypted iPhone used by a murderous extremist in San Bernardino, California. Federal officials have said they're only asking for narrow assistance in bypassing some of the phone's security features. But Apple contends the order would force it to write a software program that would make other iPhones vulnerable to hacking by authorities or criminals in the future. Major tech companies are rallying to Apple's cause, and now plan a joint "friend of the court" brief on its behalf. Facebook said it will join with Google, Twitter and Microsoft on a joint court filing. A Twitter spokeswoman confirmed that plan, but said that different companies an...

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have the highest number of Internet users in the country where total Web user base was close to 325 million at the end of September last year, government said today. Maharashtra had the highest number of Internet users at 27.71 million, with 9.74 million coming from rural areas and 17.97 million in urban areas, Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. Tamil Nadu had 26.87 million Internet users, Andhra Pradesh 23.99 million and Karnataka 21.72 million at the end of September 2015. The Delhi circle had 18.48 million users, while Mumbai and Kolkata circles had 15.28 million and 8.65 million Internet users, respectively. Of the 324.95 million Internet users across the country, 120.88 million were using broadband, while the remaining 204.07 million were narrow band Internet users, the Minister said. He added that the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project will provide broadband infrastructure to al...

Facing an FIR and defamation suit amid deepening mystery and now senior government officials raising serious questions over the Freedom 251 smartphone, its makers on Friday announced "cash on delivery" (COD) facility for those who have placed the order for the world's cheapest smartphone. In a statement released here, Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha announced that the Rs 251 (less than $4) "Freedom 251" smartphone customers will now be required to make payment only when the smartphone is delivered to them. "The company has decided that we will, henceforth, offer 'cash on delivery' mode of payments for those who have placed an order for the 'Freedom 251' smartphone. This will ensure further transparency and clear any misgivings," Chadha added. The company plans to give 25 lakh handsets in the first phase before June 30. It received 30,000 orders on the first day and rest of the customers will be selected via first-come-first-ser...

Twitter is set to roll out a refreshed design for its timeline display on March 3. And the new design, as the company explains, will enable users to start embedding profiles, lists, and collections. "Starting March 3, we're upgrading the embedded timeline, which showcases Twitter stories to more than 1 billion unique visitors across the web every month," said the company in a blog post. According to Twitter, this update is more than just a facelift. "Over the last few months you've told us about the kinds of stories you want to tell, and we've incorporated your feedback directly into the timeline display. As a result, the new timeline has a clean, modern design that blends seamlessly into any page on your site. It’s fully responsive, too, so it looks great at any size. And we think it will delight your users with expanded photos, videos, polls, and cards," said Twitter. Twitter has also removed the "hide media" option which will enable twee...

Mark Zuckerberg conceded on Friday that Facebook didn't do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said it has made progress and has heard the message "loud and clear." German authorities, concerned about racist abuse being posted on Facebook and other social networks as the country deals with an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants, have been pressing social media sites for months to crack down. The Facebook CEO talked personally about the issue in September with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and met her chief of staff during a visit to Germany this week. The Merkel meeting "really highlighted how much more we needed to do in this country," he said at a town hall event in Berlin. "Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community," he said. "Until recently in Germany, I don't think we were doing a good enough job. And I think we will continue needing to do a better and better j...

We don’t think any phone has received as much hype and speculation regarding the name as much as the upcoming 4-inch iPhone has. in today’s news, it looks like the mini iPhone has undergone another name change. The upcoming 4-inch iPhone will now be called iPhone SE, dropping the number – a first for an iPhone since the first came out back in 2007. Over the past few months, ever since talks about the 4-inch iPhone began, there have been a lot of names attached to the device. Initially, it was rumoured to be called the iPhone 6c, seeing as how this device comes following the iPhone 6 line and would borrow elements from the iPhone 5c. Soon fter, it got another name change and was called the iPhone 7c, seeing as how it would lead up to the iPhone 7 and might feature some next-gen specifications. Lately, the name everyone stuck with and was thought to be the final name was the iPhone 5se, which stood for a ‘special edition’ of the iPhone 5s. However, it looks...

InFocus , which entered the Indian smartphone market last year, has now announced its foray into the home entertainment category with the launch of LED TVs in the country. The complete range of InFocus LED TVs includes entry-level HD offerings to the full HD variants across 24 inches, 32 inches, 50 inches and 60 inches, which will be available exclusively on Snapdeal from February 29. The 24-inch model is priced at Rs 9,999, 32-inch at Rs 15,999, 50-inch at Rs 34,999 and 60-inch at Rs 69,999. The company has also introduced 'Free Demo at Home' initiative, thereby taking the online shopping experience to another level. This service has been launched exclusively with Snapdeal, under which the customer can experience the demo of InFocus 50-inch Full HD TV, at the convenience of their home/office and then decide on the purchase. Like the InFocus smartphone, their TVs have also been manufactured by Foxconn. As explained by the companu, the InFocus TVs uses the Smart UV2A techno...