IntellectBeat

After changing the orthodox ways of chatting, video messaging application Snapchat is now reportedly working to give tough competition to Google with its own augmented reality (AR) smart glasses. According to a Tech Crunch report, Snapchat has hired developers from major augmented reality groups like Microsoft's HoloLens, PTC's (formerly Qualcomm's) Vuforia and eye-tracking tech maker Eyefluence to make Snapchat's pair of smart glasses. The company showed interest when Google launched Glass. Snapchat later bought Vergence Labs, which produced a pair of glasses equipped with an embedded camera for $15 million in March 2014. Snapchat soon bought Scan.me for $50 million, a QR code-scanning/creating technology that would later manifest itself it the company's Snaptags feature. Snapchat has introduced some bold and stunning content features since the inception of its service. It attempted to revamp event marketing through its feature Stories, redefined journalism t...

Telegram last month hit 100 million monthly active users and alongside announced a bunch of updates for the app as well. The instant messaging service has now announced another update, focusing on the Supergroups feature. As a part of Telegram v3.7 on Android and iOS, the company has now increased the number of people who can join a Supergroup from 1,000 to 5,000. The admins of the group can now also let other members know some important news or any other information by pinning it at the top. In addition, all the members in the Supergroup will receive a notification for the pinned message, even if they have muted ordinary messages from the group. The app update also brings the ability to make a Supergroup 'Public' and share them via a short link with others. This will let the link recipient read the entire chat history and also join to be able to post messages. Since, this would lead to an increase in spammers in Supergroups, Telegram has also introduced some 'pow...

The tech news industry has lately been buzzing around the launch of 4-inch iPhone or iPhone SE handset. However, this does not put the flagship iPhone 7 out of the picture. This time, images purported to be of the smartphone's chassis have popped up online showing the redesigned antenna lines, new larger camera setup, and more. The images coming via French website Nowhere Else show that the rear panel is now completely plain, without any horizontal antenna lines. However, the antenna bands are still visible at the bottom running along the edges. As for the camera, the size of the rear camera hole as spotted is significantly larger than the current iPhone models. This also indicates that there might be an upgrade lineup up for the iPhone 7's camera, details of which are not known for now. The rear camera hole is also closer to the edge of the handset. This confirms the handset will feature a single camera unlike its larger iPhone 7 Pro variant, which is ...

India on Monday successfully test-fired its indigenously built nuclear-capable intermediate range Agni-I ballistic missile, capable of hitting a target 700 kms away, from a test range off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the Army. The surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 9:15 AM from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island), a defence official said. The trial, which formed part of training exercise by the Strategic Forces Command of Indian Army, was fully successful, he said. The sophisticated missile covered 700 km distance within 9 minutes and 36 seconds, they said. "The launch was undertaken as a part of periodic training activity by SFC to further consolidate operational readiness," the official said. The trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and n...

To demonstrate that communication can be delivered with good aesthetics, state-run BSNL plans to install 50 'zero base' mobile towers, which are better looking and multi-functional. The concept of a 'zero site' is that it can be used as a WiFi hotspot, street light and camera and the radio units can be hidden inside the pole or underneath. "We are focusing on zero base towers as if you see in India, the skyline is scattered with so many towers and it sometimes become an eyesore. We are also looking for a tower which could have multi functionalities like it can work as an WiFi hotspot, it can work as a light emission tower, it can work as a camera plus tower," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI. He said during his recent visit to Mobile World Congress, he witnessed solutions provided by equipment makers Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE regarding the zero base towers. "We will ask for quotes from all these players for zero b...

Britain said it will begin trialling driverless cars on motorways for the first time in 2017, as it moves towards its goal of allowing autonomous cars to take to the streets by 2020. The government said last year there were no legal barriers to the technology being tested and gave the go-ahead for vehicle trials to start on some local roads. Finance minister George Osborne will announce plans on Wednesday to test vehicles on motorways and say the government will bring forward proposals to remove regulatory barriers to the technology, the Treasury said. "Naturally we need to ensure safety, and that's what the trials we are introducing will test," Osborne said in a statement ahead of his annual budget presentation. "If successful, we could see driverless cars available for sale and on Britain's roads, boosting UK jobs and productivity." The market for autonomous driving is worth 900 billion pounds ($1.29 trillion) worldwide, according to the government, b...

iPhone and iPad maker Apple has resubmitted its application for opening single-brand retail stores in the country as there were certain gaps in its earlier proposal. "The proposal is being processed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi too has submitted an application," an official said. In January, Apple had filed proposal seeking permission for single-brand retailing and sell products online but due to certain gaps in the application, DIPP had sought more information from the US-based technology giant. According to the sources, the government could exempt the Cupertino-based company from the mandatory local sourcing norm of 30 per cent as it makes 'state-of-the-art' and 'cutting edge' technology products. Last year, the government had relaxed the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for single-brand retailing. The government had said it may also relax the sourcing norms for entities undertaking...

A year ago, Micromax vaulted past Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to become India's leading smartphone brand. Today, its market share has nearly halved, several top executives have resigned, and the company is looking for growth outside India. In Micromax's slide to second place is a tale of the promise and peril of India's booming but hyper-competitive smartphone industry. India is the world's fastest-growing smartphone market. Shipments of smartphones jumped 29 percent to 103 million units last year. Rapid growth has helped nurture a crop of local brands, led by Micromax, that outsourced production to Chinese manufacturers. Now, as Samsung rolls out more affordable phones, the same Chinese factories are entering the Indian market with their own brands, depressing prices and forcing Indian mobile makers to rethink their strategies. "What the Indian brands did to the global brands two years ago, Chinese phone makers are doing the same to Indian brands now, and over...

Klutzes of the world should rejoice Friday, as Samsung officially starts sales of its new water-resistant Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The phones, which the company first unveiled last month, are now widely available in all their dunkable glory. The latest two Samsung's high-end smartphones are supposed to be able to withstand submersion up to five feet for as long as 30 minutes. So you're in luck if you drop your phone in the drink - as long as you fish it out reasonably fast. Samsung provided me with a review unit of the Galaxy S7, a 5.1-inch smartphone. Once I opened the box, I duly dropped the high-performance, expensive phone into my sink while doing the dishes. Apart from the mild palpitations I gave myself, there was no damage at all. The phone's touchscreen didn't work under water, but it continued on without a hiccup and was unharmed and still working perfectly when I pulled it out. It was just as impressively zippy as ever and no worse for ...