Knowledge Update

New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) Apple's iPhone has been named as Indias most reputed mobile phone brand, followed by Samsung and domestic brand Micromax. According to a report "India's Most Reputed Mobile Phone Brands 2017" by media analytics company BlueBytes, in association with business intelligence company TRA Research, Apple's iPhone has the highest positive media appearances in terms of sheer volume. "In a cluttered space like the mobile phone industry, with diverse brands attempting to capture consumer attention, customers buy and recommend on the basis of reputation, making it the most important influencer of buying decisions," said Pooja Kaura, Chief Spokesperson for "India's Most Reputed Brands". China's Xiaomi and Finland's Nokia secured fourth and fifth position respectively. Seventy two mobile phone brands were listed from 12 different countries in the report, of which Indian origin brands held 29 positions. Chinese brands Lenovo, Huawei, and Motorola -- now owned by Lenovo -- ranked sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. LG (South Korea) and Intex Technologies (India) figure last in the list.

​New York, Jan 3 (IANS) In its Chinese New Year promotion, Apple has announced an one-day sale to offer free Beats Solo3 wireless headphones to all customers who purchase a select Mac or iPhone in some Asian markets on January 6. "The sale will begin on January 6 and will be available in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan," appleinsider.com reported on Monday. Users need to purchase an iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Pro excluding 2016 MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar to get free Beats headphones. Eligible iPhones include the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus. "In addition to the Beats Solo3 headphones, Apple is showcasing a litany of red themed accessories on its digital storefront, including iPhone cases, audio products, toys and more," the report noted.

​Seoul, Jan 2 (IANS) Samsung Electronics on Monday launched the latest Galaxy A series smartphones with the enhanced front and rear 16-megapixel cameras. The device is encased in a metal frame and 3D glass back and offers IP68 water and dust resistance, allowing it to withstand the elements, including rain, sweat, sand and dust. "We integrated our unique approach to design as well as the features Galaxy customers have come to love to provide added performance without compromising on style," said D.J. Koh, President of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics, in a statement. Of the new series, Galaxy A7 and A5 come with 3GB RAM and an on-board memory of 32GB that can be extended up to 256GB. The Galaxy A3 comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, extendable up to 256GB. The new A series runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow supported by 1.9GHz Octa Core processor, except Galaxy A3 that is powered by 1.6GHz Octa Core processor. The new A series is equipped with reversible USB Type-C port for easy connectivity. The device comes with Samsung Pay that allows users to make safe and secure mobile payments through Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and easily back up data and images through Samsung Cloud. Users can separate private data and keep the contents safe in a Secure Folder which supports biometric authentication. The Galaxy A comes in four colour variants and will be available in Russia in early January and will be later expanded to the global market.

Beijing, Dec 26 (IANS) Fast food restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) launched its first Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled cafe in Beijing, and said it plans to create more innovative and interesting dining experiences for customers. With the cooperation of Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, KFC started its first smart restaurant in the Financial Street area in Beijing on Friday, the People's Daily reported on Sunday. At the cafe, customers are able to take pictures with a machine, which will recognise the diner's face, sex, age, mood and other features, then help to recommend suitable food and set meals and complete the ordering process. "If the consumer visits the store again and takes a picture with the machine, it will be able to recognize his or her face and show the previous purchase history, remember the customer's dining habits, and help to place an order faster," said Wu Zhongqin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Deep Learning of Baidu Inc, which helped to develop the technology. With another machine with an augmented reality, customers are able to interact with the machine, change facial expressions by shaking their heads in front of the machine, take photos, and save them to their phones. In April, KFC also started its first Chinese smart restaurant in Shanghai. The outlet is equipped with intelligent robot ordering, debuting the use of artificial intelligence in the chain restaurants.

​San Francisco, Dec 24 (IANS) Amid the escalating patents row with Finnish smartphone maker Nokia, Apple has reportedly pulled all products made by Withings -- a French company and now a Nokia subsidiary -- from Apple Stores, be it online or retail. Several Withings iOS-compatible products -- mostly health-related connected accessories -- have been available at Apple Stores for nearly two years as part of a retail alliance, AppleInsider reported on Saturday. The Withings product sales continued even after the company was acquired by Nokia in April for nearly $190 million. The Withings brand was integrated into Nokia's Digital Health unit. "Now, the devices made by the Nokia subsidiary are no longer listed on Apple's website. Previously, Apple carried a wide range of iOS-compatible Withings devices in its retail stores, including the 'Body Cardio Scale' and 'Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor,'" the report added. Five years after Apple and Nokia settled a lawsuit, the tech giants have again locked horns over patents with Apple filing an anti-trust lawsuit against third-party companies Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) that act on Nokia's behalf, and the Finland-based firm suing Apple directly earlier this week. Nokia filed a suit in Europe and the US, claiming Apple is still infringing on Nokia patents. The lawsuit covers 32 patents, including display, user interface, software and video-coding technology. Nokia said that since settling the initial case, Apple has "declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other [parts] of its patented inventions, which are used by many Apple products." In its lawsuit, Apple argued that Nokia already has agreements to license its patents for fair and reasonable terms, also know as "FRAND" (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory). "But Nokia is transferring these patents to PAEs in order to aggressively pursue money," Apple argued. According to the Cupertino-based tech giant, Nokia has been conspiring with PAEs patent assertion entities (Acacia Research and Conversant Property Management) in an "illegal patent transfer scheme" to wring money out of Apple because Nokia's cell phone business is failing. According to the AppleInsider report, Apple has now "expunged all mention of Withings and its product line from the Apple.com online retail database". "Whether or not the recent Withings removal is related to Nokia's shady legal dealings has yet to be confirmed, but Apple has in the past used its retail might as a retaliatory weapon," the report added. In 2011, the two companies settled a patent fight over smartphone technology through a licensing agreement that committed Apple to make a one-time payment to the company and to pay regular royalties in the future, media reported. The companies also agreed to withdraw complaints against each other with the International Trade Commission over the use of intellectual property.

​New York, Dec 23 (IANS) Apple has listed top five grossing movies of all time on iTunes in the US with "Elf", starring Will Ferrell as "Buddy the Elf" as the all-time best-selling holiday movie. In the list that was released on Wednesday on company's website, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", Originally released in 1989, figures on the second place. The movie stars Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold. Dr Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" from 2000, starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch and "Home Alone" starring Macaulay Culkin, directed by Chris Columbus figure on number three and four respectively. While "The Polar Express" starring Tom Hanks in multiple roles is on the fifth number in the Apple's top five grossing movies. The movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis. Apple said that users can ask Siri on iPhone or iPad or on Apple TV using the Siri remote, to play these holiday favourites or other popular holiday titles of this season, including "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York", "The Night Before", "A Christmas Story" and others. Users can also gift iTunes movies to friends and family.

New York, Dec 22 (IANS) Disney's television arm will produce several original shows for Snapchat photo-sharing and mobile service starting with "Watch Party: The Bachelor" show from January 3, 2017. According to a report in the Variety on Wednesday, the episodes are expected to be three to five minutes long and will be available for 24 hours on Snapchat. Users can watch the series in the Snapchat Discover section and the season finale will be produced as a Snapchat Live Story. "We have been exploring ways to tell stories on mobile, and Snapchat was a very exciting canvas for us to work on," said John Frelinghuysen, Executive Vice President of digital media strategy and business development for Disney-ABC TV. It is expected that over the next few months, Disney-ABC TV will produce more shows on Snapchat. The deal entails that Disney-ABC will produce and sell advertising packages incorporating Snapchat's 10-second full screen video ads. "Snapchat inventory may be sold in a bundle with linear TV ad buys, or separately to digital-only sponsors," added Frelinghuysen. Earlier, Disney's subsidary, ABC had tied up with the Snapchat to curate Live Stories around its broadcast of the Academy Awards this February. "Disney-ABC have rewritten the rules for how to develop daring, fun and adventurous series for TV, mastering formats ranging from scripted to reality and from drama to comedy," said Nick Bell, Snap Inc.'s VP of content.

New York, Dec 20 (IANS) Popular world building game Minecraft is now available for purchase on the tvOS App Store with seven pieces of downloadable content which includes the latest Ender update, a media report said. All seven pieces of the downloadable content for the "Apple TV edition" of Minecraft are included in the $19.99 price, including the Holiday 2015, Town Folk, and City Folk skin packs, as well as the Plastic, Natural, Cartoon and Festive 2016 mash-ups, Apple Insider reported. The new Ender Update, which brings a whole bunch of new single-player content to the experience, is also available for free to Minecraft Pocket players on iOS. The new Festive Mash-Up Pack 2016 can be purchased for $3.99. Minecraft is also available for Mac for $26.95 and on iOS for $6.99. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook first announced Minecraft was coming to Apple TV in MacBook Pro event in October. Minecraft, a sandbox video game originally created by Swedish game designer Markus "Notch" Persson and later developed and published by Mojang, was first released in 2009 and was ultimately purchased by Microsoft in September of 2014. The game allows players to build in a procedurally generated world either in a game-oriented survival mode, or in a free-build mode with no constraints on materials.

​New York, Dec 20 (IANS) Rumours that Apple was no longer keen on the desktop business because of the emergence of portable market has been discarded by CEO Tim Cook, saying new desktops were on the way. According to a report in TechCrunch on Tuesday that cited a posting by Apple CEO to an employee message board, the tech giant assures that "great desktops" are upcoming. "Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we are committed to desktops," Cook wrote. "If there is any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear -- we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that," Cook added. Answering to a question, Cook said the Mac desktop was very strategic for Apple. "It is unique compared to the notebook because you can pack a lot more performance in a desktop -- the largest screens, the most memory and storage, a greater variety of I/O, and fastest performance. So there are many different reasons why desktops are really important, and in some cases critical, to people," wrote Cook. Cook said Apple's greatest differentiator was their culture and people who were embedded with "change the world" attitude and boldness that "good is not good enough". "They are the foundation by which everything else comes about. Without great people and a great environment that people can live in, we would not have intellectual property. We would not have the best products. We would not have the inventions or features I mentioned earlier," Cook noted.

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Adding another product to its mirrorless camera line-up, Sony India on Tuesday launched its new flagship APS-C sensor camera, the alpha6500 with 4D FOCUS system that can focus on a subject in 0.05 seconds. Similar to alpha6300 model, the new camera features 425 phase detection autofocus points -- the world's highest number of AF points on any interchangeable lens camera, the company said in a statement. The alpha6500 features Sony's in-camera five-axis optical image stabilisation, making it the first Sony APS-C sensor camera to offer all of the benefits of advanced in-body stabilisation, including a shutter speed advantage of approximately five steps. The model comes equipped with touch screen functionality, allowing users to lock focus on a subject simply by touching it on the screen. The alpha6500 can shoot images at up to 11 frames per second with continuous autofocus and exposure tracking. The camera also offers internal 4K movie recording, as it can shoot 4K (3840 x 2160p) video in the Super 35mm format on the full width of the image sensor. It supports the XAVC S codec during video shooting, which records at a high bit rate of up to 100 Mbps during 4K recording and 50 Mbps during Full HD shooting. The alpha6500 features an APS-C sized 24.2 MP12 Exmor CMOS sensor that works together with a BIONZ X image processor. It is Wi-Fi, QR and NFC compatible and offers location data acquisition via Bluetooth. The alpha6500 camera is available in all Sony Centres, Alpha flagship stores and major electronic stores across India for Rs 119,990 (body only).