Knowledge Update

​New York, Nov 4 (IANS) US tech giant Microsoft has ended sale for both the Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems and these can no longer be bought with a new PC. "End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)," Forbes.com reported on Thursday. Examples of OEMs include Dell and Toshiba, PC manufacturers who often pre-install Windows software. While Windows 7, launched in 2009, was on sale for seven years, Windows 8/8.1 was on sale for just four years. Despite ongoing updates support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until January 2020 and 2023, the end of sales is likely to give the flatlining Windows 10 a boost, the report said. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would roll out two major updates for Windows 10 next year. According to Windows Central, while the first major update for 2017 -- codenamed Redstone 2 -- would release in the early part of 2017, the second one -- codenamed Redstone 3 -- might be released in 2017 summer.

​New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) Taipei-based technology major BenQ has attained the top position in the Indian projector market with a 28 per cent market share, a report by research and consulting firm Futuresource Consulting said on Wednesday. In first quarter of this year, BenQ dominated the market with a 25 per cent market share and since then has strengthened its position by growing to 28 per cent of overall projector market. "BenQ will continue to focus on innovation and technology in digital display space," said Rajeev Singh, Managing Director, BenQ India, in a statement. BenQ has 39 per cent share in the SVGA market, 61 per cent in the short throw market and also leads in the corporate high brightness category with a 37 per cent market share and 47 per cent in the full-HD vertical. The brand also leads in education market with more than 70 per cent market share in private schools, which means out of every three private smart classroom in the country, two uses BenQ projector, the report added.

​New York, Oct 29 (IANS) Love to eat milk chocolates, but are wary of its negative health effects as a result of higher levels of added sugar and fat? Take heart. Researchers have found a way to introduce the health benefits of dark chocolate -- a powerful source of antioxidants -- into milk chocolates. Researchers from the North Carolina State University, in the US, have developed a method to use peanut skin extracts to make milk chocolate that has even more nutritional benefits of dark chocolate without affecting the taste. They extracted phenolic compounds from peanut skins -- a waste product of peanut production -- and encapsulated them into maltodextrin powder which is an edible carbohydrate with a slightly sweet flavour that comes from starchy foods such as potatoes, rice or wheat. The maltodextrin powder was incorporated into the milk chocolate. "If applied to commercial products, peanut skin extracts would allow consumers to enjoy mild tasting products and have exposure to compounds that have proven health benefits," said lead author Lisa L. Dean from the North Carolina State University. Including these extracts would allow for a value-added use of the discarded skins, because peanut skins are a waste product of the blanching process of the peanut industry, the authors said. Consumer testing of 80 subjects who compared samples of both milk chocolates with peanut extracts and without showed that the fortified chocolates were liked as well as the untreated milk chocolate. These tests also showed that the threshold for detecting the presence of the peanut skin extract was higher than that needed to fortify the milk chocolate to antioxidant levels comparable to dark chocolate, the researchers noted in the paper appearing in the Journal of Food Science.

San Francisco, Oct 28 (IANS) Cupertino-based Apple has introduced the thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro ever, along with a breakthrough interface that replaces the traditional row of function keys with a Retina-quality multi-touch display called the Touch Bar. The MacBook Pro features sixth-generation quad-core and dual-core processors, up to 2.3 times the graphics performance over the previous generation, super-fast SSDs and up to four Thunderbolt 3 ports. The new MacBook Pro sports Apple's brightest and most colourful Retina display yet, the security and convenience of Touch ID, a more responsive keyboard, a larger Force Touch trackpad and an audio system with double the dynamic range. "This week marks the 25th anniversary of Apple's first notebook, through the years each generation has introduced new innovations and capabilities, and it is fitting that this all-new generation of MacBook Pro is the biggest leap forward yet," said Philip Schiller, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Apple, in a statement. As thin as a MacBook display at 0.88 mm, the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro at 500 nits of brightness, is 67 per cent brighter than the previous generation, features 67 per cent more contrast and is the first Mac notebook display to support wide colour gamut. And with power-saving technologies like a larger pixel aperture, a variable refresh rate and power-efficient LEDs, the display consumes 30 per cent less energy than before. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro, at just 15.5 mm thin, is 14 per cent thinner and has 20 per cent less volume than before, and weighing just 1.83 kg is nearly half a pound lighter. The 13-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar and Touch ID features a 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage. The 15-inch MacBook Pro, also features Touch Bar and Touch ID, a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.5GHz, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage. All the devices will soon be available in the market, the company said.

​New York, Oct 22 (IANS) After not so successful device IM5, photography company Kodak will launch its new device Ektra -- a smartphone aimed at aimed at shutterbugs -- that looks like a camera. Named after its 1941 rangefinder (and the 1970s 110 film camera range), the handset's back is wrapped in "leatherette" with a slightly curved grip on one side and a dedicated shutter button on top, Engadget reported. To be available in Britain from December for 450 pounds ($550), the smartphone has a large, protruding lens pokes out the back and a 21MP Sony sensor (IMX230) under the hood and is photographer-friendly. Kodak has recruited Bullitt, a phone manufacturer to make the device. The camera app on the smartphone has a digital "Scene Selection Dial" that lets you access different shooting modes. Bullitt has also made Snapseed the default photo-editing app, believing it is one of the best options on the Play Store. The phone is powered by a deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor and 3GB of RAM. It comes with 32GB of internal storage, which you can supplement with a MicroSD card up to 128GB and a 3000mAh battery that supports "Pump Express" quick charging. The 5-inch, 1080p display has a stock version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

​New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Chinese smartphone manufacturer Zopo on Wednesday launched its latest Color F5 model that comes with Multi-account Application and PiP video Integration (floating video) technology. Available in gold colour, the device comes with fingerprint scanning technology, allowing users to control the device's camera, gallery, app lock and other features. "The Color series has been our most successful product chain in India. Therefore, with the launch of our Color F5 smartphone, we hope to maintain our position in the Indian market as a brand that provides innovative products at competitive prices," the company said in a statement. Apart from the fingerprint scanning feature, ZOPO Color F5 smartphone is equipped with a 64Bit Quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB Storage. The 4G LTE dual-SIM smartphone has Android Marshmallow OS, 5-inch 2.5D glass display and dual LED flash for both 8MP rear and 5MP front camera.

Purchase (New York), Oct 17 (IANS) Global food and beverages giant PepsiCo on Monday announced a major initiative to cut calories across its product range to make them more nutritious and meet the present-day health and societal priorities. Both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal have been asking global food giants to make their products healthier by using, among other ingredients, natural fruit juices and less sugar. "Informed by the latest dietary guidelines of the World Health Organization and other authorities, the company will continue to refine its food and beverage choices to meet changing consumer needs by reducing added sugars, saturated fat and sodium levels in its product portfolio," a PepsiCo statement said. "To succeed in today's volatile and changing world, corporations must do three things exceedingly well: focus on delivering strong financial performance, do it in a way that is sustainable over time, and be responsive to the needs of society," said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. "PepsiCo's journey is far from complete, and our new goals are designed to build on our progress and broaden our efforts," she added. The company has chalked out various goals till 2025. These include: at least two-thirds of its global beverage portfolio volume will have 100 calories or fewer from added sugars per 12 ounce serving and at least three-quarters of its global foods portfolio volume will not exceed 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 100 calories. It also added at least three-quarters of its global foods portfolio volume will not exceed 1.3 milligrams of sodium per calorie and the rate of sales growth of what the company refers to as Everyday Nutrition products will outpace the rate of sales growth in the balance of PepsiCo's portfolio. Modi had for long been vocal about adding fruit juice to aerated drinks. In January this year he suggested mixing at least 2 per cent fruit juice in aerated drinks, which will in turn help distressed farmers to find a new market for their produce. Among its various goals for 2025, the company also said it will provide access to at least three billion servings of nutritious foods and beverages to underserved communities and consumers. Building on its support for the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights, PepsiCo is significantly broadening its focus on respecting human rights across the company's supply chain, the statement said. The company plans to expand its Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) to approximately 7 million acres by 2025, covering crops that collectively comprise approximately three-quarters of its agricultural-based spend. It also plans to invest $100 million in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation to support initiatives to benefit 12.5 million women and girls around the world by 2025, the statement added.

​New York, Oct 18 (IANS) What if the home button of your new iPhone 7 stops working? No worries, as Apple's iPhone 7 home button has a virtual alternative that turns on automatically if the physical button fails to perform. According to the Apple-tracking website MacRumors, the virtual home button sits neatly at the bottom of the iPhone 7's screen. With the new iOS 10 in place, the iPhone 7 screen displays a message, saying that "Home Button may need service and "onscreen Home Button" can be used in the meantime. "With the introduction of the iPhone 7, Apple did away with the classic click-mechanism home button in favour of a 'solid-state' pressure sensitive one that uses haptic feedback to mimic traditional button presses," the report added. The iPhone 7 home button was redesigned in 2016. The new home button is like a sensor that can recognise a fingerprint and additional pressure. "It also vibrates when a user presses the button, so he or she knows its features have been activated," Fortune reported on Tuesday. While the feature is technically hidden, it can be turned on whenever the physical Home Button malfunctions. Speculations are that Apple may finally move its home button into the glass on its next iPhone variant - eliminating physical buttons once and for all.

​New York, Oct 15 (IANS) Imagine a TV that looks like glass and can be fit into your furniture's glass panes. Panasonic has developed a protoype of an "invisible" TV which generates bright, clear images as normal TVs. According to tech website Engadget, Panasonic has improved the image quality in the new prototpye. "The OLED screen is made from a fine mesh, embedded into the glass sliding door," the report added. The TV image is visible even with the backlighting on. Once it's dimmed, the image is bright enough to be almost indistinguishable from existing TV sets. The screen shifts between "transparent mode" where you can see the shelving behind it, and "screen mode", where you can see the screen. "Because the display is on a railing, you can move it up and down the shelf for even greater customisability," Engadget reported. According to Panasonic, the television is likely to hit the market in the next three years.

​Seoul, Oct 13 (IANS) Samsung Electronics on Thursday began its refund and exchange programme for Galaxy Note 7 owners in South Korea after it discontinued production of the faulty smartphone. Note 7 owners were recommended to take their phones back to the store where they purchased the defective smartphones, Xinhua news agency reported. South Korean consumers can opt to get a full refund or exchange Note 7s with other devices, including Apple's iPhone 7 or LG Electronics' G5 and V20, or Samsung's Galaxy S7, S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 5. Samsung said in a statement that it will provide 100,000 won ($89) in gifts, including a 30,000-won coupon and a 70,000-won assistance for phone charges, if Note 7 owners replace their phones with Samsung products. The 30,000-won coupon would be given to all Note 7 buyers even if they exchange their phones with other products such as iPhone 7 or the LG G5. If Note 7 owners want to receive the full 100,000-won gift from Samsung, they are required to replace the phones with Samsung products until November 30. The refund and exchange programme will continue by the end of this year. The programme will differ by country.