Your Tech Story

Tech News

oneplus8

A Look at the Specifications of the New OnePlus 8 Smartphone that has Excited Fans Around the World

OnePlus is a leading smartphone manufacturer in India, with a loyal fan base. The smartphone maker has done well for itself in India, thanks to affordable handsets which boast high-end capabilities. Most of their phones are highly anticipated by the Indian audience, as they always seem to shake things up when it comes to launches. Recently, Roland Quandt, who is a famous industry insider working for WinFuture, released official specifications relating to the OnePlus 8. The OnePlus 8 will be the newest flagship from the highly successful Shenzhen-based brand. Here’s a look at everything you need to know about the latest specifications, and why it has made smartphone enthusiasts excited.

Launch Dates and Specifications

The leaked specifications reveal that the new flagship might come with an OLED screen, which is 6.55 inches big. The hyperboloid screen will support FHD+ resolution and can process images at 90Hz refresh rate. The phone is also expected to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G chipset, which will be available in two different memory categories: 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB. The OnePlus 8 will run on an LPDDR4X RAM and is not expected to have functionalities such as wireless charging and IP rating. The phone will also have a 16MP front camera and a back camera which comes with a triple camera setup, supporting a 48MP primary camera. The OnePlus 8 will be powered by a 4300mAh battery, which luckily for the fans, supports 30W flash charge.

Also, as per the report, the phone will most likely be launched mid-April, and the company will announce the exact launch date by the end of this week. The phone will also be available in three different colour schemes, Onyx Black, Interstellar Glow and Glacial Green.

Visual Display

The leak also came with individual renderings of the expected launches, and the new colours make for an impressive visual display. The most talked about in the new array of colours is undoubtedly the purplish- Interstellar Glow, which honestly looks out of this world. Fans from around the world were quick in heaping praises on the new launches’ look, some even stating that the phone seems ethereal. However, no official report has been released which states whether both the OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8, will have the same colour palette.

Also, reports state that the OnePlus 8 Pro might have a 120Hz refresh rate, making for more in-depth and vibrant images. These reports also indicate that the new flagship’s pro version will have a larger screen size, with several experts touting it to as high as 6.78 inches. The Pro is also expected to run on an LPDDR5 RAM, and support a quadruple-camera setup. Furthermore, it will have an IP68 rating, which makes it both water and dust resistant. Also, the phone will run on a 4,510mAh battery, which to supports 30W wireless charging. Furthermore, the phone will also support reverse wireless charging for up to 3 Watts. Both phones will most likely run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 5G chip.

Both WinFuture and Ishan Agarwal have released these new colour variations and specs this morning. As no further updates have come from OnePlus themselves, these new renderings are the closest we will get to see what the new launches will look like. Furthermore, the company has not yet confirmed a release date or pricing for both these flagship phones. Much talked about has been the never-before-seen option of colour called the Interstellar Glow. This new shade is expected to shift its look depending on ambient light and surrounding natural light. Fans have begun to compare this new feature to Samsung’s Aura Glow functionality, which first came out through the Note 10. This unique shade will have the ability to shift between purple, red and orange hues with a matte finish. However, reports have also come out stating that this look might not be available on the OnePlus 8 Pro, though. The Onyx Black shade looks very glossy, whereas Glacial green appears to have a more matte finish. With more reports being expected to come in by April 15th, fans around the world are waiting for confirmation regarding their dream smartphone.

trivia

TRIVIA ANNOUNCES THAT IT IS BACK IN THE GAME ONCE AGAIN

We are experiencing a situation of denial and despair and panic from the beginning of this month. The noble coronavirus outbreak has led to the shutting down of almost every business in the run. While we are spending this time locked up in our home, we are craving for entertainment. Though the situation is getting dangerous with every passing day, the human mind needs some peace as well. Trivia declared that it is back in business given that it announced its shut down a month ago. The shutdown of HQ Trivia took place all of a sudden in February. But, now the online quiz game is back again within a month. So, with an investor whose identity is not yet revealed, Trivia came back from the dead.

Trivia confirms the return

The return of the Trivia quiz was confirmed yesterday evening. After the struggle of one long month, Trivia announced its acquisition by a private investor. But, the name won’t be disclosed anytime soon. Trivia has also confirmed that it is not a one-off event. From now, Trivia will be hosting regular shows and new episodes will come along. But, since the company has just re-opened a day ago, it hasn’t released any schedule yet.

Rus Yusupov, co-founder and the CEO of HQ Trivia confirmed the company’s return with a tweet after the release of the big news. Trivia let their players know about this by releasing a push notification. It said about the online game that went live yesterday night at 9 PM. So, Trivia makes its comeback not only with a press release but it hosted an online day on the same day.

The rise before the fall

HQ Trivia became a big hit as soon as it was released in 2017 for the first time. Within two years it became one of the famous online quiz platforms. Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll designed this game show and released it for the first time on 26th August 2017. This was available for both iOS and Android smartphones. Scott Rogowsky hosted the online quiz show of HQ Trivia. Matt Richards replaced him in 2019.

Within a couple of years, after this quiz app went viral, HQ Trivia witnessed participants ranging from 100,000 to 125,000. In March 2018, the app marked its highest record of concurrent players and it was 2.38 million. This year the company also saw more than 2 million monthly installs of the game. Eventually, it expanded around the globe with the exception of Russia and India. But, the company turned upside down due to many reasons and finally Rus was forced to shut it down.

Why Trivia was forced to shut down?

The technical crisis hit the companies very early, but the damages weren’t beyond repairable. After a year, HQ Trivia started facing major technical troubles and it was getting pretty hard to say on top. The co-founders tried its best to fight back and take its early position as one of the most popular apps. But, it, unfortunately, didn’t happen. Moreover, the company’s growth strategy backfired when Colin Kroll, former CEO of HQ Trivia, died of a drug overdose.

This had a very big negative impact on the status of the company. Running on loss or not able to stay in the competition is a different matter. But, this news led to losing the company’s reputation as well. Rus went through a pretty tough time and he took over the position of CEO in the company.

Rus tried his best to put Trivia back on track. He launched many new games, introduced a music-themed show, HQ tunes, and a live photo competition, changed some of the game formats, etc. He also brought the idea of a subscription plan to find a new source of revenue. But, all these efforts went in vain when Rus realized nothing brought back the craze for Trivia anymore.

From 2 million monthly downloads, the monthly installs dropped to 67,000 in 2020. This is when Rus let his employees know that the existing investors are not willing to invest anymore. And, they needed to shut down the company immediately.

The strategic return

HQ Trivia made its return just when the noble coronavirus is creating panic within us. So, the online game show hosted yesterday came with a message on the spread of coronavirus. And, the comeback also includes donating $100,000 to World Central Kitchen to feed those in need in this emergency.

Google

GOOGLE TELLS HOW THE ONLINE BUSINESSES SHOULD RESPONSE IN THIS PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a worldwide crisis. Apart from the shutdown of offline businesses, educational institutions, etc, it has also successfully created trauma within us. Every nation will find it very hard to economically recover after this deadly virus is eradicated once and for all. While every small enterprise is shutting down temporarily, here is a hope for the online businesses. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, some of the online businesses are also planning to shut down. But, Google says it is a very idea for a business. A website can be less active, but it should still be on the run. Because, once it shuts down permanently, it is very difficult to be back online. Due to the shutdown ranking falls sharply.

The minimalistic approach behind the online business

John Mueller, Google’s senior webmaster trend analyst has given a set of guidelines for those who are planning a shutdown. He said that instead of turning off your business permanently, it is better if you stick to minimal functionalities. This explains what Flipkart and other e-commerce sites are doing. You might show out of stock for the time being or allow your customers to add in wishlist or cart for later. This will save your business once you are back online. Also, you don’t lose you, customers, as they will be visiting the website. Everything except receiving orders should remain active.

Another thing that Muller suggested is to display some important message or notice about the temporary inconvenience. He also said to use Google’s Search Console Tool for re-indexing.

Customers are the first priority

The online sites that are engaged with the service of online ordering and delivery are facing most difficulties. Other websites which provide online solution and the entire procedure is done over the net won’t feel the heat. So, for those e-commerce websites, closing it will be the biggest mistake. You should keep in mind that though your company is not able to deliver, customers visit the website. So, to not have a negative attitude towards your customers, the website should be online. This will help to tackle your problems in a better way once everything is back to normal.

What if you need to shut down?

Shutting down should be the option when you hit rock bottom. If there is no other way then you have to shut down. But, it shouldn’t be more than a few days maximum. If you are shutting down your website you should do thorough research about what are the dos and don’ts. Google also says that the company should display an error page with a 503 HTTP result code. That is the best thing to go for.

And, in case you are planning to shut it down for more than just a few days, here are some tips. One should provide an indexable homepage as a placeholder. This gives the user a way to find it through a search by using 200 HTTP status code. And, if you are planning to hide your website, you can temporarily remove it from search. But, always remember these are very risky. Your business might have a major setback once it is back.

Effects of shutdown

It’s better that your customers know there’s a temporary glitch than not knowing anything at all. This is why a whole vanishing-the-website-idea is not recommended. Always keep your customers updated about the website. There’s not much work in just keeping it active with a notice. And, once you lock the website, users cannot find relevant information about products, services, past orders, reviews, etc. Moreover, if you shut down the website for once, their high chances to lose the contact number and your company’s logo as well.

All these will lead to a company sinking down in the search engine. In other words, Search Control Verification will fail as the company’s information is lost.

The helping hands

It’s hard to make the right decision when you are panicking. So, here’s a small help from domain registrars like GoDaddy and Namecheap. One can continue paying the hosting fee to keep it online. And, these registrars are also helping the small companies survive this. Because entire disabling is very harmful to a company’s future.

Louis-James Davis

How Louis-James Davis Is Providing Cyber Tech Security Through His Famous Vcode Platform (VST)

Cybersecurity and the companies providing it are an integral part of today’s tertiary sector. Numerous transactions take place in a single day through many online platforms. And, with an increasing number of people using these platforms, it increases the chances of fraud. So, every company must use a cybersecurity platform to fight against fraud. Every person who is remotely related to the acreage of coding has heard of VCode. Not only programmers but also many companies as well. Because VCode has become very successful in carrying out financial transactions both online and offline. VCode is the product of the company VST Enterprises. Louis-James Davis founded the company in 2012.

About Louis-James Davis

Louis graduated from Longdendale Language College in 2004. His career in the technical sector properly started with becoming the CEO of The Media Creation Enterprises. He switched to another company called KMS Solutions (co-founder) after a couple of years. He founded VST Enterprises in 2012 and currently serves as the CEO of the same.

In July 2013, he became a Partner at the Longbow Venture Capital followed by Business Advisor at TechCluster Ltd. For five years, Louis was a Tech Innovation Consultant at Via Solidus Consultancy. He was also the Science & Technology Ambassador for the Government of Zimbabwe. Louis has also founded Davis Co. Holdings and Ambassador of Code Nation, Kidscan Children’s Cancer Research, and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Shifting to the technical world

Louis started his career as a passionate musician. But, he falls victim to a serious illness that changed the course of his life. After he left the career of a musician behind, he joined Carnival Corporation as the Entertainment Officer. For many years, he worked for different companies. But, it seemed like it is hard to provide a simple interaction with the customers.

QR codes and other sorts of codes have grown common by then. But, they decided to generate their code which led to the formation of VCode. VCode and VPlatform are the two products of VST Enterprises which successfully generate, track, and analyze VCodes. So, Louis finally came up with his whole ledger system by 2012 and launched the company.

Objectives of Louis-James Davis

When Louis established the company, his main focus was to incorporate this technology in various government bodies. Because they are most vulnerable to fraud and counterfeiting. Louis also claims that the features that his products can provide and not very common in the market. The ideas of Louis have become rivals to the blockchain community to some extent. Because, when Louis did some market research he received a few feedback regarding blockchain solutions. It wasn’t working anymore for many companies and Louis’s ledger system could have easily provided the solution.

Many big clients were interested in the products of VST Enterprises which includes the Bank of England, accountancy firms like KPMG and EY, etc.

The Big Success

Louis and his team started writing their code because they simply weren’t satisfied with the solutions of other companies. And, after they launched their product they barely knew how effective it was in the market. They realized the importance of their product when a researcher incorporated their technology. The EU Commission reported that it was the only product in the market that could record end-to-end traceability and eradicate counterfeiting. This was the huge success that took VST Enterprises to a whole new level.

About VST Enterprises 

VST Transaction has been trying to provide excellent experience of the financial transaction both online and offline. The products of VST Enterprise are used by diversified sectors of the economy. For example, it is used for fighting against fraud in government sectors to car park payment systems. From instant payments to document transfer, everything is secured through the platform of VCode.

AI played a very significant role in building Vplatform. Once the VCode is scanned, the user gets access to all the information that is online about a particular product or service. The products of VST are so versatile that it has received many awards for excellence. In 2016, it has become the Best British Mobile Start-up (KPMG) and Most Innovative Mobile Technology Company (TMT News). The company is also the recipient of the CEO Award 2017, Tech Entrepreneur of the Award 2018 by UK Business Tech Awards, etc.

IBM

IBM AND THE WEATHER CHANNEL ARE MAKING MORE CITIZENS AWARE OF COVID-19

Mayhem has come down to the entire world. And, every nation is currently fighting off the same enemy, COVID-19. It was only yesterday that the total cases in India surpassed 600. The rise of panic is everywhere but it is a blessing than many patients are recovering from near death. The world has come together to find a cure for this infectious virus at the earliest. In the meantime, as a responsible citizen, we can only take precautions and stay home. But, it is also important to keep track of the number of cases globally. So, we have a right to know updated facts about this virus, for example, where it is spreading more, and the number of reported active cases. To help stay more informed about the statistics, IBM and The Weather Channel has launched new tools.

The New Tool and its use

It has become impossible for us to take a step out of your house. The Internet feels like a blessing in these days of quarantine mostly to keep ourselves updated. Given that we all use a smartphone, IBM has launched new tools that will help us keep a record of reported COVID-19 cases in our area. The mobile application is free and anyone from anywhere can access it.

The users can see the information from The Weather Channel app (an IBM business). The company has designed this new tool in a way that will help the users get all the information from trusted sources. The application also has a dashboard where the statistics will be displayed. Previously, many sites provided with updated information about COVID-19 like active cases, death cases, and total cases. But, it is easier to gain this information from a mobile app.

Features of the App                                            

The data we received so far was from the World Health Organization (WHO), Johns Hopkins University, and other official sources. This Weather Channel app will merge all these information. And, apart from these reports, it will show reported cases at both state and national levels. Combining all these data, the app will show it on an “incident map”.

In this incident map, reported cases will be color-coded to show different areas, states and at the national level as well. Not only the maps will be generated but also graphs will be provided the state-wise reported cases. This app will also provide the percentage increase of COVID-19 cases weekly.

Trend visualization and interactive mapping are the two best features of this app. The app will also provide news and videos related to this pandemic. This will be thoroughly looked into by The Weather Channel Editorial team. As one should be reported about the cases, the citizens of the U.S. will also be able to locate the nearest healthcare clinics and testing centers. IBM is trying its best to include as much informative and important data as possible.

Reaching out to more people

IBM has also announced that this same data will be used by officials, researchers, data scientists, media, and medical professionals. So, the citizens should not worry about the clarity and preciseness of the data. It is their responsibility to let people aware of the right details. The app will also provide fact-checking resources and a proper guideline in this period of crisis. It will consist of detailed guidelines about the preventive measures that should be taken by normal people. And, it is also for the people who have tested positive for COVID-19. Though the patients will be immediately taken under medical supervision, prevention is better than cure.

Spreading the right message

This new tool will help the U.S citizens both prevent and remain informed about COVID-19. The app will not only show statistics of the U.S but also the cases of global COVID-19. There are around 45 million active users of The Weather Channel App. So, people can ignore the use but they will surely stay tuned with an application, a very common feature of a smartphone. The company also said that apart from all the information it provides, the message of social distancing is the top priority. Because that is the most important and the only way to prevent COVID-19.

namecheap

Namecheap Bans Domain Names Containing Words Related to COVID-19

The deadly coronavirus continues its rampage as it spreads aggressively throughout Europe and North America. With over 4,50,000 people have tested positive and causalities exceeding 20,000, the virus has grown to become a global pandemic. Almost all spheres of life have been hit by the virus, with most educational institutions and offices shutting down. Most non-essential services and industries have been shut in a bid to stop the spread of this viral infection. One of the most significant issues that have surfaced as a result of this global pandemic is the spread of fake news and theories. From around the world, people have been posting faux stories regarding cures and infection theories which has been spreading false information. Governments across the globe are trying to put an end to the peddling of incorrect information through various means. In this article, we will be taking a look at one such way which has been adopted by domain registrar company Namecheap.

Banning Words to Prevent False Information

Namecheap which handles the domain registration of websites, on Wednesday announced that it was prohibiting domains from taking names which contain the words, ‘covid’, ‘coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’. The full list of words it will not allow to be a part of domain names has been released by the company. This decision has been taken to stop the peddling of false information in such trying times. Any term or phrase that alludes to the COVID-19 pandemic will not get registered as a domain name in the months to come. The LA-based company hopes that such measures will prevent fake products and websites from flooding the internet. Ever since the pandemic spread to Europe and the US, many sites flaunting miracle drugs and cures have popped up all over the internet. Such websites do not provide any medical background or proof and peddle fake products by selling misinformation. This move will go a long way in preventing people from capitalizing on the ongoing worldwide health hazard.

Desperate Measures during Desperate Times

The company’s statement called out all the people who were trying to take advantage of this crisis to make some quick money. Both the company and government authorities are working in tandem to prevent such misinformation and fraudulent products from taking over the internet. The government is also following a very proactive method that aims to stop and take down any such content from the world wide web. The company mailed a copy of its statement to all its customers and emphasized how from now on, it will not allow any domain name containing words or phrases related to the pandemic. In case, legitimate and legally valid companies wish to procure a domain name, including the banned words, they will have to do after contacting the company’s support team. After thorough verification and validation, such companies will be able to register themselves with the company.

Viral Scams

The coronavirus has led to large-scale loss of life around the world. However, fraudulent characters are making use of this deadly virus to scam people and sell fake products. Coronavirus-related scams and abuse has become as viral as the infection itself. With such scams becoming viral, most of the world’s top tech companies are trying to fight this in their ways. E-commerce legends such as Amazon and E-Bay are starting to remove all sellers and listings which claim to have coronavirus cures. These companies have also placed bans and restrictions on the sale of face masks and hand sanitizers, which people seem to be stocking, owing to the crisis.

Furthermore, social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are now working together to moderate the content that goes live on their platforms. These companies have also come out with more aggressive approaches to content analysis, review, and removal. Almost all fake videos which are up on YouTube claiming to cure the viral disease have been taken off. Recently, NYC police officials had asked domain registrars too to help in this fight against online scamming, leading to this decision by Namecheap. All these rules and preventive measures will help in tackling forums, websites, and apps that claim to have fake vaccines, cures, and preventing tactics. This step was taken as the last month saw thousands of new domain registrations all peddling phony information. However, such registrar companies took action as soon as NY Attorney General, Letitia James asked them to deploy stringent countermeasures regarding the same. While Namecheap has taken proactive steps to prevent such fraudulent registration, GoDaddy and Endurance seem to still rely on their abuse reporting capabilities. With the viral disease having spread aggressively, it is safe to assume that these companies too will come out with stricter measures in the coming days, as the world comes together to fight the COVID-19.