The Daily Fly-By

San Francisco based Nextbit today announced that its 'Ember' colored Robin smartphone is available for sale on Flipkart.  ‘Ember’ is the third variant after Mint and Midnight color. The limited edition Ember sports a black rear panel with bright red-colored end caps. Ember is produced in a limited quantity, and is available on Flipkart with a price tag of Rs. 19,999.

My First impression is "Wow" looking at the phone. It has unique design and color compared to other options available in market. It offers 32GB of onboard storage and 100GB of free cloud storage.

5.2 inch HD IPS LCD display of 1080x1920 pixels resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C port,13MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera, Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor.

The down size: When there are most phone with dual sim available in market, Nextbit Robin supports only Single Sim with connectivity options of the phone include GSM, HSPA and LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac.  One another mistake is when most Indian android users expect one feature the most, is missing "The FM Radio"

Nextbit Robin looks amazing with its colours and a unique design, still the price is on the higher side, The 100GB free cloud storage is great, but how many users require that amount of cloud storage is questionable.  

Still Nextbit Robin is eye-catching and I hope their next version will have more battery life, FM Radio and Dual Sim.  I would then definitely would like to buy one for myself.

Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/nextbit-robin-2907

https://www.flipkart.com/nextbit-robin-ember-32-gb/p/itmeht4hzyahzbxh?pid=MOBEKJN9RXZ5TZ5T&st=color

 Image Source / Copyright are of : https://in.news.yahoo.com

Well yes that's the Queue for getting Reliance Jio connection.......

Public reactions are always like this especially when company announces truly unlimited usage of 4G FREE for 3 months which includes 4G LTE data, voice calls, text messages and a bunch of other value added services like live streaming of TV channels, movies on demand and music streaming. But one has to buy a LYF (4G-enabled VoLTE) branded smartphone which is sold by Reliance Digital.

Rival carriers like Airtel not pleased with Jio's modus operandi, but to retain their existing customers launched new scheme ‘Mega Saver Pack’.

With Rs.1498 pack get 1GB 4G/3G data upfront and enjoy truly unlimited number of 1GB 4G/3G recharges @ Rs 51 over the next 12 months
OR
With Rs.748 pack get 1GB 4G/3G data upfront and enjoy truly unlimited number of 1GB 4G/3G recharges @ Rs 99 over the next 6 months

Personally I feel there is no much point in spending money behind a newPhone / Sim  just for 3 months unlimited internet. What is so much, are you going to download ?  Most of torrent sites is also blocked and you can land into legal trouble if you attempt to access. Also...

A. Reliance Jio is currently beta testing 4G, and hence its giving unlimited free 4G to grab customers, but when they will begin commercial launch the prices will be similar to other carries and 70% or more users will dropout. we all can predict that quite.

B. How many hours are you going to watch TV or Movies on a phone with tiny screen size ? Also Live TV and Movies won't be free later, either you have to pay upfront or per movies.

C. Most of heavy users prefer and are connected to Wifi either from their office or Home. So question to ask is.. how much is the actual usage of internet via your Mobile connection ?  Are you really consuming your entire GBs as per your data plan? 

D. 51*12 + 1498 = 2,110/- at this price will Airtel or Reliance give me 12gb of data for a validity period of 12 months ?  Well they will not, they all have done their maths and they know, hardly few will consume entire 1GB in a given month.

None of the unused data is carry forward to next month.  which is where you loose your money. You pay more but use less. Seriously customers should calculate their monthly usage and then buy any internet packs. 

E. Do you really get a 4G speed ?  I never got 3G speed or even 2G speed to the fullest. Speed always depends on traffic in that area... LOL it means Pay for 4G and GET 2G.

Newspaper advertisement says "Airtel Cuts 4G price by upto 80%".  Customers are surprized and feel that sudden high reduction in price of 4G internet shows that, was Airtel looting the customers for so long. ??

Information Source:  https://in.news.yahoo.com/tech/why-many-indians-queuing-sim-091339910.html

Stars, dust, you and me, all the things that we see — only make up about 4 percent of the entire universe, rest is what we call as "Dark Matter".

What is Dark Matter ?
Scientist believe, that the gravity of visible matter is not strong enough to form galaxies and complex structures. Stars are most likely to scatter all over the place and not form galaxies. So we know there is something else inside or around them, something that does not emit or reflects light, something dark and there is lot of it and scientists can estimate based on its gravitational effects on surrounding matter.

Meet the New Discovery - Dragonfly 44, The massive galaxy consists almost entirely of dark matter. Its 300 million light-years away, 100000 light-years wide and is located in the nearby constellation named "Coma". Dragonfly 44 is an incredibly large, about the size of the Milky Way, but its diffuse and dim galaxy with far fewer stars, only 0.1%. The Milky Way has more than a hundred times then that. So What's holding those few stars in place? 

Star velocities are an indication of the galaxy’s mass ... The faster the stars move, the more mass its galaxy will have. The stars in Dragonfly 44 were observed to be moving much faster than what was expected for a galaxy of its brightness.  Galaxies rotate at such speeds, they’d rip themselves apart if the only thing trying to hold them together was their own gravitational force. Something else has to be holding them. Physicists think the answer is a whole lot of dark matter.

Scientists used the world's most powerful telescopes, the Gemini North telescope at the Gemini Observatory and the Keck II telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory, to monitor it and observations says that the galaxy is made of 99.9% dark matter.  Wow..

While the galaxies believed to be made up almost entirely of dark matter have been discovered before, but they are usually quite small, one such is named VIRGOHI21 and is about 50 million light-years away, it appears to contain no visible stars, has 99.9 percent dark matter and is about 10th the size of Milky Way. Dragonfly 44  discovery is special because finding a galaxy with like of the Milky Way, that is almost dominated by dark matter was unexpected. Hence scientists feel, the discovery of Dragonfly 44 challenges existing notions on the formation of galaxies.

Despite years of searching, we have no idea what dark matter actually is, but this invisible matter seems crucial to the stability of the Universe.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make In India’.

Bharti Airtel on Sunday announced the launch of its ‘India with Airtel’ services offering end-to-end connectivity solutions for foreign companies looking to set up businesses in India, in order to eliminate the challenges faced by companies of dealing with multiple vendors and integration issues. The new solution, to be offered as a packaged service, comprises of all connectivity related services that Airtel offers. It includes mobile and fixed telephony, global and domestic data capacity and connectivity solutions, VSAT, VPN, data center and cloud solutions, VAS and payment/billing integration, M2M and managed services.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/bharti-launches-india-with-airtel-suite-of-connectivity-solution/articleshow/53895372.cms

Earlier whenever there is a new update, we would immediately download and install it.  But now a days we wait for a month at least to see community feedback and then decide.

Same is true for Windows 10 Anniversary Updates. If you can't use certain features after the latest Windows 10 update, Microsoft has four words for you: "Sorry for the inconvenience." - ROFL

Here are few reasons

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-sorry-windows-10-anniversary-update-killed-your-webcam/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-update-breaks-powershell-and-microsoft-wont-fix-it-until-next-week/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/administrators-can-no-longer-shut-off-certain-apps-content-with-windows-10-pro-anniversary-update/

This is very interesting news forward on WhatsApp by my friend Ananth.   The tunnel 150 meters long, 3 meter wide and height of around 12 feet is found under Maharashtra Raj Bhavan.

The Bunker is spread over area of 5000sqft.  Even more interesting was that "They didn’t find a single insect in the bunker"

Pictures are available here :  http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/not-just-governor-raj-bhavan-houses-a-5-000-sq-ft-british-era-bunker-too/story-BdUaTeJtbBBVzwqoQCe6jM.html

The bunker was perhaps built at the time of Prince of Wales's visit to Mumbai in 1875.  There are rooms tagged Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store, Shell Lift, Pump and Workshop on crumbling wooden plaques.

Google today announced the roll of Android 7.0 Nougat to Nexus devices. Today, and over the next several weeks, the Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C and General Mobile 4G (Android One) will get an over the air software update to Android 7.0 Nougat.

Some interesting feature updates are :-

Expanded emoji: There are now over 1,500 different emoji built into Android, including 72 new ones.

Quick Settings controls: With Android Nougat, you can actually control what tiles go where, and move ‘em around to fit ones needs.

Multi-window: Run two apps side-by-side. The windows are resizable, too, by simply dragging the divider.

Direct Reply: Reply directly to notifications without having to open any app.

More smart battery usage: Android 7.0 Nougat the Doze feature has been made even more dozier. Android  devices can now drop into lower power usage when it’s getting jostled around in your pocket or bag while on the move.

LG V20 will be the first new smartphone that ships with Android Nougat, right out of the box.

Source : https://android.googleblog.com/2016/08/android-70-nougat-more-powerful-os-made.html

Rank	Medal Count				Total
1	United States	46	37	38	121
2	Great Britain	27	23	17	67
3	China	26	18	26	70
4	Russia	19	18	19	56
5	Germany	17	10	15	42
	India	0	1	1	2

Congrats to Silver and Bronze Winners.

But one questions asked by everyone, Why just 2 medals ? and No Gold Medal ?

Olympic level sports person are not built overnight, it is a continuous process and requires time and effort. Sports bodies are expected to identify the right talent, at the right age, support and train them to Olympic level. Unfortunately, our sports bodies are not able to do this.

As per the survey 92% citizens believe funds misuse and corruption is common in State Sports Departments and Bodies. The politicisation of Indian sports is the root cause for the country not being able to create world class athletes.

Source:

https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-Indians-win-more-Olympic-medals

The allegations and denial.

http://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/31996-indian-officials-at-rio-failed-to-provide-even-water-to-marathon-runner-who-eventually-fainted-at-the-finish-line.html

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/olympics2016/story/athletics-federation-of-india-op-jaisha-rio-olympics-2016/1/746475.html

Some athletes and coaches say chief medical officer Pawandeep Singh's standard response to most complaints of injuries has been a dose of Combiflam.

http://indianexpress.com/sports/rio-2016-olympics/conflict-of-interest-whiff-around-indian-medical-team-in-rio-pawandeep-singh-vinesh-phogat-injury-2982431/

There are interesting recommendations here of how sports can be improved.

http://businesswireindia.com/news/news-details/citizens-demand-reforms-sports-bodies-departments-better-performance-next-olympics/49817

OPPO, is sponsoring Times Fresh Face 2016, a platform for younger generation to showcase their talent to the world.  OPPO is giving consumers an opportunity to discover the ‘selfie star’ in them as the theme this year is “Selfie”.  With “Selfie” being the theme, the participants across cities will be able to experience OPPO’s latest camera phones in selfie booths at on site venues. Candidates would be required to take selfies by the recently launched OPPO F1s which would be judged by the jury.  Auditions will be conducted in phases across 11 cities in India, covering about 180 colleges and 11 malls.

Interested ?  Then note the schedule and visit https://timesfreshface.com/ for registration.

The government of India wants to punish people who even visit a blocked URL.   A new directive on the blocked websites says that the user will be fined up to 3,00,000 and will be imprisoned for 3 years under 1957 Copyright act.

It is for even viewing these websites where the content is hosted. So even if you are accessing any legal material through these websites, you'd be in trouble.

As usual and not to be surprized, the language of the warning is vague without any proper guidelines or announcement done by either Department of Telecommunications or the Government of India. According to the warning ‘viewing’, ‘downloading’, ‘exhibiting’ or ‘duplicating’ ‘an illicit copy of content under this URL’ is deemed as a punishable offence.

This puts a question in my mind, Downloading content like movies, How is that any different from borrowing a DVD from a friend ?  except in this case its online.

Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/You-may-face-3-years-jail-term-for-viewing-Torrent-website-in-India/articleshow/53805885.cms

The Message that appears on blocked sites.

"This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents of this URL is punishable as an offense under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of up to Rs. 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at urlblock@tatacommunications.com who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance".

There was mix reactions as many users welcome the move, but majority, including me where not happy with such laws that is very harsh.  Also it was not clear what was the role of Tatacommunications in it.

Good news is that someone did more investigation on the issue and it appears you may not go to jail for visiting a blocked site. Here is what he wants to say about it.

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/no-you-wont-go-to-jail-for-just-visiting-a-blocked-website-875479

Source

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Worlds-first-leprosy-vaccine-developed-in-India-to-go-on-trial/articleshow/53788765.cms

Electromagnetism, gravity, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force are the four known fundamental forces.

While doing experiments in searching for “dark photons,” particles that would signify unseen dark matter, they uncovered an anomaly that hinted at the existence of a light particle that was 30 times heavier than an electron.

“The experimentalists weren’t able to claim that it was a new force. “They simply saw an excess of events that indicated a new particle, but it was not clear to them whether it was a matter particle or a force-carrying particle.”

If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the universe and Standard Model of physics could be due a major revision.

Source :

http://www.cnet.com/news/science-may-have-found-a-fifth-force-of-nature-to-tie-together-the-loose-ends-of-the-universe/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_force

ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. for its log management and SIEM solution, Log360, in the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management. The company is the only new addition to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SIEM.

Log360 is the one-stop solution for all log management and network security challenges. This solution offers real-time log collection, analysis, monitoring, correlating and archiving capabilities that help in protecting confidential data, thwarting internal security threats and combating external attacks. To help meet the most needed security, auditing and compliance demands, the solution comes packaged with 1,000+ predefined reports and alert criteria. For more information on Log360, visit  https://www.manageengine.com/log-management .

Bharti Airtel, today announced that customers purchasing Samsung Galaxy J series mobile device, can enjoy 10 GB Airtel 4G data at the price of 1GB 4G data. 

Available with most of the Samsung Galaxy J series devices, under the offer, new and existing Airtel prepaid users can avail 10GB of 4G data at a nominal cost of Rs. 250. To claim the offer, customers will simply have log on to www.offers.airtel.com from their new Samsung J series devices using Airtel mobile internet (not Wi-fi) and follow instructions. Users can also visit their nearest Airtel Retail outlets to upgrade to Airtel 4G and activate the offer. 

Commenting on the newly launched offer, Mr. Ajai Puri, Director – Market Operations, Bharti Airtel, said, “We are delighted to extend our association with the popular Samsung J series. We believe this partnership will help customers enjoy best-in-class smartphone experience on Airtel’s 4G network.”  

Airtel had previously introduced bundled Double Data offerings with top industry players like Apple, Xiaomi, Micromax, Intex and Lava as well. Users can visit www.airtel.in/handset-offers to avail active offers. 

*For non 4G markets– Samsung Galaxy J device users can avail 10GB 3G Airtel Data @ Rs. 250 (1GB 3G data + 9 GB night 3G data)