Patanjali to soon announce a 1600-Cr herbal food park in Noida

Patanjali to soon announce a 1600-Cr herbal food park in Noida

Yoga guru Ramdev Baba led Patanjali Ayurved, may soon announce an investment of Rs 1,600 crore shortly for setting up a herbal food park in Noida in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh to meet its domestic as well as global demand.

A senior UP government official privy to the development said, It is almost finalised now. You may see an announcement by Patanjali Ayurved for an investment of around Rs 1,600 crore in Noida for setting up a food processing plant around Diwali. As far as investments in the state are concerned, the Uttar Pradesh government is fair and transparent for promoting industrialisation which will create jobs.

There were speculations that Patanjali will announce its investment in Uttar Pradesh after the assembly polls in March next year. However, the company officials have also confirmed the development, saying the procedure for identification of the land is at an advanced stage and the unit can be near Yamuna expressway.

A Patanjali Ayurved official said, It would be an international food park, which would be for exports and domestic markets as well.

War between Relience and Airtel

Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, offers free data for 90 days to 4G users

Bharti Airtel has made its move to combat Reliance Jio's free data offers, with a 90 days free data plan priced at Rs 1,494 specifically for 4G users.

The country's largest telecom services provider, said that the 90 days pack is available for Rs 1495 for existing users and new users will be able to avail it through first recharge of Rs 1494.

Ajai Puri, director, operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, "Customers with 4G handsets generally consume large amounts of data and this proposition is specifically aimed at them."

With this pack these customers can stay online round the clock without having to worry about exhausting their data limits or going for frequent recharges, the company added.

The pack, which will have fair use policy checks in place, is currently available in Delhi and will be launched across other circles over the next few days.

Reliance Jio has amassed a large number of consumers through its free data and free voice offer for 90 days, along with a free SIM.

The offerings have prompted competition including incumbent telcos to drop data rates by up to 67%. However, the new plan of free data is a fresh response by the market leader to the new entrant, with the intent of retaining its massive customer base.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Whatsapp and Facebook Updates

Indian court orders WhatsApp to not share user data with Facebook collected before Sept. 25

WhatsApp’s move to share some of users’ information with Facebook isn’t sitting well with India. The country’s Delhi High Court today directed WhatsApp to make two critical alterations to its forthcoming policy changes for Indian customers.

A bench of Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court ordered WhatsApp to delete data of users who choose to opt out of WhatsApp’s policy changes before Sept. 25. Furthermore, WhatsApp was asked to not share data collected before Sept. 25 with Facebook even for those users who are not opting out of WhatsApp’s new policy, which comes into effect on Sept. 25.

The Delhi High Court intervened on WhatsApp’s plans after two Indian students approached it last month. The students — Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi — expressed privacy concerns about changes in WhatsApp’s terms and privacy policy, accusing WhatsApp of “endangering” privacy of millions of users, and “severely compromising the rights of its users.”

WhatsApp announced last month that it will begin sharing some of its users’ account information — phone number, in particular — with its parent company Facebook. The company said that it will use this information to “improve experience across [...] services” and “fight spam and abuse.”

On its website, WhatsApp notes that "account information" of users include their mobile phone number as well as those of people who are in their "address book." The information also includes a user's "profile name, profile picture, and status message."

The popular instant messaging and voice calling service assured that “nothing you share on WhatsApp, including your messages, photos, and account information, will be shared onto Facebook or any of the Facebook family of apps for others to see.” A WhatsApp council appeared in front of Delhi High Court earlier this month and explained that WhatsApp wasn’t going to share users’ personal chat with Facebook.

“There is no question of messages, photographs or documents getting shared with Facebook. We have no access to the content. Using the messaging service is a voluntary decision, we have not forced anybody to use it. Users have an option of opting out of it,” he added.

"Having regard to the complete security and protection of privacy provided by Respondent 2 (WhatsApp) initially while launching Whatsapp and keeping in view that the issue relating to the existence of an individual's right of privacy as a distinct basis of a cause of action is yet to be decided by a larger bench of Supreme Court, we consider it appropriate to issue the following directions to protect interest of users of WhatsApp," the bench said according to news agency PTI. 

WhatsApp could approach the Supreme Court to challenge the Delhi High Court’s decision. Mashable India has reached out to Facebook for a statement. India is one of WhatsApp’s largest markets with over 100 million monthly active users.

Twitter moving closer to sale

Twitter moving closer to sale, possible suitors Salesforce, Google: Report

Twitter is moving closer to a sale and has received expressions of interest, CNBC reported on Friday, sending the microblogger shares up more than 19% in their biggest gain in over two years.

CNBC, citing unnamed sources, said possible suitors include Alphabet's Google and Salesforce.com. No sale is imminent.

Twitter, Salesforce and Alphabet could not be reached immediately for comment. Salesforce shares fell more than 3%, while Alphabet dipped around 0.25%.

Twitter has been a near-constant focus of takeover speculation amid persistently disappointing sales and user engagement. In its most recent quarterly report, it posted its slowest revenue growth since going public in 2013 and issued a lackluster outlook.

As rivals such as Facebook's Instagram and privately held Snapchat gain traction with advertisers and social media users, investors have questioned how long Twitter could persist as a stand-alone company.

Co-founder Jack Dorsey returned to the company as chief executive in 2015, but his plan for reviving Twitter is at best seen as unfinished.

The CNBC report sent Twitter shares to their highest since early January. It last traded around $22.30 a share.

Twitter's stock regularly jumps on rumors that a bid is afoot, none of which have so far developed into a deal.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Yahoo Hack is the world's biggest

Massive Yahoo hack is the world's biggest for now:

When Yahoo said on Thursday that data from at least 500 million user accounts had been hacked, it wasn't just admitting to a huge failing in data security -- it was admitting to the biggest hack the world has ever seen.

Until Thursday, the previous largest known hack was the 2008 breach that hit almost 360 million MySpace accounts, according to a ranking by the "Have I been pwned" website. Like the Yahoo breach, the hack was only publicly disclosed this year after data was offered on a hacker forum.

And only three breaches had ranked above the 100 million level:

LinkedIn reported a loss of 167 million email addresses and passwords. They were originally stolen in 2012 but not publicly disclosed until 2016, again after the data was offered on an underground "dark market" site.

A 2013 hack of Adobe saw 153 million account details lost. They included user names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords, but the encryption was poorly implemented and reversed on some accounts.

And there's been a reported but unverified hack of dating website Badoo. Data including email addresses, names, and passwords for about112 million members was found online.

Flipkart, Amazon India and Snapdeal Updates

Flipkart, Amazon India and Snapdeal prepare for a mega clash in October

India's largest online retailers Flipkart, Amazon India and Snapdeal are primed for a mega clash as they each roll out their flagship annual sales in the first week of October and bid for larger shares of consumer spend in the festive season.

On Thursday, Amazon India announced that it would run its sale season from October 1 to 5, giving itself a head start as the two Indian companies launch their sales from October 2 to 6. All three companies will look to garner a significant portion of their annual sale value during this high-spending period.

In 2015, online retailers are estimated to have sold goods worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore in October, as shoppers splurge on gadgets, apparel, home furnishings and more.

"This year online retailers have tried to push the burden of discount on seller's wherever possible," said Mrigank Gutgutia, engagement manager at research firm RedSeer.

But with merchants not in the mood to come up with flashy discount offers on their own, online retailers may be in for a damp festive season.

Marketplace Shopclues will also hold its sale from October 1-10, while Alibaba-backed Paytm is yet to announce dates for its festive sales.

RedSeer estimates that overall value of goods sold on across all online marketplaces may not exceed Rs 10,000 crore in October this year.

Last year, industry estimates reckon that Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon India clocked up combined sales of between $500-$600 million during the festive day sales. Flipkart alone is estimated to have sold goods worth $300 million during its sale, termed the Big Billion Days (BBDs). Flipkart will be counting on a repeat performance to help maintain its lead over Amazon.

Preparations for sale days this year are being led by Kalyan Krishnamurthy, former MD at Flipkart's largest shareholder Tiger Global Management, who heads the key commerce and advertising units.

Krishnamurthy has already helped Flipkart regain its position in smartphone sales, which accounts for half of its sales. The firm has bagged exclusive rights from brands like Motorola, Xiaomi, Reliance and Apple over the last few months.

Flipkart is also betting big on sale of large appliances, besides extending its domination in the high-margin fashion and apparel segments. Snapdeal, which has recently rebranded and called its event "Unbox Diwali Sale", plans to offer up to 70% discounts, with offers on home appliances, electronics, mobiles, home furnishings, furniture and FMCG.

Amazon India is betting on the largest selection of products -80 million. It is also betting on improved customer experience with a pickup in its subscription service Amazon Prime.

Flipkart Updates

Flipkart becomes first e-commerce marketplace in India to reach 100,000,000 registered users.

This may not come as a surprise – the big daddy of Indian e-commerce, 10-year-old Flipkart, has become the first online marketplace to cross 100 million registered users. The feat, however, is impressive since its arch rival Amazon India has been catching up fast in market share. In fact, Flipkart claims to be the first company to reach this milestone in a single country outside the US and China.

In a statement, India’s most valuable startup has said that their registered customer base now stands at around 63 percent of the broadband connections in India. [The figures released by TRAI in September 2016 put the number of broadband connections in the country at under 160 million.]

Binny Bansal, Co-founder and CEO, said,

“We would like to thank our entire family of 100 million customers who have been a part of this wonderful journey. This is a small step in our efforts to build a platform that provides quality products accessible and affordable to millions of Indians shopping online. Since the time we sold the first book to our first customer in 2007 till today, our journey has always been about providing a superior shopping experience to our customers while continuously raising the quality of service and selection. This milestone has further energised us to ramp-up our efforts and build a world-class shopping destination.”

Google Updates

Google is finally getting serious about selling its own phones:

Google is holding an event October 4 where it will almost certainly announce new phones, just like every other fall. But something is different this time around: Google is actually hyping them up like proper flagships. Nexus phones are always some of the most powerful around, but they have never been huge sellers.

The phones often weren’t available from US carriers, and as such have never been as popular as models from the likes of Samsung.

For a company with the clout of Google, you’d expect better.

That’s also probably why the phones are rumored to wear the Pixel brand instead of the Nexus one. The company is going to great lengths to make it clear that this isn’t an LG phone or Huawei phone with some tips from Mountain View. This is a Google design through and through.

Twitter to livestream the presidential debates

Twitter today announced it will be livestreaming the presidential debates, following up on earlier successful live coverage of sports.

Like the NFL streams, Twitter will show the debates along with a live tweet feed. The coverage will be flanked on either end by commentary by Bloomberg Politics, and you’ll be able to tune in from any of Twitter’s apps (including TV-friendly ones like Apple TV and Xbox One), as well as at debates.twitter.com.

As the Verge points out, the issue will be keeping the feed relatively clean. Twitter did a good job on the NFL streams using a combination of machine and human filtering, but politics can be particularly nasty, and this has been an exceptionally vitriolic election.

Twitter is also fighting against Facebook this time around – which will also be streaming the debates – although the former has an edge here due to its penchant for public commentary and availability of platforms like Apple TV. Twitter makes its streams available to logged out users too, which is a nice touch of onboarding for cord-cutters.

Live commentary is probably the best thing about Twitter, so making both source and reactions accessible in one place is a great showcase of the platform’s strengths. If it all goes well, it could be a big boon for Twitter, which has long struggled getting everyday people to sign up, and it can help secure more streaming deals in the future.

Google Launches 'Allo' Messaging App

Google has launched its messaging app 'Allo', which would compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Available for both Android and iOS platforms, Allo will also mark the debut of Google Assistant in a preview edition.

"Whether it is planning a night out or just catching up, we rely on messaging to stay in touch with friends and family every day. But too often we have to hit pause on our conversation - whether it is to check the status of a flight or look up that new restaurant. So we created Allo, a messaging app that helps you keep your conversation going, by providing assistance when you need it," Google Group Product Manager Amit Fulay said.

Powered with artificial intelligence, Allo packs in features including smart reply, options for sharing photos, emojis and stickers. For Indian users, Google has enabled smart replies in 'Hinglish'. It will also roll out over 200 stickers created by popular independent artists aimed at Indian users.

Google had announced Duo and Allo at its I/O event in May this year.

Jio pays Airtel for interconnectivity

The tiff between Reliance Jio and Airtel over inter connectivity is soon going to end. Reliance Jio - today said it has received payment from the new entrant for additional points of interconnect, and sought Jio's cooperation for timely testing and commissioning of the network ports, according to an agency report.

Airtel said while interconnect agreement provides for a commissioning period of 90 days, the company will work towards releasing the points of interconnect or PoIs "well ahead" of the contractual obligation. The telecom operator said it has ensured there are no capacity constraints from its end.

"We hope Jio will extend its full cooperation to ensure timely testing and commissioning of the PoIs," it said in a statement.

Airtel released 'demand notes' for the additional PoIs on September 14 itself, the statement said adding that the payment against the demand notes came in over the next two days.

"The payment against the demand notes was received in parts by Airtel on September 15, 2016 and September 16, 2016. As per the bilateral agreement, Airtel and Jio will now have to jointly undertake the physical connection and testing of the PoIs. Consequent to successful testing of the PoIs, these will be opened for traffic," the statement said.

Interconnection between telecom networks is crucial as it enables mobile users to make calls to subscribers of other operator.

The three incumbent operators - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea - had locked horns with new entrant over points of interconnect. However, following TRAI's intervention and a warning from the regulator on complying with service quality norms, the warring sides came to the negotiation table to discuss additional connectivity points needed by Reliance Jio.

During course of the week, all three private operators have agreed to augment the interconnection capacity, a move that is expected to facilitate easy exchange of calls between subscribers of Jio and other networks, reported the agency.

Reliance Jio, which commercially launched services on September 5, has accused the existing players of not releasing sufficient ports on their networks, thereby leading to a situation where 75 of its calls are failing, out of every 100 call attempts.

But Airtel today said with the latest augmentation, the total number of PoIs provided will become three times the present level.

"This capacity will be sufficient to serve over 15 million customers, which is much more than Jio's total subscriber base...," Airtel said.

The telecom major said it has been providing interconnectivity to Jio "well ahead" of the commencement of latter's commercial operations and said it will continue to comply with the regulations and the Interconnect Agreements in letter and spirit.

Aadhaar campaign to attract from 7 to 70 years old

The Unique Identification Authority of India is preparing to launch catchy slogans to encourage people to enrol the very young and the very old in the scheme.

"The sooner you secure Aadhaar for your toddler, the better", "In your youth, they opened a world of benefits for you; in their old age, open a world of benefits for them" are some of the slogans planned.

The campaign follows data analysis that shows adults are proactive in getting an Aadhaar for themselves but ignore it for their aged parents or young children. UIDAI will try to impress upon citizens that Aadhaar has benefits for these two sections too.

UIDAI is now writing to states and central ministries asking them to notify schemes for which Aadhaar will be made mandatory, highlighting the need for all age-groups to get Aadhaar.

"Till about six months ago, when we used to do enrolment, only 2-3 per cent of the enrolled were children below 5 years of age. But today, if we do six lakh enrolments in a day, roughly 25 per cent of them are toddlers while 35-40 per cent are children between 5-18 years of age. We want to push this further," UIDAI CEO AB Pandey said.

With UIDAI aiming at 100 per cent Aadhaar saturation among adults by this month-end, the focus is now shifting to covering all children by March 2017 — among whom saturation stands at 55 per cent.

The publicity campaign will focus on educating people that a host of services like immunisation in government hospitals and school admissions could be facilitated by Aadhaar in the near future and pension benefits for senior citizens can be easily arranged through Aadhaar, it can also be used for giving life certificates.

Whatsapp and Facebook Collaboration

Whatsapp and Facebook Collaboration

Whatsapp will ONLY share phone number but that is all Facebook needs.

Ever since WhatsApp announced changes in its privacy policy and its decision to share the phone numbers of WhatsApp users with Facebook, which incidentally is the parent company for the service, there is a lot of brouhaha over what it means for users. Also, now when the initially din has subsided, across the world people, government organisations, watchdogs and everyone with slightest interest in privacy and the internet and taking a more thorough look at the new WhatsApp policy. India too is doing it, albeit in the Delhi High Court where a petition has been filed against WhatsApp over its move to share data with Facebook.

The case is still ongoing and the it will be interesting to see how the court moves in this matter, particularly given the fact that in India we don't have any explicit laws for privacy protection. But we do know how WhatsApp is defending itself. The company is saying that it is going to share with Facebook only the phone number of the user and no other data, because it doesn't have that data. It says that all communications -- chats, voice calls, funny photo forwards... everything -- is encrypted on WhatsApp and only users have access to their data. No one else, not even WhatsApp can look into this data.

Although probably accurate -- we have to trust WhatsApp here -- this argument is also little disingenuous. WhatsApp is making it look like that sharing a phone number -- it's just the phone, say its representatives -- is not a big deal and is not a privacy issue. But that is not accurate. In the world where a smartphone, which has a phone number connected to a WhatsApp account, is at the centre of our lives, the phone number is the key that unlocks everything.

Instagram Latest Updates

Instagram launches new tool to take on trolls

Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook on Monday launched a keyword moderation tool to allow its users to control the comments posted on their pictures.

The feature allows its users to list words that they consider offensive or inappropriate and then comments with those words would be hidden from the user's posts.

Abusive comments and online trolling seen on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have been garnering eyeballs as more celebrities deactivate their accounts as a result of the hate they receive online.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Twitter Updates

Twitter to relax 140-character limit from September 19: Report

Micro-blogging website Twitter will stop counting media attachments, including images, GIFs, videos, polls, and usernames, against the 140-character limit starting September 19, allowing users to compose longer tweets, a media report said.

The new change will not completely remove the 140-character limit. What it really changes is how Twitter counts the character limit.

"Twitter first announced plans to stop counting extras like photos, videos, and user polls toward the limit back in May, but gave no firm date on when the shift would occur," The Verge reported on Tuesday.

Facebook Messenger Updates

Facebook Messenger chat bots will soon accept direct payments and more.

Facebook Messenger is soon getting the ability to make payments directly using chatbots. This means that users will now be able to make payments through Messenger bots without leaving the Facebook Messenger app. The bots will use the credit card information that the user has saved in to make instant purchases.

Facebook's head of Messenger, David Marcus announced the same at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 event. Marcus also revealed that the latest version of the Messenger app will give 30,000 chatbots the ability to accept payments. The feature will comes as a part of the app v1.2. It will soon be rolling out to the users. Facebook has not yet mentioned when India will receive this feature and when.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Flipkart plans to hire 10,000 temporary staff

E-commerce major Flipkart expects to hire over 10,000 temporary staff to ramp up its delivery and logistics service to meet the festive demand.

The move comes as part of the preparations being made by e-commerce companies as they launch offers to boost sales during the upcoming festive period.

"With the festive season coming in, we are confident that Big Billion Days (sale) will be bigger and better than before this year.

"In addition to having the new capability of alternate delivery model, we are looking at hiring more than 10,000 temporary staff in logistics and last mile across the country," Flipkart chief administrative officer Nitin Seth told PTI.

This will be done to meet the massive demand that Flipkart expects during the festive season, he added.

Flipkart's rival Snapdeal also expects creation of 10,000 temporary jobs at the company between September 15 to November 15, with the positions mostly being in logistics to ensure smooth deliveries.

Reliance Jio's Welcome Offer goes live

Starting today, September 5, Reliance Jio's 'Welcome Offer' for its 4G services goes live. Reliance Jio has completely disrupted the Indian telecom industry with its cheap tariff plans, which promise to transform India from a high-price data market to the lowest-priced data market. The 'Welcome offer' starts September 5 and will be valid till December 31, 2016.

The existing Jio Preview Offer customers will be automatically migrated to the 'Welcome Offer' on September 5, 2016. This means that these users too will continue to enjoy unlimited HD voice & video calling, unlimited SMS, high-speed data and access to Jio apps till Dec, 2016.

Post the the expiry of the 'Welcome Offer', users will have to pay charges as per the tariff plan they select. The tariff plan starts at Rs 19 and goes all the way up to Rs 4,999.

Reliance Jio services will not be available on feature phones as well as on mobile phones which don't support VoLTE.

Just walk into any Reliance Digital Xpress Store or a Reliance Digital Xpress mini Store. You will be required to fill up CAF. A valid photo ID along with couple of passport-size photographs are required for the same (Aadhar card too is acceptable). The company will tele-verify your (or the applicant's) details once all other formalities will be completed.

India may get 5G with the rest of the world

India stands a chance to get 5G technology with the rest of the world as the country enters an era of Internet of Things (IoT), Telecom Secretary J S Deepak said in Bengaluru today.

"We got 2G 25 years after the rest of the world, at least after the developed world. We got 3G more than a decade after it became ubiquitous in US, Europe. 4G may be, five years after its global launch. In 5G, we have the chance of being there with the rest of the world," Deepak said.

He added that the probable simultaneous launch of 5G in India along with the rest of the world could be from bridging the gap that had prevailed and the country might as well take a step forward and acquire a leadership position in certain areas as it enters into an era of Internet of Things with connected devices and machines.

Stating that there is lot of work in progress like KYC norms for SIM embedded M2M devices, 13 digits numbering scheme for IoT - for SIM embedded M2M devices, he said, "The Department of Telecom has requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for recommendations in the area of quality of service standards of international roaming system and requirement of additional spectrum for an IoT ecosystem in India.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Facebook launches new tools to help businesses go global

Facebook stated on Friday it has launched new tools to help businesses go global.

Businesses can now use a new feature in the lookalike audiences tool on Facebook to reach customers in new countries who are similar to their existing ones. 

They can do this by uploading a list of existing customers or high-potential leads.

Any business that wants to increase installs of app, increase engagement in app or increase conversion on site can now target people worldwide or in a specific region. Facebook said it will then deliver ads to selected regions and then optimise delivery to the countries with the greatest return.

41% of people on Facebook in India are connected to at least one small and medium sized business in a foreign country and the top five markets are the US, UK, Pakistan, Canada and UAE.

Facebook said more than 175 million people from around the world are connected to a business in India and examples include countries like the US, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Philippines, Kenya, South Africa, Turkey and UAE.

Facebook said more than 1 billion people on the platform are connected to a business in another country and to help businesses optimise global campaign strategy it is releasing new webinars and a handbook on international marketing techniques.

Introducing Iphone 7

Introducing Iphone 7

Apple Inc. finally put an end to all iPhone rumors by launching the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus smartphones. Both the devices will be available starting September 16, 2016 in the US.

The Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus come in Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Black and Jet Black color variants in 32 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB storage versions. The company has added the aluminium-finish Jet Black and mirror less-finish Black variants instead of the earlier Space Grey one. The phones will be available in India from 7 October and the price starts at Rs 60,000 (32 GB).

You'll have to pay more to get the new 'Jet Black' iPhone 7. Apple has already admitted the jet black iPhone 7 scratches easily. The iPhone 7 is officially water-resistant, but make sure to note that it's not water PROOF.

Viewing pirated films online not an offence: Bombay HC

The Bombay high court has said it is inaccurate to suggest that merely viewing an illicit copy of a film is a punishable offence under the Copyright Act.

"The offence is not in viewing, but in making a prejudicial distribution, a public exhibition or letting for sale or hire without appropriate permission copyright-protected material," Justice Gautam Patel said.

He asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to drop the line "'viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating' a particular film is a penal offence" from the 'error message' and directed them to display a more generic message on URLS to be blocked for infringement of copyright.

He made the observation in an order last month when it was pointed out that an ISP had displayed a message that had sent viewers in a tizzy.

The HC had recently directed ISPs to block several URLs on a plea by producers of the film Dishoom against piracy. The court also directed ISPs to place an 'error message' on the blocked sites as a measure to ensure genuine e-commerce sites are not affected. 

Reliance Jio - Speed is great

Jio 4G experience: Speed is great, but only when it gets going.

Reliance Jio on paper sounds like a dream come true. It definitely offers more affordable data than what telecom operators like Airtel and Vodafone bundle in their prepaid and postpaid plans. It also, on paper, simplifies the pricing hell that telecom operators have created. With the Jio the pricing plans are all simple. You pay particular amount of money and in return you get lots of data and convenience of "free voice calls".

Although the Jio SIM will be openly available from September 5, for someone who uses one of the compatible (read 4G-enabled) phone from any of the 19-odd brands, it is already available. Then there are the Jio SIM cards that have been offered to some companies as part of the enterprise plans. I too have one, obtained through the enterprise plan. This is a pre-activated SIM and I am using it for the last few days. So how is the experience so far: I will say decent and overall better than what Airtel or others offer. But not dazzling.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Delhi HC tells govt to look into new WhatsApp privacy policy

Delhi HC tells govt to look into WhatsApp privacy policy

WhatsApp's new privacy update of sharing user's data with Facebook has reached the doorsteps of Delhi High court, which sought the government's response on the modification.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra issued notice to the Centre on a plea by two users of the most popular instant messaging service, alleging that WhatsApp, Facebook Inc and Facebook India Online Pvt Ltd's new private policy "compromises the rights of its users".

Taking note of the concern by petitioners Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi, the high court wished to examine the issue and asked the concerned authorities to file their reply by September 14.

"The privacy policy is in stark contrast to the Privacy Policy existing from July 7, 2012. In its first revised modification on August 25, 2016, Respondents (WhatsApp, Facebook Inc. and Facebook India Online Pvt Ltd) have introduced this policy which severely compromises the rights of its users and makes the privacy rights of users completely vulnerable," the plea alleged.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Quit texting, video calling is the way forward

There are several mobile operators (like Airtel and Vodafone) which provide 4G services to customers in various metros and small towns of India. With the Reliance Jio 4G launch around the corner, the data strength to make video calls is going to get much better. Then there are video calls over Wi-Fi. Since most of us have a strong internet connection at office or home, we can easily video chat with family, friends and associates.

Unlike normal voice calls or SMS, video-calling apps are mostly free and enable you to talk to virtually anyone who has the same app, locally and all over the globe. These apps have become a rage, since one can see each other on screen in real time. Here is our pick of the lot that are a must-download on your smartphone, if you want to make a video call.

Reliance Jio opens MNP

Reliance Jio opens Mobile Number Portability

Reliance Jio opens Mobile Number Portability

Mukesh Ambani-led RIL's much-ambitious Jio 4G has officially been launched. The Jio services will be rolled-out for all, starting from September 5 -- under the name of Welcome Offer -- and will be free to use until December 31, 2016. Ahead of D-day, RIL has called out to incumbent telecom operators to play fair and fulfil their regulatory obligations. The company hopes that rival companies will work in consonance with Jio to achieve PM Modi's vision of a Digital India.

"Jio looks forward to co-operation and working together with the industry to achieve the vision of Digital India," the company said in a statement. "We appreciate the announcements made by the incumbent operators welcoming us to the industry and assuring that they will fulfil all their regulatory obligations. We expect the incumbent operators to fulfil their regulatory obligations in letter and spirit," the company added.

Reliance Jio v/s Airtel & others

Reliance Jio v/s Airtel & others: Jio data is cheap but not by much

Reliance Jio went official yesterday at Reliance's 42nd General Meeting in Mumbai. Mukesh Ambani took to the stage to announce Jio's 4G data plans and other tariffs. While the Jio plans have already taken the market by storm, the rival telecom operators like Airtel and Vodafone have cut down on tariffs too.

Lowest plans:

Reliance Jio: The lowest plan in Reliance Jio will cost you Rs 19. For this sum you get 100MB of 4G data along with unlimited STD and local calls, unlimited messages. The plan is valid for 1 day.

Vodafone: The Rs 12 prepaid plan by Vodafone gives users 50MB of 4G data. But unlike Jio, there are no calling or messaging benefits. 

Airtel: Airtel's lowest plan will cost you Rs 23 for 3 days. It will give you 90MB of 4G data and nothing else.

Rs 199 v/s Rs 102 v/s Rs 145:

Reliance Jio: The Rs 199 plan in Jio has a validity of 7 days. And in return it gives you 750MB of data along with 1.5GB of JioNet Wi-Fi. No limits on voice calls and messages apply on this plan too.

Vodafone: Vodafone charges Rs 102 for the 10 days plan. This will give you 300MB of data.

Airtel: The Rs 145 plan will be valid for 14 days and give users 580MB of 4G data to consume. No voice calls and messages benefit.

Monthly plans:

Reliance Jio: Jio's Rs 299 plan is valid for 21 days and comes with 2GB data along with 4GB JioNet Wi-Fi consumption.

Vodafone: The Rs 250 plan is valid for a month. Vodafone gives 1GB of 4G data and no additional benefits under this tariff.

Airtel: Same as Vodafone.

Rest of the plans above this price range are valid for a month.

Rs 499 v/s Rs 499 v/s Rs 455:

Reliance Jio: This plan offers 4GB of data valid for 28 days. It also has 8GB of JioNet WiFi usage.

Vodafone: At Rs 499, Vodafone offers 2GB of data. In addition, it also gives the users 700 minutes of voice calling and 500 SMS.

Airtel: Airtel gives 3GB of 4G data at Rs 455. This plan doesn't come with any additional benefits.

Amazon will allow sellers to advertise first and pay later

Amazon's New Strategy

This is going to be a big news that Amazon plans to allow sellers on its e commerce marketplace in the country to advertise on its portal without advance payment starting this festive season.

The advertising fee will be deducted from sales proceeds under the new system that has already been launched in the US, UK, Germany and Japan.

Amazon is also organising multiple events across the country to groom seller's for increasing sales ahead of the upcoming festive season to increase sale.

Amazon's New Strategy

Reliance Industries to Invest Rs 5,000 crore in digital Startups

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said his group would invest Rs 5,000 crore in Indian startups over the next five years.

The investment to be channelled through Jio Digital India Startup fund will be mostly directed at digital and internet startups to create unique solutions for India as part of the country's largest business conglomerates move to become a communication behemoth.

"We also have plans to partner with thousands of Indian entrepreneurs, whose digital ventures can bloom in the ground that Jio is preparing," Ambani said while announcing the formal launch of Jio at RIL's annual general meeting on Thursday.

"We are also working to create digital entrepreneurship hubs in key cities and towns of India. Our aim is to build a platform for young Indians who want to create digital businesses of the future," he said.

Reliance has already begin exploratory talks with the country's two biggest startups — online retailer Flipkart and ride hailing app Ola — for potential integration of their services with Reliance's mobile service Jio, four people aware of the development told ET.

Reliance, Flipkart and Ola did not reply to email queries sent by ET as of press time on Thursday.

Reliance has tied up with around 20 smartphone brands including Samsung, Micromax and LG to bundle Jio SIM cards with select handsets, offering free voice and data for three months. The cheapest 4G LTE enabled phone of Reliance's own brand Lyf is available at Rs 2,999.

"Jio is also partnering with some of the leading digital and Internet players in the world. Together with Jio, these partners are keen to showcase the full power and range of their offerings to Indian customers," Ambani said.

Ambani said the company would seek to have 100 million customers in the shortest possible time as it builds out its 4G network across the country.

Stay tuned for more Latest Web Technology News Updates.

Zoom comes to Instagram

Zoom comes to Instagram after a half-decade wait.

It has taken Instagram five whole years, but it has finally delivered the most basic feature to its users: Zoom.
As of Wednesday, iOS users can zoom in on Instagram photos with a pinch of the fingers — a standard maneuver since Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone way back in 2007.
It isn't clear why the app didn't allow users to zoom so easily before, instead forcing iPhone users to change their phone's setting to allow zoom before forcing a super awkward three-finger double-tap to get a closer look. It was like athletics for your fingers.
"Over the past six months, you’ve seen many exciting changes come to Instagram, from a new icon to longer videos and even a new way to share everyday moments with Instagram Stories," the company wrote in a statement on Instagram. "And as things change, we’re still focused on improving the core parts of Instagram."
It's been a long wait for this core improvement, and it will be a few more weeks until Android users can zoom all over town.
The new functionality will be available for zooming in on photos and videos in your feed, other people's profiles and in the Explore section.