Amazon Prime to ramp up its India offerings

Amazon Prime plans to ramp up its India offerings, a year after it debuted the programme at an introductory price of Rs 499.

The subscription-based programme, which saw membership triple from January 2017 to June 2017, plans to include benefits such as event ticketing and cashbacks through the Amazon Pay wallet.

"We want to serve all your needs from shopping, family, video and any other entertainment needs you might have," said Akshay Sahi, head of Prime in India. The number of products under Prime has increased 70% to 2 million since the launch of the programme which guarantees one-day delivery in 100 cities.

ET had previously reported that Amazon Prime was on its way to launching music streaming services. The India platform has been in discussions to launch special previews for Prime members providing them limited tickets for third-party events, said Sahi.

At present, Prime in India offers four benefits, including fast and free deliveries, a 30-minute preview to lightning deals, Amazon Prime Video (introduced in December 2016) and Amazon Family (introduced in May 2017) which gives parents a year-long 15% discount on diapers. In the US, Amazon's home market, Prime provides close to 20 benefits including music, deliveries from preferred restaurants, membership sharing between family members and a 5% cash back on the use of Prime credit cards.

Sahi added that Pay with Amazon or third-party payments through the wallet is an India-specific benefit which Amazon is looking at.

"Wallet has a frequency game, Prime has a frequency game and we will leverage them together. Associating with external partners creates a lot of impact on customer experience. When it is cashback, it is easy to do," said Sahi while talking about introducing cashbacks and loyalty points for the Prime customer in India.

Prime users are likely to shop twice as much as non-Prime users on the Amazon India platform, according to Sahi, as the Seattle-based online retail giant looks to repeat the success of the programme in its home market here.

In the US, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated that the total number of Prime users in July 2016 was 63 million making up more than half of Amazon's customer base. The Prime members spent an average of $1,500 per year, compared to $500 spent by non-Prime users. With the bouquet of services, the price for renewal of Amazon Prime membership is also likely to go up.

"We declared a strike-through price of Rs 999 and cut it. The programme, as we see it, has a much higher value. Over time, the price will increase, I hope so. The price increase is to generate a lot more value from customers. We do think it is undervalued," said Sahi adding that increasing the benefits will also ensure that the value derived from it is higher.

While shopping and associated perks on the marketplace continue to be the biggest draw for customers on Prime subscription, 40% of the base also watches videos through the programme.

"The multiple services provided enhance the customer experience for Amazon, a key differentiator in the ecommerce market where many businesses compete on price only, which is not a sustainable strategy in the long run. Amazon can position it self as the destination for a variety of services, which increase the customer loyalty and its margin," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

Orders from Prime customers contribute up to 30% of the orders on the Amazon India platform, with 50-60% orders for Amazon Pantry, the FMCG goods service.

Cars may soon predict if the driver is about to have a heart attack

Scientists are developing a new system that can predict if a car driver is about to have a heart attack, a feature that would help avoid road accidents due to an unexpected cardiac event.

When a person has a medical emergency behind the wheel, fellow passengers and motorists also face risk of death or serious injury.

"A large number of traffic incidents are caused by medical conditions while driving, specifically cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction and myocardial ischemia," said Kayvan Najarian, from University of Michigan in the US.

"The medical event interferes with the driver's ability to safely drive and operate the car, causing the accident," said Najarian.

Researchers, in collaboration with Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota, wanted to move towards technology that can monitor and analyse the physiology of the person driving and predict if they are going to have adverse cardiac events.

"We identified the challenges, potential solutions, hardware options and algorithmic approaches that could be potentially used," Najarian said.

"We concluded that cardiac events were conditions that are more feasible to detect with technology in the vehicle," he added.

Researchers are creating a system that could be placed in the vehicle to monitor and predict an adverse cardiac event.

"We would like to test hardware we had previously identified, and improve and validate our algorithmic solutions to see what it will take to generate a system that could look at the physiology of a person, provided by high-density electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, as well as other medical measurements," Najarian said.

Google is rewarding for finding Android Bug

Google will now reward $2,00,000 for finding an Android bug

Days after a malware called "Judy" hit over 36.5 million Android-based phones, Google has increased the bounty for finding a bug in Android OS to as much as $2,00,000, a media report has said.

According to cyber security firm Check Point, dozens of malicious apps were downloaded between 4.5 million to 18.5 million times from the Play Store. Some of the malware-affected apps have been discovered residing on the online store for several years.

"Judy" is one such case of how an open and free mobile operating system (OS) can be exploited by malicious app developers.

Most security flaws we hear about now affect old builds of the OS or require clever social engineering to get the user to weaken device security, technology website extremetech.com reported on Friday.

The versions of Android being released now are more secure than what Google was putting out years ago and as a result no one has managed to claim Google's largest bug bounties for Android.

Hoping to attract more researchers and engineers to the bug bounty programme, the company has increased the rewards to up to $2,00,000.

Google started the bug bounty programme for Android about two years ago in which the security researchers, who demonstrate an exploit, get a cash prize -- the amount of which varies based on the severity of the hack.

Unbreakable material for Smartphones

This material can make smartphones 'unbreakable'

DON: Scientists have discovered a new 'miracle material' with improved chemical stability, lightness and flexibility, which could be used to make smartphones and other devices that are less likely to break.

Currently, most parts of a smartphone are made of silicon and other compounds, which are expensive and break easily, but with almost 1.5 billion smartphones purchased worldwide last year, manufacturers are on the lookout for something more durable and less costly, researchers said.

Researchers, including those from Queen's University Belfast in the UK, found that by combining semiconducting molecules C60 with layered materials, such as graphene and hBN, they could produce a unique material technology, which could revolutionise the concept of smart devices.

The winning combination works because hBN provides stability, electronic compatibility and isolation charge to graphene while C60 can transform sunlight into electricity.

Any smart device made from this combination would benefit from the mix of unique features, which do not exist in materials naturally.

This process, which is called van der Waals solids, allows compounds to be brought together and assembled in a pre-defined way.

"Our findings show that this new 'miracle material' has similar physical properties to Silicon but it has improved chemical stability, lightness and flexibility, which could potentially be used in smart devices and would be much less likely to break," said Elton Santos from Queen's University.

Paytm achieves another milestone

The popular mobile payment and e-commerce platform Paytm has announced that it is now 200 million wallets strong. The company is the biggest success story of demonetisation announced by Prime minister Narendra Modi in November 2016. Within hours of the PM announcing the banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Paytm user base jumped almost 150%. For weeks after that, the company's app ruled both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma tweeted the news of the company crossing the 200 million wallets milestone. Sharma also thanked Paytm users for the feat and said that he hopes that the company crosses 500 million-mark by the year 2020.

He also said in his tweet that the company is adding 7 lakh users per day and that the total balance in the wallets stood at Rs 899 crore.

The company also said in a press release that Paytm has become a preferred method of payment for use-cases ranging from mobile and DTH recharges to electricity and water bill payments as well as offline payments at grocery stores, pharmacies and parking among others.

"At Paytm, our goal is to help merchants and consumers transact digitally at zero extra cost. Reaching 200 Mn registered users and more than half a million users on a daily basis is a great showcase of the country's trust in our payment solution and reaffirms our belief in the need for a quick and easy cashless payment method. Going forward, we would continue to drive strong consumer-focused innovation in the category to reach the widest set of merchants and consumers in India," Deepak Abbot, senior vice president said.

Get Your Pan and pay tax via app

You may soon get PAN in minutes and pay your income tax via app, here's how

You may soon be able to get a permanent account number in minutes and also pay income tax through your smartphone.

As part of its drive to make life easy for taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes is working on issuing PAN on a real-time basis using Aadhaar's e-KYC facility, which allows an individual to verify his or her details such as address using biometric identification features like thumb impressions.

"If a SIM can be issued through e- KYC, then the same can be done for PAN," said an officer adding that the process may be crunched to five-six minutes from two-three weeks at present. While the number will be issued, the card will be delivered later.

The CBDT and the ministry of corporate affairs have already tied up to issue PAN to new companies incorporating through a combined form in four hours. The idea, again, is to move to real-time issuing of PAN, which will also become the business identification number for companies.

Separately, the tax department is developing an app that will help you pay taxes online and perform a host of other services such as apply for PAN or track your returns. While the department is offering several services online through its portal, the app is expected to make life simpler for seniors as well as young taxpayers.

The two projects are being done in-house with the directorate of systems coordinating with CBDT, said sources.

Payments Bank of Paytm gets Rs 218cr infusion

Paytm Payments Bank has received Rs 218 crore in fresh capital as it prepares to start operations this month from Uttar Pradesh. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm who holds the payments bank licence has infused Rs 111 crore, while One97 Communications and One97 India Communications, the parent of Paytm, put in the rest of the amount, as per latest regulatory filings sourced via business research platform Tofler.

Earlier in January , Sharma said he had managed to get the final nod from RBI to kick-start the bank. Paytm Payments Bank has issued 2,18,000,000 shares to the three shareholders.

The development comes on the back of two other payments banks -Airtel Payments Bank and India Post Payments Bank launching their operations.

TOI had reported its in December 9 edition, about Sharma selling 1% of his personal holding in Paytm's parent firm One97 Communications for about Rs 325 crore to invest in the payments bank. Sharma holds 51% stake in Paytm Payments Bank, as per RBI guidelines. Paytm had planned to start its payments bank last year but had to postpone the launch multiple times due to regulatory delays. After getting RBI nod, Sharma had said that about Rs 400 crore would be pumped into the payments bank.

Stay tuned for more Technology News.

Facebook launches security key to check data breach

To minimise data breach, Facebook has added a new login option with 'security keys' that requires a user to enter a special security code from their phone in addition to the password when they login from a new browser.

According to a Facebook blog post, though most people get security code for login approvals from a text message (SMS) or by Facebook app to generate the code directly on their phones, SMS is not always reliable and having a phone backup may not work well for them.

"You can register a physical security key to your account so that the next time you login after enabling login approvals, you will simply tap a small hardware device that goes in the USB drive of your computer," said Brad Hill, security engineer at Facebook.

Security keys can be purchased through companies like Yubico, a key manufacturing firm, and the keys support the open Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) -- an authentication technology initially developed by Google -- standard hosted by the 'Fast IDentity Online' (FIDO) Alliance.

FIDO Alliance is a group of big corporations that collaborate on ways to make sign-ins safer and easier online.

According to a report in Fortune, "a security key ensures that only the person in possession of it (and password) can access accounts so protected," the report noted.

Users can set up a security key to protect their account by buying one online at an e-commerce shop and then go to the Facebook 'settings'.

Click on 'security', where they can see an option for 'security keys'.

Simply select 'add key' and the account is secured. To add a security key from computer, users need to use the latest versions of Chrome or Opera browser.

However, security keys have their own limitations currently.

It requires users to plug the device into a laptop or desktop through a USB port and sign on from a Chrome or Opera web browser.

Mobile users need buy a key that supports near-field communication, a wireless tech that involves radio waves.

Visit our website to get latest updates about Latest Web Technology News.

Why Apple will make smart glasses

It's easy to dismiss the speculation that Apple is working on smart glasses.

It's hard to picture Apple selling smart glasses. But it's also hard to picture them not doing it.

If smart glasses become a popular and mainstream consumer electronics category, Apple will almost be required to enter the market as a fiduciary responsibility to Apple shareholders.

Consider the plight of poor Apple. Smartphone margins are shrinking. The tablet market is flabby. Smartwatches aren't panning out as a mainstream platform. Apple TV is still not going to bring in huge profits. So Apple has to adapt and keep up with the evolution of consumer technology to continue to dominate the market as well as secure its growth.

Also, the choice of smartphone in the future may be dictated by the use of smart glasses. If mainstream smart glasses require an Android phone, Apple could lose market share.

What's certain is that Apple is working on smart glasses.

Intriguingly, Apple has made some augmented reality-based company acquisitions. Apple bought PrimeSense, which makes the sensor technology in Microsoft's Kinect. They also nabbed augmented reality startups Metaio, Faceshift, Emotient and Flyby. AR-related patents by Apple go back a decade.

And tech blogger and evangelist Robert Scoble posted a rumor on Facebook that Apple may be working with Carl Zeiss on smart glasses. (I told you about Carl Zeiss Smart Optics technology in this space a year ago.)

All that planning, thinking and spending may pay off for Apple when smart glasses go mainstream.

And when I say mainstream, I mean totally mainstream. What if nearly all glasses were smart glasses?

The company that makes your glasses is getting 'smart'

The signs of the mainstreaming of augmented and mixed reality are everywhere. The biggest one yet happened earlier this week when French lens giant Essilor merged with Italy's eyeglass behemoth Luxottica in a $53 billion deal that will result in the world's largest glasses company, to be called EssilorLuxottica.

Wait, Essilor? Luxottica? These aren't exactly well-known companies in tech circles. Let me introduce you.

Essilor is the world's largest maker of corrective lenses. The company is strongly focused on research and introduced the world's first branded progressive lenses.

You also may have encountered Essilor on its retail sites, FramesDirect.com and EyeBuyDirect.com. Your optometrist definitely has. The company runs the MyOnlineOptical e-commerce site for eyecare professionals.

Essilor also unveiled last year a prototype of an augmented reality system for the visually impaired called MyEye, which enables any text to be read, converted to text and then read aloud to the wearer.

And you're probably already a big Luxottica customer. The company sells under most of the mainstream brands you're familiar with, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue Eyewear, Giorgio Armani, Brooks Brothers, Bulgari, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Versace and many others. And you've likely shopped at Luxottica stores, including Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical, Glasses.com and others.

So the world's biggest lens company is merging with the world's biggest frame company. Here's the best part: Essilor CEO Hubert Sagnières told the media that the purpose of the merger was innovation in "connected glasses," and the ability to deliver them "extremely fast to consumers through all the stores of the world and all [our] networks," according to the Financial Times.

I'll refer you to the list of brands and stores above. That's where the world's largest eyeglasses company plans to deliver smart glasses, and fast.

New website launched to help identify Indian birds

Bringing cheer to thousands of budding environmental photographers and amateur bird watchers, the Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS) has recently launched a one-of-its-kind online platform that identifies Indian bird species using artificial intelligence.

The NGO, in collaboration with a Bangalore based tech firm - Accenture, has created an online database of over 300 species of the avifauna found in the country. This, when combined with an image recognition and a deep learning mechanism, will help people in bird-watching by identifying key species of birds.

"India is a biodiversity hotspot and is home to almost 12.5% of the world's avifauna, consisting of 1,300 species. This platform can identify over 300 species but will eventually support all species found in India. Birds are excellent indicators of their environment, providing ecological information based on when and where they are located. We need more amateur birders to come forward and help gather all information about the country's avifauna and participate in the nature conservation activities," said Dr Deepak Apte, director, BNHS.

This cloud-based platform, titled Internet of Birds, requires any amateur bird watcher to just upload picture of the bird onto the site. The site then runs an analysis on the picture, compares it to the species in the database and informs the person of the bird species.

Shubik Das (19), Vartak Nagar resident, said, "I started going for nature trails as part of college trips, and now I go for bird watching. It has been very difficult to identify many birds that we see on these trails. It was only when we went with birding experts that we got to know the names of the birds we saw. With this platform, we can identify the birds we spot on our own."

"I never paid attention to birds in my area even though I live close to Yeoor forest. I clicked a few pictures of some birds outside my balcony, and uploaded those on the website. I could identify three birds today using the website," said Ashwini Sakhardande (16), a resident of Tiku-jini-wadi.

Visit our website for more Latest Web Technology News.

PM Narendra Modi launches 'Paytm-rival' BHIM app

The government's much-awaited mobile payment app is finally here. At Digi Dhan Mela event in Talkatora stadium in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an app called BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) to promote digital transactions. The app is a rebranded version of UPI (Unified Payment Interface) and USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data). BHIM has been developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is about 2MB in size.

PM Modi said that BHIM will be the world's biggest wonder. The app takes on the likes of Paytm, Mobikwik, Freecharge and other mobile payment apps which have become hugely popular since the government announced banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8. While launching the app, PM made payment to Khaadi.

At the event, the PM also felicitated the winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana. The new app is expected to minimise the role of plastic cards and the point of sale (PoS) machines said to be the essential tools for a cashless society so far.

The app helps eliminate fee payments to service providers like card companies (Mastercard or Visa), which was widely seen as a big stumbling block for merchants switching to digital payments. According to some people, the app is expected to make mobile payments affordable for merchants in remote villages.

All that the BHIM app needs to work is an Android or iOS phone. The app is available for Android (version 8 and above) and iOS smartphones (version 5 and above). Government said that Bhim will soon be available on other platforms too.

Tips to take stunning photos using smartphone

Smartphone cameras have seen dramatic improvements, but technology alone won't produce shots that grab attention.

That's where the human eye comes in. Here are eight tips to keep in mind when composing that shot, whether of family during the holidays or sights during a vacation. You don't need to own a fancy camera or mess with manual controls.

For landscapes, keep in mind that it's tough to give viewers the same sense of grandeur you get from being there in person. But you can nudge viewers by focusing on specific elements, such as mountains or some trees. And of course, if there's wildlife - well, that's your subject.

Beyond eye level

Be willing to crouch down or even lie on the ground to give viewers a fresh perspective. When I encountered a lizard in Singapore, my instinct was to snap while standing up. But the lizard looked generic from that angle and distance. It wasn't until I brought my camera near the ground and get close up did the lizard look ferocious. The good thing about smartphone cameras is that you can change the perspective easily by just lowering the phone.

Play around with depth

For those obligatory poses next to landmarks, there's no law saying you must actually stand next to the landmark. If the landmark is huge, you'll look tiny by comparison. Why not stand closer to the camera? Since photos are two-dimensional, it'll still look as though you're next to the landmark, but you'll look appropriately sized. You might need to try various depths until you get it right.

Consider the background

While it's important to have a clear subject in your shot, the background can enhance it by placing the scene in context. I took several shots of people riding elephants in Ayutthaya, Thailand. The ones that stood out had Buddhist stupas in the background. The other shots could have been taken anywhere, such as a local zoo. 

Watch the lens

In general, aim for horizontal and vertical lines in shots. For a skyline or a bench, that means taking the shot straight on and avoiding tilt. But diagonal lines can enhance photos at times. For instance, they can lead the eyes outward to give the viewer a greater sense of depth. But make sure you're trying to say something with the diagonal. If the skyline or the bench is tilted, it will just look lazy, not artsy.

The rule of thirds

Divide your frame into thirds horizontally and vertically, like a tic-tac-toe board. Some cameras will even draw these lines for you on the screen (but won't include them in the final shot). Ideally, keep your main subjects where those lines intersect, as eyes tend to gravitate there first. If you're shooting a horizon or skyline, have it match one of the imaginary horizontal lines. For shots of people, have the eyes fall along one of those lines.

Lighting matters

You'll typically get the best lighting shortly after sunrise or before sunset. During these "golden hours," sunlight is softer, and subjects look better.

But it's not practical to constrain your sightseeing to just a few hours a day. At least try to avoid having the sun shine toward the camera, as that leads to dark subjects. If you can't avoid it, some cameras have an "HDR" mode to help. The camera basically stitches together separate shots of the subject and the background adjusted to different lighting conditions. Turning on the flash - yes, in daytime - can also help light up an otherwise dark subject.

At night, though, you should try to keep the flash off, as light distribution can be intense and uneven. Cameras have gotten much better at low-light shots, such that you're often better off working with ambient light. Bonus tip: Use the flashlight on a friend's phone to add a bit more light to a scene.

Know your camera's limitations

While many cameras now have auto-focus, they don't always pick out the subject correctly. If you're shooting with a smartphone, just tap on the intended subject on the screen. This also has the effect of adjusting the exposure to that subject, rather than something in the background you might not care as much about.

Visit our website for more Latest Web Technology News updates.

m-wallet to grow by CAGR 211% between 2016-22 due to demonetisation

Mobile wallet transaction is expected to carry out majority of transactions in the next 10 years with its market value to set to grow by CAGR of 211% between 2016 to 2022, an ASSOCHAM-RNCOS study revealed.

Reduced prices of internet due extensive competition, cheap smartphones, advancement of new technologies such as 4G and demonetisation will result in the market value of m-wallets reach Rs 275 trillion by 2022, the study suggested.

The report mentioned that the average wallet spend for retail which was about Rs 500-700 prior to demonetisation is expected to increase to Rs 2,000-10,000. The share of mobile wallet in the total mobile payment volume transactions is expected to rise from 20% in 2016 to 57% by 2022.

In 2016, the report says, total m-wallet transaction was 0.6 billion, which is expected to reach 260 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 163%. Cash in the e-wallets that people keep have grown by 1000% and average number of transactions too has gone up from 3 to 18 since demonetisation.

"All small and large merchants, street dwellers have started accepting mobile wallet payments post demonetisation move," the report said.

Indian m-wallet market in 2016 was around Rs 1.54 billion which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 196% during 2017 to 2022 and reach Rs 1512 billion by the end of 2022, the study suggested.

The findings of the study show that the total transaction volume of the m-payment in India was 2.9 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 132% between 2016 to 2022 to reach around 460 billion by the end of 2022.

Overall mobile payment may grow at a CAGR of 150% between 2016 to 2022 to reach Rs 2205 trillion.

The report also said that after banks and telecom companies, software service companies will venture into the m-wallet market. The extremely competitive and highly fragmented m-wallet market in India will see more tie-ups happening between m-wallet companies and several entities like restaurants, grocery stores, and ticket booking websites.

Mobile wallets will soon offer instant loan facility for short term to its customers, the report added. The study, however, suggested that RBI should relax its current policies and allow cash withdrawals from the semi-closed wallets while easing the rules of bank licensing to promote m-wallets.

The study also pointed out that while the young users prefer internet and mobile banking over traditional transactions, consumer’s mindset is the biggest factor that hinders the growth of Indian m-wallet market as they are more skeptical about the safety and security issues as in the case of internet banking.

For more tech news visit: www.latestwebtechnology.com

Pokemon Go will serve up free goodies on Christmas Day

December has already brought more Pokémon to more places (including Apple Watch), but developer Niantic has one, last treat. And it's a festive Christmas surprise.

Starting on Dec. 25 and ending on Jan. 3, Pokémon Go players will have an increased chance of receiving Togepi, Pichu and other newly added Pokémon from hatched eggs. The Santa hat-wearing Pikachu that's been popping up will also be a more common occurrence.

You can't hatch eggs in Pokémon Go without an incubator, and the event takes that into account. Every day between Dec. 25 and Jan. 3, players will receive an incubator from their first PokéStop visit.

But wait, there's more. Niantic is hosting a separate event that starts on Dec. 30 and ends on Jan. 8. During that time, the three starter Pokémon — Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle — and their bigger, badder evolutions — will appear more frequently in the world.

What's more, to up your chances of nabbing a Charizard, Blastoise, or Venusaur even further, lures will last for 60 minutes instead of the usual 30.

Got all of that? Good. There's a lot happening to keep Pokémon Go fans occupied over the next couple weeks.

Facebook kills off exact location sharing in Nearby Friends, adds Wave

Nearby Friends didn’t turn into the Foursquare-killer it could have been, but Facebook is still trying to help people meet up in person…with a few changes. Facebook has removed the precise location sharing feature from Nearby Friends, which now only lets you opt-in to broadcasting your approximate distance from friends and current neighborhood.

Previously, you could select to temporarily or permanently share your constant exact pinpoint on a map with specific friends, or request this from a friend. This was useful for meeting up with someone on the move, knowing when someone was arriving, or frighteningly, stalking your significant other.

Facebook Nearby Friends’ old map and precise location sharing feature have bene removed.

But it also lent an air of creepiness to a product that is relatively privacy-safe for a location sharing service, since users fully control who sees what. And if your forgot you’d permanently shared your exact spot with someone, it could needlessly drain battery.

TechCrunch noticed the map being removed from the Nearby Friends service in the Facebook app’s More tab, and Facebook now confirms that the feature for letting people see your precise location on a map is no longer active. That strips Nearby Friends’ main visual component too, making it now just a list of people’s proximities and neighborhood.

That seems to have paved the way for a desktop version of Nearby Friends in the chat sidebar on the right. It shows a list of friends within a few miles, with their neighborhood and name. Tapping lets you send them a message to arrange a get-together. Facebook confirmed this is in testing after we spotted the addition.

Facebook is testing a Nearby Friends list in the right sidebar (magnified here in the red box)

Finally, Facebook has built a successor to the classic “Poke” feature called “Wave”. Some users have the option to send a Wave to friends they see in Facebook Nearby to let them know they’re interested in what that friend is up to. It’s a lightweight way to reach out without a full-fledged instant message, but that could lead to a conversation on Messenger about whether they’re free to hang out.

Wave addresses the core flaw of Nearby Friends — that just because someone is in your proximity, doesn’t mean they’re available. This is what plagued Foursquare too. You were never sure if you should drop in on someone down the street, since their checkin wouldn’t necessarily tell you if they were on a date or in a meeting there. Wave was pointed out by Matteo Gamba and others, and first covered by Social Times.

A Facebook spokesperson confirms that “We are testing a new feature within Nearby Friends allowing people to send their friends a waving hand emoji to say hello and help them meet up. This is meant to give people more ways to express themselves, and help friends interact with one another in new fun and lightweight ways.”

Twitter reportedly killed its messenger product before launch

To attract new users to the platform, micro-blogging website Twitter had developed a standalone instant messaging app in India for emerging markets but killed the product without launching it as the company shut down its Bengaluru engineering centre that developed it, a BuzzFeed report claimed on Friday.

According to the report, the standalone app - for which Twitter spent more than a year developing it - was intended to be an on-ramp for new users to Twitter proper.

The app was built at Twitter's Indian engineering centre in Bengaluru and blended tweets and instant messages in a single interface. But the company killed it in September this year when it shut down its India engineering centre, it added.

Twitter intended to identify "influencers" around certain topics - let's say news or politics or sports and encourage them to create groups of interest within the app.

Twitter users could chat among themselves on the app and they could also subscribe to relevant Twitter accounts whose tweets would be pulled in automatically into these groups.

Citing a source, the publication said "Twitter did not have that many active users in India, so the idea was that if enough people used the instant messaging app, we could expose a lot of people to tweets without them even going to Twitter in the first place.Eventually, we hoped they would see the value of signing up for Twitter and directly following as many people as they wanted"

A project lead in Twitter's Bengaluru office, who oversaw the instant messaging project, reportedly decided to shut the project since the versions of the app that Twitter tested out with users anonymously did not get good feedback.

Stay tuned and visit our website to get latest updates about Latest Web Technology News.

Facebook tests 'Express Wifi' in India

Months after it received flak for allegedly violating net neutrality with Free Basics, social networking giant Facebook is now testing a new model for public Wi-Fi deployments for offering quality internet access in rural parts of the country.

According to Facebook's Internet.org page, the company's Express Wifi is live in India and it is "working with carriers, internet service providers and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world". It is expanding to other regions soon.

However, Facebook did not indicate if the Wi-Fi would provide limited access to a few websites, like its Free Basics, or full access.

Express Wifi would empower local entrepreneurs to help provide quality internet access to their neighbours and make a steady income, it said. "Working with local internet service providers or mobile operators, they are able to use software provided by Facebook to connect their communities."

For more Technology News: http://latestwebtechnology.com/

E-commerce firms will have to deduct TCS on payments to suppliers

The model GST law has proposed significant changes in taxation of e-commerce business wherein firms like Flipkart and Snapdeal will have to deduct TCS (tax collected at source) while making payments to their suppliers.

Explaining the changes in the provision, experts said the proposal will increase the compliance burden on e-commerce operators as they will have to deduct 2% TCS and deposit it with the government.

The measure, Nangia & Co Director Rajat Mohan said, will not increase the incidence of taxation on consumers as the supplier will get tax credit for the TCS.

The model GST law provides for 1% TCS and a similar amount will have to be levied for inter-state sale of goods under the GST.

Mohan further said in case of return of goods by the consumer the e-commerce companies will not have to deduct TCS as there is no actual sale.

The draft model GST law, however, did not provide any definition of aggregators saying that that the government would later come out with a notification specifying which type of businesses would be covered under the word 'aggregator'.

Aggregators mainly include Ola, Uber, UrbanClap which works as a platform for providing transport and other services. The TCS provision will not apply on aggregators.

The E-commerce companies will also have to file returns on the TCS deductions. The model law has defined 'electronic commerce' as supply of goods or services including digital products over electronic network.

'Electronic commerce operator' would mean those persons who own, operate or manage digital or electronic facility or platform for electronic commerce.

Instagram launches live video for Stories, disappearing photos & videos in direct messages

After a tease earlier this month, Instagram today announced its new live video functionality available within the app’s Stories feature. The app also gets disappearing photos and videos within direct messages including group chats.

In August, we introduced Instagram Stories as a way to share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. We’ve seen stories open up a new side of what people share on Instagram, and now over 100 million people use it every day. With today’s announcement, you’ll soon have two more ways to share freely and in the moment.

You can easily start live streaming by swiping right from your feed to open the camera where you’ll find a new “Start Live Video” button.

Instagram notes in its blog post announcing the new feature that “your friends may get a notification when you go live so they can tune in. While you’re live, you can pin a comment for everyone to see or turn comments off altogether.”

Google Adds Smart Scrolling To Mobile Maps

Google has given developers more control over the way scrolling is handled on sites with embedded maps.

Writing about the changes on the Google Geo Developers blog, Elena Kelareva, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs, said that as users are more likely to be viewing websites on mobile devices than on a desktop or laptop, the Google developers have been working on changes to the way maps react when users scroll:

"Mobile web users often get frustrated when trying to scroll the page, but an embedded map captures their swipe and pans the map instead. This can even lead to users getting stuck on the map and having to reload the page in order to get back to the rest of the page."

"Today we're introducing intuitive scrolling for sites with embedded maps and making the full-screen control visible by default on mobile devices. This should give your users a more intuitive and less frustrating map interaction experience on mobile browsers."

In practical terms, a new gesture Handling option has been added to the Google Maps JavaScript API. This setting controls how touch gestures on the map are handled. This does not extend to changing the gesture handling mode for Street View; these options only affect the way gestures are handled by the map.