Zebronics launches Blaster Tower Speaker at Rs 2,499.

Domestic IT peripherals manufacturer Zebronics has launched a new portable tower speaker in India. Dubbed Blaster, the speaker is priced at Rs 2,499. It is available in all retail stores in the country.



Backed with 10W total RMS power, the new Zebronics Blaster has a sleek design and comes with a LED display. Settings and navigation options can be easily toggled.

On the connectivity front, the tower speaker supports Bluetooth, USB, memory cards and Aux. There's a handy remote controller included in the mix as well.

With the various connectivity options, Zebronics' new tower speaker can be connected to a range of devices like smartphones, laptops, PCs or any other Bluetooth-enabled devices within the range of 10 metres. There are four different coloured LED lights on the front side of the speaker. The small LED display is placed at the bottom in between the control buttons.

Zebronics recently launched its Amazer Bluetooth speaker in India. Bearing a price tag of Rs 3,999, the speaker comes with integrated app-based LED lighting and music controls. Like all the other Bluetooth speakers, the Amazer also supports USB and Aux connectivity. It packs a 1,200mAh battery.

The Amazer comes in three colour variants - Gold, Silver and Grey and is available across all retail stores in India.

Source:- Gadgetsnow.com

Facebook brings HD video upload, PIP and more to its Android app.

Facebook appears to be adding some new video-related features to its Android app through an update. The update, as mentioned by Android Police website, brings a host of new features aimed at making it easier for users to view videos even when using different apps. The ability to change view quality has also been introduced in the update.



As part of the update, it's now possible to upload videos in HD resolution. This is something that was already available with Facebook's iOS app. Android users can find the 'Upload videos in HD' option under the app Settings.

In what may be the biggest part of the update, Facebook has introduced the ability to view a video even if you are using another app on your smartphone.



Dubbed Picture-In-Picture, the feature works similarly to Messenger's chat heads functionality.

In addition, Facebook now lets users choose the playback quality of the videos between 360p, 240p, 144p, 108p or 72p.


The update will be reaching out to users in a phased manner.



According to several recent media reports, some Facebook users have complained of old photos and posts appearing on their timeline without their permission.



"@facebook reposted 3 of my old posts today about an hour ago without any action on my part, others are experiencing same issue @sherylsandberg," tweeted one of the users over the past weekend.

Some users have complained that the glitch appeared soon after they updated the Facebook app on iOS.

"Hey @facebook, why are you suddenly reposting my old photos after the last iOS update? Like to do that myself when I think it's fitting. Tnx," tweeted another user named @MelleKramer.

Although Facebook is yet to suggest a solution for this so-called glitch, it is said to be aware of the bug.

"We are aware of this and are investigating," a Facebook spokesperson told PCMag website.

Source:- Gadgetsnow.com

If we release data, it will create ‘chaos’ in India: Legion.

The hacker group “Legion” that broke into the Twitter accounts of the Congress Party, its Vice President Rahul Gandhi, controversial liquor baron Vijay Mallya and now TV journalists Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar has finally come out in the open.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Monday -- through an encrypted instant-messaging software, “Legion” said the group has access to servers like that of Apollo Hospitals and it was unsure about releasing data from those servers because it might cause “chaos” in India.

“Legion wasn’t even interested in ‘political data’ until a few weeks ago. ...the group was in possession of several terabytes of raw data concerning all sorts of ‘interests’ and that within that drove the hackers had identified gigabytes worth of information relating to Indian public figures,” the report quoted the user marked LC from “Legion Crew” as saying.

“When I asked him how they came into possession of so many data, he was vague, and said they just ended up with access to over 40k+ servers in India, ‘and we decided -- hey, why not write a tool to sift through them for interesting data’,” said Max Bearak who writes about foreign affairs for the Washington Post.

“He said the data was choosing the targets for them, not the other way around. Whatever they were finding, they aimed to release. From Dutt’s Twitter account, they shared a link to a ‘partial’ data dump of approximately 1.2 gigabytes of her emails,” Bearak said.

“Legion” has warned that their next target is former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi.

“As for upcoming targets, LC indicated that he and his fellow hackers had their sights set on bigger things,” the report said.

“Then again, he said, the hacking was taking away from precious time he’d rather spend doing drugs and making electronic music... He said he particularly disliked spending time in India’s capital, New Delhi and suggested that he might try to go to Russia -- to do some more drugs,” it added.

As they hacked the Twitter accounts from India, the group sought public support claiming that they will be doing more such cracking in the coming weeks.

“People and brothers who support the cause - Join us! Email us at legion_group@sigaint.org. We require info on f***tards like this one,” a tweet said earlier.

“Support Legion. We will bring you the info needed to bring these criminals to justice,” it said.

“This is just a partial dump. More data will be coming over the course of a few days ;) We are Legion,” another tweet from the shadowy group said.

Source:- Hindustan Times.

Xiaomi unveils Mi VR Play, Mi Live app in India.

Chinese smartphone maker company Xiaomi on Monday launched its entry-level VR (virtual reality) headset “Mi VR Play” and live-streaming “Mi Live” app in India.

The Rs 999 Mi VR Play is a lightweight device that is certified to work with Google Cardboard apps.

‘Mi VR Play’ is an entry-level product that seeks to bring the VR experience to a much wider audience. ‘Mi VR Play’ is set to make a huge impact in India where VR is still in its infancy,” the company said in a statement.

The “Mi Live” app is the only live-streaming app in India to support VR live streaming.

“MI VR Play” will be available on Mi.com and other offline channels from December 21.

“Mi Live” is available for Android users at the Google Play Store.

Source:- Hindustan Times.

Legion: Meet the hackers who broke into Rahul, Barkha Dutt’s Twitter accounts.

A hackers’ group called Legion has repeatedly breached the Twitter accounts of some well-known Indians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and prominent journalist Barkha Dutt.

Legion has not posted any classified information on the hacked accounts but has threatened to expose email communications among Congress party leaders in the new year. The group has also threatened to expose Dutt’s private emails. Earlier this month, they posted Vijay Mallya’s personal details on his Twitter handle, vowing to bring to justice the fugitive industrialist who has defaulted on at least Rs 7,000 crore bank loans.

Here is some detail about the hackers’ group:

What is Legion?

It is a coalition of like-minded hackers based out of five countries – the United States, Sweden, Canada, Thailand and Romania, according to the Delhi police’s cyber crime cell. The group seeks to expand its activities, leaving its email id -- legion_group@sigaint.org – for more hackers to join their campaign.

Are they connected with Legion of Doom of the 1980s?

The group does not appear to have any links with the hackers’ group Legion of Doom (LoD) that targeted rich and famous people’s email accounts in the mid-1980s. LoD remained active till the early 2000s. However, the two groups appear to share ideological goals in targeting what they say are the rich and corrupt. LoD was founded by US-based hacker Lex Luthor after he broke away from the Knights of Shadow.

Why do they hack people’s accounts?

Legion fancies itself as cyber vigilantes working to expose the corrupt. But the group is yet to bolster their anti-corruption crusader credentials, given that it has so far offered very little valuable information.

How does Legion operate?

Legion communicates through email servers and browsers that are shielded against surveillance. In other words, it does not use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer but a browser called The Onion Router (TOR), which is difficult to track (provides anonymity) and allows a user to communicate directly with another one. This is also called the darknet, a platform often used by activists and journalists seeking to avoid a surveillance dragnet.

Are there other such hackers’ groups?

Yes. Anonymous is another loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivists which started operating in 2003. The group’s website describes it as “an Internet gathering” with “a very loose and decentralised command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives”. The group became known for crashing websites of governments, corporates and religious groups. Anonymous members (known as “Anons”) use the Guy Fawkes mask as their emblem.

Source:- Hindustan Times.

Trump pushes back against call to probe Russian role in US polls.

Even with Republicans joining the call for investigating Russian interference in the US election, President-elect Donald Trump is pushing back, questioning the intelligence community’s combined wisdom and conclusion about Moscow’s role.

According to multiple reports that haven’t been denied yet, the growing call for a probe could imperil Trump’s plans, to appoint ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has ties with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, as secretary of state.

“Unless you catch ‘hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before the election?” Trump tweeted on Monday morning, omitting to mention that it did come up before.

The US formally accused Russia of directing “the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organisations” in October, but Trump, who was behind in polls then, may not have noticed.

“Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called a conspiracy theory!” Trump said in another tweet, getting right into the middle of the fight.

Trump and his advisers have pushed back hard against reports of Russian interference, even at the risk of been seen as questioning their own intelligence community, which has been noticed and commented on even by many conservatives.

And there are conspiracy theorists who are never too far behind in the Trump train. John Bolton, a former UN ambassador and contender for deputy secretary of state, has said the hacking was a “false flag” operation by the Obama administration.

Trump’s Monday morning tweets could have been caused by two senior Republican senators joining their Democratic colleagues in calling for an investigation into Russian interference, which Moscow has dismissed as “ridiculous”.

“Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American,” Republican senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain said in a joint statement with Democratic senators Charles Schumer and Jack Reed.

“Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber attacks.”

President Barack Obama has already ordered a “full review” of the reports and the evidence intelligence agencies claimed to have found of Russian interference. He has asked for a report before his term is up, in a few weeks.

The CIA told lawmakers in a secret briefing last week that it has found evidence not only of Russia’s interference but also its motive, which, it said, was to undermine Hillary Clinton and help Trump win the presidency.

US intelligence found the hackers had accessed the Republican Party’s computer network but did not release the stolen data as they did with those from the Democratic Party, passing it on, through intermediaries, to WikiLeaks.

Source:- Hindustan Times.

Social media turns good medicine for doctors, hospitals.

When Debraya Mukherjee admitted his 67-year-old mother Kabita in Fortis Hospital at Anandapur, Odisha, for a spinal cord decompression surgery, he was little aware of the ordeal that he would have to go through. After the operation, his mother became immobile for a prolonged period. Mukherjee voiced his discontent at a consumer complaint forum, which was later posted on Facebook, on a page named ‘Avoid Fortis Hospital Noida’. The page describes itself as a community to connect those who lost their loved ones due to negligent treatment. It has over 1,200 followers.

Fortis did not comment on the particular Facebook page.

The hospital, however, has a team of three people handling the content on social media and is also working with a digital marketing agency to improve its presence. “Comments on social media offer us scope to improve. Our ratio of bad versus good posts remains 15:35; all posts are interactive,” says Gaurav Dudeja, chief marketing officer at Fortis Hospitals.

Mukherjee is not alone.

Social media – WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Viber – is slowly evolving into more than a platform for sharing pictures, videos and chats. From searching doctors to posting feedback about hospitals and treatments, they are helping doctors reach out to patients, guide them for treatments, provide post-surgery counselling and create close-knit support communities.

Sample this.

Lucknow-based Taqi Hassan recently underwent a complex life-saving surgery at the Fortis Flt Lt Rajan Dhall Hospital, with the help of funds raised through social media appeals. Hassan received R8 lakh through donations by communities from the US and Australia, which was used to remove a tumour on the forehead.

At Max Super Speciality Hospitals in the Capital, WhatsApp has connected several breast cancer patients with specialists, who are available for counselling round the clock.

Doctors at New Delhi-based Indian Spinal Injuries Centre frequently use WhatsApp, Skype and Viber to reach out to patients for post-surgery counselling and rehabilitation training.

BLK Superspeciality hospital has created its own WhatsApp group for bariatric patients to stay in touch with surgeons and dietitians.

Dr Lal Path Labs, a diagnostic chain, has recently opened a new department to handle queries on social media and drive positive conversations around the brand. “We are boosting our presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Instagram. It is a way forward for any business,” says Om Manchanda, CEO, Dr Lal Path Labs.

According to a recent report by marketing and analytics firm Hansa Cequity, “there are over 100 million Indians who use social media networks and the numbers are only increasing by the day. This phenomenon creates the opportunity for healthcare service providers to engage with customers at a more personal level.”

“Hospitals are increasingly using blogs as a tool for customer rating and feedback. Some organisations also allow users to blog about their experiences on the company blog or link the blogger’s personal blog to their company website. Prospective customers always see more value in peer reviews, compared to company generated content such as the advertisements,” the report titled ‘How Digital Can Transform Healthcare Relationships’ states.

“Social media is pervading businesses across industries. It is shaping public opinion and eventually transforming the overall business ecosystem,” says S Swaminathan, CEO and co-founder, Hansa Cequity.

Social media platforms also generate data, which can be analysed by healthcare companies to improve services.

“The online platform provides huge conversations around all diseases, quality of healthcare providers, pharma companies etc. Digital is bridging knowledge around healthcare needs. Also, it helps plot trends around what people look for, search and is concerned about,” adds Swaminathan.

Source:- Hindustan Times