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Software

Tech giants Apple and Google are joining forces to combat COVID-19

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Apple and Google have decided to put their rivalry and differences aside for the next few months, and are teaming up to create and embed a feature on Android and Apple devices to inform users if they had been in close contact with infected individuals. Once created and finalised, the technology giants are planning to deploy this feature in to the operating systems of iPhones and Android devices around the world.

We all know the specifics of how dangerous and contagious the disease is, and that it can be transmitted through close proximity to those affected. With buildings, societies and colonies being sealed off in Mumbai, Delhi and other places around the world – public health authorities have identified that ‘’contact tracing” is an important tool to possibly curb the spread of COVID-19.

Thus, applying this principle to the core of designing the new tool and feature, Apple and Google plan to enable smartphones to constantly log other devices they come near. This has been labelled as ‘Privacy-safe contact tracing using Bluetooth Low Energy’. Both giants will release application programming interfaces (APIs) in May that aid public health authorities navigate both, Android and iOS devices. These official apps will be available for users to download through the app stores.

Briefly, through the tool, people who are infected with the coronavirus would notify the public health app with their test results. The public health app then would send notifications and/or alerts to phones that had recently come into proximity with that person’s device – without revealing the identity of the infected person. The following slides provided by Apple and Google’s press release help understanding this better.

Even though the fact that these two giants are joining forces to help slow down the pandemic is great news, on the downside, privacy issues are an ongoing concern and it also raises questions as to the amount of unprecedented access Apple and Google will have to individuals’ lives.

However, in their press release, Apple and Google have stated that this new tool wouldn’t collect personally identifiable information or user location data. To enable this feature on their phones, explicit users consent is required. Also, people who test positive are not identified to other users, whether they’re using Google or Apple smartphones and the data will only be used for contact tracing by public health authorities to curb the pandemic.

Google CEO, Sundar Pichai tweeted that the contact tracing approach is “designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy.” Apple CEO, Tim Cook tweeted that contact tracing “can be done without compromising user privacy.” And that this new feature “respects transparency and consent.”

You can find more information on the technical specifications and other related items to this feature here.

Record high quality audio on your phone with the free Dolby On app

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Gone are the days of investing Ina professional-grade setup to create video, songs, photos and more. Taking advantage of the fact that we can literally do everything from the palm of our hands through our smartphones, the new Dolby On – a new recording and streaming app –  allows creators to record high-quality audio along with video too, if desired. With the power of amplifying the audio to what it really sounds like, this app can be downloaded on smartphones to help creators all over to start making content and share their talent with the world.

The new Dolby On app is available in India for free and can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and the Android Google Play Store. This intuitive app with a one-tap recording feature analyses the recorded sound and automatically applies the optimal EQ, compression, stereo widening and more. Through its noise reduction feature, the app sweeps away the noise and the users are left with a superior Dolby’s sound quality.

Impressively, it also has a ‘noise meter’ which helps users to keep their sound levels on check. If in the ‘red zone’ then users know that they need to reduce their volume or keep the phone farther away. Creators can also further edit their sound through unique sonic filters – which are like the photo filters on Instagram but for sound – where each sonic filter would bring a different dynamic to the users recorded audio. Apple users can also directly link the Dolby On app to Twitch and Facebook, and users can also do a live stream through the app and share on these platforms, given that they have good internet speeds.

Dolby On is compatible with external phone mics, thus the sound can be crisper and Dolby On’s powerful processing can also be harnessed. The Dolby On app is available now, and you can download it on Android (here) and on Apple App Store (here).

Fittr rewards you for a healthy lifestyle

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Squats, an online fitness company has introduced the Fittr app that acts as a personal online trainer. It works as a health guide that personalises by automatically creating workout and diet plans along with multiple healthy food recipes and BMR analysis to help you to achieve your fitness goals. The app also helps to clarify all your health and fitness queries on your smartphone

To motivate a healthy living lifestyle Fittr has also introduced the concept of Fitshop and Fitcoin that rewards users for their activeness.

Users can take part in fitness challenges, answer other user’s queries and referrals to earn rewards like JBL headphones, iPods, iPhones and KTM Duke.

Fittr app

YouTube now available on Fire TV Stick

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It’s good news for avid YouTube users if you have an Amazon Fire TV device in your home. The official YouTube app is now available on Amazon Fire TV devices, including Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, and all Fire TV Edition smart TVs.

Users can say “Alexa, Open YouTube” on their voice remote or go to ‘Your Apps and Channels’- select the app, download and install. Signing in to YouTube will give access to all your personalised recommendations, subscriptions. If you’ve got a 4K TV with a 4K Fire TV device, you can also play videos in 4K HDR at 60 fps.

Not to forget, Fire TV devices in India now come with full Alexa functionality that allows interacting with Amazon’s virtual assistant, control smart home gadgets and more.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Video is also compatible with Google’s cast service. If you use an Android TV or a Google Chromecast, the Prime Video app now allows you to cast videos on the large screen.

All you wanted to know about the Huawei saga

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The top tech story this week is not the new Macbooks or the new Redmi device but the fact that Huawei’s smartphone business could cease to exist. Despite being one of the top brands in the world, an executive order by the US President prohibits any US company to deal with the Chinese brand. This, as you’d expect, doesn’t bode well for Huawei as it uses technologies from Intel, Broadcom and Qualcomm along with the Android OS with Play services access from Google. The most recent development is the suspension of support from ARM, which In short, after the temporary license is over (till August 19), US companies will not be able to deal with anything related to Huawei.

The U.S. tech firm Google’s forceful suspension is the pivotal reason of the controversy wherein there will be no Google services access to Huawei phones.  Thus the Chinese brand has been put in the ‘entity-list’ by the US president Donald Trump due to the trade-clash. Presumably, neither of the companies would want to break ties given the gigantic losses they stand to incur. The temporary license is likely to allow companies such as Google to continue providing service and support, including software updates or patches, to Huawei smartphones that were available to the public on or before May 16. It also allows Huawei to engage in the development of standards for fifth-generation (5G) telecom networks.
The Android used on smartphones and tablets is made of multiple layers of software. In the west, these software layers are stacked from top to bottom like this:
• User interface which is the part users interact with called Emotion UI (EMUI) for Huawei or Magic UI for Honor.
• Google services – Google Play and the various Google apps (Gmail etc).
• Android operating system.
• System software that controls the various bits of hardware of the phone.

The Chinese company is still prohibited from buying American-made hardware and software to make new products without further, hard-to-obtain licenses which restricts Google Mobile Services (GMS) for the upcoming devices and limits the earlier system updates as well. Albeit it will not have much impact on the customers in China as most of the Google services, for instance YouTube, etc. are already banned in the country, but it’ll be a major blow for its western users.
As stated by the brand, “Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally,”.

“In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks,” Ross said.

Despite of the deprivation of Google’s services, Huawei does not lose all access to Android, as the core operating system is an open source project called the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Any manufacturer can modify and install it on their devices without having to get permission. Huawei will be able to deliver Android version updates via the AOSP, but will lose early access to the updated versions provided by Google such as the current beta of Android Q. New phones will not be certified, and as a consequence will not be able to have GMS pre-installed that includes a suite of Google’s own apps including:
• The Play stores for apps, music and other media
• Google Photos
• YouTube
• Google Maps
• Google Drive cloud storage
• Google Duo video calls

Some of these services will still be accessible via the web, but many would find that less convenient.

“The U.S. government’s actions at the moment underestimate our capabilities,” Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with CCTV, countering the Pandits’ belief of selling the ‘Android blockaded phones’ being an uphill task, as the company has been preparing for such a scenario since a long time.

Sources said that the company is working on a ‘plan B’ that could come as a rescue for its users alike the one which is already being used in its smartwatches, but the blockade of Android will be the major issue. Moreover selling a smartphone without Google services won’t be a cake walk as in practice, all the major vendors rely on a lot of support from Google.