Category: Tech

Sonos Ray Budget Soundbar With Dolby Digital Support Launched: Details

Sonos Ray was unveiled on Thursday as the latest offering from the American audio brand. Offered in two colour options, the new soundbar comes with touch controls along with support for Apple AirPlay 2. Compared to other offerings from the brand, the Sonos Ray can be considered as part of the entry-level audio segment. It packs two tweeters and four class-d digital amplifiers to reproduce high frequencies. The Sonos Ray can be paired with a TV or laptop via an optical cable and it offers support for Dolby Digital audio. It is compatible with the Sonos app that lets users adjust the bass of the Sonos Ray directly from their mobile phones.

Sonos Ray price, availability

The new Sonos Ray comes with a price tag of $279 (roughly Rs. 21,600) in the US. The soundbar comes in Black and White colour options and is currently available for pre-reservations in the US via the company website, with its deliveries starting from June 7.

Details about the launch of the Sonos Ray in Indian and other global markets have not been announced yet.

Sonos Ray specifications, features

The new soundbar from Sonos features two mid-woofers, four class-d digital amplifiers and two tweeters to ensure bass and create a high-frequency response. The Sonos Ray features capacitive touch controls on the body to play, pause, adjust the volume, skip, and replay. It is powered by a quad-core processor with a maximum clock speed of 2.4GHz. Further, the soundbar sports LED indicators for connection and mute status.

The Sonos Ray soundbar can be connected with the Sonos app that is available on the Google Play store or Apple’s App Store to modify bass, treble, and loudness and use other services. It offers Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n connectivity and allows users to stream audio from platforms like Spotify Connect, and Amazon Music among others. It can be connected to TVs or PCs via an optical cable that is included in the box.

Apple users can use AirPlay 2 on the Sonos Ray to use it with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac over Wi-Fi. Further, it can work with the TV remote through its IR receiver.

Sonos Ray is capable of decoding Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital v5.1 and DTS Digital Surround. The device support company’s Trueplay tuning feature that optimises the sound based on the surroundings with the help of the microphone of an iOS device. Further, it supports the Night sound feature that reduces the intensity of loud sounds while increasing the level of quieter sounds. Users can group the device with other Sonos speakers for multi-room playback as well. The soundbar measures 71x559x95mm and weighs 1.95 kilograms.

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Samsung Galaxy A31 Starts Receiving Android 12-Based One UI 4.1 Update: Report

Samsung Galaxy A31 is reportedly receiving its Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update in Russia. Launched in March 2020, the smartphone initially came with the Android 10-based One UI. The update is currently rolling out in Russia and is expected to reach more countries over the next few days. The new update will add a redesigned user interface with colour palette feature, better stock applications and more. The Samsung device received the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update in April last year and is currently listed to receive biannual security updates.

According to a report by SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy A31 has started receiving its Android 12 update along with the South Korean company’s One UI 4.1 in Russia. The report further added that the new update is expected to reach users in more countries over the next few days. However, there are no details on when the update will be available for users in India.

Samsung Galaxy A31 Android 12 update features

The Samsung Galaxy A31’s Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update will bring several new features to the mid-range smartphone.

The update brings the April 2022 Security Patch to the smartphone that fixes over 80 privacy and security vulnerabilities. It also brings the firmware version A315FXXU1DVD8 to the Samsung device. Along with the security patch, the update comes with a renewed user interface design with Colour Palette feature and improved stock applications.

Along with the cosmetic and security updates to the user interface, the update also offers better privacy and performance improvements.

The Samsung Galaxy A31 should update to Android 12 automatically, but if it hasn’t, you can manually update it by heading over to Settings > Software update > Download and Install.

The smartphone started receiving the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update in April 2021 starting with South Korea and later expanding to the international market. The Samsung Galaxy A31 is currently listed on Samsung’s website under the list of phones which are supposed to get security updates biannually.

Recently, Samsung had also reportedly started rolling out the Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update for Samsung Galaxy A51 in Saudi Arabia and South Africa as part of a broader plan to push updates for the smartphone.

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OnePlus Nord 2T Launch Date Set for May 19, Now Deleted Official YouTube Video Tips

OnePlus Nord 2T launch date has reportedly been set for May 19. A week after the upcoming smartphone’s specifications, design and price were leaked via an unboxing video, the company briefly listed the official launch event on its YouTube channel, as per multiple reports. The handset is expected to debut alongside the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G and OnePlus Nord Buds in global markets — these have already been launched in India. The OnePlus Nord 2T is tipped to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, and feature a 50-megapixel triple rear camera setup.

The company posted a video for the upcoming launch event on its YouTube channel earlier today, spotted by tipster Mukul Sharma. The video revealed that that the launch event for the OnePlus Nord 2T will be held on May 19 at 4pm CEST (7:30pm IST). The video has since been taken down, but the screenshot captured by the tipster reveals the time of the event. According to Sharma, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, and OnePlus Nord Buds will also be launched in Europe during the event. OnePlus is yet to officially make an announcement regarding the launch of the OnePlus Nord 2T in India and other markets. Yet another tipster, Abhishek Yadav, also shared a similar screenshot.

OnePlus Nord 2T price in India (expected)

OnePlus Nord 2T was recently spotted in an AliExpress listing that suggested the upcoming smartphone would come with a $399 (roughly Rs. 30,900) price tag. Meanwhile, according to tipster Abhishek Yadav, the OnePlus Nord 2T will be priced at EUR 399 (roughly Rs. 32,200). The handset was recently spotted in an unboxing video on YouTube, where the price of the OnePlus Nord 2T was shown to be Rs. 30,000 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The company is yet to officially announce the price of the upcoming smartphone.

OnePlus Nord 2T specifications (expected)

According to previous reports, the OnePlus Nord 2T is tipped to run on Android 12-based OxygenOS 12.1 out of the box. The smartphone could feature a 6.43-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The OnePlus Nord 2T is said to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, paired with up to 12GB of RAM.

For photos and videos, the smartphone is tipped to feature a triple camera setup, comprised of a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 primary camera with OIS support, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and a 2-megapixel tertiary camera. For selfies and video chats, the OnePlus Nord 2T is said to sport a 32-megapixel front facing camera. The OnePlus Nord 2T could offer up to 256GB of storage, according to reports. The handset is tipped to pack a 4,500mAh battery with support for 80W fast charging.



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Black Hole Image of Sagittarius A* Unveiled by Scientists, From the Centre of the Milky Way Galaxy

Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at the monster lurking at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull.

The black hole — called Sagittarius A, or SgrA — is only the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first-ever photo of a black hole – that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.

Sagittarius A* possesses 4 million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years — the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km) — from Earth.

Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape, making viewing them quite challenging. A black hole’s event horizon is the point of no return beyond which anything — stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation — gets dragged into oblivion.

Project scientists have looked for a ring of light — super-heated disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon — around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole. This is known as the black hole’s shadow or silhouette.

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy that contains at least 100 billion stars. Viewed from above or below it resembles a spinning pinwheel, with our sun situated on one of the spiral arms and Sagittarius A* located at the centre.

The image released in 2019 of the supermassive black hole in a galaxy called Messier 87, or M87, showed a glowing ring of red, yellow and white surrounding a dark centre. The M87 black hole is far more distant and massive than Sagittarius A*, situated about 54 million light-years from Earth with a mass 6.5 billion times that of our sun.

The researchers said that Sagittarius A*, despite being much closer to our solar system than M87, was harder to image.

The diameter of Sagittarius A* is about 17 times that of the sun, meaning it would sit within the innermost planet Mercury’s solar orbit. In contrast, M87’s diameter would encompass the entirely of our solar system.

“Sagittarius A* is over a thousand times less massive than the black hole at M87, but since it is in our own galaxy it is much closer and should appear just slightly larger on the sky,” said radio astronomer Lindy Blackburn, an EHT data scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“However the smaller physical size of Sgr A also means that everything changes about a thousand times faster for Sgr A than M87. We must also peer through the messy disk of our own galaxy to view Sgr A*, which blurs and distorts the image,” Blackburn added.

The Event Horizon Telescope is a global network of observatories working collectively to observe radio sources associated with black holes. The project was begun in 2012 to try to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole.

There are different categories of black holes. The smallest are so-called stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of massive individual stars at the ends of their life cycles. There also are intermediate-mass black holes, a step up in mass. And finally there are the supermassive black holes that inhabit the centre of most galaxies. These are thought to arise relatively soon after their galaxies are formed, devouring enormous amounts of material to achieve colossal size.

Thursday’s announcement was made in simultaneous news conferences in the United States, Germany, China, Mexico, Chile, Japan and Taiwan.

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Parkinson’s Disease Might Find Potential Treatment in These Designer Neurons

Parkinson’s disease is one of the most talked-about and serious neurodegenerative diseases on Earth. The illness already scars the lives of 10 million people around the world. But now we have a new research that suggests potential treatment. The process involves non-neuronal cells and their transformation. Once they change into neurons, they can stay in the brain and do the regular functions like linking to other nerve cells making the neural tissue, forming synapses, and dispensing dopamine. These cells would help repair the damage done by the disease to the dopaminergic cells.

Parkinson’s disease targets a region in the midbrain and affects the deterioration of the neurons in that region. As a result, there is less dopamine left for the brain to feed on. Dopamine, being a neurotransmitter, affects the functioning and life of the neurons.

Degeneration and the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons cause many mental and physical symptoms. These include rigidity, tremor, and postural instability, which are characteristic symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. It can also show signs of depression, anxiety, memory loss, hallucinations, and dementia.

The research was conducted by Jeffrey Kordower, the founding director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center at Arizona State University. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Nature Regenerative Medicine.

A press release issued by Arizona State University states that experimentally engineered cells were planted in the brains of rats. These “designer” cells performed optimally for survival, growth, neural connectivity and production of dopamine.

The futuristic approach will soon be put to test in the first clinical trial of its kind, which will be conducted on a specific population of Parkinson’s disease patients. This trial, for obtaining the best results, will be performed at different locations, including the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, where Kordower would act as the principal investigator. The aim of such neural grafting techniques is to reverse motor symptoms that are caused by Parkinson’s disease.

Kordower said in a statement that they were overjoyed at the prospect of being able to help people suffering from this genetic form of Parkinson’s disease, but the lessons learned from this trial will also have a direct impact on patients suffering from sporadic, or non-genetic, forms of the disease.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Leaked Renders Hint at a Lighter Device, to Miss Built-in S Pen Slot

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 renders and specifications have been leaked, indicating that the premium foldable smartphone might still miss out on a built-in S Pen slot. Based on the leaked renders, a report has claimed that the new Samsung smartphone will be lighter than its predecessor. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is reportedly expected to launch between August and September this year and will likely come with three rear cameras — as seen before on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The foldable phone is also rumoured to feature a 108-megapixel primary, 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, and 10-megapixel telephoto cameras at the back. The next-generation Samsung foldable is expected to get two batteries with a combined capacity of 4,270mAh.

What Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 renders and leaks tell us

According to tipster Ice Universe, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will likely be lighter than its predecessor. The tipster alleged that the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will be lighter than 260g.

Separately, in concept renders shared by Steve Hemmerstoffer aka @OnLeaks in collaboration with SmartPrix, we see that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to sport similar dimensions as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. It will reportedly feature a 6.2-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch folding display, but will come with a redesigned rear camera configuration.

The leak indicated that the smartphone might not get an in-built housing for the S Pen this time either. There has been no official announcement regarding the launch date of the smartphone from Samsung’s side, but the smartphone is expected to launch in either August or September as the South Korean giant announced the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 in early August last year.

A leaked render of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Photo Credit: SmartPrix/ OnLeaks

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 rumoured specifications

Although not much has been leaked about the foldable smartphone’s specifications, there have been leaks in the past regarding its enhanced performance, battery capacity, and rear cameras.

According to a recent leak, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to come with three rear cameras as seen before on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The smartphone is said to feature a 108-megapixel primary, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera at the back.

Another leak from May 6 by Ice Universe alleged that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ chipset.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is said to feature two batteries with a combined capacity of 4,270mAh. The first battery may come with 2,002mAh capacity, and the second with 2,268mAh capacity, according to Korean Certification Database. A report by TheElec said that Samsung is considering Amperex Technology Limited manufactured batteries for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 smartphones.



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Need for Speed Mobile Gameplay Allegedly Leaked Online, Tencent Might Be Developer

Need for Speed Mobile might be on its way. The popular racing video game franchise is expected to drop a new title for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X this year, and while Criterion Games works on the upcoming title that is said to bring “some astounding visual leaps”, alleged footage of a new Need for Speed mobile game has been spotted online. The leaked video suggests that a new NFS racing title, with maps resembling the ones found on Need for Speed Heat, could be in development by Tencent for Android and iOS smartphones. However, there’s no word from Electronic Arts or Tencent about plans for an upcoming mobile racing title.

Leaked footage claimed to be from an upcoming Need for Speed game for smartphones was shared by Reddit user u/Clxbsport on Wednesday. The post is titled “Need for Speed Mobile 2022 (Tencent) Gameplay Leaked” suggesting that the mobile game could be developed by the Chinese giant, which has worked on Call of Duty: Mobile, Honor of Kings, and Pokémon Unite.

The NFS Mobile video shared on Reddit shows off 47 seconds of gameplay with two vehicles, and gives gamers an idea of what the game could look like during the day and at night. According to a comment from user u/NFSLYY on the post, there are currently three cars in the game — the McLaren F1, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJR, and the Lamborghini Gallardo. Parts of the game’s on-screen text appears to be in Chinese.

The Redditor also states that the upcoming Need for Speed game for smartphones is created with Unreal Engine 4, and offers similar handling to the cancelled Need for Speed: Edge, with similar drift boost effects. Meanwhile, the map is said to resemble the one found on Need for Speed Heat — this could change over the course of the game’s development. At the moment, the game doesn’t feature a story or cops, according to the Reddit user.

As previously mentioned, neither EA Games nor Tencent have revealed any information regarding an upcoming title for smartphones. However, EA and Criterion are confirmed to be working on a new Need for Speed title for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X, that was announced during an earnings call in November 2020. It was supposed to release in late 2021, but likely thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other internal challenges, the as-yet untitled NFS game is expected to be available later this year.

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Toyota Said to Make EV Parts in India for Domestic, Export Markets

Toyota plans to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts to meet demand there as well as for export to Japan and some ASEAN countries, a senior company executive told Reuters.

The carmaker plans to start by producing e-drives or electric powertrain parts used by different electric vehicle types, including battery EVs, plug-in hybrids and other hybrid models, Vikram Gulati, executive vice president at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said.

“The aspiration is to make India the manufacturing hub for cleaner technologies. This is about creating the building blocks,” Gulati told Reuters.

He did not name the countries in ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that Toyota would export to.

The move follows the company’s recent announcement that it will invest Rs. 4,800 crore in India to localise the supply chain for EVs, and is also part of its broader 2050 carbon-neutrality goals.

It also comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is offering companies billions of dollars in incentives to build EVs and their parts locally.

The bulk of the investment in India will be made by Toyota’s local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), a joint venture of Toyota Motor, Aisin Seiki and Kirloskar Systems, the company said on Saturday.

The world’s biggest carmaker said in December it plans to invest $70 billion (roughly Rs. 5,42,295 crore) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, including developing battery EVs as it plays catch-up with global automakers investing billions of dollars in the shift to cleaner vehicles.

In India, however, Toyota is more focussed on launching its hybrid models first, which it believes are better suited to the country’s aim of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

Gulati said this would also address varying consumer needs and enable “a faster transition towards an electrified future”.

Building out the supply chain early will help Toyota become competitive in terms of volume and price in India, Gulati said.

Toyota expects this to enable a “faster and smoother” shift for the Indian auto industry to electric-vehicle technology, he added.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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ETH, BTC Whales Trigger Massive Transfer Period Despite Market Slowdown, Data Shows

Ethereum whales are triggering a major transfer period for Ether cryptocurrency, despite the overall crypto market currently struggling with losses. On May 11, Wednesday, Ethereum whales completed 2,956 transactions marking a five-month high. Each of these transactions valued over $1 million (roughly Rs. 7 crore). The data was collected by Santiment, a crypto analytics platform. Those crypto wallets that holds up to $10 million (roughly Rs. 77 crore) in a particular asset, or more, is considered a “whale” of that asset.

Bitcoin whales have also shown a similar sentiment, in-terms of large-scale transfers. As per Glassnode data, May 11 also made for the largest single-day transfer of BTC from whale wallets to exchanges.

Carlos Gomez, the Chief Investment Officer at the Belobaba Crypto Asset Management shared his two cents on the development.

“Generally means that a large accumulation event by whales took place and that could signal that the bottom is not too far ahead,” Gomez said.

Meanwhile, screenshots of the transfers of BTC and ETH have emerged on social media.

While BTC remains the most valued crypto asset by valuation, ETH is gearing up for a fresh revamp called the ‘Merge’.

The transformation is intended to reduce Ethereum’s power consumption by 99 percent.

At this point, the overall crypto market cap is sitting at $1.17 trillion (roughly Rs. 91,01,968 crore), as per CoinMarketCap. After March, the value of the crypto market valuation has continued to depreciate. As of March 31, the market cap of the crypto sector had risen to $2.14 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,62,77,490 crore).

Interestingly, despite the volatility, the BTC/ETH pairing has also showcased strength in recent days.

On May 6, the ETH/BTC pairing reached a three-week high according to a report by CoinTelegraph.

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Disney+ Grows to Nearly 138 Million Subscribers, Even as Profit Slips Despite Return to Parks

Disney on Wednesday said its profit slipped in the recently ended quarter but its theme parks and streaming service Disney+ were booming.

The entertainment giant reported net income of $470 million (about Rs. 3,645 crore), just over half of the $912 million (about Rs. 7,075 crore) profit it made in the same period a year earlier.

But park attendance that had fallen due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic rebounded and Disney+ gained 7.9 million subscribers to hit 137.7 million.

When adding in subscriptions to Disney’s streaming services Hulu and ESPN+, the overall number tops 205 million.

“Our strong results in the second quarter, including fantastic performance at our domestic parks and continued growth of our streaming services once again proved that we are in a league of our own,” said Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek.

Chapek told analysts Disney is open to raising its streaming service subscription price in the future, but has no specific plans. Disney+ is pursuing a version of the service that would be supported by advertising, set to launch later in 2022.

Disney+ gained more subscribers than analysts had expected, in stark contrast to a dive in subscriber numbers reported by rival Netflix in the first quarter of this year.

A drop of just 200,000 users — less than 0.1 percent of the total Netflix customer base — caused shares in the Silicon Valley firm to plunge and prompted a shareholder to file a lawsuit accusing the streaming television titan of not making it clear that subscriber numbers were in peril.

“Disney+ has been taking Netflix out at the knees [in the US],” tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group told AFP.

“Kids have always chased their content, and for parents it has been a no-brainer to get their service.”

About half of Disney+ subscribers are families with children, executives said on the earnings call.

Disney stopped licensing its coveted content to Netflix to make it exclusive to its own streaming service, and said it planned to stick with the tactic when it comes to rivals in the market.

Parks and politics

Disney said that as its streaming television service continues to grow strongly, its resorts and parks are generally operating without any of the significant COVID-19 related restrictions on capacity that were in place last year.

The pandemic does continue to vex film and television show production, Disney said, but it has been able to release films in theatres so far this year.

“Our slate for the remainder of this year is incredibly strong,” Chapek told analysts while discussing the company’s line-up of shows for streaming and theatres.

Chapek acknowledged challenges getting Disney films released in China, saying the situation there is “very complicated” from political and business standpoints.

He said he was encouraged by the fact that a freshly released Doctor Strange film based on a Marvel comics character took in more than $500 million (about Rs. 3,877 crore) in its first week, even without being shown in China.

Disney has run into political turbulence closer to home, with the Florida governor recently signing a law that eliminates a statute that has for decades allowed the entertainment giant to act as a local government in Orlando, where it has a theme park.

The move was the latest episode in a dispute between the state’s Republican administration and Disney, after the company criticised the passage in March of a law banning school lessons on sexual orientation.

“From a financial standpoint, Disney will come out ahead with the plug pulled,” analyst Enderle said.

“It’s almost like Florida gave them a monetary favour; Disney was covering all the costs of the municipality they are in.”

The Reedy Creek Improvement District was an area created by Florida’s congress in 1967 to facilitate the construction of Disney World in Orlando.

Under that agreement, Disney runs the district as if the entertainment juggernaut were a local government, including collecting taxes and guaranteeing essential public services such as garbage collection and water treatment.

Under Florida law, if the special district is dissolved, its assets and debts would be transferred to local governments that surround the area.

“Removing district could transfer $2 billion (about Rs. 15,515 crore) debt from Disney to taxpayers,” state Democratic senator Linda Stewart warned after the bill was signed.

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