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Honor 9N will be priced under Rs 20,000 in India

Huawei’s sub-brand Honor is all set to launch the Honor 9N in India at an event scheduled for July 24. Earlier reports claimed it will be the Honor 9X, but Honor later confirmed in a tweet that it is indeed the Honor 9N that will be coming to India. Now, reliable sources close to the development claim the phone will be a mid-range device priced under Rs 20,000. It will also tout dual cameras at the back, no surprise there. According to reports, the Honor 9N is going to be a rebranded Honor 9i (2018) that launched in China last month. The Honor 9i (2018) is also a mid-range device touting an 18:9 display and dual cameras. The phone is powered by the Kirin 659 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128GB storage. In all likeliness, Honor 9N specs will remain the same. The Honor 9i (2018) also touts dual cameras at the back. There is a 12-megapixel primary sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel secondary sensor for depth sensing. A similar dual camera setup has been used by Honor in countless such mid-range and entry-level devices this year and the year before. That included the Honor 7X, the Honor 9i and the Honor 9 Lite. More recently, the Honor 7C and the 7A also use a similar setup. That’s reason enough to believe the Honor 9N will be a re-branded Honor 9i (2018). Another indication of the phone being a renamed Honor 9i (2018) is the price of the Honor 9i (2018) in the Chinese market. The 64GB variant of the phone carries a price tag of CNY 1,399 which roughly converts to Rs  14,600, while the 128GB variant is priced at CNY 1,699 which in Indian currency is Rs 17,800. Considering the Honor 9i (2018) is the latest offering from Honor under Rs 20,000, it could very well be launched as the Honor 9N in India. Last year, Honor launched the Honor 9i in India with four cameras, two at the back and two in the front. So it makes sense for Honor to rebrand its successor with a different name. But it remains to be seen how well the Honor 9N performs in the market, considering how Honor is sticking to using the same technologies over and over again. The Kirin 659 is now more than year old and its dual camera hardware has remained more or less the same. Honor’s focus this year has been on its software and AI abilities. The AI-features like scene recognition and face unlock have trickled down to more affordable offerings like the Honor 7C and the 7A.
Chrome, Firefox get Windows Timeline support with an extension

Microsoft’s recently introduced a Timeline feature which helps user pick up where they previously left off on another device. It enables users to switch between various devices, including phones running on Android and iOS. However, until now, it only supported Microsoft Edge for pushing web browsing history to other devices. The feature was not available for those using Chrome or Firefox, but that has now changed. A third-party developer has built an extension, which enables the Windows Timeline feature on Chrome and Firefox browsers so that users can sync their web browsing history and continue working on other devices.  The extension is free to download on both Chrome and Firefox. It works as expected and syncs the browsing history with Windows 10 Timeline feature so that users can continue on their old tabs on other computers. However, it should be noted that the Timeline feature for PCs only works while using multiple Windows 10 machines under the same account and so, one can use the extension on their home PC and their laptop to continue with their work. Additionally, the extension is still in beta so some bugs can be expected. The extension also allows sending a website that is currently being viewed to another machine running on Windows 10. The extension also allows adjusting the time in seconds, before a page is stored in Windows Timeline. You can check out the extension here.  Microsoft introduced the Windows Timeline feature with the April 2018 update. The feature is integrated with the Task View button on the Task Bar and alongside enabling users to migrate their work to other devices, it also lets them see all the apps and activities of the past 30 days. The feature can also be accessed by pressing Windows Key + Tab or swiping up with four fingers on the trackpad when using a laptop that supports touchpad gestures.  Apps that are currently active are shown separately at the top and a scroll bar on the right allows accessing apps, documents, Office programs, web pages opened using Microsoft Edge. However, those who are concerned about privacy can turn the feature off by heading to Privacy option under Settings, navigating to Activity History and disabling checkboxes for either turning off activity history for current PC or disabling the feature altogether. You can read more about it here.
Here are 5 interesting facts about Intel as the company celebrates 50 years of innovation

Intel is a name synonymous with computing today. The company is known for its processors which power many of the world’s personal computers, laptops, tablets and even servers. Today, the company’s technology has moved far past just the traditional computer and can be found in various components powering our very infrastructure. As Intel hits the 50-year mark, here are some interesting things about the company you may not have known. Naming the Company Back in August of 1968 when Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce quit Fairchild Electronics, where they were co-founders, to start their own electronics company. Initially, they settled on a temporary name “NM Electronics.” Finally, they named the company Intel which comes from a combination of the starting letters of “Integrated Electronics.” Apparently the duo discovered a little later that there was Motel named Intelco and had to buy the name off of them in order to prevent any trademark issues.     Intel’s first product was not a processor After establishing the company on August 2, 1968, Intel released its first product which was a 64-bit bipolar memory module called the Intel 3101. Intel managed to produce a product less than a year into its operation. The SRAM chip developed by Intel at the time was twice as fast as any other SRAM chip available in the market. Intel’s next product was the 1101 SRAM released later in 1969. The 1101 was the first commercial chip to use a metal-oxide semiconductor process and rely on silicon gates rather than metal. It changed semiconductor technology forever. Intel’s first processor powered a…calculator Intel’s first ever processor, the Intel 4004 was a 4-bit CPU on a single chip. It was created in 1971 for a Japanese company named Busicom who used the processor for their calculators. The chip had a maximum clock-speed of 740 Khz, the fastest at the time. After the 4004, Intel went on to release the 8008 CPU, the world’s first single-chip 8-bit CPU. Both marked a first for Intel and were succeeded by the Intel 4040 and the Intel 8080. The Intel 4040 was the first machine-code-compatible chip while the 8080 microprocessor was the first high-performance 8-bit microprocessor. The first commercially successful personal computer, the Altair 8800 was powered by Intel’s 8080 microprocessor. Welcome USB At a time when personal computers were getting bogged down by non-standard connectors, Ajay Bhatt, an
Nokia X6 could launch in India in August or September, claims report

Amid the confusing circumstances of the Nokia X5 (aka Nokia 5.1 Plus) launch in China, a report has claimed that the Nokia X6, which was launched earlier this year in China, is expected to come to India in August or September. It has already been reported that HMD Global, the company that holds the rights to the Nokia brand, may take the Nokia X6 global. The first market that could get this phone is Taiwan with a launch scheduled on July 19. The company will release the phone in other markets in a phased manner. “Our retail sources tell us that Nokia X6 is indeed heading to India but the launch and release dates haven’t been finalized so far. But what they hear is that it will not arrive before the August month in Indian market. We have been also tipped about Nokia 6.1 Plus expected release date in Malaysia and the tip claims a launch in August for the Malaysian market,” the report on nokiapoweruser.com said. The report also claimed that Russia will definitely get the Nokia X6 bearing Nokia 6.1 Plus name because it was spotted on Russian websites. HMD Global Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas ran a poll on Twitter asking people whether they want to see the phone in other markets than China or not. People’s response was overwhelmingly in favour of ‘yes’ and the executive later promised that HMD Global will bring the smartphone to other markets in the coming months. As far as Nokia X6 specs are concerned, the phone sports a 5.8-inch Full HD+ display with notch and 19:9 aspect ratio. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. In the camera department, the phone has a dual-camera system with 16MP and 5MP lenses by Zeiss optics on the back. The front shooter has a 16MP sensor and both the cameras have f/2.0 aperture lens and 1-micron pixels. Under the hood is an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which can expanded up to 256GB via a microSD card. The UI is based on Android Oreo 8.1 and there is a 3,060mAh battery with fast charging support to power the smartphone.
Video suggests excessive thermal throttling on new Apple MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9 chips

Last week, Apple unveiled new versions of its MacBook Pro laptops with new and improved features. The most notable being the introduction of new 8th Gen Intel Core processors, including Intel’s top-of-the-line Core i9 processors. However, it seems like those planning to buy the top variant of the MacBook Pro with that particular processor may have to deal with a lot of thermal throttling.  YouTuber, Dave Lee posted a video in which he reviews the top-of-the-line 15-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 processor that is supposed to offer a base clock speed of 2.9GHz. However, Lee notes that while the i9 is a very powerful CPU, the chassis used on the MacBook Pro is not able to cool the processor properly. He says that just after a “few seconds” of using Adobe Premier, the clock speed of the MacBook Pro dropped to an average of 2.2GHz. He compared the same to a Gigabyte Aero 15X that runs a 2.2GHz Intel i7 processor and noted that the machine could get an average clock speed of 3.1GHz thanks to Turbo Boost. The fact that the the Intel Core i9 can’t even reach its base clock speed in the MacBook Pros chassis means that the potential of the chipset is being wasted. Lee also ran Adobe Premier while placing the machine in a freezer and noted that the rendering time went down from 39 minutes and 37 seconds, to 27 minutes and 18 seconds. Lee also adds that while other Macs as well as PCs also show signs of thermal throttling, this degree of throttling is “unacceptable”. The new MacBook Pros are yet to be launched in India. The new MacBooks start at Rs 1,49,900 for the base, 13-inch variant, while the top-end 15-inch MacBook Pro costs Rs 1,99,900. Besides the new processors, the new Macbooks also come with a TrueTone display and a new quieter keyboard. A recent report also states that Apple Repair Centers will not be able to replace components immediately. As per the report, minor components for the new MacBook Pros will not be available until later this month, while replacement keycaps will not be available till August. Major components Like motherboards and displays may not be available till late September. So if you do buy one of the new MacBooks, you might want to exercise caution till then.
Astronomers discover 12 new moons around Jupiter, expect one to collide

You must've come across Norman Vincent Peale's famous quote, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." Well, something of that sort happened very recently when researchers in the US stumbled upon twelve new moons circling Jupiter while looking for a hypothetical planet on the outer edges of our solar system. According to National Geographic, the team found the new moons very nearly by accident. It was the result of Jupiter's fortuitous alignment with their initial research project and some recently incorporated telescope technology. "This is a great reminder that when you build up the capability to study one thing, you never know what else you might discover along the way,” added Doug Hemingway, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. The twelve new moons span approximately one to three miles across, which, without a question, is a far cry from Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. Two of the twelve find themselves grouped relatively closer to Jupiter and revolve in the same direction as the giant planet. They're thought to be remnants of what once could have been a much larger moon billions of years ago. Nine other moons among the twelve find themselves as three different clusters that move backwards and orbit in a fashion known as "retrograde". Like the first two, these too are thought to be broken pieces of what could have once been a much larger moon many hundred miles away. These parent bodies are believed to have been magnetised by the planet's gravity in the earliest days of our solar system, a process that's regarded common during an epoch when the giant planets migrated and upset the orbit of smaller planets. The last moon of the twelve was famous enough to win itself a name: Valetudo (after the Roman goddess of health and hygiene). This tiny planet, like the first two, revolves around Jupiter in the same direction as the planet, but has an orbit that's relative to the planet and moves close to the other three retrograde moon clusters. For this reason, Valetudo is believed to be on a collision course with the others. A head-on collision is expected to happen in the future. Cover and in-text image credits: National Geographic
Google introduces Visual Snapshot feature on Google Assistant to help users with their daily tasks

Google Assistant is now receiving a new visual overview feature which will help users keep track of all their tasks and to-do activities in one place. The new feature is called ‘visual snapshot’ and it looks like the company amalgamated the smart assistant’s capabilities with Google Now. Upon launching the Google Assistant app, users will be shown “proactive suggestions and personalized information" to help them stay on top of their day. Navigation and travel times are given priority and are right at the top. Scrolling down, users will see their agendas, reminders, movie or restaurant reservations and less important content like stock prices, upcoming bills, packages in transit, and suggestions for new Actions are placed further down.  Google says that this view and the data shown will vary based on the time of the day, user’s location, and recent history/interaction with the Assistant. The new feature will be rolled out over this week and will be available on Android and iOS devices in all languages supported by the Google Assistant. For iOS users, the new view will be shown when the assistant is booted up and on Android phones, users can access it by tapping on the inbox-like button on the top-right corner of the screen.  Google states in its blog post, “The Google Assistant can also send proactive notifications on your phone to remind you of important upcoming events. You can get notifications for upcoming bills, packages, even an alert that your flight has been delayed—your Google Assistant will keep track so you don’t have to.” The company plans on expanding the feature over time to show additional relevant data to a user like an overview of their notes and lists from Google Keep, Todoist and other note-taking apps. There will also be a new discovery section for finding new nearby activities, personalised music, podcast suggestions and reminders of where the user parked their vehicle.
Scientists discover a quadrillion ton of diamonds but no one can have them

A team of researchers from MIT has just concluded that there may be roughly a quadrillion ton of diamonds in the Earth's Mantle. The study concludes that this treasure trove of what is considered to be a rare mineral is buried somewhere roughly 160 kilometers beneath our feet. It is possible that the mineral rock we've considered very precious and rare is not so rare after all. The findings were published in the Journal of Geophysics, Geosystems and is based on decades of seismic activity data collected by researchers while trying to reconstruct what the inside of the earth is made of. This reconstruction is based on collecting decades worth of seismic data collected by seismographs which measure the movement from within the Earth. This movement could be attributed to the shift of the tectonic plates (which causes earthquakes), but also many other phenomena. The waves that are generated by the movement move at specific speeds depending on the density of the matter they move through.  During the reconstruction, when researchers stumbled upon certain areas called cratonic roots, which are the older and most immovable parts of a tectonic plate. Cratonic regions are sometimes projected as upside-down mountains within the Earth's crust going as deep as 320 kilometers. Scientists noted that the seismic waves moved faster through this particular region, with no apparent explanation.  To explain this discrepancy, the team started plugging in potential material densities to figure out what exactly comprised of these Cratonic Roots. The team concluded that the change in speed could only be explained by the fact that these areas must comprise of 1 to 2 percent diamond. By all accounts, that is a negligible amount in comparison to the mass of the cratonic roots, but in comparison to the currently known diamond deposits, it's about a 1000 times more. "This shows that diamond is not perhaps this exotic mineral, but on the [geological] scale of things, it's relatively common," senior author Dr. Ulrich Faul of MIT said in a statement. "We can't get at them, but still, there is much more diamond there than we have ever thought before. It's circumstantial evidence, but we've pieced it all together," Faul added. "We went through all the different possibilities, from every angle, and this is the only one that's left as a reasonable explanation." Diamonds are formed under extreme heat and pressur
Instagram will upgrade two-factor authentication to protect against SIM hacking, also testing Remove Follower feature for public accounts

Who knew if one had a good Instagram handle, they could be the subject of a SIM Hijacking! A very alarming Motherboard investigation found just that. Some Instagram users who were smart enough to pick a great name for their handle on the platform have been targeted by hackers looking to steal their Insta accounts for the purpose of selling them in exchange for cryptocurrency. Taking cognisance of these malicious activities in which Instagram users have been mentally harassed and even blackmailed, the photo and video sharing platform is looking to upgrade its two-factor authentication protocol. Instagram has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is developing a non-SMS-based two-factor authentication system which will rely on services like Google Authenticator, Duo or Authy. The investigative piece that brought the SIM Hijacking issue to the fore, highlighted that hackers steal mobile numbers by assigning them to a different SIM Card. They then use two-factor authentication to gain access to people’s Instagram accounts and sell them for bitcoins. So when Instagram adds the option for authentication apps, these SIM hijackers will no longer be able to access the special code generated by the apps in order to access someone else’s Instagram account. Further, a tipster also found traces of the new 2-factor authentication system in the Instagram Android app’s APK. “We’re continuing to improve the security of Instagram accounts, including strengthening 2-factor authentication,” Instagram told TechCrunch. Hopefully, the new method should allow for more security on the platform and bar SIM hijackers from stealing accounts. At Least, until they figure out how to bypass even authentication apps. Image Courtesy: TechCrunch Another update Instagram is reportedly testing is the ability to remove followers from public Instagram accounts. For long, private accounts on Instagram have had the option to remove followers, but the same luxury was not granted to holders of public Instagram accounts that are viewable to all. Even if users are blocked by a public Instagram account, that account remains accessible to the blocked party by means of a private browser window. Instagram is now correcting this oversight and planning to rollout a new “Remove Followers” feature for public accounts. The company confirmed the ongoing testing of the new feature to The Verge and also said that the person/follower who
Front panels of new iPhones leak, LCD iPhone seen with thicker bezels than OLED ones

It has been widely reported that Apple will launch three iPhones this year with aggressive pricing to boost its market share. The three iPhones include a successor of the iPhone X that will be a 5.8-inch device with an OLED display, a larger 6.5-inch iPhone with a “Plus” moniker that will also have an OLED display, and a third affordable 6.1-inch iPhone that will sport an LCD display, but will bear a similar design as the other two. To substantiate the rumours, two different sources have released the exact same image of the front display panels of the upcoming 2018 iPhones. The images have been spotted at Slashleaks and posted by a twitter user who goes by the name Ben Geskin. Both the images show three front panels with a similar design. The size of the notch is the same and the images suggests that all the iPhones will have Apple’s Face ID feature because they all have the same sensor cutouts. While the bezels of the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED iPhones are very thin, we can see the bezels of the front display of the LCD iPhone is thicker than that of the other two. Apple has roped-in LG to supply 2-4 million OLED displays for its upcoming iPhones. Recently it was reported that Japan-based Nichia will supply 0.3t LED chips exclusively for 2018 6.1-inch LCD iPhone to reduce the size of the bottom bezels to 2.0-2.5mm and enhance the LCD screens' competitiveness against OLED (bezel-less) screens panels. While the information about the hardware of the new iPhones is scarce, it is rumoured that the 6.5-inch “Plus” device will be offered in white and a new gold colour. The 6.1-inch LCD iPhone is expected to launch in grey, white, blue, red and orange colours. As far as the pricing is concerned, Apple is expected to launch the 6.5-inch OLED phone for $900-$1,000, the 5.8-inch OLED device for $800-$900, and the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone will be priced at $600-$700. Apple is also expected to launch a string of new hardware at its September event. You can read about the products here. Cover Image | Intext Image