YouTube Claims iPhone Battery Issues Are Fixed in Latest App Update

Earlier this month, YouTube came in for heavy criticism after multiple users of its mobile app reported plummeting battery life on their iPhones and iPads. iPhone X users in particular said the YouTube app caused their device to run much hotter than usual when watching videos. YouTube admitted there was a battery-draining bug that it was working to fix, and today the service claims to have done just that.

Version 12.45 of the app was pushed out to users this morning with the accompanying note "Fixed an issue with battery usage". We haven't had enough time with the app to confirm the issue is indeed fixed across all devices, but initial tests on an iPhone X running iOS 11.1.1 seem to support YouTube's claims.

Some users had complained that YouTube was sucking the life out of their phones even while it was running in the background, although it's unclear if that was limited to when users were casting video to a smart TV. Let us know how you get on with the updated YouTube app in the comments below.

Living On Mars: MIT Team Takes Top Prize In Martian City Design Contest

One day people may live on Mars, but what will their habitat look like? According to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the future Martian city will rely on a lot of trees.
The tree-inspired concept—called Redwood Forest—took the first place prize in the architecture category of the 2017 Mars City Design competition, Space.com reports. In the NASA and European Space Agency sponsored contest, the Ivy League team created a sustainable urban space that astronauts and other pioneers may one day call home.
“On Mars, our city will physically and functionally mimic a forest, using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith (or soil), and sun to support life. Designing a forest also symbolizes the potential for outward growth as nature spreads across the Martian landscape,” MIT postdoctoral researcher Valentina Sumini, who co-led the project, said in a statement. “Each tree habitat incorporates a branching structural system and an inflated membrane enclosure, anchored by tunneling roots.”

 In this handout illustration provided by NASA/JPL, an artist's conception of the Phoenix Mars Lander on the Red Planet. Phoenix is slated to land on Mars on May 25, 2008. Launched in the summer of 2007 the lander will join the twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity and will study whether permafrost could have supported primitive life on the planet.

The domes or tree habitats would be large enough for 50 people to live inside of them. In their blueprint, the team of nine students proposes about 200 of the structures would be built, providing shelter for 10,000 people, according to Futurism. In order for the environment to thrive, one key ingredient is necessary: water.
“Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree, and every tree is designed as a water-rich environment,” George Lordos, a doctoral student who worked on the project, said in a statement. “Water fills the soft cells inside the dome providing protection from radiation, helps manage heat loads, and supplies hydroponic farms for growing fish and greens.”
Lordos also notes that solar panels would play a vital role in providing energy on the Red Planet, especially if dust storms were to hit. Their blueprint could also help us Earthlings too, the designers report. In particular, they believe the tree domes could help people living in high latitudes and deserts, among other places.
The Mars City Design contest seeks to explore feasible options that humans could potentially thrive in.
 

OnePlus 5T sells out in five minutes in second preview sale

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Friday said it sold out its newly-launched OnePlus 5T within five minutes of the special one-hour preview sale on Amazon.

“We have seen unprecedented customer response to the early access sales, in India as well as globally. Hundreds of fans stormed our ‘Experience Stores’ in Bengaluru and Delhi,” Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said in a statement.

“We are happy to announce that OnePlus 5T will go on open sale, starting on November 28, across all channels including Amazon.in, oneplusstore.in, select Croma stores and ‘Experience Stores’ in Bengaluru and Delhi,” Agarwal added.

OnePlus 5T also broke the company’s launch-day sales record and became the company’s fastest-selling device in six hours, the company said. The device marks the introduction of a 6-inch “Full Optic AMOLED Display” with an 18:9 aspect ratio to deliver a more immersive viewing experience.

The device features a new “Sunlight Display” that adapts automatically to harsh light. OnePlus has moved its fingerprint sensor to the back of the device.
The OnePlus 5T comes with the same main camera as that of OnePlus 5 but also houses an improved secondary camera for superior low-light photography. The device has super-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. The “Adreno 540 GPU” boosts graphical performance.
 

Xiaomi announces post-GST price cuts on Mi accessories

Earlier this month, the Indian government revised the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for some products in India. Soon after the GST rate cut, Xiaomi has reduced the prices of select Mi accessories in the country. The brand’s accessories like power banks, Mi chargers, car chargers, USB cables, smartphone cases and screen protectors are now available at discounted price tags. The accessories are available at new prices on the brand’s online store in the country.

         “Select Xiaomi accessories are now available at reduced rates on the brand’s website”

Here are the new prices of some popular Xiaomi accessories:

• 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2 (Black): New price – Rs 1,099, Old price – Rs 1,199
• 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro (Grey): New price – Rs 1,499, Old price – Rs 1,599
• 20,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2 (White): New price – Rs 1,999, Old price – Rs 2,199
• Redmi Note 4 Screen Protector Ultra Clear: New price – Rs 99, Old price – Rs 139
• Mi Band 2i Strap: New price – Rs 199, Old price – Rs 229
• 20,000mah Mi Power Bank 2i: New price – Rs 1,499, Old price – Rs 1,999
• 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i: New price – Rs 799, Old price – Rs 1,199

You can check out the complete list of price drops on Mi accessories on the brand’s forums here. The announcement came soon after the company launched the ‘Made in India’ Mi Power Bank 2i in the country. The brand has partnered with Hipad at the vendor’s new manufacturing plant in Noida, its third in the country. The power banks are available in two different capacities of 10,000mAh and 20,000mAh. Both the variants are available to buy in the country from the brand’s website and Mi Home stores, and will go on sale via major brick and mortar stores in December.

In related news, Xiaomi is all set to launch a new Redmi series smartphone in India on November 30th. While the brand hasn’t revealed the name of the device, it is marketing the handset as ‘Desh ka Smartphone’. The company’s new teasers for the upcoming phone suggest that it will pack in a beefy battery. 

Google announces scholarship programme in India to train 1.3 lakh students

Sensing the need to skill the Indian talent for emerging technologies, Google, in association with technology learning platform Pluralsight and educational institution Udacity, on Thursday announced a new scholarship programme that will help train 1.3 lakh developers and students across the country.
As part of the programme, Google will fund 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight technology learning platform and 30,000 scholarships on Udacity platform. The scholarship would enable students gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in mobile and web development, machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud platforms.

The new scholarship programme is in tandem with Google’s aim to train two million developers in India. The country is the second largest developer ecosystem in the world and is bound to overtake the US by 2021,” William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google, told reporters here.

In 2015, Google CEO Sundar Pichai had stated that the global Internet search engine giant will train 2 million new android developers in the next three years in India.

“In the last one year, we have engaged over half a million students and developers across India through a variety of programmes and initiatives. Since we announced our skilling initiative in India, 210,000 students have completed Google developed courses on Udacity, with 117,000 students completing the course this year,” Florance informed.

With Udacity, 1,000 developers will also be selected to receive full Nanodegree scholarships.

Unlike China, India is lagging in innovation but is adopting technologies faster. There is an urgent need to upskill and reskill India’s technology workforce,” Florance said.

According to Arun Rajamani, Country Head and General Manager, Pluralsight, India’s tech workforce is going through a phase of transition.

 We are thrilled to partner with Google to help developers across India understand their skill level using Pluralsight IQ and advance their skill sets in four key roles: Android Developer, Mobile Web Specialist, Cloud Architect and Data Engineer,” Rajamani said.

“With this scholarship programme, students can master web and mobile development skills with the experts from Udacity and Google,” added Ishan Gupta, Managing Director-Udacity India.

YouTube cracks down on child exploitation content

Cracking down on abuse and child-exploiting channels and videos, YouTube on Wednesday announced it will remove content on the platform that attempts to pass as being “friendly for kids”.

“While some of these videos may be suitable for adults, others are completely unacceptable, so we are working to remove them from YouTube,” Johanna Wright, Vice President of Product Management, YouTube, wrote in a blog post.

The Google-owned company will apply machine learning technology and automated tools in order to discover potentially exploitive content. YouTube has terminated 50 channels and removed thousands of videos as also advertisements from 5,00,000 exploitive videos under the current set of guidelines. The company will also continue to work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to report potentially illegal behaviour to law enforcement, said Wright.

Meanwhile, YouTube Kids announced new measures last week for parents if they find children watching inappropriate videos at home even by mistake. If the user is signed in while reporting a video, it will also be blocked from the YouTube Kids app, the company said in a statement.

“When you block a video or channel, you will no longer see that video on the YouTube Kids apps when you are signed in. You can always clear your blocked videos and channels from Settings if you change your mind,” the company had said

Google Home to get two new interesting features soon

Amazon recently launched its smart speaker, Amazon Echo Plus in India. We have already used the device, and it seems pretty cool.
 However, we can't wait for Google to bring its smart home speaker Google Home to India. Especially, when the device is getting new features. According to a support page, Google Home is gaining some new functionality. The support page of Google Home has been updated listing some new features that will be added to the device shortly. The features are Direct Control and Scene Support.

Direct Control:

Google Home will soon get direct control over more smart devices. While the device has already had this feature, up until now, it could only control limited things like lights, smart switches, security cameras, and thermostats. As per the support page, the scenario is about to change.
Currently, Google Home can control smart washer, dryer, vacuum, or dishwasher through the voice commands of someone. So basically, someone would have to ask the device to talk to another service to perform a certain action. For this, the person would have to use the exact same phrases the service uses instead of depending on Google's natural language processing to relay their command.
With Direct Control feature, on the other hand, someone can just give direct command to Google Home and then it will pass on the command to the relevant device. For example, in case of a thermostat, a direct command like "Hey Google, turn the heat up", will do the needful.

Scenes:

The support page also reveals that Google Home may add scenes support in future. The device could gain the ability to activate and deactivate scenes. For those who are not aware, scenes allow you to save a predetermined brightness and color ahead of time so you can recall them later. The support page further details the commands needed to control scenes.