Google enhances Art Search

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In a bid to inspire art enthusiasts around the world, Google updated Search and Maps driving newer ways to experience artworks online.

The new feature helps to search for art-related things, you’ll have access to more relevant results and the ability to dive deeper into topics of interest. Google has also added a new feature in Panoramic View that gives you key insights about the artworks on your virtual museum visits.

With more than 500 million art-related searches on Google, the Google Arts and Culture team worked with Google Search engineers to improve systems understanding in recognition of artworks, the places you can see them in person, the artists who made them, the materials they used, the art period they belong to; thus, delivering a much more refined and relevant results to art related queries.

Next time you search for an artist like M.F. Husain, Google Search can pull up an interactive Knowledge Panel that will highlight ways you can explore on a deeper level, like seeing a collection of the artist’s works or even scrolling through the museums where you can view the paintings on the wall. And for some pieces, you can click through to see picture-perfect high-resolution imagery right from Google Arts & Culture.

 

Google hires Apple’s chip designer

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Search giant Google has hired Indian-origin engineer Manu Gulati, who was working with Apple for eight years as chip architect for iPads and iPhones, to play a key role in building its upcoming flagship pixel phone.
Gulati who announced the news through LinkedIn is now the Lead SoC Architect for Google. He has 27 years of experience and has worked with chip makers AMD and Broadcom.
He has at least 15 Apple patents related to chip design and will be key in Google’s plan to build its own processors, say media reports.
Google is now expanding their team of chip experts so that it can build their own chipsets for future Pixel smartphones.
Gulati’s LinkedIn profile says he is now Google’s lead SOC architect. SoC stands for system on a chip. He has also been employed by Broadcom and AMD. With Gulati now part of its team, Google can have an edge over other companies while it comes as a significant blow to Cupertino-based Apple, says the report

Intel invests Rs.1100 crore for new R&D centre in Bengaluru

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US based Chip design company, Intel India will invest Rs1,100 crore to expand its research and development centre in Bengaluru, making it the largest such centre outside the US The proposed facility will be located at Intel’s 44-acre campus on Sarjapur Ring Road (SRR) in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The new design house will help consolidate Intel India’s engineering operations into specialised facility for R&D activities in Bengaluru

“We are excited about expanding our best-in-class design capabilities in India that will enable us to continue our momentum in doing cutting-edge innovation and design from India. We look forward to working with the vibrant ecosystem in India and contribute to the country’s innovation journey and growth,” said Nivruti Rai, Intel India general manager, vice president of Data Center Group

Intel has invested over INR 28,000 crores in the country, since 1999. The new facility will generate 3000 jobs.

With approximately 620,000 sq. ft. of space including lab capacity, the new building with specialised infrastructure will be used for design and verification purposes. This additional capacity, which will be completed in 13 months, will help Intel India consolidate its R&D operations to a large extent at the SRR campus.

Designed to be a `smart and green’ building, the upcoming facility, SRR4 will be constructed using ‘One Storey High Technology’, with each floor being built on ground, then lifted and attached to the top of the building, and then built from the roof downwards.

The company said that the new technology would reduce construction time by around 30% when compared to traditional practices.

The building will be equipped with IoT-based smart features, including smart lights and real-time occupancy management, and will use renewable energy sources like solar and fuel cell-based power.

Nokia Android smartphones launched in India

 

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Finnish company, HMD Global, which has the rights to manufacture Nokia brand  launched the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 Android smartphones in India.

The Made in India”phones were unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February this year. While Nokia 5 and 3 which are priced at Rs. 12,899 and Rs. 9,499 respectively, will be available with offline retailers, the premium one, Nokia 6, priced at Rs. 14,999, will be sold exclusively on Amazon India.

Nokia 6 has a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, a metal body with Sculpted Corning Gorilla Glass and runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage (expandable to 128GB). With  a 16MP camera, it has a 3000 mAh battery and will run Android 7.0 Nougat

Nokia 5 sports a 5.2-inch HD display and is powered by a Snapdragon 430 chipset coupled with 2GB of RAM and comes with a 13-megapixel sensor back camera. It has LTE 4G connectivity and runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Nokia 3 comes with a polycarbonate body and sports an 8MP front rear camera. It runs on Android 7.0 Nougat and includes a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek 6737 SoC, 16GB storage, up to 128GB microSD card support.

“These phones are based on three principles — real life experience, world-class design and regular Android updates that ensure we continue to deliver on the promise of quality and reliability that Nokia is known for,” said Pranav Shroff, Nokia Director Global Portfolio Strategy and Planning.

In India, HMD has partnered with 400 exclusive distributors reaching over 80,000 retail points.

Microsoft to take on Sony with Xbox One X

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Microsoft has unveiled its new gaming console, the Xbox One X.  The console with more powerful technology, including support for 4K gaming and virtual reality compatibility is aiming to challenge its competitor and the current market leader Sony’s PlayStation 4.  Xbox OneX  will be launched worldwide on Nov. 7 and will cost $499.

The $499 product was built with the muscle for seamless play on ultra-high definition 4K televisions. Termed as ‘Project Scorpio’ in its development, the new console will ship with 6 teraflops of graphical power, more than its main competitor, the PS4 Pro, with 4.2 teraflops.

Microsoft also showed off 42 coming games, with 22 titles made exclusive to play on Xbox One consoles. It has a custom GPU engine on Scorpio that runs at 1172MHz, a big increase over the Xbox One’s 853MHz and even Sony’s 911MHz found on the PS4 Pro. Microsoft is also shipping the Xbox One X with an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive for 4K movies and entertainment, and 1TB of storage.

On the other hand, PS4 which is the prime revenue generator for the Japanese firm, and can power virtual reality, has dominated the latest generation of consoles, outselling Xbox One by 2-to-1. To date, it has sold 60 million of the consoles worldwide.

 

TCS releases app development kit for banks

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IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has come out with a software kit, BaNCS App Development Kit” (ADK), that banks will enable banks quickly build their own mobile apps and deploy it across devices.

“BaNCS ADK” will help banks to design and deploy both enterprise and consumer apps in a hybrid architecture, adopting modern principles of responsive web design.

In a statement, Sathish Vallat, head of TCS BaNCS Digital said, “The vision for ‘BaNCS ADK’ is to transfer flexibility and speed of development to the Bank, leveraging a library of business aware financial widgets and components. We envision apps to supplant browser-based interfaces — not just on mobile phones, tablets, kiosks, IoT-connected devices, but also on desktop PCs in a single code base ”

The unit provides a large portfolio of software and solutions under the brand name TCS BaNCS. “BaNCS ADK” comes with its own array of widgets, controls and components. However, banks can add their existing or new widgets at will and has the opportunity to open it to their ecosystem.

Infosys denies founders selling their stake; but shares fall

 

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India’s second largest software company, Infosys has denied a media report on its co-founders trying to sell of their 12.75 percent stake in the company.

Infosys “has no information on any such development,” said the company in a statement and added that the “speculation has already been categorically denied by the promoters.”

However, as the shares of the tech company is still down by 1.7 per cent at 01.30 IST, after earlier falling as much as 3.5 per cent, their lowest in over a month.

Infosys co-founders are exploring a sale of their entire 12.75 per cent stake, worth about Rs. 28,000 crore, in the software services exporter, the Times of India reported however, said founder Narayana Murthy denying such a move.  HE along with his family owns 3.44 per cent stake.

Currently, co-founders including Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal and K Dinesh are on the board of Infosys.  There were also reports on the fight between Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka and Narayana Murthy regarding the company’s corporate governance, strategies  and the changing cultural ethos

Keysight partners with DIAT to set up Electronics research lab

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Keysight Technologies, the electronic measurement company, in association with Defense Institute of Advanced Technologies (DIAT) has set up a state-of- art radio frequency and electronics system laboratory.  Inaugurated by defense minister Arun Jaitley, the fully equipped lab will help support higher education as well as research. The centre will focus on design, development and testing in five specific areas—radars, antennas, microwave and RF communication.

 

“We are delighted to partner with a premier institution such as DIAT,” said Sandeep Kapoor, country head, business development and marketing, Keysight.

“We are pleased that Keysight has agreed to be part of our university and share their valuable solutions with our student community,” said Surendra Pal – DIAT vice chancellor. “This top of the line radio frequency and electronics system lab will boost our student’s research efforts. Combining their deep industry expertise with our own development initiatives, we look forward to pursing our shared mission of innovation in defense technology in India.”

NetApp launches its first startup accelerator in Bengaluru

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Storage and data management company NetApp on launched its first start up accelerator programme in India –NetApp Excellerator programme– in Bengaluru.  The programme was launched at the new 15-acre NetApp campus.

“The tech industry is going through a transformational shift with data right at the centre. Through the NetApp Excellerator programme, we would like to encourage and support start-ups and provide them with an opportunity to graduate to their next phase of growth,” said Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, NetApp India, in a statement.

The applications for the four-month programme are now open for startups. NetApp will provide an equity-free grant of $15,000 to the startups after the completion of the programme. Selected startups will receive technology and business mentorship as well as access to markets and investors to realise the full potential of their ideas and products in the global market place.

Applications are invited on areas like IoT, cloud, big data and analytics, machine learning, virtualization, data security, storage and data management, and other adjacent areas.

The NetApp Excellerator program will provide startups with access to collaboration and productivity tools, co-working space out of the company’s global centre of excellence in Bengaluru as well as networking opportunities with potential investors, partners and customers. Selected startups will have access to NetApp platforms and technologies, tools, co-working space, HR, marketing, legal and tech support. “Through the NetApp Excellerator programme, we seek to engage with promising entrepreneurs contributing to diverse set of tech areas,” added Ajeya Motaganahalli, Director, NetApp India.

 

Microsoft launches FaceSwap App

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Want to see what you’d look like as an astronaut but don’t have a spare space suit laying around? Microsoft’s new app may help.

Microsoft has launched a new app called ‘FaceSwap’ which will let users stick their faces onto any photos.
‘Face Swap’, a brainchild of the Microsoft Garage program, currently available on Google Play store (and soon to be on Apple iOS), uses Microsoft’s search engine Bing’s image search technology to put a user’s face and transfer it onto any face in any picture.

Just click a selfie, and then FaceSwap will then isolate your face and let you start swapping from preset categories with pictures you can choose to swap out. Users can also search for more images to put their face on and save the picture or share it.

Recently, face-swapping apps like FaceApp and face filters like those from Snapchat have gained a lot of popularity.