Lenovo K8 Note India Launch Set for Today: Where to Watch Live Stream

The Lenovo K8 Note India launch is scheduled for 12pm IST on Wednesday in New Delhi, leaving just a few minutes before the device goes official. K8 Note is the follow-up to last year's K6 Note, and Lenovo has been boasting of its performance and photography capabilities over the past few weeks. We also know that the Lenovo K8 Note will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box at launch, and that it will be using a stock Android build. Lenovo revealed this information to Gadgets 360 alongside its announcement that going forward it will abandon its Vibe Pure UI in favour of stock Android, a decision it came upon after listening to customer feedback.

Lenovo K8 Note launch live stream;-

The launch of Lenovo K8 Note will be live streamed on YouTube, and you can catch it right here. The launch is slated to start at 12pm, but as with any tech launch nowadays, expect a delay of a few minutes. For those unaware, the Lenovo K8 Note will be an Amazon exclusive at launch.

Just why Lenovo skipped the K7 Note moniker is not known, but the '8' symbol may suggest the use of a dual camera setup. To recall, the Lenovo K6 Note only featured a single rear camera, which makes it even more likely for the next iteration to get a dual camera module.

Lenovo K8 Note specifications;-

While the official information surrounding the Lenovo K8 Note is scarce, a recent GeekBench listing revealed some key specifications of the upcoming 'Killer Note' model. As per the listing, the smartphone will run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and will be powered by a 1.4GHz MediaTek Helio X20 SoC, backed by 4GB of RAM. Both the processor and RAM are improvements over the K6 Note’s Snapdragon 430 SoC and 3GB of RAM.

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Axis Bank cuts savings rate to 3.5 percent for deposits up to ’50 lakh’

''State Bank of India said in the previous week that 60 per cent of the deposits that had come into the bank with demonetisation had since moved out. It is believed that some of these deposits may have simply moved into term deposits, where the yield is higher.''

Axis Bank on Tuesday lowered the interest rate on savings accounts (SAs) of up to Rs 50 lakh by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.5 per cent. The bank will continue to pay 4 per cent interest on savings accounts with balances of more than Rs 50 lakh. The cut follows a similar move by State Bank of India (SBI) on July 31 for deposits of up to Rs 1 crore. As on June 30, Axis Bank had a savings-account base of Rs 1.22 lakh crore, up 22 per cent from the year-ago period, but 3 per cent lower than the March-end figure of Rs 1.26 lakh crore.

Most public and private sector banks pay 4 per cent on savings accounts. Private lenders Kotak Mahindra Bank and YES Bank are exceptions, offering6 per cent for deposits with smaller balances, as they seek to expand their retail deposit base. Last week, Kotak Mahindra Bank reduced the rate ondeposits of between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore by 50 bps to 5.5 per cent. While banks received a deluge of flows into savings and current accounts after demonetisation, they claim much of this has flown out with the rState Bank of India said in the previous week that 60 per cent of the deposits that had come into the bank with demonetisation had since moved out.

It is believed that some of these deposits may have simply moved into term deposits, where the yield is higher. Since the announcement of the note-ban exercise, the total value of deposits with banks has remained consistently above Rs 104 lakh crore. Analysts believe other banks will also slash savings rates or, at least, restructure their savings products to reduce costs. In a recent note, investment bank Jefferies wrote, “Higher rates are an easy hook in to the customer, however, we also believe that higher rates seldom lead to growth in per account balances and are more driven by better transactional products.” It added that YES Bank has mentioned lowering the SA rate in line with the system as one of the tools available to it to reach its stated goal of a 4 per cent net interest margin by FY20. FE

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Samsung Galaxy S8 Active with 4,000 mAh battery unveiled in the US

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, which the South Korean company says has passed military specification testing, is geared toward users in environments such as extreme outdoor sporting events and construction sites, where a standard device may succumb to wear and tear.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, which the South Korean company says has passed military specification testing, is geared toward users in environments such as extreme outdoor sporting events and construction sites, where a standard device may succumb to wear and tear. (Source: Bloomberg)

The Galaxy S8 Active, which the South Korean company says has passed military specification testing, is geared toward users in environments such as extreme outdoor sporting events and construction sites, where a standard device may succumb to wear and tear. The model doesn’t have the thin glass back of the standard version, first introduced in March, and instead is made from a more rugged material.

The S8 Active comes just weeks ahead of Samsung’s planned debut of its next flagship device. The Suwon-based technology giant has scheduled a media event in New York on August 23 to unveil a new smartphone, which is expected to be called the Galaxy Note 8. It would mark the first redesign to the Note line since the Note 7 battery debacle last year.

The S8 Active will initially be exclusive to the US market and AT&T Inc. as the carrier, Samsung said. Samsung has previously sold “Active” versions of prior Galaxy smartphones. The S8 phone receiving the rugged makeover is the smaller, 5.8-inch model. Samsung also sells a Galaxy S8+ phone with a 6.2-inch screen. The S8 Active costs $850, $100 more than the standard S8.

The new S8 model loses the edge-to-edge screen design of the standard models, which is a key selling point of the device, in favor of a frame for improved durability. The phone includes a larger 4000 mAh battery, giving better battery life than with the standard 3000 mAh battery pack.

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Google Has Fired The Employee Behind That Controversial Diversity Manifesto, Reports Say

After a controversial memo by a Google engineer about diversity programs at the company and gender differences went viral over the weekend, sparking an explosive reaction on social media, the search giant did not dispute media reports late Monday that the employee had been fired.

The memo - in which the author suggested, among other things, that biological factors were part of the cause for the gender gap in the tech industry and that Google should "stop alienating conservatives" - prompted a fiery outcry on social media in recent days. Critics pounced on statements about biological differences such as women, on average, having "lower stress tolerance" or how Google needs to "de-emphasize empathy." Others, including fellow Googlers, according to the author, defended his remarks, leaving Google's human resources shop between a rock and a hard place regarding how to respond.

Yet on Monday, following an email from Google chief executive Sundar Pichai that "portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," Bloomberg News reported that the employee had been terminated. A spokesman said the company does not comment on individual employees but did not dispute that the memo's author was fired.


Earlier Monday, human resources experts said the situation was a volatile one that risked angering people on both sides. "I'm glad when I woke up this morning I wasn't the head of HR at Google," said Brian Kropp, who leads the human resources consulting practice at CEB. 

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These may be the two new colour options of Apple iPhone 8

The year 2018 edition of Apple iPhone will be the smartphone's tenth-anniversary model. No doubt, then that the company is said to be planning something big for this year's edition. Numerous leaks and reports circulating on the internet since past many months point to some major changes iniPhone 8, as the smartphone is popularly being referred to as.

Now a news report ontelefoonabonnement.nl website has alleged images showing new colour options of the upcoming Apple iPhone 8 . These new colour options shown in the image are Copper and Aluminum (the third device in the image is the Shiny black model which is a part of the company's current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus lineup).

The code reportedly suggests that Apple is working on a feature that will help iPhone's camera detect and adjust the settings required to take the best possible images. It is being said that the 'SmartCam' will be able to do this with the help of artificial intelligence. The technology will help the camera customize things like shutter speed, exposure and more.

There are also hints at features called 'freeze motion' that Apple is said to be adding to enhance its Live Photos capabilities.

Some earlier reports have also claimed that Apple is replacing its Touch ID feature with a new facial recognition system. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo too has claimed that the iPhone 8 will do away with Touch ID fingerprint sensor entirely.

As per a report in Bloomberg, "Apple is testing an improved security system that allows users to log in, authenticate payments, and launch secure apps by scanning their face, according to people familiar with the product. This is powered by a new 3-D sensor, added the people, who asked not to be identified discussing technology that's still in development."

Luckily, we now don't have to wait too long to find out how much of all this is true. For with the month of August already here, we are further nearing the launch of the next iPhone.

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Nokia Camera app is now available on the Play Store

HMD, the company responsible for Nokia-branded smartphones, has promised to provide regular software updates to its new Android handsets. So far, the company has been very reassuring in this regard; and now, there are more reasons to believe in its commitment.

The Nokia Camera app is now available to download from the Play Store. Companies usually offload their first-party apps when they plan to provide app updates without needing to bundle them with an OS update. Handset manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, and HTC have most of their apps available in the Play Store.

Recently, HMD acquired the patent to use Lumia Camera UI from Microsoft. If this is any indication, we might soon see the dial-like UI make its way into the Nokia Camera app. Photographers looking for more convenient access to finer camera controls will definitely appreciate this addition.

Barring a few exceptions, the software present in the new Nokia smartphones is identical to vanilla Android. It won't be surprising if Nokia becomes one of the earliest OEMs to seed the next Android update.

You can head over to the Play Store to download the app to compatible HMD Nokia devices.

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Apple, Google dump over 300 trading apps

Google and Apple have removed over 330 shady financial trading apps from its App Stores following an intervention by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Google and Apple have removed over 330 shady financial trading apps from its App Stores following an intervention by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

According to a report in Fortune on Tuesday, ASIC discovered that unlicensed individuals were operating the apps, which focused on binary trading.

"In binary trading, people predict whether the price of a given option will go up or down in a short amount of time, and then buy or sell based on their predictions," the report explained.

This form of high risk and speculative trading is relatively new to Australia, ASIC said.

When the regulators reviewed the apps, they found that the owners of these apps failed to disclose to the users the risky nature of the trading practice.

"Instead they made it appear that people could get rich quickly by using their apps. Some of the apps contained marketing messages that bragged that people could `Earn up to 90 per cent in less than an hour`," the regulators revealed.

It was also discovered that about 80 per cent of the apps that were pointed out did not warn of any risks while few were collecting personal information from users which could be used for high-pressure cold calling.

After the Australian regulator notified both Google and Apple, the two tech companies promptly removed the apps from their online stores.

"We were encouraged with the speed both entities removed the relevant apps identified by ASIC from their respective app stores," the regulator said in a statement.

"We also note that Apple recently changed its review guidelines to state that apps that facilitate binary options trading will not be permitted in its app store," the statement added.

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