#2 Tech Bulletin

1.Government asks Trai to suggest a price for 5G airwaves.

NEW DELHI:The government has set the ball rolling for the next round of spectrum auctions, asking the telecom regulator to suggest the starting price for 5G airwaves, which could make their debut in the next sale, as well as 4G bandwidth. Also up for sale again would be the coveted 700 MHz band, which remained unsold in the last auction due to its high base price.

The telecom department has written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to set the reserve price for airwaves in the 4G bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz, and for spectrum in the 3400 MHz to 3600 MHz bands that are used for 5G services, a senior government official told ET, asking not to be named.

"They have asked for the reserve price, band size and the quantum of spectrum, since some of the spectrum in the above-3400 GHz is being used by space (department)," the official said.

Fifth-generation (5G) airwaves are expected to be used for a host of services, such as machine-to-machine communication, Internet of Things and even connected smart cities, say analysts.

2.Logitech launches 4K webcam at Rs 24,995

NEW DELHI: Mobile accessories provider Logitech on Friday launched BRIO, a 4K pro webcam designed for businesses, home office users and YouTubers.

Priced at Rs 24,995, BRIO comes packed with Logitech RightLight 3 with HDR, 4K ultra-HD video quality, 5X zoom plus support for Windows Hello and other secure infrared-based facial recognition applications.

Logitech BRIO works with all popular business applications, including Skype for business and Cisco-compatible certifications, as well as with BlueJeans, BroadSoft, Vidyo and Zoom.

"BRIO users can select between 65-degree, 78-degree and 90-degree field of view (FOV) to help ensure their camera is focused only on the area they want others to see," the company added.

3.Google set to deploy next-gen machine learning for Indian languages.

 NEW DELHI: Aiming to bring a billion people online and make the web more useful for them, Google India is slated to unveil new products on advancement in machine learning for the Indian languages, the company said on Friday.

In an event to be organised here on April 25, Google will also share findings from a new report by Google and KPMG India, titled "Indian Languages-Defining India's Internet".

Rajan Anandan, vice president, SouthEast Asia and India, Google, will address the event, the company said in a statement.

Google has also introduced its neural machine translation support for more languages including Hindi to make the translation process seamless and refined.

Of over 500 million people who use Google Translate, most of the users are in India, Indonesia, Brazil and Thailand.

4.Smartphones to be 62% of all cell phone sales In India in 2018: Gartner

MUMBAI: Smartphones are expected to account for 62% of all mobile phones sales in the country in 2018, backed by increasing demand for these devices and government's push for digital currency, according to research firm Gartner.

"As the Indian cellular market goes through consolidation and aggressive 4G roll out, demand for smartphones will continue to grow," the report said.

"With smartphone penetration maturing in many developed markets, continued growth in the world's 3rd largest smartphone market makes India an attractive market. Smartphones in India are expected to account for 62% of all mobile phones sales in the country in 2018," it said.

4.BSNL to offer 3GB data at Rs 333 for 90 days.

NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL is about to launch three new plans, namely, Dhil Khol Ke Bol (STV349), Triple Ace (STV333), and Nehle per Dehla (STV395), according to a report by Telecom Talk.

The telco has also revamped its STV339 plan to offer more data, as per the sources cited in the report. The plan will offer 3GB data per day where earlier it was offering 2GB data+ . The plan comes with voice calling benefits and a validity of 28 days.

BSNL's Dhil Khol Ke Bol plan will offer unlimited local and STD calls in home circle and 2GB data for 28 days for Rs 349. The Triple Ace plan will give 3GB data per day for 90 days for Rs 333.

Another plan, Nehle per Dehla will cost Rs 395 and will offer 2GB data per day along with 3000 BSNL to BSNL free minutes. Also, the plan includes off-net calling benefits and 1800 minutes to other network calls. The scheme will be valid for duration of 71 days (10 weeks).

5.Micromax to Integrate Yandex Zen AI-Based Recommendation Tool Into Around.

Micromax on Friday announced that it has partnered with Yandex, Russia's biggest search engine, to integrate the latter's AI and machine learning-based software into its AROUND services ecosystem. The company has not provided a timeline for the integration.

Called Yandex Zen, the AI-based software will suggest stories, articles, and videos to users based on their "personal tastes and choices", and all through what Micromax claims is a user friendly interface. "The result is a superior end-user experience gained from a device that is unique to other available Android devices," the company said in an emailed statement, adding that the partnership helps in "device differentiation."

Commenting on the partnership, Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics, said, "At Micromax our emphasis is to drive innovations through software and services that add to and simplify the user experience. A large chunk of our efforts are now concentrated on introducing products and services which solve the needs of our customers, empowering them with the latest technological innovations and eventually becoming an extension of their lifestyle. Given the fact that personalisation, flexibility and simplicity are key for consumer engagement, the partnership with Yandex will help our users stay up to date with relevant and targeted news and articles through a personal news feed, whilst enjoying an enriched device experience."

6.HTC Vive VR Headset Launched at Rs. 92,990, Goes Up for Pre-Orders on Saturday.

   After launching the Vive  VR internationally in April 2016, HTC has finally brought its virtual reality headset to India. We'd exclusively reported the upcoming launch of the HTC Vive headset in India earlier this week, and the announced pricing of Rs. 92,990 falls in line with our report, as is the expected May availability.

The HTC Vive will be exclusively available via Amazon India and pre-orders will begin from Saturday, April 22, rather than April 20 as previously expected, although the date could have been pushed due to the launch of Amazon’s Fire TV Stick

Meanwhile, the Vive site will also be up by April 25 and HTC is setting up in-store experience across select locations in the country. We can expect the pre-orders to start shipping next month.

“We are delighted to launch Vive in India. Vive has totally transformed the way we interact with the world, bringing ultimate mainstream experience to the consumer. Now consumers and developers can experience immersive virtual reality in a way that reshapes human imagination beyond boundaries,” Faisal Siddiqui, President-South Asia, HTC said.

At Rs. 92,990 a piece, the HTC Vive headset is by no means easy on the pocket. The market for high-end VR headsets in India is still in its nascent stage and the company may see a slow start. Compared to the HTC Vive, Sony’s PS VR, which is available in the country, is priced far cheaper at Rs. 41,990 and has reportedly sold quite well. We’ll just have to wait and see how the HTC Vive fares in the country. In the US, the HTC Vive costs $799 (around Rs. 52,000). The Oculus Rift on the other hand costs $499 (roughly Rs. 32,200), and is yet to make its way into the subcontinent.

7.WhatsApp Group Admins Could Face FIR for Offensive Posts: Varanasi DM's Order.

WhatsApp seems to have become the SMS replacement for most people in India - at least ones that have a smartphone capable of running the app. And if you are anything like us, you are in all probability part of multiple WhatsApp groups, where you receive dozens, if not hundreds, of messages every day. Now most of these WhatsApp messages are harmless - or annoying, depending upon your perspective - forwards, but we've all received 'news' stories that don't quite sound right, but we end up forwarding them to another WhatsApp group anyway because they seem interesting at the time. If you've been in this position before, you should think twice before doing something like this again, as this action could land you, and the admin of the group where you share that message, in trouble.

The order, issued on Wednesday, says while freedom of expression on social media is important, it also comes with a responsibility.

The administration has directed that no statement or post which can hurt religious sentiments should be forwarded to any other group or person else legal action will be taken.

It also directs that case under cyber crime law, Information Technology Act and IPC will be filed in case of violation of these guidelines.

The order also makes it clear that orders of the Supreme Court and various high courts will be considered while initiating action.