Xiaomi Mi A1: An all-rounder budget smartphone with flagship-like features

Designed in partnership with Google, it is a brilliant dual camera phone with promising Android One

The Xiaomi Mi A1 seems an identical twin of the Mi 5X; the only difference lies in the operating system these devices run on. The Mi A1 is the first Xiaomi smartphone to use stock Android version along with heavily customised MIUI theme.

It is also a first premium mobile phone to wear the Android One moniker, created with the promise of a pure Android experience and quicker software updates, and earlier limited to budget smartphones. That indeed is the device’s USP, but how does it fare on other parameters?

Business Standard took the Xiaomi Mi A1 for a spin and here are our observations:

Design

At first glance, the smartphone resembles the Google Pixel, with some minor tweaks. The metallic uni-body design feels premium in hand and the 2.5D curved glass on top of the screen accentuates the details. On the back, the dual camera set-up bulges out from the body, enclosed in a metallic frame, accentuating the camera unit. The fingerprint scanner is placed at the upper centre which makes it easier to reach and comfortable to use.

Overall, Xiaomi has not done any fancy design experiment with the Mi A1 and the result is no-frills, neat-looking smartphone. Read Full Story >>>

Watch On Xiaomi MI A1

BJP on Manish Tewari's Modi tweet: Congress has lost its mental balance

Tewari is the second Cong leader after Digvijaya Singh to come under fire for using foul language against Modi

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday triggered a row with a twitter post using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, evoking sharp reactions from the BJP and the twitterati with both demanding an apology from Sonia Gandhi.

Tewari is the second Congress leader after party general secretary Digvijaya Singh to come under fire for using foul language against Modi. Singh had recently retweeted a post which contained expletives against the prime minister.

In his post, Tewari used abusive words and wrote in Hindi, using the Roman script, about how Modi "befooled" people and that "Even Mahatma cannot teach MODI Deshbhakti (patriotism)".

He was responding to a remark made by a person on the micro-blogging website that patriotism is in the DNA of Modi and even Mahatma Gandhi cannot teach him that. It was made in response to a short video clip put out by Tewari about a gaffe purportedly committed by Modi abroad when he had started walking even as the national anthem was being played.

Reacting sharply, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said a desperate Congress and its leaders have "lost their mental balance" after being rejected by people. He said they are using foul language against the prime minister as they have run out of logic to counter him.

"A depressed Congress has become an expired bubble of abuses. When they do not have logic they take to such cheap language. The Congress has been rejected by the people and since then its leaders have lost their mental balance. They are in need of urgent psychiatric treatment," Naqvi told PTI.

He said it is unfortunate that they have forgotten the dignity and decorum politics requires while targeting the BJP and the prime minister. Read More

It's powerful: Reviewing Angelina Jolie's new Cambodia movie

Like many other historical dramas, "based on a true story" is not the only way in which Jolie secures the film's authenticity

Of the various kinds of films to address genocide, the biopic is probably the most familiar. We’ve all seen them: “based on a true story”, popular but prestigious, making a vast atrocity comprehensible through the eyes of an individual. The Killing Fields (1984), Schindler’s List (1994) and Hotel Rwanda (2004) are all classic examples, though there are much earlier ones – Ravished Armenia introduced Western audiences to the Armenian genocide as long ago as 1919, for instance.

Angelina Jolie’s new film, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, fits into this subgenre in many ways. On general international release on Friday September 14, simultaneously in cinemas and Netflix, it is an adaptation of Loung Ung’s memoir of the same name from 2000. The book was an unsettlingly beautiful yet harrowing chronicle of a young girl’s experience under the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror from 1975-79.

Like many other historical dramas, “based on a true story” is not the only way in which Jolie secures the film’s authenticity. Ung contributed to the promotion of the film, and even appeared in it at the end – recalling Schindler’s List’s pairing of actual survivors with their actor counterparts. Read More

Amazon announces Great Indian Festival sale between September 21 and 24

Dates coincide with Flipkart's Big Billion Days sale

Amazon India announced on Wednesday that it will host its annual flagship Great Indian Festival Sale between September 21 and 24, as it attempts to overthrow rival Flipkart as the reigning champion of the country's e-commerce market.

Unlike previous versions of its sale, Amazon is taking its rival head on by announcing its sale on largely the same days as Flipkart. While Amazon sale opens for everyone on September 21, members of its Prime loyalty programme will get an early access at noon on September 20.

“As our customers prepare for the festive season, we are geared up to serve them with blockbuster deals from India’s biggest brands... we have worked together with our entire ecosystem of sellers, partners and brands to help customers celebrate a bigger and better festive shopping experience," said Manish Tiwary, vice president of Category Management at Amazon India.

ALSO READ: Myntra expects 5-fold jump in sales during Flipkart's BigBillionDays sale

Rival Flipkart is hosting its BigBillionDays sale from September 20 to 25 and is expecting a two to threefold jump in sales during the five-day sale when compared to last year. The Indian firm said it will look to serve customers with big discounts, apart from offering them easy buying options such as EMI on credit and debit cards, exchange offers and buy-now-pay-later.

Amazon is working with banks to offer cash-backs over and above the discounts and will even incentivise customers to pay through its own digital wallet Amazon Pay. For Prime customers, the company will offer exclusive deals and also assured one and two-day free delivery.

Earlier this week, Amazon announced that it had created 22,000 temporary jobs in order to cater to the increased demand during its festive sales. The company has also expanded its warehousing capabilities across the country in the run up to the festive season, targeting sales of high-value products such as large appliances and furniture.

ALSO READ: Amazon claims top spot in e-commerce market ahead of 'Great Indian Sale'

Ryan school murder: 2 admin officials sent to police, judicial custody

On Wednesday, SIT teams searched the school premises for clues, while a CBSE panel looked into security loopholes

Ryan International Group's northern zone head Francis Thomas was on Wednesday sent to three days police custody while the school's human resource head Jeyus Thomas to five days judicial custody by a Sohna court in connection with the murder of a seven-year-old student.

The Gurgaon Police had arrested Francis and Jeyus, under relevant sections of the IPC and Juvenile Justice Act, following the gruesome murder of Pradhuman on Friday last.

ALSO READ: Gurugram boy murder: Bombay HC grants interim relief to Ryan Group trustees

The schoolboy's body was found in a washroom with the throat slit.

Francis was sent to police custody till September 16 while Jeyus to judicial custody till September 18 by the court, an SIT officer said.

ALSO READ: Transfer Ryan murder case outside Sohna for 'fair' trial: School official

Earlier in the day, five days after the gruesome murder, SIT teams searched the school premises for clues to the crime while a CBSE panel also inspected it to examine loopholes in the security arrangements. Read More

The Apple iPhone X vs iPhone 8: What are the big differences?

As the dust settles, it's time for a comparison of the new iPhones' key features, from size and screen to biometrics and battery

If you follow Apple, you know by now that the company just made its biggest phone announcement in years. There’s the iPhone 8, a pretty update to the line that began with the iPhone 6 in 2014. Then there is the iPhone X, a major overhaul that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook called “the future of the smartphone.”

Let’s go over the major differences:

Apple's iPhone 8 launch: 7 stocks to watch out for today

Apple Inc will unveil new iPhones today at its Apple Park 'spaceship' campus

When Apple Inc unveils new iPhones on Tuesday at its Apple Park “spaceship” campus, there may be important clues for the watchers of seven semiconductor stocks.

Apple exerts a sun-like gravitational pull on the global electronics supply chain, affecting the pricing of commodities like flash memory chips - it consumes 18 percent of global supply. The iPhone maker can make or break small, specialty chip suppliers.

The final tally of semiconductor winners and losers will not be known until the devices ship and analysts rip them apart to examine the circuit boards. That will give insight into matters like the continued battle between Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc to supply so-called modem chips for mobile data.

Even the limited technical information Apple gives on stage tomorrow could shed light on how several other companies are faring. Here are seven stocks to watch during today’s launch.

LUMENTUM

Lumentum Holdings Inc makes what are instead known as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VCSELs for short. These are a key component of 3D sensors that could power some of the expected features of the new flagship iPhone, such as the ability to unlock the phone through 3D facial recognition.

The company said it has received $200 million in orders for these lasers since April. Lumentum says it has multiple customers, but most analysts believe Apple is behind the surge in orders. Read Full Story >>>

The only safe email is text-only email

Safe email is plain-text email; showing only the plain words of the message exactly as they arrived

It’s troubling to think that at any moment you might open an email that looks like it comes from your employer, a relative or your bank, only to fall for a phishing scam. Any one of the endless stream of innocent-looking emails you receive throughout the day could be trying to con you into handing over your login credentials and give criminals control of your confidential data or your identity.

Most people tend to think that it’s users’ fault when they fall for phishing scams: Someone just clicked on the wrong thing. To fix it, then, users should just stop clicking on the wrong thing. But as security experts who study malware techniques, we believe that thinking chases the wrong problem.

The real issue is that today’s web-based email systems are electronic minefields filled with demands and enticements to click and engage in an increasingly responsive and interactive online experience. It’s not just Gmail, Yahoo mail and similar services: Desktop-computer-based email programs like Outlook display messages in the same unsafe way.

Simply put, safe email is plain-text email – showing only the plain words of the message exactly as they arrived, without embedded links or images. Webmail is convenient for advertisers (and lets you write good-looking emails with images and nice fonts), but carries with it unnecessary – and serious – danger, because a webpage (or an email) can easily show one thing but do another.

Returning email to its origins in plain text may seem radical, but it provides radically better security. Even the federal government’s top cybersecurity experts have come to the startling, but important, conclusion that any person, organization or government serious about web security should return to plain-text email: Read More

7 coaches of Shaktipunj Express derail in UP, no casualties reported

The train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr which, officials say prevented any injuries

Seven coaches of the Jabalpur- bound Shaktipunj Express derailed today in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, a railway official said.

"The accident occurred at around 6:25 AM and we have already cleared out the site," Railway ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said.

"All passengers were put on the remaining coaches and by 7:28 AM all of them had left the spot. All of them are safe and no one was injured in the accident," he said.

Also Read : Reliance Industries to turn ex-bonus on Thursday; stock extends gains

The train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr which, officials say prevented any injuries when the incident occurred.

This is the third such derailment in the state in less than a month.

On August 19, the Utkal Express had derailed in Muzaffarnagar district, killing 22 people and injuring 156.

About 100 passengers were wounded when 10 coaches of Kaifiyat Express train derailed after crashing into a dumper which strayed on to the tracks in Auraiya district on August 23.

Gauri Lankesh: A firebrand journalist vocal on secularism and Dalit rights

Best quality in Gauri was one could always argue with her, dispute her and tell her she was wrong

“Be careful about what you post on social media. We live in dangerous times,” I told Gauri Lankesh last week. She replied saying “We can’t be so dead. It is human to express and react. What we feel impulsively is usually our most honest response.”

On Tuesday night, she was shot and killed in cold blood. The killing was not impulsive. It was well thought and carefully planned, like the murders in Maharashtra and Karnataka of the rationalists and thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi that she had herself condemned and protested.

I grew up in a family of writers. My father, K. Marulasiddappa, and P Lankesh, Gauri’s father, were colleagues and close friends. Lankesh was an English lecturer. My father taught Kannada.

ALSO READ: Right-wing critic, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead in Bengaluru

We lived in the same neighbourhood. My mother often left me in the care of the Lankesh household. Whenever I argued with Gauri, she used to joke saying “Magane (child), I used to babysit you before you learned how to speak.”

But the best quality in Gauri was that one could always argue with her, dispute her and tell her she was wrong. And no matter how fierce our arguments, she respected our right to say what we did. We were close friends because we could disagree. It was a quality that she inherited from her father.

Gauri’s father was a firebrand writer and thinker. In 1980 he launched the Lankesh Patrike, a tabloid in black and white. It carried no advertisements. Lankesh believed that publications succumb to favouring rich corporations or powerful government officials and politicials because they sponsor ads that are a crucial to a newspaper’s survival. Lankesh believed this would kill journalistic integrity. He decided that Lankesh Patrike was to run purely on circulation. Read More