New Delhi: Google has launched a new Android app, Google Finance, that is exclusively for investors to keep tabs on the markets, watch their investments, and use the AI-powered financial insights on their smartphone. The launch is the first time that a new Google Finance web experience with enhanced portfolio management features and personalised market briefings is available worldwide.

Google says the new app will be especially for users who often monitor the stock market and are looking for live prices, watchlists, financial news, and artificially intelligent research. The company additionally said that a few more features, such as real-time earnings calls and advanced portfolio tools, will be implemented in the Android app in the coming months. An iOS version is anticipated later this year as well.

Google Finance app brings AI features to Android

Google Finance has launched a new app that allows its users to centralise their investments on their Android devices. It features customisable watchlists, live market updates, a financial news feed from Google and Google’s AI research assistant.

An interesting feature is that of Key Moments, which uses AI to shed light on large moves in stock prices by offering background on dramatic rises or falls. Built-in AI can also answer questions about specific companies, industries, or the overall market, without users having to leave the app. In upcoming releases, more web-based capabilities will be added to the Android app, such as live support for earnings calls and portfolio management features, Google said.

Revamped web experience focuses on portfolio management

The revamped Google Finance site has also been released following a beta testing period, along with the mobile app. The largest new feature is a new portfolio dashboard that brings together all investments into one place, the company says.

The dashboard shows portfolio performance, asset allocation and personalised investment insights. Existing Google Finance portfolios will be migrated to the new experience, and new portfolios can be added through CSV or PDF files, screenshots of holdings or natural language descriptions of investments.

AI research tool offers personalised investment analysis

Google has also enhanced its portfolio research capabilities with AI. Users can then ask questions like which sectors may not be adequately represented in their portfolio or how fixed-income securities might impact long-term growth once they create a portfolio.

The AI capability analyses the user’s portfolio and offers personalised answers, increasing the understanding of diversification and investment allocation. Google claims that the feature will make research more easily accessible without the need to manually interpret intricate financial information.

AI market briefings deliver scheduled updates

One of the other key features is AI-driven market insights reports. Users can develop customised updates by typing things in, like a daily pre-market summary or overnight cryptocurrency activities.

Google says that these briefings can also contain updates from a user’s watchlist or investment portfolio. The summaries are automatically generated at a frequency set by the user via the Google app on Android or iOS; they can also be retrieved and controlled via Google Finance online.

Google said the new suite of portfolio management tools and AI-driven market summaries are available worldwide beginning this week. The Google Finance app is available for the Android platform only, but Google announced an iOS version is in development and will be available later this year.

New Delhi: KRAFTON India and Nautilus Mobile have launched the Real Cricket 5.1 update with new gameplay inspired by some of the biggest moments in Indian cricket. Available from June 26, 2026, it features new game modes to reminisce about special moments from the past, unlock premium tournament modes for free and experience Team India’s tour of England in the game.

The new update will ensure that cricket fans stay engaged even after the domestic season is over. The update will bring back some moments from the RCPL 2026 season, plus an exclusive free tournament and live in-game tournament event inspired by India’s England tour next month.

Relive RCPL’s biggest moments

Relive RCPL is the new mode of Real Cricket 5.1, which will recreate some of the most discussed moments of RCPL 2026. Players can form their ideal playing 11 and assume different match scenarios based on actual games, allowing them to alter the outcome of matches or recreate legendary games. The mode will offer realistic match conditions, original bowling attacks, and pressure-filled scenarios based on the tournament, KRAFTON India said.

Anuj Sahani, Head of KIGI and Director of Publishing of KRAFTON India, commented on the update, saying that the purpose of the update is to ensure players stay engaged in cricket all year round.

“5.1 is about keeping players in the middle of cricket season, even when the season is technically over. Relive RCPL gives you real match situations with the same pressure and the same bowling attacks and lets you play them your way,” Sahani said.

World Cup 11 Tournament opens for free

KRAFTON India has also released the World Cup 11 tournament free to all players for the time being. The premium version of the mode will be free for 14 days from June 26. The event will also have bonus in-game coins for players completing missions every day, providing more rewards as they relive India’s World Cup triumph.

The update will also feature the India Tour of England from 1st July 2026 to 19th July 2026. Throughout the event, players will have the opportunity to play matches set to the authentic game, authentic English play and iconic stadiums.

KRAFTON India said the event is targeting syncing the match scenarios for Indian fans playing in the game Real Cricket with the real cricket calendar so that they can play a similar match scenario when India is on tour overseas.

New Delhi: Buying an Xbox console is about to become more expensive. Microsoft has announced a significant global price increase for its Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles, with the revised pricing taking effect from August 1. The company has also announced that it will be ending the 2TB Xbox Series X version.

The announcement follows Apple’s announcement of several price increases in its hardware products, such as Macs and iPads, just hours ago. The surge in costs for both companies has been attributed to the skyrocketing price of memory and storage, underscoring the impact of the demand for AI infrastructure on the broader tech industry.

Xbox Series S and Series X prices increase

The new pricing adjustment applies to all the main Xbox console models, Microsoft said. The Xbox Series S 512GB will now be priced at $499 (around Rs 47,300), up from $399, and the 1TB version has been bumped up to $599 (around Rs 56,800) from $449.

Steep price rises have been applied to the Xbox Series X range too. The 1TB Digital Edition will now go for $750 (around Rs 71,000), and the regular 1TB Disc Edition will cost $800 (around Rs 75,800). Microsoft also announced that it will end the sale of the Xbox Series X (2TB) model. Microsoft says the adjustments in price will be effective worldwide from August 1.

AI boom driving hardware costs

The price surge in memory and storage is cited as the reason for the increase, Microsoft said. The cost of these parts is now at least more than double what it was before, the company said, and it expects prices to continue rising by another 50% by the fall of 2027.

The company also noted that the growing demand for AI servers and data centres has driven up the demand for high-performance memory and storage chips, a strain on global supply chains. Apple echoed similar statements when announcing hardware price increases earlier in the day, also due to cost pressures throughout the industry.

Financing options to ease the impact

To compensate, Microsoft is expanding availability of financing for customers, it said. Microsoft Stores customers who buy Xboxes will be eligible for buy now, pay later arrangements, the company said, and Amazon customers in supported areas can now apply for financing for their purchases with up to 12 months’ 0% APR on eligible products.

Microsoft also revealed that it is working on new programs to offer previously owned Xbox consoles at lower prices, providing a more affordable option for budget-conscious gamers.

Xbox joins Sony in raising console prices

The new price hike makes Microsoft the second console maker to hike the price of current-generation consoles. Sony has already increased the price of the PS5 Digital Edition from the original $499 launch price in multiple regions, with some already priced at $599.

Nintendo, on the other hand, has not seen the Switch 2’s price rise significantly to date. However, industry observers believe the company could also face pressure to raise prices if component costs continue climbing as demand for AI hardware grows.

New Delhi: Google is bringing more iPhone-inspired personalisation features to Android. Within days of introducing the stable Android 17 update for compatible Pixel devices, the company has now introduced a new test feature that will make changing wallpapers more dynamic and automatic.

According to the leaked Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5 update, it introduces a new Photo Shuffle feature that lets Pixel users flip through wallpapers from a chosen photo album every so often. Google hasn’t officially announced it either, but an APK teardown by Android Authority seems to indicate that it might be coming on Android in a new update.

Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5 hints at Photo Shuffle feature

Android Authority reports that the Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5 update has an additional piece of code that sports a new feature called Photo Shuffle, with a very similar appearance to Apple’s Photo Shuffle feature on iOS. The feature is meant to automatically cycle wallpapers based on the user’s choice of photos.

One of the things users will reportedly be able to do is create a new album of their favourite people or pets or select a pre-existing album from Google Photos. Then, the wallpapers will cycle automatically without needing to be changed by the user.

According to screenshots Android Authority posted, there is a dedicated Photo Shuffle page that describes itself as “Create an album of your favourite people and pets to auto-refresh your wallpaper.”

Users may get multiple wallpaper refresh options

If you are a fan of changing wallpaper, the report says the feature will give the user the choice of how often the wallpaper is changed. According to the report, there are four refresh options that have been found in the beta build: on tap, hourly, daily and sunset/sunrise. This would allow users greater flexibility in customising the home and lock screens on their device.

If the feature is made available to the general public, it is expected to be available for access via Settings > Wallpaper & style > More wallpapers > Collection, and the Photo Shuffle option could be seen here.

Latest Beta fixes camera and game dashboard issues

Google started rolling out the Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5 update to supported Pixel devices on June 23. According to the company’s release notes, the update mainly focuses on bug fixes and system stability.

The beta fixes a problem allowing users to stop or save screen recordings from the Game Dashboard. It also resolves a bug that would make the Camera app freeze on certain devices. Other enhancements correct issues with the Always-On Display and Download Manager, making the new beta version more stable for the testers. Google hasn’t officially announced the release date of the Photo Shuffle feature, nor is it known if it will be a part of a follow-on stable Android 17 update.

New Delhi: YouTube is rolling out a fresh set of updates for Shorts, introducing new playback controls and interface changes aimed at improving the viewing experience. Users will be able to customise their Shorts feed, view a distraction-free mode, and enjoy a playback speed of 2x with the update.

The modifications will be phased in gradually and will aim to make Shorts more intuitive and easier to use. According to YouTube, the updates are based on user feedback and reflect how viewing habits have evolved since the platform launched its short-form video service.

You can now watch Shorts at double speed

The biggest addition here is the new 2X playback speed. The feature allows users to watch Shorts twice as fast to get the information they want faster or to jump to their favourite moments without having to watch the entire clip.

The Shorts community has been requesting a faster playback feature, and that’s exactly what YouTube has just announced. The platform has also improved the ability to mute videos by clicking the screen to stop the video and then choosing the mute option.

The new Clear Screen mode removes on-screen clutter

In a new update, YouTube is launching a new clear-screen mode that will temporarily remove all buttons, icons, captions, and other overlays during a Short’s playback. The feature aims to offer a more immersive viewing experience with the option to focus on the video without interruptions, the company said.

‘Like’ button is replaced with a heart icon

The platform is transforming the way users interact with Shorts. The thumbs-up button will be replaced with a heart for viewers to give a thumbs-up for videos they like. According to YouTube, the update will offer a more meaningful method for showing that a video resonates with them.

Dislike button removed from Shorts

The dislike button has been removed from Shorts as well. In the future, users who wish to delete similar content can click on “Not Interested” or “Don’t recommend this channel”.

YouTube says that these controls give a more reliable indication of viewer preference, since a dislike may indicate a variety of reasons ranging from poor video quality to simply not liking the video. Users may file complaints for videos that still violate the site’s Community Guidelines.

The rollout is happening gradually

The company hasn’t said when the rollout will take place. YouTube said that the new features will be “rolling out” and will be available to users “over time”. YouTube’s update is part of its efforts to continue to grow its Shorts platform. At YouTube’s keynote address at Cannes last year, CEO Neal Mohan revealed that Shorts was enjoying 200 billion views daily as of June of this year. Industry figures have also indicated that Shorts viewing on connected TVs has been increasing, with almost 2 billion hours of Shorts being watched on television screens per month.

Over the past year, the technology sector has moved from the era of the “chatbot” to that of the “do-bot.” What it essentially means is, instead of merely suggesting products, an agent can monitor inventory, compare prices, place orders, and manage recurring purchases based on a user’s preferences and approval settings. A consumer could simply instruct an agent to keep their pantry stocked within a set budget, while the system handles the search, selection, and purchase process.

The market is responding accordingly. According to Precedence Research, the global AI agents market is expected to grow from approximately USD 7.9 billion in 2025 to nearly USD 12 billion by the end of 2026. The appeal is straightforward: consumers increasingly want outcomes, not just recommendations.

The Protocols Enabling Agentic Commerce

To support this new model, technology companies are developing common standards that enable AI agents to connect with external tools, access product information, discover merchants, and complete transactions securely. These include Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), which connects agents to external tools and data; the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) from OpenAI and Stripe, which enables product discovery and transactions within AI interfaces; the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) led by Google, which governs user consent and payment authorisation; and the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) from Google and Shopify, which seeks to standardise the entire shopping journey from discovery to post-purchase support.

For businesses, the implications are significant. Products and services must be structured in ways that AI systems can easily understand and evaluate. In an increasingly agent-driven marketplace, visibility will depend not only on consumer awareness but also on machine readability.

What This Means for Brands

This presents a new challenge for brands. While traditional marketing relies on packaging, advertising, and emotional appeal to influence consumers, AI agents are more likely to evaluate structured product data, specifications, pricing, reviews, and trust signals. In an agent-driven marketplace, a brand that is not machine-readable may simply not appear in the decision-making process. Structured data, well-organised websites, and interoperable product information will therefore become critical for ensuring that AI systems can accurately discover, understand, and evaluate a brand’s offerings.

Beyond discoverability, brands will also need to strengthen credibility through authentic reviews, transparent product information, and consistently positive customer experiences. Success will depend not only on being visible to AI agents but also on being selected by them. In the agent era, winning algorithmic preference may become just as important as winning consumer preference.

Conclusion

The brands that thrive in the agent era are unlikely to be those with the largest advertising budgets. They will be the ones that make it easy for an algorithm to choose them, while remaining compelling enough for a human to instruct their agent to remember.

This article is authored by Dr. Aditya Nittur, Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder, FlowBlinq

Disclaimer: This article has been authored by a guest contributor. The views, opinions and information expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication or its editorial team.

New Delhi: The gaming industry got a burst of excitement this week from the GTA 6 pre-order buzz, but the mood turned heavy again after Sony-owned Bungie confirmed a fresh round of layoffs. The Bellevue-based studio, known for Halo and Destiny, is now going through another major reset after Destiny 2 reached the end of its long service life.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing with the Washington State Employment Security Department, 292 Bungie jobs in Bellevue are being cut. The effective separation date is July 9. The layoffs cover artists, engineers, producers, designers, technical animators, audio leads and other roles. Some Sony teams supporting Bungie have been hit too.

WARN Notice

Destiny 2 slowdown hits Bungie hard

In an email to Sony Interactive Entertainment employees, Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony’s Studio Business Group, said the company is cutting “a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members.”

That line will sting for many players. Destiny 2 was not just another shooter. It was a daily habit for a large online crowd. Players formed teams, chased loot, fought through raids and waited for updates like cricket fans wait for a big final. For years, it kept Bungie at the centre of the live service gaming market.

Bungie, in a statement posted on Bluesky, said that “Destiny 2 fell short of expectations these past several years” and that with “future projects still in early incubation, we unfortunately could not continue operating at our previous size.”

Sony’s big bet now faces a hard reset

Sony bought Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, which is around ₹30,000 crore by broad conversion. Since then, Bungie has seen more than 600 job cuts across three layoff rounds. Around 100 jobs were cut in October 2023. Another 220 were cut in July 2024, when 155 roles moved to Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The current cuts show how risky big live service bets can get. These games need large teams, long support cycles and steady player spending. When user interest falls, the cost pressure shows up fast.

What happens to Marathon now?

Hulst said Marathon “remains an important part of our portfolio” and mentioned “incubation efforts for future projects,” but no clear roadmap was shared.

GTA 6 may be pulling all the oxygen in the gaming room right now, but Bungie’s layoffs show the quieter side of the industry. Big studios are still cutting, even as players wait for the next blockbuster.

New Delhi: OpenAI is reportedly planning a limited rollout of its upcoming GPT-5.6 AI model after concerns raised by the White House over the technology’s potential risks. Rather than being a widely available product from the outset, the company is expected to start the product off with a restricted number of trusted partners before increasing the availability of the product.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, told workers that customer access will be reviewed during an initial preview period in the US government’s interests, according to a report by The Information. If the testing phase goes well, OpenAI plans to roll out the model for wider use in the next few weeks.

US Government Wants a Controlled AI Rollout

During the preview period, access to GPT-5.6 would be granted “customer by customer”, Altman told staff, according to The Information. The White House has played a “close role” in negotiations over the release of the model, the report says.

The report adds that officials from the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy worked with OpenAI ahead of the launch. The agencies apparently asked for a gradual introduction to assess any security concerns if the model is ever to be offered to the public.

Shift From a Hands-Off AI Approach

The move signals a change in the Trump administration’s AI policy. The government has long had a pro-big-government stance on the development of AI but recently has taken a step toward regulating advanced AI systems.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order encouraging leading AI companies to voluntarily submit their newest models for government testing and evaluation before public release. The announced GPT-5.6 rollout seems to be a part of this policy shift.

Anthropic Took a Similar Path

OpenAI wouldn’t be the first AI company to limit access to a strong model. Anthropic recently revealed that its cyber-focused model, Claude Mythos, would come in a limited partnership programme called Project Glasswing, as described in the report.

But the ability of the model could be exploited if it were made available to the general public, Anthropic said. The move fuelled a controversy in the AI field, with some saying it’s a real safety move and others suspecting it’s a marketing ploy.

Why Frontier AI Models Raise Security Concerns

The large language models have been growing more adept at writing software codes, finding security vulnerabilities, and even helping with a cyberattack. The ability to detect and exploit software vulnerabilities could be accelerated by “highly advanced” AI systems, security researchers warn.

Those who support controlled releases argue that restricting the use of them enables companies and governments to get a better handle on the risks before they can be used on a broader scale. Such frontier models are currently unavailable to the public; however, independent researchers have limited ability to establish the level of capabilities and threat they may pose.

New Delhi: Apple has increased prices of several MacBook and iPad models globally, blaming a sharp rise in memory and storage costs linked to the AI data centre boom.

The price hikes affect MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPad Air and iPad Pro models. iPhone prices remained unchanged on Thursday. The move comes after Apple’s online store briefly went down and returned with updated pricing, according to the provided company update and reports.

Read More: Victims of RAMmageddon: PS6, laptops, smartphones, cars, who …

What got costlier

Apple’s entry-level MacBook Neo now starts at $699, up from $599. The MacBook Air with 512 GB storage has moved to $1,299 from $1,099. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with 1 TB storage now costs $1,999, up from $1,699.

The iPad range has seen price changes too. The iPad Air with 128 GB storage is now priced at $749, compared with $599 earlier. The 11-inch iPad Pro Wi-Fi 256 GB has moved to $1,199 from $999.

Why Apple says prices went up

Apple linked the hike to a shortage of memory and storage chips. In its statement, the company said, “the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage” and that it has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

Apple added that it has “shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”

That is the real RAMageddon effect. AI servers are eating up high-end memory supply. Consumer electronics makers are now feeling the squeeze. Even Apple, famous for supply chain control, is passing some of that cost to buyers.

Why this matters for buyers and the tech market

Tim Cook had warned earlier that price increases had become “unavoidable” because component costs were rising. He also described the supply crunch as “a hundred-year flood.”

New Delhi: Google is expected to unveil its next-generation Pixel smartphones later this year. Although the company hasn’t officially confirmed the Pixel 11 devices, a number of leaks and information from the industry have already leaked several important details about the upcoming Pixel 11 devices, such as the specifications, pricing, launch date and new AI-powered features.

As per the several tipsters and reports, Google is going to launch four smartphones this year: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. A lot of the information comes from leaks, and there is no information from Google at this time.

Google Pixel 11 launch date: When could it arrive?

Google hasn’t yet officially announced a Pixel 11 series release date. The company’s latest release plan, however, suggests that another August could be the next unveiling.

Google rolled out the Pixel 9 on August 13, 2024, and the Pixel 10 series was announced at Google’s Made by Google event on August 20, 2025.

Assuming Google does the same, the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL may hit the market in mid- to late August 2026. According to industry sources, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold could be available a couple of weeks after, possibly in October 2026.

Google Pixel 11 expected specifications

The Pixel 11 is likely to get some incremental improvements from its predecessor. Its leaked specs indicate it’ll have a 6.3-inch OLED panel with up to a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 2,200 nits. The phone may also be powered by Google’s next-generation Tensor G6 processor, which is said to be manufactured by the 2 nm process. There is also speculation that Google may be switching out Samsung’s modem for a new MediaTek modem.

The device may come with 8GB or 12GB RAM and a 128GB or 256GB storage capacity. Camera improvements can feature a new 50MP main sensor and ultrawide camera. The battery capacity is tipped to be around 4,840mAh. The Pixel 11 could be available in the black, green, pink and purple colours.

Google Pixel 11 Pro expected specifications

The Pixel 11 Pro may have a 6.3-inch OLED LTPO display, which is projected to provide an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz and as much as 2,450 nits of peak brightness. It may be powered by the same Tensor G6 chipset and MediaTek modem as the regular variant.

Leaks indicate that the phone could be available with 12GB or 16GB RAM. New primary and telephoto sensors are also in the cards for the camera. One of the most notable features may be Pixel Glow, an RGB lighting system that would be built into the camera bar. It will most likely succeed the temperature sensor used on the previous Pro models. The capacity of the battery is expected to be in the range of approximately 4,707mAh. Google’s under-display face unlock feature also reportedly hasn’t reached the point where it can be ready this year.

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL expected specifications

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is likely to have a bigger 6.8-inch OLED screen that supports up to a 120Hz refresh rate and can be reduced down to 1Hz when needed.

It may almost certainly be packing the Tensor G6 processor and improved cameras and Pixel Glow. According to the rumour, the device will have a close to 5,000mAh battery and also up to 16GB of RAM. Wireless charging could be as high as 25W, which would make it the quickest charging Pixel in the line.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold expected specs

Google is expected to launch the Pixel 11 Pro Fold separately, similar to last year’s strategy. Leaked details state that the foldable’s release might be around October 2026.

The phone will fold to 10.1 mm and be 4.8 mm when unfolded. It may have an inner display with an 8-inch diagonal screen and an outer display with a 6.4-inch diagonal screen, both with a 120Hz refresh rate. There are also hints about a reimagined camera module, a Tensor G6 processor, a MediaTek modem and a 4,658mAh battery. The foldable is expected to be available in at least two colour options, including a new green finish.

Google Pixel 11 AI features

One of the most anticipated leaked features of the new Pixel series is Pixel Glow. Pixel Glow will be powered by multiple RGB LEDs embedded in the camera bar, according to the Pixel 17’s Android 17 code snippets that developers have uncovered. It may be possible to have the lights on different colours for calls, notifications and alerts when the phone is face down.

Google is reportedly working on a dedicated Glow Settings menu, while it is not known whether it will be available on all or just Pro models.

Google Pixel 11 expected price

Google has not announced the price of its service as yet. The Pixel 11 lineup is predicted to launch around the following prices based on the pricing of last year:

Google Pixel 11: US$799 (approximately Rs 69,000)

Google Pixel 11 Pro: US$999 (approximately Rs 86,500)

Google Pixel 11 Pro XL: US$1,199 (approximately Rs 104,000)

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold: US$1,799 (approximately Rs 156,000)

Industry reports suggest prices could increase by US$50 to US$100 (around Rs 4,300 to Rs 8,700) due to rising memory chip costs. However, Google has not confirmed its pricing strategy.

New Delhi: GTA Online players have a fresh weekly event to grind after the GTA 6 pre-order buzz. The new event starts today on June 25 and will run through July 1, with bonus payouts on Acid Lab Sell Missions, FIB Files, races and community modes.

The week looks useful for players who want quick GTA$ without spending too much in-game cash first. The big hooks are 2X GTA$ and RP on Acid Lab Sell Missions, a free Acid Lab installation for the MTL Brickade 6×6, and 4X GTA$ on this week’s Priority FIB File, The Fine Art File.

Best ways to earn GTA$ this week

The clearest money route this week is through FIB Files and Acid Lab work. Players who own or buy the Garment Factory can access FIB Files, with the property available at 40 per cent off during the event. If you do not have the Garment Factory, this is the time to buy it, as it comes with a weapons workshop, a 10-car garage built in and most importantly, you can upgrade your Terrorbyte here with a missile lock-on jammer.

The Fine Art File is the Priority FIB File this week and pays 4X GTA$. Standard FIB Files pay 2X GTA$. There is a Weekly Challenge too. Complete three FIB Files and you get GTA$100,000.

Another huge way to earn GTA$ this week is the Acid Lab. Acid Lab Sell Missions pay 2X GTA$ and RP. The MTL Brickade 6×6 is 40 per cent off, and the Acid Lab installation is free. That is useful for newer players who have avoided this setup so far. I have seen enough GTA Online weeks where the real trick is picking passive jobs that do not waste time, while you focus on heists. This week, Acid Lab and FIB Files look like the practical picks.

Free rewards and Fine Art Collector Program

The Fine Art Collector Program is available through July 13. Players who log in will receive GTA$500,000 within 72 hours and can claim a free Benefactor Turreted Limo from Warstock Cache & Carry.

Complete any Heist, and you will receive GTA$1,000,000 within 72 hours, along with the NOOSE Outfit. Mansion owners who log in from June 18 to July 13 will get special gifts when The Kortz Center Heist releases.

Rockstar Discord members can claim the Burgundy Rockstar Varsity Crewneck from the discord-rewards channel in the Rockstar Games Official Discord server until July 1.

Free vehicles, prize ride and test rides

The Lucky Wheel Podium Vehicle this week is the Invetero Coquette D10. At the LS Car Meet, the Prize Ride is the Obey I-Wagen. Players need to place Top 5 in the LS Car Meet Series for four days in a row.

Test rides this week include the Benefactor XLS, Declasse Tulip and Dinka Jester at the Test Track. The Premium Test Ride is the Maibatsu MonstroCiti.

Vehicle discounts this week

Several vehicles are 30 per cent off, including Annis Euros X32, Annis Remus, Declasse Hotring Sabre, Dewbauchee Specter, Dinka Jester Classic, HVY Dump, Karin Everon, Pegassi Zorrusso, Pfister Comet S2 Cabrio and Vapid Flash GT.

At the Gun Van, the Baseball Bat is free, the Battle Rifle is 50 per cent off, and GTA+ members get 30 per cent off the Stun Gun.

New Delhi: Facebook Creator Studio, a social media tool taken off Facebook, is now back, but in a new way. The platform has been revamped as a standalone AI-driven companion app for creators to boost audience growth, enhance engagement, and streamline their Facebook management.

The new version puts artificial intelligence at the centre of the experience. The app no longer just provides a content management dashboard; it’s also a personal assistant with insights, content suggestions and crowd management features. The announcement is almost three years after the company shut down the original Creator Studio to replace it with its Business Suite.

The AI assistant takes centre stage

Meta says the largest feature new to the refreshed Creator Studio is the AI Creator Assistant. Creators can have the chatbot analyse their page performance and get customised recommendations on how to boost reach and engagement.

The AI assistant can also detect which audience comments are the most relevant, helping creators to focus on more meaningful interactions. Furthermore, it can compose reply drafts in a creator’s style, enabling them to respond to followers more rapidly.

Built to simplify creator management

Meta claims the new app is meant to help creators navigate all steps of Facebook’s growth. The company says the assistant will be able to “show exactly what to do next” to users to help them “perform better on the platform.

The AI-powered tools aim to save time on comment management and analytics tracking and give creators more time to create. The automated reply option, however, can also introduce the challenge of the authenticity of AI-driven community interactions.

Meta has begun rolling out the new Creator Studio to a select group of creators, according to TechCrunch. The company hasn’t yet said when the app will be widely available.

Those wanting to see the results can currently be put on a wait list to gain early access. Facebook Creator Studio was discontinued in 2023 to align with Meta’s goal of having creators move to its more comprehensive Business Suite for page management and content scheduling.

New Delhi: GTA 6 pre-orders have opened for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Rockstar Games has now listed prices for the Standard and Ultimate editions across several countries. The numbers show a wide price gap between markets, even for the same game.

India sits near the lower end of the list, with the Standard Edition priced at ₹5,999 and the Ultimate Edition at ₹7,499. For Indian players, that is still a big console game purchase.  But this pricing has been quite the norm on consoles lately.

Read More: GTA 6 pre-orders start June 25, Ultimate Edition and preload details …

GTA 6 Standard Edition price list

Rockstar has priced GTA 6 Standard Edition at $79.99 in the US. In India, the price is ₹5,999, listed at a USD equivalent of $63.36. Israel is the costliest market in the list at ILS 319, or $106.88.

Read more: Company to shut down for a day so employees can play GTA 6 on …

GTA 6 Ultimate Edition price list

The Ultimate Edition is priced at $99.99 in the US. It brings extra vehicles, apparel, personalised weapons and access to two Vehicle Mod Shops. The India price is ₹7,499, listed at $79.20.

The pricing data is by u/benjaneson from Reddit.

GTA 6 may not be easy to buy in some countries

There is one more catch in the GTA 6 rollout. As per details spotted on the PlayStation Store product page FAQ for GTA 6, some countries appear in the eligibility list for the free month of GTA+. These include Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia and Taiwan.

This does not mean players in these markets will have no way to play GTA 6 at all. The issue may be official availability. In such regions, buying a physical copy through regular retail channels could be difficult or unavailable. Players may still look at digital accounts, imported copies or other workarounds, but official access is likely to vary by country. Rockstar has not shared a separate country-wise ban note in the pricing list.

What Indian GTA 6 fans should know

Both digital and physical pre-orders are available. Physical copies will include a code in a box at selected retailers. Pre-orders come with the Vintage Vice City Pack. Digital pre-orders include one month of GTA+ for GTA Online.

The bigger story is pricing. India is cheaper than the US, UK and many European markets in USD terms, at ₹5,999 and ₹7,499; however, the story of shark cards and expensive in-game items remains.

New Delhi: Amazon’s long-term commitment to India has been reflected in the recent announcement of its investment plans in the country, which will reach a total of $48 billion by 2026-2030. The announcement followed a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday in New Delhi by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. The investment will boost the company’s efforts in e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud expansion, logistics, exports and talent building in India.

The investment includes an extra $13 billion to grow Amazon’s AI and cloud computing infrastructure by 2030. The new investment brings the total amount of AI and cloud investments by Amazon in India to a whopping $21 billion in the next 5 years. The company’s investment in India over the last decade (from 2010 to 2030) will be more than $88 billion, placing it among India’s top global investors in AI and cloud.

Amazon expands AI and cloud infrastructure

Amazon says the extra $13 billion will be for expansion of AWS data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The investment will enable startups, enterprises and government organisations to access top-tier AI chips, managed AI services, cloud technologies and developer tools, the company said.

The expansion will enable consumers to develop and release AI applications on a large scale while maintaining data sovereignty in India. Organisations like the National Health Authority, Government e-Marketplace, Apollo Tyres, Delhivery, Physics Wallah, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank are already leveraging AWS services, the company added.

Focus on jobs, exports and AI adoption

Amazon stated that it will keep working towards keeping its business strategy in line with the government’s goals in India. The company hopes to serve over 3.8 million jobs by 2030, power over $80 billion in e-commerce exports to date, bring AI tools to 15 million small businesses and enable AI education for 4 million government school children.

The company has already digitised 12 million small businesses, facilitated over $20 billion in e-commerce exports, provided employment to more than 2.8 million people, and imparted cloud skills to more than 10 million Indians since its entrance into the Indian market.

More warehouses and delivery stations planned

A great meeting with Mr. Andy Jassy. I welcome Amazon’s record $48 billion investment in India. This will create new opportunities for our youth. At the same time, it shows the growing interest across the world to invest in India!@amazon https://t.co/emr6Dd9Cps

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2026

Amazon also revealed substantial investments in its logistics network. This year the company has announced plans to open more than 20 new fulfilment centres and more than 100 last-mile delivery stations in India.

The expansion will enhance the delivery speed throughout the country, especially in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, according to Amazon. Customers will still get their products in minutes, hours or the next day, depending on the service, the company said.

Amazon launches ‘Sammaan’ for delivery associates

As part of the investment announcement, Amazon also launched a new welfare initiative called ‘Sammaan’ for its delivery associates who operate under its e-commerce and quick commerce unit.

This programme has been launched with scholarships for the children of associates, help to access government welfare schemes, financial inclusion support, insurance and road safety programmes and the extension of Ashray rest centres to 250 places this year. These will be part of the $300 million in investments that Amazon announced for its operations and employee wellness.

Andy Jassy: India is central to Amazon’s future

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, after interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said India is one of the fastest-growing markets for the company and has seen ‘enormous growth’ in e-commerce, AI and cloud computing.

“We came to India over a decade ago and have since been serving customers, sellers, developers, start-ups and enterprises through our different businesses. The response has been tremendous, with strong growth especially across our e-commerce, AI, and cloud businesses. As we grow Amazon in India, our business priorities continue to align with India’s priorities of democratising access to AI, digitising small businesses, creating jobs, and enabling exports. We are investing over $48 billion in the coming five years to meet the strong demand across our business in India and to help the country achieve these priorities. We are inspired by Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a Viksit and Atmanirbhar Bharat, and we are committed to being a long-term partner in India’s growth story,” Jassy said in a company statement.

Amazon’s India business continues to grow

Amazon has announced that it now has over 100 million buyers and over 1.7 million sellers on its marketplace in India. The company stated that more than 65% of the orders now originate from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, while 85% of new customers are from these cities.

Everyday essentials make up almost half of all shipped units, the company added. Meanwhile, Prime continues to expand at a steady rate, with over 70% of new subscribers being from non-metro cities. Amazon also mentioned that Prime Video continues to be one of the key factors for new Prime subscribers in India.

New Delhi: Many people in Venezuela faced an earthquake warning on their Android phones moments before powerful tremors struck the country on Wednesday. Some of the alerts were issued just seconds ahead of the shaking, affording them a precious few seconds to take action before the earthquakes arrived.

Google’s Android Earthquake Alerts System spotted earthquake activity and sent out a notification alerting to an estimated magnitude 6.2 quake located approximately 341 kilometres away, per screenshots users shared on X. Later, Venezuela experienced two strong earthquakes, of magnitudes 7.1 and 7.5, respectively, and among the largest recorded in the country in almost one century.

Your Android phone helps detect earthquakes

These alerts are based on a technology that is already integrated into most Android cellphones. All modern phones have an accelerometer that, in normal use, is used to sense the orientation of the screen but is also capable of detecting vibrations in the ground due to earthquakes.

Google says that if two or more Android phones find the same unusual vibrations, they anonymously communicate with Google’s servers using an approximate position, along with a signal. The system will determine if an earthquake is happening by comparing data from neighbouring devices and will be able to do this rapidly. With more than two billion Android devices worldwide, Google says it has created the world’s largest distributed earthquake detection network.

Why the alert arrives before the shaking

Seismic waves are of various types. The first to reach are primary waves (P waves), which move quickly but typically cause little damage. S-waves, or secondary waves, travel slower and are more destructive than P-waves.

According to Google, the faster (P-waves) travel to the Android phones, which send the data to Google’s servers right away. Mobile signals can reach the speed of light, so the system can process data from thousands of mobile phones and warn the nearby areas before the slower and more damaging waves arrive. This warning can give individuals precious seconds to get cover.

Two types of earthquake alerts

There are two warning levels in Android as a function of the anticipated intensity of shaking. The Be Aware Alert is intended to alert the user to light shaking, and the Take Action Alert alerts the user before moderate to severe shaking occurs and encourages the user to move to a safer location.

Tapping on either notification opens earthquake safety guidance along with an estimated map showing the earthquake’s location and magnitude.

In India, Google unveiled a new Android Earthquake Alerts System back in 2023 that works with devices running Android 5 and above. These alerts are only sent if the user has a mobile data or Wi-Fi connection and can be turned off in the phone’s settings.

New Delhi: Google announced that it will introduce a significant change to Google Play Store’s payment system from 30th June 2026. The modifications will enable potential Android app developers to provide alternative payment methods or direct consumers to their own sites for electronic transactions, decreasing the need for Google Play Billing.

The change is among the largest in Google’s app marketplace in years and follows the company’s announcement of a wide-ranging business model overhaul in March. The new framework also mirrors Google’s proposed deal with Epic Games for long-running antitrust issues regarding Play Store payments, which has not yet been approved by the courts in the US.

Google separates the service fee from the billing fee

Google will now be charging a service fee for the Play Store, in addition to the usual billing fee. Google says that the service fee funds the Android ecosystem, Play Store distribution, security, discovery tools and developer support, and the billing fee is only charged when developers use Google Play Billing.

The service fee will begin at 10 percent for developers who make $1 million a year or less. The same rate will apply to auto-renewing subscriptions. In addition, developers in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area will continue to have to pay another 5 per cent billing fee. Google said developers using alternative payment providers or directing customers to their own websites will not have to pay this additional billing charge.

Developers can offer their own payment systems

The new billing choice programme lets developers sell digital content and services and show their own payment choice in addition to Google Play Billing. They also have the ability to send users to an external site to make purchases.

Google will offer a default screen for payment selection, but it’s also possible to develop one on your own, provided that it adheres to Google’s user-interface guidelines. Initially, the programme will be available in the US, UK and EEA before being rolled out to other countries.

The flat 30% commission is ending, but fees remain

The changes will first launch in the US, UK and Europe before expanding globally by September 2027.

Google has dropped its customary 30 per cent commission from its platform, but it’s not clear how much less developers will be paid per sale. If the apps are making over a million dollars per year, Google will take a 20 per cent service fee on new in-app purchases and a 10 per cent charge on subscriptions. Older installations may run at various rates based on users’ first installation or update of the application following the regional launch. In some cases, developers using Google Play Billing could still end up paying a combined fee close to the previous 30 per cent, especially for existing users.

Premium apps and games can qualify for lower rates

Google has also launched the new Apps Experience programme and its Games Level Up initiative to incent developers to create more positive Android experiences.

The apps and games that comply with the reliability and platform features requirements set forth by Google can earn a reduced service fee. Eligible applications can enjoy reduced rates for new installs as well as existing installs once they’re available on September 30, 2026, per Google.

The new billing system will officially be implemented on June 30, 2026, in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area (EEA). Some programme benefits will be available in Australia later this year, and more markets will be phased in.

The new billing framework will be fully rolled out across the globe by September 30, 2027, Google said. The company hasn’t yet announced the rates of the billing fees for countries outside the initial launch markets.

Google is also developing a registered app store initiative that would enable users to install trusted third-party Android app stores with ease. The feature will likely be available for download in a significant update for Android later this year.

New Delhi: Apple’s next premium iPhone could become significantly more expensive if the ongoing global memory-chip shortage continues. A new analysis suggests the base model of the iPhone 18 Pro may launch at $1,299 (around Rs 1.12 lakh), roughly $200 (around Rs 17,200) more than the current starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro.

The main reason for the expected price rise is the skyrocketing costs of the memory components of smartphones. Apple is in for a big price hike in its DRAM and NAND flash storage chip costs, as AI data centres drive up demand, reports The Wall Street Journal based on estimates from market research firm TechInsights.

AI boom is driving memory chip prices higher

The surge in artificial intelligence infrastructure is putting pressure on global chip supplies. As AI models continue to power, data centres are using huge amounts of high-quality memory chips, incentivising manufacturers to cater to enterprise rather than consumer electronics.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook admitted that the price of chips is on the rise and the company is not untouched. When asked whether Apple would increase prices, Cook said the company is “still working through that”. More will be revealed when Apple introduces its next iPhone lineup in September.

Memory costs could increase nearly four times

TechInsights projects that two of the main components, DRAM and NAND flash storage, will get significantly more expensive this fall than last year.

The research firm says that Apple paid roughly $39 (around Rs 3,350) per 12GB DRAM for the iPhone 17 Pro. The iPhone 18 Pro could end up costing $145 (about Rs 12,470) more. Similarly, the cost of 256GB NAND flash storage could rise from $13 (around Rs 1,120) to $51 (around Rs 4,390).

Manufacturing costs may rise by 25%

According to Wireless Components’ Service Director Wayne Lam, Apple is spending approximately $530 (around Rs 45,580) on all the rest of the parts and manufacturing for the iPhone 17 Pro.

The total production cost of the iPhone 17 Pro, including the memory and storage costs, is estimated at $582 (approx. Rs 50,050). The price may go up to $726 (approximately Rs 62,440) in the case of the iPhone 18 Pro, which is a significant jump of almost 25%.

Why Apple may set the price at $1,299

Based on TechInsights’ estimates, Apple currently earns an estimated gross margin of around 47% on the $1,099 (around Rs 94,500) iPhone 17 Pro. In order to keep that same margin given the higher production costs, the company would have to charge about $1,371 (roughly Rs 1.18 lakh) for the iPhone 18 Pro.

The Wall Street Journal, however, points out that Apple usually likes its pricing models to be standard. As a result, the company could choose a starting price of $1,299 (around Rs 1.12 lakh) instead.

The report also adds that the cost of a possible new camera system is not included in the estimates. It is not the first time that supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple’s next-generation camera hardware would be around 50% higher.

In that case, the base price of the iPhone 18 Pro may further increase to circa $1,399 (about Rs 1.20 lakh) or even more, the report indicates.

New Delhi: Apple has expanded the capabilities of its iPhone Camera app with iOS 27 by introducing a new Siri mode that brings AI-powered visual intelligence directly into the camera interface. The feature, which appeared at WWDC 2026, will enable users to hold up their iPhone to an object, restaurant, document, food or more and then have information displayed on the screen or take an action without ever leaving the Camera app.

The new mode was missing from the first developer beta of iOS 27 that was released this month but has now been added to the second beta. According to Apple, Siri mode is engineered to make AI capabilities more accessible by integrating them with well-known camera functions like Photo, Video and Portrait. The stable rollout is expected later this year with the iPhone 18 lineup.

Siri mode comes to the camera app

Apple has introduced a new Siri mode in the built-in Camera app with iOS 27. Users can now swipe to the new mode and leverage Siri’s visual intelligence directly from the camera without having to use the Camera Control button or any separate interface.

Apple showcased in the WWDC 2026 keynote session how users will be able to point the camera at various objects and ask Siri questions using natural language. The assistant can also respond to subsequent enquiries, creating a more conversational interaction.

Point your camera to get instant information

The new feature also has the capability to recognise real-world items such as restaurants, landmarks, plants, food, receipts and flyers.

Pointing the camera at a restaurant, for instance, can automatically show its Maps listing, reviews from customers and other helpful details, as well as its operating hours. Event posters can be scanned to easily add events to the Calendar app, translate text, search for similar images, or identify plants and receive care instructions. Apple claims the feature is enabled by the company’s revamped Siri experience, which debuted at WWDC 2026.

AI can split bills and analyse food

In its presentation, Apple also demonstrated a few real-world applications for Siri mode. Users can scan a receipt from a restaurant and have Siri identify the items on the bill to then automatically split the bill using Apple Cash with friends. The assistant may be able to look at the food in front of the camera and give details about the food. Apple says Siri can suggest relevant actions from the information it recognises in the camera view, reducing the need to manually switch between different apps.

Siri gets a major AI upgrade

In addition to camera app improvements, Apple has made a lot of enhancements to Siri in iOS 27. It’s now known as ‘Siri AI’ and has new animations in the Dynamic Island.

The standalone Siri app is also new, offering users a way to retrieve previous conversations and bringing the experience closer to modern AI assistants. The new text generation, content rewriting, proofreading from a recipient perspective, and system-wide proofreading capabilities, including in third-party applications, are all features Siri can now perform. Apple said Siri is now more conversational and can help users brainstorm ideas, organise plans, and create detailed itineraries.

iOS 27 availability

The new Siri Camera mode is available for iOS 27 developer beta for now. The public beta version is aimed to be released next month, and the stable version will come along with the iPhone 18 series sometime later this year.

Apple says that iOS 27 will run on iPhone 11 and later devices. However, the complete set of AI-powered Siri features will be available only on supported devices, with the latest iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 series receiving the full experience, while older models will have access to core iOS 27 features with some AI limitations.

New Delhi: Nothing has officially unveiled the design of its upcoming Phone 4b ahead of its launch in India on July 7. The smartphone will be part of the company’s growing line of the Phone 4, and like its other smartphones, it will be a cheaper alternative that will keep the same design language that is distinct to the Nothing brand. The company also announced that the device will come in a bold blue colour variant.

The London-based tech firm claims to have created the Phone 4b for a new generation of users and looks the part with a few useful tweaks. The smartphone will also come with a revamped design; the device is expected to be more durable, with better structural strength, and a soft-touch finish aimed at making the device more comfortable to hold during extended use.

Nothing Phone 4b design (expected)

Nothing suggests that the Phone 4b has picked up the transparent design trend of its smartphones. The rear panel is clearly visible, revealing the internal components, exposed screws, and industrial-style detailing. The handset also shares the sleek unibody design, first seen in the Phone 4a Pro.

The Phone 4b has a smaller segmented Glyph Interface, as opposed to the bigger horizontal Glyph Bar that is present under the dual-camera module in high-end models. There’s no better proof of the lighting strip’s ability to carry visual messages, charging status and app-specific notifications and still retain the brand’s unique design identity.

Nothing Phone 4b cameras (expected)

The Phone 4b features a vertical dual rear camera array in an oval-shaped camera island on the top-left side of the back panel. Additional sensors and an LED flash are placed next to the cameras, and the flat frame is incorporated into an oval rear structure for a cleaner finish.

Nothing claims the handset has been built with improved structural strength for better durability. The company further adds that the soft-touch rear finish will offer your hand a comfortable grip when you’re using the phone on a daily basis while keeping the device’s ultra-thin design intact.

Nothing Phone 4b chipset (expected)

Nothing has officially announced the full specs, but the Phone 4b has turned up in Geekbench with model number A024. As of now, the listing indicated the smartphone may run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor and the company’s 8GB of RAM.

The benchmark also had the handset running out of the box with Nothing OS 4, which has been based on Android 16. The Phone 4b is likely to be the lowest of the Phone 4 series in Nothing’s smartphone lineup.

Nothing Phone 4b launch date

Nothing has confirmed that the Phone 4b will launch on July 7 at 4:00 PM IST. The company will announce the full details of the smartphone, its price and availability at the official event.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a new set of guidelines that could significantly change how banks and financial institutions use artificial intelligence (AI). The draft framework introduces more robust governance, risk management and accountability for the use of all AI models in banking operations.

A key part of the plans is to implement a compulsory AI “kill switch”, which would enable banks to put a halt to any AI system that they believe is acting in an unexpected or harmful manner. Even in the case where AI is used to make decisions, the draft rules make it clear it cannot operate without human oversight.

RBI wants banks to have an AI kill switch

The RBI’s draft guidelines announced on Wednesday said that for all regulated entities, it is necessary to create systems to override, suspend or deactivate the AI models as and when required. This means every AI system deployed by a bank should be capable of being shut down immediately if it starts producing incorrect, unsafe or harmful results.

The proposal follows the concern over the risks of using sophisticated AI systems that are spreading around the world. The RBI stated that it requires regulated entities to make sure that no AI model functions without a means to be quickly powered off when needed.

Human oversight to remain mandatory

The central bank is also suggesting that all decisions made with artificial intelligence need to be supervised by people. While AI systems may automate processes, there should be human oversight to ensure that critical decisions are made and held accountable for the results.

Banks will have full responsibility for the performance of all the AI models they adopt, whether built internally or acquired from third parties, according to a draft by the RBI. The regulator has asked financial institutions to carry out proper due diligence before deploying such models.

AI models to be classified by risk

The RBI has recommended a risk-based approach, which involves categorising AI models according to their risk potential. Higher-risk models will be subject to more stringent governance, validation and monitoring.

If the risk associated with an AI model exceeds a bank’s approved risk appetite, the institution must take corrective measures. These may include restricting the model’s use, strengthening controls, fixing identified issues or retiring the model altogether. The matter also shall be reported to the board’s Risk Management Committee.

The draft also suggests the re-evaluation of risk classification at least annually. The high-risk AI models will have to be approved by the board’s Risk Management Committee before they can be used.

Board-level responsibility for AI governance

The RBI has for the first time given the board of a bank the responsibility of overseeing the governance of AI. All regulated entities will have to develop a model risk management framework, which includes traditional models as well as AI systems and machine learning applications, and will be subject to board approval.

The RBI explained that the rise in the adoption of AI in the business and decision-making processes is putting companies at risk of financial, operational, compliance and reputational liabilities if they are not managed appropriately. The central bank noted that poor oversight may result in miscalculations, poor decisions, financial losses, operational disruptions and compliance errors.

RBI flags supply chain and cybersecurity risks

The draft guidelines also emphasise the vulnerabilities of relying too much on a limited number of AI model providers. Banks should take active steps to address supply chain risks and avoid creating unintended vulnerabilities in their systems by using AI, the RBI added.

Banks will need to make a clear distinction about the use of AI for customer-facing applications and provide explicit notification to customers when they interact with an AI system. Customers shall also have the right to request a transfer to a human representative at any time.

The regulator also warned of automation bias, defined as when employees overuse AI outputs without thinking independently. It suggested other cybersecurity measures for generative AI models that directly engage customers or external users.

RBI seeks public feedback

The RBI has sought feedback from the stakeholders on the proposed guidelines before finalisation. Feedback on the draft can be submitted until July 24.

If implemented, the framework would establish one of India’s most comprehensive AI governance standards for the banking sector, placing greater emphasis on accountability, transparency and responsible use of artificial intelligence.

New Delhi: Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys, has just created a new enterprise AI start-up called Hang Ten Systems, which focuses on artificial intelligence. The company already raised $32 million in seed capital, which demonstrates significant investor trust in the company’s AI-first enterprise software building and services.

The startup makes its debut in the market at the time when artificial intelligence is transforming the IT services industry worldwide. Hang Ten Systems expects to assist enterprises in software development and operations automation, creating, editing, and managing software through AI-powered tools and expertise. Strategic support from Aramco Ventures and the participation of several angel investors, led by Mayfield, in the funding round.

Hang Ten Systems focuses on AI-native enterprise services

In announcing the company, Vishal Sikka said that Hang Ten Systems is a firm that will enable businesses to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence. “This is a new endeavour to help enterprises thrive in the age of AI,” Sikka said in a statement.

Hang Ten Systems is an AI-driven tool that leverages agentic AI code generation, reusable AI skills, and specialised engineering expertise to streamline software development, according to the company. The AI-powered model is designed to be the basis for a company to finish projects much quicker than conventional software services, the company believes.

In the long run, AI will be transforming every enterprise, Sikka said. Some companies are already in the midst of rapid AI adoption, but many are struggling to get started.

Startup already working with global enterprise clients

Hang Ten Systems claims to have several enterprise customers, despite being just a month into its existence. The company says that their clients include Fresenius and Siemens Energy and that they have projects underway for delivering AI-native software.

Headquartered in the Bay Area of California, Hang Ten Systems is set to go international. The company is looking to recruit a number of staff in engineering, delivery, sales and leadership positions to help meet the demand for the company’s expanding customer base.

Familiar leadership team joins Vishal Sikka

It brings several executives with prior experience with SAP, Infosys and his last AI venture, VianAI, to the startup. The initial team consists of Chief Technology Officer Navin Budhiraja, Chief Design Officer Sanjay Rajagopalan, and Senior Vice President of Forward Deployed Engineering Tao Liu. Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, is also a part of the Yahoo board.

Sikka is a name that has been synonymous with AI’s advocacy prior to its mainstream adoption. While he was with Infosys, the company had invested in OpenAI well before generative AI tools like ChatGPT became popular worldwide.

Hang Ten takes a different approach from VianAI

Following Infosys’ departure in 2017, Sikka went on to establish an enterprise AI startup named VianAI that had garnered substantial investments over the years, including from SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Mayfield believes the company’s business model offers greater scalability than traditional IT services firms because AI allows productivity to grow without increasing headcount at the same pace.

AI is reshaping the IT services industry

As AI drives the IT services landscape worldwide to unprecedented transformation, Hang Ten Systems is stepping in. Some experts estimate that AI will have a major impact on the future of traditional software outsourcing and the ability to automate tasks such as coding, testing, and maintenance.

Meanwhile, mature IT firms in India are getting ready for the transition. Infosys, TCS, and other tech companies have extended their collaborations with AI pioneers like OpenAI and Anthropic to bolster their AI capabilities.

Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani earlier this week said that AI could create the overall market opportunity, rather than take its place. AI-driven services are also expected to be a $300 billion to $400 billion industry by the end of the decade, according to Infosys.

As companies modernise their software coding and digital processes, Vishal Sikka believes that AI-native services will gain greater popularity, putting Hang Ten Systems in the middle of the next big wave of the software industry.

New Delhi: OpenAI and Broadcom have unveiled Jalapeño, OpenAI’s first Intelligence Processor, on June 24, 2026. The chip is built for LLM inference, which simply means the part of AI where a model answers users, runs coding tasks, or responds through products like ChatGPT, Codex and APIs. OpenAI spells the chip name as Jalapeño, though many users may search it as Jalepeno.

The company said Jalapeño is part of a wider compute plan with Broadcom and Celestica. The first deployment is planned by the end of 2026, with expansion expected in later years.

We’ve designed and built our first AI chip: Jalapeño.

Designed from the ground up by OpenAI and brought to production with @Broadcom, Jalapeño is purpose-built for the LLM workloads powering ChatGPT, Codex, the API, and future agentic products.

Chips are foundational to the AI… pic.twitter.com/mHU7DaMMTi

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) June 24, 2026

What OpenAI announced

OpenAI said Jalapeño has been designed from scratch for modern LLM inference. It is not a general chip repurposed for AI. The company said engineering samples are already running machine learning workloads in the lab, including GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark.

OpenAI President and Co-Founder Greg Brockman said, “Jalapeño is part of our long-term full-stack infrastructure strategy to make compute more abundant, resulting in AI which is faster, more reliable, more affordable for people and businesses, and can be used to solve more important problems.”

Why this matters

The chip was co-developed from design to manufacturing tape-out in nine months. OpenAI said its own models helped speed up parts of the design and optimisation process.

Broadcom brings silicon and networking support, while Celestica is involved in board, rack and system work. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said the collaboration will help deploy “gigawatt scale data centers with Microsoft and other partners beginning in 2026.”

For India’s AI market, the chip is worth watching because faster inference can affect pricing, access and reliability of AI tools.

New Delhi: ByteDance has officially introduced Seedance 2.5, the latest version of its AI-powered video generation model, at a conference in Beijing. The new model is a mere few months after the release of Seedance 2.0, with several significant enhancements made to its video quality, length, and creative options. Next month the company will launch Seedance 2.5 in China, and more details regarding a global rollout are yet to be announced.

In recent years, AI video generation technology has come a long way, from short experimental clips to more realistic videos that can replicate scenes from films. One series that has been widely discussed is the Seedance series by ByteDance, which has already created some of the most realistic videos to go viral on social media.

Seedance 2.5 doubles video length

Seedance 2.5 is one of the most significant changes in recent years, and that is its capability to create videos of up to 30 seconds’ duration. This is a big upgrade from its predecessor Seedance 2.0, which was only able to handle 15-second clips.

The model will produce videos that are longer and more detailed from a single text prompt, according to a report by The Information. The longer it is available, the more likely that it will be adopted by content creators, marketers, and filmmakers who want to create more compelling visual stories with AI.

Support for images, videos and audio references

Seedance 2.5 also adds improved prompt controls with the ability to use reference materials. Users can now upload up to 50 reference files, including images, videos, and audio clips, when generating content.

The last-generation model Seedance 2.0 had just 12 reference inputs. With this, ByteDance is looking to make it easier for users to get outputs that will be more in line with their creative vision by raising this limit. With the extra context, the AI model can unlock visual styles, characters, scenes, and audio cues and be better equipped to create a video.

Seedance 2.0 faced copyright controversies

Seedance 2.5 arrives as the company’s previous AI video model was embroiled in legal and copyright issues. After the introduction of Seedance 2.0 in China in February, users were able to transform Hollywood celebrities and popular characters from major entertainment series into hyperrealistic videos.

The videos of famous characters and copyrighted images from franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are reportedly rampant online. This content raised questions about copyrighted content in AI-generated works with key entertainment companies.

Hollywood studios raised legal concerns

Reports say that multiple big studios disputed the use of AI-generated videos using IP. Disney is allegedly claiming that the company was utilising Disney’s copyrighted characters for training their models and creating content. Other studios, such as Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Netflix, were also tied to the wider legal dispute over AI-created content and copyright ownership. Although contentious, ByteDance later expanded Seedance 2.0 to over 100 countries. But the model wasn’t released in the USA.

Restrictions introduced to reduce risks

However, ByteDance’s cloud platform BytePlus implemented some measures to protect the AI model from deepfake concerns and copyright infringement, as the need for such protection has been growing. Restrictions, it is said, are imposed on users to block their use of prompts to create videos with realistic human faces.

As Seedance 2.5 nears release, the company seems to be working on the further development of AI video generation whilst also addressing legal and ethical issues still plaguing the rapidly evolving field.

New Delhi: Nothing is preparing to expand its smartphone portfolio in India with the launch of the Nothing Phone 4b on July 7. The new device will bring the company’s new B-series products and will likely be a lower-cost option to the Phone 4a series. Prior to its official launch, the smartphone has made its way to the Geekbench benchmarking site, providing some important hardware details.

The latest listing offers an early look at the phone’s performance capabilities and suggests that Nothing is targeting the budget-premium segment with the device. Additionally, the Phone 4b is likely to maintain the brand’s signature ‘transparent design language’ that has been a hallmark of its smartphones.

Nothing Phone 4b Spotted on Geekbench

The model number A009P has been spotted on an unreleased Nothing smartphone. The listing is thought to be the next Nothing Phone 4b.

✅ Confirmed :
Nothing Phone 4b will launch with 🔴 Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 SoC 😍

• It is very likely to get 🔴 dual rear cameras

• The 4b series will be positioned below 4a Series

• Nothing Phone 4b launch date : 7th July

• Expected to be priced ~30K+

Model no : Nothing… pic.twitter.com/JCtCUNzCQn

— Debayan Roy (Gadgetsdata) (@Gadgetsdata) June 24, 2026

The benchmark scores for the device are 1,088 for the single core and 3,155 for the multi-core. The list also shows that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 processor is backed by the Adreno 810 GPU. The chipset has a prime clock speed of 2.30GHz and a base clock speed of 1.80GHz. The benchmark data also shows that the device out of the box runs on 8GB of RAM and Android 16.

New B-Series to Sit Below the Phone 4a Lineup

There has been no official confirmation yet as to the Phone 4b’s launch date in India or its availability on Flipkart. The smartphone will likely be on the bottom of the company’s portfolio, just below the Phone 4a series.

As the brand expands its smartphone lineup, the B-series will feature a simpler naming system, nothing B-series co-founder Akis Evangelidis explained recently. According to industry reports, the Phone 4b could make the entry-level variant, the Lite, obsolete in the company’s smartphone lineup.

Nothing Phone 4b design (expected)

Nothing has confirmed the final design yet, but tease sketches released by the company indicate a familiar transparent design. The photos suggest a pill-shaped camera module and a lighting component inspired by the “Glyph” interface used on previous Nothing phones.

Another aspect is the back panel, which is likely to be flat with rounded edges, a design that has helped Nothing’s products stand out in an increasingly crowded smartphone market.

Nothing Phone 4b battery and camera (expected)

Phone 4b may be equipped with a battery that’s comparable to that of the Phone 4a. For comparison, the Phone 4a comes with a 5,400 mAh battery.

Early teasers had suggested a single rear camera to the front camera. But more recent sketches suggest the smartphone will come with a dual camera configuration. The main sensor reportedly will be paired with an ultra-wide camera, but official specs are not available.

The handset may also be carrying an AMOLED display just like the rest of the smartphones from Nothing and its CMF sub-brand.

Nothing Phone 4b price (expected)

The pricing of the Phone 4B hasn’t been officially announced. Several reports, however, suggest that the price of the smartphone might be anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 cheaper than the Phone 4a.

The upcoming Phone 4b might come with a more aggressive pricing tag, as the Nothing Phone 4a went for Rs 31,999 in the base version, making it one of the company’s most budget-friendly smartphone offerings.

Further information will be released at the official launch on 7th July.

New Delhi: Rockstar Games has said that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will begin at midnight local time on June 25. For Indian players, that means the listing should go live at 12 am IST on June 25 if the local storefront timing applies.

The game is set to launch on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar has described GTA 6 as “The biggest and most immersive evolution of the series yet,” with Jason and Lucia leading the single-player story.

Pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI begin at midnight local time on June 25.

Learn more about the Ultimate Edition and pre-order bonuses at https://t.co/XPwC8URCQ4. pic.twitter.com/DKe11NcRwb

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) June 24, 2026

GTA 6 Ultimate Edition details

Rockstar said GTA 6 will be available in Standard and Ultimate Editions. The Ultimate Edition will include premium vehicles, weapons, apparel and extra content linked to Jason and Lucia’s story.

The Ultimate Edition adds extra content across Jason and Lucia’s story. These items will not all appear at once. Rockstar says bonuses will unlock as the story moves ahead, with new items appearing chapter by chapter.

Players will get the ’67 Vapid Dominator Buggy, Paradise Garage, weapon locker and stash box. The pack also includes the ’95 Grotti Cheetah, a Dinka Enduro motorcycle, Crest Kayak and special upgrades for Jason’s Vapid Ganado pickup.

Two vehicle mod shops are part of the edition. Rideout Customs in Vice City will focus on detailed car styling, while One-Eyed Willie’s in Lake Leonida will offer off-road vehicle upgrades.

GTA 6 official images | Source: Rockstar Games

Weapons, outfits and side activities

The edition brings the Hawk & Little Morgan Revolver, personalised pistols for Jason and Lucia, exclusive outfits, tattoos, salon styles and streetwear access at Stock 305 Clothing Store.

There is also a Classic Car Collection mission line where players can find and restore abandoned cars. Four of these vehicles will be limited to the Ultimate Edition.

GTA 6 official images | Source: Rockstar Games

All pre-orders and purchases made before November 20 will get the Vintage Vice City Pack. Rockstar says this pack is “a collection of items that flash back to when the neon burned brightest.”

For long-time GTA fans, that line will instantly point back to Vice City’s old-school glow. Yes, the nostalgia button has been pressed.

GTA 6 preload starts before launch

Players who buy digital versions of GTA 6 will be able to start pre-loading the game on November 12. That is one week before launch day, giving players time to download the game before servers and store pages get flooded.

GTA 6 official images | Source: Rockstar Games

Rockstar said the physical version will also be available from November 12. The box will contain a download code, which means even disc buyers will be able to preload before launch.

Important dates for GTA 6 fans:

• GTA 6 Pre-orders begin: June 25, midnight local time, 12 am IST in India if local store timing applies
• GTA 6 Preload begins: November 12
• GTA 6 Launch date: November 19
• GTA 6 Pre-order bonus valid till: Before November 20

GTA 6 official images | Source: Rockstar Games

GTA 6 price: How much will Standard and Ultimate Edition cost?

Its official, GTA 6 Standard Edition has been priced at $79.99 , while the Ultimate Edition costs $99.99. At the exchange rate of $1 = ₹95, that comes to around ₹7,599 for the Standard Edition and around ₹9,499 for the Ultimate Edition. India store pricing may vary once PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store listings go live.

New Delhi: Sony India has given another boost to its high-end home entertainment line-up with several new BRAVIA Theatre audio products. The company launched the flagship BRAVIA Theatre Trio and the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 7, BRAVIA Theatre Bar 5, BRAVIA Theatre Sub 9, BRAVIA Theatre Sub 8, BRAVIA Theatre Rear 9 and BRAVIA Theatre Rear 8. The new lineup is engineered to provide a home cinema-like sound experience with advanced surround-sound technology and in perfect harmony with BRAVIA televisions.

The launch further indicates the increased demand for the home entertainment market for immersive experiences owing to the rising popularity of large screens and streaming experiences. Sony says the new products have been developed to recreate the sound experience intended by filmmakers, musicians, and content creators, while offering flexible setup options for different room sizes and budgets.

Sony Bets Big on Premium Home Entertainment

Managing Director, Sony India, Sunil Nayyar said during the event that the premium home entertainment segment continues to grow robustly in India. He said the consumers now have more demand for co-integrated audio-visual solutions, which can offer the theatre-like experience in their homes.

According to Nayyar, Sony’s latest BRAVIA Theatre lineup combines technologies such as 360 Spatial Sound Mapping and Dolby Atmos to provide enhanced surround sound, deeper bass, and clearer dialogue reproduction.

Nezu Daisuke, Global Head of Home Product Business Division, Home Entertainment Business Unit at Sony Corporation, said that the India market is still a key market for Sony. The company will keep on releasing sophisticated entertainment technologies to cater to customers’ ever-changing needs, he added.

BRAVIA Theatre Trio Leads the New Lineup

The star of the launch is Sony’s flagship home theatre system, the BRAVIA Theatre Trio, which is a wireless system. The system features dedicated left, centre and right speakers, unlike traditional sound bars, which produce a wider soundstage and better dialogue clarity.

It comes with Dolby Atmos and DTS support. By connecting with Sony’s BRAVIA Theatre Sub 9 and Rear 9 speakers, Sony states that it can generate up to 24 phantom speakers, resulting in a very immersive surround sound experience.

BRAVIA Theatre Bar 7 Brings Cinematic Audio

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 7 is targeted to those who want an upscale soundbar experience. It supports Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology, Dolby Atmos support, IMAX Enhanced certification and Sound Field Optimisation.

The soundbar comes with 9 speaker units, including up-firing and side-firing speakers. The design aims to produce a more spacious and immersive sound for movies, sports and games, according to Sony.

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 5 Focuses on Everyday Entertainment

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 5 is another Sony soundbar, featuring three channels of audio for those interested in upgrading their living room sound system for their own home.

The soundbar is compatible with Dolby Atmos and DTS and is included with a wireless subwoofer. Features such as Voice Zoom 3, Voice Mode, Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround enhance speech clarity and provide virtual surround sound effects.

New Wireless Subwoofers Deliver Powerful Bass

The company unveiled two new wireless subwoofers: the BRAVIA Theatre Sub 9 and BRAVIA Theatre Sub 8.

The premium BRAVIA Theatre Sub 9 has a 600W amplifier and dual opposing drivers to provide deep and controlled bass with little distortion. Sony claims it’s perfect for the audience looking for a real movie-like low-frequency response.

The BRAVIA Theatre Sub 8, on the other hand, is engineered for rich bass performance within a compact enclosure, with a 300W amplifier. Both models have the ability to integrate with the BRAVIA Connect app.

Rear Speakers Enhance Surround Sound

The new BRAVIA Theatre Rear 9 and Rear 8 speakers from Sony are intended to enhance the depth and immersion of home theatre technology.

The rear 9 is equipped with large up-firing speakers and high-quality aluminium speaker units to enhance spatial audio. The Rear 8 features wireless surround sound support and can be synced with compatible BRAVIA theatre systems for a more realistic sound.

BRAVIA Direct Connect Adds More Flexibility

In addition to the hardware release, Sony unveiled BRAVIA Direct Connect. This means that compatible BRAVIA TVs can play directly to a BRAVIA Theatre subwoofer and rear speakers without the need for a soundbar.

Sony says you can select from a variety of setups, such as a TV and subwoofer, a TV and rear speakers or a full setup with both. The feature is designed to allow home theatre upgrades to be more flexible and affordable.

Price and Availability in India

The BRAVIA Theatre Trio will become available from 1 July 2026 through Sony retail stores, Sony Centre stores, Sony Exclusive stores and Amazon.

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 7 will also be available to purchase starting July 1, and the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 5 will be available from Aug. 18. The BRAVIA Theatre Sub 8 and Sub 9 will be released on August 3.

India Pricing (Best Buy Price):

• BRAVIA Theatre Trio – ₹1,69,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Bar 7 – ₹82,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Bar 5 – ₹29,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Sub 9 – ₹79,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Sub 8 – ₹34,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Rear 9 – ₹58,990
• BRAVIA Theatre Rear 8 – ₹39,990

New Delhi: Amazon India is making a bigger push into quick commerce with plans to take Amazon Now to over 300 cities. The move marks a sharp jump from its earlier target of 100 cities and puts the company deeper into a market led by Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and Flipkart Minutes.

The company said Amazon Now orders have doubled every quarter since launch, making it the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in Amazon India’s history. The service is already available to over 50 million customers across more than 15 cities, including Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Kochi.

A bigger India target

Amazon said it will expand its micro-fulfilment centres and urban fulfilment centres to support faster deliveries. These centres will stock daily-use items such as groceries, fruits and vegetables, frozen food, personal care products, fashion, beauty items, small appliances, home goods and kitchen products.

The company said customers will get:

• Tens of thousands of products in minutes or a few hours
• Over one million products within the same day
• Over four million products the next day
• More products under Prime delivery

Amazon India country manager Samir Kumar said, “Amazon Now is the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in Amazon India’s history with orders having doubled every quarter since launch.”

Quick commerce pressure is rising

The latest plan comes after Amazon said in April that it would expand Now to 100 cities and scale its micro-fulfilment network to over 1,000 centres as part of a ₹2,800 crore investment in India operations.

The shift to 300 cities shows how fast the quick commerce race has changed. For many urban users, fast delivery has moved from a nice extra to a daily habit. Milk, phone chargers, snacks, beauty products, last-minute gifts, people now expect them fast. Sometimes too fast, frankly.

Amazon also announced Sammaan, a welfare programme for delivery associates in its India logistics network. The company said the programme will include scholarships for children of delivery associates, access to government benefits, financial inclusion support, insurance cover and road safety steps.

Amazon said it will expand Ashray rest centres to 250 locations this year. These centres will be open to delivery associates across the industry.

New Delhi: Portable Bluetooth speakers are becoming increasingly popular among users looking for an all-in-one entertainment device. Although audio quality is still a key feature, people now demand more features, like karaoke, long battery life and multi-connections. With this in mind, UBON recently launched the SP-220 Karaoke Series Speaker in India.

Priced at Rs 2,499, the UBON SP-220 aims to offer more than just music playback. The speaker has a wireless karaoke microphone, Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility and up to 10 hours of battery life (claimed). We’ve been using the speaker for almost a month now to see if it lives up to its claims, and we’ve been using it in a variety of situations, including family gatherings and casual parties, to see how it performs.

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker design

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker design. (Image Credit: Pragya Singha Roy/News9)

Compact and practical, the UBON SP-220 is easy to carry around. The speaker does not take up much space; with a length of 24 cm, a width of 9.5 cm and a height of 17.8 cm, the speaker can be used comfortably indoors or outdoors.

A carrying strap is provided in the box for easy transport. The physical control buttons are grouped at the top for quick access, and connectivity ports are located at the back. The wireless microphone bundled is light and comfortable to carry for long periods. The microphone also features dedicated control buttons as well as a USB Type-C charging port.

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker audio performance

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker Review.

The UBON SP-220 is an excellent-sounding speaker for its class. It can produce 20W of sound and is loud enough for bedrooms, living rooms, terraces, or small groups.

In our test, Bollywood songs, pop songs, devotional songs and podcasts were clear enough to be understood well by the speaker. Vocals were audible, and sound levels were balanced for casual listening. A major upside is that there was no audible distortion at high volumes. The speaker is also capable of FM radio and microSD playback, making it easy for people to enjoy music even when they don’t have a smartphone or internet access.

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker karaoke microphone

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker Review.

The most impressive aspect of the UBON SP-220 is the wireless karaoke microphone it comes with. While many budget Bluetooth speakers can just play music, the SP-220 also offers an interactive element to the entertainment. The microphone connected within a few seconds and stayed connected without any problems when tested. Voice pick-up was good enough for some casual singing and family get-togethers. This is a great feature for kids, partygoers and those who love singing along to their favourite songs.

The wireless option also means that you’ll have more room to play around when performing with your clients, which will make karaoke much more interesting and fun.

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker connectivity

UBON has now added Bluetooth 5.3 to the SP-220 for stable wireless connection and easy pairing. Tested, the speaker kept a reliable connection at the advertised distance of around 10 metres. Besides Bluetooth, users will also be able to play music via TF card, FM radio, and USB. These choices add to the speaker’s versatility and can be useful when a person doesn’t have the Internet or a smartphone.

UBON SP-220 Karaoke Speaker battery

Another plus of the UBON SP-220 is its performance with the battery. The speaker comes with a battery of 2000 mAh, and the manufacturer guarantees a playback time of up to 10 hours of current battery charge.

With normal use, the battery can be used for long periods of time without frequent recharging. The presence of a USB Type-C port is also a plus, though, due to the ease with which the port charges the battery in comparison to the older Micro-USB port. The performance of the battery can differ according to volume level, playback source and microphone use.

Verdict

The UBON SP-220 Karaoke Series Speaker has succeeded in providing a rich entertainment experience at a low price. It has a 20W speaker, a wireless karaoke microphone, several playback modes, and a reliable battery life, which makes it a great budget speaker.

The audiophile, looking for deeper bass and more refined tuning of the sound, may be after something different, but the SP-220 is not a target. Instead, it’s developed for families, students, casual listeners and users who do not want to pay a premium for a fun and versatile speaker.

The UBON SP-220 costs Rs 2,499 and provides decent value, with a range of features that don’t often go together at this price point. The SP-220 is a great choice for anyone seeking a budget-friendly Bluetooth speaker that also works as a karaoke system for parties and family events.

New Delhi: BoAt has expanded its audio portfolio in India with the launch of the Airdopes ProClip, a new pair of open-ear wireless earbuds designed for users who want to stay aware of their surroundings while listening to music or taking calls. The product has been designed for Indian users, who are generally using audio devices while commuting, working, exercising, and performing other day-to-day tasks, the company claimed.

Unlike the closed earbuds, open earbuds have gained in popularity worldwide because of their comfortable fit and the fact that they allow the user to hear ambient sounds. But in India, the segment hasn’t been very popular due to high price and audio leakage issues. Here, Boat has set out to solve these issues by providing an economical solution with the Airdopes ProClip, which delivers comfort, awareness, and privacy for listening.

boAt Airdopes ProClip design

boAt has designed the Airdopes ProClip specifically for India’s dynamic environment, such as on public transport, at workplaces, outside, etc. The earbuds come with the company’s Sonic Seal technology, which aims to minimise audio leakage and enhance listening privacy.

Additionally, the device has ambient sound awareness so users can stay alert to what is happening around them, like other people talking, traffic, and more. They can keep hearing the ambient noise around them while listening with the earbuds on.

Made in India at Noida facility

The Airdopes ProClip has been made at the boAt Lifestyle and Dixon Technologies joint venture ‘Make in India’ company, Califonix, in Noida. The launch is an indication of the company’s approach of catering to the needs of the Indian consumer by manufacturing and designing locally while leveraging global technology trends, it said in a statement.

Commenting on the launch, Gaurav Nayyar, CEO of boAt, said open-ear audio is emerging as a major trend globally, but products need to be tailored to local consumer needs to achieve wider adoption. He noted the Airdopes ProClip has been engineered to answer some of the concerns associated with privacy, comfort and accessibility while maintaining affordability.

boAt Airdopes ProClip key features

The earbuds are designed in a Cloud Fit fashion with the lightweight build for extended listening time. They are also equipped with a secure loop design that helps to ensure that the earbuds stay in place during activity and exercise.

Other features include all-day comfort, an open-ear design for long-wearing durability, reduced audio leakage with Sonic Seal technology and enhanced environmental consciousness with Ambient Sound support.

boAt Airdopes ProClip: Price and availability

The boAt Airdopes ProClip comes in white, grey and wine-coloured options. The earbuds are now sold on boAt’s official website and various online stores, like Amazon and Flipkart.

The company has priced the earbuds at Rs 1,599, which is one of the cheap open-ear audio devices in the Indian market.

New Delhi: Intelligence services of the Five Eyes countries (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and the USA) have warned that the next generation of AI developments could fundamentally alter the global cybersecurity environment sooner than anticipated. Officials in a combined statement note that new AI systems will likely revolutionise both cyberattacks and cyber defence; governments and businesses have precious little time to prepare.

The warning was issued by the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC), comprising intelligence and security oversight agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The message comes as growing worry of the rapid advancement of AI and its potential implications for national security issues is growing among Western governments.

AI could accelerate cyber threats

The Five Eyes alliance anticipates that frontier AI models will exceed industry forecasts and will introduce a new wave of cyber threats that are faster, larger and more advanced. Whilst AI can help us to enhance our cyber defence capabilities over time, it also allows cyber threats to escalate in speed, scale and sophistication.

As AI becomes more powerful, the time between identifying a software vulnerability and exploiting it could become even shorter, officials said. They emphasised that cybersecurity is no longer just an IT concern for organisations.

Cybersecurity must become a leadership priority

The alliance called for company boards, executives and government leaders to personally assume responsibility for cyber resilience. Cyber risk is now a fundamental business issue, and it can impact market confidence, operations, and economic value, the statement said.

The Five Eyes organisations urged organisations to review the cyber risks regularly, enhance cybersecurity and empower cybersecurity teams with necessary resources and authority. Leaders were also encouraged to remain actively engaged, as threats are still a constant development.

“The urgency is clear. AI is not a future consideration; it is already here,” the statement said.

Warning follows US restrictions on advanced AI models

It follows two AI systems from Anthropic, advanced ones the administration of US President Donald Trump cut off the use of by foreign nationals. The shift was reportedly based on recommendations from US security agencies due to national security issues.

The Five Eyes statement did not reference a particular AI company or model, but officials said that the development of frontier AI has the potential to transform the offensive and defensive capabilities of cyber in the near future.

“The timeline is not years; it is months,” the alliance warned.

Secure-by-design approach recommended

The Five Eyes council shared several guidelines as organisations develop more powerful systems of AI. One of these was moving towards secure-by-design and secure-by-default software and digital infrastructure. Additionally, officials warned that relying on a single cybersecurity solution was still vital in the age of artificial intelligence, even in the era of layered defence.

The message called on organisations to leverage AI to bolster their security defences, such as detection of vulnerabilities earlier and better incident response. But it noted that the fundamental cybersecurity principles could soon be “outdated” with the continued evolution of AI technology.

“The rapid pace of frontier AI development means cyber risk assumptions can become outdated in months, not years,” the statement concluded. “We must act before and be prepared to adapt and withstand evolving threats.”

New Delhi: AI is revolutionising industries globally, but its rapid pace is leading to concerns regarding the environmental footprint of the infrastructure supporting it. Data centres are using more and more electricity, water and land as companies try to increase the capacity of their AI technology.

In this context, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has urged big AI firms to be more transparent in their environmental impacts. He made this statement during the London Climate Action Week and called on the industry to take responsibility for the “hidden costs” of the AI boom.

UN launches AI environmental transparency initiative

Guterres announced the United Nations’ new AI Environmental Transparency Initiative on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The initiative aims to encourage AI companies to publicly disclose the environmental impact of their data centres.

He has urged businesses to calculate and disclose their water usage, carbon footprint and land usage. Guterres also called on companies to pledge to use 100 per cent renewable energy for all AI data centres by 2030.

“If AI is to help build a better future, it must be honest about what it costs us now,” he said.

Rising power and water demand under scrutiny

Environmental groups have been increasingly raising the profile of data centres due to their significant energy and water consumption. AI’s global expansion has raised concerns about sustainability and transparency, Reuters reported.

By 2030, data centres could use up more electricity than five countries in the world. He also said their annual water use could be enough to meet the basic needs of the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa for a year.

Some technology companies have also been looking at the use of natural gas and nuclear energy to complement their renewable energy initiatives and support their future AI initiatives.

Call for faster climate action

The UN chief said the world is still not on track to meet its global climate targets. He denounced policies that promote more fossil fuel consumption and urged the speeding up of renewable energy deployment.

Renewable energy projects and switching away from fossil fuel-intensive sources of power in transportation, buildings and industry are some of the quickest pathways to lower emissions and dependence on imported fossil fuels, Guterres said in the report.

UN pushes for methane emission reductions

In addition to the AI transparency initiative, Guterres also launched a new call to action on methane emissions. He called on the oil and gas companies to mend leaks, stop flaring and implement science-based global standards.

Methane is a strong greenhouse gas, accounting for about a third of the current global warming, he said. He is calling on the fossil fuel industry to “take action which is long overdue”.

Guterres also announced that the world leaders will meet in September ahead of the COP31 climate summit in Turkey. During the meeting, focus will be on enhancing global climate commitments in a fair and orderly move away from fossil fuels.

New Delhi: India’s new Aadhaar mobile application has crossed 3.1 crore (31 million) downloads within five months of its launch, highlighting the growing adoption of digital identity services across the country. The app enables people to avail themselves of various Aadhaar-related services from their smartphones, thus decreasing the necessity to go to the actual centres for normal replacement.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said that almost 40 lakh people have changed their mobile numbers on the app, and about 8.5 lakh people changed their addresses. The surge in downloads indicates the growing trust in the platform and the adoption of a digital-first strategy for Aadhaar services, the authority said.

Aadhaar app brings key services to smartphones

With the Aadhaar app, a user can now change the mobile number and address without going to the Aadhaar enrolment centre, UIDAI said. The application also enables its users to download their e-Aadhaar and make online bookings at Aadhaar Seva Kendras (ASKs), ensuring the process is faster and more convenient.

The app also has various security-related features. These include biometric lock and unlock with one tap, face authentication for identity verification, authentication history and an editable QR-based digital contact card, which enables people to share their information without having to carry physical visiting cards.

Digital verification expands everyday use cases

The Aadhaar app is also making identity verification easier in normal life scenarios, UIDAI says. Users will be able to check into the hotel by scanning the Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) QR code instead of submitting photocopies of their Aadhaar cards.

The app is being used in hospital admissions, visitor management, event entry, and gig workers & service partners’ identity verification, the authority added. The above features are assisting in promoting the use of Aadhaar verification in the digital realm and creating ease of service for citizens across India, UIDAI said.

New Delhi: Google-owned YouTube has settled a lawsuit filed by a 16-year-old boy who alleged that the platform harmed his mental health through addictive design features. The confidential agreement follows a large trial in California that was scheduled to take place weeks later, which will address the effects of social media on the mental health of children. Meta, Snap and ByteDance, three other companies named in the lawsuit, are still to be tried next month.

The case comes as part of the ongoing legal fight against big tech over allegations that they make their platforms addictive to young users by hooking them for extended periods. There are thousands of cases like this in the United States where the courts are hearing complaints that social media companies weren’t doing enough to safeguard children.

YouTube reaches a confidential settlement

Google confirmed the settlement of the lawsuit, but it declined to state the conditions. Google has continued to work on developing age-appropriate products and improving parental controls, said Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson. Attorneys for the teen argue that YouTube’s resolution of this case through a jury trial is a statement in itself and will continue to pursue legal action against other social media platforms.

The suit, filed on behalf of a Florida teenager who went by only his initials, R.K.C., alleges that he started using social media at about 8 and became addicted to it, which impacted his sleep, causing depression and anxiety.

Other platforms still headed for trial

While YouTube has settled, the lawsuit against Meta’s Instagram, Snap’s Snapchat and ByteDance’s TikTok remains active. The California trial has been delayed to potentially start July 27.

The case will be the second California state court trial that considers allegations that social media platforms intentionally designed features to wreak harm on young users. Both companies have repeatedly rejected the accusations, claiming that they have implemented a number of tools and safety features for teens.

Thousands of social media lawsuits continue

The latest settlement arrives amid the ongoing lawsuits against social media platforms around the U.S. In California state court, there are over 3,300 cases pending alleging addiction, and over 2,600 cases are pending in California federal court.

A California jury also sided with the plaintiff in a comparable case earlier this year that alleged a woman became addicted to Instagram and YouTube while growing up, claiming the companies were negligent. Meta was ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages, while Google was ordered to pay $1.8 million in damages. Later, a judge denied the companies’ request to overturn that decision.

States also pursuing legal action

Multiple US states have also sued social media platforms for claims that they misled users about the safety of their platforms, and they were designed to be addictive to children.

A jury in New Mexico has recently determined that Meta had misled the public about the safety of its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp apps and ordered the company to pay $375 million in damages. Meanwhile, Tennessee will launch its case against Meta next month, and another multi-state federal trial is set to begin in August.

New Delhi: OpenAI is reportedly preparing a major upgrade for ChatGPT’s voice capabilities with a new bidirectional audio model called GPT-Bidi-1. The new model may revolutionise conversations, making them feel more natural and allowing the AI to listen and respond simultaneously rather than waiting for a turn.

OpenAI is continuing to pivot ChatGPT from a chatbot to a larger AI platform. In addition to developments in its Codex coding tools and agentic AI capabilities, the company is reportedly pouring money into its voice capabilities, shifting the paradigm of user-AI interactions from text to voice. At the moment, OpenAI has not officially revealed GPT-Bidi-1, and the specifics are from code discovery and early testing reports.

GPT-Bidi-1 could enable more natural conversations

Recently, internal code referencing GPT-Bidi-1 was found, according to TestingCatalog. According to the publication, “Bidi” is short for bidirectional, which will allow the AI to listen, understand and speak at the same time rather than take turns talking to each other like normal conversations.

This might make interactions with ChatGPT more of a human experience. Rather than remaining silent during pauses for users to consider the answers, the assistant can give brief affirmations like “okay” without interrupting the discussion. The new model may also not be able to interrupt in longer pauses, which some have found to be a problem with the existing voice mode.

Better at handling interruptions and remembering context

The reported model is also able to respond more naturally when the conversation takes a different turn. For example, if a user asks ChatGPT to count from one to ten but interrupts midway with a new instruction, GPT-Bidi-1 could immediately adapt without restarting the interaction.

TestingCatalog also claims the model can retain context more effectively during longer conversations. It is expected that instead of losing track of previous exchanges, it is able to recall previous exchanges and produce a relevant response that does not become irrelevant during the exchange.

A new voice model may get its own ChatGPT option

GPT-Bidi-1 reportedly appears in a new voice mode selector in ChatGPT, alongside the standard and advanced voice modes. Some users who have tried the feature have reportedly been notified that the voice interface has transformed into a yellow bubble after picking the new model.

The details are compiled from code references, interface discoveries and initial user testing information provided by TestingCatalog and other sources. No technical paper or official confirmation of the capabilities of this model has been released yet by OpenAI.

Early rollout may already be underway

GPT-Bidi-1 is already available in a limited way to ChatGPT app users, suggesting that it could be rolling out completely soon, says TestingCatalog.

As it expands, GPT-Bidi-1 has the potential to make ChatGPT’s speech capabilities a lot closer to OpenAI’s more sophisticated text models. The new model may help bring conversations closer to a human voice and make them feel faster and smoother as the company continues to push voice-first AI experiences.

New Delhi: Bajaj Auto has reported a ransomware attack that hit its systems on June 23, placing one of India’s biggest two-wheeler and three-wheeler makers in the middle of a growing cyber threat facing manufacturers.

The Pune-based company said in a regulatory filing that the incident took place around 8 am IST and affected Bajaj Auto and its wholly-owned arm, Bajaj Auto Technology Ltd. The company’s disclosure said response steps had “so far been successful.”

What Bajaj Auto Has Said So Far

Bajaj Auto said its technical teams, senior management and external cyber security experts moved quickly after the ransomware attack came to light. The company said it started precautionary steps and response protocols to contain the issue.

The company has reported the matter to CERT-In, India’s national cyber response agency, as per regulatory norms.

That is the official part. The missing part is bigger. Bajaj Auto has not said if any data was stolen, if production was hit, or if dealer, supply chain or customer-facing systems faced trouble. No ransomware group has claimed the attack at the time of writing.

For now, Bajaj Auto says its containment steps are working. The next questions are simple: was data copied, were backups clean, did any production line slow down, and has the attacker been removed fully?

New Delhi: Meta and EssilorLuxottica have launched a new range of smart glasses called Meta Glasses. Prices start at $299, which is around ₹28,405 based on an exchange rate of $1 at ₹95. The glasses went on sale on June 23 across 17 markets, though India is not part of the initial list.

The launch brings three frame designs, 26 style combinations and a collection created with Kylie Jenner. Meta Glasses can take photos and videos, play audio, handle calls and answer questions through Meta AI. They offer more than eight hours of battery life on one charge.

Introducing Meta Glasses by @KylieJenner. A new way to see and share your world. pic.twitter.com/znWfjHjEH3

— Instagram (@instagram) June 23, 2026

Three Meta Glasses frame styles announced

The range includes three main designs:

• Meta Adventurer, a rectangular frame offered in Standard and Large sizes
• Meta Fury, a thicker frame with a bolder shape
• Meta Glasses by Kylie, a slim oval frame inspired by Kylie Jenner’s style

Buyers can choose from colours such as black, tortoise, green, linen, merlot and sandstone. Clear, sun, polarised and Transitions lenses are available.

The glasses support prescription lenses from -12 to +2.25. Meta has introduced an Rx Lens Swap option that lets customers add prescription lenses through an optician after buying the product without losing warranty cover.

Muse Spark AI comes to Meta Glasses

Meta Glasses are the company’s first eyewear to ship with Muse Spark, a model developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs. The updated Meta AI can study what the wearer sees through the camera and respond to voice requests.

A separate action button can open Meta AI or another selected feature. Open-ear speakers handle music, calls and podcasts. A multi-microphone setup aims to reduce wind noise.

Meta is adding dynamic photo capture, pedestrian directions and live translation for 20 languages. Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean are among the newly supported options.

The included folding charging case provides up to 40 extra hours of battery life. A separate charging stand has been launched too. Meta has not announced the India price or release date.

New Delhi: Nothing has officially confirmed the launch of its next smartphone, the Nothing Phone 4b, in India. The handset will come to the market on July 7 at 3:30 pm, adding an all-new B Series to the company’s lineup of smartphones. The news follows weeks of “b” teasers that were promoting the letter and the question of what Nothing’s next product will be.

The company announced the date of its launch on social media platform X, and it also hinted at the new device having a design that is inspired by its smartphones. According to the company, the Phone 4b is not simply another version of the Phone 4a but an entirely new product category within its smartphone range.

Nothing Phone 4b launch date confirmed

Nothing has scheduled the launch of the Phone 4B for July 7 at 3:30 pm IST. The device will be the first of the company’s new B Series smartphones, which will be a move away from its flagship and A Series devices.

The news comes after a series of cryptic teasers that all centred on the letter ‘b’. The Phone 4b is not just another model of the Phone 4a; it is a new class of mobile phone the company plans to offer in its smartphone line, the company said.

Nothing Phone 4b design

Phone (4b).
Kept sketching the Phone (4a) series and accidentally made a new phone.

7 July, 3:30 PM. pic.twitter.com/pHqspOmgKH

— Nothing India (@nothingindia) June 23, 2026

Nothing has unveiled the entire specs, but the teaser pictures and official design sketches do give a glimpse of the Phone 4B. The phone’s rear has a transparent design, similar to the previous model, that shows through to the screws and has an industrial aesthetic.

The sketches also indicate a new camera module design and flat edges and rounded corners. Based on Nothing’s teaser images, the Phone 4b appears to feature a single rear camera, a notable decision at a time when most smartphones in this segment offer dual-camera systems.

Nothing Phone 4b specifications (expected)

Nothing is yet to confirm the hardware officially. But recently leaks have revealed that the Phone 4b may run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor. It will also be expected to be powered by a 5500mAh battery and have upgraded build quality from the previous cheap model of Nothing.

The company will be releasing more information regarding the display, charging and camera hardware nearer to the event.

Nothing hints at affordable pricing

The official price has yet to be revealed, nor has Nothing given any indication of where the Phone 4B will land in their lineup. Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis recently clarified on X that the letter “b” does not stand for anything. Rather, the company has adopted a numbering system to denote product generations, and its letters are intended to differentiate the categories of smartphones.

The A Series will continue to be the company’s higher-end models below the flagship models, while the new B Series will appeal to another buyer segment that is also more price-conscious, says Evangelidis.

Why the Phone 4b matters

The launch is right on the heels of Nothing announcing it will not be launching a new product based on the CMF this year. Evangelidis had said that due to the high price of components, especially memory, it was hard to create a worthwhile replacement that would be affordable.

Some of the smartphone projects that were in the planning stages for CMF were transferred to the Nothing brand, as per earlier reports. This has made it seem as if a new addition to the company’s product line may be the Phone 4b, which is being considered as one of the two devices housed between the Phone 4a and Phone 4a Pro.

As for now, nothing is hiding the important details. The company will be sharing additional details about the Phone 4b’s specifications, features and pricing via more teaser images in the next few days ahead of the launch event in less than two weeks.

New Delhi: ASUS has added to its high-end gaming and creator laptop lineup with the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo, ROG Zephyrus G14, ROG Zephyrus G16, TUF Gaming A14 and TUF ProArt PZ14 for India. The announcement celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand and introduces the latest generation of processors that prioritise AI capabilities, as well as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. The new laptops are now available at ASUS Exclusive Stores, ASUS eShop, Flipkart, Amazon and other authorised retailers nationwide.

The new line kicks off with the ROG Zephyrus Duo, which ASUS states is the first-ever gaming laptop to come with a pair of 16-inch 3K OLED ROG Nebula HDR touch panels. In addition to gaming machines, the company has launched creator-centric and productivity-orientated machines capable of processing AI tasks, content generation, and regular tasks. As part of the updated line-up, ASUS has also updated its ROG Strix and Scar lines.

ROG Zephyrus Duo

The most impressive thing about the launch is the ROG Zephyrus Duo, which features two 16-inch OLED touchscreens and multiple use modes. It runs on Intel Core Ultra processors and is optionally available with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics. ASUS claims that the laptop is for gamers, streamers, creators and professionals seeking a powerful machine that can run games, edit and multitask from one device.

The company has also enriched the flagship variant with ROG Intelligent Cooling technology and AI-powered hardware acceleration to enhance performance when handling intensive workloads.

Zephyrus G14, G16 and TUF Gaming A14

ASUS has updated its ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16 with the latest AMD Ryzen AI and Intel Core Ultra processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. The laptops come with ROG Nebula OLED displays, lightweight chassis and large batteries, which is perfect for those who crave the highest level of gaming performance but don’t want to sacrifice portability.

The new TUF Gaming A14, on the other hand, is designed for durability and portability. The laptop tips the scales at 1.46 kg, is military-certified and equipped with AMD Ryzen AI processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics. The device is designed for gaming, research, creating content, and everyday productivity, ASUS said.

ProArt PZ14

To meet the demands of creators, ASUS has come up with the ProArt PZ14, a 2-in-1 laptop with a weight of just 0.79kg. It comes with a detachable Bluetooth keyboard, a 14-inch 3K ASUS Lumina Pro OLED display and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite processor.

The company claims the device provides up to 80 TOPS of AI power to support more AI-driven creative processes like editing, sketching and creating content, while still being portable.

Price, availability and finance options

Depending on the model, the new ASUS lineup can be found at ASUS Exclusive Stores, ASUS ROG Stores, ASUS eShop, Flipkart, Amazon, Reliance Digital, Croma, Vijay Sales and authorised ASUS retail outlets.

The flagship ROG Zephyrus Duo goes for Rs 549,990, whereas the highest-end variant of the ROG RTX 5090 retails for Rs 699,990. Zephyrus G14’s pricing begins at Rs 259,990, while Zephyrus G16’s price starts at Rs 419,990. The TUF Gaming A14 is available at Rs 199,990, and the ProArt PZ14 is offered at Rs 269,990, which is the price of the creator-focused variant.

Moreover, ASUS is also providing no-cost EMI options for up to 18 months via ASUS Easy Pay with the EMI starting at Rs 11,111 per month subject to the applicable terms and conditions.

New Delhi: Valve has officially revealed its Steam Machine, the company’s first PC-console hybrid that will run SteamOS. The device was delivered after a late delivery due to worldwide memory and storage chip shortages, which made it have to reconsider its initial pricing strategy because of the cost of manufacturing changes.

The new gaming system will be available in the first part of June, starting in some international markets. It will be available in different storage options and bundle choices, but not officially on the market in India. Valve has also introduced a reservation system to prevent bots and scalpers from dominating early sales.

Steam machine price and variants

There are four different configurations of the Steam Machine. The new Steam Controller is not included in the base model with 512GB, which costs $1,049 (approx. Rs 99,350). Those wishing to purchase the controller separately will have to shell out $1,128.

The higher-capacity 2TB version is priced at $1,349 (approx. Rs 1.27 lakh), and the version with the Steam Controller costs $1,428. Valve will also be adding two new red fabric and solid walnut-finish faceplates to both of the 2 TB models.

A reservation system replaces traditional pre-orders

Rather than the traditional pre-ordering system, Valve is subscribing to a reserving system for the Steam Machine. The process is meant to yield a fair buying experience and minimise bots and resellers, the company said.

Users in the US, Canada, the UK, the European Union, Australia, and Komodo-supported regions, including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, can sign up for their preferred model until June 25 at 10am PT. Once the registration period is over, Valve will fill in the list of people with reservations and those on the waitlist randomly. The shipment of the selected customers in the reservation queue will start from 29.06.2023, and the waitlist customers will be notified once the production is finished.

Valve explains the higher price

Valve stated in a blog post that the price of the Steam Machine is directly tied to that of the hardware components from manufacturers around the world.

The company said it had assumed that the cost of PC hardware would gradually drop over time with the development in 2023. But it all turned around in the last year, especially for RAM and storage. The initial price goal was no longer feasible due to increased manufacturing expenses and continued supply issues, says Valve.

The company also pointed out that the same factors that impact prices also restrict the quantity of Steam Machines that can be offered at launch.

Steam machine specifications

Powered by a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 chipset and AMD RDNA 3 graphics, the Steam Machine is running SteamOS 3. It has 16GB of DDR5 memory, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, up to 2TB of NVMe SSD storage and expandable storage via microSD card.

In terms of connectivity, it features Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and an integrated 2.4GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter. Ports available are DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports (one on the front and two on the back), a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The Steam Machine measures 152 x 162.4 x 156 mm and weighs 2.6 kg.

New Delhi: Leaked screen protectors for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro series appear to have confirmed one of the most anticipated design upgrades for the next-generation iPhones. The new photos hint Apple has finally managed to shrink down the Dynamic Island. Rumours have been swirling around for months, and it could be a further sign of Apple’s long-term dream of an all-screen iPhone.

As pointed out by the leaked tempered glass protectors shared by tipster Yeux1122, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models feature significantly smaller cutouts compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models. While Apple has not confirmed any details, the leak hints that the company may have overcome the engineering challenges that previously threatened its plans for a redesigned front display.

A smaller Dynamic Island could finally arrive

The leaked images suggest that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a much smaller Dynamic Island than the previous versions of the device. The switch has been associated with Apple’s plans to place Face ID elements below the screen, rather than removing them entirely, and it was already rumoured to be coming in the future.

In previous reports, Apple has been said to be having difficulties with under-display Face ID being accurate enough for everyday use. However, if the leaked screen protectors are genuine, the company may have solved those issues. It may be that Apple has restructured the Face ID hardware, but not completely below the screen.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max display (expected)

The smaller Dynamic Island is believed to be one step in Apple’s multi-year plan to eventually launch a completely uninterrupted display. Reports in the industry indicate that the company is looking to change into a future iPhone that’ll not feature any camera cut-out, punch-hole display or Dynamic Island.

The iPhone 18 Pro is expected to continue that transition, while a more dramatic redesign is reportedly planned for the iPhone 20 series, which could feature both under-display Face ID and an under-display selfie camera.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max launch timeline (expected)

Apple expected to release the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max in September. Reports also suggest Apple could change its release strategy by launching the premium Pro models first, while the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Plus may arrive later.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max design (expected)

The iPhone 18 Pro Max is unlikely to be making a major redesign of its body. Rather, Apple will stick with the design aesthetic that it has established with the iPhone 17 Pro series. However, the company can again offer new colours. There are currently rumours that Apple is testing four colours for the Pro models: Dark Cherry, Light Blue, Dark Grey and Silver.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max battery (expected)

The iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to come with a bigger 5,200mAh battery, which could provide extended battery life compared to its predecessor. The flagship is also anticipated to roll out with the new iOS 27, which will introduce new software capabilities, performance upgrades and AI-driven features.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max chip

The new A20 Pro chipset is expected to be used by Apple under the hood as the chipset for the iPhone 18 Pro range.

The processor may be produced using an advanced 2nm process, which would result in enhanced performance and power efficiency. The Pro models will also be rumoured to have 12GB of RAM, providing improved multitasking and artificial intelligence performance.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max camera (expected)

The iPhone 18 Pro Max likely will have the same high-end triple-camera system as the current Pro Max. As per the leaks, the device will be equipped with a 48MP primary, a 48MP ultra-wide and a 48MP telephoto camera, just like the company always does with high-resolution cameras and better zooming capabilities.

Will a smaller Dynamic Island be enough?

The smaller Dynamic Island is another design shift by Apple, but it might not be worth the upgrade to existing iPhone 17 Pro owners. There are a lot of consumers that will wait for the bigger changes that are rumoured for future generations, such as a true edge-to-edge display.

However, the latest leak indicates that Apple is steadily moving towards achieving its long-term goal of an unbroken screen on the iPhone, despite the fact that the overall appearance of the iPhone 18 Pro is just a gradual upgrade.

New Delhi: Zoom has expanded its AI portfolio with the launch of AI agents inside ZoomMate and introduced Zoom AI On-Prem, giving businesses new ways to automate work while meeting strict security and compliance requirements. The new features will make it easier for employees to switch from initial conversation to finished work without having to switch between various applications, the company said.

The news comes as a welcome boost for businesses aiming to boost productivity using artificial intelligence without compromising on their sensitive business information. Instead of yet another separate tool for organisations to use, they require a system of action, says Russell Dicker, chief product officer at Zoom, that joins conversations, workflows and business applications.

ZoomMate AI agents automate everyday work

The most significant change is the introduction of AI agents to ZoomMate, which has been incorporated into the Zoom Workplace app. The AI-powered agents can browse information in meetings, chats, notes and linked business platforms and assist employees in finding the answers and doing things faster.

“Organisations don’t need another tool; they need a system of action to solve today’s fragmented workflow,” Dicker said. He continued that Zoom’s AI agents are intended to speed up teams to complete conversations quicker and decrease manual work.

There are three key functions of the AI agents. They can discover information from dialogues and related enterprise systems, coordinate subsequent tasks by delegating and updating records, and create draft presentations, reports, project plans, proposals, and spreadsheets from meeting discussions.

Works across major enterprise platforms

The AI agents can be connected to multiple popular business applications such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, Google Drive, Confluence, Box and Microsoft OneDrive, Zoom said. They are also mindful of current permissions and access control, allowing employees to only access information they are permitted to see.

AI agents can be customised by inputting a brief prompt combined with context into a business. These bots can then be integrated into one-on-one Zoom chat conversations or directly into team chat channels to streamline repetitive workflows.

ZoomMate is immediately live for direct customers as well as online customers and will cost $20 per user and month, including credits for AI.

Zoom AI On-Prem focuses on security and compliance

The company also released Zoom AI On-Prem to organisations in highly regulated sectors in addition to ZoomMate. The solution enables enterprises to deploy Zoom AI features in their own IT infrastructure, such as private cloud and on-premises environments.

The service is running on the Zoom Node platform, a new offering by the company, and it can be used to process AI workloads, including live captions and meeting transcription, within customer-controlled infrastructure. This enables businesses to keep confidential meeting data within their own environments while complying with data residency, privacy, and compliance regulations.

With Zoom-managed orchestration and software updates, users will still have the same Zoom Meetings experience and will have access to a seamless, consistent software rollout.

More AI features planned later this year

Currently, Zoom AI On-Prem features English, French, German, and Swedish language support for captions and transcription at launch. New languages will be added later this year, as will other features, such as AI-powered translation, meeting summarisation, Q&A, and agentic search.

In both announcements, Zoom is putting itself forward as a platform rather than just a video conferencing tool. It’s the company’s goal to develop a work environment in which a machine can link conversations, information, and workflows on their own so that teams can spend more time making business decisions and less on administrative tasks.

New Delhi: Japanese AI start-up Sakana AI has introduced a new AI system called ‘Fugu’ that does not use a single large language model as most existing AI models do but instead collaborates with multiple LLM models. The company says this architecture allows Fugu to tackle complex tasks through one API while reducing dependence on any one AI provider.

The launch comes just days after Anthropic withdrew public access to its flagship Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 models following US government export restrictions. According to Sakana, this orchestration-based solution can provide enterprises with a more resilient solution, dynamically switching between various models as needed. The company claims that Fugu Ultra achieves results on par with the most sophisticated AI solutions around in coding, science and reasoning tasks.

What is Sakana Fugu?

to be clear, this is a closed source orchestrator on top of closed source models. if before you didn’t control the models, now you don’t even control which ones are used or how much. this is not “AI sovereignty”

i’ve also read the tech report to get an opinion on the technical… https://t.co/fjSZY5eqBz

— elie (@eliebakouch) June 22, 2026

Fugu is an AI orchestrator, whereas other AI assistants rely on a single model. It divides a user’s request into smaller segments, sends them to separate specialised AI models, checks their answers, and merges them into a comprehensive answer.

The exact models used for AI behind Fugu are not revealed, as the orchestration technology is proprietary, Sakana said. The developers use the system through a standard API and are not aware of which models are being used or not.

The company has launched two versions:

• Fugu for coding, chat, and everyday AI tasks.

• Fugu Ultra for advanced workloads, including AI research, cybersecurity analysis, patent investigations, and complex reasoning.

Claims benchmark wins over Claude Fable 5

SAKANA FUGU ULTRA vs. CLAUDE OPUS 4.8 RESULTS

Prompt: “build a really high quality single html file crossy road game with three.js”

Sakana Fugu Ultra:
– Tokens Used: ~89k ($7.32)
– Time Elapsed: 22 minutes
– Issues: inverted directional turn, wonky camera, no sfx, not… pic.twitter.com/2riS4pEds4

— Mark Santos (@markksantos) June 22, 2026

Fugu Ultra beat the coding benchmark, LiveCodeBench, which is set by the AI company Anthropic, with their system, Claude Fable 5, on the platform, benchmark data released by the company showed. Fugu Ultra and Claude Fable 5 scored 93.2 and 92.9, respectively, in contrast to 89.8 for Fugu.

The company also reported that Fugu Ultra scored 95.5 for GPQA-Diamond, a science benchmark for students at the graduate level that includes biology, chemistry and physics. This is better than Claude Mythos Preview’s score of 94.6.

Sakana also said that Fugu handled some tasks, including automated research, mechanical design, Japanese handwriting analysis, one-shot chess, Rubik’s Cube solving, and financial forecasting, better than models like Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro, OpenAI GPT-5.5, and Anthropic Claude Opus 4.8.

Why Fugu matters after Anthropic’s model restrictions

The launch coincides with rising worries over access to frontier AI models. Recently, Anthropic has restricted public access to Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 due to user requests and concerns from the US government about the risk these models pose to national security.

Mythos was first introduced as a limited preview in April because of its advanced cybersecurity capabilities. Anthropic had earlier mentioned that it could detect vulnerabilities in several operating systems and web browsers, leaving the door open to misuse in the name of a critical infrastructure attack or biological threats.

In order to reduce the risks, Anthropic introduced a controlled access initiative for the use of its technologies for defensive cybersecurity research, known as Project Glasswing, which allows selected organisations, such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and CrowdStrike, to access the technologies.

The company also added protections into Claude Fable 5 that will switch back to the lower-power Claude Opus 4.8 if users make high-risk requests, such as those in cybersecurity and biology.

Enterprise focus and pricing

According to Sakana, Fugu has been created to help businesses prevent relying on a single AI provider. In the event of an outage or regulatory restrictions on one model, the platform can automatically redirect requests to other models supported by it.

Fugu also offers the ability to exclude certain AI providers from the routing pool, allowing developers to comply with privacy or compliance requirements. The service is not available in the European Union and European Economic Area; however, until it complies with GDPR, Sakana will not be available for use there.

Fugu is available via a monthly subscription, starting at $20 per month, and Fugu Ultra is one of the more costly commercial AI services, priced at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens via a pay-as-you-go API.

Founded by former Google and Stability AI researchers

Tokyo-based Sakana AI was launched by co-authors of Google’s groundbreaking Attention Is All You Need research paper, Llion Jones, and David Ha, formerly of Stability AI.

The company has focussed on developing its AI strategy through multi-agent collaboration rather than developing more massive single agents. By using Fugu, Sakana hopes that multiple AI systems can work in concert to achieve near-limitless capabilities and provide more flexibility when access to individual models evolves in the future.

New Delhi: Telegram has started returning for users in India after nearly a week of disruption, with the messaging platform once again available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The gradual revival of the app comes after a temporary ban on the use of the app, which was put in place during the NEET-UG re-examination period from 16th June to 22nd June. Some telecom networks are still having trouble with messaging services, but most users say they are operating as normal.

The temporary suspension sparked widespread discussion around digital rights, government intervention and the balance between national security and internet freedom. The app has since returned to the big app stores, but some users are still having trouble connecting, indicating that the restoration is still underway in various regions and service providers.

Some Jio and Airtel users continue to report problems

Some of them on the Jio and Airtel networks have reported that they still cannot access chats, sign-in or register a new account, even after Telegram’s return. There are several users who have reported on X that the app can be used on other networks, except Airtel, or it has to be used with a VPN.

However, others have already reported that Telegram is operating normally, and thus access is being restored slowly. If there are any problems encountered by the user, they can update the app to the latest version from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and refresh the app.

Why Telegram was temporarily blocked

The Indian government imposed the temporary restriction after the NEET-UG examination results were cancelled following allegations of a question paper leak. The Telegram apps’ features, such as anonymous usernames and the fact that blocked channels can be recreated easily, made it hard to prevent the dissemination of leaked exam material, officials said.

As part of the order, telecom operators blocked access to Telegram while Google and Apple removed the app from their respective app stores. The ban targeted Telegram and was only enforced until June 22nd.

The Delhi High Court upholds the government’s decision

Telegram has challenged the government order in Delhi High Court but has been unable to get any relief. The court has said that the temporary restriction was proper, and the government’s plea that it was needed to safeguard the integrity of one of India’s biggest entrance exams has been accepted.

The finding paved the way for authorities to keep the restriction in place until re-examination of services was complete and then gradually ease the restrictions.

Telegram says it acted against illegal content

According to a Reuters report, the Indian government had criticised Telegram for allegedly failing to remove accounts involved in sharing leaked examination papers. Telegram, however, had contended with the Delhi High Court that it had tried its utmost to stop such content and the government did not reflect the same in its submissions.

The company said it deleted over 900 links to illegal exam content. Telegram’s Pavel Durov took issue with the temporary ban, saying the restrictions had impacted millions of people who were using the platform and those behind the leaks had already moved on to other platforms.

New Delhi: Oracle has reduced its global workforce by around 21,000 employees over the past 12 months, making it one of the biggest job cuts disclosed by a major technology company amid the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). In their annual regulatory filing, the software and cloud computing firm confirmed that AI is already taking over some of its jobs and could cause further job cuts in the coming years.

The company ended its fiscal year on May 31, 2026, with approximately 141,000 full-time employees, down from 162,000 a year earlier. The job cuts are part of Oracle’s ongoing efforts to invest billions of dollars in building out its AI infrastructure for enterprise customers, such as OpenAI, and are inclusive of almost 13 per cent of its workforce.

AI adoption drives workforce reduction

As part of its annual filing, Oracle claimed that its use of AI technologies throughout its enterprise has already led to job losses. “The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” the company stated in the filing.

Oracle estimates that the restructuring cost it about $1.8 billion in severance and related expenses for the fiscal year. The restructuring cost of $374 million a year ago was a big jump.

The company also admitted that the reorganisation process could have an impact on productivity for the time being, as the skilled workforce might be scarce in specific parts of the company.

AI investments put pressure on spending

The job cuts are part of Oracle’s aggressive push into its AI cloud platform. The firm has faced financial strains from the sizable expense of investing in AI-powered data centres for clients like OpenAI, Bloomberg reports. Not all the extent had been made public so far, although earlier reports indicated Oracle was making thousands of cuts.

Oracle had approximately 49,000 employees in the United States and approximately 92,000 employees overseas as of May 31.

The new numbers also bring Oracle’s staffing back down to a number lower than before it acquired electronic health records company Cerner in 2022. The $28 billion purchase added a lot of employees to Oracle, especially in the Kansas City area, where Cerner is based.

Part of a broader tech industry trend

The cuts are part of a broader trend of IT firms cutting down on operations to focus on AI infrastructure. Other big technology companies, such as Amazon and Meta, have announced significant employee cuts as they focus on investing more in AI. Over the last year alone, industry estimates are that over 100,000 technology workers have lost their jobs.

Oracle has been working hard to build up the capacity of its AI data centre for customers such as OpenAI and Meta. Earlier, the BBC reported that the company will invest $50 billion at least this year in infrastructure for AI computing, which continues to grow.

The company, started by Oracle’s chief technology officer, Larry Ellison, is one of several tech juggernauts undergoing major transformation in their business models to become more AI-driven while, at the same time, undergoing massive staffing changes.

New Delhi: OpenAI has launched a new cybersecurity project called Patch the Planet, which will enable open-source software maintainers to detect and patch security vulnerabilities before they can be leveraged by attackers. The programme is a partnership between OpenAI’s trusted AI security products and cybersecurity company Trail of Bits to enhance the security of popular open-source projects.

The notification comes amid rising worry about software chain attacks and AI-driven cyber threats. The world uses countless applications and services built with open-source software, but many open-source projects are small and so do not have the resources of a large team to handle security problems. By doing so, OpenAI will aim to alleviate that burden by offering support in the form of technical expertise and AI-powered vulnerability analysis.

OpenAI partners with Trail of Bits

OpenAI said cybersecurity experts from Trail of Bits will collaborate directly with open-source maintainers to examine any potential vulnerabilities. With the help of OpenAI’s security technologies such as Codex Security, the team will analyse code, uncover vulnerabilities, and stay ahead of potential threats.

The idea is to make it easier for maintainers to report vulnerabilities rather than burden them with too many security issues, OpenAI said. Security engineers will confirm any potential issues, assist with developing fixes, write test cases and establish workflows for projects to continue to use after security review is done.

Addressing a long-standing open-source challenge

Much of the current commercial technology is based on open source software. But for many important projects, it’s a small team or volunteers that are left with few security resources. This can leave vulnerabilities undetected until they are exploited.

Perhaps one of the most prominent was the Log4j vulnerability, which affected thousands of organisations around the world when a vulnerability was discovered in a popular open-source logging library. The incident brought to the fore the security problems of open source projects and how they can rapidly permeate the software industry.

AI becomes a defensive cybersecurity tool

As AI has taken the helm, concerns have been raised about how the sophisticated models may aid attackers in uncovering vulnerabilities faster. A number of companies have developed AI-driven security solutions that can detect coding vulnerabilities, raising concerns that AI might be used to facilitate cyberattacks.

OpenAI is using Patch the Planet as a protection strategy against those concerns. The company claims it is not looking to AI to identify vulnerabilities for an attack but instead using that same technology to identify vulnerabilities to make software resilient to being exploited. It also highlights the increasing competition among AI companies to show how AI can help with cybersecurity and benefit the entire open-source community.

New Delhi: Tata Electronics has confirmed a cybersecurity incident after World Leaks published more than 200,000 files allegedly stolen from the company. The reported cache covers over 630GB and may include Apple factory records, Tesla component drawings and employee passport copies.

Tata told Reuters that it found the incident on some systems several weeks ago and activated its response plan. “The incident has had no impact on our operations,” the company said. Tata did not reveal how the attackers entered its systems, what they accessed or the ransom amount.

TOR-website of threat actor ‘World Leaks’ with Tata Electronics on it. pic.twitter.com/h0wAKOdm36

— International Cyber Digest (@IntCyberDigest) June 22, 2026

What did World Leaks publish?

Researchers who examined the dark web post found files carrying Apple and Tesla names. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the full database.

Some Tesla documents reportedly carried “trade secret” markings. Searches of the database returned folders named com.apple.factorydata, along with manufacturing and assembly records.

Apple has started examining the incident, according to Reuters. Tesla had not commented at the time of the report. Names such as Foxconn, Pegatron and Qualcomm appeared in the files, though there is no evidence that their own systems were breached.

Hunters International is closing down their operation and as gesture of goodwill they are offering a free decryptor. What swell guys.

Don’t forget they are now World Leaks. https://t.co/kELDpT2cCG pic.twitter.com/H3JVXGPDst

— Dominic Alvieri (@AlvieriD) July 3, 2025

Who is World Leaks?

World Leaks is a cyber extortion group that appeared in early 2025. Security researchers link it to Hunters International, a criminal operation active since late 2023.

Hunters International used computer-locking malware and stole company data. The group later shut that operation and moved members to World Leaks, which mainly steals files and threatens to publish them. No locked computer screen is needed when confidential drawings and passports provide enough pressure.

Hunters International itself used modified code linked to the former Hive ransomware gang. Researchers recorded hundreds of claimed victims during its run.

For Tata Electronics, the immediate concern goes beyond factory operations. The leaked material may expose workers to identity fraud and reveal sensitive details from Apple and Tesla’s supply chains. The company has yet to say how many people or business partners were affected.

New Delhi: Google is testing a new method to determine if a user is a real human being or not online. The company now offers a gesture-based reCAPTCHA, in which the user has to make a simple hand gesture in front of the device’s camera instead of recognising traffic lights or crosswalks in an image puzzle. The change is a response to the growing ability of AI-powered bots to evade CAPTCHA tests.

The switch is part of a larger problem that plagues the web these days. The number of users online is already surpassed by automated bots, and Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince fears for the future of online fraud, spam and creation of fake accounts. In this context, Google’s new verification system aims to enhance “liveness detection” and make it increasingly challenging for AI bots to mimic real users.

Google tests hand-gesture-based reCAPTCHA

The new reCAPTCHA system now requires the user to give permission to use the user’s device camera before it starts the verification process. After allowing it, it captures a brief video of the individual’s hand performing a particular gesture.

Google says it uses 21 hand-landmark coordinates, which are the positions of various hand joints. These tests are used to identify if the motion is performed by a human player or by an automated player.

Google states the feature is still rolling out slowly and will be an optional feature. If users choose not to use the camera-based verification, or if users have accessibility needs or have already used a different image- or audio-based CAPTCHA, they will be allowed to continue using the image- or audio-based CAPTCHA.

Why Google is changing reCAPTCHA

With AI becoming increasingly proficient with traditional CAPTCHAs, Google’s latest experiment is noteworthy. Highly complex tasks, including the recognition of buses, bicycles or traffic signs in images, are now able to be carried out in seconds by advanced AI systems.

The addition of hand gestures will add another level of verification, which will need active human interaction. The company thinks this will make it much harder for bots to create fake accounts, abuse or commit fraud online.

Google says privacy remains protected

Google claims the new feature has been engineered with privacy protections. The company states gesture videos are only used for security verification purposes and not associated with a user’s identity. It also claims you will not be recorded on audio and the footage is removed the moment it has been verified, and no information is released to third parties.

The company claims that users have control over camera permissions via their browser settings. Google claims the gesture-based verification is aimed at enhancing liveness detection and providing greater security against AI-powered bots, rather than supplanting other security measures.

New Delhi: Pebble has expanded its wearable portfolio in India with the launch of the new Qore View wellness band. With the latest device, users can monitor their health more easily, as key wellness parameters are displayed directly on the wrist, and they can also keep themselves motivated with health tracking with friends and family.

The price of the Pebble Qore View is Rs 3,999 to promote its initial sale, and it tracks health without the need of any subscription and offers long battery life and AI-driven wellness insights. The company claims the wearable will suit those who want a fitness companion that is light and not distracting to wear day after day.

What is the QuickView features?

One of the biggest highlights of the Pebble Qore View is its new QuickView feature. It enables them to view key health details like steps and heart rate right on the band, eliminating the need to grab their cell phone. The idea of the feature is to cut down on the amount of screen time yet keep the user updated on their activities, Pebble claims.

There is also a private Friends and Family leaderboard in the Pebble Halo app to check out on the wellness band. The feature allows users to set up mini groups where they can compare their daily steps, calories burnt, sleep quality, and more, making fitness tracking more fun and collaborative.

AI-powered wellness with no subscription fee

Pebble’s NexGen Wellness Suite has been added to the Qore View, which monitors blood oxygen (SpO₂), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), activity and sleep patterns all day long. The wearable is complemented by the Pebble Halo app for mobile devices, which offers users an AI health score and personalised insights from collected health data.

The company has stated that it offers all health analytics, and AI-based reports are available at no additional recurring fee.

Commenting on the launch, Komal Agarwal, Co-founder of Pebble, said the company wants to make wellness technology simple, accessible and motivating. The Qore View takes the focus off the individual health trackers and into community wellness journeys, pairing cutting-edge health monitoring with community-based leaderboards, she added.

Design, battery and availability

The Pebble Qore View has a metal unibody to protect its sensors against dust, sweat and water splashes. Completed with quad knit fabric strap for enhanced comfort for everyday use. It’s also compatible with a variety of health apps for smartphones and offers over 100 sports modes and smart utility functions.

Pebble says the wellness band will last up to 30 days on a single charge. It comes in light grey, deep black and deep blue colours.

The company has launched pre-sales of the Pebble Qore View on its official website at Rs 3,999. The wearable is also on sale at Flipkart and some retail outlets in India.

Now, Pebble is the second largest fitness tracker brand in India, says IDC. The company also added that the previous smart band, Qore 2, was the best-selling smart band on Amazon India, leaving the new smart band, Qore View, as the next product in the lineup for its customers who look to buy a feature-rich wearable at an affordable price.

New Delhi: Samsung appears to be moving quickly with the development of One UI 9 for the Galaxy S26 lineup. The company has announced it will ship the fourth beta version around June 30, continuing its accelerated test-release process compared to previous software releases. Samsung is moving on the faster track, as the company finally got the stable version of Android 17, with the company officially rolling it out.

If the timeline is on track, Samsung will finish beta testing in the next couple of weeks and launch the One UI 9 update in July. The software is expected to focus on performance improvements, stability, security and Android 17 optimisations, but it will not have any major visual changes.

One UI 9 beta 4 is expected by the end of June

Samsung has been releasing the devices according to a definite plan since the beta programme started. One UI 9 beta 1 arrived on May 13, followed by beta 2 on May 26 and beta 3 on June 16. Based on this timeline, Beta 4 is expected to roll out around June 30.

The beta version is already available for the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26 Ultra in six countries, including India, the US, the UK, Germany, South Korea and Poland, reports said. Users can sign up via the Samsung Members app.

Beta 3 fixed several issues

This is the latest beta build, in which the emphasis was on fixing bugs and general stability. Samsung fixed camera zoom performance, lock screen widget refreshes, camera preview displays and privacy display functionality.

There have also been reports that the company is trying to resolve a problem with the Finder icon, which was identified in the latest beta.

Android 17 helps Samsung accelerate development

The stable release of Android 17 has likely played a major role in speeding up Samsung’s software development. Now that Google’s operating system is final, Samsung has been able to make the entire focus of the company’s efforts on improving One UI 9 without having to worry about other platform changes.

Android 17 includes enhancements to the Android Runtime (ART) such as a new garbage collection system that is designed to improve performance, power efficiency and reduce interface stutters. The update also adds support for large-screen devices, which will make it easier for apps targeting API level 37 to adjust to foldables and tablets.

Stable One UI 9 could debut in July

Samsung is widely expected to introduce the stable version of One UI 9 during its next Galaxy Unpacked event, which is reportedly scheduled for July 22. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8 are set to ship with One UI 9, which is based on Android 17.

Samsung’s new operating system is making significantly more strides than the One UI 8.5, which was tested over a longer period. One UI 9 is not anticipated to feature an extensive redo in design but will likely offer smoother performance, better security, accessibility enhancements, and a more mature user experience.

New Delhi: Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has said the company will not join any artificial intelligence investment bubble, even as major technology companies continue spending billions of dollars on AI infrastructure. Zoho will not seek expensive expansion of data centres but will work on developing AI tools that make AI systems of greater quality, reliability and verification.

Vembu made the statement in response to a recent comment by IBM’s Arvind Krishna, who wondered whether the massive investments in AI infrastructure will yield the returns industry needs to justify the expenditures. Vembu emphasised that Zoho is determined to persist on the path of innovation driven by AI but will do so with caution and a focus on practical innovation rather than significant capital investment.

Zoho to prioritise AI capabilities over infrastructure

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says the muli-trillion dollar AI data center build out is a bubble.

We are investing in creating capabilities like data curation, reinforcement learning, and most crucially the compiler infrastructure to ensure AI output can be verified but we will not… https://t.co/jHQprajTn3

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) June 22, 2026

Vembu said Zoho will keep investing in data curation, reinforcement learning, compiler infrastructure, etc., which would help verify AI-generated outputs rather than get into the competition for building AI infrastructure, based on Krishna’s comments on X.

“IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says the multi-trillion dollar AI data centre build-out is a bubble. We are investing in creating capabilities like data curation, reinforcement learning, and most crucially, the compiler infrastructure to ensure AI output can be verified, but we will not chase the investment bubble. This is just our normal prudence. To some people that would sound defeatist, but we will talk in 5 years,” Vembu wrote on X.

His comments point to a long-term strategy for Zoho to invest in artificial intelligence technologies that boost accuracy and trustworthiness, but not significantly in the infrastructure.

IBM chief raises concerns over AI economics

The CEO of India’s AI company Vembu replied to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s doubts if the AI industry’s investments can provide adequate financial returns.

The expense of creating AI infrastructure to enable dreams of artificial general intelligence (AGI) may ultimately be in the trillions of dollars, Krishna says. He said that it would be very profitable to have such investments to be economically viable. In addition to his positive outlook on the commercial applications of generative AI, Krishna has also seemed sceptical that current forms of AI are sufficient to reach AGI.

Vembu has repeatedly questioned the AI boom

This isn’t Vembu’s first time criticising the industry’s expectations and the pace of AI spending.

He made a controversial statement earlier this year regarding companies claiming to cut jobs because of AI. “It doesn’t help if companies are using AI as a reason for job cuts. It is convenient and, as an extra bonus, makes a company seem visionary,” he said in a post on X. He noted that there have been many workforce cuts not for AI innovations but for cost pressures.

Vembu has also cautioned that economic growth cannot go on relying on investments in AI. In another post, he wrote, “The AI investment bubble has been holding up the US economy for long enough, and it is not going to necessarily address the more fundamental structural issues of the economy.”

Productivity claims remain under scrutiny

The Zoho founder has also questioned one of the biggest assumptions behind the AI spending race that AI will dramatically boost software development productivity. Companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on these expectations of huge productivity increases, but the evidence is scarce, Vembu says. His remarks come after some tech giants began to dial back their predictions regarding the impact of AI on employment. Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that simple white-collar positions have not vanished as fast as he had hoped. In the interim, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have maintained that artificial intelligence will be more likely to boost employee productivity than to eliminate jobs.