Ritwick Jaiswal, Author at Exhibit Tech

Apple To Require Masks In Stores In US Regardless Of Vaccination Status

Apple will now require staff and customers, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, to wear masks at most of its US stores. According to a Bloomberg report, they are bringing back the company’s requirement previously removed in June. The rule will be put into effect from this Thursday.

On Wednesday, Apple headquarters in California informed all the visitors to wear masks indoors irrespective of their vaccination status as the risk of the delta virus upends.

In a memo obtained by Bloomberg, Apple informed,

“After carefully reviewing the latest CDC recommendations, and analyzing the health and safety data for your local area, we are updating our guidance on face masks for your store.”

It further added,

“Starting July 29, face masks will be required in store for customers and team members — even if they’re vaccinated.”

Apple has maintained a reputation during the Covid-19 pandemic for making decisions about where it is deemed safe to operate its retail stores, sometimes even ahead of public health orders.

While in talks with CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company could push back its plan to call workers from September to October.

“We are monitoring things daily to really conclude whether that is the right answer or not,” Cook said.

The move comes after COVID-19 cases start to rise in most parts of the country and when the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised people who are already vaccinated to wear masks indoors in public ‘if you are in the area of high transmission.”

As far as sales are concerned, Apple has continued to top the charts. According to Cook, sales rose 36% on an annual basis when the quarter ended in June.

In a similar response, Google has also said that it would require all the employees to be vaccinated before returning to the office. The company also delayed its return to the physical office from September to October 18.

Nintendo To Shut Down Services For Dr. Mario World Mobile

Nintendo has announced that it is shutting down the service for Dr Mario World from Nov. 1.

The puzzle game series was first launched two years back, in July 2019, and is the first of Nintendo’s mobile games to be shut down.

According to SensorTower, Dr Mario World was by far the worst-performing Nintendo Smartphone game as far as revenues are concerned. On the other hand, disappointing sales of Super Mario Run prompted Nintendo to give free models of the game.

By far, Fire Emblem Heroes remains the highest-grossing hit for Nintendo by a vast distance, generating more revenue than all the other games combined.

The notice in full reads:

Thank you for playing the Dr Mario World game.

The Dr Mario World game’s service will end on Nov. 1, 2021 (Mon).

We want to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has played the game since it began service on Jul. 10, 2019.

Service end date and time:

Nov. 1, 2021 (Mon) at 6 a.m. (UTC)

Furthermore, diamonds will no longer be available for purchase from Jul. 28, 2021 (Wed).

After the end of service

If you start up the Dr Mario World game after the game’s service has ended, an end-of-service notification will be displayed, and you will not be able to play the game.

You will be able to look back at your play history in Dr Mario World Memories, a web page that will become available after the game’s service ends.

Conclusion

Nintendo did go out of its way to monetize the game, but not enough players are hooked on it to continue its operation. However, mobile games only account for a tiny portion of Nintendo’s overall earnings. Last year, Nintendo collected just 3.24 per cent of its revenue through ‘mobile games, which also included licensing deals.

A significant chunk of the income gets generated through Switch.

Jeff Bezos Offers NASA $2 Billion For Moon Mission Contract

Fresh off his trip to space, Founder and Chairperson of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, offered NASA a discount of at least $2 Billion on Monday. The catch being, the space agency has to agree upon giving his company, Blue Origin, a lucrative human lunar landing system contract.

The contract, which aims to send astronauts to the moon, was offered to his rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year. Musk won the $2.9 billion bid to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2024.

Bezos, in his open letter to Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, said that Blue Origin would waive payments in the government’s current fiscal year and the next ones after that up to $2 billion. The company would accept a firm, fixed-priced contract and cover any system development cost overruns.

“Without competition, NASA’s short-term and long-term lunar ambitions will be delayed, will ultimately cost more, and won’t serve the national interest.”

Bezos added,

“We are convinced that, to America’s future in space, NASA must now quickly and assuredly return to the moon. All NASA needs to do is take advantage of this offer.”

The plea comes a week before the watchdog Government Accountability Office rules a formal protest of NASA’s award to SpaceX that Blue Origin filed earlier this year. Lori Garver, a former Deputy Administrator at NASA, said that the amendment might not be as simple as it sounds.

Lori said that Bezos’ offer is something NASA shouldn’t brush aside, but it might not work out the same way Blue Origin wants it to.

“I see this as a positive sign overall but it should not impact the current awards or strategy,” he said.

Garver thinks it is unlikely that the ‘new offer’ would change NASA’s mind about the current award. She believes tweaking NASA’s decision to award SpaceX could spawn new legal problems for the agency.

“NASA just couldn’t take offers because funding is offered. There’s absolutely nothing to stop Blue from moving forward with their own money to get in a better position to win something in the next round,” Garver adds.

Jeff Bezos and fellow Billionaire Richard Branson are the only two significant players in the space tourism market. Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which completed a crewed flight, has historically sold seats between $200,000. And $250,000 per ticket.

Bezos’ offer comes six days after he completed a trip to the edge of the space along with other crewmates. The company is bidding big to become the key player in the space tourism market.

Super Mario 64 Won’t Remain The Most Expensive Game For Long

This month has been all about games! Earlier in April, a copy of Super Mario Bros. was auctioned for $660,000. On July 9th, a sealed copy of the Legend of Zelda was sold for a staggering price of $870,000 at Heritage auctions.

Just two days after the Legend of Zelda was sold for a whopping price, Super Mario 64 got sold for $1,560,000 at auction. Now it seems like this is not the only game that will stop at a million-dollar sum.

“I think we’ll see more million dollar games, probably sooner than later.”

Chris Kohler, Editorial Director at Digital Eclipse, that works on rereleases of classic video games, said in talks with The Verge.

More than half of the Americans turned to video games during the pandemic and this has been the reason why classic games are gathering huge popularity.

People have found a new hobby of collecting top-notch games whose supply is comparatively lower than it is in other collectable markets. Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega Genesis could potentially hold the most valuable game’s title in the near future.

Deniz Kahn, President and Founder of Wata Games, the company behind evaluating both The Legend of Zelda and Mario 64, quoted:

“Over the last few years there have been a lot of people who started collecting other areas like comics or coins or cards, and their markets are very mature. People in the gaming hobby – collectors, investors – we’re all realizing that the population of these sealed games are so incredibly low when you compare them to, say, sports cards or comics. There aren’t hundreds of these in high, perfect grades out there. In some cases there’s one, or ten, or just five.”

Khan said that five-figure video game sales were a big deal four or five years ago, and maybe just 10 guys knew about it. It all happened behind closed doors.

Pokemon Cards have been a popular collectable for years. NFTs, a digital collectable has also sold for millions of dollars. People have started to put their money into assets like Cryptocurrencies and GameStop’s stock.

Here are a few games that hit the ‘expensive’ milestone:

Super Mario World: $360,000

Super Mario Bros: $228,000

Final Fantasy: 204,000

Mario Bros: $156,000

Contra: $150,000

Final Fantasy 3: $96,000

Legend of Zelda, A Link To The Past: $96,000

Mike Tyson’s Punch Out: $84,000

Tecmo Bowl: $45,600

Battletoads: $38,400

Tengen Tetris: $33,600

Best Laptops To Buy In 2021 For Less Than 50,000

There were times when spending Rs 50,000 wasn’t enough for a good laptop. With new technological innovations and price drops, times have certainly changed for the better.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, people have been working mostly from their homes and hence the demand for affordable laptops have skyrocketed.

The best of laptops have to offer a great balance between power, performance, and price. The laptops that we have compiled in this list may not be the fastest or the most powerful laptops, but they will get you through your day-to-day workloads without causing any issues.

There are also few ultrabooks in this list that can be considered a decent gaming laptop. Let’s look at the options:

HP 15 15s- gr0012AU

The HP 15s laptop comes with a 15.6-inch display and a dedicated number pad. It is powered by the 3rd generation AMD Ryzen 5 325OU processor, which is paired with 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, and a 1TB hard disk. The graphics are handled by the Radeon Vega 6 integrated graphics.

You can get an HP15s laptop from Amazon for Rs 41,990.

MI Notebook 14

MI Notebook 14 XMA1901-FA is light but versatile machine and is powered by the 10th Generation Intel Core i5 – 10210U processor with 4 cores and 8 threads. The laptop offers 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD.

MI Notebook comes with a scissor-switch keyboard and a multi-touch trackpad and is perfect for multi-tasking. It is powered by a 46 Wh battery and can run up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge.

You can buy MI Notebook 14 from Amazon for 48,000.

ASUS Vivobook 14

The ASUS Vivobook 14 features a 14 inch Full HD LED-backlit anti-glare display and is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor. The system is designed to be thin and light and is coupled with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 128 GB SSD.

The display is a matte 1920×1080 IPS panel and you get a subscription to Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10 Home with this laptop.

You can buy ASUS Vivobook 14 from Amazon for 40,000.

Lenovo ThinkPad E15

The Lenovo ThinkPad E15 is a perfect laptop for multitasking. It comes equipped with the 11th Generation Intel Core i3 1115G4 processor and has a 15.6 inch Full HD display. The machine is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD.

You can buy Lenovo ThinkPad E15 from Amazon.

LG’s PuriCare Face Mask Now Comes With Built-In Mic And Speakers

The COVID-19 pandemic is still pretty much ongoing. While many industries have suffered heavy losses due to financial and operational risks, tech firms have found ways to seize the market through their technological innovations.

LG has announced a handful of updates to its high-tech, air-purifying mask, named LG Puricare Wearable Air Purifier. The product that was launched last year initially had air filters and built-in fans to filter the air. The new version will now witness upgrades such as a more efficient motor, built-in microphones and speakers.

The technology, which LG calls VoiceON, automatically recognizes when the wearers are speaking and amplifies the voice through built-in speakers. However, the mask will continue to use HEPA filters, which purifies almost 99% of the particulates down to 0.3 microns in size.

The company has yet to announce its pricing and availability. Still, it plans to go ahead with the launch in Thailand next month “with other markets to follow once approved by local regulators.” Pandemic is a perfect opportunity to roll out products that will remain in demand for this period.

According to LG, the new sound system hit a 0.75(excellent) Korean Electronics Technology Institute’s Sound Transmission Index. This means that we will be able to conveniently hold conversations without taking the mask off.

The company is targeting athletes prominently with the new PuriCare mask. The Thai Olympic Team even wore the gadget for a photo session on their way to this year’s Olympics. LG claims that the athletes could comfortably wear the PuriCare for hours at a time.

What is notable is that the company did not mention COVID-19 in its announcement. It is nowhere claiming that the PuriCare Mask will protect against the Novel Coronavirus in any way. It’s true that most purifiers can target particles the size of the virus, yet without any scientific study on the mask, we cannot and shouldn’t take a stand on the efficiency of the mask.

Twitter Tests Upvote And Downvote Feature On Tweets

Twitter’s Chief Product Officer Kayvon Keykpour, last year confirmed that Twitter is ‘exploring’ the idea of adding a dislike button to the app. The social media app is now working on adding a new upvote and downvote reactions to tweets.

The company confirmed that it is testing the feature for a small group of iOS users through a tweet. Twitter said that the new feature might be available to the users in several different styles(up and down arrows, a heart icon, and thumbs up and thumbs down icons). The app is testing the feature to ‘understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.’

However, downvotes will not be shown publicly, and the upvotes will be displayed as likes since the feature is intended only for internal metrics.

Twitter has clarified that the feature is just for research purposes and hasn’t finalised rolling it out yet. The company hasn’t yet defined how voting will affect what you see in your feed since the feature can draw parallels to Reddit. Upvoting or downvoting on Reddit is a way of surfacing a Redditor’s favourite replies, responses or posts.

Many users have noticed this similarity, including Reddit itself, who tweeted this in response:

Twitter has also recently announced that it is testing a new set of features for TweetDeck. The company is revamping its often-ignored dashboard with updates such as a full tweet composer, new advanced search features, new column types, and a new way to group columns into new workspaces.

This feature is being tested with a few US, Canada, and Australia users. The social media giant is consistently working upon bringing new and desirable changes to its app so more and more users can connect conveniently.

Of course, the application of these features will depend upon the reviews that Twitter gets during the research process.

Twitter Revamps TweetDeck And Shares The First Look

TweetDeck provides a column layout that allows users to keep a tab on tweets from different accounts at once. Twitter made an announcement today that it will begin testing a new set of features for TweetDeck.

The company is looking forward to revamping its often-ignored dashboard with a few US, Canada, and Australia users. Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s Product Head said that the updated TweetDeck would include ‘a full tweet composer, new advanced search features, new column types, and a new way to group columns into clean workspaces.’

Previously in an interview with The Verge, Beykpour had admitted that Twitter ‘hadn’t given a lot of love to TweetDeck recently.’ He then described the revamp as a ‘pretty big overhaul from the ground up.

Notable changes are being promised with the recent update. The new tweet composer will allow the user to add GIFs, polls, or emojis to their tweets. This will also include scheduled tweets and not just photos and videos as it was before the update. You will also be able to write threads and tag your images.

The old column types, including Activity, Followers, Likes, and Outbox, have been removed. At the expense of these, new column types such as Profile, Topics, Explore, Events, Moments, and Bookmarks have been added.

The new features also allow you to use Boolean queries. You can easily choose between viewing either the top tweets or the latest tweets.

Additionally, the ‘Decks’ feature allows you to organize a set of columns into separate workspaces. It is helpful for people who want to create workspaces based on different themes or interests or if they want to organize tweets related to their clients.

Are We Getting Along?

These features undoubtedly provide many benefits, but the testers are concerned about losing the ‘Activity’ option that shows whenever someone you follow on Twitter follows another person or ‘favourites’ a tweet. The messages column is also perhaps a big miss.

Many users also complained about how it is difficult to resize the columns and the problems occurring while using it with multiple accounts.

Remember that the feature is still in its testing stage, and there are chances of better updates when TweetDeck rolls out more broadly. Beykpour wrote in a tweet,

“Through these tests, we’re exploring how we can give people more customization and control using TweetDeck.”

Rumours also suggest that TweetDeck might become part of Twitter Blue, which is the company’s subscription service.

Jeff Bezos Launch Into Space, Makes History

The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, will fly to space this morning (Tuesday) on his company’s suborbital rocket.

A week after fellow billionaire Richard Brandson flew to the edge of space, it’s time for Bezos to make his attempt. Along with three other crew members, he will be taking a 10-minute flight onboard his Blue Origin New Shepard Rocket, developed by Bezos’s private space company.

Jeff Bezos, who recently stepped down as Amazon’s CEO, announced on Instagram that ‘he can’t wait for the excursion.’

If successful, the Amazon founder will make history for taking part in the first unpiloted suborbital flight with a civilian crew. But Bezos is not the only one who will be touching milestones on this trip.

Wally Funk, an 82-year old aviation icon, is one of the Mercury 13 women who underwent training in the 1960s to demonstrate that women are fit under NASA standards. With this trip, she will become the oldest person to reach space.

Another Dutch teenager, Oliver Daemen, will become the youngest astronaut to reach space. This 18-year-old physics student has taken the place of a $28 million auction winner who is now ‘too busy to make the trip. Oliver grabbed the seat for the flight as his dad was one of the runners up in the auction. It is still unclear how much he has paid for the ticket.

Oliver said, “I am super excited to go to space. I’ve been dreaming about this all my life and I will become the youngest astronaut ever. I am super excited to experience zero gravity. The flight to space will take only 10 minutes but these will be the most special 10 minutes of my life.”

Bezos’s brother Mark will also be travelling along with the crew. Talking about this in an Instagram post, Bezos wrote,

“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”

The New Shepherd will lift off from Van Horn, a remote town in the western desert of Texas. The capsule will not enter into orbit around Earth but instead will reach the edge of space. It will travel at an altitude of around 65 miles, and the crew will get to spend a few minutes in the weightlessness of microgravity and witness the curvature of Earth.

Other companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic crew heavily trained test pilots to stand ready if things go sideways. But Blue Origin decided to throw Bezos and other paying customers into the mission since the capsule is fully autonomous and requires no inputs from humans during the mission.

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G Price Leaked, Galaxy A12 Specifications Tipped

Samsung Galaxy A22 is expected to launch in India next month. The affordable 5G smartphone model hit the European markets last month and will make its way in India by August, as suggested by the reports. Additionally, before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A12, a known tipster revealed its specifications and pricing in a series of tweets.

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G Price

A recent report by 91mobiles states that the new Galaxy A22 5G is expected to come with a 6GB + 128GB RAM and storage variant and 8GB RAM variant. While the former can cost INR 19,999, the latter could be priced at 21,999. This price will include the GST.

In the European market, a 4GB + 64GB Galaxy A22 5G model was introduced for UUR 229( roughly 20,300) and 4GB + 128GB for EUR 249(approx 22,100).

The Samsung A22 5G model comes in Grey, Mint, Violet, and White colours.

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G Specifications

Galaxy A22 5G is expected to feature a 6.6-inch full HD+ display with a 90 Hz refresh rate. The device offers up to 128 GB of internal storage, but one can add a MicroSD card of up to 1TB. The device will be powered by an octa-core SoC known as MediaTek Density 700.

The device is also expected to pack a triple rear camera setup, including a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 5-MP sensor, and a 2-MP depth sensor. Galaxy A22 5G comes with a 5,000 mAh battery that charges at 15W. The device will also feature a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

However, these specifications are merely leaks, and the South Korean Smartphone giant is yet to announce the official pricing of the device in the country.

Samsung Galaxy A12

As an online leak suggests, the smartphone will come with the exact specifications as the global version but with subtle modifications. The tipster says that the Indian version will come with only 4GB of RAM. The device can either have 64 GB or 128 GB of storage and be priced at around 12,999.

Samsung launched the Galaxy A12 model last year alongside Galaxy A20s, starting at EUR 179(approx INR 16,000). The device comes in black, blue, red, and white colour options.

The Galaxy 12 model comes with a 6.5 inch TFT display with an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1500 pixels. It features a tiny waterdrop notch for the 8MP front camera. At the back, the device sports a quad-camera setup with a 48 MP primary lens. The smartphone also offers an 8-megapixel camera for selfies.

Samsung Galaxy A12 features an octa-core processor clocked at 2.3 GHz.